cooking/recipes

Thanksgiving Pumpkin White Chocolate Drop Cookies

I received this recipe from a fellow homeschool mom here locally and promptly sent my husband out to buy the ingredients. They are simply scrumptious.

Pumpkin White Chocolate Drops

Ingredients:

2c. butter, softened
2c. granulated sugar
1 can (15oz) solid pack pumpkin
2 eggs
4c all-purpose flour
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 bag (12oz) white chocolate chips
1 container (16 oz) cream cheese frosting
1/4 c packed brown sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease cookie sheets.

2. Beat butter and granulated sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add pumpkin and eggs; beat until smooth. Add flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder and baking soda; beat just until well blended. Stir in Chips

3. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake about 12 minutes or until set and bottoms are brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets. Remove to wire rack to cool.

4. Combine frosting and brown sugar in small bowl. Spread on cookies. Makes about 6 dozen cookies.

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Minute Chocolate Mug Cake – You can thank me later

This recipe was sent to me by my dear friend, Jeanette and may I just say that today was a better day all because I made this and ate it?

If you’re in need of a quick but extremely tasty chocolate fix, this little gem will fix you right up, I promise. (I also made a chocolate sauce to drizzle on top, because I’m PMSing like that)

Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

1 Coffee Mug

4 tablespoons flour (that’s plain flour, not self-rising)

4 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons baking cocoa

1 egg

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons oil

3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)

Small splash of vanilla

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla , and mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don’t be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.

Note: this is not a cake that stores well – it becomes rather chewy if left out more than 15 minutes or so, so eat it while it’s hot!

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The Breakfast of Champions

About once every two weeks, I make something for my kids that is totally unhealthy, makes them super-hyper and probably contributes to cavitites. (and then I send them to Grandma’s – oh I kid.)

I grew up on this particular breakfast treat – my mother used to make it for me on Saturday mornings and I can still remember sitting in front of my Saturday morning cartoons eating a hot piece of cinnamon toast.

Of course, I call it cinnamon toast because it sounds less threatening. My mother-in-law calls it sugar toast…which sounds like I’m a horrible mother if I feed it to my kids. Personally, I don’t see much difference between this and cake or say, pancakes for breakfast. A pancake is just a cake with syrup substituted for the frosting, right?

Cinnamon Toast

8 slices bread (your favorite kind – it does not matter)
8 pats of butter or margarine
sugar
cinnamon

~Turn your oven’s broiler on HIGH.

~Lay your bread out on a cookie sheet and spread enough butter over each piece so that you have a nice thin covering. (It’s hard to say how much – too much and your bread gets soggy, too little and your sugar doesn’t carmelize – so you might have to play with it)

~Sprinkle enough sugar to hide the butter (not a thick layer, but about the same thickness of the butter you spread – you want consistency if you can acchieve it)

~Sprinkly a generous amount of cinnamon all over the sugar- pile it on, because this is what makes it taste good. (would I lie to you?)

~Place in broiler and watch until the sugar starts to bubble (usually about 3-6 minutes) and the butter, sugar and cinnamon are carmelized.

~Remove and carefully place on a plate. Let it cool down before giving it to your kids, because even when the topside isn’t hot, the steam from the underside can burn.

~Enjoy! The breakfast of champions.

So I’m curious…have any of you ever eaten this or had a variation of this? What do YOU call it?

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Nothing is as satisfying as something homemade, especially when it’s a Snickers

Snickers Candy Bar

1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/8 cup peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups powdered sugar
35 individual Kraft caramels
1 cup dry−roasted unsalted peanuts
1 − 12 oz. bag milk−chocolate chips

With the mixer on high speed, combine the corn syrup, butter, vanilla, peanut butter, and salt until creamy. Slowly add the powdered sugar.

When the mixture has the consistency of dough, remove it from the bowl with your hands and press it into a lightly greased 9×9−inch pan. Put in the refrigerator.

Melt the caramels in a small pan over low heat. When the caramel is soft, mix in the peanuts. Pour the mixture over the refrigerated nougat in the pan. Let this cool in the refrigerator.

When the refrigerated mixture is firm, melt the chocolate over low heat in a double boiler or in a microwave oven set on high for 2 minutes. Stir halfway through cooking time. When the mixture in the pan has hardened, cut it into 2×1−inch sections.

Set each chunk onto a fork and dip into the melted chocolate. Tap the fork against the side of the bowl or pan to knock off any excess chocolate. Then place the chunks on waxed paper to cool at room temperature, or refrigerate for quicker cooling.

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WFMW – 5 Ingredient Recipes

Today’s WFMW is all about the 5-ingredient meal. I didn’t even have to go through my recipes, because honestly? I’ve turned into a lazy cook and I have all but stopped making gourmet meals for my family and have instead turned to comforting foods that satisfy. Foods that are calorie laden and make my bummy even wider than ever before.

