S'Mores Trifle

Another Christmas has come and gone. It was a fun first Christmas for Peyton with lots of Christmas parties and events. While I did do a bit of cooking, I didn't document most of it. We were busy and Peyton really likes to wake up from a nap right when I'm in the middle of cooking something, so the clean-up and photo at the end get rushed...or forgotten. I did manage to snap a couple of photos of this prepared. It was a huge hit!

Usually I bake for the holidays, but this year I looked for really simple recipes. I made some easy gingerbread fudge and cookie dough fudge (completely forgot to take photos), my cheesy potatoes, a creamy corn side dish, this, and a mint lush desert for different parties. We had two stops on Christmas Eve, two stops on Christmas day, and then two more parties over the weekend. We were busy, busy, busy, but we enjoyed every moment!

If you make the brownies and pudding ahead of time this recipes comes together very quickly. The trickiest part (if you can even call it tricky) is "toasting" the marshmallows. Like I said, if you prepare each layer ahead of time, this comes together in a matter of minutes. I recommend having you brownies made, pudding made, graham crackers crushed, and mix the whipped topping and marshmallow cream before hand. Then it's just some layering and toasting and you're done.

S'Mores Trifle
from Mom Endeavors

1 box brownie mix, prepared according to package
2 small boxes instant chocolate pudding, prepared the quick way
1 package from a box of graham crackers, crushed
1 container whipped topping
1 small container marshmallow cream (Fluff if you're from New England!)
1 cup mini marshmallows
1 Hershey bar

1. In a trifle dish, place half of the brownies, cut into chunks. Top with half the pudding then top with half the graham crackers.
2. Combine the whipped topping and marshmallow cream. It may be a little chunky and that's okay. Spread on top of the graham cracker layer.
3. Repeat with remaining brownies, pudding, graham crackers and marshmallow.
4. Place the mini marshmallows on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Set your oven to broil and place them in the oven. Leave the door slightly open and don't go anywhere. They take maybe 30 seconds to "toast". Remove and let cool briefly.
5. Top trifle with broken Hershey bar pieces, toasted marshmallows, more graham crackers if desired.
6. Chill in refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving.

Mashed Potato Bread

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We enjoyed our, as we usually do, by doing our usual two dinners with each side of the family. It was also Peyton's first major holiday. I think she was just as tuckered out as we were by the end of the night. I love looking up recipe for leftover holiday foods. I found this one on Thanksgiving night. The irony of it all is (is this irony? I feel like I always use that term wrong) we didn't have any leftovers this year. Well, there were leftovers but we didn't take any home, other than ham. The amount of ham my husband eats weekly is reaching a sickening level.... Anyways, since we didn't have any leftovers, I made mashed potatoes last night with our steak tips, so I saved a cup for this.

When I saw this recipe I almost skipped over it. "Real bread" intimidates me. I like my wet breads. You know like banana breads. Recipes that don't require yeast, kneading, rising, punching, flouring everything, etc. I like the "add all of this to a bowl, mix it, and bake it" breads. They make a batter, not a dough, and it's easy-peasy. While this recipe does require yeast, kneading, rising, punching and all that jazzy bread stuff it's still easy. It's also quick, it's not hours of rising, just a half hour.

As I was making this bread I was staring at the disaster that was my counter top. Dan always makes fun of me for being a messy cook. I'm like a toddler you give a marker to. Of course it will end up on their body, the walls, the dog, up their nose....
That's me with flour...and most of my baking ingredients. It's on my hands, in my hair, on my face, some falls on the dogs, it's on the outside of any container near it. I'm a messy baker/cook. If you're gonna get in the kitchen, make it worth it. That's what I say.

That sprinkling of flour used to knead the dough extends far past the edges of my cutting mat....

This recipe was so easy and another one that you will probably have everything you need to make it already in your pantry. I always have potato flakes for mashed potatoes and to thicken soups, so even if we didn't have any leftover from a meal I can whip some up in about 10 minutes. The bread came out fluffy, soft, and tasting of garlic mashed potatoes. I always add minced garlic and garlic powder to our mashed potatoes. The taste of mashed potatoes isn't super strong, but it's there, and it's wonderful. I need to finish this post so I can go eat some more...

The last thing I need to mention is that I found this recipe on Tasty, which runs quick videos of recipes on Facebook and includes the recipe in the comment section. Go check it out if you're on Facebook because they're recipes are always fun and pretty quick.

