Baked Pumpkin Donuts Recipe December 16, 2021October 25, 2017 Happy Wednesday! Did you know that it’s also National Baked Pumpkin Donut Day??? Juuuuuuuuust kidding ????! I looked. It doesn’t exist. And it should, because these donuts are very deserving of their own national holiday! I mean… if there’s a “Stay Home Because You are Well Day” and a “Chicken Soup for the Soul” day (yeah, those are real), then Baked Pumpkin Donut Day should definitely be happening. In fact, let’s just declare today is National Baked Pumpkin Donut Day. Technically, it’s King Tut Day (????). But… I’m pretty sure I’d rather celebrate donuts. You? I usually prefer frying my homemade donuts. Like these copycat Krispy Kreme Donuts, or these Heavenly Hash Donuts, or these Apple Cider Donuts, or these Bacon Fried Chicken and Donuts… mmmmmmmm. But I know a lot of you are pretty wary of frying stuff, and baking donuts seems to be generally more acceptable to everyone. So I’ve been working on trying more baked donut recipes that I can share with you guys. This Chocolate Baked Cake Donut, for starters, is insanely delicious. SO GOOD. Today’s recipe marks another baked donut in the books, and you pumpkin crazies out there are going to love this one. They are soft, soft, SOFT! And full of fragrant pumpkin spice. Also: super easy. All you have to do is mix one cake mix (yellow or white) with one can of pumpkin puree and add a touch of pumpkin pie spice. Give ’em a dunk in cinnamon sugar, and you’re good to go! These donuts are delicious when warm straight out of the oven (aren’t all donuts??), and they are best eaten on the day you bake them. This isn’t really a make-ahead kind of recipe, but they’re so easy to make so that’s not really a big deal. This is the donut pan I used, it’s only about $7 on Amazon and you could have it in two days with Prime. But if you’re not looking to buy a new donut pan, you could always bake these in a muffin tin instead if you wanted. Enjoy 🙂 And Happy National Baked Pumpkin Donut Day ????.
A Better No Churn Ice Cream (and Frozen Yogurt) Recipe December 16, 2021June 27, 2017 This is THE PERFECT no churn ice cream recipe thanks to a secret ingredient. It’s just two ingredients (like the other famous no churn recipe), but this one has a way better texture, and it’s not overly sweet! It seriously tastes and feels JUST LIKE real ice cream. YOU GUYS!! I am so so so so sososososoooooooooooooooooo crazy excited to share this recipe with you today. Did I mention I’m pretty pumped?? I’m SO pumped. Why? Because I FINALLY have a two-ingredient, no-churn (read no machine required!) homemade ice cream that really, truly, 1000% tastes like ice cream. Really! Have you ever made 2-ingredient, no churn ice cream like this? It’s fine. I mean, I liked it well enough when I thought that was all there was. That you couldn’t make anything better with just two ingredients and no ice cream machine. Back when I thought you had to settle for an overly-sweet-sort-of-weird-texture kind of ice cream. Back when that was all there was, it was good enough. It was maybe even kind of great. But ohhhhhhhhhh, how wrong I was, my friends. It turns out there is so much more to no-churn ice cream life than we thought there was!! Okay, so what were the problems with the old recipe? Primarily two things: 1) it was WAY too sweet. Especially if you used the Cool Whip shortcut (guilty). And 2) it had sort of a weird texture as it melted. Because it never really melted down to a liquid… it was more of a semi-solid. Which was weird. How do we fix that? Well, for starters, we need an ingredient that balances out the sweet from the sweetened condensed milk. And secondly, we probably don’t need to add another thick ingredient like whipped cream! Enter the magical secret ingredient: SOUR CREAM. The answer was there the whole time! So unassuming and subtle, just sitting there in the refrigerator waiting for us to notice. Waiting for us to realize that when sour cream mixes with sweetened condense milk and freezes…. BAM. Ice cream! And not just any ice cream– good ice cream. Way good ice cream, you guys. Want to know what else is cool about this recipe?? You can actually substitute nonfat Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream. YES!!!! Isn’t that amazing? Be forewarned, it does get ever-so-slightly (and I do mean only slightly) icier than the version with sour cream. But still– I think that’s totally worth it for an easy homemade frozen yogurt that does actually have some nutritionally redeeming qualities, amiright?! So, what do you think? Is anyone else as excited about this revolutionary recipe as I am?? Because I’m literally still flipping out over this. I want to go make eleventy bajillion flavors of no churn right now. Imagine the possibilities now that easy homemade ice cream doesn’t suck! WOOT!
