Crisp Oatmeal Cookies

 These have become my new favorite cookie.  I just love how the edges have a crunch and the inside has a chewy texture.  You can mix in some of your favorites aslo!  Even the kids like these. They don't like the soft oatmeal ones, but these are gone instantly.  Enjoy!

Source:  www.allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup shortening 1/2 cup white sugar 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1 egg 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup rolled oats 1/2 cup flaked coconut (optional) I toast it 1/2 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate I use white chips (optional) I add 1/2 cup macadamia nuts or peanuts

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
2.	In a large bowl, cream together the shortening, white sugar and brown sugar. Mix in the egg and vanilla until well blended. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; stir into the batter until well blended. Mix in the oats, coconut and chocolate chips until evenly distributed. Roll dough into walnut sized balls and place 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets.
3.	Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are lightly browned.

Perfect New Potatoes

Submitted by Heather

You may look at the above picture and wonder how in the world these could be considered "perfect" potatoes.  They're UGLY!  Well, it might be a good time to remember that old saying:  Don't judge a book by it's cover.  It certainly applies here.  These potatoes do not look lovely, but boy are they delicious.

It's possible that some of you might have made some new year's resolutions that include eating less salt.  This recipe may not be for you!  Just don't look at the ingredients - the amount of salt might raise your blood pressure just looking at it.  Also, for those who can eat normal amounts of salt, please don't be scared away.  The salt quantities in this recipe make for a perfectly seasoned potato- trust me.  I'd read some reviews on these potatoes and others admitted that they were nervous about making these, but after tasting them were won over.  Just remember not to cut the potatoes before cooking them.

Now, I don't like to waste, so I also thought, "Do these potatoes REALLY need that much salt???"  Kosher salt is pretty cheap, though, so don't feel bad about dumping so much in.  One of my kids asked me if they were "old" potatoes that I was serving them!  So, they won't win any beauty contests, but they are truly delicious.  Please try them. We really enjoyed them with a caramelized onion and blue cheese sauce that I recently posted.  Enjoy!



Ingredients:

1 1/4 pounds kosher or rock salt
2 quarts water
2 pounds small fingerling potatoes, cleaned (or baby new (red-skinned) potatoes)
4 tablespoons butter, optional
Freshly ground black pepper, optional
1 tablespoon freshly chopped chives, optional

Directions:
In a large pot, combine the salt, water, and potatoes and bring to a boil. Cook until the potatoes are fork-tender, approximately 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the pot to a cooling rack and let stand for 5 to 7 minutes. Serve as is or with butter, pepper, or chives.



Look!  My kids were even snitching them after dinner, as if they were a yummy treat!


Source: Alton Brown at foodnetwork.com

Costa-Rican Cream Cake

This is a recipe from my co-worker/friend Tina.  She brings it into the office now and then and it is quite a hit.  I just love it.  It is what I call an "Adult" cake.  It is very decadent and rich.  Definitely not for the calorie counter!  

Ingredients:

1 yellow cake mix

1/3 cup oil

3 eggs

**mix those together and bake according to box directions.**

Ingredients continued:

14 oz sweetened condensed milk

1 c heavy whipping cream

12 oz evaporated milk

1 tsp rum extract

** mix these ingredients together while cake is cooking**

Topping Ingredients:  

Macadamia nuts- toasted and chopped

coconut- toasted

1 cup heavy whipping cream-whipped until stiff peaks form

As soon as the cake comes out, pierce it with a large fork all over and pour on the mixture. Pour it slowly so that the warm cake has a chance to absorb it.  Cover with plastic wrap and let cool in fridge overnight.  Or at least 4 hrs.

When it is cool, if using a spring form pan, you can remove it and place on serving platter.  If in a 9x13 pan, just continue onto the topping part.

Whip the cream (no need to sweeten it) and spread onto the cake, and top with the nuts and coconut.  Enjoy!!

Caramelized Onion and Blue Cheese Sauce (with steak)

Submitted by Heather

My family has a tradition each Christmas season, where every member of the family randomly picks a dinner category (main dish, beverage, etc.) out of a hat.  This allows each person full license to pick whatever they want to in that category - it doesn't have to match the rest of the meal.  Some years we've had really wacky combinations - smoothies, Cheetos, burritos, scalloped potatoes, etc.
This year we actually had a very traditional meal.  Except for the strawberry and raspberry shakes which were our beverages, that is.  One of my children picked steak for the main course.  I rarely make steak, so I looked around for some recipes, since I didn't want to just plunk down a hunk of meat for the meal.  I found a few good suggestions, but was won over by the praises given to this caramelized onion and blue cheese sauce.

If you think the potatoes look weird, just hold on!  They're wonderful and my family LOVED them.  Recipe coming soon!)

Even if you think you don't like blue cheese, give this sauce a chance!  I wasn't super excited about a recipe with blue cheese.  I don't hate blue cheese, but I don't love it either.  But I was looking for something to jazz up the steaks, so I went for it.  I'm so glad I did, because most of the family ended up loving it.  And I ate it for days (since I'd doubled the recipe)!  If you really, really don't like blue cheese, I think you can safely substitute another cheese for it, though it may be best to have an easy melting cheese rather than cheddar, etc.  Even just the caramelized onions with cream are good enough on their own, maybe with a little extra salt and pepper thrown in.  When the steak was gone and we still had some sauce left, we just slathered our leftover potatoes with it and might have loved it even more.

