dessert Archives - Living La Vida Holoka

15 Recipes You Can Make with Boxed Cake Mix

March 23, 2020 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Turn a box of cake mix into a delicious dessert with these 15 Recipes You Can Make with Boxed Cake Mix including an assortment of cakes, cake pops, cookies, donuts, and more!

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One thing that’s been kind of a bummer during isolation is the inability to just jump in the car and go to the store whenever I get a craving for something. I was telling a friend how I wished I had thought to grab a box or two of cake mix while I was shopping to stock our kitchen for a few weeks. Sure, I could also head to Pinterest and make my own cake mix (which I’ll probably end up doing one of these days). But it’s so much easier to just dump a mix in a bowl and throw a cake in the oven! Don’t worry. I’ll make do!

But if you’re lucky enough to have a box of cake mix sitting in your kitchen cabinet, you’ll be able to make everything from cake, cookies, and donuts to cake pops, cobblers, and trifles! If you’re having a craving for something sweet, break out the cake mix and get baking! Oh, and by the way, if you have cake mix that’s about to expire, but you’re not in the mood for sweets, you can freeze an unfrosted cake to enjoy later! When your craving hits, just take it out of the freezer to thaw and frost!

Satisfy your sweet tooth while you’re stuck inside with these delicious dessert recipes made with a box of cake mix!

15 Recipes You Can Make with Boxed Cake Mix

How to Make a Boxed Cake Mix Taste Better Than Bakery – Frugal Foodie Mama
Easy Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Holes – Hello Nature
Lemon Blueberry Cake Recipe – Weekend Craft
Pineapple Upside Down Inspired Cupcakes – Simply {Darr}ling
Lemon Cream Cheese Cake – Living La Vida Holoka
Strawberry n’ Cream Cakes Trifle with Vanilla Vodka – Busy Being Jennifer
Easy Chocolate Buttermilk Donuts – Frugal Foodie Mama
Chocolate Kahlua Cake Recipe – My Mini Adventurer
Baked Funfetti Donut Recipe – Weekend Craft
Cherry Dump Cake – Momma Lew
Slow Cooker Strawberry Cobbler with Cake Mix – Growing Up Gabel
Lemon Lime Soda Cupcakes – Hello Nature
Pineapple Angel Food Cake – Living La Vida Holoka
Milk Chocolate Cake Pops – Busy Being Jennifer
Key Lime Bundt Cake Recipe – Cool Moms Cool Tips

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Did you make any of these cake mix recipes? Share your pics on Instagram using the hashtag #livinglavidaeats. Don’t forget to tag me @lavidaholoka!

15 Recipes You Can Make with a Can of Beans

March 20, 2020 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Canned beans are a cheap and easy way to bulk up meals and add a great source of protein to your diet! Use these 15 Recipes You Can Make with a Can of Beans to make good use out of this pantry staple!

This post may contain affiliate links. Making a purchase through one of these links helps support this blog.

It’s so weird being a blogger during the Coronavirus pandemic. I’ve had Easter and spring content (recipes, gift guides, gardening) planned and scheduled for weeks, and part of me has wondered if I should just pull it at this point. But I want to try and maintain a sense of normalcy around here. I mean, eventually the dust has to settle. Right?

So in between those scheduled posts that might not be entirely fitting to our current situation, I’m going to try and publish content that can help make things easier during this crazy time. Especially when it comes to using what we’ve got so we don’t have to worry about making trips to the grocery store!

We’ve been extremely thankful for our Hungryroot deliveries, but eventually we’ll have to go to the store for some of our everyday essentials. In the meantime, I’ve taken inventory of our fridge and freezer and I’m trying to make damn sure that we use up every last morsel of food in this house before we have to resort to grocery shopping.

15 Recipes You Can Make with a Can of Beans

Thankfully, we have a decent supply of pantry staples in the house right now. When the Coronavirus first started making headlines, I picked up some canned beans just to have on hand. At that time, we really didn’t know how bad things were going to get. But now that things are what they are, I could hug those little cans of black beans, chickpeas, cannellini beans, and red kidney beans!

Beans not only have a great list of health benefits tied to them (and they’re especially a great source of protein), they are an easy way to bulk up any meal! If you need some new ideas for canned beans, I’m sharing 15 of them with you. These include everything from breakfast, easy lunches and dinners, snacks, and even dessert! I hope these will inspire you while we’re all toughing it out at home!

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Did you make any of these canned bean recipes? Share your pics on Instagram using the hashtag #livinglavidaeats. Don’t forget to tag me @lavidaholoka!

Mardi Gras King Cake Monkey Bread

February 20, 2020 by Jessica 2 Comments

Celebrate Fat Tuesday with this Mardi Gras King Cake Monkey Bread made with premade cinnamon roll dough, pecans, orange zest, and a bourbon spiked icing!

This post may contain affiliate links. Making a purchase through one of these links helps support this blog.

Here’s the thing about being a blogger – you’re constantly celebrating holidays ahead of time. We start working on our Christmas content in the summer. And in the winter, we’ve moved well into spring. But every year, I’m usually so busy scheduling Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and other springtime content that I completely pass over Mardi Gras. Not this year!

I’m a Jersey girl, so my apologies if I totally get this wrong. Even still, this recipe is probably the closest I’ll get to King Cake. It’s not the easiest thing to find around here. But I did a little research and decided to take the flavors of King Cake and turn them into a fun-to-eat monkey bread!

I don’t do a lot of baking from scratch because – well, I’m not that good at it. But I’m pretty good at “almost homemade” baking. So I grabbed three tubes of cinnamon rolls, sanding sugar in Mardi Gras colors, and made a pretty awesome, King Cake inspired monkey bread!

