Pumpkin Bread

My most favorite thing about fall: PUMPKIN! Pumpkin Lattes, Pumpkin Pie, and Pumpkin Bread. I even make my 6 month old homemade pumpkin baby food. Gotta start him young on the pumpkin lovin!

Year after year I search and search for a pumpkin bread recipe. I have yet to ever find one I truly like. So this year, I decided I was done trying to find a recipe, I will make up my own. I have made plenty of loaves of banana bread, zucchini bread, and various other bread, to know the basic ingredients of a bread loaf. Now I just needed to get the right ratios and spices for the perfect pumpkin bread.

Well, SUCCESS!! The recipe makes 3 medium sized loaves, or 2 loaves and 6 muffins. Totally up to you.

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:
1 can of organic pumpkin 15 oz (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
4 eggs
3 cups of sugar
2/3 cup water
1 cup of oil
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon all spice
1.5 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon baking soda
3.5 cups of flour

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour each loaf pan.
2. Mix pumpkin, eggs, sugar, oil and water on medium speed in a large mixing bowl.
3. Once well mixed (soupy mixture), add cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice and salt. Mix for 1 minute on medium speed. This allows the pumpkin mixture to get the spices well worked on.
4. With the mixer on medium, add the baking soda, and the flour slowly. Continue to mix until all the flour has been added.
5. Mix on medium for 2-3 minutes. Mixture will be like a thick soup.
6. Evenly divide the batter into the loaf pans. Batter will make 3 medium sized loaves, or two loaves and 6-12 muffins.
7. Cook two loaf pans at a time at 350 degrees for 40-60 minutes. I check after 40 minutes, and about each five minutes there after. Bread should be a warm brown color, and the tooth pick should come out clean. If you are making muffins they take 12-15 minutes.
8. Immediately remove the loaf from the pan, and place on to a cooling rack.

You can share the loaves with friends, eat them all yourself, or freeze the extra loaves. Enjoy!

Halloween Cupcakes

This weekend I will be making TONS of cupcakes...when I say tons, I generally make 50-60. Not because I have any special event, or really anything to do with them, but I LOVE decorating them. LOVE LOVE LOVE it! As I have mentioned before, I LOVE SPRINKLES. Every shape, color, and size. Holidays give me an excuse to use them!! Also, my cupcake recipe, is pretty darn amazing, not to brag. One recipe my dad was great at was cakes. So I use his cake recipe and altered it to make the perfect batch of 16 cupcakes...now if you are not a person who likes to make cupcakes from scratch, get the Betty Crocker butter yellow mix. Its good (not as good, but good) and you can still decorate them!! Yay! 

Amazingly Yummy Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 cup  granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean
1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
1/3 cup full-fat sour cream
1/4 cup vegetable oil 
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup whole milk

Note: You can NOT use low fat sour cream, or skim milk. These are cupcakes, they are not supposed to be "healthy" :)

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a small bowl, combine sugar and seeds from the vanilla bean. If you are unsure how to get the seeds of a vanilla bean out, check out you tube, they have some great tutorials. 
3. Mix slowly, make sure to press the seeds into the sugar to get the vanilla flavor into the sugar. 
4. Get out your kitchen aide and mix together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
   
5. Add the vanilla bean sugar and mix until well combined.
6. Add butter and mix on medium-low speed for three minutes.  The texture should be fine/crumbly. 
7. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, oil, and vanilla extract.
8. Add this mixture to the flour/butter mixture, and mix on medium until combined.
9. Slowly add milk and mix on low speed until just combined.  The batter will be liquid.  (Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong.  It's supposed to be that way.) **
10. Fill cupcake liners just over 1/2 full. I bake then in batches of 8. (2 pans of 8). 
11. Bake for 14 minutes and then test to see if they are done. They are done when a toothpick comes out without wet batter stuck to it.  The cupcakes should appear white with specks of vanilla bean. They should not turn a golden brown.  If they are not done, test again in two minutes.  If they are still not done, test again in another two minutes. Mine are generally done in 16 minutes. 
12. When the cupcakes are done, remove them immediately from the tins and leave them on a cooling rack (or just on your counter if you don't own a cooling rack) to cool.

