Gingersnaps

 I made these cookies for a family book club because it went along with the book and I do love to follow a theme! I never really liked gingersnaps as a kid but these tasted so good! I liked that they are a little more soft and chewy rather than crunchy and "snappy" like most gingersnap recipes. Everybody in the family loved them and they were gone in a snap! I'd better double the recipe next time. This recipe says it will make 5 dozen but they would be mighty small! I ended up getting exactly 3 dozen small/medium cookies out of the batch.

Ingredients:

2 cups sifted, all-purpose flour
1 TBSP ground ginger
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup shortening
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup dark molasses
1/3 cup cinnamon sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Sift the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a mixing bowl. Stir the mixture to blend evenly, and sift a second time into another bowl. (I didn't sift and they still turned out great!)
3. Place the shortening into a mixing bowl and beat until creamy. Gradually beat in the white sugar. Beat in the egg, and dark molasses. Sift 1/3 of the flour mixture into the shortening mixture; stir to thoroughly blend. Sift in the remaining flour mixture, and mix together until a soft dough forms. Pinch off small amounts of dough and roll into 1 inch diameter balls between your hands. Roll each ball in cinnamon sugar, and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.
4. Bake in preheated oven until the tops are rounded and slightly cracked, about 9-10 minutes. Cool cookies on a wire rack. Store in an air tight container.

Peanut Clusters

I made this recipe to go along with our annual Harry Potter party. Of course, I called them Cockroach Clusters, just to mess with my kids but really no bugs were harmed during the making of this recipe! I'm glad too because....Cockroach Clusters?! Ewww!

 Ingredients
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter
1 cup cocktail peanuts

 Directions
Place parchment paper on cookie sheet and set aside. Pour semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips and peanut butter into a large microwave-safe bowl. Heat for approximately 1 minute on 50% power. Stir and repeat until all chips are melted. Add peanuts to the melted chocolate and peanut butter and stir until well combined. Drop chocolate peanut butter mixture by the teaspoonful onto the parchment paper. Allow to cool in the refrigerator for approximately 30 minutes to an hour until completely firm. Store in an airtight container.

Parmesan Crusted Tilapia

We really don't eat a lot of fish around here but I'm trying to branch out. This recipe has probably converted me to the benefits of eating Tilapia. I was very happy with how it turned out and it's really quick to prepare and cook. 

 

Ingredients

3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 teaspoons paprika

1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley

4 tilapia fillets (about 1 pound total)

1 lemon, cut into wedges

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees . In a shallow dish, combine the cheese with the paprika and parsley and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle the fish with olive oil and dredge in the cheese mixture. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake until the fish is opaque in the thickest part, 10 to 12 minutes (my fish was mostly frozen and it still cooked in about 15 minutes.) Serve the fish with the lemon wedges. I served mine with a green salad and Buttermilk Herb & Cheese Bread. 

Buttermilk Herb & Cheese Bread

I've made this bread a few times now and it's a hit every time. Plus it's really easy to throw together and it's a quick bread so....well....it's quick!

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper, ground
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, plus 1 teaspoon, divided
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 cup kerrygold dubliner cheese, grated*
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt, for sprinkling

Egg Wash:

1 egg yolk
teaspoon water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9x5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pepper and mustard. Add the parsley, 1 tablespoon thyme and cheeses. Stir.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, 2 whole eggs and olive oil. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir just until combined and evenly moistened. Do not overmix. Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan.
4. In a small bowl, mix together egg yolk and 1 teaspoon water. Brush top of batter with egg wash. Sprinkle top of batter with remaining teaspoon thyme leaves and sprinkle with sea salt.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in loaf pan 5 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack. Serve warm or room temperature.

*I don't do mine all fancy pants with dubliner cheese. I just use two different kinds of cheese, whatever I have on hand, usually chedder and mozzerella. 

Homemade Corndogs

  When you have little kids not every night can be super healthy or even at all healthy, right?! We made these homemade corn dogs and they were so fun and tasted really good! Much better than store bought ones. I did have a bit of trouble making mine look good. Most of them had tumor-like growths on them but they still tasted great. The trick is in getting the batter thick enough to stay on the corn dog but not too thick. I had to play around a little with the recipe below to get it just right, and honestly I can't remember what I did because we made these about a month ago (and I'm just trying to catch up!)

