Christmas Cookie & Cocoa Party

              Hi everyone! Happy Tuesday! I can't believe we are now 1 week away from Christmas! I am so excited!! I wanted to share a fun and festive party I hosted last week that was full of friendship, fun, and festive treats. I had my girlfriends over from our community group last week for a cookie & cocoa party at our house. We had such a good time (even though we were on a sugar high) haha! It was a lot of fun to have them over and spend time with them while enjoying some holiday treats. 

              I made hot chocolate in a crock pot including a dairy free hot chocolate as well since of my friends doesn't eat/drink dairy. The cookies that I made included a sugar cookie, peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip, chocolate ritz crackers, and I purchased gingerbread men and peppermint pretzels from Trader Joe's to add to the cookie tray. I added in some mini candy canes as well. For a salty treat, I made a big batch of holiday party mix (which is always a crowd pleaser) and bought some whipped feta and roasted pepper dip from kroger as a nice salty treat. The girls brought some more cheese & crackers and a few other salty treats as well to balance out the sugar. We had a great time catching up, sharing stories, and enjoying a Christmas night together. I already can't wait to host another one next year :) I hope you enjoy this post and hope this inspires you to create your own Christmas party or cocoa bar. Have a great week and enjoy all the fun moments before and during Christmas! xoxo Tesla 

Recipe: Cherry Cheesecake Dip

                   Hi everyone! Happy Wednesday! I hope you all are having a great week! I wanted to share a yummy recipe with you today that I tried about two weeks ago for the first time and loved it! I co-hosted a Beautycounter & Doterra party with my friend Holly, and I made this dip for a dessert. This is a great dip for the Holidays and thought you might want the recipe as well. This is such an easy dip to make and it looks very festive as well. This is a crowd pleaser :) I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I have.

ingredients:

-1 8oz package of cream cheese 

-1 7oz jar of marshmallow cream

-1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

-1 8oz tub of cool whip

-1 21 oz can of cherry pie filling 

-1 dark chocolate bar (used to shave pieces for the topping)

-graham crackers or vanilla wafers to serve with and used for dipping

details:

-In a large mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, marshmallow cream, and vanilla extract on medium speed until mixed 

-Then, add in your cool whip and stir until combined

-Pour the cheesecake mixture into a pie dish and spread evenly. 

-Then top it off with the cherry pie filling and chocolate shavings

-Serve immediately or you can also cover and refrigerate before serving

-Serve with vanilla wafers or graham crackers & enjoy :)

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy! xoxo Tesla

Recipe: How to make your own Cheese Board or Charcuterie Board for the Holidays

                       Hi everyone! Happy Tuesday! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with your loved ones. I just got back from Indiana yesterday and had a great time back home relaxing, eating, and spending time with my family & friends. I loved every minute of it as always :) Last week, my friend Holly and I hosted a Beautycounter and Doterra party in Nashville at Holly's house and I made the food for the party (which is always so fun for me). I made a cherry cheesecake dip  (recipe coming to the blog soon) a cheese board, and sausage bites. We had a great time and turnout to our party but I wanted to share the very easy steps on how to create your own cheese or charcuterie board.

                     I wanted to share this easy "how-to" because I think this will be such a great appetizer year round but especially for the holiday season. This is so easy to do and make and everyone should know how to build one of these for your loved ones! You can really create and use any ingredients that you want. The word "Charcuterie" is french and means dry cured, smoked, or cooked meats. For this board, I used the meat in other places for the party so technically this  board I created is considered a cheese board but by adding meat it would be considered a charcuterie board! I didn't know the difference until researching before this party haha :) Good information to know! Here are the easy steps I took to create a cheese board/charcuterie board:

1. I started by grabbing my board that I wanted to use and placed the items that need to be in small bowls or ramekins and placed them throughout the board to create balance. I used almonds, apricot jam, strawberry jam, chocolate peanuts, and olives. 

2. Next, I placed my cheese throughout the board. I used swiss, brie, and sharp cheddar for the cheese and placed them throughout the board leaving space for the breads & crackers.

3. Next, I added in circle crackers, square crackers, and french bread down the center for the jams.

4. Lastly, for garnish I added in two bunches of purple grapes for color and two pieces of rosemary also for color and texture. Also, place toothpicks throughout your board or in several of the ingredients for your guests to easily pick up and navigate your board.

It's that simple! For a charcuterie board all I needed to add was some type of dry, cooked, or smoked meats. I would have added pepperoni, salami, or prosciutto to the board and that would have created the ultimate charcuterie board. 

