Cookies And Cream Oreo Fudge Brownies

I have to admit...I am totally eating one of these as I type this. I had made these before (a year or so ago) at my old job and that was the icing on the cake of being the favorite office baker. I had men asking me for the recipe so they could tell their wives. I had never had such good reviews from anything I made before!

Now, this is probably one of the easiest recipes because...wait for it...it comes from A BOX! There are a few changes to make it not just a boxed brownie but these are so good and everyone will love them!

My boyfriend, for one, is probably never breaking up with me after he knows I can make these. He has had 5 since last night. Including one for breakfast this morning which was totally like catching a kid with his hand in the cookie jar when I walked into the kitchen this morning.

The first time I made these I used birthday cake oreos. Those were incredible. This time I used double stuffed oreos. Also incredible. Therefore, use any oreo your little heart desires!

That broken oreo is so annoying in this picture! but check out those new counter tops!

Ingredients:

1 box brownie mix (plus ingredients on box)

1/4 cup hot fudge sauce

1 package Oreos

Combine brownie mix and ingredients on box in one big bowl. Stir in hot fudge mix until well combined with batter. Pour about half of the batter and and layer Oreos over top. Pour the rest of the batter and cover oreo layer completely. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until tooth pick comes out clean.

ENJOY :) 

Celebrating National Ice Cream Month at SMUSH!

I have been so busy recently with unpacking and moving that I haven't had time to do ANYTHING besides work and sleep. Cooking has definitely been sacrificed, but I did make my first home cooked meal in my new apartment recently...which leads me to a funny story.

My boyfriend was in charge of cleaning the grill and I was in charge of cleaning the kitchen. I finished my job and he brought the grill rack in to soak in the kitchen. I didn't think anything of it so I went to take a shower and when I came out I found that he was asleep in the bedroom. I got changed, did my hair, and then decided to wake him up. I walk out into the dark kitchen and living room area with him to hear, "Did you spill water?" I turn on the light and let out a scream from a horror movie. HE FORGOT TO TURN THE SINK OFF! For hours that sink had been running, overflowing, and SOAKING my brand new apartment with water. I literally wanted to cry...oh wait, I did. Hard.

But do not worry, a rug was the only sacrifice, and we dried everything off in time for the 4th of July party I am having tomorrow!

Anyway, did you know it was National Ice Cream month? and did you know that its been about 900% humidity in New York City? So many reasons for ice cream.

My boyfriend and I went to another FREE HowAboutWe date to "NYC gourmet dessert deli" called SMUSH. They make ice cream sandwiches that were absolutely incredible. 

I decided to go with a pre-made combination (pictured above). My "bread" was one chocolate chip cooked and one french toast cookie. The cookies were so soft and still gooey from the oven. They had free cookie samples while you waited too! My ice cream filling choice was vanilla and it was topped with a layer of fudge, marshmallow spread, peanut butter spread, and potato chips. I walked 3 miles to get to the store so thats ok, right?

My boyfriend went with a make your own option of 2 chocolate chip cookies, chocolate ice cream, banana slices, peanut butter spread, and a milk/white chocolate swirl. 

These looked so easy to make and they were so good. There are so many combinations that you can make so I think that ice cream sandwiches may be my new summer specialty! 

Family Weekend

I wish I could explain how happy I am that it is finally summer. I don't know why I don't live in a place where it is summer all year round, but I guess that would make it harder to appreciate. This weekend I went down to LBI (Long Beach Island) for my boyfriends annual family reunion which was so much fun. His family reminds me so much of mine and it definitely tugged at my heart strings a bit that I can't be at my own family reunion next week.

Sunset on our first day

It was also great to see the Jersey Shore have such an amazing recovery after Hurricane Sandy this past year. The part of the island that we stayed at wasn't hit too hard, but you could still see all of the empty lots and homes for sale that didn't make it.

Since this family reunion made me miss my own, especially my dad, I felt like this recipe was appropriate. I had made a peanut butter banana chocolate cream pie for my dad a few months back since it was all of his favorite flavors combined. It was so simple and so incredibly tasty that its an amazing go to recipe! 

Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Cream Pie

35 Nilla Wafers, Finely crushed

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 oz. BAKER'S Semi Sweet Chocolate

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

2 bananas, cut in half, then quartered

2 pkg (3.4 oz) of Vanilla Instant Pudding

2 cups cold milk

2 cups Cool Whip

2 tbsp. salted peanuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix wafer crumbs and melted butter and press into the bottom of a 9 inch pie pan. Bake 5-8 minutes or until golden. Cool completely. Meanwhile, make chocolate curls for 1/2 oz chocolate. Refrigerate. 

Microwave remaining 1.5 oz chocolate and peanut butter into a microwave safe bowl on high for one minute. Stir until chocolate is melted and everything is well blended. Place bananas in the crust and pour chocolate mixture on top.

Beat pudding mixes and milk in large bowl with a whisk for 2 minutes. Stir in 1 cup cool whip. Spread over the bananas and chocolate. Top with remaining cool whip.

Refrigerate for 3 hours. Top with chocolate curls and nuts before serving. 

Exciting News Topped with Bacon!

I mentioned previously that my boyfriend and I joined a website called HowAboutWe. In case you forgot (and I love to do marketing for my friend), it has two different sides. One is for single people in which they post an idea for a date such as "How about we go to the Knicks game" and other people can either ask you out on that date and/or start a conversation based on the idea. You can also search for dates or just browse users. I think its a really unique idea for the seemingly endless possibilities of dating websites out there. Go sign up if you're single!

The other side is for couples in which they give you awesome discounted/free dates for you and your significant other. This is where we went to the Peanut Butter Co. and tried all of those awesome different peanut butters...for free!

Now before I get to the next date that we went on, I have some very exciting news to share. I AM A HOMEOWNER! It was a long process, but I can finally check that "Buy a home" line item on my 20 Things To Do Before I Die. I will be keeping everyone updated with my new decorations, so I won't spoil that by posting any pictures here!

Back to my date. I try to eat healthy as much as I can, but I am SUCH a sucker for bacon. I think that is a general consensus over most of the human population, but it really is incredible. Colin and I went to a place on the Upper East Side called The Baconery where every single thing on their menu has bacon in it. Every Thing.

We were given with our free date 2 bacon baked goods, 2 chocolate covered bacon strips, 2 bacon sandwiches, and a drink (bacon infused, if desired). I had no idea bacon could be incorporated in so many things and Colin was about the happiest I have ever seen him. My sandwich was bacon, peanut butter, banana, and honey and oh my GOODNESS was it heavenly. Colin actually couldn't keep his hands away and he had his own! Colin ordered a grilled cheese with bacon (boring!), but he still loved it. For dessert, we chose cookies and cream bacon (Colin's choice) and birthday bacon (my choice). I loved both, but Colin was a little creeped out by the chocolate and bacon combination. We also took home two bacon croissants for breakfast the next day which were heavenly. I also may or may not have ordered the bacon hot chocolate and may or may not have loved every sip of it.

If you love bacon as much as we do, its a definite stop for you!

Fantastic Surprise in SoHo

Well work has been nothing short of a complete and total nightmare for the last 8 days. As I mentioned, I work for a small company and my boss has been on vacation to St. Barts. Besides my immense jealousy, I have been running accounting and operations by myself for the last week. My stress level, blood pressure, and pretty sure my weight from the emotional eating, has sky rocketed. He came back today, thank goodness, so there may be some cookies/bars/cupcakes in my future tonight!

I was wondering around Lower Manhattan a little while ago and literally stopped in my tracks when I saw a small, wall to wall glass shop with the words CHOBANI on top. I have always been a huge yogurt fan, even when I was a kid. I became even more of a yogurt fan as a weight conscious adult. I have hopped immediately on the Greek Yogurt band wagon as well (also the frozen yogurt one) so this made my heart do a little flip and left me zero choice but to walk right on in. Now, I anticipated it to be similar to those fro-yo stores where there are countless possibilities and combinations of self serve toppings and flavors and I was PUMPED. I was greeted by the wonderfully pleasant worker with a fancy touch screen iphone menu and order pad. First off, menu? You mean I can't just dump cookie dough pieces into my Chobani? Bummer. I was given a menu with seven options. Seven. At least there wasn't too much decision making involved. A few of the combinations were very intimating for my immature palette, so it was a no brainer to go with the peanut butter and jelly option.

Nails: Essie: Butler Please!

Seriously. Look at those pictures! My mouth is drooling just thinking about it. Needless to say I inhaled the entire cup and have been dreaming of either a store opening up in midtown or my office getting relocated to SoHo. If you pass by the Chobani store, please do yourself a favor and go inside. It is life changing.

Vanilla Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

See? I told you I would be better at posting! My roommate was supposed to come home from California last night, so I made cookies for her on my night off! I was trying to think of a good chocolate-less cookie that we both could enjoy, so I found a Puffy Vanilla Peanut Butter Chip Cookie from Six Sisters Stuff.. I love soft cookies. I will always buy the Chewy Chips Ahoy over the regular. I have also developed an obsession with pudding cookies. Mmmmmmm! These cookies definitely came out soft, chewy, and puffy! But, be warned, they are not kidding with the vanilla flavor! I'm not too sure if I had a heavy hand with the vanilla or if I should have been warned with the title of the cookie, but they are not shy about the vanilla taste! My roommate will be trying one today, so I will update it with her reaction, but I am a fan!

From Six Sisters Stuff

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Crisco

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tablespoon water

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup peanut butter chips

Directions:

Preheat over to 375 and grease cookie sheet. Beat together Crisco, sugars, egg, water, and vanilla until batter is creamy. Mix in cinnamon, salt, baking soda, flour and mix until just combined. Fold in chips. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Form 1 inch balls (they do not spread much at all) and place on cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes and cool on wire rack. 

Chicken Fajita Pasta, a long weekend, and an apology.

I am just going to a quick apology for disappearing for months and months and pretend like it didn't happen. I am very sorry though! I will be doing much better with the posts now that tax and audit season have died down and I hopefully have more time to myself.

So, happy week after Memorial Day Weekend! Over here in the NYC/NJ area, Memorial Day weekend is one of the biggest holidays of the year. It is the official kick off to summer and EVERYONE goes to some sort of beach house or getaway. I usually spend my weekend at my beloved Jersey Shore, but this year, my dad conned me into going to the Lake House up in the Finger Lakes. It wasn't supposed to be the warmest (60 degrees!) in NJ, so I figured it was a good weekend to skip. I actually forgot how gorgeous it is up there!

View from the dock 

My lake house

Colin & I on the dock

My roommate is in LA for a nice extended long weekend, so I conned my boyfriend to being a sub roommate to me for a few days so I didn't have to be alone. It is always hard to try and cook something he likes to eat, but I figured that chicken fajita pasta (from picky palate) would work. It was very very good and made a TON. I have been eating it for every meal since to not waste the leftovers, so if you have 2 people I would halve the recipe. 

Creamy Chicken Fajita Pasta

- 1 pound of your favorite small pasta

- 8 ozs of cream cheese

- 2 cups milk

- 2 boneless chicken breasts 

- 1 packet of dry ranch mix
- 1 package of pre-made Fajita veggies (I just cut up peppers and onions since my store didn't have them)

 - 1 tbsp olive oil. 

Cook your pasta according to directions. Boil or grill your chicken until done all the way through and cut up into small pieces (or shred). Whip the 8 oz of cream cheese until light and fluffy. While pasta is cooking, use a small pan to heat milk and ranch mix for about 5 minutes or until very hot. Slowly add the whipped cream cheese to the milk and ranch mixture. Stir until cream cheese is totally melted. Heat about 1 tbsp olive oil into pan and cook vegetables until soft, about 5 minutes. Strain pasta and combine with chicken and veggies. Pour over sauce and enjoy!!