 

Ingredients

1. 1 cup yellow cornmeal
2. 1 cup all-purpose flour
3. 1/4 cup sugar
4. 1 Tablespoon baking powder
5. 1/4 teaspoon salt
6. 1 egg, beaten
7. 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (regular milk works too)
8. 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
9. 1 Tablespoon honey
10. 1 (10 count) package Hot Dogs
11. 10 wooden skewers or chopsticks 
12. Vegetable Oil for frying. I used my Fry Daddy but you could do it on the stove in a deep pan. 

Mix the batter and pour into a tall drinking glass, put the hot dogs on the skewers and dunk in the mixture (since I used my Fry Daddy the skewers were too long so I just dunked the corn dogs, fried them, then put them on a skewer to serve.) Fry in the hot oil for a minute or two until they are golden brown. Enjoy with ketchup and mustard!

Lebanese Lemon Parsley Bean Salad

Ingredients:

2 cans red kidney beans, rinsed and drained, or 3 cups cooked kidney beans

1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained, or 1½ cups cooked chickpeas

1 can black beans

1 small red onion, diced

2 stalks celery, sliced in half or thirds lengthwise and chopped

1 ripe red tomato, chopped

1 medium cucumber, peeled and diced

3/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill or mint

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup lemon juice

3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced

1 teaspoon salt

Zesty Italian Dressing

Instructions:

1. In a serving bowl, combine the prepared kidney beans, chickpeas, onion, celery, tomato, cucumber, parsley and dill (or mint).
2. Make the lemon dressing: in a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper flakes until emulsified. Pour dressing over the bean and vegetable mixture and toss thoroughly. At this point I wanted a bit more flavor so I added a few generous squirts of Zesty Italian Dressing. Serve immediately for the most flavor, or let it marinate in the refrigerator, covered, for a couple of hours or longer. 

This is a great salad to take to a potluck or picnic because there's no mayo or cool whip to have sitting out on the table or in the sun.  And it tastes really good, nothing like the waxy bean salads you can buy in the store!

Amazing Pork Tenderloin

I made this pork tenderloin a few nights ago and it turned out so good! Plus, it was really easy and took very little time to prepare. I'm thinking you could easily make this in a crockpot as well. I tend to not plan far enough in advance for my crockpot recipes though, so I'm glad this one works just as well in the oven. This is my new favorite way to do pork tenderloin so it will be making it into the rotation fairly often! I paired this with mashed potatoes/gravy and green beans.

Pork Tenderloins
1 package of pork tenderloins (2 tenderloins total about 2-2.5lbs)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoon country dijon mustard (whole grain mustard)
4 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoon fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley*
1/2 cup chicken broth
freshly ground pepper, to taste
3 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Take tenderloins out of package. Rinse and pat dry. Spray a 9x13 baking dish and place tenderloins inside.
Make the marinade next. In a measuring cup or bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients and pour over the pork. You do not have to let the meat marinate for hours before hand. 

Bake, uncovered, for 1 hour (or until your meat thermometer says its done), basting once halfway through cooking process.
Once removed from the oven, let pork rest on a cutting board for 10 minutes before cutting in.
Don't forget to pour the sauce over it. The sauce is really amazing! I think next time I will actually thicken the sauce with flour or cornstarch to use as a gravy over mashed potatoes.

*The recipe actually called for Rosemary which I don't like. So I substituted the parsley and it tasted great! 

Meatballs

I hadn't ever made my own meatballs before, but since my son asked for Spaghetti for his birthday dinner I decided I'd better do something a little more special than just the same ol' spaghetti we usually have. This recipe turned out really good. It's makes a TON but you can freeze them for future dinners, either of spaghetti and meatballs, or meatball sandwiches, or even as appetizers. *

Ingredients:
4 Eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 cup water
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
4 tsp. minced garlic
1 medium onion, finely minced
1 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 TBSP dried oregano
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 TBSP ground black pepper
1 1/2 lbs ground pork
3 lbs ground beef

