Week 23: Pumpkin Gingerbread

Hello....
What kind of thoughts do you have this time of year? Maybe you think about raking a big pile of leaves and jumping in them for hours. Some might think of picking apples and eating caramel apples or all the many other things one can bake with apples. I also think of building a fire and roasting marshmallows and making s'more's. Drinking hot apple cider or a great tasting cup of java. There are so many things I think about this time of year. I love it all. I love being in the kitchen. Apple recipes and soup or stew recipes and pumpkin. I made Pumpkin Gingerbread today. It smelled wonderful baking. It was an easy recipe and it called for ground ginger and instead I grated some fresh ginger. I'll let you know a little tip about preserving fresh ginger. Peel it and put it in a ziplock bag and keep it in the freezer. When you are ready to use it just run it over a zester or grater. It is perfect! It was very moist and made 2 big loaves. Great alone or with butter on it and serve with a nice cup of tea or coffee. I had my best friend over and once again we talked about me owning my own coffee shop. That is a dream and vision I would love to see. I know I need to get busy so you all can get some of these recipes. Hopefully you will read a new one next week. Blessings!!!!

Week 22: Kettle Corn

How many times have you gone to a country fair or craft sale and smelled the wonderful smell of kettle corn? Well, I was searching my recipes last night late and came across a recipe. My daughter had some friends over and I thought I would try it. It came out so great. I decided it needed a few shakes of salt and when I turned the salt shaker over found out that someone (I think my husband because he had taken it to use in a prop for his message he preached) had not screwed on the lid. Soooooo, I had about a half cup of salt on one side of the bowl. I had to make another batch and it turned out just as good. The kids said it tasted great. One of my new favorites.

Week 21: Whoopie Pies

My once a week has turned into once a month. Well, I have a few to post. I went on a search for something different that was chocolate. I found it. Whoopie pies. It is believed that the first Whoopie Pie was made in the 1920s. The state of Maine likes to claim the fame of inventing it. However, residents of Pennsylvania say the first Whoopie Pie originated there. There are also those who give the Amish credit for making the original Whoopie Pie. Some believe it was the Amish who traveled to Maine and actually introduced this cake-like dessert. Regardless of the true origination, the delicious taste is almost always agreed upon. How it got it's name? Well, the Amish say that the children would stand around waiting for them and when they were ready they would yell "Whoopie". This is 2 cake like chocolate cookies with a gooey cream filling. Some say they taste like Hostess Susie Q's. Look forward to the recipe when I've finished my 52 weeks. I will try to be more faithful in posting each week.

Week 20: Peanut Butter Sheet Cake

Back for another week. This week's recipe is for peanut butter lovers. I love peanut butter so this cake isn't good for me to have around. Growing up my grandma and mom made quite often a chocolate sheet cake that was so good. Best chocolate cake I've had and better than brownies too. I'm not a huge chocolate fan but love the sheet cake. You can imagine how much I love the peanut butter one. I did have to make some changes this time. I didn't have buttermilk or evaporated mile so for the cake I add about a tablespoon of vinegar to some half n half. If you have lemon juice that works too. For the evaporated milk in the frosting I also used half n half. Worked just fine. The recipe calls for chunky peanut butter but our family likes creamy, so that is what I used. Also just fine. Here is the recipe.

Peanut Butter Sheet Cake

2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
3/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Glaze:
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1/3 cup chunky peanut butter
1/3 cup miniature marshmallows
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a saucepan, bring water and butter to a boil, stir in peanut butter and oil until blended. Add dry ingredients; mix well. Combine eggs, buttermilk and vanilla and add to peanut butter mixture. Mix well.
Pour into a greased 15-in X 10-in X 1-in baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.
Meanwhile combine sugar milk and butter in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter, marshmallows, and vanilla and stir until marshmallows are melted. Pour and spread on warm cake. Carefully spread out over the top. Cook completely.