**For holidays I also add in 2 drops of food coloring to make them more festive. I do orange for Halloween :)

For the frosting, I always use the Wilton Buttercream Frosting Recipe found here when I am decorating. If I am just frosting to eat, I use a less sweet frosting, but it does not work as well for piping frosting. 

Decorating Ideas: 

Sprinkles!!

Food coloring (to color your frosting)

Candy corn

Red Hots

Licorice Rope (red and black)

Mini Chocolate Chips 

Milano Cookies

Writing Gel 

Candy Corn Pumpkins 

Here are some decorating ideas for Halloween Cupcakes I made last year. I will post pictures after this weekend of my new ideas too! 

Back to cooking....

With all the beautiful weather, my cooking took a bit of a dive. We were using the grill A LOT, and that is my husbands realm, so not much for me to blog about. With the colder weather finally here, and all of the holidays coming up, we are diving back in head on! This month we will be posting lots of easy crock pot recipes for those cold days, and tons and tons of Holiday Treats! From festive cupcakes....todays post...to rice crispy treats, cakes, brownies, and of course COOKIES! No holiday is complete with out cookies! Also, at Christmas time, we will feature some extra special candy recipes!


If there is any type of recipe you are looking for, just comment and let us know! We will do the best we can to help!

Bob's Chocolate Cake

So many of you are probably wondering, who is Bob? Well Bob is my friend Dani's dad. He is the only person whose cooking has ever made me feel as at home as my dad's cooking. He is a great cook, and a great person. I moved out to Boston for grad school and I always missed my dad's cooking, and most especially his cakes. The first year I lived there, my dad ordered me a Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake for my birthday to make up for the fact he couldn't make me a home made cake, it was good but it wasn't the same. Sadly, after that year, I lost my favorite cake maker, and person. I dreaded my birthday that year (for a million reasons), one being the fact I didn't think anyone could even come close to making a cake I would enjoy as much as my dad did....well I was wrong. Thanks to Dani, the best friend and roommate a girl could ask for, and thanks to her dad Bob for his fabulous recipe, I had a DELICIOUS birthday cake! It was decorated fancy with frosting (my dad was an amazing cake decorator), but it was to die for in flavor! And looked perfect without any frosting! Now that I don't live close enough to Bob to have him make it for me, and Dani moved to New Zealand, I have to make the cake myself! But it is so good, I make it quite often!

Bob's Chocolate Cake

Ingredients: 

1 box of chocolate cake mix
1 box of instant chocolate pudding
4 eggs
1 cup of milk*
1/2 cup of sour cream or yogurt*
2 1/2 - 3 cups of chocolate chip (one small bag of tollhouse semi sweet)
1 cup nuts (optional)

Powdered Sugar for dusting

*I always use sour cream, but Dani is lactose intolerant, so she used plain yogurt because it was easier on her tummy, and both cakes taste the same! So totally just your preference! You can also substitute the milk for rice, soy, or almond, just has to be unflavored!  

Directions: 

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Spray bundt pan with cooking spray. Combine all ingredients and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour batter into bundt pan, and cook for 50 mins. Remove from oven, run a knife around the edges of the pan. Place a plate over the bundt pan, and turn upside down to remove the cake on to the plate. Lightly dust the top of the cake with powdered sugar. I often make a raspberry sauce to go with the cake as well! I  prefer to serve the cake warm! Slice and enjoy! 

Italian Lemon Chicken

I really wanted tortellini last week, but I needed some chicken to go with it to make the meal more "complete" so I figured I would look in my cabinets and see what I could come up with! I am a big fan of chicken in the crock pot, its quick, easy, and the chicken is always tender and juicy if cooked with the right amount of liquid. So here is what I came up with....