If you’re not familiar with King Cake, it’s a Mardi Gras staple. From what I’ve read, most of these cakes are cinnamon flavored, ring-shaped cakes, decorated with icing and purple (justice), green (faith), and gold (power) sugar. There’s usually a small, toy baby baked inside. Whoever finds it has to bring the next King Cake or host the next Mardi Gras party.

There aren’t any toy babies baked into this monkey bread (because choking hazard!), but I still did my best to represent this iconic Mardi Gras cake!

How to make Mardi Gras King Cake Monkey Bread

Start this monkey bread by cutting the premade cinnamon roll dough into halves. Then, roll those halves into balls and stick them in a bowl with crushed pecans and orange zest. Toss everything with melted butter and stick the dough balls into a greased bundt pan.

The monkey bread bakes for 30 minutes. When it’s completely cooled, icing is poured over it. The final touch is decorating the monkey bread with purple, green, and gold sanding sugar.

Yum

Mardi Gras King Cake Monkey Bread

Ingredients

For the monkey bread:

3 - 12.4oz Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls, icing set aside
2/3 cups pecan halves, crushed
2 tsp. orange zest
1 stick butter, melted

For the icing:

3 icing cups, from Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls
1 tbsp. milk
1/4 tsp. orange zest
1 tsp. bourbon
Purple, green, and gold sanding sugar

Instructions

For the monkey bread:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and generously grease a bundt pan.
Cut the cinnamon roll dough in halve and roll into balls. Set aside in a large bowl.
Once all the dough balls are formed, add the pecans, orange zest, and butter. Stir to coat all the dough balls completely.
Place the dough balls into a bundt pan and pour in any extra butter or pecans. Gently press down the last layer of dough balls so the layer sits evenly in the pan.
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Allow the monkey bread to cool completely before turning it over onto a plate.
Once the monkey bread is cool, prepare the icing.

For the icing:

Spoon the icing cups into a small bowl.
Stir in the milk, orange zest, and bourbon.
Pour the icing over the cooled monkey bread. Then, decorate with purple, green, and gold sanding sugar.

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The flavor of this monkey bread kind of reminds me of coffee cake. Just pull off a few pieces and enjoy with a hot cup of tea or coffee! It’s a delicious way to celebrate your last hurrah before the Lenten season begins!

Did you make this Mardi Gras King Cake Monkey Bread? Share it on social media using the hashtag #livinglavidaeats. Don’t forget to tag me @lavidaholoka!

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Chocolate Strawberry Dessert Hummus

January 30, 2020 by Jessica Leave a Comment

Craving something chocolaty and sweet? Dip into this healthy and delicious Chocolate Strawberry Dessert Hummus to satisfy your cravings!

This post may contain affiliate links. Making a purchase through one of these links helps support this blog.

January is kind of cruel joke when it comes to living a healthy lifestyle. We’re just getting over celebrating the holiday season in the most gluttonous way. Then, we get a month to straighten ourselves out before we’re tempted all over again by Valentine’s Day (chocolate), St. Patrick’s Day (heavy food and beer), Mardi Gras (cake and booze), and Easter (candy, candy, and more candy)!

My chocolate cravings have already started and – being a low sugar kind of gal – I haven’t given myself allowance to slip up. Sweets always seem like a good idea at the time for me. Then, after a few pieces of candy or chocolate, I begin to feel the regret set in. Usually in the form of a headache or stomachache. It’s just better if I avoid it altogether.

But those nagging cravings for something chocolately haven’t left me alone. Then, I remembered wanting to try making another dessert hummus. I made an amazing pumpkin pie hummus during the fall that satisfied my craving for a slice of pie (it tasted exactly like pumpkin pie filling!). So with Valentine’s Day coming up, I decided to make a chocolate strawberry hummus.

Like chocolate-covered strawberries without the sugar!

Chocolate-covered strawberries are one of my favorite desserts! On Valentine’s Day, I’ll usually make some or head to the bakery to buy a couple, plus a mini cake for us to split. Since the holiday is still about a week away, this hummus has definitely hit the spot until then!

This dessert hummus is full of strawberry flavor and just the right amount of chocolate! Honestly, you’ll forget that you’re eating hummus while you dip into it! The best part is that there’s no sugar in it. Just a splash of honey and some stevia!

Yum

Chocolate Strawberry Dessert Hummus

Ingredients

1 - 15 oz. can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
4 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tbsp. honey
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups strawberries, sliced
1 1/2 tsp. stevia
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Pinch of salt

Instructions

In a food processor, or blender, pulse the chickpeas, cocoa powder, honey, and vanilla extract.
Add the strawberries, stevia, cinnamon, and salt. Blend until incorporated and smooth.
Spoon hummus into a bowl and serve with fruit and cinnamon tortilla chips.
Store hummus in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days.

Notes

To make cinnamon tortilla chips: Cut tortillas into triangles. Spray with cooking spray and toss with cinnamon and sugar (I use Flavor God's Buttery Cinnamon Roll). Cook in an air fryer for 8 minutes at 400 degrees, shaking the basket halfway through cooking.

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Hummus is one of my favorite snacks and I’ve become a big fan of dessert hummus (and, trust me, I was skeptical at first). If you’re looking for a healthy snack to satisfy your craving for something chocolately and sweet, give this recipe a try!

I served it with a mix of berries and some cinnamon tortilla chips I made in the air fryer (check the recipe notes to make your own). It’s pretty addictive stuff! Serve it as a healthy dessert on Valentine’s Day or a tasty snack any time you’re craving something sweet!

Did you make this Chocolate Strawberry Dessert Hummus? Share your pics on Instagram using the hashtag #livinglavidaeats. Don’t forget to tag me @lavidaholoka!

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