While I was browsing Pinterest, pictures of this Cucumber Mint Water kept popping up. It’s supposed to aid with weight loss, and all that stuff.

Well, I can’t say that I miraculously lost 5 lbs the days that I drank it, but I did find it very refreshing. Since I drank this a few weeks ago, I tend to make it for Mondays after I’ve had a bad weekend of eating too much food. It’s almost like a detox, and I pretty much love it. If you are looking for a refreshing drink, or have trouble drinking water, then I say make this Cucumber Mint Water. It’s so good. And so easy. And calorie free!

Cucumber Mint Water

recipe from all over Pinterest

Ingredients:

• 1 cucumber
• 1 lemon
• 8-10 mint leaves (I used dried mint because I couldn’t find mint leaves)
• 2 L water

Directions:

1. In a large water pitcher add your 2 L of water. Cut up your cucumber and lemon and add that also. Then add mint. Let it sit overnight, and you’re good to go!
2. Enjoy!

– the Jilb

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I saw these cupcakes on Pinterest awhile ago, and have been waiting to make them until Valentine’s Day was closer. Since that day is almost here, I figured it was time to post this recipe.

The original recipe is on Allrecipes.com. No surprise there! A brownie box mix is used as the bottom of the cupcake and then whatever cake mix you choose goes on top. Going with our Valentine’s theme, I chose a strawberry cake mix.

This cupcake recipe was really easy to put together. A box of brownie mix, a box of cake mix, with whatever frosting you like, and there ya go! The only problem I ran into with this recipe is that on a few of my cupcakes the brownie bottom was still a tad bit gooey. I can’t complain though because it tasted awesome!

I chose my favorite frosting recipe, but made the chocolate version. Oh. My. Goodness. It’s really light, creamy and basically tastes like chocolate mousse. Yum!

A lot of the reviews I read for this cupcake recipe said they used a box of white cake mix and then a peanut butter frosting. I am definitely going to try that next!

Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes

recipe from Allrecipes.com and Our Best Bites

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

• 1 (19.5 oz) pkg of brownie mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 (18.25 oz) cake mix, (I chose strawberry, but any would be good!)
• 2 T vegetable oil
• 1 & 1/3 cup water
• 3 egg whites

Chocolate Frosting:

• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 3 T unsweetened cocoa powder (I ended up using 2 more tablespoons at the end.)
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• more cocoa powder if you want more chocolate flavor

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 (some got up to 36 cupcakes. I must like big ones!) muffin cups with paper liners.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, mix your brownie mix, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, and 1/4 cup water. Mix until it’s all incorporated.
3. In another bowl, mix the cake mix, 2 T vegetable oil, 1 & 1/3 cup water, and 3 egg whites using an electric mixer until combined. Then mix for another 2 minutes on medium speed.
4. Here I used an ice cream scoop, and did one scoop of brownie batter for the bottom, and one scoop of cake batter for the top. It makes about 24 cupcakes, with a little bit of cake batter left over that I made into mini strawberry cupcakes for the kids.
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until the tops spring back when touched. I also recommend using a toothpick to make sure the brownie part is done.
6. Enjoy!

– the Jilb

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Last week pork chops were on-sale, so I picked some up. I have never baked or done anything with them except have Reinman throw them on the grill during the summer. So, I was kind of at a loss at what to do with them.

My go-to when I need to find a recipe is Allrecipes.com. I love how they have all the reviews right there for you to read. With 1,300 reviews and 4 1/2 out of 5 stars, I knew this pork chop recipe would be a hit. I tweaked it a bit by following some of the reviews that I read, and yep, I was right. This recipe is a definite keeper!

We loved this recipe so much that I made it twice in a week. Reinman told me that these are really good for leftovers. I imagine the sauce the pork chops lay in overnight just make it that much sweeter, and yummier.

So, if you need something new to do with your pork chops (or even if you don’t!), I suggest you give this recipe a try. It’s to die for. And it makes your house smell wonderful! (Which is a definite plus in our house, considering all the diapers we change.)

