Butternut squash soup

I have been waiting for my butternut squash to be ready in my garden so I could make this soup. I was able to get 2 fresh tomatoes or I would have added more. i really hops that you like this it just melts in your mouth when you eat it.

Butternut Squash Soup

1 butternut squash	6 garlic cloves
2 tomatoes	2 egg plants
1 medium zucchini	Salt
Fresh ground black pepper	1/3 cup olive oil
4 heaping table spoons brown sugar	¼ cup Italian flat leaf parsley
6 fresh basil leaf

Pre heat oven to 400 degrees and line two baking sheets with tinfoil. Cut up all the veggies and put them on the cookie sheets. Put three garlic cloves on each pan. Put lots of fresh ground black pepper over all the veggies then sprinkle with salt then drizzle with the olive oil. Bake for 15 minutes and change racks in the oven and bake for 15 more minutes. Spoon the veggies in a blender add half of the basil, and parsley, and half of the brown sugar, and blend until smooth. You should be able to fit one whole pan into the blender. When doing the second pan you can make this one more chunky so you can get some real good bits of the veggies. ENJOY!

Crock Pot Dinner

I decied that I would make a crock pot dinner for my hubbie to have with the kids while I go to work tonight. I love useing crock pots in the summer so the house is not to hot.

Chicken in the crock pot

3 frozen chicken breast	1 ½ cups rice
3 cups warm water	2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 cup sour cream	1 cup salsa
Salt	pepper

Add rice to bottom of crock pot. Lay the chicken on top then add salt and pepper on the on chicken to make sure that it has lots of flavor. Add sour cream, and salsa. Take the water and put it into a microwave safe dish and add the bullion into it and cook the in the microwave for 1 minute. Break up the bouillon and mix into the water add on top of salsa and sour cream. Set your crock pot on medium and cook for 5 hours. Half way through the cooking make sure you stir it so the rice will not become hard on the bottom. ENJOY!  

This is what it will look like when you have just started cooking.

Cooking with my daughter

My daughter and I dedied that we were going to make lunch together today and I thought hey why not make a treat for us to have later in the afternoon. So I came up the chocolate delights I decied that I would shoot form the hip and add cinnamon it really add a kick and made the coco powder shine through. Just a note I 99% of the time cook or bake with wheat flour.

Chocolate Delights

2 cubes margin melted	1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar	1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon	½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda	½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ cup coco powder	2 cups flour
1 cup chocolate chips	Powder sugar

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Cream sugars and margin together then add eggs mix until well blended. Add vanilla, salt, cinnamon, baking powder, and baking soda mix until combined. Add coco powder, and flour and mix well. Add chocolate chips and mix well. Pour into a cookie sheet and bake on 350 degrees for 18 minutes. When you pull them out dust with powdered sugar. ENJOY!

 

 

 

German Pancakes

My daughter has been asking me to make German pancakes for a few days now so I dedied that I would make some today. My kids do not like it when I put fruit into things, but I deced that I was going to do it anyways today. Of coures my kids thew a fit about having to have them, but I made them eat them anyways.

 

German Pancakes

1 tsp. salt	2 tsp. baking powder
½ cup sugar	3 cups flour
2 tsp. cinnamon	2 tsp. vanilla
4 tablespoons melted butter	6 eggs
2 cups milk	1chopped apple
1 chopped pear

Preheat oven to 400degreese. Mix all dry ingredients add wet ingredients. Make sure you beat the eggs before you put them in. Let the mix rest for 10 minutes and then add pear and apple. Grease a 9x13 cake pan and dump the pan cakes in OR use a muffin tin to cook them in. If you cook them in the cake pan they have to bake for 30 minutes if in the muffin tin you bake them for 18 minutes. Enjoy!

 

Potato Salad

When I was a kid I love to eat potato salad. We are having the missionaries form our chuch over for dinner and we are haveing a BBQ with hot dogs. I thought that nothing would be better than having this salad. My borthers and sister tell me everytime that we are going to have a BBQ that they want me to make it so I make it. It can take some time to make it, but it is worth it.

