Fresh Shrimp Spring Rolls

This is part 2 of my Thai food craving!  I love fresh spring rolls and they can be so healthy and are pretty easy to make. These are by no means meant to be authentic, I hope I don't offend anyone with my take on a favorite in our household! The kids love to make these and eat them even more! I used shrimp, rainbow carrots, glass noodles, lettuce, mung bean sprouts, Thai basil and cilantro. Feel free to use what ever combination of ingredients you would enjoy! Cucumber is always a tasty addition too.

Sesame Garlic Ginger Lime Dipping Sauce Or Marinade

I love Thai food, actually any Asian food for that matter. I love the salty and the sweet mixture of the food. I love how fresh and healthy the ingredients are. This dipping sauce made an excellent accompaniment to fresh springs rolls. It also makes a fantastic marinade for meat. It is a excellent balance of salty with just a touch of sweet with wonderful undertones of garlic, ginger and lime.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

In celebration of my new web address http://www.serenabakessimplyfromscratch.com/! I made a pineapple upside down cake! Is there anything like pineapple and caramalley goodness topped with cake? There couldn't possibly be! I have been perfecting this for a while and oh my is it good! The cake is moist with a nice crumb! Truth be told I could eat the ring all the way around the outside, then the pineapples and cake. I love the way the caramel and cake come together with the flavor of pineapple and create a little crunch along the edge..

This would have been posted earlier in the week but I was in a total state of melt down as I was playing around with the design of the blog when some how I managed to delete my template and anything that kept my blog functioning! After 2 days of stressing, worrying and slaving I think I have it back to operational, there are still somethings I could improve but hopefully it works well for now! Please let me know if you notice any kinks I can try to resolve! I thought I was even smart and backed up my template but for some reason it had an error I couldn't resolve so I had a total overhaul! I am just so thankful to be back to share this wonderful cake recipe with all of you and celebrate the new blog space!

The Versatile Blogger Awards

Smitten Foodie nominated me for the The Versatile Blogger award! I am so excited I think my kids think I finally lost it, as I was dancing with a little running man action, sorry if you are too young to remember the running man I can do a separate post on that later... I am so thankful to each and everyone of you, I feel so blessed by the friendship that I have developed and the things I have learned over this past year. There have been so many times when I have wondered if anyone even read the blog and then I would receive a wonderful comment reminding me of why I am doing this. I feel so blessed by each and everyone of you!

 Smitten Foodie has so many delicious and interesting recipes like Bailey's Cream Cheese Filled Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes! Who could say no to those?  Please make sure to stop by and check out http://smittenfoodie.com/ and say hi! Thank you so much Smitten Foodie!

Skinny Mashed Cauliflower 1/4 The Calories Of Potatoes

Did you know 1 serving of cauliflower only has 28 calories compared to 134 calories in mashed potatoes. These are so tasty, a great substitute for mashed potatoes. L.J. and I tried these out on Wednesday night while the other kids where at friends houses and he couldn't even tell the difference! There is a slight texture difference and the cauliflower has a slightly sweeter taste then potatoes but by the time it was fully loaded it served the prefect accompaniment to my fried pork chops and kale! Move on over potatoes I have found a replacement for you!

Colts Famous Super Fluffy Half Whole Wheat Pancakes

 My sweet husband made me pancake's Sunday morning! Shh..Don't tell the kids or the picky eater's in the house these have whole wheat, they'll never know! These are light and fluffy! Just like when you go out to eat! He also has adjust his recipe over the years to use part greek yogurt and whole wheat pastry flour ( not regular whole wheat must be pastry to make a softer crumb) to make some super tasty pancakes and healthier pancakes! I mean they aren't truly healthy but they are better then what they could be and no one will be able to tell the difference! I really am so picky about pancakes.I almost never eat pancakes unless they are nice and fluffy with real maple syrup or a good blueberry sauce. Something about flat little disks of rubber never appeal to my taste buds but these hit the spot right on! The most important trick to fluffy pancakes is making sure the baking powder is super fresh! Tally ho on to pancakes we go....

Creamy Cheesy Chicken and Mushroom Linguine

Ok, I admit the names a bit deceiving, this has no cream in it but that was the name the kids came up with! It does have a nice creamy texture from the blending of the sauce and the Parmesan cheese. It was creamy liciousness, oh so good, can I have another plate please? This was one of those meals of looking in the fridge and trying to decide what to make with what you have, but it will now become a staple in our house thanks to the kiddo's and the hubby. He informed me this is his kind of dinner and then placed the dibs on the leftover's for work. I don't see how that is fair since I did cook it! Actually he always seems to win all the tasty leftovers and leaves me to scavenge through the fridge for my lunch! Oh well..He is super de duper awesome and sweet so I guess I will leave well enough alone and let him continue to show off his leftover's at work. Since I super de duper LOVE him with all my heart!
By the way the family also informed me I better be sharing my recipe with all of you! So here it goes!

Chicken Taco Soup

I love taco soup! This is so easy to make and very comforting  flavors! If you have never made taco soup now is the time to pursue it! Even if you have a smaller family then ours you can freeze the leftovers in smaller containers and have a premade lunch (it never lasts long enough in our house). I hope every one's having a fabulous week! I have been so thankful for all the new and old friends who have been reading and commenting on the blog, I love to hear what everyone has to say!
xoxo Serena

Chocolate Cream Pie

Is there anything better then chocolate cream pie in life? I am a pie kind of girl, there is no denying that! Apple, Banana Cream, Pumpkin and don't let me forget Key Lime! I love them all! We where having company over so it was a perfect excuse to indulge in a chocolate and a banana cream pie, after all if you make one you have a second pie crust laying around waiting to be used, so you might as well make two! If you have never made Chocolate Cream Pie from scratch I promise it is easy and super worth it! Just thinking about it makes me want to go make another two pies, after all we did share with our company. Then there's the fork marks left in the pie's from someones late night snacking binge. I really need to get an alarm on the fridge to keep my husband away! I think both pies lasted less then 12 hours but well worth it!