Can't Believe a Year's Gone By!

Wow! How time flies by! I can hardly believe that another year is almost over. Where did the time go?

I want to thank all of you that stop by and utilize my blog! I love the land of blogging, and plan to continue with this one. I wanted to wish you all a VERY Merry Christmas! I hope that you are surrounded by friends and family, laughter and love this Season. I am blessed that I have a wonderful family to celebrate the birth of our wonderful Savior Jesus Christ with, and am looking forward to seeing more family tomorrow and having a Christmas party on Monday with extended family!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!

A Delicious Bread!

I made this bread tonight as part of the Goody Plates for Christmas! My house smelled delicious! This recipe makes 2 large (9x5) loaves, but I used a Pampered Chef Mini-Loaf Stoneware pan...it has 4 wells and made 4 perfect little loaves! The perfect size for gift giving. I needed to double up the recipe...but I made it in 2 separate batches. They turned out wonderfully, and I even have 1 left over to share with my family next weekend when we do our family Christmas on Friday! YAY! :)

PUMPKIN-CRANBERRY BREAD

INGREDIENTS:

3 C Flour

1 Tbs + 2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

2 tsp Baking Soda

1 1/2 tsp Salt

3 C. Sugar

1 (15 oz) Can Solid Pack Pumpkin

4 Eggs

1 C. Oil

1/2 C. Orange Juice (or Cranberry Juice or Water WHATEVER YOU PREFER) (I used OJ)

2 C. Fresh, Frozen, or Dried Sweetened Cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease & flour two 9x5" loaf pans. (Or you can use parchment paper instead of grease) OR you can use Mini-Loaf Pans

Combine Flour, Pumpkin Pie Spice, Baking Soda &  Salt in large bowl.

Combine Sugar, Pumpkin, Eggs, Oil & Juice in large mixer bowl, beat until just blended.

Add Pumpkin mixture to Flour mixture; stir until just moistened. Fold in Cranberries, then spoon batter into prepared loaf pans.

Bake for 60 to 75 minutes (depending on your oven) or until pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pans to wire rack to cool completely. (If using Stoneware Pans you can remove immediately, or the loaves will continue baking)

 

I cannot wait to share these yummy goodies!

A Yummy Supper Tonight!

I haven't posted a Supper recipe in a while. I work all day on Friday's and totally forgot to put my chicken in the crock-pot this morning. :( DUH!!!! But, I was stoked to find out that I could quickly make the meal I made tonight, like 3 hours quick!!!! SAVE!!!!!

It turned out quite tasty. It was supposed to be crock-pot BBQ Chicken...but I used a Sweet Baby Ray's Marinade instead and I think that it turned out so much better. The chicken was so moist. I paired this with canned peaches from my brother and sister-in-law (Thanks M & S!) and Redskin Ranch Mashed Potatoes.

CROCK-POT CHICKEN MY WAY

INGREDIENTS:
4-6 Large Chicken Breasts
1 Bottle Sweet Baby Ray's Honey Teriyaki Marinade

Place Chicken in the bottom of Crock-Pot, cover with Marinade. Cover and cook on Low heat for 8 hours or High heat for 3 hours.

Baking The Days Away!!!!

Wow!!! I can hardly believe that it's the middle of December already? Where did the year go? Lucky for us here in Mid-Michigan we don't have any of that nasty little 4-letter S word on the ground right now. But that could change at the drop of a hat. It has been raining here a lot lately, and I DON'T care for that at all! I heard someone in the grocery store the other day say, "If it's going to be this cold outside it might as well just snow!" My feelings on that are not the same...I can stand the cold and do without the white stuff!!!!

In preparation for Christmas, baking has been the undertaking in my kitchen! Every year I LOVE to try new things and give the gift of goodies to friends and neighbors. This year is not any different! I just have a few more people to add to the list. The bro is happy that he has a sister that loves to cook and bake, so that he can share the wealth with his bosses at work. :) And I'm lucky that I work at a place where both my bosses have HUGE sweet toothes and will love this gift! So, I will be sharing a few posts of recipes with you!

The first is one of my favorites!

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH TRUFFLES

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 C. Butter, softened

3/4 C firmly packed Brown Sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla

2 C. Flour

1 (14 oz.) can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1/2 C. Mini Chocolate Chips (I use more...like 1/2 a bag!)

1 1/2 Lbs. Chocolate Bark Candy Coating, melted

In a large bowl cream butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy. Add vanilla. Gradually beat in flour and add milk. Add chocolate morsels and pecans, mixing well. Shape into 1-inch balls. Place on waxed paper; chill 2 hours.

