Sugar Cookies (for cookie cutters or a cookie press)

The Sugar Cookies from my Childhood

3/4 cup butter/shortening (I did 1/2 and 1/2)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp. flavoring (I have used vanilla, almond & lemon)

2 1/2 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp. salt

Mix dry ingredients together, set aside. Mix the shortening/butter, sugar, eggs and flavoring till well blended. Blend in dry ingredients until dough comes together in a ball.

For cookie press:

Press dough onto ungreased cookie sheet bake at 400º oven for 6-8 minutes.

For cookie cutters:

Chill dough at least 1 hour. Roll to 1/8" thick cut out with favorite cutters. Place on ungreased cookie sheet bake in 400º oven for 6-8 minutes. 

Yields 4-6 dozen cookies

  ~oOo~

Homemade Colored Sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

food coloring

Put sugar in airtight container. Add 3-4 drops of food coloring and shake vigorously several minutes. You can use gel and paste food coloring by adding it to water first.

Do Your Kids Like Corn Dogs?

Most kids like corn dogs! You can get them at a carnival or fair. Usually deep fried in oil. You can also find recipes to make them at home. Dipping in the batter, frying in oil... Or,

Make this muffin version, it's so much easier. I used our corn muffin (Jiffy copycat) mix, added diced hotdogs, and bake.

They're "stickless" corn dogs! 

Tasty!

Give them a try, let me know what your kids think!

Pumpkin Pie Spice Meringues

Audrey had said on her blog here, that she wanted to make these. 

Well, they were delicious!

Pumpkin Pie Spice Meringues:
1 cup granulated sugar
3 egg whites
1 tsp of vinegar (or cream of tartar. Either one works)
1 tbs pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger)
Tiny dab of orange food coloring (we didn't use this)

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

Whip the egg whites until frothy, then slowly add in the sugar.
Then add the vinegar and spices, and continue to whip.
When it gets to soft peaks, add in the food coloring.
Whip whip whip whip whip until they're stiff, glossy peaks. (they'll hold their shape when you lift the whisk straight up, the tip should curl over , but it should be a defined peak)

You can either just put the meringue into a sandwich baggie and cut the tip off and pipe little blobs, or put a nice tip in a pastry bag. We used my Pampered Chef Easy Accent Decorator. Ours were about the diameter of 50 cent pieces.

The baking time will depends on your oven and the size of the meringues. They needed about 2 hours. Generally, they'll take between 1 and 2 hours, but it does depend on their size, and your particular oven.

They were delicious, almost like pumpkin pie!

Buttercream Frosting

This is a super simple and very delicious icing that works great for cakes and cookies. If you want to color this frosting paste or gel works better. Liquid food coloring will probably require you to add more confectioner's sugar.

Ingredients
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups confectioner's sugar
2 tablespoons milk




Directions
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, shortening, and vanilla. Add in the sugar beating well. Beat in the milk, and continue mixing until light and fluffy. Keep icing covered until ready to decorate.


Variations
For chocolate buttercream: add 3/4 cup cocoa or three 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate squares, melted (will need to increase the amount of milk to about 3-4 tablespoons); peanut butter buttercream: decrease the shortening & the butter to 1/3 cup and add 3/4 cup peanut butter (will also need to increase the milk to get the right consistency); replace the vanilla extract with maple, almond or your favorite flavors. The possibilities are endless. 


Keep leftover icing refrigerated for several days. Frozen in an air tight container for several months.

Frozen Treat!

I have a great treat using frozen banana's! Cut the banana's into chunk's keep in the freezer. 

We all know that they're great to throw into smoothies & shake's. 

Well, you can also throw them into a food processor or blender, and magically get...

banana soft serve! 

You do have to blend for several minutes. First the frozen banana's will become frozen crumbs. Continue blending until the banana's become creamy.

No liquid or any other ingredients required. So it's very healthy, just frozen banana's.

You could add some other flavors. Chocolate syrup, cocoa powder or maybe even some almond or p-nut butter. Use your imagination.

Turkey Leftovers

Want an easy recipe for your Thanksgiving turkey leftovers? 

I'm sure you probably have a recipe for a turkey/chicken potpie! However this one is super simple and really uses whatever you have on hand.

