Liz makes soft pretzels

I absolutely love soft pretzels. Wetzel's Pretzels, Auntie Anne's, Target... All delicious. However, did  you know you can make the same from home? I'll show you how in a few easy steps which only includes 8 simple ingredients and no mixer! Easy!

Liz makes a frozen chai tea frappucino

I love chai tea. It's so good and cinnamon-y and delicious. I just recently learned frozen chai tea frappucinos exist. They're basically the best frozen drink on the planet. Lucky for me, they're extremely easy to make!

Liz makes chocolate cheesecake cupcakes with marshmallow flowers

Geez, that's probably the longest blog title I've ever written. Oh well, once you get one of these cupcakes into your mouth, you won't care how long it takes to say "chocolate cheesecake cupcakes with marshmallow flowers" ever again. My mom came to town this weekend and we had a ton of fun. We always do. These cupcakes were only one of the highlights from this weekend!

Liz makes pretzel bites

As you may know, I've made soft, mall pretzels before, but today I decided to do it a tad differently. Instead of making pretzels in the shape of the classic pretzel twist, I made pretzel bites! It was a whole lot easier and I think they baked more thoroughly too. Here's how I did it:

Liz makes a vegetarian breakfast burrito

Since the new year is starting tomorrow, I, of course, have decided to think up some new year's resolutions. One of them is to eat healthier. Eating healthier honestly makes me really sad, so I've been searching for healthy recipes that don't make me want to hate myself. This vegetarian breakfast burrito is the perfect combo of healthy and yummy.

Liz makes mini calzones

I absolutely love calzones. All of my favorite foods in one dish. Bread? Check. Cheese? Check. Green chile? Check. Marinara sauce? Check. We usually buy these really delicious (and expensive) calzones from a local pizza place, but I decided it was time to make my own.

Liz makes a satisfying and low-calorie salad

Lately, I've been on a bit of a health kick. I've been trying to come up with low calorie but still delicious foods. Now, before this diet, I hated salads. I thought salads existed to make people sad. After trying this salad, I've had a complete change of heart. This salad is yummy, satisfying and only has 191 calories for a whole plate full! Let me tell you what's all in it.

Let's Bake a Movie: Napoleon Dynamite Cake

Even though my birthday is actually July 23, I decided to have my birthday party last week since all of my friends could be there. I've been thinking about this party for a long time now. I've known for awhile I wanted to have a Napoleon Dynamite birthday party because, let's face it, it's pretty much the best movie of all time. Anyway, last week I made a Summer Wheatley pinata that I showed you guys in an earlier post, and on Saturday, me and my mom made a Pedro (hearts) Summer cake. I'll show you how we did it.

Let's Bake a Movie: Minny's Chocolate Pie from The Help

Ever since I watched The Help, I wanted to make Minny's Chocolate Pie. If you've ever seen The Help, you already know that this pie played a huge role in the film. There's a part where Minny bakes this pie for a horribly rude lady and adds a special ingredient. My recipe has no "terrible awful" ingredient, but feel free to add it at your own discretion if there's a Two-Slice-Hilly in your life.

Let's Bake a Movie: Peeta's Cheese Buns from The Hunger Games

I've decided to start a new feature on the blog called Let's Bake a Movie where I bake/cook recipes from movies I've seen (and liked). I'm going to try to do this as often as possible and I would love any suggestions you might have. Anyway, let's get to the recipe.

Today, I made Peeta's Cheesy Buns from Catching Fire, the second book/movie of The Hunger Games. They were so good. They're stuffed and topped with yummy cheeses; they basically ooze deliciousness. They're made from scratch, but don't let that scare you; they're fairly easy to make and don't take too many ingredients.

Liz makes chocolate peanut butter cookies

You know what's better than chocolate and peanut butter together in one sugary and tasty dessert? If you asked me yesterday, I probably would have said absolutely nothing. However, when I went to go make a batch of delicious pb and chocolate cookies this afternoon, I realized I didn't have an egg. So I now have an answer to my previous question: chocolate and peanut butter cookies that don't require a trip to the grocery store in order to buy some eggs. Let's get to baking!

Liz makes copycat Chili's enchilada soup

Tonight I made this wicked fantastic soup for dinner. It's a Chili's copycat recipe from The Good Hearted Woman and my, my, it's delicious. It's the best soup I've ever made! It's thick and hearty without being bulky and chunky. It's a smooth soup (because I blended the ingredients) and I love it. It's definitely going to find its way into our meal rotation. Here's the recipe.

Liz makes green chile enchiladas

About a year ago, a friend of mine made the most delicious vegetarian-friendly enchiladas in the form of a kind-of-casserole. She moved away not too long ago and I knew it would be awhile before I could eat them again, so I decided to try and copy her recipe. To my surprise, it turned out really tasty! This recipe uses cream of mushroom soup instead of sour cream, enchilada sauce, or whatever else you're used to putting on top of your enchiladas. Let's get started.

Liz makes an apple pi pie with a cinnamon roll crust

So, since Pi Day is approaching, I decided it was time to make another pi pie. Usually, I'm not a big fan of pie unless it involves peanut butter and/or chocolate, but apple pie really knows how to get me in a good mood. I love the swirl of cinnamon sugar and the soft apples. The other day, my sister shared with me a recipe that involved a cinnamon roll crust, and I decided to make that the base for this delicious pie. I made this whole pie from scratch! All by myself!

Liz makes bean enchiladas

Tyler and I are huge fans of Mexican food if you haven't already figured that out. Living in New Mexico, we end up eating quite a bit of it. I recently found this blog, The Garden Grazer, and let me tell you, it's fantastic if you're a vegetarian who loves Mexican food. She makes this recipe she calls bean enchiladas, and I decided to adapt it. Here's how you make bean enchiladas:

Liz makes oatmeal peanut butter cookie bars

Yesterday, I made these amazing cookie bars. They're made with peanut butter and oatmeal (and tons of sugar) and they're absolutely delicious! I slightly adapted the recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything. You have to try these cookie bars!

Liz makes chocolate chip cookies without butter: take two

My most popular post of all time is my chocolate chip cookies without butter. They're made with vegetable oil instead of butter and people go search-crazy for those babies. I wanted to make them again today, but I didn't have enough vegetable oil nor did I have butter! What is wrong with me? What I did have was some vegetable shortening. These cookies taste so much more butter-y than the vegetable oil recipe, because they're made with butter-flavored vegetable shortening. Yummo! I adapted this recipe from this Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.

Liz makes enchilada pasta

Lately, I've been making this awesome dish called Enchilada Pasta. It's chock full of spiciness and cheese and it's just downright hearty. This one pot meal is perfect for busy moms who don't have time for a big, grand meal or studious college students who are tired of ramen noodles. Oh and did I mention it's vegetarian?

Liz makes New Mexican sugar cookies

Hi everyone! A couple of days ago, my boyfriend and I bought these sweet cookie cutters: one shaped like the state of New Mexico and the other shaped like saguaro cactus (which doesn't really grow in New Mexico, fyi). Here's a recipe my mom gave me. It worked really well, as in the cookies didn't expand much when baked.

Liz makes 3-2-1 microwave cake

A couple of weeks ago, Tyler's mom mailed us an awesome package. She included a handwritten note, a recipe, some Kentucky green beans, two boxes of cake mix and a container of vanilla frosting. The recipe was for a single serving microwave cake! The green beans aren't in the recipe of course. :)

Here's how to make this awesome 3-2-1 microwave cake: