A great day to spend in the kitchen!

So I've contracted nasty pink eye, and have to wear my glasses that are too weak, and make me nuts. Lovely. Thank you to my wonderful husband for giving the pink eye to me. Regardless...my daughter went Christmas shopping with her Grandma all day today, while I sat at urgent care (luckily it was empty other than one other poor soul), got some drops, and have began the OCD hand washing the minute I got home. Therefore I figured it was safe to do some cooking. I've been come the cookie lady for Nick and his buddies at work. They were completely bummed I didn't send him with anything today, so I had to make up for it.

I spent the early afternoon making Butter Toffee Crisp, another recipe from my mother in law's cookbook collection. We go there every Monday and have dinner with her, and while we hang out and Nick watches Monday Night Football, I copy recipes from her 100+ cookbook collection. Then I knew I needed to make a cookie that I knew would turn out good. So I went with peanut butter peanut butter cup cookies. Um YUM! With all this baking and candy making, I was sure to look at my toes, while the nurse weighed me at Urgent Care (because when I get weighed I make sure to take off my shoes...that few ounces really makes a difference LOL) I told the nurse not to tell me what it said, since its December and I wasn't planning on being weighed this month. She cracked up. I think she knew the feeling.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

1/2 c. butter, softened

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 c. peanut butter

1/2 t. vanilla

1/2 t. salt

3/4 t. baking soda

1 1/2 c.flour

30-40 peanut butter cups

Combine the first 6 ingredients till fluffy. Then add in the rest of the ingredients slowly. 

Rolls the dough into 1" balls and place in greased mini-muffin pan (with or without papers)

Bake at 375* F for 10 minutes.

Take out and place a mini peanut butter cup in the middle. 

Let cool completely in the pan.

*This is the easiest recipe for those of you who rarely bake..simple and yummy!

Butter Toffee Crunch

1 c. sugar

1 c. butter

3 T. water

1 T. light corn syrup

1/2 c. coarsely chopped pecans or almonds

3/4 c. chocolate chips (milk or semi-sweet)

1/2 c. finely chopped pecans or almonds

Cover a 13" x 9" baking pan with foil. 

Sprinkle the 1/2 cup of coarsely chopped nuts all over the pan.

Grease a large saucepan with butter on all sides and bottom.

Melt butter on medium high heat. 

Once melted add in sugar, water, and corn syrup. 

Stir till boiling. Turn heat down to medium.

Then clip candy thermometer to side of the pan, and watch carefully.

Let boil/simmer steadily, while frequently stirring.

Watch when temperature get to about 280*, once it hits 290* (I'm going to try 300* next time since mine was a tad soft)

Remove from heat, and pour the mixture over the nuts on the prepared pan. 

Wait 5 minutes while it firms up. Then sprinkle chocolate chips all over the toffee. 

Wait 1-3 minutes till they melt. 

Then spread over the toffee till smooth, then spread the finely chopped nuts on top.

Put in the fridge to firm completely.

Lift up foil and separate slowly from toffee and break into pieces.

Heaven in a Cupcake Wrapper!

I'm going to gloat! These are seriously amazing!!! I couldn't even resist them once I started to take them out of the pan to cool! I got this recipe from my mother in law's recipe collection. This is the best thing I've baked in a while to be honest and I can't see them lasting long in my house lol!  Make sure that you put the 2 T. of cream cheese filling in so that it doesn't cave in like mine. Regardless, the chocolate chips and peanut butter chips are an amazing secret ingredient that takes these above the cream cheese muffins you normally have.

Cream Cheese Chocolate Muffins

1 pkg. (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/3 c. sugar
1 egg
1/8 t. salt
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 c. peanut butter chips

Beat cream cheese until fluffy. Beat in sugar, egg, and salt until smooth.
Fold in chocolate and peanut butter chips; set aside.

Muffin dough:
1 c. sugar
1 c. water
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 T. white vinegar
1 t. vanilla extract

Combine. Then add:

1 1/2 c. flour
1/4 c. cocoa powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt

Mix together, and spoon into paper-lined muffin cups till about half full. Top with about 2 T. cream cheese mixture. (This seems like a lot but you need it, I didn't and mine sort of cave in). Bake at 350* for 25 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes in pan, and then remove them and place them on wire racks to cool completely.
* Spray the inside of the cupcake wrappers with non-stick spray to have moist outsides.

Stuffins!

I got this recipe before Thanksgiving from www.dealseekingmama.com, she has everything from online deals (I've used many of these) to freebies, contests, recipes, and grocery game coupons. The thing is I didn't want to try them for Thanksgiving since it was a new recipe. I rarely want to try something new for a holiday that I have to make everything for. I always try it out before, just in case. One bad recipe will make you do that!

Anyways, this recipe is pretty close to my stuffing recipe, but I did make alterations such as more and different spices and less onion (thank goodness I cut down on that! There was too much already). This recipe is good, it does come out as stuffing muffins, however, here is my complaint. I like my stuffing pretty moist. I seemed to have forgotten what muffins taste like and how the outsides cook to be a bit drier. Now mine weren't really dry, but I didn't like the outside of the muffin. However, I'm betting that if I, or you, tweak and play with this recipe there is a way to get them to perfection. The base recipe is good, I'm thinking I needed to spray more non-stick spray in my muffin cups, and add a bit more stock. However, with that being said, they are delicious and wonderful with a bit of gravy on top :)

Stuffins

Before baked

3 stalks of celery, chopped thin

1/2-1 medium onion, chopped (depends on how much you like onion)

1 T. butter

1 loaf of bread (I used cheap white, but use whatever you like)

3 medium eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 c. of milk

3 T. parsley

2 T. sage

1 1/2 T. thyme

3 c. chicken stock (I used about a cup on mine)

salt & pepper

Saute the celery and onion in the butter over medium heat until they turn translucent and caramelize. It pays to take your time with this step, because this is what really makes for a flavorful stuffing.

