Mom, the Lunch Lady

These Oreo Cookie Pops are super fun and delicious.  Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn commission from these links. I offer them to you at no extra charge. Am I the only one that buys copious amounts of sprinkles? I just think they are so pretty, so I buy them, any time I see them. Which is the case with the Halloween sprinkles, last year. I bought so much of them, that I still had a pretty good amount one year later. So I decided to use them, and wanted to do something different with them. I thought Oreo Pops would be perfect. Well, let me tell you, after dipping my 2 first Oreos, I started to regret even thinking of doing this. The warm chocolate was melting the Oreo filling and they were slipping off my lollipop sticks!!  As I sat and contemplated just scrapping this whole idea and sitting with the bag of Oreo and a glass of milk, to drown my frustrations; I had a brilliant idea! What if I glue the cookies together, an...

Kids will scream in fright, or delight, for these super cute Spider Cupcakes. Halloween themed cupcakes are so much fun. I decided to make these, after finding the always growing stash of candy, all our relatives buy the kids when they come visit. I stumbled upon a few bags of licorice laces and thought they would make the cutest spider legs. I wish I would have had some black licorice laces, but I had to make due with pink, LOL. I think it makes the spiders that more interesting. These are super simple to make. The hardest part it guessing how long to cut the legs. If you make them too long, then you'll run out of liquorice; if not, well then your spider will look silly. I really don't think the kids would mind though. Mine were delighted to see the candy adorned cupcakes. I mean cake, frosting AND candy??!?! Spider Cupcakes printable version  1 box white cake mix 1/2 C bittersweet chocolate, melted 3 eggs 1 1/4 C water 1/3 C vegetable oil 2 Pkg liq...

These are possibly the best baked donuts! Bursting full of wonderful fall flavors! Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn commission from these links. I offer them to you at no extra charge. Last week, when I was getting a few groceries, I noticed some apple cider on sale. So, I picked up a jug, with the intention of making donuts. Fast forward through a week that was beyond hectic and I still hadn't made my donuts. So today, was baking day. It was rainy, windy and cold, so I figured baking all day way a sure fire way for all of us to stay toasty.  I love making baked donuts. They are so much easier and less time consuming than fried donuts. Sure fried donuts taste sinful, but a good baked donut can be just as good, if not better. Case in point, these donuts. They are light, moist and airy soft. I decided to go with a pumpkin butter glaze, since I had a jar, from my last visit to Trader Joes, that hadn't expired. I tasted it...

Yogurt covered pretzels and marshmallows are the secret behind these super cute Halloween treats! I saw these cute little things on the cover of a magazine (about 10 yrs ago), in the checkout line of our local grocery store. I just knew I had to make them, so I bought the magazine. By now, most of you know just how much I love Halloween recipes!  I just love these super cute cupcakes! They are really quite simple to make. I used white melting chocolate to glue the pretzels and marshmallows to my lollipop sticks. I figured they would set up faster, than if I used frosting, like the recipe instructed. I was beyond happy as to how these turned out. So stinking cute!!! Skeleton Cupcakes Adapted from Woman's Day Halloween Celebrations; 2010 Who could resist a cute cupcake with a skeletal frame comprised of a marshmallow skull and yogurt mini pretzel ribs supported by a lollipop stick? Whip up a batch of these bony characters with your favorite cake mix and canned frosting. Active Time:...

  Golden fried pieces of chicken are baked in a sticky, sweet and tangy glaze. The result is the BEST Sweet and Sour Chicken you've ever made at home! Back in 2011, I went out of my comfort zone and competed in my first cooking competition, called The Real Women of Philadelphia. It was an online competition sponsored by Philadelphia Cream Cheese. During this competition, I quickly became friends with the ladies posting recipes and videos every day. We would encourage each other, comfort each other and support each other. So much so that some of us met at the awards gala and made plans to meet up again soon after. At one of these meet ups, myself and 2 other competitors were invited to a 4th competitors farm , for a grown up sleep over and cooking party. Cathy, the owner of the farm, wowed us with this recipe on the night of our arrival. Cathy now rents a small cabin on her farm as an airBnB and I encourage anyone in Ontario to check it out!  My family really likes the sweet ...

