Food Fight for ALS: Peanut Butter Cake Mix Cookies

More than 5 years ago a great friend of our family passed away from ALS.  He was the father to one of my best friends growing up and I often thought of him as a second dad.  When he was diagnosed it was devasting for all who knew him.  He had a great sense of humor, stayed positive throughout the illness and kept his faith until the end.

Ever since he was diagnosed with ALS, his family, along with my family and others who knew him have been raising money and walking in his memory each year at the Walk to Defeat ALS event in Rochester, MN.

A few years ago I came up with an idea for a great fundraiser.  A cookbook!!!!!  I had created a cookbook for the nursing home I was working at, at the time and it was a huge succes, so I thought why not for this cause as well??  And what a fitting name: Food Fight for ALS!  People who had friends/family with ALS contributed recipes, along with others from the community.  It was a great way to see everyone working together for a common goal.

The Annual walk was a few weeks ago and I thought it was fitting to share one of the recipes.  There are a ton of really good recipes from the cookbook so I will start sharing in an effort to bring awarness to the cause.

Peanut Butter Cake Mix Cookies

1 box cake mix (yellow or chocolate)

1/2 c. Peanut Butter

4 oz. cream cheese

**I forgot cream cheese at the store so I used 1/2 c. plain greek yogurt, worked awesome!!!

1 egg

Sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375*.  Prepare cookie sheet(s).

2. Mix together cake mix, egg, cream cheese (or yogurt), and peanut butter until well combined.

3.  Roll dough into small balls (I always use my handy dandy ice cream scoop) and then roll in sugar.  Place on prepared cookie sheet(s), flatten slighty (I used a fork and made a criss-cross pattern like you see in most PB cookies).

4. Bake for 8-10 min., remove from oven and let cool on cookie sheet(s) for another 2 min.  Remove to cool completely.

If you want to donate to the ALS Association MN/ND/SD chapter, please feel free to visit: http://webmn.alsa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=MN_homepage or find an ALS Association in your area!

The Day the Music Died…

My MP3 player died today in the middle of my run!!!!!!  Ahhh….  If you’re a runner who needs music to run, you understand the horrible feeling of helplessness when you don’t have access to your music.

Please don’t judge me, if you don’t listen to music or think it’s an awful habit (cause you think real runners don’t need music) I apologize.  I realize it’s not everyone’s cup of tea and it can cause potentially dangerous situations.  However, I don’t play it too loud and am always aware of my surroundings, and I can’t help it… 😦

I’m very thankful to whoever created Best Buy and inexpensive mp3 players! 🙂  I was able to go to Best Buy and return my broken one (seeing as how it was less than 2 months old).  I was so excited to create another playlist!!  Ah, the simple joys of life 😉  Who knew creating a running playlist could make a person’s day?!   My excitement was short lived when the new mp3 player didn’t work either!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Back to Best Buy I went…  Third times a charm 🙂

So in celebration of getting a new mp3 player and creating a new playlist I went for another 4+ mile run!  I think I’m getting a little too into running, especially when I ran twice in 1 day just to listen to my music… 🙂

On a side note: I have to say I am incredibly proud of myself (and the hubby).  I’ve been a running fool!!  And he’s been lifting a lot and adding some cardio in there.  I never thought I’d see the day when running 8 miles was a quick and fun thing to do… or the other day I ran 12.5 miles and there was no finish line or medal waiting for me (first time I’ve ran that far without either of those things).  It was just another day 🙂  It has become second nature and I am loving it!!!!!!!!!!!  I’m feeling really good about my upcoming races, training is going better than I thought it would… I’m hoping it stays this way! 🙂

What do you ask is my music of choice???  Here’s my playlist (in no special order):

Artist &/or Album	Song (+notes)
Allstar Weekend	Not Your Birthday (great beginning song, keeps you at a nice pace to start off with)
Avril Lavigne	What the Hell, Smile, & I Can do Better
Britney Spears	Til The World Ends
Carly Rae Jepsen	THE WHOLE CD!!!!!  I couldn’t believe what a fantastic find this was, it’s not often I find a singer with an entire album that has great running songs!
Chris Brown	Yeah 3x & Forever
Cobra Starship	#1 Night & You Make Me Feel
Demi Lovato	You’re My Only Shorty
Flo Rida	Let It Roll, Run, & Wild Ones
Glee Cast	Friday (yes, Friday… don’t judge), & Jump
Hot Chelle Rae	I Like it Like That (great for my hill intervals on the treadmill)
Hwood	Could It Be You
Jay Sean	2012, Do You Remember & Down
Karmin	Brokenhearted
Ke$ha	We R Who We R & Tik Tok
Kelly Clarkson	Stronger
Maroon 5	Payphone (this one is more for when I do my hill intervals on the   treadmill)
Metro Station	Shake It
Miley Cyrus	Liberty Walk, Permanent December
Nicki Minaj	Starships, Pound the Alarm, & Fly (great for cool down &   stretching)
Nicole Scherzinger	Don’t Hold Your Breath
P!nk	Rains Your Glass
Pitbull & Chris Brown	International Love
Rihanna	Shut Up and Drive & We Found Love
Taio Cruz	Dynamite & Break Your Heart
Ultimate Workouts: #1 Running Hits (various artists)	Great Deal!!!  On amazon.com   you can get this for $8 for 50 songs and most are great running songs! My   favorites:Sweet Dreams, Simply the Best, Live Your Life, Highway to Hell, Do   you Wanna Make It, Holding out for a Hero, & Eye of the Tiger
The Wanted	Chasing the Sun & Lightning
Cheer Music	I have a few cheer mixes from back in the day that are 20min long   that are fantastic!!!  I tell myself I   can stop running when the song is over 😉

The Inevitable Leftover Banana Recipe

Ahh, the inevitable leftover bunch of bananas….

I don’t know why, but lately the bananas in our house don’t seem to be consumed very fast.  We have so many other fruits and veggies that have to be eaten that we tend to forget about the bananas…  Sorry Bananas 😦

At least when bananas go bad, you can still use them 🙂  Banana bread, muffins, cakes, cookies, cupcakes, smoothies, etc.  The last time we went through a cycle of not eating our bananas, I was making a lot of banana bread and muffins.  I figured it was time to find a new recipe to use.  Good thing I did, cause these cookie were fabulous!!!!

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (via myrecipes.com: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/banana-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies-10000001906392/)

**I multiplied the original recipe by 1.5 cause I had 2 small-ish bananas to use; and I don’t always follow recipes so I kind of just make things up as I go…

1-2 ripe bananas, mashed

6 Tbsp. Splenda Brown Sugar

6 Tbsp. Butter, softened

1/4 C. sugar

1 tsp. Banana extract

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 3/4 c. flour

2-3 cups oatmeal

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

dash of salt

1 pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Blend together bananas, butter, sugars and extract until creamy.  Beat in eggs.

2. Combine dry ingredients; add to banana mixture, mix until well blended.

3. Stir in chocolate chips.

4. Scoop dough into 2 Tbsp. balls (I used my handy ice cream scoop) onto sprayed cookie sheets; flatten slightly.  Bake 10-12 min. (after reading the comments I reduced the time significantly); cool on cookie sheets 2 min. then remove to cool completely on wire racks or cooling sheet.

**For a healthier recipe use applesauce instead of butter, agave nectar instead of sugar, omit the chocolate chips.

Mash-Up: Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Ahh, fall in FL 🙂  You wouldn’t believe we actually have seasons here, but we do–mild seasons, but seasons just the same.  I walked out of the house the other day and it was way less humid, leaves were turning and starting to fall.  It’s weird, it’s 90* but it doesn’t feel like summer anymore.