Meanwhile, toast each piece of bread in the full loaf. 

Chop the toasted bread into cubes (I just ripped it into small pieces-much faster).

Add the celery and onion mixture and dried parsley, sage and thyme.

Salt and pepper the mixture well. Lightly beat the eggs and milk together, and pour over the top.

Pour some of the chicken stock over the top, and start to mix everything together.

Keep adding stock until everything is moistened (wet but no soupy). 

You may not need to use all of the stock.

Give you muffin pans a through coating of non-stick spray, and fill each cup up with stuffing.

Bake at 350* F for about 30-45 minutes (check them and make sure the outsides don't burn).

If you prefer a stuffing that's a little more moist, cover with aluminum foil. 

Yields about 18 stuffins.

*You can also pour a little stock over each muffin after you put the stuffing into the muffin tin for softer stuffins.

Christmas is upon us...which means baking time!!

The cookie recipe I'm about to post is a long standing tradition in my family, on my mother's side. They are called anise drops. The way the cookies are supposed to bake is like a little mountain top, if you look at the picture below, you'll see they have little tops on them, which we call peaks. Every year my grandmother, aunts, mother, and now me try to get the peaks on these cookies. Its nearly impossible, and yet my Great-Grandmother would get them every year, and only once did my Aunt Nancy get them. And then everything changed...I got them the first Christmas we lived here! I had never gotten them before, didn't even know what peaks looked like, but I got them! And to make sure I made another batch a couple days later and got them again!  So now I've gotten the peaks for 3 years in a row! I just pulled a batch out, and gazed at rows of perfectly popped peaks! :)

So why is a peak so important? Well in my family its what you look for when you put a tray of Christmas cookies out, its the one cookie you asked about, its the one cookie I call and wake up my mom at 8:30 in the morning and say "I got the peaks!" and laugh and gloat lol! (Sorry mom). My mom even came down last year and watched how I made them and what I did different, we got the peaks, she went home and tried it and got flat ones. I've come to the conclusion that perhaps the way I make them, combined with the different altitude and dryness of the air might determine whether you get them or not. It also is bragging rights, and a sign of what a good baker you are. I have proven myself now as a good baker at the age of 26! Oh yeah! lol! But I welcome all of you to try and join up in our Christmas tradition and goal of getting the peaks.

I personally didn't like them very much for years, but my husband LOVES them. Luckily the recipe only makes 2 dozen, just enough for him to munch nightly. However once, I started to get the peaks the cookie has a different flavor..and no that's not just my imagination! They are really dense and the anise flavor is lighter. If they are flat, they are more crunchy, to me atleast. Now I love them.

Anise also tastes like black licorice, if you like that flavor you'll like these, if you don't and your partner does, or you know someone who does like it, then you can still make these, because like I said its only 2 dozen. I personally have to make them 2-3 times a month (in December) for my family.

Anise Drops

3 room temperature eggs- beat until light and lemon color, about 5 minutes with the whisk attachment on medium speed (6 on the kitchen aid)

Slowly add 1 cup of sugar, and I do mean slowly, while you keep the medium speed.

Beat that for about 5-7 minutes, or until light in color

Then add 1 t. of anise flavoring

2 cups of flour

1/2 t. baking powder, mixing for a minute or two between each addition.

Continue to beat completed mixture for 2-5 minutes.

Put on greased cookie sheets (I use a cookie scoop); let sit out overnight on the counter.

Bake at 350*F for 12-15 minutes.

Tasty Treat Friday!!!!

Christmas is coming, as I if I needed to tell you, since I'm sure you've seen Christmas items down every isle, and heard the Christmas carols played in almost every store. I decided to start some of my Christmas cookie and candy recipes that are new to me. I haven't made very many candy items before, maybe fudge and caramels, peanut butter balls, but that's not much compared to all the candies out there. So I wanted to try them out before I'm making them for my cookie trays next month. I glanced around my pantry baking shelf and found I had all the ingredients for Mixed Nut Brittle. I've never made peanut brittle, but this recipe seemed so simple that I wanted to give it a try. 

Verdict? SOOOO GOOD!! It was so easy and tastes so good, I wonder why I've never tried to make brittle before! The hardest part is cleaning the bowl and forks that I used to make the brittle, because as soon as the sugar mixture begins to cool, its hardens. So be prepared to soak your dishes a bit.

Mixed Nut Brittle

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup of salted mixed nuts

1 T. butter

1/2 t. vanilla

1/2 t. baking soda

Grease a small baking sheet (I used a square 8"x8"); set aside. 

In a microwave safe bowl or glass measuring cup, combine sugar and corn syrup.

Microwave mixture, uncovered, on high for 5 minutes; stirring twice.

Stir in nuts and butter. 

Microwave mixture, uncovered on high for 1-2 minutes more, or just until mixture turns golden 

(mixture will continue to cook and become more golden when removed from the microwave)

Stir in the vanilla and baking soda.

Immediately pour mixture onto prepared baking sheet.