Ingredients:

2 whole Ribeye Steaks
2 Tablespoons Butter
Salt
Pepper
4 Tablespoons Butter
1 whole Very Large Yellow Onion, Sliced
1 cup Heavy Cream
1/2 cup Crumbled Blue Cheese

Preparation Instructions:
Salt and pepper both sides of the steaks. Grill in 2 tablespoons butter until medium rare.

Saute onions in 4 tablespoons butter over high heat. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes, or until dark and caramelized. Reduce heat to simmer and pour in cream. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, or until reduced by half. Stir in blue cheese until melted. Serve steaks on generous portion of sauce.

Source:  thepioneerwoman.com

Blackberry and Apple Cake Bake

Posted by Lisa

Source:

Adapted from : Easy Cranberry and Apple Cake

2010 Barefoot Contessa How Easy is that?

I saw Barefoot Contessa the other day and this recipe was being made and it looked delicious.  I knew my kids wouldn't come near it with cranberries so I switched it up a little and used some blackberries I had from the garden in my freezer.  I just tasted it and it was really good.  Ice cream with it would be great.  I did find it a bit sweet, so below I reduced the amount of sugar.  I am sure if cranberries had been used, the original sugar amount would have been just right.  This is a great comforting dessert for a cold evening inside with the family.  Enjoy!  Thanks Ina!

Ingredients

• 12 ounces fresh or frozen blackberries (thawed) (she used cranberries)
• 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and diced
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed (she used 1/2 c )
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest (2 oranges)
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1 1/8 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
• 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Combine the cranberries, apple, brown sugar, orange zest, orange juice, and 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs on medium-high speed for 2 minutes. With the mixer on medium, add 1 cup of the granulated sugar, the butter, vanilla, and sour cream and beat just until combined. On low speed, slowly add the flour and salt.

Pour the fruit mixture evenly into a 10-inch glass pie plate. Pour the batter over the fruit, covering it completely. Combine the remaining 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar and 1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle it over the batter.

 Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean and the fruit is bubbling around the edges. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

Submitted by Heather

Okay, this isn't really a brand new recipe, it's a variation of one I posted already on this site.  My family really loves these pumpkin muffins - they're moist and soft and turn out perfect every time.

I find, though, that for different people in my family, I have to modify them a bit.  The older kids like regular sized muffins with chocolate chips throughout the muffin.  My preschooler loves the mini muffins with mini chocolate chips.  Or maybe I love to give those to him because they fit so perfectly in his little fist, and the small chocolate chips make it so that he doesn't make quite so big a mess.  Then there's Daddy.  He doesn't really like the chocolate chips in the muffins at all.  Weird, I know.

So, years ago I found a streusel recipe and I've been topping these muffins with it ever since.  It's crunchy, has fiber and makes the muffin feel special (but maybe you don't care how the muffin feels).  The best combination, in my opinion, is a regular sized muffin with chocolate chips inside AND streusel topping.  Now everyone is happy!

Here's the link to my favorite pumpkin muffins:
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Streusel Topping:
3 T. flour
1/3 C. brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 C. All-Bran (or you can use crushed bran flakes or even Cracklin' Oat Bran chopped up!)*
3 T. softened butter
1/4 C. chopped pecans (or walnuts if you prefer)

Mix all ingredients until crumbly and divide among muffins before baking.

*The muffins in this picture have streusel with Cracklin' Oat Bran in them.  It's all I had on hand and it worked great.  Chopping the cereal was a bit difficult but the chunks just lent to the crunchiness of the topping.
                          

Source: unknown

Pumpkin Roll

Since I gave my father a "baked good of the month" club birthday gift this year...I am now looking for new ideas to make for him.  I decided to go with something seasonal for this month and found this recipe for the pumpkin roll.  We grow both carving pumpkins and baking pumpkins.  I cooked one of them up in the oven, and used that to make this roll.  The family really liked it....I haven't heard from dad yet!

Posted by Lisa

source:Recipe from The Essential Mormon Cookbook.

3 eggs
1 c. sugar
2/3 c. pumpkin
1 tsp. lemon juice
3/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. powdered sugar
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese
4 Tbs. butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Beat eggs and sugar together. Add pumpkin and lemon juice and mix together. In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking powder, spices, and salt. Fold into pumpkin mixture

Line a 15 x 10 1/2 inch pan with waxed paper. Grease lightly. Spread pumpkin mixture evenly in pan. Bake at 375 ° F for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

 Turn out immediately onto a clean towel sprinkled with powdered sugar, removing waxed paper. Sprinkle more powdered sugar on top of cake. Start at on end, carefully rolling towel and cake together. Cool on counter top.

Combine the 1 cup powdered sugar, cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Gently unroll cake, removing towel. Spread cream cheese filling over top. Roll back up.

Cover with waxed paper and chill in refrigerator. Best when made a day ahead. Will keep in refrigerator 6 to 10 days (well wrapped). Freezes well. 

Cut cake roll into slices using a bread knife. Makes approximately 20 servings.

***I baked one of the pumpkins from my garden and used that for this recipe.  I then froze the remainder for later this winter.  Just cut the pumpkin in half, scrape the seeds out, put face down in baking dish and bake at 350 until fork tender.  Then scrape out of pumpkin shell and use just like you would canned pumpkin.***