One of my families favorite.

These are asked for as their birthday treats instead of cake…. weirdos i know

It all starts with your favorite sugar cookie dough (mine is below)

After a short stint in the fridge, roll into a rectangle.

Mix your filling

Slather it on

Roll up. Make it do some more time in the fridge. Remove and slice it up.

Bake…let cool (don’t eat while hot…it will hurt your mouth….trust me )

Drizzle with chocolate

Now you can devour.

Cinnamon Roll Cookies

adapted from Picky-Palate

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cup butter
• 1 ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 5 tsp vanilla
• Seeds from 1 vanilla bean
• 3 tsp almond extract
• 4 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp cinnamon

For the filling

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon

Directions

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer cream butter and sugars. Add eggs (1 at a time), vanilla, vanilla bean seeds and almond extract; mix until combine.
2. In a separate bowl mix flour, salt baking powder and cinnamon together.
3. Slowly incorporate dry mix into butter mixture.
4. Once fully combine, divide in half and shape into disks. Place in parchment paper or plastic wrap. Pop in fridge for about an hour.
5. Meanwhile make filling. Combine softened butter, brown sugar, cream cheese and cinnamon in a bowl.
6. When dough is done in the fridge, roll out 1 of the disks in a rectangular shape (do this on parchment paper. It makes it easier to roll up). Spread ½ of the filling mixture on. Begin to roll in a ‘log’ shape, starting at the end furthers from you. Cover again in plastic wrap and stick in the fridge for about 30 min. Meanwhile do the same to the other disk of dough.
7. Pre-heat oven to 350.
8. Remove dough from fridge and using a serrated bread knife, cut into ½ inch cookies.
9. Place on lined baking sheet and cook for 9-12 min. Remove and let cool for at least 5 min before moving to a cooling rack.
10. To make chocolate drizzle, just melt 1 cup chocolate chips in microwave and drizzle on cooled cookies. Stick in fridge or freezer until firm.

Sorry I have been gone for so long. Things have been crazy around here.

My daughter had her first dance recital….which was awesome. I was so proud of her (I even cried).

We have finished homeschool, so we have been trying to find a new summer routine that works for us. If it was up to them, they would just play video games all day

Then there have been the fires here in AZ. While none of them were too close to us, there was one that was a bit to close for comfort to our place up north. So we had to go up there to check everything out and wait out the fire and see what would happen. (Nothing so far…it is still going, but they have it pretty well contained)

But enough of my excuses.

I will be back tomorrow will an incredible recipe.  (my husband made me make these things three times in a row and snuck them on the this next meals rotation….sneaky boy

…. Ranch Smashed Potatoes of course!

First, boil your potatoes (I like to use baby potatoes) until fork tender.

Drain and place on a foil lined, oiled baking pan

Using a potato masher, fork or heavy can…smash the potatoes.

Brush with butter and sprinkle with garlic, salt, pepper and ranch powder.

Bake , let cool and chow down.

Ranch Smashed Potatoes

Adapted from Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

• 1 lb bag baby potatoes
• ½ Tbsp pepper
• ¼ Tbsp salt
• 1 ½ Tbsp Ranch Powder
• ¼ Tbsp Garlic Powder
• 1 Stick butter, melted
• 2-3 Tbsp. Olive oil for drizzling

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 450.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Toss in Potatoes and cook until fork tender. Remove from heat and drain.
3. Line a baking sheet with foil and drizzle with olive oil. Place potatoes in a single layer on baking sheet. Using a fork, potato smasher or heavy can smash the potatoes.
4. Brush each potato with melted butter. Sprinkle with pepper, salt, garlic powder and Ranch Powder.
5. Pop in oven and bake for 20-25 min.
6. Remove and let cool a few min. (about 4-5) and gobble up.

The weekends in our have always been about BBQ or Brick Oven cooking. The kids swim, we cook. Fun all around.

Quick shot of our Brick Oven

I have started to crave grilling more and more. Because I am scared to death of our BBQ, I end up settling for indoor mock grilling. The kids don’t enjoy it as much, but I get my fix.

This came out of pure laziness one day. I sooo was not in a cooking mood; and child #2 was extremely emotional (pretty much everyday she is emotional, but this day more than normal). I needed something quick and something she would enjoy. (she is one of the most picky eaters that I know….short little ditty about her….when she orders her pizza it has to be pepperoni pizza with the pepperoni off. Not cheese pizza, that is no good….picky right?)