Use two forks to lift and pull candy into a thin sheet as it cool (this helps make the brittle crisp)

Cool completely. Break up into pieces.

The mixture will bubble and foam a bit when you add the butter and then again when you add the baking soda. This is completely normal! The only problem with this recipe: Doesn't make enough!! Especially when you are going to give some of it away!

Thanksgiving tips..because if you have a picky mother in law you need all the help you can get!

Thanksgiving is almost here, though after wondering down the isles of the grocery store you'd think it was Christmas next week. I'm super excited about Thanksgiving...and stressed. Even though I've done it almost every year for the past 5-6 years, I always get nervous. I'm notorious for not having my turkey done on time. I always plan for it to be done at a certain point but then I realize its not ready and have to sweat it out in the kitchen constantly checking it, because now all the sides I've so carefully planned to be done at the same time, are done and at risk of becoming cold. How to solve this problem? Put the turkey in an hour or two even, before I'm technically supposed to so that if it needs more time, I'll still be golden and no one will ever know.

Then I'm been trying to make the simplest yet most delicious meal possible. I make my stuffing from scratch, but its an easy recipe that everyone loves. Then I thought about doing slow cooker mashed potatoes, but the recipe I found that was simple I can no longer find, and all the other recipes call for cooking them in a big pot prior and I'm sorry but that defeats the purpose to me. The purpose of the slow cooker is to do it for me. I understand I still have to peel and everything, but not cook them in a huge pot, mash them, throw 8 other ingredients in there with it and then have it cook more..um no. I think I'll stick to the traditional way, although my tip for this is: You can peel your potatoes and put them in a pot of cold water (the pot you will cook them in saves dishes) and then drain out the water and put in fresh water when your ready to cook them. This will prevent them from turning brown and can be done UP TO 24 hours prior. So the night before when you have time to peel, or in the morning before anything else is ready to be prepared.

My next tip that I found was using the slow cooker as your bread warmer. Set slow cooker to lowest setting and place rolls inside. Rolls will stay warm without drying up for UP TO 1 hour. So if your rolls come out of the oven and you still have 30 minutes left before dinner, pop them in your slow cooker till dinner is ready and don't worry about cold rolls, or rubbery ones from the microwave (I think I'll use this tip!)

So there are my tips for now. I'm hoping to stumble across a few others before the big day, but either way I just have to remind myself that I've done it before, its not that hard, and always accept help when offered!!

Tasty Treat Friday!!!

I'm back on track!! Delicious pie just out of the oven! This morning I was wondering what I should make for the treat. You'd think that I would have already figured that out, but no...I have a stack about 20 high of recipes, but I hadn't commited myself to one. That is until I saw the bowl of apples that no one has seemed to want to eat...probably because the mini one has 2 front teeth loose and apples are NOT her friend right now, and for the man of the house..eating an apple would be a shocking event..and lucky he loves me and doesn't want to give me a heart attack!

So what to do with this bowl of apples no one is inclined to eat? My wonderful mom made a suggestion...apple pie anyone?? My dutch apple pie recipe is as simple as it gets. I can remember making this countless times in Nick and I's tiny apartment kitchen. It was so easy for a beginner cook, and it made the house warm and smell divine. There's nothing intimidating about this recipe, and if you bake, the ingredients are usually in your pantry. Plus we still have vanilla ice cream from the peanut fudge pudding cake. Score!

Dutch Apple Pie

2 cups flour

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup butter (melted)

1/2 cup oats

Filling:

 2/3 cup of sugar

3 Tablespoons of corn starch

1 1/4 cups of water

3 cups of peeled, diced apples

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of vanilla

Combine the first 4 ingredients in a bowl. Set aside 1 cup of mixture for topping your pie.

Press remaining crumb mixture into an ungreased 9 in pie plate to make your crust; set aside.

For the filling, combine sugar, cornstarch, and water in a medium saucepan on medium high, stirring frequently,

Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 1 minute or until thickened.

Remove from heat and stir in apples, cinnamon, and vanilla. 

Pour into crust, then top with reserved crust mixture by crumbling the chunks all over the top of the pie. 

Bake at 350* F for 40-45 minutes.

I have redeemed myself!!!

After creating bricks of bread earlier today, I have redeemed myself and made the most delicious cake!!  Peanut Fudge Pudding Cake...amazing!! I was going through my mother in law's cookbooks (she has over 100!) and copied recipes from the slow cookers ones since fall and winter seem to be the time I use mine the most. That's when I stumbled across a cake recipe made in the slow cooker, what could be easier? But how would it taste? Would it be gross and overcooked, or delicious and moist like everything the slow cooker makes? Answer of course was AMAZING!! So here were go:

Peanut Fudge Pudding Cake

1 c . flour

1 c. sugar, divided

1 1/2 t. baking powder

2 T. vegetable oil

2/3 c. milk

1 t. vanilla

1/2 c. peanut butter

1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 c. boiling water

Coat the slow cooker with non-stick spray. 

Combine flour, 1/2 cup of sugar, and baking powder in medium bowl.

Add milk, oil, vanilla, and peanut butter. 

Mix until well-blended.

Pour batter into slow cooker. 

Combine remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and cocoa powder in small bowl.

Stir in boiling water. Pour into crockpot.

DO NOT STIR!!!

Cover. Cook on high for 1 hr and 20min-1 hour and 30min. until toothpick comes out clean.

Allow cake to rest 10 minutes then scoop into serving dishes or onto serving platter.

