Tasty Treats ~ Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know I have posted other Double Chocolate Chip cookie recipes before but I am going to have to say this recipe is by far my kid’s favorite.  Plus, these cookies were so easy to make!  You got to like that 🙂  I made these cookies last weekend for the kids lunches and they came home asking if I could make more so they could share with your friends at school.  Yes, that is how good these cookies taste.  You should have everything in your pantry to make these cookies now.   The only ingredient you might not have handy is the 4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate.    I used Ghirardelli Chocolate Premium Baking Bar Semi-Sweet.   Delicious!

I found this recipe from Kitchen Simplicity.   The recipe was adapted from Martha Steward.

 

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 24-30 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
• ½ cup unsalted butter
• 1.5 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate)

 

Directions:

1. Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, melt together chocolate and butter. Beat in sugar, eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture until evenly distributed. Fold in chocolate chips.
3. Scoop heaping spoonfuls of cookie dough onto parchment lined baking sheets. Bake at 325ºF for 10 minutes or until cookies are crackly and no longer shiny. Cool 1 minute before removing to wire wracks or paper towels to cool.

Enjoy baking!

Christmas Pajamas are Here!

I just wanted to let everyone know that we have received our first shipment of Christmas pajamas.   Yes, I said Christmas pajamas.   I know the kids just went back to school but before you know it it will be Christmas!  Don’t delay because I am not sure what sizes I will be able to get back in stock as the pajamas start to sell.  I will also be bringing in a couple of footie Christmas pajamas.   These have not arrived yet but I will let you know as soon as they arrive.

My Baby Pajamas has brought in 3 styles from Sara’s Prints Pajamas.    All three styles are 100% cotton long johns.   These pajamas are made to fit snug so if you are unsure about a size I would recommend going up a size just to be safe.

Sara’s Prints Red/White Reindeer Screen Print Christmas Pajamas

 

Sara’s Prints Presents Applique Christmas pajamas

 

 

Sara’s Prints Emerald/Red Stripe Christmas pajamas

Have a wonderful Day!

 

 

Recipe Calorie Calculator

Do you ever wonder how many calories are in your favorite dish you cook?  Or how many grams of fat, sodium or carbohydrates are in your recipe?   About a month ago these facts became really important to my family.

My husband went to the doctor for his annual check up.   It turns out he has high cholesterol.  Not so high that they want him to go on medicine but high enough that the doctor said you have 3 months to change your diet.   Well, I was scheduled for the doctor about 3 weeks later and guess what?? My cholesterol wasn’t where I wanted it to be either.   Turns out a runner’s diet is NOT good for all runners 🙂  So my husband and I are on a mission to lower our cholesterol.  My goal is to cut back on dairy and carbohydrates.   Say goodbye to my cold glass of chocolate milk I enjoyed after my run!  Plus, I realized I ate a lot of carbs.  Now, I know I ran them off but with certain carbs (flour tortillas) come high saturated fat.  Not good for cholesterol!

Anyway, I have been combing through Pinterest looking for new recipes and I noticed that some recipes don’t list their nutrition facts.  Boy, I hate that!    So I went searching online and I found a ton of sites to help me.   After trying a few out, I decided that http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php was the easiest to use.  Many sites require you to search for each recipe ingredient one at a time in their database, which can be somewhat time consuming. On the Calorie Counter website, you just copy and paste the ingredients from your recipe, insert the number of servings, and the recipe is “analyzed” for you. You can also store recipes on the site, and it’s free.

Here is a sample of my No Bake Energy Bites.   Overall Grade was a C.  Not so great!  But I love the new calorie calculator!  If you know of another great website for nutrition facts on recipes, please let me know.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

 

 

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 18 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 82 Calories from Fat 45

