April | 2013 | The Lentzed Life

Hoppy Easter! (see what I did there? betcha never heard that one before 🙂 ).

I decided to try out a few new things for this year’s Easter! Just to warn you, I tried out a lot of new things, and therefore this post is a little long…. 🙂

Permanent Marker Eggs! I saw on pinterest an idea to use permanent markers to decorate eggs. Duh, why didn’t I think of that sooner. Not going to lie, I’m not a huge fan of getting dirty and dyeing eggs isn’t always the cleanest… So I opted for the cleaner version 🙂

Buffalo Chicken Dip: This is not new to me, however it was new to everyone else at Easter. It’s so addictive and I love it; it’s probably one of my favorite appetizers/dips! Because of the amount of people at Easter I made 1 1/2 Xs the regular amount… and like majority of my recipes, this can be adjusted per your liking (Buffalo sauce, ranch and cheese amounts can vary).

2- 8oz. pkgs. Low Fat Cream Cheese, softened

1 C. Fat Free Greek Yogurt

**you can replace all the cream cheese for Greek Yogurt, do half and half but there should be 24 oz. of some kind of creamy substance… you choose 🙂 **

1/2-3/4 C. Buffalo Sauce

1/2-3/4 C. Ranch dressing

2 C. Shredded Cheddar Cheese

2-4 cans shredded chicken

Mix everything together and either, throw into a crockpot on low for 30-60 minutes or oven at 350* for 30 min (and honestly it tastes good cold as well! 🙂 ). Serve with Chips, Celery, Crackers, etc 🙂

Carrot Cake Puppy Chow (or muddy buddies for those of you who don’t live in the Midwest… 🙂 ). Can you say ADDICTING?????? I’m not a huge Carrot Cake person but this was fantastic!!!! I found a few different ways of making this on Pinterest and decided to make it my way 🙂

1 box Chex Cereal

3/4 bag White chocolate chips

1/2-3/4 C. Carrot Cake mix

Melt chips, pour over cereal, shake in cake mix! Easy and delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂

Bunny Cookies:

Aren’t those the cutest??? I was so proud of myself for coming up with this! First I made the ears (because you need to put them on the cookie AS SOON as they come out of the oven, I learned that the hard way, which is why only a few turned out…)

Ears

Marshmallows (cut diagonally)

1/4 C. Sugar + 2 drops Pink food coloring = colored sugar

Place Marshmallow, cut side down, in sugar.

And Voila… Ears!!

Sugar Cookie

3 1/2 C. flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 C.butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350* and prepare a cookie sheet.

2. Cream together, butter and sugar; add egg and vanilla. Mix in flour and baking powder until combined. Use a cookie scoop, use about a scoop and a half to form the dough into balls.

3. Place onto cookie sheet and flatten slightly (if they are too thin it’s hard to smoosh the m&m eyes/nose on and the ears). Bake 8 min. (and no longer, and I mean it… second mistake was cooking them longer cause they seemed too soft, well soft is what you want when smooshing things into cookies 🙂 ).

4. As soon as the cookies are out of the oven, gently press ears, eyes and nose into cookies. The marshmallows will melt nicely and adhere to the cookies 🙂 Leave on cookie sheet to cool, then gently remove and ENJOY!!!!

Better-than-you-know-what Carrot Cake: I found a couple of recipes online for this, but after reading the ingredients, I decided I didn’t like them and made up my own… there might be a pattern with me and recipes 🙂

1 box Carrot cake mix

1 can diet Cream Soda (or any diet clear pop)

**you can either make the cake with pop or just make like you normally would with eggs, oil and water**

Sugar Free Caramel Topping

Toffee bits, divided

Sugar Free Orange Marmalade (optional)

Cool Whip Cream Cheese frosting

1. Mix together cake mix and pop and bake according to package. Let cool approximately 5-10 min. (however, if you forget and walk away for a long period of time, have no fear it’s not going to ruin the dessert 😉 ).

2. Poke holes in cake, spread orange marmalade over top. Drizzle caramel topping over top and then sprinkle with toffee bits. Allow cake to cool completely.

3. Carefully, spread frosting over top (I often put dollops around the cake and then spread together…). Drizzle with more caramel and sprinkle with remaining toffee bits.