Frozen Hot Chocolate in the Vitamix

I have been to the Serendipity's in Vegas and I have tried their 'famous' frozen hot chocolate, and although it was super yummers, I couldn't believe the price tag on the stuff! Found this online and it is different than the real deal stuff at Serendipity's but it is still hecka good (see what I did there?)

Ingredients
2 C Whole Milk (I used 2%, and didn't quite fill it to the 2 cup mark, and then topped it off with cream)
5 Packages of Preferred Hot Chocolate. I used Swiss Miss
4 C Ice

Put them in the blender in the order listed. Blend to desired consistancy, then pour into cups and enjoy!
You can garnish with homemade whip cream, or we used store bought ( we eat a lot of breakfast food around here) and chocolate shavings or chips if you are in a pinch.

*** the real deal has flakes of chocolate all through out it. I thought this drink was divine, but if you wanted it more like the real deal I would throw a bar of chocolate in there as well.

Shrek Smoothie

This Smoothie is super easy and so far the boys LOVE it! I love it when I can get them to eat/drink a few greens.

This smoothie is the exact same as the 'Get Up and Goji" Smoothie except instead of the Goji berries add
3-4 C Kale/Spinach

We find Kale doesn't have as much taste as Spinach, so my boys prefer the Kale. Cheers!

Even Hims likes them! 

Get Up and Goji

When T and I lived in Vegas, we frequented the Tropical Smoothie there by our place, probably more than we should. By far our favorite smoothie there was the 'Get Up and Goji' it was SO good. Since I got the Vitamix last week, I really wanted to try and make a smoothie as close as possible. Although we don't have a Tropical Smoothie close to our place to compare, the whole family really really like this smoothie, SCORE!

Ingredients:
1/2- 3/4 C Vanilla Yogurt
1 Orange Peeled (but keep the good white stuff on)
1/2 of a Circle of Fresh Pineapple *
1-2 TBsp of Goji Berries 'bloomed' in 1/2 C of Water**
1/4 of a Banana
2-3 C Ice
1-2 TBsp Chia Seeds (optional)

Place ingredients into blender in the order they apear in ingredients list. Blend as you normally would. Enjoy!!! So yummy!

Note: you can forgo the Goji berries and the smoothie would still be super yummy, but I think they are what make this smoothie seriously AMAZING!

NOTE TO MYSELF: Try Peaches instead of Pineapple next time!
* I cut the pinapple into circles about an inch think, and then I peel them and cut them in half. You don't need to cut out the core for the Vitamix, how great is that?
** I am sure the vitamix could handle them in their dry state. I 'bloom' the goji berries by putting them into the water a half hour to an hour before I am going to blend (or overnight) if you forgot and are pressed for time and still want them in your smoothie you can stick them in the microwave for 20-50 seconds to bloom them faster, I just really don't like using the microwave if I can help it.

BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies, Yet!

These turned out for me, yay! I loved them too! I am so excited! 

The dough is huge and the cookies are super yummy, enjoy! 

Ingredients:

1 Cup Vegetable Shortening
1 Cup Butter (don’t use margarine)
1 1/2 cups White Sugar
1 1/2 cups Brown Sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp Vanilla

5 1/4 to 5 1/2 cups Flour (I need less, rather than more)
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 1/2 tsp Salt

2 bags choc chips (12 oz bags) I didn't need this many, you can choose your preferred. 

Directions:

1. Start by mixing the shortening(don't use butter, use shortening) and butter with white and brown sugar. Add the three eggs and vanilla .

2. Mix the buttery/egg mixture for a full THREE minutes. The time is important for the eggs and butter to become fully whipped and to develop new chemistry. You’ll watch the buttery mix go from gushy liquid to beautiful cream

3. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients together (flour, baking soda, and salt). Add 1/2 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix. Then add the other 1/2 and mix.
3. Use a lot of good chocolate chips and mix semi-sweet with milk chips. Some recipes call for one bag of chocolate chips. This recipe is large so we’re using 2 bags. 

4. Then use a small cookie scoop to make 15 uniform balls on an ungreased cookie sheet (do NOT use a non-stick pan–the cookies won’t bake as evenly)

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-9 minutes or just until the cookies are slightly golden on top. If you wait till the cookies are entirely golden on the outside, it’s too late. They’ll be overcooked. You want them to be soft inside. Allow them to cool for a few minutes and transfer to a cooking rack, though they may not make it that far.

Making Cookie Dough Loaves:
Now if you’re making cookies for a big party, go ahead and keeping scooping/baking all the dough. But cookies are only good for a day or two (in my opinion), so why bake the whole batch and have them go to waste? If you freeze the dough, you can have fresh cookies any time you want! 

* Divide the dough up into 3 or 4 piles on wax paper sheets.
* Use the paper and your hands to shape each pile into a loaf.
* Roll them up inside of the wax paper.

