S'Mores Galore

picture scanned in from The Pampered Chef Delightful Desserts cookbook

I like the idea of the S'more, but even while out camping, I usually just end up eating the toasted marshmallows without the graham crackers and chocolate because let's face it, has anyone ever had a successful S'more experience? My chocolate never melts. The odd shape of the marshmallows forces the graham cracker to break in weird spots, and usually the marshmallow catches on fire and I like mine lightly toasted, not charred. And the indoor S'more ... Jamie summed it up pretty well in this post. So I bring this recipe to you in hopes of filling your summertime need to eat S'mores.

S'Mores Galore

The Pampered Chef recipe
Ingredients:
20 whole honey graham crackers, divided
6 bars (1.55 oz. each) milk chocolate candy, coarsely chopped
1 package (16 oz.) mini marshmallows, divided
6 TBSP butter, divided
3 TBSP milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Arrange a single layer of graham crackers (breaking them when necessary to fit) to completely cover the bottom of pan.* Toast in oven for 2 minutes.

Coarsely break remaining graham crackers into large bowl; set aside. Coarsely chop chocolate bars; set aside.

Combine 3 cups of the marshmallows, 3 TBSP butter, and milk into a microwaveable bowl. Microwave on HIGH 1 minute. Stir until smooth. Add half of the chopped chocolate; stir until chocolate is melted. Spread evenly over graham crackers.

Melt remaining 3 TBSP butter; toss with broken graham crackers. Add remaining marshmallows and chopped chocolate; toss lightly. Spoon evenly over mixture in pan. Bake 8-10 minutes or until marshmallows are lightly browned. Cool 15 minutes.

Cut into bars using a knife dipped in hot water. Serve warm or cold. Best when eaten the same day, but can store in an airtight container.


*since it's a Pampered Chef recipe, it of course lists which of their products to use. They make this recipe in their Stoneware Bar Pan which is about 10 x 15.5 inches and has sides. You can make it in a 9x13 casserole dish, or a sheet cake pan, you'll just have to adjust the number of graham crackers you use to however many cover the bottom of the pan.

Making Banana Pancakes

image from www.Marrder.com

I hate green bananas. I like my bananas almost too ripe, just before they start getting the brown spots when they are still very yellow. So bananas around my house tend to ripen very quickly if I buy them in that barely green stage and then they get ignored for a bit. I try not to waste them, but I can only make banana bread so often. And I haven't yet found a banana bread recipe that I absolutely love. (Please send me your recipe if you've got a great one.)

While Google image searching for a picture of bananas, I came across a bunch (HA!) of banana recipes that looked tasty and may have to try out as well. I also learned that I can stick them in the freezer until I am ready to bake. Here are the recipes:
Mad about Banana Muffins
Vanana Cookies (Vegan Banana Peanut Butter Cocoa Cookies)
Chocolate Banana Nut Bread
Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes
Peanutty Banana Brownie Pizza (I've made this... Yummy yummy!)

Then there's my favorite milkshake/smoothie that I like to call the purple cow (which I thought I got from here, but they call theirs "The Purple Banana," so I don't know where I got it from).
It's just vanilla ice cream, milk, blueberries, strawberries, and a banana blended together. Yum.

Back on topic... Banana pancakes. That's why we're here. I came across the following recipe the other day in a cookbook of recipes gathered from the women at church when we lived in California and plan to try it out tonight.

Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup butter
2 eggs, beaten
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2-3 large bananas mashed

Directions:
Microwave butter in milk until melted. Beat in remaining ingredients just until smooth. Lightly grease heated griddle. Makes about 18 (4 inch) pancakes.

*Later tonight- I've now made these and they were yummy. The adults really enjoyed them, the kids... just sort of. I think they enjoy regular pancakes better. Buddy ate all his but when I tried to give him more since he always eats a ton of pancakes he said he didn't want more because he wanted to be the first one done. Princess Sparkley isn't big on fruit, so she didn't like the gooey banana bits. Next time I might add pinch of cinnamon, or sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top for the kiddos.

Peanut Butter Brownies

This might just be my favorite ever... for right now.