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine eggs, water, buttermilk, and breadcrumbs in a bowl; let rest for 10 minutes. The mixture will thicken as the bread crumbs absorb the liquid. To this thickened mixture, add garlic, onion, parsley, cheese, oregano, salt, and pepper; stir until combined. In separate large bowl, combine ground pork and beef. Mix meats with fingers or a large fork using a light touch until 2 meats are combined throughout. Add bread crumb mixture to meats. Mix these together, again using a light touch with fingers or large fork. Combine ingredients well, but do not overmix. Form meatballs with hands, or use a scoop. For larger meatballs, use 1/4 cup meat per meatball or use a generous 2" scoop. For mini meatballs, use 1 to 1-1/2 tablespoons per meatball or a generous 1-1/4" scoop. Place meatballs on baking sheets. Bake large meatballs for 30 minutes and mini meatballs for 15 minutes, until no longer pink in center.

*If you've frozen them, let them thaw and then heat thoroughly in marinara sauce on the stove top.  Approximately 15-20 minutes.

Challah Bread

For our book club last month we read The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult. I absolutely loved the book. It's a box of tissues kind of book but very good. Throughout the book it talks about challah bread which kept making me feel so hungry! Challah is a traditional Jewish bread that is made for Shabbat and other religious holidays, other than Passover, of course. I am not Jewish, but I figured I would love to try out one of their specialties and also, in the process, educate myself and my children about the Jewish religion/culture. Plus, the braided bread is just so darn pretty!  I found the recipe on Pinterest (where else?!) and also the instructions on how to braid the challah. I did the 4 strand braid which was really quite simple, don't be scared to try it! It was fun to braid the bread. I have never really braided bread before so it was a new experience for me. I just followed the recipe exactly as written on this other blog, so I'm just going to provide links rather than copying the recipe directly to this post. I think I did cook mine just a bit too long so I think next time I will cut off a few minutes of cook time. It still tasted really good but I wanted a little softer crust. This is a rather time consuming bread, mostly because of the rising times, so plan on doing it on a day when you're not running about like a chicken with your head cut off! 

Dough Recipe

How to Braid Challah

Sweet Potato Cinnamon Roll Cake

Lexi, age 11, drew the responsibility for making the dessert for our Family Potluck Extravaganza meal. We had sweet potatoes that needed to be used up. I've made sweet potato muffins and bread before and loved them, so I was excited to try them in cake.  It really doesn't taste like sweet potatoes so even if you don't like them you should give this a try anyway. I personally love sweet potatoes. I don't even need to put any sugar or butter, or heaven forbid, marshmallows on them to enjoy them! But maybe I'm weird that way! I think next time though I will wait for the cake to cool and then apply a regular frosting to it instead of using the glaze. I've left the recipe here with the glaze option, but I felt like it made the cake a little soggy. It still tastes really good, but I think I would like it better with regular frosting.

Cake
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
2 cups cooked sweet potatoes
11/2 cups milk
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsps vanilla
1/2 cup butter, melted

Topping:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 TBSP flour
1/2 TBSP cinnamon
Butterscotch or chocolate chips
 
Glaze
2 cups powdered sugar
5 TBSP milk
1 tsp vanilla


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 13x9 inch baking pan.

In a large bowl combine flour,sugar,salt, and baking powder.  Stir with a fork to combine.  In another large bowl beat sweet potatoes and milk until smooth (we used a food processor which worked really well.)  Add beaten eggs, and vanilla, beat until combined.  Slowly add flour to sweet potato mixture, mixing until just incorporated.  Slowly stir the melted butter into the batter until well combined.  Pour batter into prepared pan.  Make topping.

Topping directions:
Mix all the topping ingredients together until well combined.  Drop evenly over the batter.  Scatter butterscotch or chocolate chips on top. Bake cake for 30- 35 minutes.   After cake is baked, cool slightly while making the glaze.

Glaze directions:
Combine glaze ingredients mix until smooth.  Glaze cake while still warm.

Original recipe can be found Here.

