Cake Batter Truffles

Do you remember when Cold Stone first came out with cake batter flavored ice cream? Did you know my husband is the one that came up with the idea?

When we walked into waffle cone smelling Cold Stone and saw that they had cake battered flavored ice cream he said, "They stole my idea!"

Back in 2005, I was nine months pregnant with our first son working full time in Provo while John was staying with my family in Arizona training for football, trying to make it to the next level. I was a little bummed with the situation. I was hormonal and lonely while my husband was celebrating holidays and having game night with all my family. But it was what we had to do at the time. 

During one of their game nights, he came up with a concoction of mixing real cake batter with vanilla ice cream. Genius...but not likely to pass the health safety laws. I don't think his shock collar for screaming kids would ever pass the safety either but it would be awfully nice for church.

So when we walked into Cold Stone that night he probably had the same feeling the Winklevoss brothers had when they found out that Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook. Doh!  Too little, too late.



Chilled cake batter dough balls.



To say that I've been obsessed with cake batter flavored goodies lately is putting it mildly. I've been racking my husband's, friend's, and my own mind trying to think of cake batter flavored things I can make.

I tried making a couple versions of cake batter frosting...disastrous.

I tried using crushed vanilla Oreos and cream cheese covered in cake batter sauce modeled after my favorite Oreo Truffles to come up with a cake batter like truffle. But turns out although they were tasty, they didn't taste anything like cake batter. Finally, after several attempts at these cake batter truffles, this version won the taste test and my cakes earned a trip to the gym.

These aren't cake balls, these aren't cake pops. These are cake batter dough balls dipped in cake batter almond bark and topped with sprinkles.



Cake Batter Truffles

by The Girl Who Ate Everything


1 ½ cups flour

1 cup yellow cake mix

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

½ cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/8 teaspoon salt

3-4 Tablespoons milk

2 Tablespoons sprinkles

Truffle Coating:

16 ounces (8 squares) almond bark (or white candy melts)

4 Tablespoons yellow cake mix

sprinkles


Beat together butter and sugar using an electric mixer until combined. Add cake mix, flour, salt, and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Add 3 Tablespoons of milk or more if needed to make a dough consistency. Mix in sprinkles by hand. Roll dough into one inch balls and place on a parchment or wax paper lined cookie sheet. Chill balls in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to firm up.


While dough balls are chilling, melt almond bark in the microwave in 30 second intervals until melted. Stir between intervals. Once melted, quickly stir in cake mix until incorporated completely. Using a fork, dip truffles into almond bark and shake of excess bark by tapping the bottom of the fork on the side of your bowl. Place truffle back on the cookie sheet and top with sprinkles. Repeat with remaining balls until finished.

Chill cake batter truffles in the refrigerator until serving. Makes around 24-30 truffles.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

I have major phone envy right now.

I'm not someone who has to have the latest "things"....BUT my husband just qualified for an upgrade on his phone and bought the new IPhone. I want it. I want to be able to play games and access the Internet whenever I want.

But I've been banned from having a nice phone. I go through phones about as fast as I go through butter in my house. In my defense, it's usually because one of my kids either tried to flush it down the toilet or threw it down the stairs.

My last phone died because it fell out of my "Christy Pocket", as my friends like to call it, and into the toilet as I leaned over to throw something in the trash. For years I've been carrying my phone in my bra. Occasionally my lipstick or credit card will jump in there too but usually it's just my phone. It's awfully convenient since I don't always have pockets and I'm sure to hear it since it's always in close proximity.

Not sure when I started using the "Christy Pocket" but I learned from the best...my mom. She's been holding her lipstick there for years. It's always shocking when she sneaks it out of there because she one of the most prudish people I know. Ironically, the woman who showed me the ways is the same one who got after me for saying the word "bra" in front of my husband when we were dating.

Why not use a purse? I'm not a purse girl *gasp*. I have friends who have entire closets for just their purses so I realize I might have lost you after that last sentence. But it's the truth. If I ever get the chance to go shopping by myself and am NOT carrying the baby backpack, I carry a man wallet with my cards and I.D. I finally broke down and had my MIL help me pick out a purse for emergencies...like date night.

So unless they create an IPhone that can survive a 10 foot drop and toilet submersion I'm left wanting. Or I'm going to have to become a purse girl.

Speaking of wanting...my friend Heidi has this salad as the header on her blog and every time I go there I want it. She's made it for us before but now that she's gone I had to make it myself. Strawberries are really good and cheap now in Florida (not sure about the rest of the states) so I've been stocking up. This salad is simple and light. It has fresh strawberries, toasted almonds, and a vinaigrette dressing that is the perfect compliment to the strawberries.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Source: Heidi from Schaeffer Girl's Grub

9 cups fresh spinach leaves
1 pint (2 cups) fresh strawberries, sliced
1/2 cups sliced almonds, toasted

Dressing:
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon finely chopped red or white onion
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (a couple shakes of the bottle)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Toast almonds in a small skillet over medium heat for a couple of minutes to brown and bring out the flavor.