Peanut Butter Brownies

From Taste of Home

INGREDIENTS

• 1-1/2 cups butter, divided
  
• 3/4 cup baking cocoa, divided
  
• 4 eggs
  
• 2 cups sugar
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 1 jar (18 ounces) chunky peanut butter
  
• 1/3 cup milk
  
• 10 large marshmallows
  
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
  
  

DIRECTIONS

In a small saucepan, melt 1 cup butter; stir in 1/2 cup cocoa until smooth. Remove from the heat. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla until blended. Combine flour and salt; gradually add to egg mixture. Beat in cocoa mixture.
Transfer to a greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Bake at 350° for 18-22 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 3-4 minutes on a wire rack.
Meanwhile, place peanut butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave, uncovered, at 50% power for 2 minutes, stirring once. Stir until peanut butter is blended. Spread peanut butter over warm brownies. Refrigerate for 45 minutes or until peanut butter is set.
In a heavy saucepan, combine the milk, remaining cocoa, marshmallows and remaining butter. Cook and stir over medium heat until butter and marshmallows are melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat. Gradually stir in confectioners' sugar until smooth. Spread over peanut butter layer. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Cut into squares. Yield: 4 dozen.

I even made these in little heart shaped pans for Valentine's Day once and just drizzled the top two layers over the brownie and the plate. Easier, and very romantic. :)

Chocolate Cluster Peanut Butter Cake

This is from KraftFoods.com. I made it about a year ago. It was pretty easy, just make sure you have fridge space for it. And the chocolate covered peanut clusters were super easy to make and really really yummy.

Chocolate Cluster-Peanut Butter Cake

Orange Summer Cooler

This was a summer staple of my childhood, it's sort of an Orange Julius knock off, but not really. And we never did the fancy orange garnish.

image from www.allrecipes.com

Orange Summer Cooler

Ingredients:
1 6 oz. can frozen orange juice concentrate
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
10-15 ice cubes
optional: banana, berries, etc.

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in blender. Cover and blend until smooth, about 30 seconds. Serve immediately or freeze some for later. Makes about 6 cups.


Another fun cold orange summer drink and a story: Once while eating at Denny's the waiter recommended what was basically an orange Creamsicle milkshake. I love orange Creamsicles almost as much as I love chocolate with peanut butter. Basically make your normal vanilla milk shake (vanilla ice cream and milk) and add some orange juice. I don't know how much... 1/2 to 3/4 cup maybe. Super yummy. I ordered this at Denny's every time we ate there from then on, and surprisingly when we were first married, we ate there a lot. I think it was the Moons Over My Hammy. And the milkshakes. And the being opened late. And the being down the street from one of our first apartments. Sometimes the waiter was cool with it. Sometimes he was confused. Sometimes they charged me for a vanilla milkshake and a small orange juice. Argh. Try it out!

Sunshine Ice Cream Pie

image scanned in from a Pampered Chef "the Scoop on ice cream creations" recipe card

Here's a cool, refreshing ice cream dessert for you that tastes a bit like an Orange Creamsicle. Mmmm.

Sunshine Ice Cream Pie
a Pampered Chef Recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups finely crushed creme-filled lemon sandwich cookies (about 14 cookies)
3 TBSP butter, melted
1 quart vanilla ice cream
1 cup coarsely chopped creme-filled lemon sandwich cookies (about 7 cookies)
1 quart orange sherbet
2 cups thawed Cool Whip
1 TBSP orange zest

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Combine 2 cups of finely crushed cookies with butter; mix well. Press into bottom of spring form pan. Bake 10 minutes; cool completely. Place in freezer until ready to fill.
Scoop vanilla ice cream into crust and press to form an even layer. Sprinkle with coarsely chopped cookies. Scoop sherbet over 2^nd cookie layer; press to form an even layer.
Spread half of Cool Whip over top of pie. Pipe a decorative border with remaining Cool Whip. Garnish pie as desired, with orange zest, etc. Freeze at least 30 minutes or until ready to serve.
Yield: 12 servings

* You can also vary the flavor... Oreos, mint chip ice cream, chocolate ice cream, ETC.

Frozen Yogurt Pie

I saw this in my tiny little Kraft Food & Family mailer that arrived last week. Yum... I'm going to be making this soon. And it doesn't have to be raspberries, you can use strawberries, blueberries, etc. And it's frozen which I'm loving as the temperature goes up and up this summer.

