Mini Shortbread Christmas Cookie Bites

December 21, 2020 Amanda Plott

These tiny Mini Shortbread Christmas Cookie Bites are really one of the best things I’ve put in my mouth this week. They’re light, crisp, buttery and full of festive holiday sprinkles. Of course, I didn’t go with traditional ‘red and green’ sprinkles. I found some awesome colorful ‘gingerbread’ holiday sprinkles that really made these tiny bites pop!

The very same ones that I used in my Healthified 'Lofthouse' Soft Sugar Cookies! The sprinkles here DO make a difference, so be sure to use your favorites. Jimmies and ‘confetti’ style sprinkles work best because they don’t bleed out color into the batter as easily as some others…

Buffalo Ranch Chex Mix

December 18, 2020 Amanda Plott

If you like standard Chex snack mix, you’ll love this spicy buffalo version even more. How do I know? My mom makes traditional Chex mix around the holidays every year, and this year is no different. But, when I made this Buffalo Ranch Chex Mix she immediately said I would need to make more and wanted to know if she could have the recipe.

There’s a whole lot of good stuff in this mix. Cereal, cheese wisps, pretzels, nuts, and a whole lot of flavor. This Chex mix is probably my new favorite. Cheesy and just spicy enough to keep you coming back for more with that delicious hotting inspired taste…

Instant Pot Loaded Baked Potato Soup

December 15, 2020 Amanda Plott

No time to labor over the stove to make dinner? This Instant Pot Loaded Baked Potato Soup is quick and easy to make with almost all of the cook time being hands off in the instant pot. You start this soup off with cooking the bacon and then adding in the potatoes and broth to that. Yep, that’s right. The bacon is loaded into the soup from the very start!

After the soup cooks you add in a roux and cheese to really make it fully loaded. I keep this soup with some potato chunk to make it feel even more hearty and filling. I also leave on the most of the skins on the potatoes because that’s where so much of the nutrients are…

Healthified 'Lofthouse' Soft Sugar Cookies

December 13, 2020 Amanda Plott

I've basically taken that original tried-and-true recipe and trimmed it down as best I could without losing the amazingness of that cookie.

The first thing I did was swapped out some of the regular flour for some whole wheat white flour. If you're going to be bad, you may as well get some good in there too! At least you can say you had some whole wheat, right?

I also substituted in some sweetener for about 1/3 of the sugar originally called for. Why? Well, if you can get away with less sugar, then why not? For the cookie dough, I used a light butter rather than full fat. Again, if you can get away with it... do it!

I made a few other minor changes as well, and still ended up with a perfectly light and decedent cookie that has over 50 calories less per serving than it's store bought counter part. Plus, I know exactly what in these cookies since well... I'm one that put it all there!

I'm telling you, they taste almost exactly like the original…

Instant Pot Cheesecake Bites

December 10, 2020 Amanda Plott

Most recently I found a fun way to make tamales in the instant pot, and being as I’ve also made a cheesecake in the instant pot too, I thought… is it possible to make mini cheesecakes? As it turns out, it is! These Instant Pot Cheesecake Bites are fun and easy to make. Plus, they’re lightened up just enough to be guilt free while still tasting great.

As it turns out, the instant pot is a great way to make cheesecakes, and these mini ones are made directly in my handy-dandy egg bite mold! I lightened them up by using sweetener instead of most of the sugar, and also used a reduced fat cream cheese…

Biscuits & Gravy Monkey Bread

December 7, 2020 Amanda Plott

This is monkey bread like no other. Unlike most monkey bread, this one is a savory option that combines the deliciousness of biscuits and gravy with the convenience of monkey bread! It takes no time at all to toss together, is super easy to make, and is great for feeding the family breakfast or brunch on the weekend.

Just as is traditional with monkey bread, this one starts out with biscuit dough, layers in cooked sausage and some shredded cheese, then more biscuit dough. It’s all topped off with a homemade easy to do sausage gravy; baking up to perfection in less than an hour!…