Winstead Wandering

Prone to Wander

Southwestern Corn Cakes with Jalapeño Lime Cream

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Southwestern Corn Cakes with Jalapeño Lime Cream offer perfect lightly-fried bites of sweet corn, cheese, and peppers topped with a slightly-spicy citrus sour cream.

Southwestern Corn Cakes with Jalapeño Lime Cream offer perfect lightly-fried bites of sweet corn, cheese, and peppers topped with a slightly-spicy citrus sour cream.

My grandfather (Gramps) brought fresh corn to a family gathering last week. Like, picked-from-the-field-that-day fresh. He and my aunt tried cooking it using that cooler and boiling water hack. I’m not sure it worked, but seriously, it didn’t matter. The room temperature corn I devoured – sans butter, salt, or pepper – was divine. So divine, in fact, that I brought a bag of leftover ears home and immediately began dreaming of what I wanted to do with it.

I have several go-to corn recipes, but only one that I had all the ingredients for: Southwestern Corn Cakes with Jalapeño Lime Cream. Just like regular corn cakes, these guys are packed with juicy kernels and cheddar cheese. To add a Southwestern twist, I toss in sweet bell peppers and jalapeños. The resulting corn cakes are on the spicy side (I use a full tablespoon of diced jalapeño), so the jalapeño lime cream is the perfect cool relief.

Southwestern Corn Cakes with Jalapeño Lime Cream offer perfect lightly-fried bites of sweet corn, cheese, and peppers topped with a slightly-spicy citrus sour cream.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Protein Dip

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A healthy two ingredient snack that tastes like a sinful dessert? Yup! This Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Protein Dip is as good for you as it is delicious.

A healthy two ingredient snack that tastes like a sinful dessert? Yup! This Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Protein Dip is as good for you as it is delicious.

You can file this one under “recipes I should have posted years ago.” I first made this chocolate peanut butter cheesecake protein dip as a snack for my husband. He’s a picky eater, but he loves Greek yogurt, peanut butter, and apples. He’d often eat a serving of yogurt, as well as a sliced apple dipped in powdered peanut butter (mixed with water per serving instructions). One day it hit me that I could mix the powdered peanut butter with the yogurt and it’d probably taste pretty similar to cheesecake (another food J loves).

I was right. This stuff isn’t good for a healthy dip; it’s just good. One serving contains nine grams of protein and, depending on the brand of powdered peanut butter you buy, it’s gluten free, too. In addition, the recipe is low in carbs and calories and contains plenty of healthy fat.

Unsure what powdered peanut butter is? It’s exactly what it sounds like: peanuts are made into powder instead of fat-laden butter. Most peanut powders contain around 85 percent less fat than their butter counterparts. They also have healthy fiber and protein.

A healthy two ingredient snack that tastes like a sinful dessert? Yup! This Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake Protein Dip is as good for you as it is delicious.

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Strawberry Balsamic Baked Donuts

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Looking for a new favorite summer treat? Strawberry Balsamic Baked Donuts with Balsamic Glaze are light, easy, and a perfect balance of savory and sweet.

Looking for a new favorite summer treat? Strawberry Balsamic Baked Donuts with Balsamic Glaze are light, easy, and a perfect balance of savory and sweet.

My local FFA club sold flats of strawberries a few months ago. I bought one and decided to bake my way through the whole thing. The result was a whole lot sweet strawberry goodness, including these Strawberry Balsamic Donuts with Balsamic Glaze.

The flavor combination of strawberries and balsamic vinegar is one of my favorites. I love to sprinkle sliced strawberries with brown sugar and balsamic and eat them that way. I just knew I could turn those flavors into a delicious baked donut. I was worried the donuts would be too taste-specific, but I was wrong. I shared the leftovers with my high school English students and they loved them!

Looking for a new favorite summer treat? Strawberry Balsamic Baked Donuts with Balsamic Glaze are light, easy, and a perfect balance of savory and sweet.

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Caramel-Stuffed Maple Brown Sugar Cookies

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One bowl, no mixer, and a perfectly sweet and chewy dessert: Caramel-Stuffed Maple Brown Sugar Cookies are indescribably decadent.

One bowl, no mixer, and a perfectly sweet and chewy dessert: Caramel-Stuffed Maple Brown Sugar Cookies are indescribably decadent.

If you’ve read any of my recipe posts– or if you know me in real life- you’ve probably picked up on my love for chocolate. I’ve got a lot of chocolate recipes. My addiction to love for chocolate means, if I’m going to get in the kitchen and bake something sweet that doesn’t contain chocolate, it better be really freaking good.

These Caramel-Stuffed Maple Brown Sugar Cookies more than meet that requirement. The dough is made entirely with brown sugar instead of white, resulting in an unbelievably chewy cookie. Before baking, the cookies are rolled in white sugar. The coating makes the finished product sparkly and adds extra chewiness. As for the caramel center, it gets soft and gooey in the oven, turning an already-dynamite cookies into an over-the-top indulgence.

