Cake Batter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Over the past few months my close friend and I have become obsessed lovers of anything cake batter flavored. I really, REALLY like cake batter and sprinkles a lot. I mean who doesn't though? I even order sprinkle donuts like a big girl :) For mothers day this year my friend gave me this awesome baking cookbook. Sally has a baking blog where is all started then she wrote the cookbook. Every recipes is mouthwatering and will want to get you baking ASAP. First recipe I tried was the Cake Batter Chocolate Chip Cookies. Ohmygoodness they are ssssooooo good! No doubt one the best cookie recipes EVER in life. I may or may not have ate some cookie dough, clearly I don't fear salmonella.  I made these yesterday for the 4th time during my sons nap since discovering these. Chilling the dough is a necessary step I could not wait that long haha! I made them and was eating one in about 45 minutes. They are dangerously delicious!

Soft chewy cookie with sprinkles, chocolate chips, cake mix, white chocolate chips...are you ready for this?

Cake Batter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yields 2 dozen

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 1/4 cup cake mix (yellow or vanilla) I used funfetti per suggestion from my friend

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter softened, to room temp

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 egg, at room temp

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1/2 cup sprinkles

In a large bowl sift flour, cake mix and baking soda. Set aside. If you use funfetti sift out sprinkles save to use later.

Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream the softened butter and both sugars together on medium speed until smooth. Add the egg and mix on high until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla and beat on high until combined. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix on low-medium speed until just combined. Add the chocolate chips and sprinkles. Mix on low until the add-ins are evenly disbursed.

Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours, or up to 3 days. This step is mandatory. (As previously stated I had no patience to wait, when I made these yesterday. Chilling makes a big difference, but they still tasted amazing) The dough is fairly sticky, so chilling the dough is required in order to avoid the cookies from spreading too much. If you chill longer than 2 hours, make sure you roll the cookie dough into balls after the 2 hour mark. Place dough balls on a plate, cover tightly, and store in the refrigerator until ready to bake.

Once dough has been chilled, preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

Scoop rounded balls of the cold dough onto an ungreased baking sheet, use about 1.5 Tablespoons of cookie dough per cookie. Shape your cookie dough balls to be "taller" than they are wide, as pictured above. Press a few chocolate chips into the tops of the cookie dough balls, if desired. That makes a pretty cookie. Make sure to keep dough chilled when working in batches.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes until edges are slightly browned. 

Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 4 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 7 days. They won't last that long!

Recipe slightly adapted from Sally of Sally's Baking Addiction

I encourage you to visit her blog, you won't be disappointed and if you try these let me know what you think!!

*This is not a sponsored post all opinions are my own

5 on Friday: Recipe Edition

It's been a while since I've done a 5 on Friday post. I'm shaking things up a bit and sharing with you 5 of my favorite recipes found on none other than Pinterest. I find myself pinning away delicious recipes and then not trying them out. I get stuck in a rut of what to cook (who's been there?) and end up making the same favorites in a clever rotation. B O R I N G if you ask me. So my goal is to try 4-5 new recipes a month. That's only one a week maybe 2 if I'm feeling brave haha.

I've tried all these recipes and LOVED them! So I want to share the recipe love with you. Even though we strive for a healthy diet, we indulge at times. I have NOT spared calories on these recipes, your welcome :) After all it is Friday, cheat day right? Plus you can always start back up again on the healthy wagon on Monday!

1. Southwestern Chicken Taco Pie

OH MY GOODNESS this is like a taco meets quesadilla. Cheesy layers with corn, black beans and chicken topped with sour cream. Yes please! I made this a few weeks ago because I was stumped for dinner and had all ingredients on hand. Mason and I polished this off (we only 1/2 the recipe) in one sitting. I made it a few days later for my sister in law and she also loved it and we had leftovers for our lunch the next day.