Serve warm with chopped peanuts and ice cream.

doesn't look to pretty, but its sooo good!!

This truly was so simple. I, however, got so excited by the sheer smell that I forgot to let it rest for 10 minutes! But it seemed to create this warm fudge sauce that was perfect with the ice cream.  I also used chunky peanut butter, it was all I had, and I actually think I'd prefer it that way. But its your choice. One other thing is I think you could add a little espresso powder to the cocoa powder and sugar mixture to add a grown up twist to it. Ice cream goes perfectly with it, but you could do whipped cream too. Its pretty versatile.

*Note: I saw slow cookers were on sale at Target for $15 this week! For those of you who don't have one! Get one!!

Lovely Smell...bad results....

So today I decided I'd face my nemesis- bread. I had a simple bread recipe and decided to give it a try.
Its Everything Braid Bread. I carefully followed the recipe, doing exactly what it said, measuring as carefully as possible. Taking my time, making sure everything was right. I got through the 1st rise thinking I'm golden! Look at the rise on that! Braided the bread, left it to rise, came back and hour later..nothing...2 hours later..nothing. It was already hard. Rock anyone? You don't really need that tooth right?

So I prayed silently over my rock bread, and thought maybe while it bakes it will magically rise and become beautiful and delicious. Otherwise I'm going to end up with two doorstops.  I slid the oven door shut, with another little prayer, and left the room. The whole time I'm smelling this amazing aroma from all the spices and seeds on the bed, thinking its going to be amazing. It beeps. I slowly walk into the kitchen, and slowly open the oven door as though it the gingerbread man going to pop out at me...and I see it. One flat, lifeless doorstop. It didn't fluff up at all, I think it shrunk. I've made shrinky dinks bread. Lovely.

However, if you are able to produce a lovely loaf of bread then this recipe would be wonderful. Even if you just make your regular white bread dough, then roll it out to 12x8, cut it into 6 long strips, take three and braid, put it on a greased baking sheet, and repeat with the next 3 strips.  Let it rise for about an hour more, brush it with one egg + 1 T. of water, and then sprinkle a mixture of 1 tsp. each of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, kosher salt, toasted onion flakes and dried rosemary. Bake at 400* for 25-30 minutes...tap bread, if it sounds hollow its done. Mine sounds like hitting piece of cherry hardwood. Bummer.

I hope that my horrible experience doesn't deter you from trying this bread. The smell is absolutely amazing.  I would even consider mixing some of the herbs into the dough for extra flavor. Plus if I think about it, this whole failure will actually save me money. No need to buy the dogs chewies this week. We're set now.

Soo maybe I'm a bit of a slacker....

After confessing my short comings a couple weeks ago, and renewing myself to posting more, and cooking new things, I've once again slacked off. I've been so busy with our PTO that I haven't had time to do a whole lot. We've been eating things that I've already posted (and now come to love) and I'm trying to drop the millionth pound that I've put on with all the candy and treats around. So today there is no treat...so sad, but I spent 6 hours popping and bagging popcorn with wonderful ladies in our PTO but I can't come home at this point and want to even look at food or think about cooking. Bleh. So I'm going to make it my goal to make something new this weekend and do some new posts! Just keep looking! :)

Friday's Tasty Treat (a day late since yesterday was the day from hell)

I decided after looking through hundreds of Martha Stewart's fall recipes that I needed to attempt atleast one of them. I finally settled on these Dulce de Leche Bat Cookies. I hunted down the dulce de leche (advice: its WAY cheaper at a Hispanic grocery store than say, Safeway). The only thing I ran into is that it asks you to have an aspic cutter set to make the wings, I personally don't know what that is and wasn't going to buy one just to make these cookies, so I used a regular pumpkin cookie cutter instead. These are chocolate sandwich cookies, which you fill with dulce de leche (which is like soft caramel spread). They sweet but delicious! Nick LOVES caramel so these were right up his alley.

It took a couple tries to get the dough to roll out. I actually doubled the recipes because I thought I would want more than 18 cookies, but with the difficulty I had with the dough I still ended up with 18 cookies. I found that rolling the dough out on floured parchment paper (because without the flour they will still stick to the paper), was the best way. I did cut some and then roll the rest of the dough back into a ball and rolled it out again to get a few more cookies, but those cookies, once baked, had a different finish on the top, almost crackly. I just made those the bottom of the sandwich cookie since you wouldn't see it anyways. The recipe I am giving you is the original, not doubled. Mine aren't even close to what Martha's looked like, but in the end they are yummy and they don't last long in this house! :)

Dulce de Leche Bat Cookies

3/4 c. all purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1/4 c. unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa

3/4 t. coarse salt

1/4 t. baking powder

2 T. unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 c granulated sugar

1/4 c. packed light brown sugar

1 large egg, plus one yolk

4 oz. semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled

1/2 t. pure vanilla extract

1/4 c. plus 2 T. dulce de leche

Whisk together flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder. 

Beat butter and sugars with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg, yolk, chocolate, flour mixture, and beat until just combined. Shape into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate 1 hour.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut out the 36 rounds with a 2 inch cutter, and space 1 inch apart on parchment lined baking sheets. 

Using and aspic cutter set, cut out a triangle, point side up, and in the center of the half of the cookies, and then use the half moon cutter to make one wing on each side of the triangle. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375* F. Bake until set, 7-9 minutes. Let cool. Top each uncut cookie with 1 t. dulce de leche and top with a cut out cookie.

Crafting!

