Crockpot Cobbler

Sometimes you just need an easy summer dessert.

I've never put something sweet in my crockpot before, but let me tell you this is the way to go. Whip this easy dessert up a few hours before dinner and your dessert will be freshly hot out of the crockpot! 

CROCKPOT COBBLER

from Taste of Home 

1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided

2 tablespoons plus 1 cup sugar, divided

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup fat-free milk

2 tablespoons canola oil

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries, thawed (I used fresh)

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed (I used fresh)

Low-fat ice cream, optional

In a large bowl, combine 1 cup flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, baking powder and cinnamon. Combine the egg, milk and oil; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened (batter will be thick). Spread batter evenly into a 5-qt. slow cooker coated with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the salt and remaining flour and sugar; add berries and toss to coat. Spread over batter.

Cover and cook on high for 2 to 2-1/2 hours or until a toothpick inserted into cobbler comes out clean. Serve with ice cream if desired. Makes 8 servings.

the berries covered in the sugar mixture- yum! 

I usually skimp out on desserts when we have friends or family over simply because I don't have enough time. Anything that I can make ahead of time is a win-win in my book. This was so nice to have baking Sunday afternoon! It would be perfect for easy summer entertaining, but impressive and fresh at the same time.

Enjoy! 

Planning Ahead: Meals and Sweet Treats

Welcome back friends! Is everyone ready for a short work week and extended long weekend? I know I am. I love a short work week!

A few weeks ago, I posted on my list of things to do to get ready for December. If you want to read that list and get organized yourself, see here. I'm happy to say I have worked on at least one thing on the list:

"8. Double a couple weeknight dinners and freeze half for busy December days

A must. I will work on planning some menus this weekend."

Last weekend, my Mom and cooked and baked up a storm. We both feel like we should have more to show for the amount of time spent in the kitchen, but we are still ahead of the game.

First up, Teriyaki Chicken:

All you have to do for this meal is chop your onions and add everything else to the bag. One recipe yields two bags/meals. Simply freeze and then cook in the crockpot! That is my kind of dinner, plus you get your veggies already added in.

Of course, we wasted no time and had our first dinner this past week. I love nothing more than an easy dinner at the end of a long day. And not having to stop at the grocery store on your way home. If you like teriyaki chicken you will love this recipe.

Next, we made FOUR coffee cakes. Yes, four. That took a good chunk of time out of our day. However, we had breakfast for the next day, two for my Mom to freeze, and then one for me freeze and take to Stephen's grandmother's on Thanksgiving. I know they will be busy and short on help, and having breakfast taken care of will be nice.

For a similar recipe see here. De-lish I could go for a piece right now.

The last thing I have prepped is cookie dough for the sugary holiday ahead of us. It is so much easier to make your dough ahead of time and freeze it. The day of, you get to enjoy making and decorating your cookies instead of mixing the dough! These are one of the cookies I am planning to make:

You've probably seen them circulating around pinterest, the link is here. The dough is made and I get to enjoy an afternoon of baking sometime soon. Oh, and I may or may not have made a dozen minus the food coloring and sprinkles to give them a test drive. They turned out perfect!

Have you done any meal prep for the Holidays just yet?

I hope you all have a great start to your Thanksgiving Week!

xoxo.

Road trips, Cake and House Boats

Morning friends! I am all sorts of scattered today as the kitchen is a disaster post birthday celebrations, clothes are waiting in the dryer (only the third time I've restarted it) and washer, and we haven't packed our bags for another wedding weekend in Raleigh. In case you missed it, I was just on this same road trip on Tuesday. An added bonus, Stephen and I both have to drive {keeping the gas industry alive} since my car needs to be worked on in Raleigh next week! Sigh...no pinning while hubby drives this time around! 

I had to share this labor of love birthday cake that I made for Stephen. I made it last year as well and he requested it again, so I think we are working on a tradition. It was in Martha Stewarts magazine last summer and I have to say it is delicious. Nothing is better than a cold slice of cake on a hot summer day, and add in chocolate chip cookies = perfect.

CHOCOLATE CHIP ICE BOX COOKIE CAKE

I break this cake down into a three day process. 

Day 1: Bake 8 dozen cookies

Day 2: Assemble the cake and let it sit overnight in the fridge

Day 3: Add whipped topping and chocolate shavings and serve! 

