Review of Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes

Mothers Day! A day to celebrate moms and all they have done for us. My aunt and I decided to make dinner and dessert for my mom and my grandma. We worked hard in the kitchen for two days and came up with a meal that pleased everyone. 

For dinner we made a pesto pasta with asparagus, chicken, and sun dried tomatoes with a fried egg on top (review coming soon!) with a side of green beans that had walnuts balsamic and garlic. Everything was wholesome, rich, and delicious. For dessert, we wanted something that was light and wouldn't put us in a food coma (like you get after a Thanksgiving dinner).

My mother really likes Strawberry Shortcake. I went off that idea and looked on Pinterest for some ideas. Sally (creator of Sally's Baking Addiction blog and cookbook) posted her recipe of Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes. I thought that was a brilliant idea so we decided to make it for a Mother's Day dessert. That was one of our best decisions on recipes.

Let's start with the cupcake itself. According to Sally, this cupcake was made from her classic vanilla cupcake recipe. It is very light and fluffy with a wonderful vanilla flavor (and we didn't even add the vanilla bean which was optional). This cupcake actually had the texture of in between a shortcake and angel food cake so it was the perfect balance after a heavy meal. 

Inside the cupcake was a delicious surprise! Strawberry filling to satisfy those strawberry shortcake cravings. The filling was super easy to make. It was actually kind of fun to fill the cupcakes with the filling (we called it a surgical operation). 

We were slightly worried about how thin the filling turned out so we added a little bit more cornstarch and it still turned out tasting amazing. We were also wondering if the filling would make the inside of the cupcake soggy. It actually doesn't. I had one of these cupcakes yesterday and we made them Sunday and the cupcake was still soft and delicious without any sogginess. 

The filling wasn't the only part that had strawberries. The homemade whipped cream (yes homemade not store bought) was the perfect topping for this cupcake. The whipped cream had a little bit of the strawberry reserve along with a little more vanilla, which gave it a lot of flavor. If you want to make homemade whipped cream, use this recipe and just remove the strawberry filling. Delicious! P.S. - the recipe makes a lot of whipped cream (we had a lot extra and of course I ate it all). 

If you want strawberry shortcake in a cupcake version, this is the perfect recipe for you. You will love the vanilla of the cupcake, the strawberry filling surprise on the inside, and light whipped cream on top! Definitely a 10 out of 10 and a huge hit in our family.

Recipe credit to: Sally's Baking Addiction

Overall Rating: 10 out of 10 

Review of the Peanut Butter Power Protein Shake

It is the middle of the day and I am need something for lunch. I am not in the mood for a sandwich because that will only hold me over for so long. I don't want a huge lunch because I know I won't be hungry for dinner. What is something that fills you up and keeps you satisfied till dinner? The answer is protein shakes. If you make the right one, it tastes like a healthy milkshake. You get a satisfied feeling in your stomach and you aren't bloated from the amount of food.

Whats better than just a plain old protein shake? Adding peanut butter of course (makes everything better). Peanut butter brings that creamy texture to the shake. I found this recipe by Lean It Up and I have to say...it is one of the best protein shakes ever. This shake is called The Peanut Butter Power Protein Shake.

I love the peanut butter taste in this protein shake. Sometimes the banana in some shakes and smoothies can take over every other flavor, but this one definitely tastes like peanut butter. Plus it actually kinda tastes like a peanut butter cup. The protein powder (you can either choose vanilla or chocolate) helps create the taste of outside sweet chocolate coating of a peanut butter cup (more with the chocolate protein powder). Still tastes great with the vanilla though.

The only thing I would recommend is adding some more ice cubes after you blend it if you like your smoothie colder. They say to add two ice cubes to the smoothie but it doesn't get it completely cold. You could also freeze half the banana and add it in the smoothie to keep it colder longer (with that you don't have to worry about it being watery with the ice).

If you love peanut butter and the smooth texture of a milkshake, this protein shake is definitely for you. If you are interested about the nutrition facts, they are listed on the website (see below or up top). In case you are wondering, this shake has 24 grams of protein. No wonder you stay full for awhile! Trust me, you definitely want to taste this smoothie.

Recipe credit to: Lean It Up

Overall Rating: 10 out of 10 

Review of a Surprisingly Healthy and Delicious Cookie

I love cookies. There is something about them that makes me want to bake them and eat the dough (sometimes that's the best part). However, most of the time, I feel terrible about eating them. It feels like I have to exercise the same day in order to balance out the cookie or its going to kill my diet. What if there was a cookie that won't kill your diet that doesn't taste healthy but has nutritious ingredients?

Well, there is such a cookie. Thanks to Pinterest, I found this gem by Smoothie Lover. Healthy Chocolate Cookies. The secret ingredient is....*drum rolls please*

Avocado! You are probably thinking....no way. The cookie will taste like avocados. Actually they don't taste like avocados at all. I was totally surprised when I bit into this rich and delicious cookie. The avocado replaces the flour and there is no butter in this cookie as well. The sugar is replaced by either honey or coconut sugar (healthier options). So this is definitely considered a healthy cookie according to normal cookie standards.

This cookie is so rich due to the unsweetened cocoa and chocolate chunks (personally the more chocolate the better). If you enjoy soft cookies, this cookie for you. It does not flatten out at all and seems like it is under cooked when taken out of the oven (mine cooked for 10 minutes). No worries about that. Just stick it in the fridge for awhile and it will turn into a delicate soft cookie. I compared how it taste when it was cold versus room temperature and like the blogger recommended, the colder the better. 

For this Healthy Avocado Chocolate Cookie, this is definitely a 10 out of 10 because its both healthy and tastes absolutely delicious without the guilt. I highly recommend this cookie for anyone who is curious and isn't afraid of having avocados in their cookie.

Recipe credit to: Smoothie Lover

Overall Rating: 10 out of 10 

Review of Lemongrass Chicken Drumsticks

Super bowl. Pretty much the only time I will sit down and watch both a football game and the commercials. I was rooting for the Broncos, and as you may know, they lost badly. Even though that was sad, at least the food was good!

We wanted to make something healthy for the super bowl. Super bowl party snacks are sometimes fattening and makes you sick after awhile. Well, we decided to run away from high calorie finger food and turn towards something on the healthier side. I found a recipe on Pinterest for Lemongrass Chicken Drumsticks and thought that would be a wonderful alternative to the fried or coated in BBQ sauce chicken drumsticks. This recipe was by The Black Peppercorn. We also had sweet potato fries (not included in this review).

I love these drumsticks. If you like Thai flavors, this recipe is for you. It has a variety of flavors and I really like that these were baked and not fried, which made them a lot healthier. If you are like me and confused on how to prepare lemongrass, a lady named Pranee Halvorsen has a wonderful, simple YouTube video on how to prepare lemongrass (click for the link here). The lemongrass gives this chicken a citrus flavor and the chilies (on top of the chicken) with cilantro give extra flavor when you bite into it.

It took longer to bake this chicken then the recommended time, so I would definitely watch the oven and check to see if they are done consistently. Overall, I really liked the flavor of these drumsticks. This is an easy appetizer/finger food to make for your next party.

Recipe credit to: The Black Peppercorn

Overall Rating: 9 out of 10

Review of Alaskan Salmon Stuffed Tomatoes

Its dinnertime. What in the world is healthy, easy to make, and doesn't require food shopping? In our house, we always find that to be a challenge. Nobody likes to run to the store with the mess of people shopping and waiting in lines. So we thought, lets look around the house and see what we can use (attempting to be resourceful and save a little money). We went into the pantry and saw canned salmon. We also had Alaskan salmon in the freezer as well but felt we would save that for later. Salmon sounded good so we brought that out and looked online for a recipe. What do you do with canned salmon? Put it in a tomato!

The Alaskan Salmon Stuffed Tomatoes is such a brilliant and healthy idea. We found the recipe on Alaska Seafood website.

These stuffed tomatoes have a ton of flavor and are super easy to make. The tomatoes are stuffed with salmon, avocado, cilantro and parsley and topped with a mustard dressing. The dressing has a light and citrus flavor, because it has olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, salt and pepper. Overall such a wonderful flavor. We added some black beans for more texture and flavor.

I think that this dish would go good with a some rice or a side of noodles if you want. The only thing I would do different (to make it a 10 out of 10) is to put some crunch into it (like nuts or croutons or something crunchy).

If you want an easy meal that you can put together for dinner, this recipe is for you. Enjoy!

Recipe Credit to: Alaska Seafood

Overall Rating: 9 out of 10

Review of Blueberry Swirl Streusel Muffins

I went to California in February to visit my cousin before school started. We were driving for a whole day to get down there. I thought about making something for a road. Could be either a snack or a meal. I didn't want it to be messy because my aunt (whom I was driving with along with my grandma) just bought a new car a week before the trip. Then I thought...why not muffins. I love muffins. Then the filling. Why not blueberry muffins? So I thought this would be a great opportunity to try out a new recipe for blueberry muffins.

I came upon a recipe on Pinterest from Just Baked for Blueberry Swirl Streusel Muffins. 

The result: super large and moist blueberry muffins! They were a hit. We had on the way there and finished them on the way back. The muffins turned out quite large. I was surprised to see them rise so much in the oven. What is really nice about these muffins is the blueberry swirl part. You get a taste of blueberry in every bite rather than them sinking to the bottom of the muffin while baking them. They were moist and soft. Not hard and tough like some of store bought muffins.

The problem was the streusel topping. I thought it would be crunchy but instead was chewy. Next time I might try something different with the topping. Overall good flavor with it but didn't provide that extra texture I was looking for.

Overall a soft blueberry muffin with lots of blueberry flavor.

Recipe Credit to: Just Baked 

Overall Rating: 8 out of 10 

Review of Spiced Pumpkin Pie Bars

I am thinking of pumpkin. I love pumpkin flavor. Reminds me of fall but I could have it any other season. I bought Sally's Baking Addiction Cookbook awhile ago, and in this book contains so many delicious baking recipes including some fantastic looking pumpkin recipes. We froze some pumpkin after Halloween just in case we were in the mood to making something with pumpkin. Well, I couldn't stand not tasting pumpkin anymore. Plus I had those cravings for pumpkin pie.

The problem with pie is that its so much food. What if I wanted a small piece of pie? What if I wanted the filling rather than the crust? Here's the perfect solution if you are thinking just like me. Spiced Pumpkin Pie Bars! The perfect idea.

These bars taste just like pumpkin pie and are super easy to make, which is always a favorite feature of mine. These bars quickly disappeared from the house. The spice is wonderful and balanced nicely so its not overpowering. The pumpkin flavor stands out in these bars, so if you like pumpkin, this is a great recipe for you. It was creamy, filling, and a perfect amount to satisfy that pumpkin pie craving. Tastes great cold with a little bit of whipped cream on top.

The one thing I would recommend is that when you bake them, the crust on the bottom tend to stick to the foil that was recommended for use (I sprayed the foil with Pam/vegetable oil as recommended). I would try baking them without the foil and use a non-sticking spray or other non-sticking products (some baking stores sell specific products). That was the only thing I would change.

If you are craving pumpkin pie but don't want an actual pie, this recipe is just for you! Check out Sally's website to try out more delicious recipes. 

(Note: this recipe is was found in her cookbook and not her website)

Recipe credit to: Sally's Baking Addiction

Overall Rating: 9.5 out of 10