Just For Old Times Sake...

… a cookie recipe!

We made these cookies last night and everyone LOVED them, so I had to share with you.  I can't remember how I stumbled up on them.  I probably was craving almond that day.  Anything almond flavored is like plaid… never too much plaid, or stripes or too many colored Sharpies, or too much almond flavoring.  

Joseph requested that I make these for his birthday instead of birthday donuts.  That's how good they are.  They melt in our mouth, thus the name…

Almond Meltaway Cookies

the link to the recipe is here.

And just to give credit where credit is due, Asher made these :)

Also, if you want LOTS more cookie recipes you can check out my 25 days of cookies which is when I made a different cookie every day in December until we ate ourselves into a sugar coma and didn't even want to eat Christmas cookies anymore.  But it was fun.  The kids still remember it fondly.  I do too, and we still make lots of cookies in December, but not that many! :)

A Fun Snack

You've probably seen this one floating around Pinterest.  That's where I saw it.  I had picked up a big 'ole box of Ritz crackers at Costco.  I usually buy the healthier crackers or just Saltines, but I think I was hungry when I went shopping so I came back with the jumbo box of Ritz.  

Well, since we already had the crackers I picked up some Rolos at the store.  And Graham and Nathan helped me make this very easy snack.  

First you unwrap the Rolos.  Then you place them on the cracker.

Then you smile big in your Wolverine costume.  

Then you put them in an oven (350 degrees) for about three or four minutes.

Then you take them out and smash another cracker on top.

Everyone loved them.

He gave it a thumbs up.

He thought they were pretty good too.

Hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween!

Fall Snack Mix

These colder temps this last week have been delightful, haven't they?  I went to WalMarts this weekend to get some fallish things for a church party we were having at our house.  They were OUT of apple cider.  Can you believe it?  The nerve of being out of something in America ;)  I love how everyone has the same idea.  Apparently colder temps = apple cider.

I did buy a lot of fun processed foods to throw together into a snack mix to have out as an appetizer/snack for the party.  We were having over people of all different ages, so I thought there should be something in it for everyone.  Please excuse the popcorn in this picture.  It's not in the snack mix.  I used it to make kettle corn.  It's a yummy fall snack as well.  I took this picture before I made the kettle corn so imagine the table with a big bowlful of kettle corn on it as well!

Little cute pumpkins compliments of WalMarts.

So next time you have a party, whip yourself up some snack mix.  It's easy and fun and you don't have to cook anything.  And sometimes, I simply don't have the time to get my house picked up and cook something. 

The End :)

Potato Corn Chowder

I've been in a major soup rut for about, I don't know, maybe two years.  It's a significant rut.  I love soup because it's (mostly) healthy, and it's an inexpensive way to feed a family of growing boys.  My oldest LOVES potatoes, so potato soup is his favorite, but not everyone is crazy about plain old potato soup.  So I decided to try something different than our normal recipe and everyone loved it... a win for me!  

Let's call this soup Potato Corn Chowder.  It also has green chile sausage in it.  But Potato Corn Chowder with Green Chile Sausage sounds a bit cumbersome, don't you think?

Start with potatoes.  Chop them and put it in a pan with some onion.  I would do this in a non stick pan, mainly because I can't stand cleaning a pan with burnt potatoes on the bottom.

Throw some butter in and saute it for awhile until the butter is melted and the onions are translucent.

Then add enough water to cover the potatoes and cook/boil until the potatoes are tender.  This takes about 15-20 minutes.

It will look like this.  

\\This is the part where I stopped taking pictures.  I can't remember why.  Sorry about that.\\

But here's the rest.  Then you add about as much whole milk as you added water.  You can use half and half or cream if you want.  I just like it a little lighter.  Cook until the soup comes to an almost boil. You don't want to scald the milk. 

Then I added the following:

*1 pound of green chile pork sausage I found at Sprouts.

*Roasted corn from Trader Joes (in the freezer section already roasted and all you have to do is heat it up a bit in a pan.  Super easy!)

*Add salt (lots) and pepper to taste.

Top with grated cheese and enjoy!

Breakfast Burritos

My friend, Krista, has the most fabulous cookbook around.  It's always my go-to when I'm bringing someone a meal because her recipes are tried, true, and family-friendly.  She's from a small town in Georgia and I just think everything must taste better there :)

This breakfast burrito recipe (obviously... I've written all over it!) has been a favorite in our family for YEARS.  I've made them for several breakfast birthday parties.  I've also made a bunch at a time and frozen them for just our family.  I'm making some this morning for a friend who just brought a little bundle of sweetness home from Ethiopia.  She has three other hungry kids who are not babies and I thought maybe she would enjoy a couple mornings off from cooking breakfast.

You begin by browning sausage, and then adding frozen hash browns.  When it's done, it looks like this.

Then, you crack lots of eggs.  Keep in mind I'm making a quadruple batch here.  You don't have to make a million breakfast burritos if you don't want to.  You can just make a few :)

Scramble the eggs, and add some salt and pepper.  

Do you have these from Trader Joes.  Just $1.99 each and I keep them by my stove... love them.

Then add the eggs to the sausage-potato mix.  Here is the progression of how it will look.  Stir often so your eggs don't get all crusty.  Who likes crusty eggs, raise your hand... I would guess no one.

About half way done.

This is done.

