easy recipes

Name: Copycat Cosmic Brownies
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: ¼ cup Rainbow Chocolate Chips; 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened; 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk; 8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips; 1 cup granulated sugar; 1 cup brown sugar; 2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 2 large eggs plus 2 yolks; 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted; 8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips; 1/2 cup vegetable oil; 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour; 1/4 cup cocoa powder

Delicious Copycat Cosmic Brownies Recipe

July 28, 2020 by Rachel 22 Comments

I’m in full on back-to-school mode over here. I’m trying not to be, but the deadline of school/homeschool start is quickly approaching. This year I’m getting creative with lunches and snacks. The past few months have given me a new confidence in the kitchen. And, despite how strange this school year may look, I’m ready to tackle lunches and snacks like a pro with these Copycat Cosmic Brownies recipe!

I have to admit — my guiltiest of guilty pleasures are the Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies. I don’t know what is so glorious about them. Nostalgia, maybe? I’m not certain what it is — but these Copycat Cosmic Brownies contain all of that same magic!

Make school snacks fun

As we all know, this will be an unprecedented school year. No one really knows what it will look like for our kids — or us. Although I have decided to keep my kids home full-time and do distance learning, my plan is to still keep the school day structure. Before the pandemic started, I saw the writing on the wall. I watched what was happening in other countries, and I knew schools would be shut down in the US. So I stocked up on snacks and craft supplies. Those lasted approximately two weeks. Ha!

Now that I have a bit more time to prep for what’s to come, I was able to prepare in other ways. I bought a few sets of bento boxes from Amazon. My goal is to still make ‘school lunches’ for the kids. That way they aren’t trying to snack all day.

Cosmic Brownies or Bust

My love for Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies is apparently a trait I passed on to all three of my kids. And I can’t blame them! Fun fact — I’m not a big fan of chocolate, especially in candy. But these copycat cosmic brownies?! OMG — SO good!

You’ll have most of the items you need to make this recipe. The one ‘specialty’ item would be the rainbow chips. If you’ve ever eaten a cosmic brownie, you know those aren’t just regular chocolate chips on top! Nope! Those are candy coated chocolate chips. I bought a bag here off Amazon and it was the best priced per ounce.

The full Copycat Cosmic Brownies recipe

Copycat Cosmic Brownies

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Ingredients

Brownies

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs plus 2 yolks
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder

Glaze

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Topping

¼ cup Rainbow Chocolate Chips

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Line a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
Combine the granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, salt, whole eggs and yolks in a large bowl.
Melt the butter and chocolate in a double boiler, then whisk together until fully combined.
Whisk in the vegetable oil.
Pour the chocolate mixture into the sugar mixture and mix until fully combined. Gently fold in the flour and cocoa.
Pour the brownie batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes.
Meanwhile make the glaze.
Place chopped or grated chocolate into a medium-sized, heatproof bowl and set aside.
In a large heatproof bowl combine your sweetened condensed milk and butter.
Microwave for 30 seconds and stir. Microwave another 30 seconds.
When the butter is melted carefully add your chocolate chips and stir in until melted. You can also microwave for 15 seconds more until chips are all melted and ganache is smooth.
Pour the ganache over the brownies and immediately sprinkle with the rainbow chips.
Let cool completely before slicing.
ENJOY!

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Summertime Rainbow Garden Veggie Pizza

July 27, 2020 by Rachel 25 Comments

This was our first year trying to grow our own vegetables in our backyard garden. We have quite a bit of space, but decided to start small with just two raised garden beds. I went a bit crazy with seeds, thinking very few would take. But I was really wrong and now we have an abundance of veggies! What’s a mom to do with all the veggies?! Make the perfect Summertime Rainbow Garden Veggie Pizza, of course!

This is one of those recipes that the kids can be really involved in. In fact, my kids have been super involved in the whole gardening process! They helped me plant the seeds and starters and they help me water every day. You should have seen the reactions they all gave to our first teeny veggie!

