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Oct
28
Scrumptious Pumpkin Bars MMMMM!
Filed Under Uncategorized, my kitchen, recipes | Leave a Comment
And, we all enjoyed pumpkin bars for dessert that I made last night. They were delicious!
Pumpkin Bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup chopped walnuts (I omit these)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups canned pumpkin
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9×13
pans or one jelly roll/cookie sheet with sides.
Mix all ingredients in order above until well
blended. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool completely and frost with cream cheese
frosting (which I use 2 sticks butter, softened, 1 block cream cheese, softened,
2 cups sifted powder sugar, a tad of vanilla)
DELICIOUS - I am telling you!!
Oct
27
Puppy Chow aka Monkey Munch
Filed Under Kidlets, my kitchen, recipes | Leave a Comment
One of my favorite shows is Jon & Kate Plus 8… and one episode they show Kate making something called “Monkey Munch”… which reminded me of this recipe I got off of a Chex box when I was a kid… it was for “Puppy Chow”. My sister remembers me making this quite a bit but yet I don’t think I’ve ever made it for my kids. I decided to make a batch tonight for the kids’ snack this week. It turned out so yummy!
Serves 10-14
Ingredients
- 9 cups Chex cereal (any kind)
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
- 1-2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Directions
- Measure cereal in large bowl and set aside.
- Microwave or melt the chocolate chips on the
stovetop over medium low heat (I prefer stovetop). Stir. - Add peanut butter. Stir until smooth.
- Add butter. Stir until smooth.
- Add vanilla. Stir.
- Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until
coated. - Pour mixture into large Ziploc bag and add
powdered sugar. Shake until well coated. (I find that 1 gallon size ziploc bag
is just enough room to mix 1 batch of this recipe). - Spread on waxed paper to cool.
- Store in Ziploc bags or large sealed bowl.
Oct
24
Potato Chowder
Filed Under my kitchen, recipes | Leave a Comment
This recipe deserves it’s very own post because it’s so darn good! I found this years ago on a message board I used to frequent called MyCoupons. I don’t go there anymore, but I had taken away many wonderful recipes from the Let’s Get Cooking forum! I’m sorry I don’t know the origin of this recipe, other than I’ve been making it for a good 6 years and consider it our own now.
Potato Chowder
Serves 8Ingredients
- 8 cups diced peeled potatoes
- 1/3 cup chopped onion
- 3 14 1/2-ounce cans chicken broth
- 1 10 3/4-ounce can condensed cream of chicken soup — undiluted
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 8 ounces cream cheese — cubed and softened
- 12 bacon slices — cooked and crumbled, optional
Directions
In a slow cooker, combine the first five ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or until potatoes are tender. Add cream cheese; stir until blended, I use my potato masher to combine it to my desired consistency. Garnish with bacon and chives if desired.
This makes just enough for my family of 7, but if I want leftovers, I usually will have to double the batch, which just BARELY fits in my crockpot
Jun
24
Snickers Salad Recipe
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I got this Snickers Salad recipe from my friend Marcy several summers ago… the first time I made it, people confused it with the potato salad and were surprised to find that it was a sweet dish. Once they figured out that it was a dessert, they loved it. Snickers Salad is one of those recipes that EVERYONE asks me to make when we attend a summer gathering. I have made Snickers Salad MANY times!
Ingredients:
1 large tub of Cool Whip, thawed
1 large package of vanilla instant pudding
1 cup of milk
6 snickers bars, cut in bite size pieces (those popables work well too) or 3 super size snickers bars
3 medium size Granny Smith apples or other tart apple, cut up into small chunksDirections:
In a large bowl, combine milk and pudding, then mix in the cool whip. Add the Snickers and then the apples.Note: Toss apples with lemon juice to keep them from getting brown.
Jun
19
Paula Deen’s Potato Casserole
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I tried out a new recipe for Father’s Day - it was a huge hit… everyone loved it. I’m saving it!
