Peanut Butter Jammies!

Happy Saturday to you! Hope your weekend is going well so far. I decided to make something yummy today, and had to keep in mind that I gave up chocolate for Lent 🙂 It has been hard the last 3 days without chocolate, but I’m going to do it! So I thought, well, if I can’t have chocolate then I’m going to have peanut butter instead….another one of my favorites. The final product is what I named Peanut Butter Jammies and the ingredient list is pretty tiny, I had everything in house. These little cookies are perfect and the thumbprint of jelly is a sweet touch. They really taste like a PB and J sandwich!

Peanut Butter Jammies

• 3/4 cup sugar (substitute Splenda, if desired)
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• Raspberry jelly

1. Preheat oven to 375. Combine all ingredients, except the jelly, in a large bowl and mix until smooth.
2. Roll mixture into small 1 inch balls and place on a non-stick baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
3. Using your thumb, make a thumbprint in the center of the dough. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown.
4. Cool your cookies then fill each thumbprint with raspberry jelly.

Enjoy and have a fabulous weekend!

Some “Better Late Than Never” 4th of July Treats!

Another busy weekend and week in the life of Lindsay ElBach! I was fortunate to be a bridesmaid alongside my amazing friend Ashley as she celebrated her wedding day last Friday 🙂 I can’t believe a week already flew by! Every minute was just absolutely perfect. The weekend before was another great one, and just like everyone else I’m sure, I had a great 4th of July! I know I’m a little late, but I wanted to share a couple things that I decided to make on America’s weekend. Now, pulled pork isn’t something that I recommend you eat often, but once in a while it’s one of those great summertime dishes that’s delicious! For a while I’ve wanted to make my own, so I’m glad I finally had some time to throw in some ingredients and pop it in a slow cooker for a few hours. 

Pulled Pork and Homemade Cinnamon Apple Sauce

Pulled Pork – What you need:

• Slow Cooker
• 3 lbs Pork Loin
• 1/2 cup of warm water
• 1/2 Vidalia onion – chopped
• 1 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce – I use Sweet Baby Rays Original
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• salt and pepper
• garlic powder

Directions:

1. Add 1/2 cup of warm water to your slow cooker and set on high heat. Rub each side of the pork loin with salt, pepper and garlic powder and add to the pot. Score the meat in a few place so that the juices and seasoning can marinate within. Let the meat cook on high for about an hour.
2. Turn heat down to low and add chopped onion and all the other dry ingredients. Flip the pork loin so that you mix all your ingredients together.
3. Check on the pork from time to time, flipping and mixing within the sauce. After about 5 hours of cooking, the pork will become tender enough to start pulling apart – I used tongs and a fork to help shred the meat so that it could soak up the sauce.

Serve on a roll and have some extra napkins handy 🙂

Homemade Cinnamon Apple Sauce

What you need:

• 3 large apples –  MacIntosh are best
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

1. Peel the skin from the apples, cut into slices and add to a pot of water.
2. Once the water boils, turn off the burner and allow the apples to sit for a couple minutes before straining. Once you strain the apples, they will be rather mushy in texture. Run them under cool water and place in a mixing bowl.
3. First add the lemon juice and with a masher (if you have one handy) or something equivalent, mash up the apples. Add your cinnamon and continue mashing until you have the texture you want – you know, if you like it chunky 🙂 That’s it!

And now for dessert, which I shared at 4th of July parties at work  and over the holiday weekend – a cute festive recipe I got from good ol’ Martha Stewart! So easy and actually fun to make.

Pretzel Sparklers!!

What you need:

• Pretzel Rods
• White and Milk chocolate morsels
• Sprinkles – I thought that the crystal type ones worked best!

Now it’s as easy as 1, 2, 3!

1. Pour a cup of morsels into one bowl (choose which to start with or you can do just one kind too) and follow the package instructions for melting in the microwave.
2. Dip each pretzel rod in chocolate first and coat about half of it. Have a separate bowl for your sprinkles, and coat the chocolate by using a spoon or your fingers.
3. Lay your finished pretzel rod on a cookie tray lined with wax paper and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour before serving.

YUMMMMMMM, a nice little bite size treat to help celebrate the 4th!

Happy Summer! Rolo McFlurry, Anyone?

My Fellow Bridesmaids & I @ the bridal shower!