• approx. 2 cups of mixed vegetables (I used veggies from my frozen veggie bowl (peas & corn), lima beans, 2 small potatoes and a carrot (I steamed the raw veggies in the microwave before adding to the potpie)
• can of cream soup (usually I use cream of mushroom or celery, but I only had cream of potato. Was fantastic!)
• leftover turkey
• your favorite seasonings (I usually use Oregano, garlic powder, salt & pepper to taste, but the leftover peas were 'basil peas' so I just added Thyme, garlic, salt & pepper)
• can of biscuits (Audrey rolled 2 of the large biscuits together for our individual 'pies' placed over our filling). Cut vents in the top. I have also used homemade biscuits dropped onto the filling, cornbread and the copycat Jiffy corn muffin mix for the top of the potpies.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown. 

They were very yummy, & aren't the individual 'pies' so cute?

Roasted Vegetables (no 'real' recipe needed)

This delicious dish is so easy and versatile. You can choose your favorite veggies too!

This time I cut up carrots, zucchini and added some brussel sprouts (right out of the freezer...see versatile). Placed the veggies in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Drizzled with a little olive oil, sprinkled sea salt, oregano, garlic powder & some fresh ground pepper. Then I tossed to coat all the pieces.

Roast in a 350 degree oven till fork tender.

Then eat up, yummy!

Copycat Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix

When I think about corn bread, I think of white corn meal, and a wrought iron skillet with some wonderful southern style cornbread. Many think of the sweet yellow corn muffin mix that comes in the little 8.5 ounce boxes "Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix". 

I love Jiffy cornbread too. It's just not "cornbread" (some know what I mean *wink, wink*).

Well I found this copycat "Jiffy" corn muffin mix. It's delicious and tastes like that sweet corn muffin mix. 

INGREDIENTS

2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup yellow corn meal (I use white corn meal)
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk

INSTRUCTIONS

The linked instruction have you add the egg & milk after mixing all the other ingredients. Since I'm making mine immediately I just mix all my ingredients together at the same time. (For the above pictured Pyrex dish I double the recipe)

Mix well with whisk.

I pour the mixture into a greased 9 x 9 pan.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 

Bake 15-20 minutes

If you wish to make Corn Muffins:

Fill muffin tins 1/2 full. Bake 15-20 minutes.
Makes 6 muffins.

Mashed Potato Cakes

Have you ever had mashed potato cakes? 

My mom would make these with left-over mashed potatoes when I was little. 

We don't have left-over mashed potatoes very often, but one day we did. I thought I'd let Audrey get a taste of this childhood treat. She loved them! Now she'll request them without even having left overs.

I don't have a true recipe, I just make them the way my mom did. However, I did look for an actual recipe to share with you. I found some that you add a beaten egg or dredge the 'cakes' in flour. I don't do either of these (I have used a little flour if the texture of the potatoes need help forming patties).

Take your left over potatoes and

form into patties.

I use a non-stick pan with a little canola oil rubbed in it.

Cook till golden brown, yummy!

You could also add different seasonings, chopped onions, shredded cheese, or maybe top them with sour cream.

Homemade Buns/Rolls

This is a wonderful easy recipe. You can use it for sandwich/hamburger buns or dinner rolls.



1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup unsalted butter
4 1/2 cups flour (unbleached, whole wheat, or a mix)
1 package instant yeast
1 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 egg, room temperature

Heat the milk, water, honey and butter until butter is melted. Check temperature. Depending on the temperature, let cool to 120F. Carefully beat in egg.

Mix 2 cups of the flour, yeast, and salt. Mix liquid into the flour mixture. Stir in the rest of the flour, 1/2 cup at a time. Beat well after each addition.

When the dough pulls together, turn it out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (if you have a stand mixer, you can use your dough hook). This should take about 5 minutes (2-3 with mixer).

Divide dough into 12-16 equal pieces (for buns, more pieces if you want a smaller dinner roll). This will depend on the size you want for the finished bun. Shape into smooth balls, flatten slightly, and place on a silpat covered baking sheet.

Let rise for 30 to 35 minutes. When buns have almost doubled bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.

If you are making hot dog buns it's easiest to roll the dough out into a large rectangle and cut into smaller rectangles. Let rise with sides touching.

You can brush the tops with egg wash and sprinkle with poppy seeds, sesame seeds, coarse sea salt, or whatever you like. You can add dry onion soup mix for onion rolls. These are very versatile!