I figured that this would be our summer “lesson” in unschooling. And thus far, it has worked! My oldest (almost 8), has had so many questions about how and why plants grow. I do my best to communicate the science behind it, but truthfully, YouTube has been much better at it!

Rainbow Garden Veggie Pizza

This pizza is as easy as it gets. Instead of traditional pizza dough, I opted for something easier — and perhaps even tastier — pita bread! Another great alternatives to traditional pizza crust would be naan.

As far as veggies are concerned, we used most of the items we could find in our garden. Yellow and red bell peppers, cucumbers, cauliflower, carrots, broccoli, and tomatoes! As far as veggies are concerned, the possibilities are endless!

The pita bread (or naan) is just the perfect size for kids. They can put on whichever veggies they want, and leave off what they don’t! My middle daughter, for one, wanted her rainbow veggie pizza to consist of nothing but cucumbers and broccoli! No arguments from me, that’s for sure.

Getting the kids involved in the process just increases the odds of them actually eating it. So my advice to you would be this: clean and cut the veggies and place them in separate containers. Ahead of time, mix the cream cheese mixture together. Set out the pita or naan on individual plates. And let them go for it! The worst thing that could happen is that they eat even more veggies!

Rainbow Veggie Pizza

Ingredients

1 cup sliced cucumbers
1/2 cup cauliflower
1/2 cup broccoli
1/4 cup sliced rainbow carrots
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes (halved)
1/2 cup of red / yellow bell peppers (cut into chunks)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
4 ounces of cream cheese
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
4 pieces of pita bread (or naan)

Instructions

Wash and cut vegetables
Using a 9x13 pan, add pita bread to cover the bottom of the pan.
In a bowl, mix softened cream cheese, lemon juice, Greek yogurt, and
salt and pepper together well.
Spread mixture onto pita bread
Evenly spread vegetables and cheese atop pita
Enjoy!

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Perfect Peach Recipes for Peach Season

July 24, 2020 by Rachel 21 Comments

As a foodie, fewer things are more exciting than peach season. My husband has always had a knack for picking out the ripest and most beautiful peaches from our farmers market. Of course, this year the markets are looking a tad bit different. So I decided to finally try ordering from The Peach Truck, which has left me with plenty of peach recipes for peach season!

What you need to know.

You can’t walk up and order from The Peach Truck. They take orders online for several months prior to the dates in your area. Packages start at 25-pound bundles to peaches, pecans, and cookbooks.

Before you pick up your peaches from TPT (The Peach Truck), you’ll receive a barcode. You arrive during your allotted pickup time, stand in the line, and scan the code when it’s your turn. The line is honestly a bit daunting, but they are super efficient. I was in and out of line within 3 minutes!

I have my peaches, now what?

Your peaches will be fresh. Like, picked within the last 48-hours kind of fresh! So they won’t be quite ripe enough to eat yet. You’ll want to spread the peaches out on your kitchen counter (if it’s large enough!) or the kitchen table to ripen.

Ripening the peaches will take only a couple of days. You’re going to want to have a plan on how much you can eat and/or bake in a relatively short period of time.

Separate and set aside.

So twenty-five pounds of peaches is a lot. Like, a whole lot! Since you’ve taken the time to get a plan of action in place for your peaches, you can now separate them into what you will use now, and what you will store for later. Instructions for freezing your peaches can be found on TPT’s website.

For those peaches you don’t freeze, I have several peach recipes to help you out!

Peach Recipes for Peach Season.

Sure, you can just eat peaches. But what about grilling them? Or baking them? Or making a delicious adult beverage with them?! We tried the grilling method. Oh my stars, were they delicious! But after some time on the charcoal grill, they were not at all pretty.

Peach Mojito

We also tried making them into delicious and perfect peach mojitos. Y’all! If you love mojitos (and who doesn’t), you will absolutely die for these. They are perfect for a backyard cookout or, heck!, pre-make them for a camping trip!