Hooray for rainy days! I have finally gotten time to organize my craft supplies and area. I've transformed the closet in our spare bedroom into my craft space. I've managed to fit my desk and supplies in there and on one little white bookshelf (not pictured). Now I am able to find everything AND have room to work! :)

Since I am showing you my craft space, I thought it'd be a perfect time to show you my holiday planners. I made two, just to try different patterned papers. But the awesome thing about these is that they are reuseable. Most planners are a one time deal. Not these! You just take out last years lists and calender pieces and print out new ones for this year. It helps me stay more organized. These are great for yourself or for gifts.  I think the perfect time to give these out would be Thanksgiving, so that people could start getting gift ideas while family is around, and they will have them early enough in the season that they'll be able to use them that year.

Supplies Needed:
glue dots
2- 11"x 7" cardstock (solid)
12- 6.75" x 3" decorated papers
6- 4"x 3" decorated papers (envelopes)

1) Score both pieces of 11x7 cardstock at 3.25", 3.5", 6.75". 7", and 10.25".

2) Valley all score marks. Attach the sheets together at the 10.25" score, where these two attach together will be your binding. You should now have one long piece that measures 7"x21".

3) Attach the 12- 6.75x3" decorated papers between the scored lines on both sides. Making sure to pay attention to where the cover paper will go.

4) Make pockets using the 6- 4"x3" pieces of paper. To make the pockets score the three side (not top) at 1/2" seem. Cut at an angle where the score lines intersect. Valley fold the scored lines and attach to the 6 panels inside. Attach using glue dots only on seems since these are your pockets that you'll put in the planning sheets.

5) Decorate as you see fit. Add the planning sheets that you can print off from http://christmas.organizedhome.com/printable/christmas-pocket-planner or go to:
 www.organizedchristmas.com, go to printables tab at top of the page, then click christmas planner, then scroll down to find "pocket planner forms". The first example that pops up (right now), is Lisa's Christmas Pocket Planners, and in the description is a highlighted phrase "Christmas pocket planner forms" You'll find the forms there. I use "stocking stuffers, gift list, gift ideas, menu, decorations, and shopping list" to fill up my planner, but there are others to choose from.

6) Fold up, bringing the panels in, keep folding until you can't fold anymore. If you feel that it need to be held closed, use ribbon, elastic gold cord or a rubber band.










(right) Finished Project.

Autumn Brunch Waffles with Cinnamon-Cider Syrup

I've been looking for some yummy fall breakfast recipes and I think I found a new favorite! Autumn brunch waffles are a cinnamon apple waffle, and then you make the cinnamon-cider syrup yourself-its amazing! Almost everyone has bisquick in their pantry, so I thought this would be an easy twist to regular waffles and syrup, and everyone can do it.

Cinnamon Cider Syrup

1 cup of sugar

3 T. bisquick 

1 t. ground cinnamon

2 cups of apple cider

2 T. lemon juice

1/4 c. margarine or butter

Mix sugar, bisquick, and cinnamon in 2 quart sauce pan. Stir in cider and lemon juice.

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in margarine until melted. Keep warm and start waffle batter.

Cinnamon Apple Waffles

2 1/4 c. bisquick

1 1/4 c. milk

2 T. sugar

2 T. vegetable oil

1 t. ground cinnamon

1 egg

1/2 c. finely chopped, peeled apple (I used granny smith, but gala's work too)

Stir all ingredients together except the apple in a large bowl until blended.

Stir in apple. Pour butter for waffle onto center of hot waffle iron. 

Bake till your light goes off, or about 5 minutes, or when steaming stops.Serve with syrup.

*These come courtesy of Betty Crocker Bisquick Cookbook

Looking back while moving forward...

Almost 3 months ago, I started this blog to bring homemade food recipes to people. I wanted to expand my culinary skills and try new foods. Tonight, I feel like I have failed in ways. But I realize that I held unreal expectations. On one hand, I have discovered a new love of Indian food - naan bread, chicken tikka masala, and I've successfully cooked for my family 90% of the time without having to repeat the same meals over and over (though some are repeats for a reason), and I've been able to control what my family is putting in their bodies.

I've learned to make my own tortillas, and no longer have to buy refried beans, rice-a roni, spice mixes, bread, peanut butter, pesto, roast chickens, alfredo sauce, spaghetti sauce, applesauce, canned fruit, or pickles, thanks to my new recipes and skills as a cook. I am able to embrace recipes with ingredients I'm not aware of, I'm able to use new techniques with little hesitation and I've found that sitting down with a cookbook can be as relaxing as reading my favorite book. My daughter now knows kitchen tips, and will say "we can make this at home huh" instead of needing to pick up any fast food. I've been able to replicate recipes from restaurants, which has helped financially. If we can make it at home, there's no reason to go out and get it.

Finally, even though I have disappointed myself in ways with this blog, I'm happy that my family is learning that not everything has to come from a restaurant in order to taste good, and that there is a certain amount of pride when everyone ooo's and ahhh's over your dishes. I'm going to make a strong effort to come up with meals that aren't only family friendly, or out of the box, but that are just yummy and will allow others to come to love their kitchen. This next week I'm hoping to post some delicious meals, sides and desserts. It test kitchen time!

Dad's Cake Bake!