Makes 12-16

Cheese Ball

This wonderful recipe has been in my stash since my freshman home economics class (34-35 years ago). Everyone loves it, and today I share it with you.

2 - 8 oz pkg. cream cheese

8 oz cheddar cheese - finely shredded

1 T finely chopped onion

1 T finely chopped green bell pepper

1 T finely chopped pimento

1 t worchestershire sauce

chopped pecans

Combine all the ingredients, except for the pecans (I use my Kitchen Aid with the paddle, if you don't have a stand mixer, mixing with your hands works best). Make sure all the ingredients are mixed well, form into a ball then roll in the chopped pecans. Best if chilled a few hours (or over night).

Serve with your favorite crackers or melba toast.

Beef Stew (canned)

We canned 14 qts. of beef stew this evening (we only have 13 qts now though, Audrey already ate one, lol). It's really delicious and so easy to do.


3-5 lbs. beef stew meat (I usually get a 3-5 lb roast that's on sale and cut it up into 1" cubes)
6-8 carrots - sliced
4-6 celery stalks - chopped
1-2 onions - diced
10-12 potatoes - pealed, cubed
1 1/2 tbls salt
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. pepper
NOTE: Vegetables do not need to be precooked
I flour, salt & pepper the cubed meat then brown. Combine meat, vegetables and seasonings; cover with boiling beef broth (you can use water or a mix of broth & water).
Pack hot into hot jars (we usually do stew in regular mouth qt. jars) leaving 1-inch head space. Remove any air bubbles. Adjust caps.
Process pints 1 hour, quarts 1 hour and 15 mins at 10 lbs. pressure.
Yield: about 7 quarts





Now we have some tasty beef stew ready for any time it's craved.

Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix

Who wouldn't like a nice cup of hot chocolate for a present? Well, it's much easier to package a mix than the actual cup of hot chocolate!




1 1/2 c white sugar
1 c powdered creamer
1 c dry powdered milk
3/4 unsweetened cocoa

Sift everything together. Store in an airtight container (or put them in canning jars for gifts).

Add tag with instructions:
Stir 2-3 tsp of mix into 1 cup hot water.



Tie a pretty ribbon and you're ready to go (save some for yourself too)!

What's Perfect for a Bitter Cold Day?

That would be homemade chicken noodle soup. It warms you to the bone... yummy!

~*~*~*~

Everyone should have a reliable chicken soup they can turn to when the whole house is sick, or it's bitter cold outside. Once you have your basics down you can add anything you like to this delicious soup. So play around with the ingredients until you find what's "perfect" for you.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

• 3 boneless skinless chicken breast, boiled or can boil in the broth (can use frozen, leftovers, what ever you have on hand)
• 2 boxes chicken broth (or homemade broth/stock)
• large onion, chopped *
• green bell pepper, chopped *
• 3-4 ribs celery, chopped *
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 4-6 carrots, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cracked black pepper
• (* you can use bag of frozen chopped onion, green pepper, celery)
• 3 T olive oil to saute
• large bag of wide egg noodles

Saute onion, pepper & celery, till onions are transparent. Transfer to stock pot (unless you saute them in your stock pot). Add rest of ingredients. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer. Check broth, add salt & pepper to taste. Simmer about 1 hour (if you put raw/frozen chicken into broth - remove when cooked and dice/shred & return to pot).

Bring back to a boil and add egg noodles. Cook till noodles are done.

Serve with extra cracked pepper (or how ever you like your perfect soup).

Use this for a base ~ add and/or subtract ingredients that are perfect for your family.

Apple Scones

Old man winter is definitely knocking on the doors here in SW Ohio. Friday, it was in the mid 60's. Today, crisp cold air is whipping in the door every time the dog decides to go outside. The smell of burning wood is filling the air. What is the perfect thing for a day like today? Nice hot apple scones!

Audrey has been asking for apple scones for a few days now. With the sudden dip in the temperature it seemed perfect for a Sunday treat. She did most of the work herself and they were delicious!

