German Chocolate Cookies

Forget cake, these German Chocolate cookies will absolutely win you over!

This recipe is one of my all-time favorite cookie recipes and they did not last long. No one could stop eating them. The coconut pecan frosting is sooo good. Honestly, you could use the premade kind but I feel like this homemade version is not only better tasting but also holds up a bit better.

German Chocolate Cheesecake

Luscious chocolate cheesecake with layers of coconut pecan on an Oreo crust

This cheesecake was my daughter's choice for her birthday cake in 2020. In true 2020 fashion, my oven broke when this was in the oven baking. I did not know until we went to eat it and mostly the center had some not fully cooked parts. The cooked parts were fantastic but that is why there are no pictures of this cheesecake sliced. So we think the heating elements went out towards the end of the initial baking time. I loved the coconut pecan topping/filling. That's easily the best part!

Coconut Cream Pie

Who needs chocolate when you can have this stunning, mouthwateringly delicious coconut cream pie?!

I feel like I grew up being sort of indifferent to coconut. I love the little snowball cupcake/marshmallow/coconut treats, but I don't like coconut in candy bars or chocolates - I'm still that way. At some point, I started getting the coconut layer cake from Pepperidge Farm as an adult and that really created a spark of "Hey, maybe I do like coconut" in me. I have never had a coconut cream pie and really wanted to make one. The original recipe was only topped with some whipped cream...I used it all (bonus picture at the end of how ridiculous it looks at the bottom of this post). This has to be one of my all-time favorite desserts and there isn't chocolate in sight. It's unbelievable!

Peach Crunch Cobbler

This peach cobbler has a good crunch and is fantastic on its own, but even better with ice cream on top!

This was supposed to be blackberry crunch cobbler, but I have had no luck finding blackberry pie filling. Is that a thing that exists in stores? I shop at Kroger - maybe that's why? If you have purchased blackberry pie, where do you get it? I decided upon peach because for whatever reason, we've been eating a lot of peach cobbler and cobbler-like desserts as of late. I thought this was one of the best cobbler recipes I've ever had. I also insist that you test out different flavors of ice cream for topping. Vanilla bean is bomb, but we love churro ice cream paired with peach cobbler. But there are also tons of other flavors that would work. The ice cream aisle has endless possibilities!

Carrot Coconut Bread

When carrot cake and coconut cake have a baby and it's smothered in cream cheese frosting!

It's always been hard for me to pick my favorite cake flavor. I like so many cakes. I really only dislike two kinds of cake: lemon and red velvet. Carrot cake is one of my all-time favorites. I finally am going to have the carrot cake cheesecake I've almost picked for my birthday cake for years this upcoming September. What I really appreciate about this bread recipe is that it's like carrot cake and coconut cake had a baby and it's delicious and wonderful. The cream cheese frosting is amazing, as all cream cheese frosting is. It's a nice deviation from typical banana bread (which is also great, but sometimes variety is nice!).

Toasted Oatmeal with Strawberry Chia Jam

This breakfast is fruity, nutty, and 100% wonderful.

I am so excited to share this recipe today because it's one that kinda blew my mind. I love oatmeal and I love mixing in fruit ingredients into oatmeal whether it's fresh fruit, yogurt, etc. This was my first time mixing in jam and it was homemade (really easy to do). The toasted oatmeal was amazing and coconut everything was a nice touch.

Simple Yogurt Parfaits

This is the perfect recipe for a parfait beginner - and also a wonderful recipe for kids to get involved in making a well-balanced breakfast or snack!

Sure it's not the most mindblowing recipe in the world, but it's a great thing to have a base recipe to work off of. I, for one, can get pretty overwhelmed trying to come up with stuff and that's why I appreciate this parfait recipe. It's simple and it's a stepping stone for more complicated parfaits. The possibilities are definitely endless. There are tons of different granolas that can be paired with fruits and different flavors of yogurt. I personally am a huge fan of strawberry and strawberry banana yogurt and I love to eat it with cashew butter and cacao nib granola because you almost get a pb&j flavor profile with a chocolate covered strawberry flavor profile. I hope you all enjoy this super easy parfait recipe. It's also a great beginner recipe if you have kids who are interested in helping in the kitchen! My kids love parfaits and love being able to pick their toppings, so this is a hit with them too.