 So last night was the PTO's Dad's Cake Bake. Each year they have a theme and parents, preferably the dad's, but everyone does it, make a cake to best fit that theme, or one of the other ribbon categories like most scrumptious, etc. Then they award ribbons, and then we auction off the cakes to raise money for PTO activities. So this year the theme was "Traveling Down Memory Lane" so we decided to go with something retro, from our childhood. So pacman it was! :) So we made a pacman cake, well actually Nick and Izzy made it. All I did was frost it and sort of guide them with the theme, but I thought it came out really cute, and I was proud of Izzy and Nick for working so hard on it and having fun with it.

Normally when we do a cake, like last year, we think we have a good idea and then we get there and are sorta like oh man there are way better cakes, but this year I was really proud of our cake, and PTO was selling hot dog meals near where our cake was so I got to hear the judges, and parents and kids who saw it, and everyone seemed to love it. So then they announce the winners of each category and we come away with nothing, BUT then they start the honorable mentions, and the say "and now for the cake that has taken us all down memory lane and reminded us of our days in the arcade, the pacman cake!" and I swear we got the best applause and cheers. So we did come away with honorable mention and a ribbon, and Izzy was thrilled with it. So that's my fun night and here is our cute cake, with Izzy, and then her ribbon.

Amazing!

Mrs. Susan Beth Pfeffer emailed me this morning! For all of you  who are wondering who she is, she's an amazing author! A few months ago I was standing in Walmart waiting for Isabelle to pick a book, her reward for her reading award (I love giving books as a reward! It encourages more reading and it allows mommy to have a few quiet moments for her own reading!). The young adult books were right above the children's books, so I as browsed through a cover jumped out at me, where the moon hung amazingly low in the sky over a lone house in the snow. Life as We Knew It. So I picked it up and started reading the back cover. It sounded like something right up my alley. A meteor hits the moon and pushes the moon closer to earth, thus setting of natural events like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and it follows this family, through a diary and eyes of this teenage girl, Miranda Evans. Chaos ensues, no electricity, phone etc. Its story of survival. Amazingly written. Then there is a 2nd book, Dead and Gone, that follows another family the Morales, who live in New York, when the meteor hits the earth. Then the 3rd, This World We Live In,  continues on the two families path to survival. 

Needless to say, I'm a huge fan of this series! So I was going through my www.librarything.com account the other day, thinking about a review to write for these books, when I thought how awesome it would be to have them signed. But then I remembered I live in EASTERN Oregon, you know the side you never hear anything about, the side that isn't rainy and is more of a desert. Where an author signing in Portland means 6 hours of roundtrip driving, and lets be honest, Portland is the only place where anyone comes. So I looked up Mrs. Pfeffer and found that she had a blog...and a cat :)

So I asked if she autographed books and what the protocol of getting one would be. I hoped I would hear back but I didn't expect to.  I embarrassingly gushed, but I wanted her to know how much I enjoy her books, and ask about the autograph. Then SHE EMAILED BACK!! She offered to send me bookplates which she would sign for my series! How amazing! She was super nice and I'm just thrilled to have heard back! 

It's nice to know that in an age of everything internet, everything digital, it can be a good thing. I might never have found a way to contact her, and get my first autographed book otherwise. Reading is my luxury, my me time, my momentary escape, and I'm so happy she's written this series which transported me into a different place and made me think..what if this was me? Amazingly! A huge thank you to her today!

Fall season Tv!

Directv cancelled...billing dispute in process..grrrr....

However, I still love to relax with my cup of tea in the morning and soak in some mind numbing tv.
So I've become a huge fan of www.hulu.com, its basically got everything I need to watch, for free, and I can save the $70 I was paying Directv.

But this post is about some new shows that have instantly become my favorites. I think I must be in need of some comedy in my life, because these two make me laugh so hard I almost cry.

First "Mike and Molly" on cbs is too funny! Its about these two people, Mike who is a police officer, and Molly whose a school teacher, who meet at overeaters anonymous. The first 3 episodes have followed them through a couple dates. Its too funny. I was hoping it'd be good and not negative to overweight people, you know all the horrible jokes that aren't really funny when your fat. Even though there are a some in there, they are tastefully done and reflected by the characters. At one point in the pilot, Molly is working out on the elliptical and her mom says "Honey your just big boned" and she replies with "Mom bones don't jiggle!" Cracked me up!! You seriously have to check it out.

Next is Raising Hope on fox. I put this on my queue and held off on watching because I wasn't sure if it would be one of those crappy shoes fox likes to push. But it was truly hilarious from the first scene. Its about a guy, who must be like 20, lives with his parents at his grandma's house, life isn't going anywhere, working for his dad's landscaping business, hates it, so then one night a girl jumps in his van while fleeing some guy chasing after her, he spends the night with her and ends up getting her pregnant, she goes to jail because she's a serial killer (guy chasing her was trying to catch her after she tried to kill him), and she has the baby and then gets the electric chair, so this guy, Jimmy, is now responsible for the baby, and he knows NOTHING, I mean nothing! Its seriously funny to watch him try and figure everything out with this cast of white trash, no help family.

So those are what are keeping my busy between mopping the floors and endless loads of laundry. But now that I'm caught up I've been reading constantly. I've read over 10 books in the past month and a half. I've found some really good ones, but that's a post for later. Now I'm off to finish Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich.

Tasty Treat Friday!!!

