Homemade Pancakes

I am loving Fiber One's new Buttermilk pancake mix.

I have made them several different ways including,

Blueberry:
1 cup mix
1/2 cup blueberries
1/3 cup water
1 container Brown Cow Blueberry Greek Yogurt

(I liked this way because it packed some extra protein and was more filling.  Had great flavor and made 4 -5 large pancakes which was easily 2 servings.  Each serving is 3 weight-watchers points plus points).

Banana:
1 cup mix
1 smashed over-ripe banana
2/3 cup water

(This made 5 medium sized pancakes that were 2 WW P+ each and I served them with some spray 'I can't believe it's not butter' and  some sugar and nutmeg mix sprinkled on top).

Even plain and made with 1 cup mix and 2/3 cup water they are delicious and only 2 WW P+ each.  Of course you can be creative and mix in whatever sounds tasty or try making the blueberry or banana with a pancake from scratch mix.  Just recognize the balance of yogurt and other wet ingredients may need to be adjusted.

Happy breakfast (lunch or dinner)!! :)

Dinner Group Fruit Salad

Made this fruit salad for my dinner group tonight....possibly the easiest thing in the world.

Ingredients:
a bunch of cut up fruit
1 can peach pie filling


yup that is it.  To be more specific I sliced and diced up 3 kiwi, 2 bananas, a bunch of green grapes, about 10 strawberries, and about 1/2 cup of blueberries.

It was tasty and easy and got good reviews from the group.

Adapted from this recipe.

Pepperoni rollups

These are super simple and tasty.

1 package crescent roll dough
2 sticks of string cheese
32 slices of pepperoni
italian seasoning
garlic seasoning

(I used the turkey pepperoni, low-fat string cheese, and reduced cal crescent dough so they were 3 points a piece on weight watchers)

Roll out dough into the triangles.  Sprinkle with italian seasoning.  Place 4 slices of pepperoni on each triangle.  Cut the string cheese into quarters.  Place on quarter string cheese in the center of fat portion of the triangle on pepperoni and roll from wide to skinny forming a stuffed crescent roll.  Sprinkle with italian seasoning and garlic seasoning.

When all 8 are rolled bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.  Dip in marinara sauce if desired.

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home.  Check it out for more detailed instructions and a picture.

Harry Potter and the Horcrux Hunt

For the Harry Potter 7.2 premier this past weekend I decided to to an all out final fling.  At my party in November for part 1 I focused on the Hallows, so this time it was all about destroying Horcruxes.

There were six different challenges you had to complete, one for each horcrux.  Everyone had a lanyard representing their house and when eat challenge was complete you could check it off by covering the number with that horcrux's sticker.  There was also a prize at each horcrux for people to take home.  By completing the challenges you were entered into a raffle.

Diary Challenge: Hermione has been petrified by the monster in the chamber of secrets. The only way to reverse the petrification is to grow Mandrakes. In Herbology we are re-potting the mandrakes today. In 1 minute try to dig up and repot all of the mandrakes (24) to help Hermione while Ron and Harry try to save Ginny from the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets and destroy Tom Riddle’s Diary. When the challenge is complete make sure to collect your own quill and diary.

I got the pot signs from here and the babies from here.  I wish I had earmuffs but didn't have time to find any (plus it's July!!)...  this was a pretty funny challenge.  The favors were little covered notebooks and a small quill tied together with a leather string.

 Ring Challenge: Throw on a witch hat and the object of the game is to toss a ring on your opponents hat. Dumbledore has destroyed the ring but make sure to gather a resurrection stone magnet or hair clip before moving on to the next challenge.

I saw a game like this in college and you can actually buy an official one online, but I just made my own using black posterboard for the hats, and glowstick bracelets for the rings.  It was hilarious!!  I made the resurrection stone magnets by glueing the symbol onto flattened dark green marbles and then glueing those onto magnets using regular tacky craft glue.  They turned out awesome.  The hair clips were the same but small and clear, glued onto bobby pins from oriental trading company.

Locket Challenge: The Locket is at the bottom of the bowl and to collect it you need to drop marbles at nose level into the bowl. Take turns  with your partner and the person with the most marbles in the cup with the locket wins! Make sure to pick up one Harry Potter flair when you complete the challenge.

This was inspired by a minute to win it game called, "Drop, Sink, Clink"...  I picked up the locket on clearance from Hot Topic and used 3 candle votives in the bottom of a plastic bucket.  Instead of quarters we dropped flattened marbles.  I got the Harry Potter flair buttons from Mud in My Blood on etsy.  She has amazing selections of Harry Potter stuff, check her out, and "like" her on facebook for discount coupons codes.