Berrylicious Smoothie Bowls

Start your day with this berrylicious recipe - loads of berries plus whatever toppings you want!

I've been wanting to jump on the smoothie bowl bandwagon for forever, but I'll be honest..I hate pulling out my blender so much. I don't have it out on the counter (although I would love to) and I also hate cleaning my blender. But I finally decided it was time to try one and it was super wonderful. Probably still not something I'll make all the time, but definitely a nice treat when you're craving berries in particular. I topped ours with blueberries, blackberries, banana, honey, coconut, almonds, and granola (cashew butter and cocoa nibs).

Cocadas

These crunchy coconut cookies are a Latin America delicacy that are so addictive!

Each year, my kids' elementary school does a world museum day for all the families to attend. Each grade does a different type of project to celebrate the world and history. Third and fourth graders usually prepare a quick presentation on a country. My daughter had Chile last year and she wanted to prepare a food to go with her presentation. She chose a coconut cookie and we hunted the internet to find a recipe for it.

I could have sworn they were called coconadas but it seems I was wrong. They are called Cocadas. They are super easy to make and they are ridiculously difficult to stop eating. I made a test batch and they disappeared. Then we made a triple batch and quartered them for perfect sampling size. Everyone who came through for her presentation loved it. Her class wanted her to bring another batch to school the next day! I was honestly really surprised because coconut can be a hit or miss most of the time.

One Pot Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

Classic comfort food made with Thai ingredients that will blow your mind!

2017 was the year we went a little out of our comfort zone with food. I like to think we tried quite a few new things and tried new cuisines. This Thai Chicken Noodle Soup has some ingredients that we really typically wouldn't eat together or think to put in a soup. I was unsure how the combination of different flavors would work together. I personally was really excited to use some Thai basil that I had dried from my AeroGarden and it really tied the whole thing together. As a child who hated chicken noodle soup, it's crazy how many different chicken noodle soups I now eat! This soup was wonderful. All those flavors went together perfectly. Nothing was overpowering. Just loved it so much :)

Grilled Hawaiian Teriyaki Bowls

Chicken, zucchini, sweet bell peppers, onion, and pineapple are all grilled and then served in a bed of coconut jasmine rice and topped with homemade teriyaki sauce

I love fresh pineapple in savory dishes and was totally in love with the idea of teriyaki chicken and zucchini with it. I was overall looking forward to these grilled Hawaiian teriyaki bowls. The only thing I was not sure about was the coconut rice. I quickly discovered how incredible it was and honestly I could eat it by itself. I am making a few recipes in July that need rice and I'm definitely making this coconut jasmine rice. The homemade teriyaki was fabulous too.

Italian Creme Cake

Don't let the pretty pink frosting fool you - this Italian Creme Cake tastes just right!

My description for my blog and a lot of my social media states that I am a recipe hoarder. I have thousands (not kidding) of recipes saved to try. I am, however, becoming a little nervous of the recipes I have pinned from blogs because some of these blogs have just *POOF* disappeared. I have taken to copy/pasting recipes into a Word document for my meal plan each month because I'm scared I will go to pull up a recipe on the tablet and the blog will be gone and my meal plan will be foiled.

This lovely cake recipe is one I made for my birthday last year. I wasn't always doing the Word document back then, but I thankfully did that month. I went to go pull up the recipe to type up and *POOF* the blog is now private and I cannot access it. I'm so glad I have the recipe "written" down because it's such a wonderful cake. It really is. I love Italian creme cakes. The cream cheese frosting and coconut and pecans....it's like a carrot cake without the carrot and cinnamon. SO GOOD. I tinted my frosting pink and added pearl sprinkles because I'm a princess (even my name means princess) haha. I also utilized the cake for practicing scallop borders for the first time!

Copycat Ocean Water

This Sonic copycat is such a fun drink to make for kids during the summer!

I have not yet had an actual Ocean Water at Sonic, but I think it may be something on our summer bucket list, especially after making this recipe! The coconut is the perfect touch for a refreshing summer drink. The blogger who I got the recipe for dropped adorable Swedish fish into her drink, but I had a bit of trouble with that. Instead, I placed them on the lip of the mason jar. I still think they look mighty cute. My kids really loved them. They don't get to drink soda very often and I think the blue color appealed to them.