The tasty treat this week has given me issue after issue! I have made a previous tasty treat, but it wasn't so tasty...more like yuck! Perhaps it was the substitution that I used, or maybe its just not my cup of tea, but that was failure #1. Then I made a new indian dish...it was ok..not something I'd post on here though. I think I'll stick with tikka chicken masala instead..that dish was amazing.
So today in theme of the kids' 3 day weekend, making playdough and such, I decided to make a kids tasty treat. Spiced Apple Slices! Yum!  
Now if you have a food dehydrator that makes this oh so simple. But even for me and my oven it was simple and worth it. Isabelle's having a sleepover and she and her friend both liked these fresh from the oven. But these definately have a lot of spice, your more than welcome to leave out the allspice, the nutmeg and cinnamon and sugar would be enough.
 My grandma used to make apple chips in her dehydrator, but they were more chewy, and that's how I still like apple chips. So mine are pretty much 1/2 chewy and 1/2 crunchy..depending on how thin I sliced them. But its easily adjustable to your personal tastes. 
Spiced Apple Slices 
3-4 granny smith apples, sliced super thin 5 t. granulated sugar  1 t. cinnamon 1/2 t. nutmeg 1/4 t. allspice1/4 t. cloves Put sliced apples and spices in a gallon sized ziploc bag. Shake to coat evenly.

Put parchment paper over cookie sheets and spread apples over the paper. I spread them so that they were barely touching and laying flat, and it took two cookie sheets. Put in a oven set at 250* F for 2 hours, turning once after the 1st hour.

Updating Needed!

Finally I am getting to the stack of recipes on my desk, some of you have these, some of you don't. But this post is the homemade Mexican night I had this week. Homemade steak tacos, homemade tortillas, homemade salsa, homemade refried beans. Everything was amazing! A million times better than anything I've eaten in a restaurant or bought from a store.

First homemade tortillas are amazing! I mean completely amazing! I don't normally like corn tortillas...they've just had a bit off an off taste to me I guess, but I got yellow corn masa from the grocery store, and decided my first attempt would be with this. I have a recipe for flour, and wheat flour tortillas but I wanted to start small and work up. This was easy, masa, salt and water. Now the hardest part of this was just rolling out the tortillas, cooking them, and then trying not to eat them lol! I definitely need to look into getting tortilla press...yes another gadget for the house, but it would make this process so much easier. But I did it with a piece of saran wrap, non stick spray and a rolling pin. I sprayed the saran wrap with non stick spray, rolled out the masa dough and then plopped it into a small skillet on medium heat, 50 seconds per side. These were so good! Corn tortillas will now be my favorite. It is a little bit of work if your eating more than 4 tortillas, so I think next time I'll prep time to make a bunch and then freeze some.

Then I make my own refried beans in my slow cooker. Super easy, super good, freezable! Perfect. This time I didn't have jalapeno, so I used cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes, and then didn't use chicken stock, I used beef stock which gave it a better flavor then the chicken. This is my opinion though, so if you want to make this recipe, replace the beef stock with chicken, and you can use 1/2 a fresh jalapeno and emit cayenne pepper and the red pepper flakes.  This makes alot! I'm just warning you! Its great for a big family get together, but we end up freezing them. I got the ball canning freezer jars, they're plastic with green tops, and they are like $3 for 4 at Walmart. Then I just fill them with the beans, and put alittle scoop of the reserved liquid on top and freeze. Presto!

Refried Beans

1 onion, peeled and halved

3 cups dry pinto beans, rinsed

1/4 t. cayenne pepper

dash of red pepper flakes

2 T. minced garlic

3 t. salt

1 3/4 t. black pepper

1/2 t. cumin

2 cups of beef broth

6-7 cups of water

Place the onion, rinsed beans, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, beef broth, and water in the slow cooker.

Cook on high for 8 hours, adding more water as needed.

Note: if more than 1 cup of water has evaporated during cooking, then the temperature is too high.

Once the beans have cooked, strain them and reserve the liquid. Mash the beans with a potato masher, adding the reserved water as needed to attain desired consistency.

Tips: I usually start with 2 cups of beef broth, and 3-4 cups of water and then add throughout the day, if you aren't going to be home go ahead and add it all at once. I just think that you get more of a concentrated flavor if you gradually add the water.

Now I made my own steak for tacos, and it was great with my go-to spice rub. I use this on my steak, chicken, really anything. Its got some kick thanks to the cayenne but its amazing! You can half, quater this recipe, whatever works for you. For me I just make it and put it in a little tupperware container and save it. It lasts for months. Just add all the ingredients and mix. Done. Then if I put it on meat, I usually sprinkle the meat with a little olive oil, and then rub this spice mix into the meat. Alittle goes a long way.

1/2 c. paprika

3 T. cayenne pepper

5 T. pepper

6 T. garlic powder

3 T. onion powder

6 T. salt

2 1/2 T. oregano

2 1/2 T. thyme

Cooking with Playdough!!!

Oh how I remember being glued to the kitchen table as a kid playing with playdough my mom would make. I loved playdough as a kid, my kid of course loves it, the only thing that doesn't like playdough is my floor lol! But today, with a 3 day weekend for Isabelle, and a cancelled Directv service, and nothing but rain...I decided to revisit playdough and gak. Gak being that gross slimy, but delightfully pleasing goo. I'm starting with playdough today, and tomorrow will be gak.

 But for all the mom's out there this is a go to on those rainy "I'm bored" days. I've got the standard playdough recipe, but with the suggestion of my bestie, Jaime, I add a little vanilla extract or peppermint extract so it smells yummy (caution with little kids you'll have to watch them closer than normal since its smells like a cookie LOL). So Izzy and I spent hours making playdough (took about 5 minutes for 2 batches) and then playing bakery. I let her put the playdough cookies on a tub lid, as the baking sheet, and "bake" then in the oven (which is off). Makes her love this even more.