Horchata Recipe December 15, 2021June 5, 2017 Horchata is THE drink to make this summer! It combines rice, almonds, cinnamon, and a little natural stevia for a refreshing, family-friendly summer drink. This post is brought to you by Wholesome Organic® Stevia. Hands up if you’re ready for summer vacation?! We SO are. More than anything, I can’t wait for lazy summer afternoons that don’t involve waking up my napping toddler to rush out the door and drive 25 minutes to get to carpool. It may not sound very glamorous, but it’s what I’m looking forward to the most. Hands down. Speaking of lazy summer afternoons.. I can’t think of a better way to spend one than poolside with an ice cold glass of homemade horchata in hand. And by poolside, I obviously mean the little round, plastic, blue monstrosity in my backyard that currently holds as many popsicle wrappers and dirt piles as it does actual “pool water.” But whatever. Back to ice cold homemade horchata. Have you ever had horchata? And have you ever made horchata? I was shocked at how easy the entire process is. Really, the most important part is just remembering that you’ll need to start about 12 hours ahead of when you actually want to serve it. Which isn’t as crazy as it sounds. Just start soaking the rice and almonds before you go to bed. By the time you wake up, here’s what you’ll have left to do: Blend everything up. And strain out the pulp. All you really need is a sieve and a cheesecloth. I actually didn’t even use a cheesecloth– I used a flour sack towel that I always have on hand. It does the job just as well. This is what my setup looked like: As you can see, I simply placed the cloth over the my pitcher and placed the sieve over it. As I went through the straining process, things moved around a little bit, but nothing major changed. I eventually liked holding the sieve in my hand better than fitting into the top of the pitcher. And I actually switched to a slightly bigger sieve as well. Overall, it was SUPER easy. Much more doable than I ever knew horchata could be! One of the best things about making your own horchata is that you can control the sweetener. Instead of using regular sugar (you’d need about 1/2 a cup in this recipe!), I used 3/4 tsp of Wholesome Organic® Stevia. Stevia has always been kind of a hit or miss thing for me. I really can’t tolerate most brands, quite honestly. But Wholesome Organic® Stevia doesn’t have that bitter aftertaste that a lot of other stevia sweeteners do. It has no calories and no glycemic impact, which makes it great for people who are watching their calorie intake or controlling blood sugars. It’s important to remember that stevia does not equal sugar cup for cup. You can use a LOT less stevia when subbing for sugar. I like about a teaspoon of Wholesome Organic® Stevia for every half cup of sugar. I think you have to play around with it a little, just to find out what YOU like best. Enjoy this recipe (be poolside or otherwise ;)! And be sure to visit Wholesome Organic® Stevia to say hi and grab a coupon.
Super Skinny Peanut Butter Cup Smoothie Recipe December 16, 2021May 18, 2017 35 whopping grams of protein in this smoothie (with no powders), and it tastes like a milkshake! I’m going to be really honest with you… the weight loss thing isn’t really my strong suit in life. I haven’t quite cracked the code on that one. Do I love Weight Watchers? You betcha. I love to exercise too, believe it or not. And I can whip up healthier versions of dessert recipes all day long (like Skinny Chocolate Donuts, Skinny Brownie Batter Dip, and Banana Pancakes). But when it comes to actually dropping the pounds… not so much. However, I fully anticipate that I will one day eat my way through enough Halo Top Ice Cream to discover that it’s finally made me skinny. At least that’s what I tell my husband every time I spend 5.99 on a pint ????. Good man that he is, I never actually see him roll his eyes. Anyway. The point that I’m trying to make here is… I may not be very good at the actual losing of the weight. But I’m very, very good at breakfast on day one of a new diet. Ahem, er, “lifestyle change.” ???? Side note: how irritating is it that no one is allowed to “diet” anymore. The PC way to say diet these days is, “lifestyle change.” But… what if I just want to lose 30 pounds? Do I really have to change my mindset and my pantry for the rest of forever. Is that really totally necessary?? Is it???? *hysterics* But back to breakfast on day one… How about a ridiculously decadent smoothie WITH 35 FREAKING GRAMS OF PROTEIN that tastes like peanut butter cups? Works for me. Enjoy!