Diadem Challenge: The Ravenclaws are wise and clever. Complete the word search and “Who Said” quiz to complete the challenge. Make sure to grab a book mark since those Ravenclaws love to read!

I found all of the quotes for "Who said" by searching favorite character's quotes online and from here.  The word search is one that Kellie and I worked on months ago by altering one we had found online.  My sister weaved the bookmarks.

Hufflepuff Cup Challenge: When Harry, Ron, and Hermione searched the LeStrange’s vault at Gringotts for the Hufflepuff cup everything they touched multiplied. Split into 2 teams and play the memory game. At the end of the game enjoy a butterbeer or Dark Mark cupcake! Hufflepuff’s apparently love cupcakes.


How shall I prepare thee on this summer day?
Unfrosted, thou art sweet;
Frosted, thou art divine.
Food of the gods,
Like ambrosia to me.
Each bite:
Perfection!
Unusual though it may be,
Forever shall I sing thy praises.
Fantastic; most splendid! My cupcake are thee!

I can't remember where I got this poem SORRY if it was from you!  To make the memory game I found all of the pictures at the Leaky Cauldron and picked out the ones that related to horcruxes.  For the Dark Mark cupcakes I made picks with a dark mark I found on google and the cupcakes were just triple chocolate with buttercream frosting and black sprinkles.  The butterbeer cupcakes were catered by my friend Thu and were absolutely incredible.  She picked up her recipe here. 

Nagini Challenge: When most people have completed the challenges we will re-enact the slaying of Nagini by Neville. Grab the sorting hat and the sword of Gryffindor and give it a try!

For this challenge I picked up a sword from oriental trading company, grabbed my sorting hat, and altered a Dragon pinata to be a snake by cutting off its legs and covering it with dark green crepe paper. 

Mini Cheesecakes

These cheesecakes are super easy, pretty quick, and absolutely delicious.








2 (8oz) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
2 eggs
3/4 cup white sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp lemon juice
vanilla wafers

Line muffin tin with liners and place a vanilla wafer in the bottom of each (should make 18).  Whip cream cheese for 2 minutes to make lighter and fluffy.  Add in sugar and beat.  Stir in flour and baking powder. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix throughouly.  Add vanilla and lemon juice.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Fill each liner evenly.  Bake for 15 minutes and allow to cool completely (about 30 min in pan and then for as long as you can wait in the refridgerator--this is hard to do but they are so much better cold I promise!)...  Middles will sink down creating a perfect spot for berries, whip cream, any topping you desire.

Quick and Easy Key Lime pie

This is an adapted recipe from "Our Best Bites" cookbook.  It was easy, light, and a refreshing summer treat.

4 large limes squeezed for a little over 1/2 cup juice.
5 egg yolks (save the egg whites for an omlet in the morning or something!)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
green food coloring
1 graham cracker crust (I used a store bought)
Whipped cream topping

Whip together egg yolks, lime juice, and condensed milk.  Stir in food coloring (we had neon food coloring which looked perfect) for desired "limey" look.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Pour filling into crust and bake for 15 minutes.  Allow to cool, best if cooled in refridgerator for a couple of hours.  Top with whipped cream.

Classic Apple Pie

I am trying to use up ingredients I have around the house before I leave for Cambodia next week so last night I looked at my pre-made pie crusts, and the 3 apples I had laying around and decided to just go for a simple apple pie.  I had never made an apple pie with a top crust before.  After searching around I found this recipe on allrecipes.com.  The original recipe was for apple pie filling you could freeze and use as needed, thus it is for 5 pies.  I scaled it down and adjusted a bit and this is what I came up with...

3 large apples, sliced thinly (peel as desired, I didn't)
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
3/4 cup white sugar
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 cups water

Thinly slice the apples and mix with lemon juice in a bowl.  In a pot mix together dry ingredients and add water.  Whisk until boiling and boil for 2 minutes.  Stir in apples and bring to boil again.  Turn down heat, and simmer 6 minutes until thickened and apples are soft.  Cool for 20-30 minutes.

Make (or in my case roll out) pie crust into pie dish.  Pour in filling (it's okay if it is still warm) and cover with top crust, cutting slits.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake for 25-35 minutes until crust is browned on top and golden on bottom (if you have a glass pie dish and can see it of course).

For extra flavor and presentation I whisked one egg with 1 Tbsp cinnamon-sugar mix and brushed the top of the pie with mixture before baking.