***Note:*** Since the dough is sticky, roll your fingers into flour. This will make it easier to roll.

Melt chocolate bark candy coating in a double boiler. Using 2 forks, dip cookie balls into candy coating to cover. Place on waxed paper and chill to set. Store in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

These freeze very nicely as well! It's a good thing they do, otherwise I couldn't promise that any would end up on the goodie plates or making the trip with my family to Illinois to my extended family! Give them a try, you won't be sorry!

What An Awesome Night For Soup!

It has gotten very cold here lately, in fact, they are predicting that we will get our first snowfall of the season tonight to the tune of 6-8 inches! WOW!!! So, what goes better with the cold than soup?!? I hunted for a recipe today and found one that I wanted to try. And I must say that it turned out wonderfully, and the brother even said that if I have to bring someone a meal this winter that I should make this! Guess that's his vote of greatness! ;)

POTATO AND HAM SOUP

5 C. Potatoes, diced
1 C. Onion, diced
3/4 C. Celery, diced
3/4 C. Carrot, diced
2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Pepper
1 1/2 C. Diced Ham
2 (10.75 oz.) Cans Condensed Cream of Celery Soup
1 C. Heavy Cream


Place the Potatoes, Onion, Celery, Carrots, Salt and Pepper in Stock-pot; add water until all vegetables are covered. Bring to a boil; cook until all veggies are tender. Add the Ham, Cream of Celery Soup, and Heavy Cream; return to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Adjust the seasoning and serve.

It really and truly was this simple, and it was oh so good! Give it a try.

Another GREAT Pumpkin Recipe!

I hope that you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving! I have so much to be thankful for this year...my Faith, Family and Friends top the list!!!!!

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. My parents came into town and we went to my Dad's brother's house. My Aunt R. made a wonderful meal, and I brought along a side dish and 2 desserts, as requested. I decided that I didn't want to make a traditional Pumpkin Pie, so I used the recipe that I'm posting today. It recieved RAVE reviews from my family....So, I guess I would call it a success! :)

Pumpkin Pie Ala Easy

1 1/4 c. Flour
4 eggs
3/4 c. Oatmeal
2 cans 15 oz. Solid pack pumpkin
½ c. Brown sugar
2 cans 14 0z. Sweetened Cond. Milk
½ C. Pecans, chopped
2 tsp. Gr. Cinnamon
2/3 c. Butter or marg.
1 tsp. Ginger
 ½ tsp. Nutmeg
 1 tsp. Salt
Cool Whip

Preheat oven to 350. In Bowl combine flour, Oats, and brown sugar. Chop pecans, add to Bowl. Melt butter in microwave. Add to dry ingredients; mix well. Press mixture onto bottom of Jelly-Roll Pan, using Mix and Scraper Bake 15 min. Cool on Non-stick cooling rack. Meanwhile, lightly beat eggs in Bowl using Whisk. Add pumpkin, sweet cond. Milk, spices and salt; whisk until smooth. Pour over crust. Bake 30-35 min. Or until filling is set and knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool at room temp. Cut into squares and serve with Cool Whip.

These were so easy to make. Give them a try and let me know what you think!

Why go to Yesterdog...when you can make your own?!?

Since I've been using my crock-pot alot lately...you can only imagine that this recipe is going to incorporate it as well. This recipe is so EASY-PEASY that you will hardly believe that you made it yourself. I received 2 thumbs up from the bro for this...and I think that in the future I will bring this to get togethers with my friends on Sunday nights. We get together almost every Sunday night after church, and everyone brings something...in the spring/summer/early fall we always have a bonfire and roast hotdogs, hobo pies, and marshmallows...but in the winter, it's a different story. I think that this recipe will be a great addition to our meals!!!!

CHILI CHEESE DOGS


INGREDIENTS:
8 to 16 Hotdogs
1 (16 oz.) can Chili Meat (NO beans)
1 Can Campbell's Cheddar Cheese Soup
1 (15 oz.) Can Black Beans; drained and rinsed
1 (4 oz.) can Diced Green Chilis, drained
1 Small Onion, diced (mix in or use as topper)


Place Hotdogs in Crock-pot. Mix together remaining ingredients and pour over Hotdogs. Cook on LOW for 2 to 3 hours, or until hot. Place Hotdogs in buns, top with mixture and any other toppings you desire.

See, I told you that this was a no-brainer! Now, if only this headache that I have would go away......