Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

For a staff get-together we made Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes, which are basically cupcakes with cookie dough inside of them, which unfortunately makes them sound better than they actually were. They were served at a office family dinner. Of the 24 cupcakes, roughly half were eaten by the boss's kids. (Math time! If the kids ate 3 cupcakes each, how many kids were there?) Kelly and Carol decided to prank Lee by putting fish sauce on his cupcake to look like caramel sauce. Lee happily ate the whole cupcake but later warned someone else that they tasted a little weird, still unaware of the prank--until he saw Carol and Kelly giggling in the corner. In revenge he pushed a cupcake in Carol's face. Hailey thought that this was a waste of perfectly good cupcakes. (There are no reaction shots so if you know what the boss's kids look like just imagine it.)

Broccoli Casserole

This is a great meal to prepare in a short amount of time. It has not strange ingredients so it doesn't require a trip to the grocery store. (Even though we only live a 3 minute walk from a grocery store it's always nice to just come home and have everything you need to make supper.) The rice, broccoli and cheese complimented each other very well. We were very pleased with this recipe and were surprised we had waited this long to make it!

Josiah's Cheese Biscuits

Biscuits are one of our faves and so is Josiah and so is cheese! We knew we would love this recipe! It was quick to make; we were able to whip them up for dinner after coming home from work. They went very well with the Broccoli Casserole, pasta dishes, chili and soup. A highly recommended recipe by both Josiah and us!

Duggar Day: The Sequel

Excited about Duggar Day!

Back by popular demand: Duggar Day!

Since we still try to bring up the Duggars in conversation as frequently as possible when at work, we figured it was only appropriate to bring back Duggar Day - and this time we stepped it up a couple notches, preparing breakfast, lunch, dessert and 3 o'clock treats for everyone in the office.

Waiting in line for Duggar lunch

The menu was as follows:

Breakfast: Honey-Baked Oatmeal
Lunch: Salad with homemade Italian dressing and Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti
Dessert: Apple Dumplings
3 o'clock treats: Oatmeal cookies

Tiffany is in heaven because she loves the Duggars!

Duggar lunch

The announcement of the 2nd Duggar Day was met with great anticipation, and required a great deal of planning. We spent two evenings preparing the food and brought EVERYTHING to the office on the bus thanks to some strategic planning. As is required on Duggar Day, we set up the projector in the lunch room to watch an episode of 19 Kids and Counting during lunch: this time we watched "Duggars on Ice" which includes the Duggar's family friends, the Bates and their 17 children, as well as the announcement that Josh and Anna were pregnant with Mackynzie!

While it was a lot of work, the second Duggar Day was a success - we just might do a few less recipes next time!

Apple Dumplings

This recipe was made for Duggar Day: The Sequel.

These were DELICIOUS! Probably because of the amount of butter we poured on them. They were pretty easy to make using Crescent Rolls and Sprite (to create a nice glaze). They looked very professional and were a big hit! Crescent Rolls can be a little expensive if you don't find them on sale. This recipe could get a little pricey for both your wallet and your waistline...there is a lot of fat.

 

Daddy's Favourite Oatmeal Cookies

This recipe was made for Duggar Day: The Sequel.

This was listed on the website as Jessa's favourite cookie dough and it was, indeed, very tasty. Why then, Duggars, did you take the recipe off the website? A few weeks after Duggar Day Katie wanted to make the recipe again, but to her dismay, it was no longer available. So don't even bother getting your hopes up about these cookies, folks!

And the moral of the story is: when you find a recipe you like - write it down!

Honey-Baked Oatmeal

This recipe was made for Duggar Day: The Sequel.

Ok, so this we were excited to try since we've used a similar baked oatmeal recipe on several occasions - and this one was sugar-free... which turned out to be its downfall. See, the great thing about baked oatmeal is that it's like eating cake for breakfast but it's healthy. This was just like eating something healthy. Not altogether bad, just a little... bland.

Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti

Yes, that is a bowl full of cheese

This recipe was made for Duggar Day: The Sequel.

This was the main course for lunch and also the main reason that we charged our coworkers this time! Can you believe all the cheese that went into this meal!? While delicious, this is a very rich meal, and not recommended for those who are lactose-intolerant. Definitely something to make again, though in a smaller quantity!

Golden Whole Wheat Bread

This recipe was made for Duggar Day: The Sequel.


Or at least it was supposed to be. If you are one of our coworkers, you're probably looking at this and saying, "I don't remember those from Duggar Day" and don't worry - your brain is not playing tricks on you! The photo, however, certainly is. You see, this recipe took us 4 tries; the dough wouldn't rise, we ran to the store and bought new yeast, the dough still wouldn't rise - but Hailey was determined! On the fourth try we finally baked the rolls, and looking at this picture, you're probably thinking that they look great - what's deceiving is that the plate they're on is actually a dessert plate, and the rolls were about the size of golf balls and they didn't taste very good. Katie nevertheless took to snacking on them when she got home from work and was too lazy to start making supper. We're not sure where we went wrong, but we probably won't be trying this recipe again!

Italian Dressing

This recipe was made for Duggar Day: The Sequel.

This Italian dressing was easy to make and it was delicious! Not as delicious several weeks later when we discovered that we had left it in the fridge at work. Thanks for cleaning that out, Hailey!

As a sidenote, please disregard our unattractiveness in the subsequent photos. In the words of Hailey, "we were cooking for an army and when you're cooking for an army you don't have to be attractive, you just have to be efficient". Well said.

