Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

So have any of you been wondering where I've been?! I sure have! I found out several months ago that I'm pregnant with #3! Well, with that came EXTREME sickness and my inability to look at food, let alone cook it. This week I'm 15 weeks, which came with a little bit of relief. I found myself making dinner several times this week AND whipped up these puppies. They are SO easy, SO moist and SO delicious. I threw in a few peanut butter chips for good measure, cause it just sounded good to me. I definitely recommend this. Yummmm...

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1/4 sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 small box chocolate pudding
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 t salt
1 t baking soda
1 cup peanut butter chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a standing mixer, cream together butter and sugars about 2 minutes until very light and fluffy. Add chocolate pudding and mix well. Add eggs and vanilla and whip another 1-2 minutes. Add flour, salt and baking soda. Mix until just blended. Stir in chips (you can eliminate peanut butter chips and just double the chocolate chips if you'd like, but come on, it's peanut butter and chocolate!!)

Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and to a cooling rack. Enjoy!

Tres Leches Cupcakes

Me, I'm not much of a fan of Tres Leches. But we live in a world where a lot of people are. And I sometimes do what people want cause it makes me happy. This was a request from the hubs...he likes tres leches. And I have to say - not bad, not bad. If you're a Tres Leches fan, you must try these! Oh, and that Dulce de Leche whipped cream...DIVINE. These definitely hit the spot!

For the Cake:

1 box French Vanilla cake mix

1 small box French Vanilla pudding

1 cup sour cream

1 cup buttermilk

4 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup evaporated milk

Start by making the cake. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a cupcake pan by lining it with cupcake liners. Mix the cake mix, pudding, eggs, sour cream, milk and oil in a standing mixer and beat until well incorporated (about 2 minutes) while scraping the sides. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Place in preheated oven and bake for 18-20 minutes until tops spring back when touched.

While cupcakes are in the oven, prepare the Tres Leches mixture: mix the whole milk, evaporated milk, and condensed milk.

Remove cupcakes from oven. Immediately poke several holes in each cupcake with a skewer stick or knife.

Drizzle Tres Leches mixture over each cupcake, waiting for it to absorb, using all of the mixture evenly between eachcupcake.

Dulce de Leche Whipped Cream:

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1/4-1/2 cup dulce de leche (found in the mexican isle in the grocery store)

3 T powdered sugar (or more depending on how sweet you like it)

Combine all ingredients in a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on medium-high until soft peaks form. Pipe over cooled cupcakes. Store extra cupcakes in the fridge.

Grilled Pizza

Oh boy. This is the death of me! If you've never tried grilled pizza you are DEFINITELY missing out! The perfect dough, with the perfect fresh mozzerella and a sprinkle of a little Italian seasoning...mmmm. Just thinking about eating this makes my mouth water. This pizza recipe is incredible. The best part about it is the options for toppings are endless, so it makes it easy to eat it 4-5 times a week:) Eat it. Then you'll die.

Pizza Dough:

1 1/2 cups warm (105-115 degrees) water

1 T sugar

1 T yeast

1/2 t salt

3-4 1/2 cups flour

In a large bowl (the bowl of a mixer, if you have one) combine water, sugar and yeast. Let sit for 10 minutes or until nice and bubbly.

Add salt and stir. Add 1 1/2 cups flour and mix well. Gradually add more flour (usually between 3-4 cups) until dough starts to pull away from the sides of the b0wl and it barely sticks to your finger.

Spray a glass or metal bowl with cooking spray and place dough in the bowl. Cover and allow to rise for 45 minutes or until doubles in bulk. Remove from bowl and separate into about 4 equal sized balls if you are making individual sized pizzas or into 2 for larger ones. Roll out.

The ladies at Our Best Bites do everything perfect in my mind. They are the masters! I'm not going to attemt to try and explain how to grill the perfect pizza when they've done it for me. For instructions on grilling the perfect pizza go to their site here.

*For the maximum yumminess pizza, it's a MUST to use fresh mozzerella. Try it once and you'll understand why:)

*From Our Best Bites

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

One of my favorite things is eating cookie dough. I think I would rather eat the dough than the actual cookie. So when I saw these I knew I had to make them. It's a rich, fudgy brownie topped with straight cookie dough...uncooked. Now don't worry, there's no eggs in the dough so it's completely safe:) Wow, such a perfect combination!