Italian Lemon Chicken

Ingredients: 

3-4 chicken breasts 

1 stick of butter 

2 packets of Italian seasoning 

Juice from 2 large lemons 

Directions: 

Place the stick of butter in the crock pot. Add Chicken to the crock pot, pour the seasoning mix over top of the chicken. Then squeeze the juice from the two lemons on top of that. Cook on low 3-4 hours. You can leave the breasts whole, or stir with a fork to shred the chicken. This was DELICIOUS!! I served it over the top of tortellini and used the sauce from the chicken as sauce for the tortellini! Sprinkle some parm cheese over the top and enjoy! YUMM! 

Mexi-Rolls

Need an appetizer to go along with your Mexican-style meal?  Or perhaps you are just looking for a new twist on an old classic: egg rolls.  Doesn't really matter why, you don't need a reason to try these delicious rolls! There is so much goodness stuffed into these rolls, they are sure to fill you up!

Ingredients:

egg roll wrappers

1-2 cups shredded chicken (or beef)

1 bag frozen corn, defrosted

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

2 cups shredded cheese

1 can Mexican style tomatoes

1 can chopped green chilies

1/2-1 cup onion, chopped

a few dashes of chili powder, depending on how spicy you want them to be

1/2 t salt

Wrapper 'glue': 1T flour mixed with 2-3T warm water

Directions:

Mix all ingredients (except wrappers) in a large bowl.  Spoon about 2-3T of the mixture on the middle of one wrapper.  Fold the bottom corner over the mixture.  Using your finger, rub some 'glue' on the remaining 2 sides of the wrapper.  Fold each side in and roll it up to seal.  Place Mexi-Rolls on a greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes, turning half-way through.  Broil for 1-3 minutes to get them a bit crispy, if desired.  Serve warm with your favorite salsa, guacamole, or other dipping sauce. This recipe makes about 30 Mexi-Rolls.

BBQ Chicken Salad

I recently discovered the BBQ Chicken Salad, which combines some of my favorite foods. This may not be a new salad to most people, but it's a new one for me.  And it has quickly turned into one of my new favorites, perfect for summer! It's so easy and versatile, and most of it can be prepared ahead of time. Even my husband loved it, and he's not a fan of salads as the main part of a meal. It was even perfect for my girls because they could pick out what they liked (chicken, tomatoes, cheese, etc) and leave what they didn't (lettuce).

Ingredients:

Lettuce/Salad mix (I used Romaine and Iceburg mixes)

Shredded cheese

Tomatoes, chopped

Avocado, sliced

Green onions, diced

Corn, cooked & cooled

Black beans, rinsed and drained

Chicken, grilled and sliced

BBQ sauce

Ranch dressing

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.  Top with a few drizzles of BBQ sauce and Ranch dressing.  Enjoy! Yep, it's really that easy  :)

Stuffed Pork Chops

My husband plays on a softball league on Thursdays nights, so I try to make something easy for dinner for me and my girls.  Boy, was my husband sorry he wasn't home for dinner last night after I told him what I made.  And he is right to feel that way because it was delicious, my 4 year old daughter could not eat it fast enough!  Other than the yummy taste, there are 2 things that makes this meal great: it's very easy and it only requires 4 ingredients! The stuffing provides a lot of flavor to the pork chops and it also helps keep the meat moist. As you can see from the picture, the edges of the stuffing gets crispy, which is probably my favorite part!

Ingredients:

boneless pork chops

stuffing

Italian dressing

parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Prepare your favorite stuffing, mine is Stove Top's Whole Wheat. Tenderize and flatten the pork chops.  Spoon about 1/2 cup of the stuffing onto one end of each pork chop. Fold the other end over and stick a toothpick in to keep it together.  Place on a greased or foil-lined cookie sheet.  Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until cooked through. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top and bake an additional 3-5 minutes.  Make sure you remove the toothpick before eating!