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 5.0g 8%

Saturated Fat 2.0g 10%

Trans Fat 0.0g

Cholesterol 1mg 0%

Sodium 28mg 1%

Potassium 74mg 2%

Total Carbohydrates 7.7g 3%

Dietary Fiber 1.2g 5%

Sugars 6.1g

Protein 2.0g

Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 0% Calcium 1% • Iron 8%

Nutrition Grade C

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

Tasty Treats ~ Bakery Style Blueberry Muffins

Bakery Style Blueberry Muffins

Hi Everyone,

I know it’s been awhile again since I posted some of my recipes that I have tried and tested on Pinterest.   Just so you know I have not stopped baking or cooking but I have been really busy with life 🙂  Anyway, I have a bunch of recipes that I want to share with you all.  Also, I have been doing a lot of gluten-free and vegan dinner dishes and sides.   I realized I wanted to amp up my training for the fall running races I have coming up and decided to change my diet to see if I see a difference in my running.   Well, it’s been about a month or so and I feel fabulous!!  Don’t get me wrong I am still eating meat, but to be honest I have never been a huge meat eater.  In fact, I was a vegetarian for about 10 years of my life.  When I was pregnant with my first son, I really started to carve meat.  I guess my body was telling me something because I was low in Iron.   Anyway, I started to eat meat again but never more than 3 oz. at dinner.  I will be sharing all my favorite meals I have been making soon.  But for know I want to post my youngest sons favorite muffin recipe.   These freeze great too!  I keep a couple out for the boys and then freeze the rest and toss one in their lunch.

Bakery Style Blueberry Muffins

Makes one dozen muffins

Recipe from: Dinner Dishes and Desserts

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour
• 1 Tbls baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ cup butter, softened
• 1¼ cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1¼ cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1½ cups frozen blueberries

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare a 12 cup muffin tin with non-stick spray or liners. Set aside
• In a bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
• In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
• Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Mix in vanilla.
• Slowly add the flour mixture and yogurt, alternating between the two; until just combined.
• Fold in the blueberries.
• The batter will be very thick. Scoop into prepared muffin tins.
• Bake at 425 for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 and bake for 15 more minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.
• Remove from oven, and set on a wire rack to cool.
• Store in an airtight container or freeze.

Enjoy!

 

Bakery Style Blueberry Muffins

 

New Esme Underwear for Girls Now in Stock

Esme Sweet 3 Pack Panties

My Baby Pajamas received another shipment of our best selling Esme panties for girls.   The Esme Pure Pink 3 Pack and the Esme Blue Cheetah 3 pack panties are back in stock.  Plus, My Baby Pajamas has a new design to choose from: Esme Sweet 3 pack panties for girls.   These are selling fast so be sure to check out our website now 🙂

Please let me know if you ever have any questions regarding our products or about the ordering process.

Enjoy shopping!

 

My 7 Days without Facebook

It was exactly 8:51 pm on a Sunday evening and I was sitting at the kitchen counter on the computer scrolling through Facebook.   My youngest son was looking over my shoulder and commenting on the photos.  He then looked at me and said, “Mom, are you always on Facebook?”  This made me stop and think…am I on Facebook a lot?  I didn’t think so but maybe I don’t realize how much time in a day I waste looking through Facebook.   I decided right there without really thinking to Deactivate my account.   But right before I pushed the button I did a quick search and realized if I deactivated my personal account my business account would be deactivated too.   I didn’t want that! So I made a promise to my youngest son that for 7 days I would NOT go on Facebook.   Maybe after 7 days I will be able to answer the question: What do I get out of Facebook personally?  So at that moment of 8:51 pm my son and I went to my personal page and said our farewells to family and friends for 7 days!!

Day 1:  It’s Monday morning at 6:45 am.   My husband just left for work and the boys are still sleeping.  I go to the kitchen and make myself a bowl of cereal.  I sit down in front of the computer and check my emails.   I do a check of the website for orders that may have come in over night and then I start to type http://www.facebook.com into my browser.   NOT so fast! I remember my challenge with my son.  This could be harder than I thought.

Day 2:  Wow! I am so shocked how easy this challenge is so far.  It’s Tuesday and not really missing Facebook that much.   Now I will say I am missing doing some Facebook on my business page but a deal is a deal 🙂  I did have one post scheduled for yesterday for my business page before the challenge was made.  So at least one post will be made this week!

Day 3 through Day 7:  I can’t believe how easy this time was for me.   After the first two days of opening Facebook out of habit I really didn’t even think about Facebook!  I am surprised how easy this challenge was for me.  Plus, I am shocked that after the second day I was out of the habit of opening up Facebook on the computer or my phone.

So what did I gain from this challenge?  Well, I realized that I use Facebook for business, which is important when you own a small business and rely on word of mouth for customers 🙂  Plus, the other thing I learned from this challenge is that I talk to a lot of my family through Facebook so for that week I really didn’t talk to them and I missed them!  Moving forward I am going to try not to use Facebook to waste time that I will never get back.   I told my youngest son that I would no longer sit in the evenings on my phone looking on Facebook and use that time more wisely.

I survived 7 days without Facebook.  Are you up for a No Facebook challenge?  Do you think you could live without Facebook for 7 days? Let us know how you did if you do the challenge.

Good Luck!

