Iron Bowl Eats and Sunday Breakfast - Three Recipes!

In Alabama, everyone has something to do on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Even if you aren't a fan of either team, you still watch Alabama and Auburn play in the Iron Bowl. Yesterday afternoon we had some family and friends over to watch the greatest rivalry in all of football, and while Mom was making some oven-smoked barbecue, I was in charge of the other snacks.

Lately I've been trying to get back to my "clean eating" regimen that I followed very strictly over the summer (and lost a good deal of weight, I might add - definitely something to look into if you are wanting to live a healthier life and feel better). But, with the holidays it's difficult to be so strict because, let me tell you, my Nana cooks literally the best southern food you will ever consume in your lifetime, and she loves cooking for everyone. Her birthday was the day after Thanksgiving this year, but she still devoted her time to make sure that everyone else in our huge family had a wonderful day together. And then there's football and the snacks that come along with that, and none of them are very healthy. So, I'm playing that game of "I'll start my diet tomorrow" at the moment.

I did attempt to make one of my favorite recipes a bit healthier yesterday, though. And when I say "a bit", I mean that there's still a lot of bacon included, I just cut out some of the not-so-healthy stuff and replaced it with something way better for you. My aunt Joy shared a bacon cream cheese dip recipe with me a few years ago, and I've made it so much since then, and I swear it's the best dip you will ever have.

Bacon Cream Cheese Dip
Ingredients:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup mayo (here I substituted a 5.3 ounce container of plain Greek yogurt; mayo has 100 calories per tablespoon, while the whole container of yogurt has 80 calories and much more protein)
• 1 cup grated Swiss cheese
• 1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
• 8 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled (or a bag of real bacon bits)
• 1/2 cup crushed Ritz crackers

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, beat together all of the cheeses and the mayo/Greek yogurt. Pour into a baking dish that has been coated with non-stick spray. Pour the crushed Ritz crackers and crumbled bacon on top, then bake for 15-20 minutes, or until bubbly. Serve with Ritz crackers or pita crackers, which is what we had yesterday. So easy and so delicious!!

I also have a pretty serious love for sweets, as any of you who have browsed my blog before already know. For some reason, lately I have been dying to make pecan pralines. I have had a recipe for them for so long, and I honestly cannot remember who/where I got it from, but they are the best pralines I've ever had. My fiance, Chad, and I went to New Orleans back in January, and while we were there I bought some pralines at a candy store. These pralines are better. My mom's best friend has a niece who is married to a chef from New Orleans who makes pralines constantly, and she gets some from him every year for Christmas. She told me yesterday that these pralines are better. I thought that was a huge compliment! I had really forgotten how great these were, and I can tell you I will be making more soon.

Pecan Pralines
Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup pecan halves
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 2 1/4 cups light brown sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 tsp. bourbon (optional - I omit this usually)
• **You will need a candy thermometer!

Line your counters or a cookie sheet with parchment/wax paper. Clip your candy thermometer to the side of your saucepan, being sure not to let the tip of the thermometer touch the bottom of the saucepan. Put the cream, butter, and brown sugar in the pan on medium/high heat. Monitor the temperature of the candy the whole time. You want the temperature to reach 240 degrees, but not go any higher than that. This is called the "soft ball" stage, meaning that if you place a drop of the candy mixture into a bowl of cold water, it will form a soft, round ball. This is the stage that creates fudge, also. Also while you are cooking, check to see if you need to stir the mixture once or twice. The pans that I use tend to scorch things a bit, so I usually have to stir more frequently than I would have to if I were using my mom's set of cookware. Once the temperature of the candy reaches 240 degrees, remove the pan from the heat and let it sit for about 15 seconds, then add the pecans, vanilla, and (if you're using it) bourbon, and stir until slightly thickened. Drop the mixture onto the parchment paper and allow to cool for 20-30 minutes.

I think I ate about three of these yesterday. I literally have no self-control when it comes to pralines. A lot of people might be getting these as part of their Christmas gifts this year! :)

Khaleesi did not appreciate all of the loud football fans and nap-time interruptions yesterday, so she stayed close to me and Chad. Or, as we like to call ourselves, "her people".

I know this is a super long post, but I have one more recipe to share with you all. I didn't exactly follow a recipe for this as much as see a picture of it on Pinterest and say, "I can do that!"

Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Crescent Rolls
Ingredients:

• 1 package of refrigerated crescent rolls (I used the Honey Butter kind because that's what we had in the fridge)
• 4 eggs, cooked scrambled style
• about 4 slices of cooked bacon, crumbled, or 1/2 bag of real bacon bits
• sharp cheddar cheese, cut into slices

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the crescent rolls, and place some of the sliced bits of cheese on the wide end. Top with a spoonful or two of scrambled eggs, then some crumbled bacon. Roll up each crescent and bake for about 15 minutes.

That's it! So easy, but really a new breakfast favorite for me. I've been wanting to make breakfast casserole for a while, but that takes a lot more ingredients and a lot more time, and these are like mini-versions of the casserole that I usually make. Maybe some time soon I will make that again and share it here.

Happy December!

Andrea

Pumpkin Bars with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Today, I was in a mood to try out a new recipe. I wanted to make some pumpkin spice cake bars, but I couldn't find a recipe that was quite what I wanted. So, I decided to make one up on my own. Usually when I do this, I end up taking a few things from multiple recipes, and take notes as I go so that I don't lose track of what I've used.

For this recipe, I decided to start with a yellow cake mix. I made some cookies a few weeks ago using a box cake mix, and they were so delicious, so I thought I'd keep the trend going while I still have box mix in the pantry.

Pumpkin Bars
Ingredients:

• 1 yellow cake mix
• 1 (3.4 oz) box of cheesecake pudding mix
• 3/4 cup butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 tsp pumpkin spice
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground cloves

First, find your favorite program on Netflix. I can't seem to cook without watching Bones or some other show that I'm currently addicted to. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk together the cake mix, pudding mix, and seasonings. Then mix in the butter, eggs, and pumpkin. Spread the mix into the cake pan, and bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow the cake bars to cool inside the pan while you make the frosting.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:

• 1 (8 oz) block of cream cheese
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 oz white chocolate, melted
• 2 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
• 2 cups confectioner's sugar
• chopped pecans

In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together on medium/high speed. Add the melted white chocolate. Once all of this is mixed together, reduce the speed to low and add the confectioner's sugar. Then, add the heavy whipping cream and continue beating until completely mixed.

Spread the cream cheese frosting over the cooled bars, then sprinkle as many chopped pecans on top as you like.

I think I might like these even more than the pumpkin spice muffins I made. The flavor is incredible, just like the muffins, but they're cakey and dense, and the frosting on top is amazing. I might not be able to eat only one two...

Happy baking!

Andrea

Crockpot Chicken Soup

I only had to work about a half of the day today, so I decided to be super-productive around the house when I got done, and I started by getting some dinner in the crockpot before I started cleaning the house. I wanted some kind of soup since it's been so cold out, but I didn't want anything too heavy. So, I decided to try out some chicken noodle soup, minus the noodles.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:

• 5 large carrots, chopped
• 5 uncooked, boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped
• about 2-3 cups celery, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup parsley, chopped
• 1-2 bay leaves
• salt and pepper to taste
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup water

I chopped up all of the ingredients, then put everything in the crockpot and cooked it on high for about 5 hours. I definitely recommend adding a bit of salt, especially if you have low-sodium broth, just to add some flavor, if you're not too concerned about sodium. I did not add any because my mother watches her sodium intake, but if I were making the soup for just myself and Chad, I would add a bit more salt. And as far as the herbs and seasonings are concerned, add as much as you like! I couldn't find any shallots at the grocery earlier, or I would have added those, as well. This recipe is pretty versatile, and it really just depends on your taste preferences. It's always nice to have dinner ready in the crockpot when you've had a busy day, though, and that's definitely what I was going for this evening!

The soup is healthy, but that grilled cheese? Not so much. But I find it nearly impossible to have soup without grilled cheese! It's always been a weakness for me.

Hopefully tomorrow (and the next few days) I will have some more recipes to post. I always go crazy with baking over the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks!

Andrea

Lately...

This semester is FINALLY almost over! I got to teach some of the kindest, funniest, and smartest third graders at a school in Hoover, and I was so sad that Thursday was my last day with them. Two of the girls cried as I was leaving, and it broke my heart, but it reminded me of why I chose to pursue being a teacher in the first place- to (hopefully) be a positive influence in the lives of the young people I have the pleasure of teaching, and to teach them more than just the facts from textbooks. Not every child has a good home life, and we might be the only smiling face they see every day, and the only one offering kind words to them. I cannot wait to find out which school I will be at next semester. Hopefully I will have an update for you all very soon! :)

Now, since this semester I have been insanely busy, I'll just share some pictures of what I've been up to over the past couple of months. Not all of these are of things I have baked, and I'm thinking of turning this into more of a student teaching, baking, wedding planning, life blog, so be looking for that soon, too!

