Peanut Butter Cup Brownies Recipe

These are my ultimate favorite and my greatest weakness - Peanut Butter Cup Brownies. They are actually super easy and dangerously delicious. Chocolate and peanut butter lovers, consider yourself warned.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter (softened)
1 Tablespoon water
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup milk chocolate chips
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 12 muffin cups.

2) Combine sugar, butter and water. Microwave on high for 45 seconds (or until butter is melted).

3) Stir in 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and stir until all chips are melted. Stir in egg and vanilla extract.

4) Add flour and baking soda, stirring until combined well. Allow the batter to cool to room temperature (5 minutes or so).

5) Stir in 3/4 cup milk chocolate chips and remaining 1/4 semi-sweet chocolate chips.

6) Spoon batter evenly into the 12 muffin cups. Bake for 13 - 15 minutes.

7) After the brownies are out of the over, if the centers did not fall in, gently tap them with the back of a spoon to create a hole in the middle.

8) Microwave peanut butter for 45 seconds on high. While the brownies are still warm, spoon peanut butter into the center hole of each brownie. Top with remaining chocolate chips.

9) Cool completely or eat warm. Either way is delish!

Creamy White Chicken Lasagna Rollups Recipe

With the help of Pinterest, I have found the ambition to try cooking. Baking, I love, cooking I hate but some of these recipes just looked too good not to try. I found a recipe for these white chicken lasagna rollups and they turned out amazing!

Ingredients:
7-9 lasagna noodles
2 cups boneless chicken breast (cooked and shredded)
2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup shredded Romano cheese
1/4 cup fresh parsley (chopped)
2 8 oz packages of cream cheese (softened)
1 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Make the lasagna noodles according to the package. Drain pasta and line up noodles in a single line on a large piece of wax paper.

3) In a mixing bowl, combine shredded chicken, 1 cup Mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, Romano cheese and 3 Tablespoons fresh parsley. Set aside.

4) In a bowl using an electric hand mixer on low speed, blend together cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Then mix in milk, dried basil, garlic powder, onion powder and salt and pepper to taste.

5) Pour half of the cream cheese mixture into the chicken mixture and toss until evenly coated.

6) Spread chicken mixture evenly onto each lasagna noodle. Then roll the noodles to the opposite end.

7) Spread 1/4 cup of the remaining cream cheese mixture in the bottom of a 9 x 9 inch dish or whatever size you use.

8) Align pasta side by side into the baking dish. Cover each lasagna roll evenly with remaining cream cheese mixture. Make sure the tops of the pasta has been covered so the noodles don't dry out during baking.

9) Sprinkle the top evenly with the remaining 1 cup of Mozzarella cheese.

10) Bake for 25 - 30 minutes. Sprinkle the top evenly with remaining 1 Tablespoon of fresh parsley before serving.

As an extra tip - These are great the next day too!

American Girl Birthday Party

My daughter turned 7 back in January which in itself is unbelievable.  Time really does fly when you have kids.  What's even more crazy is that it's taken me almost 2 months to blog about her American Girl Birthday Party!

I want to begin with a disclaimer that this American Girl party did not cost a fortune like some of the parties you see on Pinterest.  I don't have the time, nor money to go all out crazy.  With that being said, I'm almost 99% sure they had just as much fun as those who have full blown American Girl party.

The agenda for the night included:

• Doll time (most of the night)
• Design your own headbands
• American Girl word searches, scrambles, mysteries, etc.
• Printable American Girl party hats to decorate for both the girls and dolls.
• Jewelry making
• Treats! Treats! Treats!

I actually had a lot of fun getting all the treats ready for the party.  The first treat I made were Mini Raspberry Pop Tarts.  The recipe I originally had were more putzy to make then I thought, but with some shortcuts, they weren't too bad and the girls really did love them.  The recipe had them on Popsicle sticks but I skipped that step as fingers worked much better anyway!

The second treat we made were Tiny Fairy Cakes.  I had bought my daughter a Fairy Cookbook awhile back from school.  It is full of miniature goodies that fit perfectly with the American Girl party theme.  These Tiny Fairy Cakes are super easy to make and take under a half hour start to finish (depending on how picky you are decorating).  Decorating and frosting them take just as long as making them.  Plus, they're mini so you can make double batches without using much of anything in terms of ingredients.

Once the girls all arrived at the birthday party they had to of course get their American Girl dolls ready for the night by changing into PJs since it was a sleepover.  After a good hour of doll playing time and eating half the treats, the girls went ahead and designed their own headbands.  This actually didn't cost us anything as my daughter received the headband kit as a gift.  The only thing I did purchase was some feathers for the girls to add to them too!

After the headbands were done, they went back to playing with their American Girl dolls again.  Once it got later in the evening, and their energy was wearing down they decided to do some of the printable activities I found.  Let me just say that the American Girl website has an amazing selection of printable activities for just about every doll.  I was able to customize word finds and pictures for each of the girls dolls which they found pretty neat!

After more doll playing, make your own ice cream sundaes, jewelry making, midnight snacks and watching Jessie and Full House episodes, they finally crashed for the night.  The next day about an hour before the girls were to leave, the birthday girl realized they had been having so much fun that she never opened her gifts!  Of course we made goodie bags (actually we had pink pails) for each of the guests to take home that included nail polish, tattoos, candy, lip gloss, gum and some little accessories for the dolls.  Success!

Have you created a themed birthday party before?  Share your secrets and tips in the comments below!