Easy FAST Desserts

This past weekend was really busy! Family photos with B*Pretty Photography and a harvest party. Good times and very busy! These are the yummy treats I made to take along.   REALLY super easy desserts that take NO TIME at all-REALLY!

 # 1. Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars 

 2 rolls of refrigerated choc. chip cookie dough

2 pkges of cream cheese(or I used the 1/3 less  fat version...cut corners where ya can!)

2 eggs

1/4 c. sugar

soften cookie dough and cream cheese for 15-20 min before you start 

preheat oven to 375

grease 13x9 

press 3/4 of the cookie dough in to bottom of pan

mix cream cheese, eggs and sugar with an electric mixer till smooth and creamy and spread on top of cookie dough.

take remaining cookie dough and break into Small pieces and sprinkle on top of cream cheese mixture.

bake 35 min.

ENJOY!

#2. S'mores Bars

1 roll of refrigerated cookie dough 

1 cup chocolate chips

3 cups mini marshmallows

2 tablespoons shortening

preheat oven to 375

grease 13x9 pan

press cookie dough into pan and bake for 12 min till edges are golden

top with marshmallows and bake for 2-3 min.

put chocolate chips into resealable food baggie with shortening and microwave at 30 second intervals until melted and smooth. cut a tiny hole in one corner and drizzle over marshmallow. cool in fridge till set and ENJOY!!!

I really hope you make and love these easy dessert bars!

Thanks for stopping by   

Jessica :)

Lasagna for Dinner UPDATE!

OK today I would like to talk about LASAGNA! My last lasagna post was about if I could not OR could make a decent delish lasagna. Well I may have succeeded... It's of off the back of a Barilla No Boil Flat Home-style Lasagna Noodles. It is very good and it also passed the leftover test in my house! I know that if my family will eat it a day or two later and STILL comment on how good it is, then it's a KEEPER!

Keep in mind that if you wanted to use whole wheat no boil noodles you can and they do make them. No boil makes it much easier and faster for week night dinner.

Also my Hubby doesn't like soft cheeses so I omitted that and the eggs and used shredded cheddar and mozzarella. You can find this recipe on the back of the box too!

Ingredients:  1 box of Barilla no boil lasagna.2 eggs.1 15 oz container of ricotta. 4 cups shredded mozzarella(divided).1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese. 1lbs of Italian sausage or ground beef(brown, crumble & drain). 2 jars of your fav sauce.

Preparation: Preheat oven to 375. Spray 13x9 pan with cooking spray. in medium bowl mix ricotta and egg.stir in the parm and half the mozzarella. 

To Assemble: When layering lasagna, slightly overlap noodles. The noodles will expand during cooking. Be sure to seal in the edges so that during the cooking. 

Layer in the following order *this is where I did my own thing because I didn't use the ricotta filling* but this is what the box says...

1. Spread 1 cup sauce on bottom of pan.
2. layer 4 UNCOOKED sheets, 1/3 ricotta mix, half browned meat, 1 cup of mozzarella and 1 cup sauce.
3. layer 4 uncooked sheets, 1/3 ricotta mix, and 1 1/2 cups sauce.
4. layer 4 uncooked sheets, the remaining ricotta and meat and 1 cup sauce.
5. layer 4 uncooked sheets, remaining sauce and cheese. 

Bake covered for 50-60 minutes, uncover and cook 5 min or till cheese if fully melted. 12 servings. SO EASY and GOOD! If you try this and like to share how it turned out...POST in comment box! :) Thanks for reading :)

Whoopie Pies (Guest post)

Hello! I am so happy to be invited to share with you! Although I don't enjoy cooking like my wonderful friend Jess. I am all about working ahead in my kitchen so I don't have to think about baking or cooking for a few days. ( or weeks) First let me share a bout my little (younger by 2 yrs.) sister. She has an inspected Commercial kitchen where (before her 4 babies) she baked oodles of yummy stuff to sell at local Farmers Markets. So every once in a while she has a need to get elbow deep into sugary stuff and she invites me to help! We mix up HUGE batches of batter. I mean these mixing bowls are so large that i could bathe my 2 yr. old in them! So amid the clouds of flour and powdered sugar we are chatting our hearts out like only sisters can... and at the end of the day we have PILEs of these yummy Whoopie Pies to put in our freezer. And never fails, one day I sent one of my daughters to the freezer to bring us some dessert and they say 'all gone'. And like always I will say 'You've got to be kidding me! How could we eat all those whoopie pies in such a short time?" So here you go! try your own hand at this Pennsyvania Dutch tradition!

"A whoopie pie (alternatively called a gob, black-and-white, bob, or 'BFO' for Big Fat Oreo) is a baked good made of two round mound-shaped pieces of chocolate cake, sometimes pumpkin cake, with a sweet, creamy frosting sandwiched between them.[1] While considered a New England phenomenon and a Pennsylvania Amish tradition,[2] they are increasingly sold throughout the United States.[1] According to food historians, Amish women would bake these (known as hucklebucks at the time) and put them in farmers' lunchboxes. When farmers would find these treats in their lunch, they would shout 'Whoopie"

Lasagna for dinner

This isn't the recipe for lasagna....I apologize if I mislead you with the title BUT....




 I am making it for tonight. The reason I am posting about lasagna is I have only made it a few times and messed up each and EVERY time! I am really really trying to make some that tastes good and pleases my hubby's palate(He dislikes soft cheeses)

So this last week I have just been making the usual meals our family likes. Last night it was a roasted chicken with mixed veggies and sweet potato fries. Tonight will be taco...my kids FAV! Even with tacos I will do things like buy ground turkey instead of beef and get whole wheat tortillas instead  flour and offer corn too. If you need some inspiration for paticular foods or special needs diets check outMeals Matter(www.mealsmatter.org)

Slow cooker Meals: Potato Leek Chicken Thighs

Chicken thighs skinned and trimmed well

Leeks washed really good because they are sandy, and sliced

Slow cooker

Taters

Sliced and with the leeks

Chicken stock in a box

The soup mix

Here it is all assembled

And the final product :) I only needed to add salt-n-pepper

So yesterday I did one of the slow cooker meals and it was pretty good. It took longer than the recipe said(for my slow cooker at least) and you can check the recipe HERE. It is Potato leek chicken thighs. It was really easy and very tasty. I made some variations to it though. I used boxed chicken stock instead of water and I used onion soup mix instead of the leek soup. My local grocery store didn't carry leek soup mix so I choose onion. It was still very good. Well worth trying out! Another tip: make sure you trim your chicken thighs VERY WELL...no skin or excess fat. Serve with a veggie side or a salad, salt n pepper to taste and enjoy! :)