 

Tasty Treats ~ True Belgian Waffles

Tasty Treats ~ True Belgian Waffles

My youngest son just loves pancakes and waffles.   He even loves McDonald’s pancakes more 🙂 But eating at McDonald’s for breakfast all the time can get costly and it’s not healthy for you.   I found a great pancake recipe from Food Network.  I will have to share that with you all sometime but I stumbled across this Belgian Waffle recipe that my whole family cannot get enough of and I thought I should share with you all.   They are that good and plus they are easy to make.  I make a whole batch and then I freeze the rest and just pop them in the toaster when they want one in the morning.  This recipe has that true Belgian sweet taste so you could eat them plain!  I hope you enjoy them as much as we do 🙂

Enjoy cooking!

 

Here is the recipe from Taste of Home:

Yield: 10 waffles (about 4-1/2 inches)

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 eggs separated

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

sliced strawberries, fruit or syrup

Directions:

• In a bowl, combine flour, sugar and baking powder. In another bowl, lightly beat egg yolks. Add milk, butter and vanilla; mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until combined. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; fold into batter.
• Bake in a preheated waffle iron according to manufacturer’s directions until golden brown. Serve with strawberries or syrup.

 

My Baby Pajamas July 4th SALE

My Baby Pajamas is having our annual July 4th SALE!  Starting today you can save 25% off your entire order.  This includes all SALE PAJAMAS too!  All you have to do is enter the code JULY4 at view cart before checkout.   This sale won’t last long so hurry over to our website.   Monday, July 7th is your last day to save 25% off your entire order.

A quick note for our shoppers: My Baby Pajamas will be receiving another shipment of Esme girl panties very soon.   We can’t seem to keep these in stock!  Please be sure to check back soon.    We will be receiving the Esme Pure Pink Panties, Blue Cheetah panties and the Sweet panties.   Remember Esme girl panties are 3 packs and are $30.00.

Have a safe and happy July 4th!

Tasty Treats ~ Snickerdoodle Cookies

The BEST Snickerdoodle Cookies!

Even though I took time off from the blog because of my crazy families hectic schedule that does not mean I stopped cooking and baking.   With a teenager in the house (plus teenager friends) I seem to be baking a lot more often 🙂  But I don’t mind because I love it.

This recipe is one of my oldest son’s favorite recipes.  He just loves a Snickerdoodle cookie!  It’s an easy recipe and you probably have all the ingredients in your pantry.  I found the recipe on Lovintheoven.com blog.   I promise you will not be disappointed.   You must add this recipe to your to do list!

Recipe from: Lovintheoven.com Blog

Yields: 16 to 18 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

For rolling:

• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars with an electric mixer on high speed. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth.
2. In another bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar.
3. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix well.
4. Preheat oven to 300 degrees while you let the dough rest for 30 to 60 minutes in the refrigerator.
5. In a small bowl, combine the sugar with the cinnamon for the topping.
6. Take about 2 1/2 tablespoons of the dough and roll it into a ball. Roll this dough in the cinnamon/sugar mixture and press it onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Repeat for the remaining cookies.
7. Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes and no more. The cookies may seem undercooked, but will continue to develop after they are removed from the oven. When the cookies have cooled they should be soft and chewy in the middle.

 

Enjoy baking and thanks for stopping by!

 

 

My Baby Pajamas Summer Sale

Hi Everyone!  I know it’s been awhile since I have posted on my blog.   All I can say is things became really hectic here at home.   The end of the school year is always busy here and all sports are wrapping up because no one in their right mind plays sports in Phoenix in the middle of summer 🙂   My oldest graduated from 8th grade is now officially a freshmen!  There have been parties galore and a lot of needed down time.   But enough about my family and me…how has everyone’s summer been going?  If you are somewhere hot, I hope you are cooling off and if you are somewhere cool…well, I am jealous.

First, I would like to let everyone know we are having our Summer Sale.  It’s going on right now and you can save 15% off your entire order.  Use code HEAT15 at view cart before checkout.  This is including all SALE pajamas too.   NOTE: if the pajamas you buy are 50% or more off they are NON-REFUNDABLE.   Just wanted to let everyone know.   There are some great deals to be had so please be sure to check out www.mybabypajamas.com.

Starting in July, I will be starting the Freebie Friday giveaway again.   Be sure to turn back in the first week of July because I will be announcing the giveaway for the month.   Don’t be shy, please share our giveaway with your favorite moms 🙂

Stay cool!

Owner of My Baby Pajamas