  

Potato Salad

15 russet potatoes	1 cup pickles
1 cup cube cheese	1 teaspoon pickle juice
1 teaspoon lemon juice	1 teaspoon white vinegar
½ cup mustard	1 ½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper	6 eggs
1 ¼  cups mayo

Boil potatoes until potatoes are soft I always insert a fork in them to see if they are soft. Boil eggs for 16 minutes. I put both in the fridge to let them cool. Meanwhile make the sauce. Combine the lemon juice, pickle juice, white vinegar, salt, pepper, mustard, and mayo and wisk together and set aside in the fridge while the eggs and potatoes cool. Peel the potatoes and eggs then cut them and add them into a big bowl. Cut the cheese and pickles. Dump on the sauce and mix well. Enjoy!   

Fruit Muffins

I was grocery shopping yesterday and thought that I would like to make some muffins so I decied that I would be some strawberries. As I was making them this morning I forgot that I was out of vanilla, but decied that I would just make them with out it and they turned out really well. The trick with muffins is not to mix them to much or they will become hard and not soft and chewey.

 



Strawberry/Pear/Banana Muffins

2 cups fresh strawberry’s	1 fresh pear
1 banana	1 cup oil
3 eggs	1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda	1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
4 cups flour	¾ cup milk
2 cups sugar

Combine eggs, sugar, and oil mix until creamy. Chop fruit and stir in gently. Add salt, baking soda, baking powder, and flour mix well. The mixture will be very thick add in milk and stir im gently. Pour into muffin tins and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Enjoy!

 

Look closley and you can see the chunks of the fruit!





Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken Pot Pie

Filling:

3 chicken breasts	fresh ground pepper
salt	3 chicken bouillon cubes
3 cups water	1 teaspoon garlic
1 cup frozen carrots	1 cup frozen corn
1 cup frozen peas	4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons corn starch	½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon basil	¼ teaspoon cumin
1 ½ teaspoons parsley	2 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice	1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Cook chicken in lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, basil, cumin, parsley, and crushed red pepper. Meanwhile the chickens are cooking put 3 cups of water and bouillon cubs in microwave for 1 minute and then pull out and smash the bouillon set aside. Take the butter and melt in microwave and then add corn starch and wisk until smooth. Add some of the chicken broth and wisk until smooth and then add that mixture to the chicken broth and wisk until well combined. When chicken is done cooking add the veggies and the chicken broth and let it simmer for 20 minutes. While simmering make dough.

 

 

 

Dough:

½ cup sugar	2 ½ cups white flour
1 ½ cups wheat flour	2 teaspoons salt
4 teaspoons baking powder	2/3 cup oil
1 1/3 cups milk	1 egg

 Combine dry ingredients mix with a fork then add the rest of the ingredients except the egg and mix with the fork. You can use a muffin tin to make the pies in or you can use chaffing dishes. Make sure that you butter the chaffing dishes. Make dough balls and roll them out and put it all over the chaffing dish then add a ladle full of filling then roll out another ball for the top of the pie.  Crack the egg and beat well and then brush on top of the pies this will make the pie get a great brown top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Enjoy!

 



Cookie Bars

My kids have been wanting more cookies so I thought that I would make some cookie bars so that I would not have to be in the kitchen all day baking.

Cookie Bars

2 sticks butter	1 ½ cups white sugar
1 teaspoon Salt	1 teaspoon caramel flavoring
1 teaspoon Baking Soda	2 ½ cups flour
1 cup coconut	½ cup toffee bits
1 cup chocolate chips

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix sugar butter until creamed and add eggs and mix. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

 

 

 

 

No Bake cookies

 Today  was thinking that I would like to make some cookies that would be super easy and fast to make so I decied that I would make no bake cookies. I remember eating them alot when I was a kid. I remembered that I had peppermint chips in my freezer so I thought why not put some in. I liked the finished product because you can see flecks of red in them from the pepperment chips.

No Bake Cookies

½ cup chocolate chips	¼ cup peppermint chips
2 cups sugar	2 tablespoons butter
½ cup milk	½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla	3 cups oatmeal

Combine both chips, sugar, butter, and milk. Bring to a boil and let it boil for 1 minute. Then add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Drop by spoonfuls on wax paper. Enjoy!