Possibly the BEST Mac 'n Cheese, it is full of juicy shrimp and smoky bacon. Making it the ultimate cold weather comfort food! My kids have never really liked homemade mac 'n cheese, until a few years ago. They rather the blue box mac 'n cheese and while I grew up on blue box mac thinking it was the best thing, now that I'm older I prefer the homemade stuff. My kids are old enough to cook for themselves, so there is a lot of blue box Mac being made. When the craving hits, I have to make it from scratch! I remembered seeing a recipe in the Fall/Winter Pampered Chef catalogue for a  Baked Mac 'n Cheese with Shrimp , and it looked so good, that I bookmarked the recipe. Years later, I'm browsing through all my bookmarks and find the recipe. I knew it must be a sign ;) I used the method in the recipe, but totally changed the ingredients. I added bacon and used some Smoked Gouda cheese. The result was amazing!! I didn't have the dish they recommended, so I used a ...

 Pillowy soft bites of dough, are stuffed with pepperoni and mozzarella, for an amazingly delicious appetizer for Game Day. Football season started last week. Are you a football family? I was never a big football fan, but when I started dating my SO, 2 1/2 yrs ago, I quickly came to the conclusion that if I wanted to spend time with him on Sundays I'd have to start watching football. Over the last couple years I've grown to like the game and even understand most of it. Since Sunday's are football days, I like to cook some snack type foods we can enjoy while watching the games. My family absolutely loves these, and they aren't that difficult to make. I make my own dough, but you could simplify these by using canned biscuit dough. They cook up nicely and are a great two bite snack, that will fill your tummy so you can keep watching your favourite teams on Sunday. They would even been a great addition to a Superbowl spread! Start by taking golf ball sized pieces of your pi...

Wow your friends and family with these homemade Halloween Treats! I've been seeing these cute little meringue ghosts over the Internet. I totally fell in love with them and thought they would look super cute on a cupcake. I just love how whimsical and very airy they look and knew that they would be the perfect topper for a Halloween inspired cupcake. And this is also a first for me. I've never made a baked meringue before, so I was a little apprehensive about this part. These ghosts are so simple to make and are so adorable. I found a great recipe/video on how to make them over on the  Joy of Baking . I used my spice/coffee grinder to turn my sugar into super fine sugar. You want it fine, but not so fine that you make powdered sugar. I really love how the video suggests to touch the meringue and rub it through your fingers to see if all the sugar has dissolved properly. I do think that I should have baked these on the top rack of my oven, since the bottoms did get...

Tangy sweet apples are the star in this moist Apple Cinnamon Bread. This bread is so delicious that I ended up making it three times. Well, I was worried the first loaf was going to be a disaster, because I totally forgot to add the baking powder and baking soda (that's what happens when you try to catch up on Game of Thrones, while working in the kitchen!). I quickly added it in, before pouring the batter in the pan, but it was very thick and I wasn't sure it had mixed well. So, I decided to make a second loaf, to make sure I had one made properly for photos. Since the batter was a little thick the first time, I decided to add in a bit of apple cider. Well, I ended up bringing the second loaf to our PTA meeting, not having a chance to take photos. This loaf was SO delicious, that I knew I'd be back in the kitchen making a third loaf, to share with you guys today.  The loaf is deliciously moist, studded with chunks of tangy sweet apples. The brown sugar adds a deli...

Wild blueberries and fresh peaches are sandwiched a between crisp, buttery oatmeal crust. Well our summer is almost to an end. The kids will begin their distance learning on Sept 21st, so I've been trying to think of easy breakfast ideas, for them to eat, before meeting their class online every morning. We are not sure of all the details so far, but we do know that they are expected to be online every morning, for class, with a lunch break in there somewhere.  Since I still can not return to my cafeteria, I've been trying to keep busy by working in my home kitchen. I decided to experiment with a type of breakfast bar. The kids both love Nutrigrain bars, so I knew this would be a hit. My plan was to make an oatmeal cookie type of crust for the top and bottom and fill it with blueberries. Then I noticed that my peaches were super ripe, so I added some in along with the blueberries. This tastes very similar to a blueberry crisp and the kids mentioned that they would go great wit...

Wondering how to spend Halloween this year, due to the pandemic? Well I have 8 fun and delicious ways to make an at home Halloween, tons of fun! 2020 has been turned upside down. My kids have not seen friends, or the inside of a school since March. While we do have our social bubble, this bubble consists of family and a few select friends. Being someone who could be vulnerable during these crazy times, I have been trying to make every day life as normal as possible. With Halloween fast approaching, I have been thinking of how to make sure my children have a super fun day, but not put our bubble at risk. It would be much easier if my health was 100%, but we will make the best of our Halloween at home. #1 Visit a local pumpkin patch Even though my health isn't the greatest, we haven't been living like hermits. We don our masks, bring hand sanitizer and make sure to social distance. So a trip to our local pumpkin patch, to pick our pumpkins, is one way we will be bringing a bit of...