Potato Casserole
Courtesty of Food Network2 cups mashed potatoes
1/2 cup sour cream
House Seasoning, recipe follows
1 small onion, sliced thin
1 small bell pepper, sliced thin
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
1 1/2 cups grated Cheddar
4 medium potatoes, cooked
6 slices bacon, cooked crispPreheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Spread mashed potatoes evenly on bottom of casserole dish. Layer sour cream evenly over top. Sprinkle House Seasoning, to taste. Saute onion and bell pepper in butter; evenly layer over top of sour cream. Slice potatoes and layer over onions and bell peppers. Add butter. Sprinkle House seasoning. Finally top with cheese. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from oven and crumble bacon over top.Yield: 6 Servings
Cook’s Note: Leftover mashed potatoes work wonderfully in this recipe.
House Seasoning:
1 cup salt
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup garlic powder
Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.Apr
25
Brown Sugar Chewies
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A few nights ago, I had a sweet tooth….. I scanned my pantry, my freezer, my refrigerator and nothing was going to do it for me. I really have been avoiding buying “sweets” that appeal to me, in an effort to eat “healthier”. If it’s not here, I won’t eat it. But…. I needed something. I was about to open a bag of brown sugar and eat it by the spoonful. Then I sat down to my favorite search enginge Google and searched out brown sugar recipes, what I came up with was Brown Sugar Chewies. I got the base of the recipe from Food Network, and added a little twist, by throwing in about a 1/4 c. of chocolate chips and 1/4 c. of butterscotch chips. Apparently these are quite similar to “blonde brownies”? I’ve never had them before, but it sounds like a nice recipe that Grandma would have made…
Family reviews? Tanner, Ashlyn, and McKenzie loved them. David thought they were good, but not great. Bailey didn’t like them at all. They are gone though… I had a few the night I made them and a couple the next day (I cut them into little bars)… and the kids ate the rest for snack and dessert. This one is a keeper and is relatively inexpensive to make also!
Brown Sugar ChewiesINGREDIENTS
1/4 cup butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup chopped pecans (didn’t have them, so I left ‘em out but substituted the chips)
Confectioners’ sugar, for dustingDIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8-inch square pan with vegetable oil cooking spray.
In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Turn off the heat, add the brown sugar and stir until smooth. Stir in the egg. Stir together the flour and baking powder and stir into the brown sugar mixture. Stir in the vanilla and pecans. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes. When cool, dust the top with a sifting of confectioners’ sugar.This recipe makes “9 servings”. I doubled it… and it made the plate shown in the picture.
Apr
20
Strawberry Shortcake
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David bought a bunch of strawberries on sale the other day. I’m really bad about letting strawberries go bad before we use them all, because they go bad so quickly. I made a big thing of strawberry topping and shortcake tonight. It was delish!
Strawberry Shortcake (courtesty allrecipes)
INGREDIENTS
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup butter
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 egg, beaten
3 cups sliced fresh strawberries
3 tablespoons white sugarDIRECTIONS
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2) In a large bowl, mix flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder and cream of tartar. Cut in butter with pastry blender or two knives. Stir in cream and egg. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead 2 minutes. Press into a half-inch thick sheet. Cut into squares. Place on baking sheets. 3) Bake in preheated oven 20 minutes, or until golden.Strawberry Topping
Mix 4 cups sliced strawberries and 1/2 c. sugar. Refrigerate 1 hour before serving. Makes 6 servings.
Apr
18
Homemade Maple Syrup
Filed Under homemade goodies, my kitchen, recipes | 1 Comment
We had BFD (Breakfast For Dinner) tonight - yum! This is one meal all the kids devour.
We are all out of real syrup… and being on a very tight food budget this week, I couldn’t buy any at the little store in town, so I google’d a few recipes and found one that I thought I’d try from allrecipes.com. It got rave reviews from my kids and even passed David’s taste test with flying colors. The only thing I’d change is maybe adding a bit more maple flavoring next time, I used 1/2 vanilla and 1/2 maple. This is what I came up with (a few tweaks from the original).
Homemade Maple SyrupIngredients:1 cup Water1 cup Brown Sugar1 cup White Sugar1/2 tsp maple extract (next time I’ll do 1 full teaspoon)1/2 tsp vanilla extractAbout 1/4 c. corn syrup to thicken it up (this could easily be omitted I think)Directions
Bring water to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat, add both sugars until dissolved. Add extracts and allow to boil for 5 minutes or so, stirring frequently. Then, slowly stir in Karo syrup, and let sit for a few minutes to thicken (mine sat the entire time I made the pancakes and it was still nice and warm!)I’m not sure I will ever buy syrup in the store again. It’s not that authentic $8.00 per bottle maple syrup, but it’s better than Eggo and Aunt Jemima and much cheaper! Now I just need to look for the perfect little pitcher or container to keep it in, for my refrigerator!
