Pumpkin Bread

This is a sweet pumpkin bread. My kids love it and ask for it year-round. Enjoy!

3 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 t. baking soda
1 1/2 t. salt
1 t. ground nutmeg
1 t. ground cinnamon
3 c. sugar
2 c. pumpkin puree
2/3 c. water
1 c. vegetable or canola oil
4 eggs
1/2 c. chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 2 loaf pans or 3 mini loaf pans.
Stir together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and spices in a large bowl. Add pumpkin, water, oil, eggs and nuts. Beat until well combined. Divide batter equally and place into prepared pans. Bake mini loaves for approximately 45 - 50 minutes or about 60 minutes for standard loaf pans.

Spiced Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

I can't claim the rights to this recipe. My friend Jenn D. passed this along to me. It's really good. It's not as sweet as most pumpkin breads... it's more spicy. Enjoy!

2 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 16 oz. can solid pack pumpkin
3 c. all-purpose flour
2 t. ground cloves
2 t. ground cinnamon
2 t. ground nutmeg
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking powder
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour two 9" x 5" x 3" loaf pans. Beat sugar and oil in large bowl to blend. Mix in eggs and pumpkin. Sift flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda salt and baking powder into another large bowl. Add to pumpkin mixture in 2 additions. Mix in chocolate chips.

Divide batter equally between prepared pans. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool 10 minutes. Using sharp knife cut around edge of loaves. Turn loaves out onto racks and cool completely.

Pumpkin Roll Recipe

Beat 3 eggs on high speed for 5 minutes. Gradually beat in 1 c. sugar, 2/3 c. pumpkin and 1 t. lemon juice.

Mix together:
3/4 c. flour
1/2 t. salt
1 t. ginger
1 t. baking powder
2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg

Mix both together and spread on a well greased and floured cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees. Remove from oven when top springs back when touched with finger. Turn out on dish towel covered with powdered sugar. Roll towel with cake inside and cool thoroughly in the refrigerator.

Meanwhile, make the frosting. Mix together:
1 c. powdered sugar
4 T. butter (or margarine)
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 t. vanilla

Spread frosting on cooled roll. Re-roll on another towel with powdered sugar and chill in foil for 3-4 hours. Slice, serve and enjoy!

Hamburger stroganoff

Ingredients:
1 - 1 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef
1 small yellow or white onion
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/4 c. butter
1 t. salt
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 c. sour cream
1/4 c. flour
1 pkg. egg noodles Directions:
1. Brown ground beef. Drain.
2. Cook the noodles according to package directions and drain water.
3. Cook the onion and garlic in the butter. Add to the beef.
4. Add the flour, and stir it together. Add the soup and sour cream. If the mixture is too thick add 1/4 c. of milk until it is at a better consistency. Simmer on medium heat until heated through.
5. Add the hamburger mixture to the noodles and serve hot.

Rainbow Cupcakes

I got this idea from one of my girlfriends who did this for her daughter's birthday. First make a white cake mix as directed. You may want to use two boxes. One only yielded 15 cupcakes for me. Divide the mix evenly to bowls. Drop in food coloring. About 6 drops per bowl. It looks best the brighter it is in my opinion.

Teaspoon the different colors into the baking cups. Fill only to about 2/3 full. And cook in oven as directed from cake box.

Frost the completely cooled cupcakes.

Pour sprinkles into bowl and after frosting each cupcakes, turn over cupcakes to collect sprinkles.
Voila - end product

Here is what the cupcakes that I made looked like inside. The kindergartners who had these said they were the best cupcakes ever.

Note - you can do this as a cake as well

Candy Corn Sugar Cookies

Make your favorite cut-out sugar cookie recipe. Divide the dough into 3 parts. Keep one part white, color one part yellow and one part orange.
Place wax paper into a bread pan. Press the white dough into the bottom, then the yellow and then the orange. It won't be even, but that's fine. The cookies will still look great when you're done. Put the pan into the refrigerator for 3-4 hours. When it's done remove the dough from the pan using the wax paper, and keep the wax paper beneath it to cut it up.
Cut into 1/4" strips, and then into triangles as shown.

Put them on your greased cookie sheet, and bake according to the directions for your recipe.

When they're done remove the cookie sheets from the oven. Let the cookies sit for 1 minute, and then roll in sugar. It looks really white in the picture below, but in reality it's pretty transparent.