Then wrap each loaf with plastic wrap (to avoid freezer burn or freezer smells). Or….simply place them all in a ziplock bag together. Then put them in the freezer!

When you’re ready to bake a few cookies, take out a cookie loaf. Microwave it for about 20 seconds. Pull off a bit of dough and bake them just as we did above for 8-9 minutes.

This LINK has some great ideas too!

Granola Bars

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups quick cooking oats {not rolled oats!}
1 cup crispy rice cereal
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

In a large bowl, stir oats and rice cereal together. Set aside. In a small pot, melt butter, honey and brown sugar together over medium high heat until it comes to a bubble. Reduce the heat and cook 2 minutes or until just above softball stage. Pour in vanilla and stir. Pour over dry ingredients and mix well to moisten all ingredients. Pour into lightly greased small jelly roll pan {about 12x8x1} and press out to be about 3/4 inch in thickness. {If your pan isn't small enough, pack the mixture into one side. You really want to press them down so they stick together.} Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips and press down lightly. Cool on a countertop to room temperature for two hours or until the chocolate chips are set before cutting into bars. Wrap in parchment or plastic wrap and store at room temperature.

NOTE: These were really really good! You need to cook them with a candy thermometer. I ended up cooking them twice. The first time I just boiled the mixture for the two minutes and they never set properly, we ended up eating them as cereal. The second time I cooked them with a candy thermometer and waited for just above soft ball stage and they came out much nicer! 235-245 is softball so above 245 just by a little. (to be technical J)

Also I used wax paper and a rolling pin to roll them out to get them super tight, you can do as you wish. 

***

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars

I consider myself a hard core peanut butter lover, and these were a bit much for me. I love them for the first two bites, and then I feel like I have had enough sugar to last the average person a month! Peanut butter cookie bottom, with a peanut butter top, and a yummy cheesecake esk middle, with peanut butter chips!!!
It is CRay cray! Let's get on our way!

Ingredients
16 oz roll of peanut butter cookie dough
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/3 C sweetened condensed milk
1 egg
1 tsp Vanilla
1 Cup of Reeses Peanut Butter Chips

Get It Done
1. Grease an 8x8 pan
2. In a mixing bowl place cream cheese, egg, vanilla, and sweetened condensed milk. Beat until smooth and creamy. Stir in peanut butter chips.
3. Press in half of cookie dough into the bottom of the pan (wet hands help the dough not stick to your fingers). Pour cheesecake mixture over
4. Break up remaining cookie dough and scatter on top of cheesecake mixture in pan.
5. Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes, or until lightly brown on top.

Ham and Cheese Roll Ups

Todd wasn't a big fan, and neither were my boys, but I loved them! That is why they made it to the blog! If I were going to make them again, I would probably line the 'bread' with Alfredo sauce before putting on the ham and cheese.

1 ½ C warm water

2 T sugar

1 T yeast

1/2 t salt

4-4 ½ C flour

1 pound deli ham, sliced thin

2 C cheddar cheese, shredded

1. Pour 1 1/2 C warm water into your stand mixer and preheat your oven to 170 degrees. (You read it right...170 degrees is all you need.)

2.  Add 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 tablespoon yeast. Turn the mixer on low for about 30 seconds allowing the ingredients to combine. Let it rest for 5 minutes, or until it gets all bubbly.

3. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 2 cups flour. Turn the mixer on to low and let the flour mix in. Add the rest of the flour (2 1/2 cups worth) one cup at a time. When the dough pulls itself away from the side of the bowl, you have enough flour.

4. Turn the mixer to medium speed and allow it to mix for 5 minutes.

5. Spray your counter with cooking spray, divide the dough into two equal parts and allow them to rest on the counter for 5 minutes. Don't skip this step, ok? If you don't let the dough rest it won't roll out nicely and then you might start to cry and then your kids would think you have lost you mind. Thanks for your cooperation.

6. After the dough has rested roll the old girl out into a large rectangle.

7. Cover it with half of the ham and sprinkle it with 1 cup of cheddar cheese.

8. Roll the dough up starting at the longer end.

9. Spray a large knife with cooking spray and slice the roll into 12 rounds.

10. Place each pinwheel onto a large cookie sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray.

11. Repeat steps 6-10 with the other half of the dough.

12. Place both pans into your warm 170 degree oven for about 10 minutes, or until they start to rise just a bit. You don't want them to get super puffy, you just want the dough to have the chance to expand a little, like you see in the picture above.

13. Turn the oven up to 350 degrees (don't take the pans out of the oven) and let the pinwheels bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown along the top and bottom.

14. Take the pans out of the oven and let the pinwheels rest for about 5 minutes...then gobble them up.

Enjoy!

TIP: placing plastic wrap over your dough will keep it from getting dry spots on it