Yield: 1 drink

Peach Mojito

Prep Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Ingredients

2-3 slices of fresh peach
2 slices lime
1 sprig of mint
ice
2 ounces of rum
1/2 ounce of simple syrup
3 ounces of soda water

Instructions

In a glass of choice muddle the mint and lime then add slices of peach.
Add ice.
Then add rum, simple syrup, and top it off with soda water.
Stir and enjoy.

With just the perfect amount of mint and peaches, this drink is incredibly refreshing!

Peach Angel Food Cupcakes

Summertime is not the time for ‘heavy’ desserts, am I right? It turns out that peaches and angel food cake, which is light and airy, are the perfect combination! For these peach angel food cupcakes, I used boxed angel food cake mix, because it was the quickest! But they’re delicious!

If you’re looking to step these up a bit, top them with frozen cool whip and fresh peaches!

Peach Angel Food Cupcakes

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 can of halved peaches (or one pound of fresh peaches)
1 box of angel food cake mix
1 teaspoon of almond extract

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Cut peaches into small chunks.
Follow box instructions for angel food cake. Then fold in peaches and almond extract.
Pour into muffin tin.
Bake for 15 minutes (until golden).
Let cool. Enjoy!

Notes

Add fresh whipped cream to make it extra delicious!

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Backyard Bliss Rosemary Citrus Spritzer

July 21, 2020 by Rachel 21 Comments

I don’t think I’m alone in saying that the Summer of 2020 may go down in history as one of the weirdest ever. We cancelled our big family vacation at the beginning of the pandemic. And, shortly thereafter, I managed to convince my husband that we should just put that money into making our backyard a little paradise. Complete with a backyard bliss Rosemary Citrus Spritzer.

We started with putting up a huge privacy fence. We hired a local contractor off of a Facebook recommendation. Also, we immediately ordered raised garden beds. And then we set into motion a plan to build a deck, complete with a hot tub. If we were going to be home, I might as well make the most of it, right?

Speaking of enjoying it, this Rosemary Citrus Spritzer is the perfect nightcap to be enjoyed on our blissful deck. It’s super refreshing and equally delicious.

First, start with simple syrup.

You start making this Rosemary Citrus Spritzer by preparing your own simple syrup. Sure, you could always purchase simple syrup. But it’s SO easy to make it yourself — and way more delicious!

All you need to make simple syrup is one whole orange, one whole lemon, sugar, a sprig of rosemary, and a sauce pan.

Then, add the spirits — Prosecco, Vodka, and Limoncello

The other thing you need is prosecco. My favorite prosecco is Riondo Prosecco. It’s affordable and you don’t need to use the whole bottle (because it’s a screw cap!). So you can enjoy this one glass at a time — no pressure.

In addition to the perfect prosecco, you’ll need vodka and limoncello. My favorite vodka is a local company, Buckeye Vodka. But you can use any good vodka.

Check out the full recipe!

Yield: 8 ounces

Rosemary Citrus Spritzer

Ingredients

Fresh Rosemary
2 Tablespoons of sugar
Juice from one orange
Juice from one lemon
1 teaspoon of orange zest
1 ounce of vodka
1 ounce of limoncello
1 ounce of coconut water
2 ounces of Riondo Prosecco

Instructions

For the simple syrup:

Add 1 sprig rosemary, sugar, orange and lemon juice, and orange zest to a sauce pan and bring to a boil.
Reduce to a simmer, stir, and cover for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and strain, let cool 5-10 min.

Mixing:

Pour 1 ounce simple syrup into a glass with ice.
Add all remaining ingredients. Stir & enjoy!
Garnish with rosemary and an orange!

This is the perfect drink for your staycation, don’t you think?

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Yummy + Easy Summertime Frito Salad

July 19, 2020 by Rachel 19 Comments

Listen, y’all. I’ll admit Summer is not my favorite season. Not by any stretch. It’s hot and I just don’t like the overwhelming humidity. But ya know what I do like? Easy Summertime meals like this yummy + easy Summertime Frito Salad.

What makes this salad special?

First off, it’s easy. Second, it’s a total guilty pleasure. Third, even my kids will eat it! So I suppose technically it’s only a salad in terms of ‘a bunch of items mixed together.’ You know, in the same way that tuna salad is a ‘salad’.