Here are some of the cookies on the cooling rack. The cookies look and taste great with or without sugar. Be aware that the cookies with sugar will dry out much more quickly. If you don't plan on using the full recipe you can freeze your dough.

Enjoy!

Easy Layered Bean Dip Recipe

Here's a quick, relatively low fat recipe for bean dip. It's also yummy so enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 cans low fat refried beans

1 16 oz. tub of low fat sour cream

2 c. shredded cheese (I use regular cheese, but you can sub low fat cheese)

1 pkg taco seasoning (approximately 2 T.)

2 bunches green onions, diced

3-4 roma tomatoes, diced

2 avocados (optional)

juice from 2 limes (use with avocados)

1 can sliced olives (optional)

Directions:

Open your cans of refried beans and spread at the bottom of a 9" x 13" pan.

Cut open and mash the avocados. Mix with lime juice to prevent browning. Can add salt if you desire. Spread on top of the beans.

Mix the package of taco seasoning with the sour cream until completely blended. Spread on top of avocado mixture.

Dice tomatoes and put on top of sour cream mixture.

Dice green onions and put on top of tomatoes.

Put shredded cheese on top, making sure you get good coverage.

Put sliced olives on top of everything. (I can't eat olives so I put it on half and left the other half alone.)

Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. This tastes great with tortilla chips and feeds a ton of people. Enjoy!

Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas (on the stovetop)

Here's a quick and easy meal that makes a ton of food. You get the flavor of green chile chicken enchiladas with half the work. You can serve it with Mexican rice, beans and tortilla chips.

Ingredients:

2 dozen corn tortillas, torn up

1 can green chile enchilada sauce

2 c. shredded cheese

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 c. water

1 1/2 - 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast

Directions:
Boil chicken in salted water about 20 minutes, or until cooked through. When chicken is done remove it from stove top and drain water. Let cool and then shred or cut up chicken.

Pour in green chile enchilada sauce, soup and tortillas. Stir until the tortillas are all covered. Add the chicken and cheese. Add enough water so that the tortillas will be able to soften up. Cook until cheese is melted and food is heated through, approximately 15 - 20 minutes.

Hawaiian and Chocolate Haystacks

Here's how to make Hawaiian Haystacks in a crock pot.

Hawaiian Haystacks
Prep work: (Do the night before.) Defrost 2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chop veggies.
2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cans cream of chicken soup
milk
Put all ingredients into the crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. When it's done cooking take the lid off and use 2 forks to shred the chicken. Add enough milk to make the soup creamy like gravy.
About 30 minutes before your chicken is done cook enough rice for your family, and flash fry your veggies.
I used white onions (I would use green onions if I did it again... my kids couldn't see these, though!), green pepper, red pepper, carrots, bean sprouts, water chestnuts and sugar snap peas. You can also use celery, tomatoes, (whatever other vegetables you like). Add a little soy sauce to taste for flavor. I've heard of people using cheese, almonds and pine nuts. The other ingredients I added (did not cook) were pineapple tidbits and chow mein noodles.
To serve rice first, then chicken and gravy mixture and veggies on top. Chocolate Haystacks
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 c. butterscotch chips
2 c. mini marshmallows
2 c. chow mein noodles
1/2 c. salted peanuts
In a microwave safe bowl add the chips and melt for 2-3 minutes on high. Remove from microwave ans stir. Cook an additional 1 1/2 minutes (time may vary depending on your microwave), and remove. Stir, add marshmallows and stir until coated. Add the noodles and peanuts. Place by spoonful on wax paper. You can refrigerate for approximately 1 hour or let them sit until they set up.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am always looking for a good recipe, and since my kids always have friends over (most of whom are hungry boys) I need to have things that are quick, easy and inexpensive. And if it makes a lot it's even better! After a recent visit with my grandparents my kids wanted to have the same chocolate chip pumpkin cookies. The cookies were store bought so I had to go online to find a recipe that would work. After eliminating many recipes, this is the one I selected, and they are perfect! They are super-soft and so yummy. The recipe made a TON of cookies, and even though it's the middle of summer they are quickly disappearing.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe George Duran
Prep Time: 15 min
Inactive Prep Time: 2 min
Cook Time: 15 min
Serves: 60 cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cups milk chocolate chips, not semisweet
Nonstick cooking spray

Directions:
Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray cookie sheets with nonstick spray.
Using a mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Beat in the sugars until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time, then add the vanilla and pumpkin puree. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Slowly beat the flour mixture into the batter. Stir in the chips. Scoop the cookie dough by heaping tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cookies are browned around the edges. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let them rest for 2 minutes. Take the cookies off with a spatula and cool them on wire racks.