Pumpkin spice bread! I used the same recipe as the pumpkin spice muffins, I just put it in a bundt pan instead of muffin tins.  

It fell apart, but it was soooo yummy! I added a glaze with the pecans to the top. Delish!

Chad loving on our sweet Khaleesi before she got a hair cut for our engagement pictures. I love my little family!

She's slightly bald now. That just means she cuddles a little more at night because she's missing her blanket, I mean hair. 

The third graders built some landforms using model magic, and then their friends had to guess which landforms they built! This was an awesome review, and probably the majority of the class's favorite activity we did while I was with them. I love anything that eliminates worksheets and gives them something to do that is hands-on, and this was one of the ways we did that this semester. 

Mini cupcakes for a couple's shower! 

White hot chocolate! Mmmm :) 

This was part of our introduction to rocks and minerals. Students learned about what a geologist is, and then we read Everybody Needs a Rock, and they used the rules from the book to select their own rock to study. 

Bookmarks I made for the kids on my last day. I think I had more fun with them than the kids!

They loved these goodie bags, and so did I! 

My gifts from the kids and the teacher on the last day. They each made a card, and they were so sweet! 

Now that it's Thanksgiving break, I'll hopefully get to do some more holiday baking to share with you all! 

Happy holidays!

Andrea  

Lingerie Showers and S'mores Cookies

I am a couple of weeks behind on posting this because my life has been crazy busy lately. I just finished my last day of college classes ever, meaning that next week I will start three days a week at the elementary school I'm placed in for this semester, and next semester will be student teaching! It's crazy to think that by this time next year I will *hopefully* have a teaching position and a classroom of my very own. (Crossing my fingers, toes, and eyes for this. And praying. A LOT.)

Anyway, remember my post about the Couple's Shower I made about a month ago? Well, two weeks ago was the lingerie shower! Another lovely bridesmaid was the primary hostess this time, but we all pitched in to make it a super fun and memorable night for the (at the time) bride-to-be. We had a lipstick print sign in table, a "How well do you know the groom?" game for her to play, telephone pictionary (which was HILARIOUS, by the way, I definitely recommend this for any shower that you want to spice up a bit), and "personality panties", which is a game where the bride has to match panties to the person she thinks brought them. When she guesses correctly, she gets to open that person's gift. It was so funny! I won't go into details, but I threw her for a loop with the pair that I brought.

Of course, I also provided much of the food. Why? Because I love to do that! You should know that by now if you've known me or followed my blog for any length of time.

Since it was so late in the evening, we really only had some snacks and drinks, nothing too extravagant. But it was perfect for the small group we had. There were cupcakes (which I'm not even going to bother sharing the recipe for because they tasted great at first but they did not withstand the test of time... and by that I mean that they sucked the day after I made them), chips, guacamole, white chocolate pecan honey sticks, and.... s'mores cookies.

Yep, s'mores cookies. I've made these several times and realized I still had not shared the recipe on my blog. There are a ton of recipes out there for these, but I'm going to share the one I have always used because it's literally mouth watering. Seriously, you don't even have to cook this stuff, just eat the dough. I'm not kidding. Try it.

S'mores Cookies

Ingredients:
2 sticks of butter, soft
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 3/4 cup self-rising flour
1 cup crushed graham crackers (to do this, I take one of the sleeves that are prepackaged and put that many sheets into a big Ziploc bag and go over it with a rolling pin until all of them have been crushed into very tiny crumbs)
 1 1/2 cup mini marshmallows
3 large Hershey bars, chopped

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 375. While you wait, cream together the butter and both the white and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, making sure that each has been completely incorporated before adding the next, scraping the bowl as needed. Add vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour and the graham cracker crumbs, then add it to the butter mixture and beat until it is incorporated, being careful not to over-beat. Scoop the cookie dough onto a baking sheet. I use baking stones for more even, non-stick baking, but if you have regular baking sheets, line them with parchment paper so the cookies won't stick to the pan. Also, I use an ice cream scoop to scoop the dough onto the baking sheet because I like big cookies. Bake for about 8-10 minutes, then remove them from the oven. Mash down 2 or 3 pieces of the chopped Hershey's chocolate bars into each cookie, then about 4 or 5 of the mini marshmallows. Place the pans back into the oven for 2-4 minutes, or until the marshmallows look a little browned on the tops. Allow them to cool for about ten minutes, then transfer them to a wire wrack.