Crockpot Roast

*

image from www.Target.com

One of the nice things about living close to family is never having to cook fancy Sunday or Holiday meals. I'm all about desserts, but meals, involving meat, not my strong point. So when we moved to Kansas almost three years ago I started making roasts in my crockpot. Which was not how my parents did it, but I didn't have any oven proof pots (which is how they cook their roasts). I now like to think that I've become an expert on roasts. Not really. I have no idea how to pick a good roast, I like it when they turn out stringy and that only happens about 1/3 of the time. But the potatoes turn out great, and that's my favorite part. And I've become rather successful at gravy making, last night's gravy turned out fabulously. I don't really have a roast recipe, but here's the gist of it.

Sunday Pot Roast

Ingredients:
Roast
Carrots
Potatoes
Onions
Garlic
Lipton's Onion Soup mix**
Water
2 TBSP flour
Lawry Seasoning Salt

Directions:
Cut onions into huge chunks (the easier to pick them out for those of us who hate onions), peel a few cloves of garlic, peel potatoes, get a couple handfuls of baby carrots. Throw all of this into the crockpot. Meanwhile, flour your roast and brown it on all sides in a frying pan. Place roast in crockpot. Mix onion soup mix with water (following directions on soup mix), pour over top of everything. Cover and cook 5-6 hours on high, 8-9 hours on low.

For the gravy, remove about 2-3 cups of juice from crockpot to a pot. Whisk two tablespoons of flour with 1/4 cup water* and add to juices. Stir constantly over high heat until thickened. Cool slightly.

Sprinkle Lawry's Seasoning Salt on potatoes and meat. So tastey. That's my brother's addiction, well, my whole family's really. Lawry's Seasoning Salt.

*As for crockpots... mine is way too small. It's the 4-5 quart variety, which seemed huge when registering for it for our wedding when there was just the two of us and I wasn't really sure what to do with a crockpot. Now, when I make a roast the lid hardly fits on because I use so many potatoes to ensure that I get a ton. I need to invest in a much larger crockpot but need the cupboard space first.

**There's a roast recipe on the back of the soup mix, I basically follow that. For the gravy as well.

Tuxedo Brownies

image scanned in from Pampered Chef cookbook

This is one of my favorite recipes. But both versions of it that I make are a bit involved. The other is making brownie cupcakes, squirting this tasty filling on top, and then adding slices of strawberries. While neither is horrifically involved, they are more work than I want for an every day dessert. But what I do want every day is this white chocolate cream cheese frosting. So I've started just making it and topping regular brownies with it. And I'm thinking next I'll use it as the frosting to my Chocolate Cake Box Cookies or as the filling to my homemade Oreos. Mmm. This stuff is seriously delicious!

Here's the smaller recipe for the Tuxedo Brownie Cup filling:

Ingredients:
2 squares (1 oz ea) white chocolate for baking
2 TBSP milk
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 cup Cool Whip, thawed

Directions:
Microwave white chocolate and milk in small microwavable container, uncovered, on HIGH 1 minute; stir until smooth. Cool slightly. In bowl, combine cream cheese and powdered sugar; mix well. Gradually stir in white chocolate mixture until smooth. Fold in whipped topping.

Lemon Cups

image and recipe from www.familyfun.com

I totally want to try this, and all of the other yummy summer treats they have pictured.

Lemon Cups

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons lemon zest

4 to 5 lemons
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from the lemons)
3 1/2 cups water
1 1/4 cups sugar
Mint leaves and lemon zest for garnish

Directions:

1. Scrape the 2 teaspoons of zest from one of the lemons, then cut all of the lemons in half and juice them. Measure 1 cup, reserving the rest for another use.

2. Use a melon baller to remove any remaining pulp. Slightly trim the bottom of each lemon cup so it sits flat, then set them on a plate, cover, and place them in the refrigerator.
3. In a medium saucepan, combine the water and sugar over medium heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Bring the water to a boil, then add the lemon juice and zest and boil for 2 minutes.
4. Transfer the liquid to a mixing bowl and allow it to cool to room temperature. Place the bowl in the freezer until the mixture begins to freeze, several hours or overnight. Use a fork to break up the ice, then stir it until fluffy.
5. Spoon 1/2 cup of the slush into each lemon half, then cover them and freeze until you're ready to serve. Garnish with a mint leaf and lemon zest before serving, if you like. Serves 8 to 10.

Wood's Ranch Coleslaw

Here's a great side dish for your BBQ.

For those of you from my hometown, this is supposed to be a lot like the coleslaw at Wood's Ranch BBQ and Grill. I got this recipe from my brother-in-law and it's very likely that he came home from eating their coleslaw and figured out how to make it. He's talented like that.

Coleslaw

The salad:

1 head cabbage, shredded

2 carrots, shredded

1/4 C dry roasted or honey roasted peanuts

The dressing:

3/8 C Rice vinegar

1 tsp celery seeds

1 tsp dry mustard

1/4 C vegetable oil

1 tsp salt

3 single serving packages of Splenda*

1/4 tsp black pepper

Wait to mix the salad until you are ready to eat because the cabbage breaks down the potency of the salad dressing. Add the nuts when you toss the salad.

*My brother-in-law is diabetic, you could probably use regular sugar as well.

My Dad's Peanut Butter Cookies

image from www.jif.com

I love peanut butter. Period. My roommates in college thought I was weird when I'd eat a spoonful of peanut butter as a treat.

In high school my best friend's mom was one of those moms that always made the yummiest cookies, fudges and baked goods. She did her grocery shopping every Friday after work. One of those people. Sort of the epitome of a homemaker to me. My family took them a plate of my dad's cookies one Christmas and they were all flabbergasted by how yummy the peanut butter cookies were. We finally figured out it must be the peanut butter, so she converted to Jif peanut butter right then and there.

Here's my dad's peanut butter cookie recipe:

Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp soda
1/8 tsp salt

Directions:
Thoroughly cream butter, peanut butter, sugars, egg and vanilla. Sift together dry ingredients; blend into creamy mixture. Shape into 1-inch balls; roll in granulated sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Criss cross with fork tines or imprint with a potato masher.

Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.

Chippy Peanut Butter Cookie

Yesterday I posted the recipe for the peanut butter cookies I grew up eating. Here are my newly discovered favorites. AND, since a lot of the time I'm just baking cookies for my own family's consumption and even though I know it's better not to, we could finish off an entire batch in a day or two, so I've started doing another thing my dad did when I was a kid. I freeze bars or tubes of dough in wax paper or Saran Wrap. That way I'm just baking up one sheet of cookies a night, plus, making one batch of dough ends up feeding us cookies for 4 or 5 nights rather than devouring them all in one sitting.

Chippy Peanut Butter Cookies
from Taste of Home

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 package (10 ounces) swirled milk chocolate and peanut butter chips

Directions:

In a large bowl, cream butter, peanut butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in chips.
Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks. Yield: about 4 dozen. Editor’s Note: This recipe was tested with Nestle swirled milk chocolate and peanut butter chips.

My Mom's Peach Cobbler

I finally got around to making my 4th (or 9th) of July Peach Cobbler last night. And because in my opinion, every recipe needs a picture, here are the pictures to go with my mom's world famous (at least in my family) PEACH COBBLER. I just wish I could capture the smell and post it for you as well.

Peach Cobbler (or which ever berry or fruit you want it to be)
Ingredients:

6 cups peaches

1 cup sugar

4 tbsp. flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

4 tbsp. butter

2 cups flour

4 tbsp. sugar

2 ½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

2/3 cup vegetable oil

6 tbsp. milk

2 eggs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Arrange in 13 x 9 ½ x 2 pan: 6 cups of cut-up, peeled fruit (peaches, raspberries, plums, etc.). Sprinkle with a mixture of 1 cup sugar, 4 tbsp. flour, 1 tsp. cinnamon. Dot with 4 tbsp. butter.

Sift together in a bowl: 2 cups flour, 4 tbsp. sugar, 2 ½ tsp. baking powder, ½ tsp salt. Add: 2/3 cup vegetable oil, 6 tbsp. milk, 2 eggs. Stir with a fork until thoroughly blended. Drop in spoonfuls over the fruit. Lightly spread with a spatula to cover surface of fruit. Bake 30-40 minutes at 350. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

PW's Crash Hot Potatoes

I just tried this recipe that Pioneer Woman posted last week. So delicious. I might have to make them again tomorrow. And the next day. YUM. Oh, and did I mention super easy as well?

Speedy Streusel Apple Pie

image scanned in from The Pampered Chef All the Best Cookbook

I never got to make my apply pie for the 4th of July, so I made it last night. I don't actually like apple pie for the most part. I know, so unAmerican of me. But I LOVE this pie. I've posted the recipe before. But here it is again, with pictures of us making it.

Buddy, my little baker, peeling, coring and slicing apples.

Apples all sliced up.

Then I mix them with the cinnamon and sugar, et al. and dump them into the crust.

Sprinkle the streusel mix (my favorite part) on top.

Bake, cool and eat. Great with vanilla ice cream (unfortunately, we were

out due to all the Purple Cow Milkshakes we've been making).

Speedy Streusel Apple Pie

a Pampered Chef recipe

Ingredients:

1 pkg. (15 oz.) refrigerated pie crusts (2 crusts), divided

1 egg white, lightly beaten

¼ cup pecan halves, chopped

¾ cup plus 2 TBSP sugar, divided

1 ¼ tsp cinnamon, divided

5-6 medium red baking apples (Jonathan, Rome or Braeburn), about 6 cups sliced

2 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla

3 TBSP cornstarch

Powdered Sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400. Let pie crusts stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. Gently unfold one pie crust onto lightly floured surface. Roll to an 11 ½ inch circle. Place in pie plate (not metal) pressing dough into bottom and up sides. Brush with egg white over bottom and halfway up sides of crust.

For streusel, dice remaining pie crust (it’s not necessary to unfold it). Place in bowl. Add chopped pecans, 2 TBSP sugar and ¼ tsp of cinnamon; toss and set aside.

Core and slice apples leaving peels on (or off). Cut apples into quarters. In a large bowl, combine apples, lemon juice, and vanilla; toss to coat. In small bowl combine cornstarch, remaining ¾ cup sugar and remaining tsp. cinnamon; mix well. Add sugar mixture to apples stirring to coat evenly. Spoon apple mixture into crust; sprinkle evenly with reserved streusel.

Microwave on HIGH 8 minutes or until apples are very hot, rotating dish after 4 minutes. Remove pie from microwave; immediately place on bottom rack of conventional oven. Bake 18-22 minutes or until topping is deep golden brown. Remove from oven; let stand at least 20 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar; if desired. Serve warm, with vanilla ice cream.

Yield: 8 servings.

My recipe notes:

• This time I used Granny Smith apples and peeled them. Princess Sparkley is not a fan of apple peels.
  

• I don't think I had enough apples. Buddy ate a lot as we sliced. It calls for 5-6, I think we used 4 1/2 larger apples. But we definitely needed more.

• I love the streusel top, but it seems like I come up short on it to cover the whole pie. But two whole crusts for the top seems like a lot. Maybe one and a half? I wonder if you could freeze that other half again, or just make cinnamon sugar crisps with it?

Notice how none of my pictures show much crust... I'm horrible at making the crust look all ruffled and pretty. This recipe is great because it calls for Pillsbury crusts that are all made and ready for me to use. I don't even use a rolling pin on it like the recipe says. I just unroll it and stick it in my pie plate. Excellent for those of us with no pie shell making skills.

image from life in sugar hollow

This is my brother-in-law's recipe, and it's yummy, but then I'm also the weirdo that likes cucumber with lemon juice and salt or cucumber with vinegar and salt. So maybe not so yummy to all of you. But with all of your green thumbs, you should have cucumbers growing out of your ears by now. Here's something you can do with them.

Cucumber Salad

Ingredients:

2-3 cucumbers

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 tbsp. vinegar

1 tbsp. oil

Directions:

Peel cucumbers and slice thin, but not so thin that they are flimsy. Mix other ingredients together and pour over cucumbers. Add more if needed.

It looks a bit like this when it is done.

image from Health-Fitness.com.au

Lemon Cupcakes

This summery recipe is supposed to make a sheet cake, but since I'm terrible at applying frosting to cakes and cupcakes are the new black, I made them into cupcakes. Here they are:

Lemon Cupcakes (original recipe from here)

Ingredients:
1 box (18.25 oz.) lemon cake mix
4 eggs
1 can (15.75 oz.) lemon pie filling (my can was larger, so I put about a TBSP into the icing)
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla (I did about 1 tsp. lemon juice and 1/2 tsp. vanilla to make it more lemony)

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, beat the cake mix and eggs until well blended. Fold in pie filling. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full of batter. (I used a cookie dough scoop and a half to pour the batter into cupcake liners. I saw this on Paula Deen at our hotel in South Dakota for the 4 1/2 minutes of the show I watched). Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, butter and confectioner's sugar until smooth. Stir in vanilla (and lemon juice and spoonful of pie filling). Frost cupcakes (I used this). Store in refrigerator. (Everything I've read about this recipe says that they are much better cold.)
Makes about 2 dozen standard sized cupcakes.

