Skinny S'more Bars

July 5, 2020 Amanda Plott

Summer time to me means it’s time for campfires. Yeah, even if it’s pushing triple digits here, that’s just what you do in the summer. You camp, make fires, swim, and cook s’mores. It’s not always easy access to a fire though. Surely there has to be another way, right? Right!

These Skinny S'more Bars are… well, I’d say the next best thing, but… honestly? I liked them just as much as traditional s’mores. Plus, they’re perfect for a group in need of s’more goodness, especially for a group of kiddos since these s’mores don’t require a fire…

PBJ Banana Bread

June 27, 2020 Amanda Plott

Move over plain jane banana bread! There’s a new banana bread in town, and it goes by PBJ. That’s right, this banana bread is made with creamy peanut butter, crunchy peanuts, and a swirl of strawberry jam. It’s like banana bread and a PBJ had a baby! Who says you can’t have a PBJ for breakfast?

For being loaded up with all the PBJ favorites, this banana bread is made better-for-you in the best of ways! All of the sugar has been subbed out for natural sweetener, and half of the oil was swapped for an unsweetened apple sauce. Don’t worry though! Even with those minor adjustments, this bread turns out a-mazing!…

Italian Chicken Tenders

June 25, 2020 Amanda Plott

Who doesn’t like a good baked chicken tender? No one I know. These Italian Chicken Tenders are breaded in Italian seasonings and spices (and even some cheese) before being baked to perfection. They’re simple, delicious, and sure to disappear quickly from any family style dinner.

These tenders turn out low carb and kept friendly while also being another fun kid friendly Italian night dinner option. I made them just a bit better-for-you by using whole wheat bread crumbs that I seasoned myself with various dried Italian herbs and spices…

Cookie Monster Cake

June 23, 2020 Amanda Plott

This cake isn’t your average cake. In fact, it’s one of the most decadent cakes I’ve ever eaten, much less made. Though there’s a few steps and ingredients to get through, I promise that this cake is worth every bit of it. Any time and effort put into this cake will melt away when you take your first bite of it. And being as I turned the ripe age of 35 this year, I thought I could use a little something extra on my special day.

This cake starts out using my recipe for ‘wacky cake’; meaning it’s made with no eggs, butter, or milk! The filling is a safe to eat edible version of chocolate chip cookie dough. I lightened both up by substituting most of the sugar for natural sweeteners (such as splenda, monk, etc.) Yep, even for the frosting!…

Galaxy Roll Cake

June 18, 2020 Amanda Plott

Despite the trying times, the word is still turning and life continues. What does that mean? I’m in the thick of it being pretty much everyone in my direct families birthday time. There’s about a three month segment of time in the summer that houses somewhere about 9 birthdays. This week? It’s not only my dad’s, and mine, it’s also Father’s Day! And that’s not to mention the next week!

Even with a touch-and-go grocery shopping situation, I was still able to come up with this bad ass cake. Since it also happens to be ‘Area 51’ week for my kiddo in out ‘fun weeks of summer’, I decided to make this out-of-this-word Galaxy Roll Cake…

French Bread

June 15, 2020 Amanda Plott

I’ve been doing a lot of baking lately. Especially now that I got ALL NEW appliances in my kitchen finally! I’ve been waiting to do it for years and years now and I finally was able to do so. Between that, limiting trips to the store, and having my hands on a handy-dandy bread maker, I’ve been a bread making fool!

This French Bread is simple. It’s as standard as bread comes and is made with just a handful of pantry staple ingredients. Flour, oil, salt, sugar, yeast, that’s pretty much all there is to it. I have to say, even if you don’t have a bread machine, this bread is still pretty easy to make and will easily rival any fresh bakery bread…