YUM!

This weekend, I have another twist on the Pumpkin Spice Muffins that I plan to share sometime next week, so be on the lookout for that!

Andrea

Oh, P.S., Nikki and Chase are now Mr. and Mrs.! Their wedding was absolutely, insanely beautiful! I definitely recommend that you go and check out a little bit of the details over at Allison Lewis Photography Blog! So much wedding inspiration! I can't seem to get enough of that these days :)

Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake Swirl Brownies

Do I realize that this is the third pumpkin spice recipe I have posted, in a row, in the last two weeks? Yes. Do I regret this decision? Absolutely not.

I was working on homework one day last week, thinking in the back of my mind what kind of coffee I wanted to get the next morning before heading to class (tall skinny mocha with 2 shots of pumpkin spice), when I suddenly had an idea. I could use my favorite brownie recipe and change up my cheesecake swirl recipe to be a pumpkin spice cheesecake swirl. I was so proud of my completely original idea that I wrote it down on the "Notes" section of my dry erase calendar. (Side note: the next day, I saw a very similar recipe on Pinterest and was so disappointed that my completely original idea was not so original.)

Despite the disheartening realization that my idea wasn't unheard of, I decided to give it a go with my own recipe anyway. And let me tell you... these are fabulous. It could be that I simply haven't had chocolate in a while so any chocolate I can get my hands on is like ambrosia. I'm not entirely sure. But I do know that I will be saving this recipe to use and reuse again in the future.

Ingredients:
Brownies
1 stick of butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup unsweet cocoa powder
4 tablespoons vegetable shortening/oil
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup self-rising flour
Swirl
12 ounces low-fat cream cheese, softened
6 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
about 1 1/2 - 2 teaspoons of pumpkin spice (I did not measure this, I just dashed a bit in until it tasted yummy)
about 1 teaspoon of cinnamon (same with this, no real measuring, just taste-testing)

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray, then line the bottom of the pan with wax paper or parchment paper. This will make it so much easier to take out of the pan. There is nothing more disappointing to me than half of my brownie sticking to the bottom of a pan.

Next, melt the butter, shortening/oil, and cocoa powder in a medium saucepan over medium/low heat, stirring continuously. Remove the pan from heat once everything has melted, and whisk in the sugar, then the remaining ingredients, until smooth. Spread the brownie batter into the pan.

Then, using a hand mixer or a standing mixer, mix the cream cheese, sugar, egg, pumpkin, and spices in a bowl until completely smooth. Taste-test your mixture to make sure you like the amount of spices you have added. Some people don't like the pumpkin spice seasoning at all, some can't get enough of it. I'm one of the latter. I kept adding and adding and adding because I wanted that spicy fall flavor to really stick out with the richness of the brownie.

Once you've got your cheesecake swirl prepared, pour it on top of the brownie mixture. Then, using a butter knife or an icing spatula, swirl it around with the brownie batter so that the top of the mixture has a marbled look.

Bake for about 35 minutes or more, until a toothpick comes out clean from the center, then let them cool, cut them up, and enjoy! 

Formerly "Lovey's Confections"

I was having a discussion with one of my very best friends, Sofia, the other day. If you don't know her, she's hilarious and wonderful and has really great hair. I literally send her pictures of everything I cook because she gets really jealous of all the food I stress-bake. The other day, I mentioned to her that I had a great idea to try brownies with a pumpkin spice cheesecake swirl (which I did make, and will be posting the recipe to very soon!), to which she responded:

"You can basically make anyone do anything for you ever by luring them with food like a pastry siren."

Pastry siren? Yes!

If you don't know me, then you probably aren't aware that I love mermaids, and I have ever since I first saw The Little Mermaid when I was two years old shouting, "FISH!" for two hours in a crowded movie theater. I have a mermaid collection that has accumulated over the last 23 years of my life, and my Christmas tree is nothing but mermaid ornaments. Mermaids are everywhere in my room and general living spaces. Get the idea? Good.

So, after 5 years of baking and blogging under the name "Lovey's Confections", I am officially changing the blog name (and maybe one day pastry shop name) to Pastry Siren. I think it fits me much better!

See you soon with more recipes!
Andrea

P.S. Sofia, don't worry, I didn't forget that one day you will get lifetime free cupcakes for contributing the name of my business!