Strawberry-Banana Waffles

Waffles are a big breakfast request in my house.  I'm always looking for new recipes and trying out different combinations, I hardly ever make plain waffles (boring!).  I start with a basic waffle recipe and throw in some new ingredients to make it interesting. This morning, I decided to try out a new mix, strawberry and banana!  Don't these look delicious?!?!  They taste so good, you don't even need syrup.....but feel free to pour it right on, or sprinkle with some powdered sugar!  :)

Strawberry-Banana Waffles

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 teaspoon baking powder

dash of salt

1 3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

handful of strawberries (6-8)

2 ripe bananas

3-4 cups oatmeal

Directions:

Mix together-flour, sugars, baking powder, and salt. Add in-milk, oil, vanilla, and eggs.  Finally, stir in-strawberries, bananas, oatmeal. I pureed half the strawberries and 1 banana. Then I chopped the remaining fruit because I like to taste the chunky strawberries and bananas in the cooked waffles.

When your batter is ready, pour about 3/4 cup into a preheated waffle maker and cook until golden brown.  I needed to cook mine a few extra minutes after the waffle maker's timer went off because they weren't cooked all the way through yet. This recipe makes 12-14 waffles, and they freeze well.

Looking for other flavors?
Replace the strawberries and bananas with.....

cinnamon & finely chopped apples

chopped peaches & blueberries

chopped bananas & mini chocolate chips

Chili

Normally I don't make chili in the summer, BUT it has been SO hot here, that turning on my oven seems like an awful idea, and my husband is not up for grilling every night. So crock pot meals are a great back up. I had been craving some spice lately, and both my husband and I love chili, so I figured why not. It's not like its a fall/winter meal only. Although chili while watching a Patriot's game is one of my favorite things about fall :)

As a kid, I HATED beans. I would not touch anything with beans in it, and I am still that way today. My dad always made chili, and it always smelled SO good, but I refused to try it because of the beans. Then being the spoiled child I was, my dad decided to make beanless chili, just for me. So every time he made chili, it was regular chili in the big crock pot, and beanless for me in the small crock pot. So of course I make the beanless chili today :) But I am going to share both recipes for everyone, as I know many people like beans.

Beanless Chili 

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 chopped green pepper
• 1/2 of an onion, chopped 
• 1 teaspoon of minced garlic 
• 1 can on tomato sauce (15.8 oz can, regular size) 
• 1 can of petite diced tomatoes 
• 4 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 box Elbow noodles
• • Sour Cream
  • Shredded Cheddar Cheese 
   

Directions:

Brown the ground beef, drain, then place in the crock pot. Add the green pepper, onion, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and all the seasonings. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. I will warn you, this chili packs a good punch. If you aren't a huge spice lover, cut back on the cayenne, cumin and chili powder. You can always start with 1/2 the amount, and as more as it cooks. I usually recommend this to anyone using this recipe for the first time, unless you know you love spicy chili. Also, I often will add a little more than the amounts above, as I cook, but again, I like spicy chili, as does my husband. 

Since the chili doesn't have beans, I serve the chili over elbow noodles, and top with sour cream and cheddar cheese. 

Now...if you like beans, use the same recipe as above but you also need 1/2 cup of dried pinto beans, and 1/2 cup of dried kidney beans. Soak the beans in cold water overnight, the night before. Drain from the water and add into the crock pot with the meat, sauce and seasonings, and still cook the chili on low for 6-8 hours. Also, beans absorb water, so I recommend using an extra small can of tomato sauce (the 8 oz can), or 1/2 cup of water. 

Top with sour cream and cheese and enjoy!! 

Cake & Ice cream, anyone?!

A few weeks ago, I was searching for a new treat to make for my mom's birthday. I wanted something that would be special for her birthday, but also something a bit different.  I came across a recipe on cometogetherkids.com for ice cream cake sandwiches made in a waffle maker!  How neat, right?  I just had to try them out, and I am so glad I did!  They were super easy and everyone loved them!  And, the best part is, I didn't have to heat up my oven in the middle of summer, BONUS!

For my ice cream cake sandwiches, I used funfetti cake batter and vanilla ice cream.  Of course the heart-shaped waffle maker I used makes them extra special! I'll definitely be experimenting with different flavors of ice cream and cake batter in the future!