Ingredients

4 cups cold heavy cream

8 ounces mascarpone cheese

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon whiskey (optional)

8 dozen chocolate chip cookies (2 1/4 inches, baked until crisp)

Chocolate shavings, for garnish

Directions

Whisk 3 cups cream and the mascarpone in a chilled bowl until soft peaks form. Add sugar and whiskey. Whisk until medium-stiff peaks form. Refrigerate until ready to use (or up to 3 hours).

Arrange 9 cookies in a circle (with cookies touching) on a cake stand or a plate. Place 2 cookies in center. Carefully spread 1 cup cream mixture evenly over cookies, leaving a slight border. Repeat to form 7 more layers, ending with cookies (you'll have a few cookies left over). Refrigerate, lightly draped with plastic wrap, overnight.

Whisk remaining cup cream until soft peaks form. Spread over top of cake just before serving. Garnish with chocolate shavings.

Here are a few shots of the cake along the way...sorry for the horribly embarrassing bad photos!

YUM!

Lastly, I am thrilled because I rented a house boat for Sunday night {part of the birthday present} and we get to stretch our weekend a little longer! We will be staying on an island and watching the sunset {perhaps a sunrise as well} and living it up house boat style! 

via

What do you have planned? Y'all have a great weekend! xoxo.

A Little Bit of Random

Morning friends! Thank you so much for your input yesterday on my shopping decisions, I have decided to go with the pink sandals {they were my gut instinct!} but I am debating on whether I should tack on anything else to my order before I buy since I have the 20% off. Sadly, yesterday morning my hairdryer died {shortly after I wrote my post} and so I decided it was best to spend my money on a nicer hairdryer and fore go the sunglasses. I may or may not be checking back to see if they still have them next week ;) 

And in honor of St. Patty's Day, I saw this cute little print this morning and had to re-post it:

{via}

Anyone celebrating this weekend? I'm kind of boring, I don't ever really partake in the festivities but I did make some treats last night in spirit of the green holiday:

Mint Oreo Brownies!

 Just add crushed oreos to the top of the brownies when they have about 10 minutes left to bake. I added some to the mix as well but I would not recommend that- they were a tad hard to cut this morning. A tray is on the way to Stephen's office as we speak, I had to get them out of the house! 

I got these little bow tie wine glass charms at TJ Maxx on my last trip- how cute!? Definitely pulling them out at our next dinner party. I love how the package says "class up your glass"...for sure.

The weekend is finally almost here! Hope y'all have a great day, xo.

Sweets for your Monday

Good Morning y'all! I got a lot accomplished this weekend and that makes me feel good going into the work week. I had some spare time on Saturday afternoon, and it seemed like the perfect chance to make some sweets that I had been browsing on Pinterest. I took a vote and ended up making this Oreo Layer Dessert. Anything that combines chocolate and cream cheese usually gets an A+ in my book and yumm, it was so good! I will definitely be making it again...I think it will be the perfect summertime treat! Make sure to check this site out, it looks adorable!

OREO LAYER DESSERT

1 pkg of regular Oreos

1/2 c. of butter

1 lg box of instant chocolate pudding

2-8 oz cool whips

8 oz. of cream cheese, softened

1 c. powdered sugar

Crush the whole package of cookies either with a food processor, or in a bag and a rolling pin. Save a 1/2 c. to sprinkle on top of dessert when it's done. Pour remaining crumbs in a 13x9 pan. Melt butter and pour into crumb mix. Stir it up good and press crumbs in bottom of pan to make a crust. Make chocolate pudding according to package directions and let it setup in the fridge. In a mixing bowl blend cream cheese until nice and smooth and then add powdered sugar, mix. Then fold in 1-8 oz thing of cool whip. Top oreo layer with cream cheese mix, then pudding, then your last 8 oz thing of cool whip, and then sprinkle remaining Oreo's on top. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

And what mine looked like...

And a few more "sweet" things for you this Monday morning...I love browsing on pinterest looking for those fun inspirational prints/posters. I love things like that. Here are a few things that got me inspired and made me feel good this morning...hope it does the same for you!

1 / 2 / 3

{my instagram}

PS...My name is missdixie30 on instagram if you want to follow along! I will follow back:)

Hope you all had a fab weekend! 

xo.

Recipe: Cake Batter Cookie

Happy Tuesday everyone! When I recapped my weekend yesterday, I completely forgot to mention the last minute cookies I decided to bake on Sunday afternoon. Every now and then I get the urge to bake, but that can be dangerous when it's just Stephen and I here to eat the sweets. Well anyway, these cookies are amazing and were so easy to make. Next time I need to bring a baked good for a party or food gift, I will be bringing these. Very few ingredients and little time.