Caramel Apple Pork Chops

recipe from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 1 cup apple juice
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 6 pork chops
• 6 T brown sugar
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 6 T butter
• 4 tart apples, peeled and sliced
• 6 T pecans (optional)

Directions:

1. Put your pork chops in a ziploc baggy and add your apple juice and soy sauce. Put your bag of pork chops in a baking dish, so you catch any leaks. Refrigerate overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. In a large frying pan, cook your pork chops over medium-high heat for 6-7 minutes on each side. Once your pork chops are done, place them in a large baking dish or two depending on how many pork chops you have.
4. In a small bowl, mix your brown sugar, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
5. In the same pan you used to cook the pork chops, melt your butter over medium heat. Then add your brown sugar mixture. Then add apples and cook over low heat for 5 minutes or until apples start to get tender.
6. Pour your caramel apple mixture over your pork chops and cover baking dish with aluminum foil. Bake for 20-25 minutes, and then take the foil off, add your pecans, and bake another 15 minutes or until done.
7. Enjoy!

– the Jilb

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I am so excited to bring this recipe to you guys! I had so, so much fun making these, and I bet you will too! I present to you, my friends: Tebow Cupcakes!

We love Tim Tebow in this house. After the Broncos crazy win last Saturday I immediately started to think about what kind of food I could make for tomorrow’s game, and these babies were born!

I used this cupcake and frosting recipe for the Baby’s birthday back in November, but tweaked the colors a bit to suit my fancy. And, really, you could use any colors you like: green and yellow, purple and gold, or whatever you want. This cupcake recipe is super easy. You start with a cake mix and add a few things to it, bake it like normal, and you’re done. The frosting recipe is also pretty easy.

Tebow Cupcakes

recipe from Our Best Bites

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 1 white cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream (or yogurt)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/3 vegetable oil

For the frosting:

• 6 T flour
• 1 cup milk (whole milk is best, but non-fat is okay, too)
• 1 cup real butter
• 1 cup sugar (granulated, not powdered)
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

For the cupcake:

1. Mix your cake mix, eggs, sour cream, milk, and vegetable oil in a large bowl. Beat for 1-2 minutes on medium-high speed.
2. Divide your batter into how many colors you want. I used two colors so it was quite easy. When I made the Baby’s birthday cake, I did four colors, and it ended up to be about a cup and a half of batter in each bowl.
3. Add food coloring to batter to get your desired color.
4. If you want the layered stripes like I have you just put a spoonful of each batter into each cupcake tin. The batter is thick, so you’ll have to spread it on your own. I put out a bowl of water and dip my finger into the water and then spread the batter around that way. It won’t stick to your finger, and you’ll get a nice, layered look.
5. Bake your cupcakes according to box directions. Then let them cool.

For the frosting:

1. Whisk your flour and milk together in a medium-sized sauce pan on medium heat. Whisk constantly until your flour mixture starts to thicken. Once your flour mixture is almost like a paste it’s done.
2. Next, using a mesh strainer and a spatula push the flour paste into a bowl to get all the lumps out. Then put this in the fridge until it’s cool.
3. Then beat your sugar and butter together for a minute until well-combined. Then add your flour mixture and vanilla extract and beat on medium-high for 7-8 minutes until you have a beautiful, fluffy frosting! If you eat a little bit, I promise not to tell.

To decorate the cupcakes:

1. I took half of the frosting and separated it into two bowls, and added my food coloring. So, you’ll have three bowls of frosting: your white, and your two colors.
2. To get the swirly effect I added half of the white frosting to one side of a pastry bag fitted with a tip. Then I filled the other side of the pastry bag with one of my colors. I piped a test streak to make sure I got the swirled colors, and there ya go! And once I was done with those colors, I repeated with the other ones.
3. Enjoy!