Strawberry Fluff Fruit Salad

Technically, this recipe was supposed to be Orange Fluff Salad, but we didn't have Orange jello. Since the criteria for our Family Potluck Dinner Extravaganza was to use ingredients we had on hand, we swapped it out for Strawberry.  Garrett, age 7, also insisted that we add mandarin oranges and marshmallows even though it wasn't called for in the original recipe. Since he was the chef on duty (and because his request wasn't too outrageous!) we decided to let our inner rebels run wild! This salad was really delicious and easy. It does require prepping a few hours ahead so it has enough time to chill.

Ingredients:

• 20 oz can of crushed pineapple
• small box of orange Jello
• 8 oz of cream cheese
• 8 oz of whipped topping
• 2 small cans mandarin oranges (optional)
• mini marshmallows (optional)

 Add entire can of pineapple (undrained) to a sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Add orange jello and stir well.  Boil about 2 minutes. Cube cream cheese and add that to jello mixture.  Stir until most of cream cheese is melted.  Pour into a large flat dish and put in the freezer or refrigerator.  Once your mixture starts to congeal, remove and stir in the 8 oz package of whipped topping.  Put your dish in the refrigerator to set up for at least 3 hours before serving.

Pasta Salad

My son, Zac, age 9, is a pasta fanatic. Whenever I ask what we should have for dinner he ALWAYS asks for pasta. He doesn't care if it's spaghetti, or baked ziti, or stuffed manicotti as long as it's pasta! So for his part in our dinner it seemed appropriate that he should draw the Pasta Salad. Now, granted, this isn't exactly a "new" recipe, per our criteria in the previous post about our family potluck dinner experience, but it has been a really long time since I'd made it, so I decided it would count. There's not really a set recipe for this one. Just cook the pasta you want, add any vegetables, cheese, pre-cooked/cured meats (salami, pepperoni, ham etc.) Liberally coat with Italian dressing and salt and pepper to taste. We used the ingredients listed below, but you could alter it to what you like.

Ingredients:

1 16oz pkg. rotini or bowtie pasta
1 carrot, diced
5 green onions, sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
2 tomatoes, diced
broccoli, chopped
1 can olives, sliced
1 can corn
1 cucumber, diced
cheese, cubed
Italian dressing
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 Tbsp. Parmesan Cheese (optional)*

Cook pasta in salted water. Rinse with cold water to cool. Stir in vegetables, olives, and parmesan cheese. Add Italian dressing and salt and pepper to taste.

*I don't like the parmesan cheese in this salad. I think it makes it tastes "gritty." 

Meatloaf

Every Sunday I try to spend One on One time with each of my four children doing a project/game/activity of their choice. We now have a rotation for who's turn it is to cook that week. They all seem to want to do a cooking project, so we had to figure out a way that seems fair.  Some hair-brained, crazy person (me) came up with the idea that we should do a Sunday where each kid helped make a different item for our dinner. We also decided they had to be new recipes, using ingredients I already had on hand (because I didn't want to go shopping!) and there were a few ingredients (sweet pototoes, cream cheese) that needed to be included because they needed to be used up. It was trickier to meet all this criteria than I thought!. Thank goodness for Pinterest! I spent 4 hours from start to finish, including cleanup, and was ready to pull my hair out by the end. But the kids loved it, and are begging to do it again sometime soon! We had drawn names to see who would do each recipe. Drake, age 7, drew the main dish, Meatloaf. Which is hilarious since he is the only one who would be truly disgusted by having to mash the ingredients together with his hands. This is based off of the Pioneer Woman's recipe, with a few changes. This meatloaf turned out incredibly moist and delicious. We will definitely be making this again soon!

Ingredients: 

Loaf:
1 cup Whole Milk 
6 slices White Bread 
2 pounds Ground Beef 
1 cup (heaping) Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese 
2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon Seasoned Salt 
3/4 teaspoons Salt 
Freshly Ground Black Pepper 
1/3 cup Minced Flat-leaf Parsley 
1 medium onion, diced 
4 whole Eggs, Beaten 
1 cup real bacon bits

Sauce: 
1-1/2 cup Ketchup 
1/3 cup Brown Sugar 
1 teaspoon Dry Mustard 
Tabasco To Taste

Put the 6 slices of white bread in a bowl and pour the milk over them. Let soak.