2. PF Changs Chicken Lettuce Wraps

We really, really, REALLY like lettuce wraps. I think PF Changs is pretty awesome but I'm not going there every time I have a craving for lettuce wraps. These were super easy to made. I used ground turkey because I didn't have any ground chicken on hand (how silly of me to forget the MAIN ingredient plus I don't have a meat grinder...) and we devoured these so fast! I am looking forward to trying them again with ground chicken.

3. Skillet Green Beans and Bacon

A couple of Thanksgivings ago I was the green bean person. I wanted something different and with bacon because I was pregnant and craving bacon. My family took a few at first since turkey and stuffing are the real stars on Thanksgiving. Somewhere in the middle of our dinner everyone was talking about the green beans. I have been officially assigned to green beans until forever using this recipe.

4. Homeroom's Classic Macaroni and Cheese

My mom made mac and cheese a lot when I was little. My brother was a super picky eater and mac and cheese was his favorite. This recipe comes really close to what I remember her making. I am not a box mac and cheese kinda girl. I have no problem 30-40 minutes making some from scratch. Plus once you try this you will not want to go back to the box stuff anyway.

5. Sketch-Free Broccoli Cheddar Soup

One of my favorite ways to eat broccoli is in this amazingly wonderful and tasty soup. This is a copycat of Panera's Broccoli Cheddar Soup which I don't remember having. People swear Panera has the best broccoli cheddar soup. I took there word for it and found this gem. I had leftovers for days since my husband is not a fan of soups and I enjoyed my soup and shared with a few people who also found it pretty amazing!

So there you have it my 5 favorite Pinterest recipes! Have a wonderful weekend. If you haven't entered this cash giveaway you should :)

If you try one of these let me know how you like it.

Mom Lovin One Year Anniversary Giveaway

Congratulations to Hannah, Lena and their co-host Amy on their one year anniversary of the Mom Lovin hop!! This is such a fun weekly hop to meet other moms. If you have not linked up before I invite you to do so today. Now for the giveaway....to celebrate this joyous event there is a CASH giveaway. CASH!!!! Good luck :)

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A crazy special thanks to the following blogging mamas who happily visited our hop over the year, partnered with us, built community among other moms here and of course for contributing to the cash giveaway!

Ileana:: Illy Who Blog
Elizabeth:: Sattvic Family & Savouring Simplicity
Lindsay:: Wedding Rings to Teething Rings
Andrea:: (Hand and the Heart)
Julia:: The Everyday Momma
Jennifer:: Mommy Life After PhD
Chastity:: A Cowboy's Life
Aanie:: The Active Mum
Jenna:: A Mama Collective

Now, after you enter this AWESOME giveaway, don't forget to scroll down farther to link up to the hop! Don't miss our 52nd!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here we go! Don't forget to... 

**grab out button and display it proud for other mama's to get in on this action! 

**read the rules, link up and socialize!

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Please, if you are new to the hop or have been here but haven't left a comment, please let us know on our own respected blogs that you are a new follower (be sure to say HOW you are following) so we can follow you back! 

Also, If you are interested in co-hosting FOR FREE shoot Hannah an email at hannahsjoyfullife (at) gmail.com to get on the list, growing your followers couldn't be easier! 

Banana Zucchini Muffins

My favorite way to use bananas that are turning is baking of course! They are so sweet and just perfect in breads and muffins. Little man loves muffins, his favorite was oatmeal blueberry until he tasted these which feature his favorite veggie, zucchini.

I am a bit greek yogurt obsessed these days and find ways to use it all the time, and bake it into everything I can. No surprise they make an appearance in these delicious muffins :)

Banana Zucchini Muffins

Yields 24 muffins

1 1/2 cups oats

1/2 cup greek yogurt

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup zucchini

1 egg, beaten

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1tsp baking soda

Preheat your oven to 350 and line (or grease) 2 muffin pans with paper.

In the bowl of your stand mixer add oats, milk and yogurt. Allow them to sit and soften. In a medium bowl combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, baking powder and soda. Add brown sugar, bananas, zucchini, oil and egg, mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix again.

Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Recipe adapted slightly from Carrie's Cooking Crafts and More 

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Let me know what you think if you try these!

Influenster T.L.C. VoxBox

Last week I got my T.L.C. VoxBox in the mail. This is my first VoxBox and I was totally psyched to open it up and see what was inside! Not going to lie I was checking my door step all day for it to arrive and when it did I may or may not have done a happy dance.

Of the 6 items in the box the most exciting was the coupon for free Breyers Gelato. I've seen commercials for this a couple times and wanted to try it. The last time I has gelato was in Italy almost 2 years ago, I cannot wait to try this! My husband was on a business trip and had to go back to work the day after he got home...AND he works evenings so we have been waiting for his days off this week to grab a Redbox and some gelato!

I have pretty annoying allergies and my nose gets all red and raw from needing to blow it so often. Puffs are my favorite tissue, especially the ones with lotion. These will be used quickly no doubt.

I have not bought anything from Avon in years and never heard of Anew products. In my experience I have liked their products. Right now you can receive 15% off an Avon Anew purchase by using the code ANEW15 by 8/1/14.

Neosporin is a staple in our house. I am a little on the clumsy side and Neosporin and a bandaid are my go-tos. It is currently in M's backpack that we take around and I'd be lying if I said I cannot wait to try it out. Weird I know haha.

I was very attracted to the Ivory soap vintage packaging. I have pretty sensitive skin and Ivory is one that does not irritate it. Score! Ivory does not contain any dyes or heavy perfumes and it 99.44% clean.

The last item in the box was a brochure to sign up for the Shell Fuel Rewards Network Card. It is a FREE loyalty program to help you save money on gas. You can learn more about it here.

**Disclosure products were received complementary from Influenster for me to try**

I'm Not Rude, I Promise!

Are you a no-reply blogger?

About a year ago when I started blogging I had no idea what that meant. I would comment on someones post and not get a reply back. I felt ignored and thought they were too busy to reply. Kinda sad right?

I found out why this was happening, I was a no reply blogger!

Pause. You may be asking what is the world is that? When you comment on a post the lovely blogger gets an email indicating you left a comment. The best way to get back in touch with you is to simply reply to that email. If your email is not properly linked up when reply is clicked it will display as
noreply-comment@blogger.com.

That means there is no way of writing back unless you go back to the original post and reply, thats a whole lotta going back to posts you've commented on waiting to see a reply.

In the past few weeks I have a reply email all ready to go when I see at the last minute there is no email linked but instead say noreply-comment@blogger.com. Makes me sad because I want to get back in touch with you!!

Wanna know how to fix this? It's really easy, no HTML coding or editing. And it can be done in two easy peasy steps!

Step 1: On your Blogger dashboard on the top right corner you will see your profile click the arrow.

Click on blogger profile.

Step 2: In the privacy section check the box that says show my email address and enter your email address. In the identity section enter the email address in which you want to be replied to at. It can be any email address you want. Make sure you hit save profile.

That's it! Problem solved. If you have any questions please let me know.

So I ask you again, are you a no reply blogger?

Marriage: Laughing Together

Today I am thrilled to be co-hosting with Jenna from A Mama Collective sharing about marriage; what you love about your husband and/or the positive aspects. The interpretation is completely up to you! I have shared about how much I love my husband many times you can read about him here, here and here. My favorite aspect of our marriage is how much we laugh together, at times uncontrollably and at the most inappropriate times like in the Sistine Chapel imitating the Police saying no photo and sssshhhhhhhh. We have so many inside jokes it's ridiculous. I don't have the perfect marriage by any means, I do however have a loving, understanding and incredibly patient husband who loves me and I'm am soooooo happy being sharing my life with him.

I want to share a little story with you about the beginning of our marriage. We didn't live together before getting married so this was a pretty big transition. In our first two years of marriage we lived in a one bedroom apartment. It was small, obviously one bedroom, but we loved it! It had vaulted ceilings making it feel so much bigger than it really was, our bedroom was really big (bigger than my master bedroom now!) and it was a corner unit so we only shared one wall and we were on the top floor. We have so many memories in that apartment, so much fun! Back to my story...