 

I love my cookie scooper I use it all the time. It helps to make sure all the cookies are the same size. I also think that it makes more cookies because they are smaller and you do not feel as guilty eating them.

 

Friute Muffins

Zucchini, Pear, Orange, Cranberry Bread

1 cup oil	2 cups sugar
3 eggs	1 cup zucchini
1 orange	1 pear
2/3 cups craisins	2 cups wheat flour
1 ¼ cups almond flour	1 tsp salt
1tsp baking soda	2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon	¼ tsp baking powder
coconut

Cram sugar, eggs, and oil. Add all fruit zest the orange and mix well. (I put the craisins in ¾ cup hot water and cooking microwave for 1 minute this helps to reconstitute them. Drain water before you add them to the batter). Add the rest of the ingredients except the coconut. Juice all the orange and then mix.  (I take raw almonds and process them in my food processor so they become fine like flour then I do not have to buy almond flour). Sprinkle the tops with coconut. I put them in larger muffin tins and the regular size tins. They bake on 350 degrees for larger muffins bake for 30 minutes for regular muffins bake for 20 minutes. ENJOY!

I got these for Christmas they help to scoop the muffins to make them the same size. I think they are from Bed Bath and Beyond.

 

Empanadas

I saw on facebook one of my friends sharing a recipe for Empanadas and I thought hey I can do this. They were useing pagkaged roles I decied to make my own roles. Here is the recipe:

Empanadas

Dough

2 cups flour	¼ cup sugar
1/3 cup oil	1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder	2/3 cup milk

Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Add oil and milk; mix. Make about 1 1/2” ball and roll out flat and add toppings.

Toppings

1 LB ground beef	1 can refried beans
1 chopped onion	1 chopped green pepper
1 package taco seasoning	grated cheese
olive oil	salt/pepper
fresh spinach	salsa

Brown and season (with salt and pepper to taste) hamburger when browned add taco seasoning mix well then add refried beans. Mix well and cook for about 10 minutes or until warmed. While browning the hamburger dump some olive oil into a pan on medium heat add chopped onion and green pepper. Cook for 15 minutes the onions will start to caramelize. Then add to the hamburger mixture. Then add to the hamburger mixture. Add hamburger mixture to dough add 1 teaspoon salsa, 4 spinach leafs, then sprinkle on cheese. Fold the top over and close by pressing the edges with a fork and bake on 375 degrees for 25 minutes. ENJOY!

Chewey Cookie Bars

I Love, Love, Love  peanut butter so I wanted to make some cookie bars that had peanut butter in them.  My husband gets tired of me putting so much peanut butter in things that is how much I really love it. I recently tried some Chocolate cookies that had more brown sugar than white so I thought that I would give them a shot. Recipe here http://www.365daysofbakingandmore.com/2015/01/double-chocolate-oatmeal-cookies/ I thought that these tasted so good I wanted to make up my own cookies. Only I am not someone who likes to be in the kitchen all day making cookies so I decided to make cookie bars.  I was having my 8 year old daughter make them with me. I have been teaching her how to cook and bake to. One thing that I learned at a very young age is if you are going to measure out flour make sure that you scoop it up and dump it out in the flour container so that the flour will not be so dense. It will make the flour become heavy and then it will throw of the cookies and they will become dry. Some times when I want to make cookies I will ask my kids what I should put in them and go from there. I have decided that I know what goes good together and what does not. These are super easy to make I hope you enjoy them.

Chewy Peanut Buttery Cookie Bars

¾ Peanut Butter	1/3 Cup white sugar
3 Eggs	¾ Cup Brown Sugar
½ tesp. Baking Soda	½ Cup Crisco
1 tesp salt	2 tesp. Vanilla
½ cup Oats	1 tesp Baking Powder
1 ½ Cups Chocolate Chips	3 Cups Wheat Flour

 

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix Peanut butter, Crisco, White, and brown sugars until well mixed. Then add eggs mix well. Add vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, and salt mix well. Add flour mix well after each cup then add oats and mix well. Add in chocolate chips and mix well. Pour out onto a cookie sheet and flatten down with what I call your best tools your hands!