In another bowl combine ground beef with the remaining loaf ingredients. Add soaked bread to this meat mixture and mix together well using your nicely washed, clean hands. Divide evenly into two loaf pans. Make sauce and use ~1/3 of sauce to coat the tops of the loaves. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. At this point I carely poured off some of the oil.* Then apply the rest of the sauce to the loaves and bake for 15 more minutes. Serve with mashed potatoes and gravy and a vegetable and you're all set!

*The original recipe calls for using a roasting pan, but I don't have one so we improvised. We also didn't wrap the loaves in bacon strips as called for in the recipe. Instead, we incorporated the bacon bits into the meat mixture because that is what we had on hand. 

Boston Cream Poke Cake

I made this cake with my son, Garrett, last week. He loved poking the holes in the cake. I loved the combination of pudding and chocolate frosting! This is a very easy cake and a nice upgrade to your basic box mix cake, without adding a lot of difficulty or time.


Ingredients:
1 yellow cake mix
ingredients to make cake as directed
2 boxes banana pudding (3.4 oz)*
4 cups milk
1 container chocolate frosting

Directions:
Make the cake following the directions on the box. This should consist of adding the correct amounts of water, eggs, and oil. Bake as directed on the box. While it's still warm poke holes all over the cake, about one inch apart, using the handle end of a wooden spoon or similar item.  Make pudding using the four cups of milk and pour over the cake. Press pudding down into the holes as best as you can. Ours didn't really go down too far into the cake, but that was okay too. I kind of liked just having the pudding sitting on top. You still get the same flavor, but not a mushy cake. It's makes it less of a "poke" cake though. Put cake in the fridge and cool completely (about 2 hours) before covering with the tub of chocolate frosting.

This is a cake that needs to be refrigerated.

* The original recipe called for vanilla pudding, but I had, and prefer, banana pudding so we used that instead.

Healthy Egg Salad Sandwiches

I am not a huge fan of eggs or mayonnaise but I really liked this sandwich. The Greek yogurt cuts way back on the calories and it tastes really great. Makes a really fast, easy, dinner or lunch.

12 large eggs, boiled and peeled

2/3 cup low-fat Greek yogurt

2 tablespoon mayonnaise

1 1/2 tsp. dried dill weed

1 1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Cut each egg in half and place in food processor bowl. Pulse 10-12 times until eggs are broken up into small pieces, being careful not to overdo it and puree the eggs. (Or, chop the eggs with a knife.) In a separate large bowl, use a fork to whisk together the yogurt, mayonnaise, dill, salt, and pepper. Add the chopped eggs and mix lightly with the fork until well combined.
 

Eat it as a sandwich with a good roll, or on a bed of lettuce, or with a tomato flower (slice wedges. starting at the top, in a tomato without cutting all the way through to the bottom. The wedges will fan out to make a flower like shape)

Caramel Chex

This can be made with either Chex cereal or with Crispix cereal. It has A LOT of butter in it but I suppose as long as you don't eat it every day it shouldn't be too bad for your hips! I meant to take a picture but my kids ate it too fast. I got the recipe here and she has great pictures. I didn't change anything in this recipe.

Ingredients:

 

2 small boxes of Crispix or Chex Cereal

2 cups of butter

2 cups of brown sugar

½ cup Light Karo syrup

½ tsp Vanilla

½ tsp Baking Soda

 

Instructions

1. Melt butter in a sauce pan.
2. Add brown sugar and bring to a boil.
3. Add Karo syrup, vanilla and baking soda.
4. I put the cereal in a large bowl then pour mixture over the top and stir.
5. Then pour into a brown paper sack.
6. Microwave for two minutes and shake.
7. Microwave again for two minutes and shake.
8. Spread the Crispix onto wax paper and let cool.
9. Enjoy!

Chicken and Roasted Vegetable Soup

  

My mom recently gave me a big Ziploc bag of leftover rotisserie chicken pieces from a family gathering. I'd seen this recipe on Pinterest so I thought it would be a perfect way to use up some of that chicken. I loved the flavor of this soup! I did change it some to meet our needs. I doubled the recipe and next time I plan on increasing the vegetables even more (this version shows the doubled amounts and an increase in veggies and is how I plan to make it next time) since I wanted it to be a bit more hearty.We will definitely be making this soup again soon!