Ice Cream Cake Sandwiches

Ingredients:

cake batter

ice cream

sprinkles

waffle maker

plastic wrap

Directions:

Preheat waffle maker. Make cake batter according to the directions on the box.  Pour some cake batter into preheated waffle maker, about 3/4 cup.  Cook about 4-5 minutes, or until golden brown.  Remove and cool completely on cooling rack. Scoop some ice cream onto one waffle, press another waffle on top to create a sandwich.  Press the sides into a bowl of sprinkles until the ice cream is completely covered.  Wrap in plastic wrap and place in freezer to harden. Enjoy!

Homemade Egg Rolls

Who doesn't love a good egg roll?  But, I usually find that when we get Chinese take-out, the egg rolls are more 'fillers' than meat. So, I decided to make my own!  I searched for a good (and easy!) recipe, and ended up taking bits and pieces from various recipes online.  These egg rolls ended up being absolutely delicious, and they're baked instead of fried, so they're healthier than the take-out ones!  I used chicken, but you could substitute that for pork, shrimp, whatever meat you choose!  You'll see that this recipe is super easy to throw together and will satisfy all egg roll lovers!  :)

Chicken Egg Rolls

Ingredients:

1 bag (14-16oz) cole slaw mix (cabbage & carrots)
about 1/4C chopped green onions
1T olive oil
2 gloves of garlic, minced
chicken, cooked and shredded or diced
1/2t ground ginger
2-3T soy sauce
12 egg roll wrappers
1T flour mixed with 2T warm water

Directions:

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Add bag of cole slaw mix, green onions, and garlic.  Heat until soft but not soggy.  Add chicken, ginger, and soy sauce. Remove from heat and let cool. Spoon 2-3T of the mixture onto the middle of a wrapper.  Roll bottom corner over mixer, then fold in each side like an envelope.  Use your finger to wet the remaining sides with the flour/water mixture. This will act like a 'glue' to seal the egg roll. Roll tightly to the top corner, be sure all sides are sealed. Place on a greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 425 degrees for about 12 minutes, turning half-way through.  To make them crispy, turn oven to broil for about 2-3 minutes.  Check often to be sure they don't burn!  Serve with your favorite honey, mustard, or sweet & sour sauce.

4th of July Treats!

So Saturday night we had our annual 4th of July family party. It is more of a party to celebrate and remember my MIL who passed 9 years ago shortly after the 4th, but since the dates are close, the boys use it as an excuse to light fireworks, and I use it as an excuse to make fun festive treats!

This year I made red and blue star shaped Jell-O jigglers, homemade ice cream sandwiches, and Red, White, and Blue Strawberries. The Jell-O was my son's favorite, and I basically made that just for him! The ice cream sandwiches were for me, they include three of my favorites: chocolate chip cookies, ice cream, and SPRINKLES!! Everyone who knows me, knows that I love sprinkles! There is a bulk food shoppe here in town, and they have every type of sprinkle imaginable, and every holiday they have special holiday mixes. I have just about every sprinkle in the store, and especially love the holiday sprinkles. Usually I use them to decorate cupcakes or sugar cookies, but this holiday I wanted a summer treat! I also got to use different sprinkles when making the strawberries, so I was even more excited!

Jell-O Stars

Ingredients:
1 large or 2 small boxes of Jell-O (I used berry blue for the blue Jell-O and Cherry Lemonade for the Red).
1 1/4 cups of boiling water
Wilton Star Silicone Mold 


Directions:
Spray your Wilton Silicone Star Mold with cooking spray (light). Mix the Jell-O and boiling water in a small bowl. Mix for 2 minutes or until the powder is dissolved. Pour the Jell-O into the star shaped silicone mold, refridgerate for 2 hours. Remove from the mold and store the jigglers in a container with a lid.  I made both red and blue jigglers!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches 

Ingredients: 
24 Chocolate Chip Cookies 
1/2 Gallon of Ice Cream, flavor of your choice 
SPRINKLES!! 