* I used semi-sweet chocolate chips, and my all-time favorite ingredient ,Mexican vanilla.

Yummy Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls

I love cinnamon rolls, and while I can bake just about anything, bread eludes me. I have recently found that I can actually make breads if I use my bread machine, and I decided to try to stretch myself and use the Dough function and see if I could make something that way. I found a recipe with good reviews and got started.

Here's my favorite tip I learned years ago when making rolls of any kind. Get a long string of unflavored floss and wiggle it under your dough then slice it. It makes perfect cuts without squishing your dough down. The above picture is how it looks during the cut.

This is how it looks immediately after you cut it. Quick and easy!

There were 2 different variations that I wanted to try. After polling my family my husband and I were the only ones who wanted nuts or raisins in our rolls. I didn't want to try to figure out which was which after so I just did these 2 variations. The pan on the right has cinnamon and regular white sugar. The pan on the left has cinnamon and brown sugar. The white sugar rolls tasted like typical cinnamon rolls while the ones with the brown sugar were moister and gooey-er.

This is the pans after I baked and frosted them. My kids prefer the pan on the left (white sugar) while my hubby and I prefer the brown sugar cinnamon rolls. Yummy! Those got bigger when they were rising for some reason. (As I stated before I'm not a bread baker so I don't know if there's a reason for this.)

Here's my plate. I had to try both kinds so I put them both on my plate.

The next time I make them I'm going to add a lot more butter and cinnamon to the rolls with white sugar. I think it might make them tastier.

Cinco de Mayo Recipes

We love Cinco de Mayo. It gives us an excuse to make a great Mexican meal.

The one thing my kids always request is my homemade salsa.

Homemade Salsa

Ingredients:

5-6 firm roma tomatoes, de-seeded

2-3 jalapenos

1/2 - 1 large white onion (can substitute 5-6 green onions)

1 t. salt

1 t. black pepper

1- 14 1/2 oz. can diced tomatoes

1/2 bunch cilantro, washed with stems removed

Wash all produce. Pick leaves off cilantro and place in food processor bowl. Cut up 1/2 - 1 large white onion, diced. Carefully cut and deseed the jalapenos, then dice and add to bowl. Deseed the tomatoes, dice and add to the bowl. Add the salt and pepper, then pour the canned tomatoes on top. Put on food processor and run until everything is well mixed.

Taste and make sure you like the flavor. Add more salt to taste if needed. (If you want it to be hotter add more jalapenos. Or add hotter peppers- habanero or serrano peppers will make it significantly hotter.) Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

To make guacamole- Add 2 c. of the salsa to 5 mashed avocados mixed with the juice from 2-3 limes. Refrigerate.

For dessert I made Mexican Wedding Cookies. These are quick and easy. They will disappear almost as fast as you can make them!

Mexican Wedding Cookies

(Makes about 48)
1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 cup butter, softened (Do not substitute margarine! It won't set up or taste as good.)

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup finely chopped almonds or pecans

1/4 teaspoon salt (omit if your butter is salted)

Bowl of powdered sugar

Pre-heat oven to 325 F. In a large bowl combine the powdered sugar, butter and vanilla. Blend well. Stir in flour, nuts and salt. Shape into 1-inch balls. (I used my small Pampered Chef scooper. It made them perfectly round and the perfect size.) Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes until set but not brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheets. Cool for 2-3 minutes, then roll in powdered sugar. Cool completely and reroll in powdered sugar... if they last that long.

Here's the whole spread for our Cinco de Mayo dinner! Tortilla chips, watermelon, Spanish rice, refried beans with cheese, taco meat, homemade salsa, freshly made tortillas and the Mexican wedding cookies.

Cook Once, Eat Twice

I love the thought of only having to cook one night, but being able to feed my family two different meals on two different nights.

Recipe for Dinner One:

French Dip

Super easy crock-pot recipe!