Jeanne's Sloppy Joe's

Hailey, thinking she is about to enjoy her Sloppy Joe

 So we were really hungry when we made these Sloppy Joe's and we thought they would be really yummy. They weren't. The sauce was too strong - BBQ sauce, ketchup and onion soup mix need something milder added to take it easy on your taste buds. If only we had Liquid Smoke in Canada (called for in the recipe) - maybe it would have made a difference!

Poor Man's Pizza

We'd been putting off making this recipe for a while. Sorry Duggars, but a piece of bread, tomato sauce and cheese just doesn't sound all that appetizing. We chose a Friday to make it for lunch, since it was a fasting day and we thought this meal would be penitential. Surprisingly, despite ample criticisms from our coworkers, this 'pizza' was not bad at all!

Layered Ice Cream Cake

This is one of our favourite recipes! It was one of the first recipes we tried a few years ago. We loved it so much and we knew other Duggar recipes must be good too, hence the inspiration for the blog. We had originally planned to save the ice cream cake as one of our last recipes, but when the office was trying to decide what kind of cake we should have for Tiffany on her birthday we knew the ice cream cake would be perfect. Tiffany loves the Duggar Family as much as we do so it was a perfect way to celebrate her birthday and show her how much we love her! The cake was enjoyed by all and we even had leftovers for another day (the perk of Duggar-sized recipes).

Quick Chili-Frito Pie Meal

After getting home from work we decided to make a Duggar recipe. It was already close to 6pm so Quick Chili-Frito Pie Meal was perfect! So quick and easy - even though we had to run to the store for some ingredients it only took minutes to prepare so we were eating in no time. Not one of our all-time favourite recipes, but we'll definitely keep it in mind when we need a meal in minutes! 

The Voeller Dressing

What is going on with Katie's hair??

As a side dish to our Quick Spaghetti with Cincinnati Chili we decided to make a salad and knew there were a couple dressing recipes on the Duggar website. Katie has a handy-dandy salad-dressing-mixer-gadget so it worked very well! Turned out that we didn't have lettuce or any salad ingredients other than green peppers, but it didn't work so well as a dip. The dressing was good, but to be honest I can barely remember it because of how gross the main dish was...I know it was great in comparison! We'll have to try it again another time!

Quick Spaghetti with Cincinnati Chili

Hailey and Katie were finally back together after almost an entire summer of various travels (including Orillia, ON and Cornwall, ON, respectively, a trip to the Atlantic Provinces together and for Katie, a trip to Spain for World Youth Day). This would be the perfect recipe to start off our second year of the blog, right? Wrong! This chili-spaghetti combo was almost flavourless and was kind of mushy. Not something we'll be repeating. If you do want to give it a try, make sure to add lots of toppings - and a can of spaghetti sauce while you're at it! Your taste buds will thank you!

Allie's No Bake Cheesecake

Alex and Theresa on their wedding day!

When our friend (and blog-follower) Theresa had to plan her wedding in just over two months, she asked some friends to bring desserts for her reception. We and the Duggars were happy to oblige!

After witnessing Alex and Theresa enter into the beautiful Sacrament of Marriage, we waited in anticipation for the reception, where we could try the cheesecakes we'd made the night before!

The no bake cheesecake was very easy to make and was DELICIOUS! The blackberries on top were our addition and they complemented the cheesecake very well.

Congratulations Alex and Theresa!

Cheesecakes with the BEST (July) wedding favour ever, a pretty fan!

Garlic Dill Pickles

So at the end of February Katie left town to do some support raising out of town. She returned in May, but then Hailey was out of town support raising. (Which is why the cooking had been put on hold.) At the beginning of July we planned a trip: the Atlantic Provinces Extravaganza! We thought the Garlic Dill Pickles would be a perfect snack for the trip since it's a Duggar road trip favourite! One problem though...we wouldn't be together until we arrived in Halifax. But thanks to technology we were able to both make a jar of pickles while talking on skype! Next issue - transporting the pickles...let's just say Katie ended up with some pickley clothes. Once we were on the road to PEI Hailey's sister Emma (the only one of us who actually likes pickles) cracked open the first jar! Her verdict: too salty. She made us try them too and they were ok, but I don't think either of us are going to be pickling again any time soon! (P.S. Katie is away in Spain for a month for World Youth Day so we will update the blog and start cooking again when she gets back)

Daddy's Favourite Pumpkin Pie

We had a little trouble starting this recipe off, trying to convert the measurements from ounces to cups, and second-guessed ourselves while pouring everything into Katie's trusty Kitchenaid mixer. Thankfully the measurements were right and the pie filling was very easy to assemble, and was the exact right amount once poured into 2 Flakey Pie Crusts that Hailey prepared. The pies looked beautiful coming out of the oven and even though Katie is not really a fan of pumpkin pie (and thought it felt a little out of season making them in February) she had to admit that it tasted pretty good... maybe a treat to make for Thanksgiving down the road!

Note: with this recipe, we are halfway through the Duggar recipes!

Flakey Pie Crust

This was a frustrating recipe! Hailey was mixing it and rolling it out and it was not very cooperative. Very sticky and when it wasn't sticking it was falling apart. She was finally able to get it in the pie plates. For all the frustration it caused it better be fantastic - well it was good, but not for the effort it was worth. Sorry Duggars but this was not a favourite - maybe we aren't the best pastry chefs and need some lessons from you.