Frosting Shots

image: frosting shot from roboppy on Flickr.

I thought that cupcakes were the new thing. Apparently I was wrong. We've moved past cupcakes and on to frosting shots. I first read about it here and then here. As I kid I always wanted that piece of store cake with the giant frosting flower on it. But since I've become a *gulp* adult, I tend to scrape off all the extra store frosting. But I think if I was at one of these fancy cupcake shops with their gourmet flavored frosting, I might go for a frosting shot or two (or three). I've posted it before and I'll post it again, this is my favorite frosting and I could eat about a dozen shots of it in a sitting. Yikes.

From this recipe Tuxedo Brownie Cup frosting:

Ingredients:
2 squares (1 oz ea) white chocolate for baking
2 TBSP milk
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 cup Cool Whip, thawed

My Dad's Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Mrs. Field's Chocolate Chip Cookies... supposedly
via my dad

Ingredients:
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups melted butter
2 tsp vanilla
5 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
16 oz Ghiradelli chocolate chips (I use milk chocolate, my dad uses semi-sweet. Eww.)

Directions:
Beat eggs until frothy. Add one cup at a time sugar and brown sugar. Gradually add 2 cups of melted butter. Mix slowly. Add 2 tsp vanilla. Change mixer blades to kneading blades. Mix in a separate bowl: 5 1/2 cups flour, 1 1/2 tsp soda, and 1 tsp salt. Add to wet mixture. Add chocolate chips. Bake 7-8 minutes at 400 degrees. Take of pan immediately.

Interesting tidbit: My dad and I both follow this recipe and our cookies never turn out looking the same.

Fancying Up Plain Brownies

image scanned in from the Delightful Desserts Pampered Chef Cookbook

my own photo of my own, not as artistically pleasing, but just as yummy, brownies

I like this recipe for two reasons:

1. It's chocolate and peanut butter.

2. It's really simple, basically just a brownie mix, but it seems much fancier and more involved.


Triple Layer Brownies
from The Pampered Chef

Ingredients:
1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts, chopped
1 cup old-fashioned (or quick) oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 (19-21 oz.) brownie mix (plus ingredients to make brownies)
3/4 semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

Directions:
Preheat to 350 degrees. Spray 9x13 casserole dish with Pam. Chop peanuts and combine them with oats, brown sugar, flour and baking soda. Add melted butter. Press into the bottom of 9x13 pan. Bake 8 minutes.

While the crust is baking, prepare brownie mix according to box directions. Gently spoon batter over partially baked crust; carefully spreading to edges. Bake according to box directions for brownies (28-30 minutes). Cool completely.

Combine chocolate chips and peanut butter and microwave, on high, uncovered for 1 minute. Stir until smooth. Spread evenly over cooled brownies. Sprinkle with additional chopped peanuts if desired. Cut into bars or squares. Store in tightly covered container in refrigerator (which I didn't do, but our only lasted about 36 hours).

Surprise Cookies

So I tried out this Martha Stewart Surprise Cookie Recipe this weekend. It was pretty good, I mean, I ate a ton and all, but a little too rich for me. I'm more of a milk chocolate lover than really rich chocolate. I loved the idea of it all though... the chocolate cookie, the soft chewy marshmallow and the soft frosting on top. Yum. My husband wished the cookie wasn't so dry and crumbly. He wanted them to be chewier... he's thinking along the lines of a cake box cookie*. He greatly enjoyed the batter as well.

*Which, by the way, is one of the biggest reasons people come to my blog according to statcounter.com and Google Analytics.

Chicken and Rice Casserole for a Crowd

Recipe for a meal?? you ask! Yes, I'm actually posting a recipe for a non-dessert item. Shocking, but true. This is actually what I'm making right now. It's a different spin on a chicken and rice casserole and my kids really like it (as long as I cut the green things big enough for them to pick out). This is doubled and makes two 9x13 casseroles (I half it.*) So it's called...