With fall comes Season Premiers!!!!!  I used the term Mash-Up because GLEE starts on Thursday!!!!  I love GLEE, I’m a huge musical genre person, and am a firm believer in the arts/dance/music and also breaking out into song and dance at any given moment.  I really don’t know why people don’t do it more often… 🙂

Anyway, I was in a baking mood due to the fact that I spent all last weekend in bed trying to get over a cold and did nothing else, and because it’s fall and felt the need to bake:)

Who knew combining Pumpkin & Snickerdoodles would be a fantastic idea?!?!  2 fall flavors I really love; great Mash-Up!!  (If you keep up with my blog, you might have noticed I have A LOT of favorite flavors.  Can you really blame me?? They are all wonderful 😉 )

I found this recipe on this blog:

http://abitchinkitchen.blogspot.com/2011/10/pumpkin-snickerdoodles.html

After reading a lot of the comments I made some adjustments and changes.  Here’s the recipe I used:

3 1/4 C. flour (I used a blend of whole wheat and white flour)

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 1/2 sticks butter, softened

1/2 C. Agave Nectar

1/8 C. sugar

1/2 C. dark brown sugar

1 C. Pumpkin puree

1 large egg

2 tsp. Pumpkin Pie extract

**based on the reviews I added extra spices and used pumpkin pie extract instead of vanilla.  Next time I make these I’ll probably use pumpkin pie filling instead of pumpkin puree for a little more pumpkin pie flavor.

**for the coating I ran out of cinnamon and didn’t have ginger so I used a blend of sugar and nutmeg.  I’m sure whatever combination you wanted to use would work.

1. Combine dry ingredients and set aside.

2. Mix together sugars and butter until creamy, add egg and extract.  Mix in pumpkin puree.

3. Add dry ingredients to cream mixture until well blended, but do not overmix.  Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

4. Preheat oven to 350*.  In a small bowl mix coating to your liking.

5. Scoop dough into roughly 2 Tbsp balls and roll in coating.  Place on sprayed cookie sheet and flatten slightly.  (I used the bottom of a measuring cup, but any flat surface would work).

6. Bake for 10-12 min. (Mine baked perfectly for 11 min; for a more chewy cookie, bake 9-10 min).  Let cool on cookie sheet for 2-5 min before removing to cool completely.

Rolo Cake Mix Bars–Finally Something I Baked the Hubs Liked!!!

Ok, so I really enjoy baking and finding new things to try.  I rarely make the same thing more than twice; except for the Oreo Balls… but those are fabulous and kind of my thing so those are the exception.

Anyway, my husband is always complaining that I don’t bake him anything…  It’s true, I don’t bake him a whole lot because:

1. He isn’t a huge sweets person, therefore it could be sitting around the house for multiple weeks before he gets to it, and I just end up eating it.

2. He wants plain…  Plain brownies, plain cookies, plain cake!!!!  Agh, I don’t really do plain.   If he wants plain he can grab a box of brownies at the store and add water…  (I’m harsh I know).

3. Last time I made something he wanted me to make he said, “This isn’t the way my mom makes it”.

So, can you really blame me for not making him anything very often?? 🙂

Moving on…  I found this little gem on pinterest!!!

http://cookiesandcups.com/rolo-cake-mix-bars/

Matt loves Rolos and it’s different… perfect compromise!!!  I was a little hesitant to try it because I scrolled down to read the comments…  A lot of people were complaining that the dough was too runny and it didn’t set well.  But since it was literally 4 ingredients how can you really mess that up, so I decided to try it out:)

Thank God I did!!!!  Can we say Rolo-iffic, Rolo-tastic? Rolonderful?  Get it?? 🙂  Sorry, I’ve been sick for a week now and my head is still a little foggy 🙂

I made a few tiny adjustments based on the reviews and comments but I didn’t change the recipe itself. Here are my suggestions:

**Make sure you do use the 18.25 oz. cake mix, I can see where it would be too runny if you just grabbed any box.  I used Pillsbury Moist Supreme Yellow Cake Mix.

**I put mine into an 8×8 to make thicker bars…  They would have extremely thin if I would have used a 9×13.  But it’s your preference, I’m sure either one would be fine.

**Because I used an 8×8 pan, I only needed about 1/2 the bag of Rolos.  I quartered some leftover Rolos (that Matt didn’t eat) and sprinkled them on top and threw it back in the oven for a few min for them to melt.  One comment I read stated she used the mini Rolos therefore she didn’t have to unwrap or cut in half…. Genius!!!!

**Variations: use different cake mixes and different candy.  Let me tell you I’m notorious for finding recipes and trying out every variation I can think of!!!!  I’m really excited to experiment with this one!!!! 🙂  I’ll let you know what I come up with:)