Honest to goodness, I personally love any salad that is not based in lettuce. It’s true! I just don’t love lettuce! Fruit salad? Yes. Pasta salad? Yep. Ham salad? Sure do love it! Rockne’s Firestone Salad (an Akron classic, if you ask me)? THE absolute best.

But I DO love a good delicious and simple Summertime salad! And, like I have said, this one meets all of the criteria for amazing. It’s fresh, tasty, and you won’t be able to stop yourself from going back for seconds!

Warning: It’s addictive, but not at all healthy!

If you are looking for something to bring to your potluck or end of Summer celebration, look no further than here. But if you are looking for something healthy, please don’t look at this! haha! I mean, seriously, this is NOT one of “those” meals! But it is delicious and it does switch up the normal potluck and mealtime routine.

This yummy + easy Summertime Frito salad will satisfy every craving!

Frito Salad

Ingredients

Fritos 9oz package
2/3 cup Sour Cream
1 Green pepper, diced
1 can of corn, drained (substitute fresh corn for a different take!)
Cilantro (optional)
1 tbs chili powder
1 tbs onion powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Instructions

Dice the green pepper and combine in a large bowl with the drained corn.
Combine the seasonings and the sour cream until well mixed.
Add sour cream mixture to the green peppers and corn.
Just before serving, add in the Fritos and fold to combine. Top with chopped cilantro for an extra special touch!
ENJOY!

Notes

For an extra kick, mix in:

Chopped green or black olives
Minced jalapeno
Sriracha
Diced red onion
Diced tomato

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Smoky Paprika Grilled Shrimp Skewers

July 13, 2020 by Rachel 25 Comments

Guys, it has been HOT across the midwest lately. Like, really, really, hot! In times like these I just cannot imagine turning on the stove or the oven to make dinner (and the other 5,000 meals a day my kids insist on eating). Luckily, the Instant Pot and the grill are my best friends! And these Smoky Paprika Grilled Shrimp Skewers are the most delicious way to beat the heat!

If you’re a fan of seafood, you’ll love these! They are just the right amount of ‘heat,’ but perfectly balanced from cooking on the grill! To get in our daily dose of veggies, we take whatever we have ready in our garden! Our zucchini and squash seem to be thriving this first year, so we have an abundance!

Speaking of gardens, this was our very first year growing and planting! Since moving into our new home almost two years ago, we now have plenty of space. We didn’t plant anything last year, as we were still getting settled. But this year I knew I wanted to plant as many veggies as possible!

Chad ordered two raised beds and we assembled them. Naively, I thought this would be enough space for everything. Guys — I was very wrong! While things are growing well and producing fruits and veggies, certain items are completely taking over! I, clearly, did not space seeds and plants out appropriately. And our cucumber plants are wrapping themselves around literally everything else!

I’ve certainly learned a lot with this first garden. And I’m already planning on purchasing several more raised beds after the season ends (in anticipation of next Summer)! In the meantime, we will enjoy the heck out of all of the zucchini!

So if you’re looking for a delicious, easy, weeknight recipe — then look no further than these incredible Smoky Paprika Grilled Shrimp Skewers!

Yield: 6-8

Smoky Paprika Grilled Shrimp Skewers

Ingredients

2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
1 teaspoon of minced garlic
red pepper (to taste)
sea salt (to taste)
1 pound of shrimp, peeled and cleaned

Instructions

Soak bamboo skewers in water for 30 minutes in water before using.
Mix the olive oil, lemon juice, smoked paprika, garlic, red pepper flakes, and salt together in a mixing bowl.
Add the shrimp to the bowl and mix until well-coated.
Let the shrimp sit for a minimum of 30 minutes in the fridge, covered.
Preheat the grill (or charcoal grill) to medium heat, oil the grates and grill the shrimp for 2-3 minutes per side until opaque.
Transfer skewers to a plate.
ENJOY!

If you’re looking for a dessert recipe to accompany these grilled shrimp skewers, be sure to check out this delicious chocolate tart!