Recipe: S'mores Dip

                   Hi Everyone! Happy Wednesday!  I hope you all are having a great week! I can't believe it is already Wednesday and next week is Thanksgiving. Time is flying! This time of year it is all about the recipes and family time and I wanted to share the easiest dip I have ever made with you all to share with your families. I made this for our community group this week and it was definitely a hit and like I said, literally the easiest recipe ever! This recipe is great for both adults and kids! This would be a great recipe for a get together, dinner party dessert, or to make on a weekend when it is cold and you are feeling like s'mores :)

                 I found this recipe on Pinterest and I am so excited to share it with you. Even if you don't bake or cook a lot, this is a recipe for you especially haha! It's really that easy! Here is the recipe and details, I hope you enjoy it! :) Thanks for stopping by xo Tesla

Ingredients:

(I made a large batch of this, if you want to make a smaller batch for a few people then I would cut this recipe in half)

-6 Hersheys Chocolate bars 

-1 bag of large marshmallows

-1 box of regular graham crackers

-butter spray or pam spray

Details:

-Turn your oven on to 450

-Grease your dish with butter or pam spray

-Break apart all 6 Hershey bars and place those in the dish first

-Then, line up your marshmallows on top of the chocolate bars

-Then pop this into the oven at 450 for 5-7 minutes (keep an eye on this as you are wanting the marshmallows to brown on top)

Serve with graham crackers or graham sticks 

-Eat & Enjoy! :)

So easy, and so good!

Recipe: Browned Butter Blondies

                   Hi Everyone! It has a been a week or so and I wanted to stop in and say hello! I thought it would be fun to share a new recipe I found online from a baker/blogger that I follow and have really enjoyed her baked good/ recipes. I have made 3 other recipes of hers and they all turn out great! I made these last week and Reed really liked them. These are gooey like a gooey bar but with chocolate chips like a chocolate chip cookie, I mean you really can't go wrong with that can't you :) I thought I would share the blogger's recipe with you. I hope you all have a great week and enjoy this new recipe :)

This recipe is from Elisabeth Epperson Farris  from the blog www.elisabethandbutter.com

ingredients:

- 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

-1 teaspoon of baking powder

-1/4 teaspoon of salt 

-1 1/2 cups of light brown sugar

-12 tablespoons of salted butter, melted, browned, and then cooled

-2 large eggs

-1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

-1 1/2 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips

details:

-preheat oven to 350 and line a 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper all the way up the sides

-place your butter in a saucepan and melt until golden brown over medium heat for about 10 min (be careful not to burn the butter) then let this cool at room temp

-in a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt together

-in a mixing bowl combine the melted butter, brown sugar,  and then add in the eggs and vanilla

-gently fold in the flour mixture and fold in the chocolate chip cookies

-spread the batter into the lined baking dish and smooth the top as it will be thick

-bake this for 20-25 min or until golden brown 

-let cool completely before cutting into squares

-serve with a smile :)

Recipe: Gluten Free Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

            Stop what you are doing and make this recipe! Haha I’m not kidding, it is that good!! I have been following a baker/blogger named Elisabeth Farris from Elisabethandbutter and I always enjoy her Gluten Free recipes she puts together and this was one of her recipes, I had to share asap! Reed and I loved this bread. It would be great for a get together, breakfast, or dessert.

         Even if you aren't gluten free, you can substitute the GF baking flour to regular flour if you choose. It's a great recipe! Enjoy and let me know if you make this and love it as much as we have. Have a great evening and more recipes coming soon :)  Here is Elisabeth's blog with all of her recipes. I enjoy her social media and blog. Thanks for stopping by! xo Tesla 

More of Elisabeth's recipes and this recipe:

Elisabeth and Butter Blog

Here is the recipe:

Gluten Free Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

Ingredients

For the Banana Bread:

⅓ cup coconut oil, melted before measuring

½ cup honey

1 tablespoon maple syrup

2 large eggs

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 bananas)

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ cup milk (I used 2% but any type is fine)

1 ¾ cups gluten-free all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

Cinnamon Swirl and Topping*:

1/3 cup sugar or coconut sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Details:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F and line a 9×5 loaf pan with parchment paper going up all the sides and the bottom.
2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the melted coconut oil with honey and maple syrup. Add the eggs, mashed bananas, milk and vanilla and whisk to combine well. If the coconut oil starts to solidify, place it in the microwave for 10 seconds and whisk again.
3. Add the flour, baking soda and salt to the liquid mixture and stir until combined.
4. In a small separate bowl, combine the granulated sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
5. Pour half of the batter into the lined loaf pan and then sprinkle half of the cinnamon sugar on top. Pour the rest of the batter on top and spread it out. Sprinkle the rest of the cinnamon sugar on top and swirl with a knife.
6. Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7. Remove from oven and let it sit in the pan for 10 minutes to cool and then take it out and let it cool completely on a wire rack.

Recipe is from Elisabethandbutter 

Recipes: Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies

              Hey y'all! :) It's almost the weekend, woo hoo. I wanted to share a wonderful (probably the best) sugar cookie recipe yet. My aunt Carri's and grandma's is pretty awesome but this is right up there in the same ball park. So good!! Mam made these for Christmas and everyone loved them and I knew I had to make them for Valentine's Day and share with you all. The best part is they aren't overly sweet, sounds weird with it being a sugar cookie but they are so delicious!