My daughter loves Ranch. She (like my hubby and son) dip everything in ranch…their burgers, pizza, eggs….everything! (we go thru a lot of it)

So the Italian Ranch Chicken burger was born

I have to say this little guy was delsih! After hovering down one I wanted another, and another, and another. But sadly I only was able to have the one.

These quickly made it back on our menu and will be made many more times.

The only thing I will try adding/changing is the addition of bacon. Nom, Nom, Nom……Sorry I had to close my eyes there a bit to fantasize

I hope you try these and enjoy.

Italian Ranch Chicken Burgers

Makes 4 Burgers

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breast
• 1 bottle (8 oz) Italian Dressing
• 1 pkg (1 oz) Ranch dressing powder
• 4 buns
• 1 avocado, sliced
• 1 cup chopped lettuce
• 4 slices Swiss cheese

Directions

1. In a large (gallon size) Ziploc bag, place chicken, ranch powder and Italian dressing. Seal and shake. Let sit in fridge for 4 hours (best if overnight).
2. Pre-heat grill (I pre-heated my indoor grill to 300). Cook chicken 4-5 min on each side, or until done
3. Take your bun and add cheese to 1 side and sliced avocado to the other. Place cooked chicken on and top with lettuce and other half of bun.
4. Dig in!

My body quickly reminds me I am no longer in my 20s.

The kids were starving, the hubs was wondering around the kitchen.

So I just grabbed a bunch of stuff I knew everyone would enjoy, tossed it all in a bowl and cooked it.

Lucky for them it all made sense.

We even got to use some of the Salted Buttermilk Carmel instead of syrup. BONUS!!!!

Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal Pancakes

Makes about 8 average sized ones

Ingredients

• 1 cup pancake mix (I like trader joes multi grain)
• 2 pkgs (1.5 oz each) Maple Brown Sugar Instant Oatmeal
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup almond milk
• 2 tsp oil (veggie)

Directions

1. Toss all ingredients into a large bowl and mix well.
2. Heat and butter pan/griddle. Pour about 1/3 cup of batter on and cook (until bubbles form). Flip and cook a bit more.
3. Remove, stack and pour on syrup.
4. Devour

After I completely embarrassed myself at my kids karate class over my excitement, I calmly replied to her e-mail.

Then I started to stress. ‘What am I going to make?’ ‘Oh geeze, what to make?’ This went on for a few days.

Finally, I came up with these…..

They are…..Snickerdoodle cookies……. in a jar! Think pizookie but in jar form. Oh yea baby

Please go over and check out Kim (and her fabulous blog) for the low down on these dangerously addicting fellas.

Thank you Kim for this honor. I truly adore you and ALL of your delicious recipes.

In no particular order…

1) “Don’t put that in the dogs ear!”

2) “Don’t eat that!”

3) Plant “sandwich seeds” (seeds my daughter saved off her sandwich bun)

4) Preform surgery on a Zhu Zhu pet.

5) Race to the store in the middle of the night to replace a fish that died. (That I killed)

6)”The dog is not a horse”

7) Stay up late surfing the Internet, trying to find a particular lego set (or toy in general).

8)”If you don’t eat your food, you get to watch me eat your dessert”….mean I know but there is a back story to it Ill tell you one day.

9)Watch a Spongbob Marathon and actually enjoy myself

10) Watch the clock on Friday (ok everyday) for wine time.

What have you said (or done) that you never thought you would?

Keep your questions for my FAQ page coming as well. I enjoy reading and answering them.

Hello, my name is Lauren and I am a salted Caramel addict (among other things….food related )

Remember this stuff…..

Trader Joes started me on my addiction. They start me on a lot of addictions.

Rather than break the bank (on caramel sauce) every time I went grocery shopping, I thought I would try to make some.

And to my surprise it was super easy, and beyond super tasty; we all like easy don’t we? I thought so.