In a large bowl, combine the spinach, strawberries. and almonds. Place dressing ingredients in a blender; cover and process until combined. You can make the dressing ahead of time and store in the refrigerator. Pour over salad right before serving and toss to coat. Serve immediately. Makes 6-8 servings.

*Make it into a meal by adding some sliced grilled chicken.

Saltine Cracker Toffee

A clear indication that my life has gotten really busy is the lack of blog updates. Life this week has been pretty crazy. I've been washing two weeks of vacation laundry, getting into fender benders, taking kids to the doctor for strep throat, baking a whole lot of goodies for a church function, and getting ready for our friends to come stay with us.

But I haven't forgotten this little blog of mine. In fact, I've been really reminiscent (thank you spell checker) lately and have been thinking about all the recipes that have been passed on to me from my family. This saltine cracker toffee comes from my grandma. My grandma Peterson always had her house stocked with See's chocolates and her fridge stocked with Dilly Bars from Dairy Queen. Not the small factory made ones they have now. The huge handmade Dilly Bars with the big swirl in the middle. Although you and allrecipes probably have 10,324 versions of this, this is the one my grandma made. So there.

And if you've never made this saltine cracker toffee you are in for a treat. It's a toffee made with saltine crackers for that extra crunch topped with melted chocolate. Simple. Easy.

Just line em up.

This is what it should look like in the oven.

Saltine Cracker Toffee

by Grandma Peterson

40 salted saltine crackers or enough to line your pan
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups milk chocolate or semisweet chocolate chips
(optional) 3/4 cup chopped pecans

*You can either use salted butter or salted saltines but not both. I used salted crackers and unsalted butter in this one.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Line saltine crackers in a single layer on the cookie sheet. 
 
In a small pot combine sugar and butter and bring to a boil. Once mixture is at a boil, continue boiling for 3 minutes. Mixture should be a deep caramel color. Immediately pour over saltines and spread to cover crackers completely.

Bake at 400 degrees for 5 to 6 minutes. It will get all bubbly. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over the top and let sit a couple of minutes to melt. Sometimes I melt the chocolate chips in the microwave for about 1 minute then spread it on. Spread melted chocolate and top with chopped nuts if desired. Cool completely and break into pieces.

Shamrock Pizza Squares for St. Patrick's Day

I forgot today was St. Patrick's Day. How?...I have no idea. I've been blogging about it for about a week now. We are in Marco Island for my husband's work function so this morning the kids were eating breakfast before heading to morning Beach Camp with their friends and I realized they weren't wearing any green. I just imagined them getting pinched and teased all day because of my forgetfullness. Lucky for me, in the middle of the breakfast table there were St. Patrick's Day stickers and necklaces.

So even though I was a crappy mom today, I at least remembered earlier this week and made these cute Shamrock Pizza Squares. It's a basic pizza but I added cream cheese and seasonings to the pizza sauce because I believe cream cheese makes all things better. Green bell peppers make the perfect shamrocks. An easy fun treat for St. Patty's Day!

The weather is gorgeous right now in Florida. This time of year is what sends snowbirds flocking to us. Although my little Brocky still tells me that he's freezing (it's 80 degrees).

I must be lucky because this is what we woke up to this morning. So now we are off to play in the ocean with the boys and get sand in places where the sun doesn't shine.

Shamrock Pizza Squares Recipe Here

White Chocolate Frito Popcorn

With rainbows and gold on my mind, I've been thinking of things that are worth their weight in gold from my own life experiences:

1) Diapers on a 5 hour airplane flight. (Not for me...for my baby :))
2) An Ipod with more than two songs on it while running a marathon. ABBA, I can never listen to you again. Sorry.
3) A babysitter that is young enough to text but mature enough to know that cake isn't actually considered dinner for kids AND letting my kids play with my bras and throw them around the house isn't gonna win brownie points with me.

From your experience, what is worth its weight in gold?

I know I've been on a popcorn kick lately but THIS popcorn has FRITO'S in it!! The salty/sweet combo is killer. You can customize it for every holiday. You can usually find bags of green M&Ms at Target but I just had the regular bag so I let my little munchkins pick out all of the green M&Ms with their freshly washed hands (germaphobe here). I made this for game night and the Denneys and McMullins gave it the stamp of approval.

White Chocolate Frito Popcorn

from YourHomeBasedMom

8 cups of popped popcorn

1 lb. (16 ounces) white chocolate or almond bark
2 cups Frito's, crushed
M&M’s

Pop corn according to package directions. I used 2 bags of microwave popcorn. Put popped corn and crushed Fritos into a large bowl. Make sure to get all of the unpopped kernels ("grannies") out or someone will break their tooth. Melt chocolate in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until melted. Pour melted chocolate over popcorn mixture and stir to coat completely. Pour onto a wax paper or parchment paper lined cookie sheet and sprinkle with M&Ms. Allow to cool and dry.

Double Rainbow Pancakes

Did you guys see the Double Rainbow viral video that blew up on the web last year about a guy freaking out over a Double Rainbow while hiking?