            I hope you all have fun weekend plans. We are heading to Indiana to spend time with family and friends. I hope you enjoy your Friday and weekend ahead and of course this recipe. Make this for your significant other or for your kids, because it's a good one. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Valentine's Day! xoxo

Sugar cookie recipe:

ingredients:

-1 1/2 cup of sugar

-1 cup of shortening

-2 eggs, well beaten

-3 Tablespoons of sour cream

-1/2 teaspoon of Baking Soda

-1/4 teaspoon of salt

-1/4 teaspoon of vanilla

-3 cups of flour

details:

-pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees

-cream the sugar and shortening together first

-add the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla

-slowly add in your flour, salt, and baking soda

-mix this well

-chill for 3 hours in the fridge

-roll the dough out to your desired thickness and cut or form into ball

-bake for 400 for 8-10 minutes

-cool the cookies on a  cooling rack

-then ice the cookies and enjoy!

For the icing, I just use powdered sugar, water, and vanilla and whipped this up to make a thick consistency, you can also purchase your own icing as well to ice these

Recipes: Valentines Day Classic Cake

                   Hi everyone! I hope you are having a fabulous week! I can't believe we are already in February and only a week or so away from Valentines Day already. Crazy! As you know from my previous blog posts, we have just finished our January Whole 30 so this is a funny post going from healthy food to a  delicious cake haha! But, the truth is I love to bake. Baking is so therapeutic for me and brings me so much happiness. Even if I just have a bite or don't eat any of it; regardless, I just like to bake for people. I think this is in my blood and DNA from my mother, and both of my grandma's (which I am totally okay with :))

                   With the Valentines Day holiday quickly approaching, I thought it would be fun to share a classic and yummy yellow cake with chocolate frosting with you. This is a great recipe and so delicious. I will also be sharing a new cookie recipe with you this week as well so stay tuned for that but to start this off, here is the cake recipe. I hope you enjoy this and hope you enjoy the Valentines Day kitchen details. Happy Tuesday :) xo

Yellow Cake recipe:

Ingredients:

-4 large eggs

-1 cup of milk

-2 teaspoons of vanilla

2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil

-2 1/2 cups of cake flour

-1 1/2 cups of sugar

-1 teaspoon of salt

-2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

-1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter softened  

Details: 

-preheat your oven to 350

-grease two 8 inch baking pans 

-use this same mixture/details below for both of your 8 inch baking pans

-in a large mixing bowl combine your eggs, milk, and your other liquid ingredients here

-using a separate bowl combine the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder

-whisk the dry ingredients 

-then, add in small amounts of your butter a few pieces at a time to the dry ingredients bowl

-mix this until the dry ingredients are moistened by the butter and form crumbles

-then add 1/2 of the liquid egg mixture to the dry ingredients

-the batter will begin to thicken 

-then pour in the remaining egg mixture and beating/stirring until smooth

-bake at 350 for 30-35 min or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean

-Let the cake cool completely before stacking on top of each other or cutting/icing

Chocolate Frosting:

ingredients:

-2 sticks of unsalted butter softened 

-6 cups of powdered sugar 

-1 cup of cocoa 

-1/2 cup of milk

-2 teaspoons of vanilla

details:

-beat your butter first for a couple minutes on medium speed of your mixture 

-then, add your vanilla and blend into the butter

-then, add in your powdered sugar and cocoa powder 

-add in your milk 

-begin beating at a low speed until a thicker consistency 

Recipes: Potato & Bacon Chowder

                 Hey Everyone! Happy Friday!! Well, in Nashville we had 3 inches of snow earlier in the week and this weekend its in the 60's geez oh mighty, if that doesn't mess up your body I don't know what will haha! I loved every minute of the snow and snow days! Hopefully we will get some more before the season is up. Anywhoo, I wanted to share this great recipe that we tried this week on our Week 3 of Whole 30. We are still kicking, yep still making it, it's never easy but always good haha! We tried this one night and loved this easy and delicious recipe and thought it would be fun to share with you all. This is a whole30 recipe/paleo/ GF/DF all that goodness.

             This was a perfect dish for a cold week! I made this in the slow cooker; therefore, I included the slow cooker details below as well as the recipe. I found this from another gal who is paleo and whole30 named Paleo Bailey on social media and her website is linked below if you would like to see more of her recipes as well. This one is great!! Enjoy xo :)

Potato and Bacon Chowder 

Ingredients: 

-3 large white potatoes 

-1/2 cup of onions (I used white and also green onions as well)

-6 slices of bacon crumbled
-28 oz of chicken stock  

-2 cups of almond milk 

-3 tablespoons ghee butter

- 1 1/2 tablespoons of arrowroot powder as the thickener

-3 tablespoons of parsley flakes

-salt and pepper to taste

Details:

For your crockpot:

-Add all of the ingredients besides cooked bacon, almond milk and thickener to your crock pot

-Then cook this on high for 3-4 hours 

-Then, add in your almond milk to a large skillet on the stove top over medium heat, add in thickener, whisk until thick and until it bubbles and the clumps dissolve, then add into your crock pot

-Lastly, stir in the cooked bacon and allow your soup to thicken 

-I garnished the soup with green onions and bacon :)

________________

this recipe is from: Paleo Bailey head to: Paleo Bailey Recipes Including this Recipe

for more of her recipes 

Here are some pictures of this recipe that we made this week: