Peanut Butter Play Dough

My mom came home from MOPs with this recipe. It was really easy and Sam loved eating it. Josh still isn't convinced you can eat it.

Peanut Butter Play Dough

1 part creamy peanut butter (salted)
1 part honey
2 parts tapioca starch or powdered milk

Mix all ingredients together.

Black Bean Soup

It's Tiff again. Sierra's off to sleep but I told her I'd post this. We made it Saturday night and it's something we make fairly often. She doesn't like it but it's her dad's all-time favorite soup that I make. It's sooo good! The recipe came from the show Good Deal with Dave Lieberman.

P.S. We like to cook the bacon completely and reserve some fat for the onions. Also, we always at least double the recipe.

Black Bean Soup

10 slices bacon, finely chopped
2 medium onions, chopped (about 2 1/2 cups)
6 garlic cloves, pressed
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can chicken broth
1 1/2 cups canned chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder
4 (15 1/2-ounce) cans black beans, drained but not rinsed
salt and pepper
1 bunch cilantro
juice of 1/2 lime

Put the bacon into a large heavy pot and place it over medium heat. Cook until it starts to give up its fat, about 4 minutes. Stir in the onions and cook, stirring, until they start to turn translucent, about 4 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until you can smell it, about 1 minute. Add the broth, tomatoes, ketchup, Worcestershire, and chili powder. Stir in the beans, turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Adjust the heat so the soup is bubbling gently and cook 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, pick off all the thick stems from the cilantro. Wash it and shake dry. Chop the cilantro coarsely and stir it into the soup when it has been simmering 10 minutes. cook until the soup is thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the lime juice.

Topsy Turvy Apple Pie

We found this recipe on the Pillsbury website. It looked heavenly. My mom cut the apples and I did most of the rest. It was a little burnt. I suggest 30 minutes instead of 35. I love the pecans!


Topsy-Turvy Apple Pie

1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1/2 cup pecan halves
1 box refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on box

Filling
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 cups thinly sliced, peeled apples (4 medium)

Topping
Whipped cream, if desired

1. Heat oven to 425°F. In 9-inch glass pie plate, mix brown sugar, butter and corn syrup. Spread evenly in bottom of pie plate. Arrange pecans over mixture. Make pie crusts as directed on box for Two-Crust Pie, placing bottom crust over mixture in pan.

2. In small bowl, mix granulated sugar, flour and cinnamon. Arrange half of apple slices in crust-lined pie plate. Sprinkle with half of sugar mixture. Repeat with remaining apple slices and sugar mixture. Top with second crust; seal edge and flute. Cut slits in several places in top crust.

3. Place pie on sheet of foil on middle oven rack in oven; bake 8 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F; bake 35 to 45 minutes longer or until apples are tender and crust is golden brown. Immediately run knife around edge of pie to loosen. Place serving plate upside down over pie; turn serving plate and pie plate over. Remove pie plate. Serve warm or cool with whipped cream.

Tia’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are our favorite chocolate chip cookies and the recipe comes from our neighbor and friend Tia. This time we didn't use M&M's or nuts but we always double the recipe.

Tia’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup shortening
½ cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 ½ cup flour
1 bag chocolate chips
Chopped walnuts
2-3 handfuls of M&M’s
Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Cream shortening and sugars till fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Add flour, salt, and baking soda. Mix till blended. Add chocolate chips, nuts, and M&M’s. Spoon onto cookie sheets. Bake around 12 minutes.

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

This was really easy. We left out the butter and used 5 chicken breasts but Dad and Michael still liked it. It was too hot for me. Michael put ranch dressing on his but Mom said bleu cheese would be good too.

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 (17.5 fluid ounce) bottle buffalo wing sauce, divided
1/2 (1 ounce) package dry ranch salad dressing mix
2 tablespoons butter
6 hoagie rolls, split lengthwise

Place the chicken breasts into a slow cooker, and pour in 3/4 of the wing sauce and the ranch dressing mix. Cover, and cook on Low for 6 to 7 hours.

Once the chicken has cooked, add the butter, and shred the meat finely with two forks. Pile the meat onto the hoagie rolls, and splash with the remaining buffalo wing sauce to serve.