Apple Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, chilled
1 apple - peeled, cored and shredded
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons white sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Measure flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, and salt into a large bowl. Cut in butter or margarine until crumbly. Add shredded apple and milk. Stir to form a soft dough.
2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead gently 8 to 10 times. Pat into two 6-inch circles. Place on greased baking sheet. Brush tops with milk, and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Score each into 6 pie-shaped wedges.
3. Bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 15 minutes, or until browned and risen. Serve warm with butter. (This recipe makes two 6" circles)

(This recipe from All Recipe)

Vegetarian Chili

Every fall, when the first cool crisp days appear, we start thinking about chili! Our family is not vegetarian (read as - are huge carnivores), but do have several meals that are non meat meals. This being one of our favorites.

VEGETARIAN CHILI

diced medium onion

diced green pepper

oil to saute onion & pepper

2 - 28 oz can diced tomatoes including juice

2 - cans beans, rinsed & drained (your "chili" favorites, I've done combinations of kidney, pinto and/or chili)

1 cup rice (your preference)

1 cup water

1 T oregano

2 T chili powder (or to taste)

1 t salt (or to taste)

1/2 t pepper (or to taste)

Saute onion & pepper till tender. Add the rest of ingredients. Bring to a boil, lower heat & simmer till rice is tender (about 40 - 45 mins.).

Serve as desired (with crackers, shredded cheese and/or sour cream). I usually double to recipe for leftovers.

Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo

Prep. time: 10 minutes; Cook time: 20 minutes; Makes: 4 servings

1/2 pk - 16 oz. linguine *
1 cup - frozen broccoli flowerets
2 T - butter
1 lb - boneless skinless chicken breast cut into 1 1/2" pieces
1 can - cream of mushroom soup **
1/2 cup - milk
1/2 cup - grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 t - black pepper

1. Prepare linguine in 3 qt sauce pan. Add broccoli during last 4 minutes. Drain linguine & broccoli.
2. Heat butter in 10" skillet over medium heat. Add chicken & cook until well browned, stirring often.
3. Stir soup, milk, cheese, black pepper & linguine mixture into skillet. Cook until mixture is hot & bubbly. Serve with additional cheese if desired.

* - I have used fettuccine also, any pasta that works well with a thick sauce will do.
** - If you don't like mushrooms, replace with cream of celery

Cook notes:
Very easy to prepare, and delicious to eat.

Dinner in the Summer

With the summer being so hot I really hate to heat the kitchen
using the oven. As often as possible I cook dinner on the stove top, crock pot or on the grill.

A lot of my recipes are not true recipes, usually just things I have thrown together. Like tonight's,

• chopped onions
• chopped/minced garlic
• smoked sausage (or polish sausage if you prefer)
• can diced tomatoes. with the juice (fresh if you have them)
• 16 oz. bag frozen mixed veggies, I used a gumbo mix (any mixed veggie or fresh veggie you have on hand will work)
• a large spoonful apricot preserves
• T. dried oregano

I used my wok but a good heavy skillet would work also. Saute the chopped onion & garlic till tender, add all other ingredients cooked until veggies are tender and tomatoes & apricot preserves make a thick sauce (add more preserves or liquid if needed).


Serve over rice.
You keep the kitchen cool, have everything in one bowl and only two pans to clean up.
You can change this recipe around to fit all your families favorites. If you don't like the smoked/polish sausage maybe use ham, left over pork tenderloin or chops. No apricot preserves, use some tomato paste, BBQ sauce anything to make a nice sauce. The possibilities are endless.

Black Beans and Yellow Rice

• 1 large onion chopped
• 1 green pepper chopped
• 2 clovers garlic (you can use garlic power)
• 1/4 C olive oil (or you can use veggie oil)
• 3 15oz cans of black beans
• 1 pkg. yellow rice mix, cooked according to pkg. directions
• 1 14.5oz can of stewed tomatoes, chopped, undrained
• 1 1/2 Cups of water
• 1 T of vinegar
• 1 t. sugar
• 1 t. pepper
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1 8oz can tomato sauce

Hot cooked yellow rice (you buy this in the ethnic section of most supermarkets, sometimes they have it with the rice, it is inexpensive, and will say 'yellow rice' on the box or bag. You cook it like regular rice. green onions, chopped sour cream cook the onions, green pepper and garlic in the oil until tender.and the next 7 ingredients, bring to a boil.
Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour. Uncover and simmer 20 to 30 additional minutes, stirring occasionally. (of course, I skip most of this and just cook it in the crock pot) Serve the bean mixture over the hot cooked yellow rice, top each serving with green onions and a dollop of sour cream.