Ingredients

4 garlic cloves, minced

6 carrots, peeled and sliced

3 cup butternut squash, peeled and cubed

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed

1 yellow onion, quartered

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

8 cups chicken stock, store-bought or homemade

2-3 cups leftover shredded chicken or 1 pound cooked and cubed chicken breasts

1 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley

2 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon dried thyme*

1 teaspoon dried rosemary*

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon cracked pepper

2 cup water

2 cups baby spinach

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Toss the vegetables in the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
3. Meanwhile, bring the chicken stock to a simmer in a large stockpot. Add the chicken, herbs, and salt and pepper. Cover and cook while the vegetables are roasting, about 15 minutes.
4. Add half the vegetables to the soup, and place the other half in a blender. Make sure to put all of the onions quarters into the blender. Puree the vegetables with the 2 cups of water.
5. Add the vegetable puree and baby spinach to the soup. Simmer for 5-10 minutes, until the spinach is wilted and the soup is hot. Adjust seasonings to your taste.

I left out the rosemary and thyme. I didn't have rosemary and I don't like thyme. I thought the flavor was still really great without those two ingredients but I listed them here in case you want to add them. 

Original recipe can be found here.

Applesauce Cake

You know that nostalgic life view where children come home from school to fresh baked cookies? Well, this is what I remember coming home to most often. And it always made my day! Please note that this makes a SHEET CAKE size cake. So you may want to half the recipe and do it in a 9 X 13 pan if you don't want that much!

Ingredients:

2 cups of sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup shortening
1 qt. applesauce
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp allspice
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
4 cups flour
chocolate chips

Mix well and add chocolate chips to the batter. Pour onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Cool and then frost with vanilla or butter cream frosting.

French Onion Soup

Ingredients:

2 large yellow onions, thinly sliced
1 tsp. minced garlic
8 cups beef broth
2 Tbsp. worcestershire sauce, OR basalmic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
Thyme (optional, I don't like Thyme so I always leave it out)
 Swiss cheese slices 1/2 tsp

Directions: In a large pan saute onions and garlic in one cup of the broth. Cook until the broth is completely evaporated and onions are caramelized. They should become a nice brown color without becoming burned. This is the step that gives the soup such a nice flavor.

Meanwhile, add broth, worcestershire, salt, pepper and Thyme (if using) to a crockpot. Add caramelized onions and cook on high for 4 hours or on low 8 hours.

Just before serving ladle soup into individual dishes and put a slice of cheese on top. Then either microwave for about a minute until cheese is melted or if you're using oven safe dishes you can put them in the oven for a few minutes. Also, it really is best to use swiss cheese. I ran out and tried cheddar instead on a couple and they weren't as good. Since this is really more of a broth it wouldn't be enough to be considered a main dish. I served this with grilled cheese sandwiches. Everyone in the family really liked it!

Mexican Fried Rice

 

 

Ingredients

2 cups long grain white rice (I used basmati rice)

4 cups vegetable stock or any stock of your choice

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 cup chopped colored bell peppers

1/2 cup sweet corn kernels

1 can stewed tomatoes (diced is best, but you can chop up larger tomato pieces)

1 can black beans *

1 can diced green chillies

1 Tbsp. taco seasoning

1 tsp red chill powder, Optional

Salt to taste

1/3 cup canola oil

 

* My picture doesn't show the black beans but I do like them. When I made this batch we were having friends over for dinner who don't like beans so I left them out. 

 

**I like it a little spicier so I do add a can of Rotel. 

 

Directions:
Rinse the rice really well. This is important so the rice doesn't clump. Then cook the rice in the 4 cups of broth. I use my rice cooker, but you could do it on the stove if you have mad rice cooking skills (I don't....hence the assistance of Cuisinart!) It's best if you do the rice ahead of time because it needs to be cold before you add it to the rest of the ingredients. I usually refrigerate it overnight. Warm rice will clump.

Then add the oil to a frying pan and saute the garlic, onion, and peppers. Add the tomatoes (if they aren't diced you'll want to chop them up a bit) and the corn, chilies, and black beans. Then add the salt and spices and fry for a bit, stirring occasionally.