Directions:
I prefer homemade chocolate chip cookies, maybe because mine are delicious (yes I am bragging), but they just taste better. A close second would be Sam's Club cookies, yummm. For the 4th of July we decided on chocolate malt ice cream, I am a sucker for chocolate and it was light enough in color it allowed for good contrast with the sprinkles. Put one scoop of ice cream on a cookie, and take a second cookie and press down on top of the ice cream to flatten out the scoop. Roll the ice cream sandwich in sprinkles (I used red, white and blue jimmies shown on the right), and place on a cookie sheet. Once they are all finished, put the cookie sheet in the freezer and keep there until ready to serve! 

Red, White, & Blue Strawberries 

Ingredients:

24 Strawberries 

12 oz of white chocolate 

Blue Sprinkles 

Directions:

Melt the white chocolate over medium heat, using a double boiler pan. While the chocolate is melting, wash and dry the strawberries. Make sure the strawberries are dry so the chocolate sticks well to the sides. Once the chocolate is smooth and melted, turn the heat on low. Dip each strawberry first into the white chocolate, so it is covering 2/3 of the strawberry. Wait 30 seconds, then dip the strawberry 1/3 of the way into the blue sprinkles. Set the strawberry on a pan lined with parchment paper. Once all the strawberries are dipped, place the pan in the fridge and allow chocolate to harden. 

Little Bite, Big Taste

I recently discovered wonton wrappers and have begun to realize how many ways they can be used.  Not just for the typical and delicious crab ran goon, but for other appetizers and desserts.  I am getting tired of the same 'ole appetizers I usually make, so I wanted to create something different.  And so Cheeseburger Bites and Pizza Bites were born! There is a delicious flavor and a fun crunch packed into this 2-bite wonton.  I will definitely be experimenting with other combinations....Mexican style with taco meat, black beans, cheese; Buffalo style with chicken, hot sauce, and bleu cheese, Veggie style with sauteed garden veggies and Provolone cheese, Bruschetta style with chopped tomatoes and mozzarella cheese..... The possibilities are endless!


Cheeseburger Bites
Filling: About 1/2 C browned ground beef or ground turkey and about 1/4 C chopped onions, and about 1/4 C shredded cheese (cheddar, Colby, pepperjack, or your favorite burger cheese!).

Put a small amount of the meat & onion mixture on wonton wrapper.  Sprinkle with cheese. Use your finger to wet 2 sides and 1 point of the wrapper. Fold the dry point to the wet one, to make a triangle.  Press to seal both sides, be sure none of the food is hanging out or it will not completely seal. Sprinkle with garlic powder, bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes, turning half-way. Use broiler on hi for 2-3 minutes to make them crispy.  When finished cooking, remove and sprinkle a bit of salt on top and serve with dipping sauces.  Our favorites are ketchup and mustard.

Pizza Bites
Filling: About 1/2 C browned ground Italian sausage and about 1/4 C chopped green pepper, and about 1/4 C shredded mozzarella cheese.

Put a small amount of the meat & pepper mixture on wonton wrapper.  Sprinkle with cheese. Use your finger to wet 2 sides and 1 point of the wrapper. Fold the dry point to the wet one, to make a triangle.  Press to seal both sides, be sure none of the food is hanging out or it will not completely seal. Sprinkle with garlic powder and your favorite Italian seasoning, bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes, turning half-way. Use broiler on hi for 2-3 minutes to make them crispy.  When finished cooking, remove and sprinkle a bit of parmesan cheese on top and serve with either pizza or marinara sauce.

Coconut Lime Sugar Cookies

I am a big fan of cookies, sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, peanut butter cookies, you name them, I probably like them. My dad was pretty amazing at making cookies, especially chocolate chip. I was gifted with his ability to make some pretty amazing chocolate chip cookies as well, and I do so very often, the problem with chocolate chip cookies is they don't even last 48 hours in my house. My husband loves to eat them, and will eat them from breakfast lunch and dinner until they are gone...


So I needed a good summer cookie to make that may last a little bit longer around the house. I love making sugar cookies for the holidays, but I wasn't up for the cutouts, or making frosting. Then I stumbled up a recipe for coconut lime sugar cookies, and they sounded perfect! Summery, they don't require cutouts OR frosting....and they were DELICIOUS! The coconut and lime flavors are not overpowering at all and give the cookies just a little extra hint of flavor. They didn't last very long but that is because I gave tons of them away. I had to share the yumminess with everyone! 