"What does it MEAN?"  :)

The video inspired a week of "Double Rainbow" treats over at Tablespoon. It was so popular that they brought back Double Rainbow week again this month filled with double rainbow bagels, cupcakes, donuts...you name it. They asked me to come up with Double Rainbow Pancakes. The Rainbow part was a no brainer but the double rainbow part had me thinking. Wilton gel colors are strong so you only have to use a little coloring. How could you not be happy waking up to these?

Double Rainbow Pancakes

Rainbow pancakes topped with a fresh fruit rainbow.

Even the cleanup is pretty.

Hot Reuben Dip for St. Patrick's Day

Thanksgiving and Christmas are holidays that are always filled with food that I look forward to all year long. St. Patrick's Day, on the other hand, has always left me wanting in the food department. I've never been too excited about corned beef and sauerkraut but I try to keep an open mind about food. My husband is obsessed with Reuben sandwiches so when I saw this dip I thought it was a sure bet to earn some points with my hubby. I've actually never had a Reuben sandwich but my husband and friends we had over for game night vouched that it tastes just like one.

I will warn you this may be the ugliest dip you ever make.

I take that back. It ties with our beloved Buffalo Chicken Dip for the ugliest dip I've ever made.

BUT it has a lot of personality and flavor to make up for it. Just know that the men will love you for it on St. Patrick's Day...because they won't care what it looks like.

Hot Reuben Dip

Source: Brown Eyed Baker

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1½ cups (6 ounces) shredded Swiss cheese
4 ounces deli sliced corned beef, chopped
½ cup Thousand Island dressing
½ cup drained sauerkraut (my family liked a little more...around 3/4 cup)
cocktail size rye bread squares (I found mine in our deli section)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. In a large bowl mix together the cream cheese, 1 cup of Swiss cheese, the dressing and chopped corned beef. Spread in a pie plate or other shallow serving dish. Top with the sauerkraut and the remaining ½ cup of Swiss cheese.

3. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until bubbly around the edges. Serve on cocktail-size rye bread squares.

Notes: Just ask your deli for sliced corned beef then give it a chop before you add it to the dip.

Sausage and Escarole Pasta

I've been snowboarding the past couple of days in Colorado and all I have to say is Owww! I think no matter how good of shape you are in, snowboarding (and skiing) is a workout bound to get parts of your body you never knew you had sore. Not to mention the altitude change from Florida to Denver. I was winded just walking to the lift. I had my share of spills and my husband happened to catch a couple of big ones on camera. Glad I can relive those over and over.

With St. Patrick's Day around the corner I was listing a couple of my favorite green foods on the side and realized that I've never posted this Sausage and Escarole Pasta. My old roommate Steph emailed this to me a while ago. We were roomies forever and she and I shared the love for food so I trusted her. I had never cooked with escarole and quite frankly it scared me. So I emailed her back and said escarole...really? I wasn't really even sure what it was (it's a kind of lettuce). She reassured me that and said it was one of her family favorites. I changed it just a little bit to make the sauce thicker but the amazing flavor is the same.

Sausage and Escarole Pasta Recipe

Mardi Gras Gumbo

Mardi Gras is here! What are you guys doing for it? I'm headed off to the slopes to snowboard but I couldn't go without leaving you with some New Orleans style gumbo. Head over to Tablespoon where I give some tips for making a stellar gumbo and for the recipe.

Sausage, Chicken, and Shrimp Gumbo

Skinny Chicken Parmesan

URL Update: Hey guys! I switched domains to http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/. Don't worry if you still are directed to http://www.thegirlwhoateeverything.blogspot/ it will direct you to the new URL automatically. But if you are impatient like me and can't wait that extra millisecond, feel free to update your bookmarks.

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I love chicken Parmesan because it's a meal the whole family will eat without complaint. I usually make my SIL Kimi's Parmesan Chicken which I've been making for years which is why my picture is terrible of it because I took it way back in the day. Although it's not completely bad for you since it's baked not fried it does use a lot of butter and could be lightened up a bit. I've seen a healthier version of this over at Skinny Taste and have wanted to try this because it's almost identical to Kimi's but healthified a bit down to 225 calories per serving. Gina has tons of awesome healthy recipes so check her out. John didn't even know I had made any changes to our regular dish. I added some garlic and Italian seasonings and served this with a little whole wheat spaghetti!

Skinny Chicken Parmesan

adapted slightly from Skinny Taste

4 (8 oz) chicken breast halves, sliced in half
3/4 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Italian seasonings
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp butter, melted
3/4 cup reduced fat mozzarella cheese
1 cup marinara sauce
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 450°. Line a large baking sheet with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.

Combine breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, and Italian seasonings in a shallow bowl. Melt the butter in another bowl. Lightly brush the butter onto the chicken, then dip into breadcrumb mixture. Place on baking sheet and repeat with the remaining chicken.

Lightly spray chicken with a little more cooking spray (this makes it crispy) and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, spoon sauce over chicken and top with shredded cheese. Bake 5 more minutes or until cheese is melted and chicken is done. Serve over whole wheat spaghetti or with a salad.

Makes 8 servings. 225 calories per serving (4 ounce breast)