Bacon Maple Cupcakes

Nothing better than Bacon! 

We have the partial snow day to thank for this one! To start off tomorrows festivities right I made bacon maple cupcakes (stay turned for more thanksgiving blog posts in the upcoming days!)

What you'll need: 

This will make 12 (pretty large) cupcakes!

For the cupcakes: 

• 3 slices of bacon (chopped)
• 1 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2 cups of flour
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted) 

For the icing: 

• 3 slices of bacon (chopped) 
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 cup unsalted butter 
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 

What to do:

Place one package of bacon (if you use the whole package you'll have a few pieces left over for snacking on) in a layer on a sheet pan. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and place in the oven for 15 minutes then let the bacon cool on a paper towel 

Once the bacon has cooled crumble 4 pieces (into small pieces) and put into the bottom of a bowl and add in milk, egg, maple syrup melted butter once combined add in flour sugar , baking powder and salt. This dough will be pretty wet. 

Use an ice cream scoop and scoop into cupcake pans, then put in the oven at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool. 

In a mixer, whip butter on high for a few minutes then slowly add in powdered sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add in maple syrup and vanilla. Then fold in 3 pieces of bacon (chopped). 

Frost the cooled cupcakes and garnish with a small slide of bacon! 

Beer Bread

Cheddar Bead Bread anyone! I’ve been dying to make bread ever since I got this sweet rachael ray bread pan. In full disclosure everything I post of my blog is 100% my own but I found this recipe on another blog that I love! Since baking is a science,  I can’t just throw some things in a bowl and come out with a good result, at least on my first try. But I thought this recipe was so simple and easy, especially because it doesn't involve yeast.. just beer (something we always have in our house)! 

What You’ll Need:

3 cups of flour

¼ cup brown sugar

4 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 can of beer (honestly don’t get fancy-- I used a fan favorite in our house, bud light)

½ cup cheddar cheese (shredded)

What To Do:

Preheat the oven to 375, Spay a 9x5 loaf pan with nonstick spray. 

Add flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt to a mixing bowl. Once combined pour in the beer and stir until combined (the dough will be sticky) then fold in shredded cheese! Pour the batter into the load pan and bake for 45 minutes (until golden brown)!

Chocolate Chip Ice-cream bars

This recipe has been floating around pinterest for a while, and looks awesome but does anyone really make it? That question is answered today.. because I did! It is chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream sandwiches. This is made with no bake cookie dough ( no egg!) After making these I would totally recommend it - they were delicious and you can make them ahead of time and store in the freezer! 



What You'll Need: 
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar 
3 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla 
1/3 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup chocolate chips
2 cups of ice cream


What to do: 
1. Microwave butter and sugars in a large bowl until melted, about 1-2 minutes. Sir the mixture together until it is melted then sir in milk and vanilla. 

2. Add in flour and salt then sir in chocolate chips. 

3. Take a 8-inch pan and line with parchment paper (or non stick foil) then press 1/2 of the mixture onto the bottom and roll with a rolling pin or use your hands until this is smooth. Then place a layer of parchment paper in between and do the same with the second half of the dough. Place in the freezer for an hour or 2. 

3. Remove cookie dough from the freezer than pull up the top layer (carefully!) Gently spread softened ice cream over the cookie dough then place the layer of cookie dough on top. 

4. Freeze again for up to 2 hours then cup into 16 bars. I wrapped each in plastic wrap and kept in the freezer until we wanted to enjoy! 

Green Drank

As you may have been able to tell blog posts have been lacking lately. I have been trying this new diet lately.. the 21 day fix, so a lot of our dinners have been boring ground chicken/beef with the occasional hot sauce or taco seasoning. But I having been trying to come up with recipes that are blog worthy (so I don't get any comments that include the words "that sucks" in it) and still on the diet so with all that being said I wanted to post my green drank recipe. I had no idea what to expect when I first made it but honestly diet or no diet I would drink this stuff for breakfast. 

What You Need: 

• 1 Banana (broken into pieces) 
• 1/2 cup ice
• 1 cup spinach
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 6 oz nonfat strawberry/banana yogurt (I have been getting Dannon light & fight 80 calories but go nuts) 

What to do (in 1 step or less): 

• Combine all the ingredients above in the blender (on high) until combined well, it might take a minute or two. 

Asian Zing Wings..

The ultimate football sunday food is wings. Today was a take on asian zing wings (you know like the ones from buffalo wild wings). The only tweak I would make to this recipe next time is to add a little hot sauce .. but thats just because we like things spicy around here! 

The secret ingredient in this sauce is the chili garlic sauce.. its in the asian food section of any food store). 



What You'll Need: 
3 tablespoons cornstarch
5 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup chili garlic sauce 
2 tablespoons soy sauce
the juice of 1 lemon 
1 clove of garlic (chopped) 
1/2 tablespoon salt 
However many wings you think you can handle ( I think I used about 3 lbs) 

What to do: 

Sauce: 
1. Mix the cornstarch and rice wine vinegar (to make a slurry and set to the side) 
2. Mix all the other sauce ingredients in a large pot over medium heat. Whisk together and add in the cornstarch mixture. 
3. Bring to a boil and then let it cool (as a side note the longer you let this cool the better and thicker it is - also at this point you can store it in the fridge). 


Wings: 
1. Preheat the oven to 400.
2. Lay the wings on a baking sheet (depending on how you buy the wings you might have to break the wing from the drum stick).
3. Bake the wings for 30 minutes then turn the broiler on high an place the wings under the broiler for 3-5 minutes. 
4. Mix the wings with the cooled sauce in a large bowl! 


I hope you make these at home and enjoy them as much as us!