One bowl, no mixer, and a perfectly sweet and chewy dessert: Caramel-Stuffed Maple Brown Sugar Cookies are indescribably decadent.

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Creamy Baked Jalapeño Popper Dip

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Warm, cheesy, melty, and perfectly spicy,  Creamy Baked Jalapeño Popper Dip is the perfect easy, crowd-pleasing, make-ahead recipe for your next party (or regular Friday night).

Warm, cheesy, melty, and perfectly spicy, Creamy Baked Jalapeño Popper Dip is the perfect easy, crowd-pleasing, make-ahead recipe for your next party (or regular Friday night).

We had yet another school staff party a few weeks ago, this time celebrating our sweet school nurse and our rock star high school counselor. The Creamy Cheese and Bacon Dip and S’mores Cheesecake Bars I’d made the week before were both huge hits, so I knew I had a lot to live up to.

This jalapeño popper dip is something I’ve wanted to make forever. I love real jalapeño poppers, so I knew there was no way I wouldn’t love an easy dip version. Also, I knew it’d be moderately spicy enough to appeal to a variety of preferences. Besides, who can resist a dish of oozy, melted cheese?

No one, it seems, because this jalapeño popper dip was gone by the end of the day. The secret to taking the dip over-the-top is the crunchy, cheesy topping. Breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese are tossed with melted butter and sprinkled over the cream cheese mixture. The whole thing is baked, resulting in a crispiness that mimics the real fried version.

Warm, cheesy, melty, and perfectly spicy, Creamy Baked Jalapeño Popper Dip is the perfect easy, crowd-pleasing, make-ahead recipe for your next party (or regular Friday night).

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Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Brownies

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What happens when you combine two of the richest, most decadent desserts? You get Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Brownies.

What happens when you combine two of the richest, most decadent desserts? You get Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Brownies.

When I set out to use up the flat of strawberries in my fridge, I knew at least one of my recipes had to include chocolate. Chocolate-covered strawberries have to be one of my all-time favorite treats. They’re seriously the way to my heart. Posting a “recipe” for those would be way too boring, though, so I decided to take the concept and use it to top my homemade brownies.

My original brownie recipe has chocolate chips thrown in, but I skipped those in this version. Instead, I melted a few cups of them to spread over the sliced strawberries on top. I thought my homemade brownies couldn’t get any better, and I thought I’d never top chocolate-covered strawberries, but then I made Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Brownies.

I might as well stop now, y’all. I don’t think I’ll top this one.

What happens when you combine two of the richest, most decadent desserts? You get Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Brownies.

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Creamy Cheese and Bacon Dip

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Got a party? Game night? A regular Tuesday? No matter where you’re going or what you’re in the mood for, Creamy Cheese and Bacon Dip is the perfect answer.

Got a party? Game night? A regular Tuesday? No matter where you're going or what you're in the mood for, Creamy Cheese and Bacon Dip is the perfect answer.

We had a staff potluck at school the other day, also known as the perfect excuse to try a fun new recipe and pass the calories along to my coworkers. I typically bring two recipes to these shindigs because J and I teach at the same high school. Of course I had to make something sweet, but I wanted to make a yummy savory dip, too.

This recipe had me at bacon and cheese. The original version called for all mayonnaise, but I’m not a huge fan, so I included sour cream, too. I found the whole thing a little bland when it was all mixed up, but a few dashes of hot sauce a little garlic salt did the trick.

My Creamy Cheese and Bacon Dip was a hit at the staff party! The bowl was empty by the end of the day, even though I doubled the recipe. It went quickly with the Town House crackers I brought along. One of the office secretaries spread some on a biscuit and raved about the results; clearly, this stuff would be amazing on pretty much anything.

Got a party? Game night? A regular Tuesday? No matter where you're going or what you're in the mood for, Creamy Cheese and Bacon Dip is the perfect answer.

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Tips for Easy School Lunches

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This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #2Good2Bear #CollectiveBias

Does packing your kids’ lunches fill you with dread? It doesn’t have to! Check out these tips for easy school lunches.

Does packing your kids' lunches fill you with dread? It doesn't have to! Check out these tips for easy school lunches.

My two oldest kids started school this year. I went from only worrying about my own lunch to being responsible for the three of us (full disclosure: J makes their lunches sometimes, too). I started the school year with big ideas about what I’d pack them and how I’d make the process easier. Some of those ideas panned out, some of them flopped, and some have been tweaked to create what I consider to be a pretty streamlined system.

Tips for Easy School Lunches

Prep for the Whole Week on Sunday

Maybe you can relate to this: Sunday night brings the best intentions regarding school lunches. You’re going to pack well-rounded meals every day. Monday goes well, and Tuesday isn’t bad either, but things go downhill. By Friday, you’re raiding the pantry for combination of items that won’t draw judgment from you kids’ teachers.

Here’s my best tip for overcoming that weekly slide: do as much prep work as possible on Sunday. This can include slicing cheese, making sandwiches, cooking a batch of chicken nuggets or pasta and portioning it into containers. Basically, do in advance anything you can. Not only does it take little additional time to make five sandwiches instead of one, you’ll also save yourself the headache of doing the same chore four more times during the week.