CAKE BATTER COOKIE

Ingredients:

1 (18.25 oz.) box cake mix

1 tsp. baking powder

2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions: 

1- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2-In a medium bowl, stir together the cake mix and baking powder. Add eggs and oil, then mix until well blended. (It was a bit crumbly for me so I used my hands to really mix it well- it's not as smooth as typical dough.)

3-Stir in chocolate chips, or your choice of additions. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto cookie sheets.

4- Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

They do look amazing too and while mine are not in perfect round form, they are at least the same nice, light color. I think they would be great to bring a tray to a super bowl party this weekend too! I tried a Martha Stewart cake cookie years ago but I remember it being very involved and not so simple. Have you ever tried a cake batter cookie? I will be sending these to the office with Stephen today so we don't eat every single one! Hope y'all have a great day! xo.

Christmas Cookies

I am back from a wonderful weekend in the mountains of North Carolina. I can't wait to share some pictures, but before I do I have to share this recipe that I made last night when we got home. You would think I would be tired after a really long drive, but after browsing pinterest for hours in the car and reading about everyone getting ready for Christmas, I decided I HAD to do something when I got home. I found this in the Southern Living Christmas at Home Issue that I picked up last week.
 So, here is what I made. You are going to want to make these!

FLOURLESS PEANUT BUTTER-CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup creamy peanut butter 

3/4 cup sugar 

1 large egg 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

1/4 teaspoon salt 

1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels 

Parchment paper

PREPARATION:

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Stir together peanut butter and next 4 ingredients in a medium bowl until well blended. Stir in chocolate morsels.

2. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets.

3. Bake at 350° for 12 to 14 minutes or until puffed and lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets on a wire rack 5 minutes. Transfer to wire rack, and let cool 15 minutes.

They are simply, delicious!! I had all of the ingredients at home besides the chocolate chips and parchment paper, major plus. And there is something wonderful about the smell of peanut butter baking in the oven, no? This is going into the recipe box and I will definitely be making another batch come Christmas to package up for little gifts. 

By the way, ELF was on tv last night, and the combination of that and cookies baking in the oven has me a little more in the spirit of the holidays, I love it.

Do you have any awesome Christmas cookie recipes to share? I am going to pack these cookies up and take them to work before I eat them all! Hope you had a wonderful weekend...xoxo

Sweet Tooth

I have come across so many fabulous desserts recently that are just in time for fall. You can bring these tasties to a fall party, or to just to bake to get you in the spirit of fall and have the kitchen smelling good! I pulled together a few of these desserts that not only are tasty, but have a great presentation as well. Enjoy!

Sweetapolita shares her recipe on Marzipan & Pear Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream. They might be the cutest glittered pears I have ever seen! Her attention to detail is amazing.

For a healthy, wholegrain snack, try these Pumpkin Chocolate Oat Muffins from Family Fresh Cooking. One of these + a hot cup of coffee= perfect morning!

Pumpkin Bars with my favorite frosting-Cream Cheese of course! How To: Simplify shares her recipe for these delicious and easy pumpkin bars.

And for those of us who feel safer with whipping up a basic cookie, these have a great twist for fall. Picky Palate shows you how to make Double Pumpkin Kissed Chocolate Chunk Cookies. 

Ready for something sweet now? xoxo

Rain, Baking and House Updates

Over the course of the weekend, we have gotten at least 7 inches of rain, according to our rain gauge. I usually do not do well cooped up in the house but we all managed to survive here! It really has been raining since last Tuesday and we are all in need of a bright sunny day. Please, soon! That is probably more rain that we got all summer. We ventured out Saturday and bought a few new things for the house, retail therapy always helps!

A reddish-brown ottoman for the man cave. The man cave is really shaping up. This week alone he has a new bookshelf that spans an entire wall, new ottoman and Missoni-ish pillows that worked great with his colors.

New throw pillow for the couch! These colors kind of "pull" everything together that I have going on the in the living room. I think it is great for fall if nothing else.

Well, at least one of us enjoyed snuggling all day inside! She is our little snuggle puggle! (Iphone photo) 

And here she is again, face down in the blanket.

Sunday afternoon, I got bored enough and decided I needed to make a cake and frost it in a fallish way. 

I bought one of these...

and some food coloring and used this glaze recipe, and divided it into three bowls, like so.

And here she is, all finished. I also grabbed some candy corn at the grocery store and sprinkled it around the edges.

I also have been working on some fall decor in the house, but due to the rain I didn't get to go out and find the pumpkins I was looking for. Here's to hoping this week is full of sunshine!