1 beef roast of your preference (I usually get the biggest one I can find with the least amount of fat)

Water

Beef Bouillon

1 package Italian seasoning mix

Rolls (regular dinner or crusty rolls - whatever)

Basically you just cook the roast for 24 hours.

I sear my roast first in a very hot skillet, just a minute or so on each side.

Then put your roast in your slow cooker and measure in cups enough water to cover the roast. I find that almost always, no matter the size of the roast or the slow cooker 5 or 6 cups will do it. Then add a corresponding number of beef bouillon cubes of tablespoons of instant beef bouillon. Also add the package of Italian seasoning. Stir it all together, and then stir it again after an hour or so, after the bouillon has dissolved.

Here's a tip - sometimes you have to move the roast around too, if there is a lot of fat in the meat it might float a little and you want to be sure it all gets cooked evenly.

Oh and you should have your slow-cooker set to "low."

Another tip: If I forget to get my roast started a full 24 hours in advance, I will often set the slow-cooker to "high" for a few hours and then turn it down. IE: It's midnight on Saturday night and I just remembered I wanted to have a roast for Sunday dinner at 3 or 4 o'clock. Set the slow-cooker to "high" and then when you wake up in the morning, turn it down to low.

After 24 hours of cooking, take your roast out and shred it. You do this with a couple of forks. Just pick it apart.

Serve the meat on rolls with a bowl of the juice from the slow-cooker on the side. This is the best French dip you will ever have!!

Now, be sure to save all of your left over meat and at least 3-4 cups of the juice too for the next night's recipe.

Recipe for Dinner Two:

Green Chile Burros

A family favorite. This freezes really well too, so I make a TON of it and freeze it individual and family servings in Ziploc bags.

1 large onion diced

2 Tbsp oil

1-2 cups of left-over roast meat (we are of course using the beef roast from French dip, but you can also use left-over pork roast meat)

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 beef bouillon cube

1 can of diced green chiles (the little cans)

2 Tbls chili powder

1 can refried beans

Saute the onion in a little bit of oil (I use Canola). Add the meat and heat it through, but be sure not to saute or fry it. Add the tomatoes plus a little water (about 1/4 of the can to get all those good tomato juices), the bouillon, green chiles, chili powder, and refried beans. Stir it all together. You will most likely find that it needs a little more moisture. That's why you saved the juice from last night. Add the juice until you get a good consistency. If you don't have any juice you can add water and more bouillon cubes.

Serve in a flour tortilla, with a little more of the filling on top also. You can also add cheese or sour cream, although I like mine plain.

And get this, once upon a time I even figured out the calories for this dish. If you use about 14 oz of lean roast and non-fat beans, allowing two small burros per serving, then there are right around 4 servings at about 332 calories per serving. Not bad! (of course that doesn't include the tortilla or any other toppings)

Tip: Because I use the biggest roast I can find (and fit in my Crock pot) I usually end up doubling this recipe, and sometimes even tripling it. Then I am able to freeze enough for anywhere from 4-6 dinners for my family of 4 (only 3 of us are eating table food though).

Corn and Bean Salsa Recipe

I got this recipe from my friend Quincy. It tastes delicious, and it's fairly nutritious. Works well for a girl's night in.

Corn and Bean Salsa
1 bunch of cilantro (or to taste)
1 bunch of green onions (or to taste)
3-4 roma tomatoes
1 avocado
2 cans corn
2 cans black eyed peas
2 packets Good Seasons Italian Dressing

Make one packet of the Good Seasons Italian Dressing according to package directions. Set aside. Drain the cans of corn and black eyed peas, then rinse. Chop up tomatoes, green onions, cilantro and avocado. Add everything and the unmixed packet of dressing to a bowl and stir well. Add the mixed dressing to the bowl and stir. Refrigerate 3-4 hours before serving. Serve with tortilla chips.

Poppy Seed Chicken

Poppy Seed Chicken
2-3 chicken breasts or 1 whole chicken
8 oz. sour cream
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 T. poppy seeds
1 T. dried chopped onion (or 1/2 diced white onion)
1t. garlic powder (or 1 clove garlic)
1 cube butter
45 Ritz crackers

Boil chicken. When fully cooked remove from heat and cool for a few minutes. While cooling, preheat the oven to 350* F. Mix sour cream, soup and poppy seeds. Add onion and garlic powder. Chop or shred chicken, then add to mixture. Mix well. Spread in the bottom of a 9" x 13" pan.
Melt 1 cube butter, and crush the crackers. Add melted butter to crushed crackers and stir. Put on top of the chicken mixture. Bake for about 30 minutes. Serve over rice. Yummy!