Turn to Ready-Made Treats

I’d say at least 80 percent of what I send in my kids’ lunches is prepared in our home. I’m not talking homegrown produce or from-scratch bread, but instead of prepackaged cheese and crackers, we buy a box of crackers and a brick of cheese. We do this to save money and to make sure our picky eaters get meals we know they’ll eat.

Does packing your kids' lunches fill you with dread? It doesn't have to! Check out these tips for easy school lunches.

There are times I turn to store-bought snacks, though, because they’re convenient and because my kids love them. One of our favorites is TEDDY SOFT BAKED Filled Snacks. My kids love that they’re shaped like bears, and I love that they don’t contain artificial colors, artificial flavors, or high fructose corn syrup. They’re made with ingredients I’m familiar with, like eggs and milk (and, of course, chocolate!).

Does packing your kids' lunches fill you with dread? It doesn't have to! Check out these tips for easy school lunches.

Don’t forget to use ibotta to earn cash back when you purchase TEDDY SOFT BAKED Filled Snacks.  I grab them in the cracker/cookie aisle at Walmart when I’m stocking up on other school-lunch necessities. If you were there February 23, you might have noticed a fun demo featuring TEDDY SOFT BAKED Filled Snacks and GoGo Squeeze.

Use Your Freezer

A long time ago, before I had kids, I saw a tip about making and freezing peanut butter sandwiches. I thought it was ridiculous because peanut butter sandwiches are crazy easy to make. Then I had kids, and those kids started school, and I learned how naive I’d been. Sure, making a peanut butter sandwich may take two minutes, but that’s sometimes two minutes you don’t have.

Now, I buy a loaf or two of bread and use all the slices to make peanut butter sandwiches. I half them, freeze them, and pull them out one at a time as needed. I also use the freezer for berries purchased fresh in season and for pureed vegetables used to make our own pouches.

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Healthy Whole Wheat Orange Muffins

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Healthy whole wheat orange muffins are sweetened with honey and fresh orange juice for the perfect bright, guilt-free snack or breakfast.

Healthy whole wheat orange muffins are sweetened with honey and fresh orange juice for the perfect bright, guilt-free snack or breakfast.

I love sharing my passions with my children as they get older. I love cooking and baking, of course, and B has recently expressed an interest in helping me in the kitchen. One of the biggest perks of this, I’ve discovered, is she ends up eating foods she otherwise wouldn’t.

One of our most recent creations was these healthy whole wheat orange muffins. B and I stayed home from church because she was dealing with some asthma issues, and we had a bag of oranges that needed to be used, so we pulled a bar stool over to the kitchen island and whipped these up.

My intention was to create a healthy muffin recipe, so I left out chocolate, sugar, and butter/oil. Instead, I sweetened the muffins with honey and used applesauce for moistness. I did sprinkle the tops of the unbaked muffins with organic cane sugar for a little texture and sparkle, but that’s optional.

Healthy whole wheat orange muffins are sweetened with honey and fresh orange juice for the perfect bright, guilt-free snack or breakfast.

We love this recipe. The muffins aren’t overly sweet; they’re definitely a healthy muffin as opposed to a dessert muffin, but that’s the point. The fresh orange juice and zest give the perfect amount of brightness, while the flax meal and whole wheat flour make them hearty.

I think these healthy whole wheat orange muffins are perfect as is, but you could definitely add dark chocolate chips, cranberries, or blueberries. I’d love to make a version with maple extract, too. Of course, if you want to lose the healthy part, you can make a sweet orange glaze.

Healthy whole wheat orange muffins are sweetened with honey and fresh orange juice for the perfect bright, guilt-free snack or breakfast.

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Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies are the much-loved classic treat with the added bonus of being packed full of chewy chocolate-covered toffee bits. 

Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies are the much-loved classic treat with the added bonus of being packed full of chewy chocolate-covered toffee bits.

I’m teaching English for the first time this year. Have I mentioned that on the blog yet? Though my degree is in business, I’m doing my best to teach my freshmen the ins and outs of symbolism, grammar, and whatever else I’m supposed to be covering.

One of the best parts about this semester is that I get to teach To Kill a Mockingbird. It’s one of my all-time favorite books so, as you can imagine, I’m having a blast reading it with my English I Accelerated students. Many of my students are loving it, too. They’re loving it so much they rocked our first test and, as promised, I baked them a treat to celebrate.

I debated what to make them. A lot of the teenagers I know don’t have the most adventurous palates, so I settled on these toffee chocolate chip cookies. You can’t go wrong with a good chocolate chip cookie, especially if you know the right tricks. I did want to make them a little more special, though. I tossed in a bag of toffee bits and the end result was a cookie loaded with semi-sweet chocolate and chewy chocolate-covered toffee bits.

They received rave reviews.

Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies are the much-loved classic treat with the added bonus of being packed full of chewy chocolate-covered toffee bits.

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