Man I could just take a bath in this stuff….to much? sorry

Please ignore my shadow puppet hand

Salted Buttermilk Caramel Sauce

Adapted From: Our Best Bites

Ingredients

• ¾ cup buttermilk
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup butter, cubed
• 2 Tbsp Corn syrup
• 1 tsp Fleur de sel Salt (can be hard to find, I found it at Williams Sonoma)
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions

1. In a large pot (make sure it is large as while this cooks it bubbles), combine buttermilk, sugar, brown sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt.
2. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low.
3. Cook until nice a caramel-ly rich brown. About 10 min. Stir frequently with a wooden spoon.
4. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Continue to stir to cool.
5. Enjoy. (Store in fridge)

This is one of them.

One day ago (as my daughter so sweetly says when retelling a story), I was feeding my Pinterest addiction and found a picture for layered lemonade cake…..holly bagolie. (when I get excited I tend to make up words)

The next thing I know, I am in the car headed to the store to get some ingredients. Now this is a big deal in itself because I HATE to go to the store, especially for just a few things. But there I was on the way to the store.

Once home I gathered my composure and ingredients and got to work.

This is hands down the best cake I have ever had. Incredibly moist, dense yet at the same time airy. The lemon isn’t to ‘slap your mama’ tart but nice and……lemony.

After consuming 1/2 the cake by my self next I want to try making it with some cherries (kinda like a cherry lemonade) or…..or….even better strawberry……oh my oh my. The possibilities are endless with this.

For the frosting I just whipped up the same base as the Oreo Cupcakes I made a while ago. Instead of crushed Oreo I put some lemon rind and more of the lemonade in.

Now that I think about it crushed Oreos would be incredible with/in this.  Back to the kitchen to make more variations.

Lemonade Cake

Adapted from myrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 6 Tbsp butter, softened
• 1 Tbsp lemon rind, grated (about ½ a lemons worth)
• 3 ½ Tbsp lemonade concentrate, thawed
• 3 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg whites
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 ¼ cup buttermilk

For the Frosting

• 5 Tbsp flour
• 1 cup milk
• ½ cup buttermilk
• ½ Tbsp lemon rind, grated
• 1 cup butter
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 Tbsp lemonade concentrate, thawed
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup powdered sugar

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9×13 inch baking dish .
2. In a gallon sized Ziploc bag combine, flour, baking powder and soda and salt. Shake to mix and set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer cream butter and sugars together. Add vanilla, lemon rind and lemonade. Mix until combine.
4. Add eggs and egg whites one at a time, mixing completely in between.
5. Add flour and buttermilk alternately into sugar mix. Mix well after each addition.
6. Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake for 25 min, or until tooth pick (or I use a spaghetti) comes out clean.
7. Remove and cool completely.
8. Meanwhile, prepare the frosting. In a saucepan, whisk flour, lemon rind, milk and buttermilk. Stir constantly. Mixture will be thick. Remove from heat and let cool to room temp.
9. In a large bowl cream butter and both regular sugar and brown sugar. Add vanilla, lemonade and powdered sugar. Add cooled flour mix and beat. If it looks separated, you didn’t beat it enough.
10. Frost cooled cake and store in fridge. Million time better cold.

There are endless ways to make them, top them and eat them.

They are the perfect companion to any BBQ.

First, pre-heat and prepare your baking sheet. Wash and begin to cut your potatoes.

Once cut let them soak in a large bowl of ice cold water and 1 tsp vinegar (this help to keep the potatoes white…you do not taste the vinegar at all once they are baked).

After 20 min in the water, remove and pat potatoes dry with paper towels.

In a large bowl combine butter, oil, salt, pepper and garlic. Toss in potatoes and coat well.

Pour on to baking sheet and bake.

Once golden and yummy looking, remove from oven and immediately top with cheese. Enjoy.

Oven Fries

Ingredients

• 5 large russet potatoes
• 3 cups ice cold water
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• ½ stick (1/4 cup) butter, melted
• ½ cup olive oil
• 2 tsp pepper
• 1 ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 cup shredded cheese (I used sharp cheddar and asiago)

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 450. Line a baking sheet with foil.
2. In a large bowl add the ice-cold water and vinegar.
3. Wash and cut your potatoes into 1-inch strips, and place in the bowl. Let soak for 20 min. Remove and pat dry.
4. In another large bowl combine butter, oil, salt, pepper and garlic. Mix until combine. Add potatoes and toss to coat.
5. Spread evenly over baking sheet and pop in the oven for 20 min. Stir/turn potatoes and bake for another 20-25 min or until golden brown.
6. Remove and immediately top with cheese. The heat will help melt the cheese.
7. Enjoy