Chicken and Rice Casserole for a Crowd

Ingredients:

6 boneless chicken breasts, cooked and cut in bite size pieces
2/3 cup chopped celery
6 green onions, chopped
2 TBSP lemon juice
1/2 cups maynnaise
1 cup evaporated milk
4 cups cooked rice
3 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cups Pepperidge Farm herb stuffing mix
1 cup slivered almonds (optional)
1 cube butter

Directions:
Mix first 8 ingredients (all but stuffing, almonds and butter). Divide mixture and place in two 9x13 casserole dishes. Make topping by melting butter and adding stuffing mix and almonds. Sprinkle topping on both casseroles. Bake at 35o for 30 minutes.

*I made up this perfect table showing the halved recipe and the huge recipe and how much for each, but Blogger won't allow the HTML and I'm not HTML fluent enough (or at all) to fix it. So sorry.

Pudding Ghosts

I love to make this recipe when Halloween is near.

Baked Potato Soup

image from here

It was 1996. I had just started at BYU and was home to get my wisdom teeth pulled during a break. Jed had a broken ankle. My mom's brother was in town. He took us (my parents, Jed, and I) out to dinner at Tony Roma's. It was the first and only time I've eaten there. Since I'd just had my wisdom teeth pulled, and we were eating at a restaurant famous for its ribs, my choices for a meal were limited. I ended up getting their baked potato soup. It is the yummiest soup I've ever eaten. I saw this recipe* today and decided one of these cold fall days I'm going to have to give it a try.

*I have another Baked Potato Soup Recipe from a Taste of Home recipe winners cookbook that I'll have to post later on... remind me.

Yummiest Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

aka what I've been living off of for days


A good friend and possibly the kindest person I've ever known makes me these cookies every Fall. I finally got the recipe from her this year. They are yummy and make a lot.

According to my husband, they are kind of weird and taste better the second day.

Princess Sparkley loves loves loves them. But I'm not sure her taste in food is really trustworthy.

Buddy likes them okay, but again, he didn't inherit the sweet tooth the rest of us have.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1/2 cup shortening
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 14 oz can pure pumpkin
1/2 cup nuts (optional)
2 tsp vanilla

5 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp nutmeg
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves

3/4 cup applesauce

1 bag chocolate chips


Directions:
Cream shortening, sugar and egg. Combine dry ingredients. Add half of dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture. Add applesauce. Add remainder of dry mix. Mix well. Add chocolate chips. It will be sticky. Bake at 375 for 12 minutes.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Today was the Grandparents' Day Fall Party at my daughter's school and I signed up to bring baked goods. I've made this recipe once or twice before and it's a yummy, fall treat. I'm giving you my amended recipe, where the batter is 1 1/2 times the original recipe. Even following this today, I was too generous with the batter on the first dozen muffins and found myself scraping the bowl for every last tidbit of batter to finish off the second dozen decently.

Pumpkin and Cream Cheese Muffins

adjusted from a Country Living (Sept. 2004) recipe

Ingredients:

8 oz. cream cheese (softened)

4 eggs

3 ½ cups sugar

3 ½ cups flour

¼ cup pecans (roughly chopped)

3 TBSP butter (melted)

3 tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. salt

2 ¼ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. baking soda

1 15 oz. can pure pumpkin

1/3 + 1/6 cup vegetable oil

¾ tsp. vanilla

Directions:

Heat oven to 375. Lightly coat 2 – 12 cup muffin tins with oil (or line with muffin liners). Mix the cream cheese, 1 egg, and 3 TBSP. sugar in a small bowl; set aside. Toss 5 TBSP. sugar, ½ cup flour, pecans, butter and ½ tsp. cinnamon together in a medium bowl; set aside. Combine the remaining 3 cups sugar, 3 cups flour, 3 tsp. cinnamon, salt, baking soda and baking powder in a large bowl. Lightly beat 3 eggs, pumpkin, oil and vanilla together in a medium bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, pour the pumpkin mixture in and mix with a fork until moistened. Evenly divide batter in half. Fill muffin cups with about 2 TBSP. batter. Place about 2 tsp. of cream cheese fillling in center of each cup and fill with remaining batter. Sprinkle some of pecan mixture on top and bake until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean; about 20-25 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Makes 2 dozen muffins.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins

Okay, so I finally got around to making these muffins I've been wanting to try. I went in with high hopes, got skeptical in the middle, and was greatly pleased with the final product. These are delicious, but make sure you have a tall glass of milk nearby.

Oh, and the smell. I wish I could capture the smell of my kitchen right now and post it for you. It smells so yummy and peanut buttery. Mmm.