FHE in a Jar

Last night for our mutual activity, we put together FHE in a Jar kits. I must admit, they turned out pretty dang cute. I got the original document of strips from JennySmith.net. But when I opened the word document, the formatting came up really bad, so I copied and pasted it into an Excel spread sheet and fixed the formatting to make it nice and uniform. Each strip contains a song, scripture(s), and a question to discuss. So easy! This would also be good for scripture study/journalling. I thought to make it a complete FHE there should be treats! So, I got on allrecipes.com and searched for "easy treats" and "easy desserts." So, you have 7 pages of FHE lesson strips, and 5 pages of easy recipe strips. I printed the lesson strips on white paper, and the treat strips on colored paper so you could tell the two apart and pick one of each. I also made some cute tags to put on the outside. In Jenny Smith's document, the first page is a tag and instructions. Just so you know.

I think they turned out pretty cute and I hope the girls use them! I know I will! Plus, under Good Works in their Personal Progress books is a goal about teaching Family Home Evening - so we got a lot into just one activity.

FHE in a Jar Lesson strips (.xls - Excel spreadsheet)
FHE in a Jar Lesson strips (.pdf - Adobe Acrobat)

Easy Treats strips for FHE in a Jar (.doc - Word document)
Easy Treats strips for FHE in a Jar (.pdf - Adobe Acrobat)

FHE in a Jar Tags (.ai - Adobe Illustrator)
FHE in a Jar Tags (.pdf - Adobe Acrobat)

The original source of FHE in a Jar on JennySmith.net.

My chocolate chip cookie recipe

Every time I make these cookies people ask me for the recipe. I made 48 cookies this afternoon, and with my kids' friends stopping by, some Boy Scouts stopping by and some missionaries there are now only 8 cookies left. So I thought I'd share the recipe with you too! Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 c. real butter

1 t. Mexican vanilla

2 eggs

3/4 c. white sugar

1 c. brown sugar

2 1/4 c. flour

1 t. baking soda

1 t. salt (omit this if you use salted butter)

2 c. chocolate chips (milk chocolate or semi-sweet, whichever you prefer)

1 c. chopped nuts (optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Mix the butter until smooth. Add vanilla, eggs, sugars and mix well. Add flour, soda and salt (if required). Mix well. Add chocolate chips and nuts; mix just until mixed.

Spray cookie sheet(s) with Pam. Use scoop and drop dough by rounded spoonful on cookie sheets. Cook 8-11 minutes, depending on your oven. When they are golden brown, remove them from the oven. Let them cool for 3-5 minutes, and put on a cooling rack. Enjoy!

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

I can't claim this recipe as my own, but my family LOVES this recipe. It comes from a girl I know named Channan.

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:

3-4 chicken breasts

6 c. water with 6 t. chicken bouillon (or use chicken broth)

5-6 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 medium onion, chopped in large chunks (I've used yellow, white and red onions- whatever I have on hand at the time)

Several stocks of celery, chopped

1 1/2 c. frozen peas (Don't thaw before!)

Basil

Oregano

Pepper

Salt (Kosher salt is what the recipe calls for, but I use sea salt, or use table salt.)

1 c. heavy cream

1/2 pkg. wide egg noodles

(All ingredients are approximate; you can add to or reduce as you wish.)

Directions:

Poach chicken breasts in broth for 20 minutes. Remove chicken and refrigerate. DON'T THROW OUT THE BROTH! It's your soup base! Add onions, carrots and celery. Simmer until carrots are soft.

Add your spices (to taste), and then dice or tear chicken. (I usually pick it up with a fork, put it over the pan and use kitchen shears to cut it up.)Add the chicken, heavy cream, frozen peas and noodles to the pan and stir well. (I get the Ream's Frozen noodles because they're the BEST!)

Remove pan from heat. Keep covered until noodles are soft.

We LOVE this recipe, and very rarely have leftovers. My kids used to want the Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup, but I've slowly won them over. Now they request this all the time!