It’s been over 2 weeks people, I’ve missed you! Can’t believe how time flies, between bridal showers and bachelorette parties, graduations, work, and much more!  Even better, I have a few fun things in the near future, like being a bridesmaid in my wonderful best friends’ -Ashley and Justin- wedding in about 2 weeks up on beautiful Lake Winnipesaukee!! The summertime for sure brings along good, fun things to look forward to and I’m so happy it’s here.

Bachelorette Weekend in Newport, RI!

Unlike today, which was pretty crummy with all the rain, yesterday’s weather was perfect to welcome the first day of summer. It’s nice because I typically take advantage and walk down Needham Street in Newton during my lunch break. There are actually a good amount of restaurants, stores, and of course fast food chains. Yesterday, I actually decided to stop by McDonald’s because the snack size Rolo McFlurry they now have intrigued me and I’ve heard from numerous people that they are pretty yummy! I know, I should be preaching “eat your fruits and veggies,” but sometimes you just got to reward yourself with a little afternoon treat, especially on a hot summer day! I usually go into McDonald’s for their Newman’s Own coffee, but once in a while I like to treat myself 🙂

If you’re a fan of caramel, chocolate and vanilla soft serve, then you will enjoy this new McFlurry! I can’t remember the last time I actually had a Rolo, and they may be considered one of my favorites! Chunks of Rolos and swirls of caramel – yummmmm! Personally, I think the new snack size version that McDonald’s recently introduced is a great idea on their part. Who would have thought the infamous creators of “supersize drinks and meals” would go the opposite route? At just $2.00, the snack size 6oz Rolo McFlurry has 300 calories, 12g of fat and 40g of sugar. Again, not something I would suggest to eat on a daily basis of course, but in moderation! But get a regular size McFlurry at 12 oz and double those numbers, yikes!

Hope your first day of summer was a great one and you got to spend some of it outside! I’ll be back soon, don’t worry no more of this long time no blog post stuff 🙂

Tasty Truffles for a Special Occasion

Although the weather wasn’t the best, this weekend sure was great! Spent with family and friends, I headed to Providence College for a fun filled weekend to celebrate my brother Mark’s graduation. To kick start the celebration, we all gathered on Saturday at Mark’s house for a pre-graduation bash. Since there were going to be a lot of us at the party, when my brother asked about bringing a dessert I decided instead of buying something, I would make something. Truffles have been on my mind to make for a while now, and I figured that with such a large party crowd, why not try them out! With a recipe that I cut out of a Good Housekeeping magazine, I only needed 3 main ingredients (not including the toppings). Great for any occasion, these truffles are super easy to make and  they literally melt in your mouth! The 100+ bite size truffles that I made were definitely a crowd pleaser!

This recipe made a ton of truffles! Total time = 1 and 1/2 hours – 30 minute prep and about 1 hour to chill

Chocolate Cheesecake Truffles

Ingredients:

• 3 (8oz) packages of low-fat cream cheese
• 2 cups of powdered sugar
• 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips – melted

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, use a hand mixer or stand to mix the cream cheese and powdered sugar – gradually add the powdered sugar as you’re mixing. A rubber spatula will be your best friend with this task as well 🙂
2. Melt the chocolate – In a microwave safe dish, I melted 1 cup at a time in the microwave for a total of 1 minute and 10 seconds. There may be some lumps of remaining chocolate chips, but give the melted chocolate a quick stir and you’re good!
3.  Add the melted chocolate immediately to your cream cheese mixture. Using the rubber spatula, fold the chocolate into the cream cheese mixture until completely mixed and smooth. You may use the hand mixer to help you in the process because you don’t want the chocolate to harden! 
4. Place Saran Wrap over the top of your chocolate cream cheese mix and pop in the fridge for an hour. To speed things up, you can pop it in the freezer like I did for about 30-45 minutes.
5. While the mix in chilling, decide on your toppings. I used rainbow sprinkles, crushed Oreo Cookies, and almonds. I tried a few with some powdered sugar as well, but they didn’t come out as good as the others. There are so many toppings, dips, and even liquers that you can add to your truffles!
6. Once the mixture is chilled and ready to come out, use a melon baller or a small ice cream scooper to create 1 inch bite size balls. To get a more uniform look, roll in your hand. I won’t lie, it does get a little messy so be prepared!
7. Last step is to roll your ball in your desired toppings and completely cover. Transfer your finished truffle to a mini paper liner, and voila! you have a tasty bite size treat that isn’t too bad when it comes to fat and calories 🙂 YUMMMM!