Recipe and better pictures here.

Here are my notes on the recipe:

I used less salt - it calls for 1/2 a teaspoon of salt. I never put in as much salt as a recipe calls for. I used a little less than 1/2 a teaspoon of salt.

Vanilla yogurt - I didn't have a cup of sour cream. I had approximately 3/4 cup sour cream. And a sleeping baby. And I'd already been to the store today. And the batter was mixed and the oven was preheated. So, I also didn't have plain yogurt, which is a good sour cream substitute, instead I used about 1/4 cup vanilla yogurt. It seems to have worked out okay.

I set the timer for 15 minutes and started checking them then until the full 20 minutes just to be safe.

The batter is really thick... like a gooey cookie dough more than a batter. So it didn't rise much for me in the muffin tins. Luckily I took all of that into account and filled my muffin cups almost all the way full so the little bit they did rise finished it off to perfection.

Princess Sparkley's review: These are really good. I wish they were cupcakes.

Scones

At some point, before I was born, my parents decided our family should recognize the culture's of our ancestors. My dad's father was Danish, his mother was English. My mom's family is mostly English. Thus came to be the traditions of aebleskivers (which I wrote about briefly here) and scones.

Here's the thing about my family's version of scones, and real British scones with clotted cream... they are way different. When I lived in London for a shortened semester, one of my top priorities was going somewhere for High Tea. I don't know why. But that's what I wanted to do. Not for the tea, I don't drink tea, but for the atmosphere and the scones. But British scones are more like a ... sweet biscuit for lack of any more coherent thoughts or descriptions. (See the wikipedia description here.)

My family's scones are basically fried dough. Here's the unofficial recipe. Oh, but first, here's when we eat it. Right now my church time is at 11 o'clock in the morning. Lunchtime. So when we return home at 2 PM we are starving. If I'm on the ball, I get everything in the crockpot before church for a roast or something of the sort that'll be ready when we walk in the door. And we eat a lunch/dinner at about 2:3o. For a dinner/dessert later that night we have scones. More filling and healthier (kind of) than an actual dessert.

Scones

Ingredients:
Rhodes frozen rolls or Rhodes Sweet Bread Frozen Loaves
vegetable oil
butter
jam
honey
powdered sugar

Directions:
Thaw dough according to package directions. Let rise. Punch down and make ball of the dough tearing holes in the middle so they are donut-esque. Let rise again. Heat vegetable oil in shallow frying pan over medium heat. Place dough in pan. Turn. Once both sides are a nice light brownish color, place them on paper towels to soak up extra oil.

Serve with butter, honey, powdered sugar. Or with butter, jam, powdered sugar. And a big glass of milk.

Clam Chowder

I don't like fish. As a kid, I would have said I hated it. I still mostly prefer fish sticks over anything else. I've expanded my fish eating tendencies, but just a bit. I would probably die in Poland at Christmas time (not really, but I'd definitely not enjoy the food.) Other than fish sticks, and sometimes certain salmon dishes, I only like clam chowder. My parents would take us to this fancy (not really, but we thought so as kids) restaurant and they'd order fish and us kids would get clam chowder. I loved it. I still love it. I don't really love the chewy rubberness of the clams, but I try not to think about that.

The following is a combo of my mom's Aunt Thurma* and my brother-in-law's yummy clam chowder recipes:


Clam Chowder

Ingredients:

1 cup onion, finely chopped

1 cup celery, finely diced

2 cups potatoes, finely diced

1 cup carrots, finely diced

2 cans (6.5 oz. each) clams, undrained

¾ cup butter

¾ cup flour

1 quart half and half

**1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

Directions:

Combine vegetables in small saucepan. Drain clams; pour juice over veggies; add enough water to barely cover. Cook, covered until tender – about 15 minutes. In meantime, melt butter in large heavy saucepan. Stir in flour until blended and bubbly. Remove from heat; stir in cream until smooth and blended. Return to heat; cook and stir with wire whisk until thick and smooth. Add undrained veggies and clams; heat through. Season with salt and pepper.

*My only memory of my Great Aunt Thurma is when she visited my house when I was 6 or 7, right before my grandma and grandpa died and she would read and read all of my Care Bear books to me.

**Because my mom is pretty sure my great aunt used more heavy whipping cream in her recipe than my brother-in-law does. It was the olden days, people were less health conscious.