Posted in Our Favorite Recipes
Every year, I have my father over for dinner and my sister and brothers failes over for desert later in the day.
Well last year, I decided to take it easy and not make so many things for desert. My sisters husband was like, "This is it for desert?", then proceded to ask where my turkey was because he was hungry. That always bothered me. I do invite them for dinner, but they always have plans to have dinner with their own families (fine with me), so after my family is done eating, I put all the food away. It happens for every major holiday that we have. If I invite one to dinner, I am happy to give them plenty of dinner, but if your just coming for desert, then oh well, your out of luck when it comes to dinner food.
So this year, between homeschooling and working evenings, I have no time or energy to clean let alone cook tons for dinner and desert, but I am doing it. Ya I know I should be working on cleaning up my house instead of typing this blog, but I am still not awake yet, and my hubby just left for therapy. So maybe this would be a great time to do a pick up of the computer and living rooms, where he seems to spend most of his time.
So, yesterday, I started cooking. I made some yummy pumpkin cookies (I have eatten 4 already!) I got this recipe from Allrecipes some time ago and it is one of my favorite cookie recipes:
Pumpkin-Oatmeal Cookies
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ¨÷ cups quick or old fashioned oats
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) of butter or margarine, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup can pumpkin
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
¾ cup raisins (optional)
- Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease baking sheets
- Combine flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. Beat butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until light and fluffy. Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla; mix well. Add flour mixture; mix well. Drop by rounded tbs onto prepared baking sheets.
- Bake 14-16 minutes or until lightly browned and set in center. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
Posted in Our Favorite Recipes
From my "Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook"
Darla's Chicken Cacciatore (pg 179)
2 onions, thinly sliced
4 boneless chicken breasts, cubed
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried basil
1 bay leaf
2 15-oz cans diced tomatoes
8-oz can tomato sauce
4-oz can sliced mushrooms (I omit the shrooms because no one here likes them)
1. Place onions in bottom of slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients.
2. Cover. Cook on Low 8 hours.
3. Serve over hot spaghetti.
I have never made this particular recipe from this book, so I am hoping it comes out ok. It sure does smell yummy!
Posted in Our Favorite Recipes
I got this recipe out of Family Circle magazine and loved it. I did modify it a little, see the parts in red, to fit my families tastes.
Easy Corn Chowder
3 slices bacon, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
4 ears of corn (I used 8)
1 medium potato, peeled and cubed (I used 3, husband loves potatoes in his chowders)
3 cups chicken broth (I used 6 cups because of the amount of corn being used)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 cup half-and-half
Chop 3 slices bacon; cook until crisp in deep saucepan. (I cooked them whole then tore the slices apart with my fingers.) Add 1 small onion, chopped, and cook 4 minutes. Cut kernels from 4 ears of corn and add along with cobs to pot. (I didn't add the cobs to the pot.) Add 1 medium-sized Yukon gold potato, peeled and cubed, 3 cups chicken broth and 1/2 tsp. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes until corn and potatoes are tender. Discard cobs. Puree half in blender; return to pot. Stir in 1 cup half-and-half (even though I pretty much doubled up on the rest, I did only use 1 cup of half-and-half. Husband said I should double this next time to make it even more creamy.) Simmer 5 minutes.
Posted in Our Favorite Recipes
Every Spring time we make this fast and easy pie. I don't remember where I originally got the recipe, but I have added some different variations for it.
Strawberry Fluff Pie
1 Refrigerated pie crust
1 (3oz) pkg wild strawberry jello
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup boiling water
1 (8oz) container frozen cool whip, thawed
2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
8 fresh strawberry halves
1.) Heat oven to 450 F
Prepare pie crusts as directed on package for one-crust baked shell using 9-in pie pan. Bake for 9-11 min or until lightly browned. Cool for 30 minutes or until completely cooled.
2.) Combine jello, sugar & boiling water; stir until jello is dissolved. Refrigerate 10-15 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken & get syrupy.
3.) Add cool whip to gelatin mixture, stir until well blended. Fold in sliced strawberries. Spoon into cooled pie shell. Arrange strawberry halves around outer edge of pie. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or until serving time.
Variations
1.) Use a graham cracker pie shell in place of the baked shell.
2.) When strawberries are not in season, use frozen strawberries, just thaw before you use them.
3.) You can even use the strawberries already in sugar. Just omit the sugar from the recipe, strain the strawberries, reserving the juice to another use. This is the variation that I use the most as these strawberries are found most often in my supermarket.
Posted in Our Favorite Recipes
I just love this recipe (I just finished making it infact)
Chex Muddy Buddies
9 cups Rice Chex, Corn Chex, or Honey Nut Chex
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Microwave Directions
1. Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside.
2. In 1-quart microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla.
3. Pour chocolate mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated.
4. Pour into 2 gallon plastic food storage bag. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper until cooled.
5. Store in airtight container in refrigerator. 9 cups snack.
I didn't have a 2 gallon sized bag, so I just divided up the cereal and powdered sugar into teo 1 gallon bags. Works just as good.