– the Jilb

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I was reminded through a status on Facebook yesterday of how much I love caramel popcorn. (Thanks, Aunt Linda!) So, I had to run and buy popcorn to make it.

sticky, gooey, yummy mess

Reinman doesn’t usually go for caramel popcorn, but I caught him sneaking bites of mine. Stay away, Reinman!

waiting, waiting, waiting for the popcorn to cool

We took the kids to Target last night to get a few things, and I highly recommend not bringing two-year-old twins to the store. They have these really nice, big carts where you can snap your older kids in, but, of course, the Bear and the Joker had none of that. So, we let them run around the store yelling and screaming. We have become those parents now. It was actually kind of funny. I did manage to get everything I needed for my Halloween costume though. Yahoo!

Back to popcorn. I love this caramel popcorn. It’s my favorite. It’s sweet, but not too sweet. It’s crunchy if you do all the microwave time, but if you want your caramel popcorn less crunchy adjust microwave time. I love that you can make this recipe in the microwave and you don’t have to use your oven at all. Nice.

Caramel Popcorn

recipe from Food.com

Ingredients:

• Bag of microwave popcorn or 2 quarts plain popped corn
• 1/3 cup butter
• 2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• peanuts (or other nuts) (optional)

Directions:

1. Prepare popcorn.
2. In microwave, melt butter in 2 quart microwave-safe dish, about a minute or so.
3. Add sugar and corn syrup, and microwave 4-5 minutes.
4. Stir in vanilla and baking soda. Then stir in popcorn. Mix well. Add in nuts.
5. Microwave 4-6 minutes, stopping every 2 minutes to stir popcorn.
6. Transfer caramel popcorn to tray line with wax or parchment paper. Let cool.
7. Break apart, and enjoy!!

– the Jilb

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Apples and muffins! The perfect fall treat. Or breakfast. Or afternoon snack. Really you can eat these little babies any time of day.

I had some apples that I really needed to use up. I could do apple crisp, but honestly, I was getting kind of sick of that. So, I found, I think the next best thing (besides apple pie, of course): mini cinnamon & sugar apple muffins. These are sweet, and a little bit tangy, and you get a taste of apple in each bite, which is wonderful!

Mini Cinnamon & Sugar Apple Muffins

recipe adapted from Baked By Jen

Ingredients:

• 1/8 cup brown sugar
• 1/8 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cups of apples, peeled, cored, and bite sized

• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease mini muffin pan. Set aside.
2. Mix sugars, flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt until combined. Add in cold butter with a pastry cutter, and work until you get a coarse crumbly dough.
3. In another bowl, beat your egg. Add milk, and chopped apples. Add apple mixture to flour mixture until just mixed. Be careful not to over mix it.
4. Place a tablespoon of each batter into mold in pan. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Dunk muffin into butter and then cinnamon/sugar mix. You can do the whole muffin or just the tops like I did. Eat immediately!

These muffins were really yummy, and I will definitely make them again, especially since we always seem to have apples on hand.

– the Jilb

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I really don’t have to say a lot about this chocolate cake. Just that you should make it. I’m sure you have all the ingredients you need in your kitchen.

This chocolatey, yummy, gooey goodness was so easy to make. My recipe only makes two, but you can definitely double it to make 4, or quadruple it to make 8. Yum!

The original recipe calls for 70% dark chocolate, but all I had was milk chocolate chips and 100% unsweetened chocolate. I used both and it turned out awesome!!

Molten Lava Cake

recipe adapted from Sips and Spoonfuls on TastyKitchen

Ingredients:

• 3 T, 1 tsp butter
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1 oz unsweetened chocolate
• 2 T, 2 tsp flour
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/3 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 tsp instant coffee granules

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 2 ramekins.
2. Melt chocolate and butter in 30 second intervals in the microwave until smooth.
3. Stir in the rest of ingredients until smooth.
4. Divide batter into the ramekins.
5. Bake for 10-13 minutes. (I baked for 11 minutes.) Cakes are done when the edges are set, but middle is still soft.
6. Run a knife around the edges of the ramekin to loosen cake, and invert onto plate.
7. Sprinkle a little powdered sugar, and there’s your perfect yummy chocolate cake!

I hope ya’ll enjoy these as much as I did. And Reinman did.

– the Jilb

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