Almond Joy Frappuccino

I'm not a big fan of Almond Joys. Let's just put that out there.

However...
I am a big fan of my husband's and he loves Almond Joys. So as with pretty much all the foods he loves (and because I put up with him), I've hoarded recipes to make for him. This was one I figured he would love because it combines Almond Joys with one of his all-time favorite things in the whole wide world: coffee.

Even though I am not the biggest fan of Almond Joys, I quite enjoyed this little cold coffee treat. I think that the chocolate and coconut worked together well and nothing was too overpowering :) And of course it got Nick's seal of approval!

Strawberry Coconut Baked Oatmeal

In horrible form, here I am sharing a recipe on Friday...

It's been a crazy busy week between a day off of school, in-class observations, a doctor's appointment (14/15 week appt), and subbing for half a day for a class of very roudy 3rd graders. I'm just plain exhausted. And one of my favorite things to make and have for breakfast when I'm just too tired to do too much work is baked oatmeal.

You can throw things together quickly and you just put it in the oven. You end up with a filling, delicious breakfast - what more could you ask for? I love the combination of this baked oatmeal recipe. The coconut and strawberry compliment each other very nicely.

Mango Coconut Smoothie

It just got cold in New York and I'm dreaming of warm summer days already. Some of our local grocery stores have some great frozen fruit mixes - this particular one is a favorite: mango, papaya, and pineapple.

This is just the most perfectly tropical, delicious, refreshing smoothie ever. I think it was the first thing I made in my Ninja blender when I first got it. If you use a blender/food processor a lot or have gone through too many, invest in a Ninja. They aren't sponsoring me or compensating me to say that, I'm just saying it from purchasing my own Ninja Kitchen System and using it :)

To Die For Carrot Cake

I was very excited to try this recipe for carrot cake. I just loved how the original was decorated! Carrot cake is one of my all-time favorite cakes and I was going to make it for my birthday cake in September, but ended up making it in July for our monthly "One-More-Month-in-the-Deployment-Done" cake.

My mom went to school for cake decorating, so when she paid me a compliment at how good the cake looked, I was very happy. I'm still working on my cake decorating skills and I really loved the outlet this particular cake gave. I need to get my hands on some orange food coloring to make carrots for next time I make a carrot cake :)

Pina Colada Cupcakes

Nick is currently deployed for the third time and this go-around the kids are really old enough to grasp that concept. Last deployment, we did a kiss jar. I'm not gonna lie...I really didn't want to count out 365 kisses times two again. AND Matthew is too much like me and has a major sweet tooth that has landed him 8 cavities (that are all thankfully filled now). So I decided to kind of do a cake a month type deal...almost like a birthday. So each month, we've had a cake or cupcakes for one more month done. I let Matt & Cami pick out what they wanted from my cakes and cupcakes boards on Pinterest.

For May, I picked out the Pina Colada cupcakes that I've been wanting to make for so long. They are so cute and I'm big on coconut flavored cake or frosting. Top it with a cherry and umbrella - and you have the cutest cupcake EVER!

Carrot Cake Oatmeal

One of my favorite parts of summer growing up was that you could sleep in. I've never been one to hate sleep. My kiddos on the other hand (who are 6 and 5) are early birds. With the sun coming up at 5:30am, it is hard for them to stay asleep when it's so bright out. Of course, I am not a morning person and not ready to be up at 5:30 in the morning. Since Nick is deployed, the kids love to crawl in bed with me after the sun comes up. For some reason, this just means we end up sleeping until 9am. By then, we need a quick breakfast.

That's one of the best parts about oatmeal. It's fast. But you can get sick of regular old bland oatmeal with cinnamon sugar mixed in. So this recipe definitely called my name. I loved the pineapple in it a ton and the maple yogurt topping was delicious. We didn't have any coconut or pecans in the house when I made this oatmeal, but I'll be sure to try that next time as I'm sure it only makes this breakfast that much better!

Girl Scout Week: Samoa Blondie Bars

 

I am happy to announce that no Samoas were harmed in the making of these blondie bars. I did realize that one major part of the Samoa is missing in these: the caramel. Next time I make them, I'm going to experiment with adding in some caramel somewhere. I know the butter + brown sugar kind of imitates it, but it's not the same. They were still fantastic little bars!