Brownies:

1 cup butter

3/4 cup cocoa

2 1/4 cup sugar

1/2 t salt

3 eggs

1 t vanilla

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 t baking powder

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Prepare 9x13 baking pan by spraying with cooking spray. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add cocoa, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Add sugar, salt, eggs and vanilla. Beat with a spoon until combined. Add flour and baking powder and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Spread batter into pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Allow brownies to cool completely before moving on to the next step.

Cookie Dough:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

4 T milk

2 t vanilla

2 cups flour

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine first 5 ingredients in a mixing bowl and cream together. Add flour and stir until combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Spread in an even layer on top of the cooled brownies. Chill before adding chocolate glaze.

Chocolate Glaze:

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 T oil

Melt chocolate with butter and stir until smooth. I do this in the microwave in 20 second increments. Spread the glaze over the chilled cookie dough layer.

*From Jersey Girl Eats

Tuscan Chicken and Wild Rice

Have you ever had this rice? I recommend it. It's so hearty, flavorful and delicious. I use it for MANY of my dishes and it just completes it. Pick it up at your local Costco:) Now to the recipe. This is so incredibly delicious and simple that you must make it! It's hearty, yet light. Love it.

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup wild rice
10 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup roasted red peppers, diced

2 cups water

1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

1/4 cup olive oil

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Place chicken in the crock pot. Add rice, garlic, red peppers. Mix water, lemon juice and oil in a mixing bowl. Pour mixture over rice and chicken. Stir once to coat chicken. Cover and cook on medium low for 4-6 hours.

Cake Batter Cheesecake Cupcakes

Yeah, yeah...I know the 4th of July is over, but why can't we celebrate it longer than the actual day? Especially when I was gone on vaca during the holiday? 4th of July or not, these can be made for any occasion. Funfetti cake has to be THE funnest and best cake out there. My family LOVES it. Now when you add a cheesecake center and a cakebatter-cheesecake frosting...NOW you're talkin!! Such a fun, different cupcake that everyone is sure to love!

For the Cake:
Funfetti cake batter (Use your favorite homemade or box version - fully made batter)
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 t vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 24 muffin tin with festive liners.

Spoon cake batter into each tin until it is half full. In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese, egg, sugar, and vanilla on medium speed until smooth. Spoon one spoonful over top of each cupcake. Bake for about 15 minutes or until set.

Cake Batter, Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 stick butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 t vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup white cake mix (MIX - NOT BATTER)

In the bowl of a mixer, beat butter, cream cheese and vanilla until smooth. Add powdered sugar and cake mix and beat on low until just combined. Increase speed to medium-high and beat for 2 minutes. If frosting is too thick, mix a bit of heavy cream or milk until desired consistency is reached.

Once cupcakes are cooled, frost generously. Enjoy!!

* From Confessions of a Cookbook Queen

Pesto Stuffed Chicken

I was in the mood for something different. You know, not the same old-same old chicken. I get tired of that every now and again. So I came up with this. What a new and refreshing way to eat chicken! I love how moist and flavorful it is and just how purely delicious it is. Eat your pesto in a new way and you won't be disappointed!

4 large chicken breasts

1/4 cup dijon mustard

1/4 cup honey mustard

1 small jar pesto sauce (or your favorite homemade)

1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese

bread crumbs (I use Texas Toast croutons finely crushed)

1/4-1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Place chicken breasts in a ziploc bag with the 2 mustards and marinate overnight or at least 2 hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl mix the pesto with the ricotta cheese. Take a chicken breast and cut a "pocket" into it making sure to not cut all the way through the bottom or sides. Fill with pesto mixture until stuffed full. Mix bread crumbs with parmesan cheese. In a large skillet heat 2 T olive oil on medium-high. Coat stuffed chicken in bread crumbs and place in skillet to brown and crisp the outside making sure to only turn the chicken once. Once the outside is good and crispy place on a cookie sheet and place in the oven to finish cooking for about 20-30 minutes (depending on how thick your chicken breast was to start.) Enjoy!