Note: I am going to try to start being a better photo-gger… I don’t take very good pictures in the moment of things and I go back and wish I’d taken a closer picture of this or added that. There are so many wonderful blogs out there with great pics that I looove, especially when it comes to cooking/baking. So… I do aspire to be a better photo-gger
But here it is anyway.Apr
18
Pancakes From Scratch Mix
Filed Under homemade goodies, my kitchen, recipes | Leave a Comment
We normally make our pancakes from Bisquick when we have it. I noticed the box was pretty low and enough for only one batch so I dug out this recipe I got a couple of years ago and now I can’t even remember the source… I’m sorry! But, it’s a great substitution for boxed/bagged pancake mix and it makes delicious pancakes! My family loves them and they are easy to add chocolate chips or blueberries!
Pancakes From Scratch Recipe
Ingredients For Dry Mix
3 C flour
1/3 C Sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking sodaStore in airtight container in dry, cool place.
Directions For Preparing Pancakes
In a bowl, combine 1 egg and 1/4 cup milk. Whisk in 1 cup pancake mix. Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto a lightly greased hot griddle; turn when bubbles form on top of pancakes, flip and cook until golden brown.Great for add ins like chocolate chips, strawberries, blueberries, etc.
Apr
3
National Peanut Butter & Jelly Day
Filed Under Holidays, mckenzie, my kitchen | Leave a Comment
April 2nd is National PB&J Day! I have probably made 1,452,712 PB&J sandwiches in my lifetime. I don’t particularly love them. My PB sandwiches are more likely to have nutella, banana, or marshmallow fluff. My stepdad used to make sandwiches with peanut butter and karo syrup, mixed. Oh my, those were a sweet tooth soother for sure. Tanner loves these, I should make them more often. Peanut butter & Jelly is used daily in our home, either together or separate.
Where did the PB&J sandwich orignate? A few google searches led to the same conclusion as stated on whatscookingamerica.net. Both peanut butter and jelly were on the U.S. Military ration menus in World War II (1941-1945). It is said that the American soldiers added jelly to their peanut butter to make it more palatable. Peanut butter provided an inexpensive and high protein alternative to meat for soldiers. It was an instant hit and returning servicemen made peanut butter and jelly sales soar in the United States. Food historians haven’t found any ads or other mentions of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before the 1940s.
This is a little how to from McKenzie from last summer… it’s cute enough to get a second post I think, especially in celebration of this special holiday and all. LOL.
Look at those long locks!
Mar
18
Happy St Patrick’s Day
Filed Under Holidays, Kidlets, family fun, my kitchen | Leave a Comment
The kids found a frog today… he was quite cute!
3 of 5 kids…. having their snack after school
Which was ritz crackers, peanut butter colored green, banana slices and green sprinkles.
And dessert was mini chocolate chip muffins, also colored green. 
And my SPD gift from Ashlyn… isn’t it cute?
Jan
31
My Kids’ Mother Is A Goofball!
Filed Under Kidlets, my kitchen | Leave a Comment
Bailey and I get snack ready for the kids about 2:30 every day. We’ve been getting creative with things because we are trying to save $$ and not buy packaged junk. Today, I ravaged the back of my pantry and found some butterfly shaped crackers I got in a gift basket at Christmas time (I think)… Then I got out 4 slices of cheese so they could have cheese and crackers. I found a bag of M&M’s that I bought last month and used the last of it for the kids’ first initials. Bailey thought it was pretty cool. I’m guessing Tanner (and definitely David) might think I’m a total dork. LOL. But hey… snack for like 1o cents per kid - how cool is that!
In DVR news… the season premiere of Lost is tonight. Yay! I cannot wait!! This is one show I watch all by myself. David was never into it (though he doesn’t know what he’s missing!) It used to be hard for me to watch at night, because it just has that “spooky” affect, but I won’t be able to wait til tomorrow I don’t think. I’m so excited!! It’s the little things
Jessica
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