This is such a great recipe. It's very moist and serves a lot of people. Hope you peanut butter lovers enjoy it. God Bless!

Week 19: Lemon Bars

My kids and I ate ate an awesome little Italian place this week and my son said he was craving lemon bars. It made me think back to my high school days. I had a handful of recipes that I would make all the time and one of the was Lemon Bars from the 1969 Betty Crocker Cookbook. My mom gave me one of those books when I got married but I couldn't find it so I googled it until I found it. Here goes.

Lemon Bars

1 cup all purpose flour
1 stick butter or margarine softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest if desired
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
additional powdered sugar

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl mix flour, butter, and powdered sugar. Press in 8 or 9 inch square pan going up about 1/2 inch on the sides. Bake crust 20 minutes. Remove from oven.
3. In medium bowl mix remaining ingredients except additional powdered sugar with an electric mixer on high for 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Pour over hot crust. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until no indention remains when touched in center. Cool completely on wire rack in pan for about an hour. Dust with additional powdered sugar. For bars, cut in 5 rows by 5.

Hope you enjoy them. They sure are yummy. If you like coconut you can add about 1/2 cup to the filling mixture or if you like lime you can substitute lime juice and zest for the lemon. God Bless your week.

Week 18: Easy Granola

Well, it's been too long I know. I really am back to finish this journey. My kids were requesting granola and I started out this journey with a fabulous recipe. I've actually concocted a new one that is super easy and super delicious. You can also be creative and have a different tasting granola each time you make it. Here is the recipe.

3 tablespoons olive oil
5 cups old fashioned oats
1 stick butter
dash of salt
a few shakes of cinnamon
1 cup slivered or chopped almonds or nut of your choice
4 tablespoons pure maple syrup or honey
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup or more of craisons or other dried fruit

1. Put oil in a large nonstick skillet. Add oats and stir until brown and toasty. Add the nuts and toast a few minutes more. Careful not to burn it. Spread on cookie sheet and let cool.
2. Put butter in pan and melt. Add syrup or honey, brown sugar, vanilla, salt and cinnamon and stir until bubbly. Add the toasted oats and nuts and the craisons or dried fruit of your choice and stir and cook for about 5 minutes on medium heat.
3. Pour on cookie sheet. (I line mine with parchment paper) Put into a 350 degree oven that has been preheated and bake for about 15 minutes. Take out and let completely cool and store in an airtight container.

I'm sure you and your family will love this. We like making parfaits with a low fat vanilla yogurt. It's also great as a cereal or sprinkled over ice cream. You change the flavor when you change the nut and fruit combinations. Leave out the cinnamon if you want or you can put lots of cinnamon and leave out the fruit or nuts. Be creative. It's cheap to make and good for you and the house smells great! Hope you enjoy! I'm glad to be back and excited to find some new recipes to share with you. I will be going back to my old posts and adding the recipes soon so go back and check them out if something sounded good. Also feel free to send me a message and let me know of something special you had growing up or if you can't find an easy recipe for something you like. I will try to find your answer. Bye for now and God Bless!

Week 17: Mini Cheesecakes

Hi Friends. I'm back and I really enjoyed this weeks recipe. Mini cheesecakes start by lining a 12 muffin tin with paper liners. Put a Keebler shortbread cookie in each one. Put a teaspoon of raspberry preserves in the center of each cookie. Beat an 8 ounce package of cream cheese until fluffy then add 1/2 cup of sweetened condensed milk. Next add 2 eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one. Fill each muffin cup with batter and then bake in a 300 degree oven for 20 minutes until set. Let cool 20 minutes and then refrigerate one hour. Warm 1/2 cup of raspberry preserves and glaze each mini cheesecake and then you can decorate with a fresh raspberry. Delicious! You can also use whatever fruit preserve you like. Be creative. They are very pretty and oh so yummy. Hope you enjoy then as much as we did in my family. God Bless and I will write again next week.