Getting used to living together was interesting, we are so not a like in the way we did things...I am a neat freak and want things done ASAP. My husband is clean, but not the way I'm used to and things doesn't need to be done now. I am a researcher and a planner, my husband is spontaneous! I am a night owl, my husband isn't, he is on the other hand a morning person and I am not. (Things have since changed since having M.) Living in such a small space brought us closer together, literally! Our arguments didn't and really couldn't last long because there was nowhere to hide...well our bedroom but I spent a lot of time on our desktop computer for school. If I was at the computer I could see my husband on the couch. I mean try being angry with someone who is like 10 feet away from you and you can see them out of the corner of your eye. It's hard! One of us would say or do something funny and it got us laughing and we could rationally talk about the issue. Not to sound corny or cliche but, laughter is the best medicine.

We send a lot of time cracking up about our poor planning when it comes to how much car space is needed when buying furniture. We don't own an SUV so we have to make things fit in our car and it's hilarious! When we bought furniture for M's room my husband drove so close to the steering wheel he was practically hugging it, his elbows were out, his legs looked like a pretzel due to the lack of space to put them and when we went over bumps he hit his head on the roof. I on the other hand was sitting perfectly normal because I was 7 months pregnant. I could not stop laughing I was practically choking and my belly hurt so much. EVERYONE driving by was turing to look at how ridiculous he looked for entire 30 minute drive home. Then just last week we bought a ginourmous mirror from a store an hour away from our house. We got an amazing deal but ended up having to put that huge mirror in the trunk where is clearly did not fit using a rope to get our trunk to shut with about 6 inches of a mirror hanging out of it. The looks we got in the parking lot trying many different ways to make that mirror fit with a toddler on my hip were priceless. And that rope was neon green drawing that much more attention! Random drivers shook there heads at us and sped up trying to avoid our car. Why I don't have photographic proof of these incidents is beyond me.

Those first two years laid such a wonderful foundation for our marriage. It is grounded by unconditional love followed by constant smiles and LAUGHING. Till this day we never go to bed angry and always apologize when we say hurtful things. Because lets be honest no matter how much fun we have together we say mean things sometimes. We find smart cars incredibly funny (hope this doesn't offend anyone) so that is our icebreaker to end an argument. I'm not saying the smart car thing is going to work for everyone. Having fun with your husband and laughing will though.We are celebrating 5 years in August go us, can you say MILESTONE anniversary!

Have a story, thought or reason why you love your husband to share? Tell me about it or better yet I invite you to link-up with us :)

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An InLinkz Link-up

Procrastination

Later, later, later oh I'll so it LATER!

Procrastination and I are BFF's. On the other hand I am very organized and detail orientented. I'll have something all planned out ready to go but the execution of when it gets done is whole different story. Some people work better under pressure and I really think that I am right there. Some of my best work is done at the last minute. In college I was really bad, sometimes doing an essay the night before it was due in major panic mode. Now you see my personality is one that loves order which creates some serious stress under pressure. Ever try mixing oil and water? Yeah they don't mix.

Source

Too often I find myself saying tomorrow and tomorrow comes and goes and that task is left incomplete AGAIN! It all ends up getting done in one day and I am a grumpy and irritated. Seriously who wants to be around a grumpy and irritated person? Not me. So for the past few days I have stopped putting off things until tomorrow. I set a timer for 30 minutes and get as much done as possible. I make lists and cross things off which is oh so gratifying. It helps that I have 4 hours of baby and husband free time where I can actually fold and put away laundry. You read that right. I am the worst at leaving clothes in baskets, folding clothes is time consuming and I don't have that kind of time while chasing a toddler.

I love not having that looming feeling of I NEED to get that done constantly. Makes me feel so much less stressed. Do you procrastinate?

**Tiny confession...it took me 4 days to finish this post. I'm clearly a work in progress :)