Playdough Recipe

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

1 cup water

1 T. vegetable oil

2 t. cream of tarter

food coloring

1-2 t.scented extract (optional)

Mix together in medium saucepan. Heat and stir until it makes a ball shape.

Take out and let cool enough to handle, and then knead a little bit till smooth.

Ready to use!

Fall has arrived, outside and in my kitchen!

Today we're cooking crockpot applesauce. Not everyone needs another dinner or dessert, so here's something for your kids' lunchboxes, or just to snack with dinner, or dessert. I love crockpot applesauce since its super easy to make. I make it so much in the fall that I have a little crank apple peeler, but its awesome because for like $7 I got the peeler, corer, and then a slicer. Either way this has to be the easiest thing ever, and of course it tastes better than store bought. Doesn't everything though? A bonus is no need to light a candle today, the smell of this applesauce will fill your house, and that fake apple candle can be saved for another day. :)

I love quick and easy stuff. The crock pot is my best friend in the winter. I saw that Walmart has them on sale, if you don't have one. You seriously can make dinner, dessert, side dishes, and everything in between in them. I use my for *chili *lasagna *roasts *best beef dip ever *applesauce *casseroles (I have a potato and ham casserole that's awesome) *refried beans without the refry plus a million more that I can't remember right now.

Now that things are picking up with Isabelle and school, we're been busy doing cheerleading practice and game, homework's piling on (um anyone else think its not fair that the parents have a ton of homework too!), soon I'll be working at the school (God willing), and this little pot is going to be my lifesaver! 

Crockpot Applesauce

7 golden delicious apples, peeled and cored, and halved

1/2 c. sugar, give or take considering your taste

1/2 c. water

cinnamon to taste

Put peeled, halved apples in the crockpot, and pour water in.

Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top.

Cover and cook on low for 5 1/2 hrs. or less

Tips: I use granny smith apples so I need all the sugar, but adjust to your needs. Then if you want chunky applesauce just mash in the crockpot when its done. If you like smoother applesauce, blend in the blender. I do half and half. I mash mine, and then take half of it and blend it. Mix it together and presto!

Blogging at Midnight

Yes this blog comes to you courtesy of a spider and the navy reserve weekend. How is that possible you ask? Well as I lay in bed, already hating being alone in bed seeing as its my husband's reserve weekend that comes once a month, and something catches my eye above me. A SPIDER!! So what do I do? Hurl my book at it in midair, hit it and watch it scramble off my bed into some secret hiding spot I can't locate. As I grab the vacuum, attach the long nozzle to the end of the hose and seek it out, its apparent that it has an invisibility cloak like Harry Potter. I can't find it anywhere. So now I know there has to be a huge spider, ok its a daddy long legs and I know it won't kill me, but it wanted to land on me once and that's not happening again, under my bed. My cat, Max was under the bed at the time it would  have went under there, so in the back of my mind I'm trying to convince myself he was my knight in shining fur and ate it, but it more likely that its just waiting for me to turn off the light.

So now I sit here at the computer at midnight, knowing full well that my daughter will be up at 7am promptly, bugging me about setting up all the Halloween decorations., something I foolishly promised in order to hurry her to bed. But I can't sleep either. I'm seriously terrified of anything spider. I swear something horrible must have happened to me in another life that deals with spiders. Hurry Nick and come home and save me! Why is it whenever Nick goes away, something always has to happen to freak me out? I mean I already don't like when he's gone and things are good, the windows and doors are all super locked and bolted. Lights on outside etc. But jeez!! All I wanted to do was get to sleep. Oh well...this is my life and as much as you may laugh, I think I'll be sleeping on the couch tonight.

Tasty Treat Friday- Caramel Apple Cupcakes!

                               It's Tasty Treat Friday!!!

Following the inspiration of the seasons I decided to make Caramel Apple Cupcakes. Super yummy! Though they are more of a muffin I have to say. I reserve the word cupcake for something more chocolaty and piled with icing. If you are craving something apple, or you'd like caramel apples without all the mess and hassle, then this is your treat!

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

1 1/4 c. flour

2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. ground cinnamon

1/2 t. salt

2 eggs, at room temperature

1/2c packed light brown sugar

1/2 c. granulated sugar

1/2 c. vegetable oil

2 t. vanilla extract

2 rome apples, about 1 pound, peeled and shredded.

1 1/2c. chewy caramel candies

1 T. heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350*F. Line a cupcake pan with liners.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, brown sugar, granulated sugar until smooth. Whisk in the oil and vanilla. Stir into the flour mixture until just combined; stir in the apples.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan until almost full.  Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

In a small, microwavable bowl, combine the caramels and cream. Microwave for 1 minute on medium power, then stir, repeat in 30 second intervals until melted and smooth. Spread the frosting generously on the cooled cupcakes.

Tips/Adjustments: I used 2 granny smith apples since I couldn't find any romes at my grocery store, but they seemed to work fine. Yes the apples are shredded instead of diced, this is to allow for even distribution and to keep the cupcakes moist. I just used my box grater. Also to avoid the slightly harder bottom on a cupcake, I actually spray my liners with non-stick spray which keeps them moist and perfect to peel. Another great addition to mine, was I added chopped peanuts to the top of half of the cupcakes. It truly reminds you of a caramel apple.

Thanks to Rachael Ray Magazine for this recipe, and thanks to my mom for sending it to me!