Fudgy Brownies

I know I'm big on desserts lately, but let's just say my son has entered the Terrible Twos and I'm needing desserts more frequently in my life haha.

Brownies made from a mix are delightful, but I'd never made them from scratch before and I wanted to try! And now I don't think I'll ever go back! This recipe is so easy, and these brownies are so fudgy and not at all cakey and dry like brownies can sometimes get.

Ingredients

1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder

Frosting
3 tbsp softened butter
3 tbsp cocoa
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk

Pesto Sauce

This recipe was certainly an adventure for me! I'll walk you through my trial-and-error experience, but in the long run, the sauce came out a success! It all started when I was trying to hunt down jarred pesto sauce in the grocery store and it was surprisingly difficult to find, so I thought, "Why not make my own?"


Ingredients
1 cup fresh basil leaves
1 cup walnuts/almonds
4 cloves garlic, peeled
3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

First of all, it's really hard to find this much basil, so I actually ended up buying an entire plant haha. The leaves weren't even a third of what the original recipe called for, but the sauce was still pretty strong so I think 1 cup was plenty. And if the plant thrives, then awesome! More pesto sauce. If not, well, then, I would've spent $5 on basil leaves if they'd been available anyway, so no harm done.

Chocolate Cheesecake

Hubby gets full credit for this one. Chocolate cheesecake is my favorite dessert, and he surprised me with this on my birthday! He made two whole chocolate cheesecakes by himself, and kept it a secret from me. I was so impressed! This time around, I helped him make it and we contributed it to our family's Thanksgiving dinner. It is so delicious!

Ingredients
1 package Oreos (about 36 cookies)
1/4 cup powdered sugar
8 tbsp melted butter
1/2 cup milk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3 8-oz packages of cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp flour

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

It's time for pumpkin-flavored everything!! I love this time of year, and I'm keeping the tradition of baking pumpkin treats every fall. This is a new recipe I tried this year, and it was super tasty. The original recipe yields two loaves, but one loaf was plenty for my family, so I'm going to share the halved recipe that I used. With a half-recipe, you only use half a can of pumpkin, so I used the other half to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Everything was delicious!

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg (I had none, so this was omitted. It still tasted great)

1 cup sugar

6 tbsp butter

2 eggs

1/4 cup water

1/2 can of pumpkin

1 cup mini chocolate chips

1 tbsp chopped pecans (also omitted)

1 tsp sugar

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins

I love banana bread! It's (slightly) healthy and still super delicious when you add chocolate chips. This recipe is fantastic. I was able to freeze a few leftovers and munch on them later for a nice, indulgent snack.

I highly recommend freezing bananas! If you notice your bananas are looking super ripe and you don't know if you can bake them in time, peel them and freeze them! Then you don't have to mash them later.

Ingredients
½ cup butter, slightly melted
1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
2 large eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 ripe bananas, mashed
2¼ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, reserve a few for the tops (original recipe calls for 1 cup of chocolate chips, but the muffins taste SO much more moist and delicious with a little more chocolate chips)

Baked Penne

I love pasta dishes, and this one is excellent. It requires a bit of prep, but you can get it done the night before if you prefer and just combine all the ingredients before you bake it.

This recipe calls for two jars of Alfredo sauce, but I ended up doubling my recipe for homemade Alfredo sauce and it was delicious!

Also, please note that this meal serves 9, so if you're cooking for a small group, make sure to half the recipe.

Ingredients

1 box (16 oz) penne pasta

1 tbsp olive oil

2 lb uncooked chicken tenders, cut into chunks

Salt and pepper to taste

1 bag (12 oz) frozen broccoli cuts

2 jars (16 oz each) Alfredo sauce (or double my Alfredo sauce recipe)

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese 

Restaurant-Style Mashed Potatoes

I have always struggled with making mashed potatoes from scratch. I usually mash the potatoes and mix it with milk and tons of seasoning and it always tastes incredibly bland. So I hunted for a recipe to try, and these potatoes were amazing and super easy to make!

Ingredients
5 red potatoes (about 1.5 lbs)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup butter, softened