I've grated some cheese.  I prefer to grate my own cheese.  It just tastes so much better than the pre-grated kind.

If you're going to go to all the trouble of making your own breakfast burritos, PLEASE buy good tortillas.  These are from Central Market, but other places sell good tortillas too.  Rosas and Taco Cabana are two of my favorite places to get them because you don't have to get out of your car.  Sometimes that's really important to me.  Plus, as an added bonus, you can ask for a side of salsa to go with your breakfast burritos for FREE.  And I love free.

Then comes the assembly.  I love assembly because I love to do monotonous things.

Roll them up.  Make them pretty if you want to.  I didn't have any purple washi tape for sweet baby Violet, so orange and yellow had to do.

I put the salsa on the side, again, just to keep it family friendly.  Not all of my kids like salsa.

Have you ever had this salsa from TJ's?  It's amazing.  The only salsa from a jar I like.

All ready for delivery!

You can eat them fresh or put them in the freezer to pull out later.  I take them out the night before I'm going to eat them and stick them in the fridge.  They microwave a little better that way.

The recipe is on the first photo.  I think you can read it pretty well there.  You could also make a healthy version and use veggies instead of sausage.  Enjoy!

Homemade Granola

My mom passed this granola recipe on to me.  I tried a few others that I wasn't crazy about before I settled on this one.  I like how this recipe has minimal oil and minimal unnatural sugars and then lots of healthy stuff added in.

Here's a few pictures.  This is a double batch.  We can eat a double batch very quickly around here.

And here's the recipe in case you want to try.  I admit, I'm partially putting these recipes on my blog so I can look them up on my computer without trying to find this crumpled up 4x6 card it's currently on :)

3 cups old fashioned oats

1/4 cup canola oil

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups add-ins, chopped

(this could be whatever you have on hand... cherries, almonds, walnuts, pecans, raisins, apricots)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Wisk oil, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, salt and cinnamon

Pour over oats and add-ins and toss well.  Spread mixture on baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.

We usually serve it over yogurt for breakfast, but I prefer to eat it as cereal.  Or you can just eat it plain as a snack.  It's your granola.  Do whatever you want with it!

Strawberry Bread

We've been trying to eat a little healthier around here.  We're not doing anything crazy, just trying to cut back on foods which contain sugar or flour, and not eat anything fried.  It's pretty simple, but it eliminates a lot of my go-to foods.  But since I was pretty good during the week, I did make this yummy strawberry bread as a sweet treat this weekend.  This bread is delicious and while it's not totally healthy, it's not as bad as some desserts.  And, in my opinion, every bit as tasty.

Ok, so it's not the most gorgeous bread in the whole world.  Just like beauty can be deceiving, so can this very plain looking bread.  Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting, but a cake that pleases that taste buds shall be praised... or something like that.

The recipe is from this book.  A good friend gave me this years ago.  I love the concept of eating seasonally.  I'm not good at doing it, but every once in a while I pull it out and have always liked what I've made from it.  

Strawberry Bread

1 cup flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/4 cups strawberries mashed

3/4 cup sugar (I only used the 1/2 cup and could have used even less)

2/3 cup oil

2 eggs

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

Mix all ingredients together.  I just threw all of this in my Kitchenaid mixer.  Pour into a greased loaf pan.  Bake at 350 for about an hour, but check after about 45 minutes.  It's done when toothpick comes out clean.

Yum.

I brought these to my small group last week.  Chris has a couple of friends who used to request these routinely on Sundays while we watched the Cowboys.  I haven't made them in years.  I don't even know what to call them.  A kind soul brought them to me after Asher was born.  They're not to be made if you're on any kind of a diet.  They're not heart healthy.  They're not good for the sugar sensitive.  But good to bring to small group if you want to be popular.

They're even easy to make.  Melt butter, pecans and brown sugar in a pan.

Pour over graham crackers and cook until they look like this.

Then you sprinkle some chocolate chips on them.

Yum.

And yum.

Recipe

1 cup butter

I cup brown sugar

1 cup chopped pecans

Graham crackers

Large handful of chocolate chips

Melt butter, brown sugar and pecans in sauce pan and boil for 4 minutes, stirring constantly.

Pour over greased cookie sheet covered with graham crackers.

Bake at 350 for 7 minutes.

Sprinkle some chopped chocolate chips (mine weren't chopped bc I happened to have mini chocolate chips) on top and return to the oven for 1 minute.

The Year of Cakes?

I've been making a lot of cakes lately.  Not because I'm that great of a baker.  I can bake, but my cakes will never be put in a magazine.  But I kind of like them that way.  I want you KNOW they're not store bought :)  There's just nothing like a homemade cake. 

A spice cake... so pretty sitting on the table.

Since we didn't do big parties for Graham or Samuel's birthdays this year, I let them pick a cake out of my Betty Crocker cookbook.  

I love the vintage appeal of some of these.

Graham chose a banana cake.

Samuel chose a caramel cake.  It was delicious.  I could eat that frosting with a spoon.

And how pretty is this cake?  We cut into it before I took a picture.

A maraschino cherry cake!  I can't take credit for this one.  My mom made it.

I may have to make another one of these for Valentine's Day.

The Betty Crocker cookbook has lots of unusual cakes to try out.  I think I might have to keep on making them.  I'll let you know which ones are my favorite.