Coconut Lime Sugar Cookies 

Ingredients: 

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, cold (cut into cubes)
1 ½ cups sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tbsp lime juice
zest of one large lime
½ cup coconut
½ cup sugar for rolling cookies

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheet lightly with shortening. 

In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and set aside.

Using a mixer (preferably a heavy duty mixer aka the KitchenAid), beat together the butter and sugar until smooth. Butter should be cold and cut into cubes before adding to the mixer. Cold butter helps cookies not to spread so much while baking. If you do not have a heavy duty mixer and you are using a hand mixer, make sure your butter if soft. If you use soft butter make sure you chill the dough for at least 5-10 minutes before rolling the cookies. 

Next, add in the egg, vanilla extract, and lime juice. Once smooth, add in the small bowl of dry ingredients. Lastly add the lime zest and coconut to the batter. 

Roll SMALL pieces dough into balls, and roll in sugar. I recommend trying to keep the balls of dough about 1 inch in size, or just slightly larger. Otherwise you will have very large cookies and they may run into each other on the pan. Place on greased cookie sheet.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes, until golden on the bottom edges of the cookies. Tops will be slightly cracked. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks. Also, place the uncooked dough in the fridge between cooking. The dough should be cool/cold when it goes into the oven. When you are done you should have between 3-4 dozen delicious cookies! 

Balsamic Brown Sugar Pork with Baked Sliced Sweet Taters

I have been getting very bored with pork lately. My husband likes pork roasts and pork chops a lot, and I find myself making the same marinades, or just making Pork Chops. I have also always had a hard time finding a good crock pot Pork recipe...well, I found a few online, combined them all, changed a lot of things, and came up with a recipe, that turned out to be UNBELIEVABLE! It smelled so good, I kept going to the crock pot throughout the day and tasting it! I decided to make sliced sweet potatoes as a side. Usually I do some type of potato or squash as a side with pork, and my son LOVES sweet potatoes, as does my husband so I went with those tonight. Added some green beans, and topped it off with homemade corn bread (the corn bread will be in a separate post)! Our dinner was awesome!! 

Tonight's Dinner

Balsamic Brown Sugar Pork 

Ingredients:

1 1-2 lb boneless pork loin

1 teaspoon ground sage

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions:

Put everything in the crock pot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. I recommend a smaller crock pot so the pork is better covered in the liquid. If you are home, turn the pork every few hours to make sure it is well covered in the liquid. Either way, it will be great!

I don't think recipes get much easier! 

Baked Sliced Sweet Potatoes 

Ingredients:

4 large sweet potatoes

1 stick of butter

1/2 cup of brown sugar

Directions:

Line the bottom of a 9x13 pan with tin foil. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

Cut half the stick of butter into 8 slices. Place the butter on the bottom of the pan. 

Peel the sweet potatoes, cut them into thin circular slices. Line the pan with the sweet potato. Cut the remainder of the butter into 8 more slices. Place on top of the sweet potatoes. Cover the top with the brown sugar. 

Pan should look like this: 

Place the pan in the oven and baked for 45 mins. The sweet potatoes will be darker in color and very soft, you will easily be able to stick a fork in them. 

Enjoy!! 

Best Banana Pancakes. Ever.

My girls and I LOVE pancakes, all different varieties. In fact, I don't think I've made plain pancakes in over 5 years.  Our favorite lately has to be these Banana Oatmeal Pancakes.  I took a basic pancake recipe and turned it into something absolutely delicious, if you like bananas  :)  This recipe makes about 18-20 pancakes, and they freeze very well.  Just pop them in the toaster or microwave to reheat!

Banana Oatmeal Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1T sugar
2t baking powder
1/4t salt
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
2T oil
2 bananas, cut up or mashed
1t vanilla
dash of cinnamon

Directions:
Combine dry ingredients.  Combine wet ingredients.  Mix dry and wet ingredients.  Pour batter into preheated frying pan.  Cook on low heat to be sure the pancake cooks all the way through the middle.