Mashed Potato Bread
from Tasty

1 cup mashed potatoes
1 cup milk
3 tbsp. butter, softened
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. yeast
1 tsp. salt
4 cups flour
1/2 cup water

1. Add all ingredients, except flour and water, to a bowl and mix well. Slowly add the flour and water, alternating. Mix until dough starts forming a ball. It will still be a bit sticky, but you can sprinkle more flour on it when you knead it.
2. Lightly flour your surface and knead the dough for about 5 minutes. Sprinkle some more flour on if it's too sticky.
3. Place dough in a bowl and lightly cover. Let sit for a half hour to rise.
4. Halfway through letting the dough sit and rise, preheat your oven to 350.
5. Grease a 9x5 bread pan. Punch down the dough and form into a rectangle. Place into the bread pan.
6. Bake 45 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Slice and enjoy!

Nutella Caramel Coffee

Today was Peyton's two-month checkup and she had 3 shots and a liquid vaccine. Talk about a tough morning. Peyton is the most mellow baby, doesn't fuss much, but today she shrieked through most of her appointment. That was before the vaccines. After, she cried all of two minutes. It a gloomy looking morning and I was excited to make this fancy coffee when I saw the recipe yesterday. Right before we went to the doctor, a friend invited me to meet her for coffee, so I decided to have Starbucks over making my coffee drink. My Caramel Brule Latte was delicious, but not delicious enough that is satisfied me and let me put this recipe on hold. As I prepped some ingredients for tonight's dinner, I couldn't stop thinking of making this coffee. I was motivated because it was a gloomy day (it was sleeting when I left Starbucks....), but I had all the ingredients! If you regularly read my blog, you know how excited I get when I find a recipe that requires what is already contained in my pantry.

It's the little things in life...

I love flavored coffees. I'll drink a plain old coffee if the coffee is really good. I haven't found anything to compare to the coffee we had in Costa Rica. The coffee we brought home came close, but I could drink the coffee we had when we were there black. I'm a milk and sugar or flavored creamer girl. I like my coffee sweet. Not Dunkin Donuts sweet however. When I order coffee now,  get Pumpkin Spice (yes!) with half the amount of pumpkin and skim milk. Have you had their pumpkin coffee....it's disgustingly sweet if you get the full amount, which I learned is 3 pumps. So I get 1 and a half pump and no added sugar. It's perfect. When pumpkin isn't in season, I'll get another flavor with skim milk and 1 sugar.

Fancy coffee drinks are great when I can afford them. However, (and why did I never think of this before?) I have everything I need for this coffee at home all the time. Well, okay not exactly. I only have Nutella from a recent recipe I made, it's not a household staple. The whipped cream and caramel sauce is however, because ever since I became pregnant I have been an ice cream sundae fiend. Seriously. Almost every night, still (this is where the ashamed emoticon would be if this were my phone), I have a bowl of ice cream with strawberries, marshmallow, caramel and whipped cream. Yeah, I'm really concerned with losing that baby weight...

Back to coffee. I used hazelnut coffee because why not? I buy flavored coffee variety packs on Amazon. We just received a shipment of 80 coffees for our Keurig, so I can have a different type each day. I will definitely be playing around with more coffee drinks in my last month of maternity leave freedom. Why did I not discover this sooner??? You can use hazelnut, plain, or any flavor you'd like. If you use a Keurig, I use the smallest ounce button (6 oz on mine) twice to make the 12 oz of coffee. This gives you two drinks worth, so if you just want one, I'd choose the middle or largest ounce setting ( 8 and 10 oz. on mine).

This is so simple. If you want to make it even quicker, say in the morning before work, you can even heat the milk and Nutella together in the microwave and stir together and then stir it into your coffee. For the fully blended effect, I used my bullet blender and heated my milk and Nutella on the stove top.

Brew some coffee. I used some Hawaiian Hazelnut from my selection.

Gather your milk, Nutella and caramel sauce.

Brew some coffee. While it's brewing, heat some milk and Nutella together and mix.

Then, add your milk mix and coffee to a blender if you choose and add a big squirt of caramel.



See that delicious caramel at the bottom??

Then pour back into a coffee mug and top with whipped cream and a caramel drizzle.

Starbucks baristas have nothing on me!

Enjoy it while your baby and two dogs sleep and you watch the gloomy day from the warmth of your home. And while you tackle a new baking project (to be revealed soon!).

Nutella Caramel Coffee
adapted from Around My Family Table

12 oz. brewed coffee
1/2 cup milk (any kind)
2 tbsp. Nutella
Caramel sauce
Whipped cream

1. Brew some coffee.
2. In a small saucepan heat the milk until scalding, but not boiling. Whisk in the Nutella.
3. Add the coffee and milk mixture to a blender and add some caramel sauce. Blend.
4. Pour into a coffee mug and top with whipped cream and caramel sauce.