But I digress. I’m here to share with you a few of my favorite, easy-to-make, 5-ingredient recipes. Without further ado:

Cheesy Crockpot Tortellini
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 8 hours

Ingredients:1 lb. Italian sausage
26 oz. jar pasta sauce
14 oz. can diced tomatoes with Italian seasonings, undrained
9 oz. pkg. refrigerated cheese tortellini
1 cup shredded pizza cheese OR grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation:
Cook sausage in heavy skillet over medium heat until browned, about 10 minutes. Stir sausage frequently to break up as it cooks. Drain well and place in 4-5 quart slow cooker. Add pasta sauce and tomatoes and stir well. Cover and cook on low 7-8 hours. Then stir in tortellini, cover again and ccook on low for 20-40 minutes or until pasta is tender and heated. Sprinkle with cheese and let stand 5 minutes before serving. Then tell your kids that they’d better be thankful that they have a mama that’s willing to slave over a hot crockpot all day cooking for them.


Crockpot Bacon Chicken

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 8 hours

Ingredients:
8 bacon slices
8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 (10 oz) cans roasted garlic cream of mushroom soup
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup flour

Preparation:
Wrap one slice of bacon around each boneless chicken breast and place in a 3-4 quart crockpot. In medium bowl, combine condensed soups, sour cream, and flour and mix with wire whisk to blend. Pour over chicken. Cover crockpot and cook on low for 6-8 hours until chicken and bacon are thoroughly cooked. Serves 8, unless you were raised by the Clampetts, in which case you might want to triple the recipe.

DESSERT:

Microwave Fudge

Ingredients:
16 oz (1-lb bag) of powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/4 cup milk
1 stick butter
1 T vanilla

Preparation:
Mix powdered sugar and cocoa in large bowl; pour 1/4 c milk over top and place 1 stick of butter in the center. Microwave 4-1/2-6 minutes and stir together. Be careful not to overcook. Add 1 T vanilla, stir until smooth and pour into buttered dish. Let cool and hello? – eat it all up before your kids can get to it.

Choco-Vanilla Pudding Dessert

Ingredients:
1 pkg graham crackers
1 tub cool whip
2 pkgs instant vanilla pudding
3 cups milk
1 cup chocolate frosting

Preparation:
Layer grahams on bottom of 11 x 17 dish – mix cool whip, pudding,and milk and pour over crackers. Melt chocolate fudge frosting in microwave and pour over the top. Refrigerate overnight. Be sure to hide it very discreetly under something your kids hate to eat so they don’t discover it, because this is slap-yo-mama good for a quick, cheap dessert.

Head on over to Shannon’s place for even more 5-ingredient recipes.

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Dinner AND a Show

Since my earliest youth I have had an inherent desire to be an accomplished dancer. Not just any type of dancer, but a ballerina that leaps high into the air and pirouettes gracefully on the ball of my foot with little effort. However, the feet delivered me by the hand of Fate preclude my attainment of such lofty ambitions.

You see, it’s a well known fact that I was born with two perfectly left feet. Fortunately, my mother recognized this immediately and spared me the humiliation that years of ballet lessons would have undoubtedly instilled upon my delicate and ingenuous psyche.

Never one to concede defeat in timidity and despair, something akin to hubris continues to propel me toward my childhood dream. Quite possibly, it is my own progeny and their innate expressions of free-spirited frolicking that provokes this want to lay aside all inhibitions and aversions of embarrassment and once again let my soul thrill to the rapture of unencumbered dance.

Which is precisely why I now have a broken toe.

The end.

P.S. Which looks like raw hamburger.

P.P.S. Speaking of raw hamburger, here’s my meatloaf recipe – it’s awesome:

Karen’s “Cracker Barrel” Meatloaf {Knock-Off} Recipe
This will make two 2-1/2 lb loaves – in other words, it’s a lotta meatloaf! (makes 21 5oz servings)

~5 lbs ground beef
~2 cups chopped onion
~1 cup diced green bell pepper
~5 eggs
~2-1/2 T salt
~3/4 T pepper
~3 cups (24 oz) diced canned tomates
~1 1/8 cups grated biscuit crumbs

Place all ingredients in a large bowl (who am I kidding – I use a roasting pan) and mix by hand completely. Place in a couple of large loaf pans and bake at 300 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Remove from oven and invert loaf over wire rack to drain grease and juice – spread 3/4 cup catsup (or ketchup if you’re from Texas) over loaf and bake for another 10 minutes.

Enjoy…and you will, because this is the best meatloaf recipe I’ve ever had. Even my husband (who has an intense dislike for all things meatloaf) loves it.

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