Oat Applesauce Muffins

It's Mom here; Sierra fell asleep before she got around to posting. Here's a recipe we tried out tonight for Sam's Kindergarten Fall Fiesta. We found it on Allrecipes.com. They're tasty and would probably make a quick breakfast. The recipe only makes 12 but we made 5 dozen in no time.

Oat Applesauce Muffins

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup applesauce
1 egg

Place oats in a small bowl, pour in buttermilk. Let sit for two hours at room temperature.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.

In a large bowl, stir together whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and brown sugar. Stir in oat/buttermilk mixture, applesauce and egg; mix well. Pour batter into prepared muffin cups.

Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean.

Uglies

My brother (Kenny) wouldn't touch these. My mom made him eat one and now he loves them!




Uglies

1 pound ground beef chuck
1/2 cup of chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon garlic sauce
1 1/2 cups of barbecue sauce
1 (10 ounces) package refrigerated biscuit dough
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease 8 muffin cups.

In a large skillet or frying pan, cook ground chuck with onion and garlic powder until evenly brown; drain off the grease. Stir in the barbecue sauce and simmer for another 3 minutes.

Roll out each biscuit on a floured surface so that each biscuit is 6 inches across. Put the biscuit in the muffin tin and fold up sides to create a cup shape. Fill each biscuit almost to the top with the meat mixture; top with Cheddar cheese.

Bake n preheated oven until biscuits are baked, cheese is melted and tops are golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Lime Chicken Tacos

This is an easy crock pot meal. We made it without corn but we might try a can of black beans some time.



Lime Chicken Tacos

1-1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup chunky salsa
12 flour tortillas (6 inches), warmed
Sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese and shredded lettuce, optional

Place the chicken in a 3-qt. slow cooker. Combine lime juice and chili powder; pour over chicken.
Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or until chicken is tender.

Remove chicken; cool slightly. Shred meat with two forks and return to the slow cooker; heat through. Stir in corn and salsa.

Cover and cook on low for 30 minutes or until heated through. Serve in tortillas with sour cream, cheese and lettuce if desired. Yield: 12 tacos.

Pan de Muertos (Mexican Bread of the Dead)

Feliz Dia de los Muertos! This is a delicious bread for the Day of the Dead!

Pan de Muertos

1/4 cup margarine
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons anise seed
1/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons orange zest
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon orange zest
2 tablespoons white sugar

Heat the milk and the butter together in a medium saucepan, until the butter melts. Remove from the heat and add the warm water. The mixture should be around 110 degrees F (43 degrees C).

In a large bowl combine 1 cup of the flour, yeast, salt, anise seed and 1/4 cup of the sugar. Beat in the warm milk mixture then add the eggs and orange zest and beat until well combined. Stir in 1/2 cup of flour and continue adding more flour until the dough is soft.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.
Place the dough into a lightly greased bowl cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size. This will take about 1 to 2 hours. Punch the dough down and shape it into a large round loaf with a round knob on top. Place dough onto a baking sheet, loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until just about doubled in size.

Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for about 35 to 45 minutes. Remove from oven let cool slightly then brush with glaze.

To make glaze: In a small saucepan combine the 1/4 cup sugar, orange juice and orange zest. Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil for 2 minutes. Brush over top of bread while still warm. Sprinkle glazed bread with white sugar.

Aunt Marty's Pumpkin Roll

This recipe is from my Grandpa Ken's sister Marty. It's really good and not hard at all.





Aunt Marty’s Pumpkin Roll

Roll:

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
¾ cup flour
2/3 cup pumpkin
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon pumpkin spice
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Filling:

1 package cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
¼ cup butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream together filling ingredients. For the roll, cream eggs and sugar. Add all other ingredients. Blend well. Add flour and blend again. Pour mixture into greased jelly roll pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 -minutes. While waiting for the roll to bake, take a towel and lay out towel. Roll up lengthwise. Let cool. Once roll is cool, unroll and fill with filling. Reroll and place in refrigerator.

Pumpkin Rice Pudding

This is delicious! We made this two nights in a row, it's so good! You can add raisins or cranberries but some of us don't like those so we didn't use either.

Pumpkin Rice Pudding

2/3 cup water
1/3 cup uncooked long grain rice
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
2/3 cup Pumpkin Puree, or canned pumpkin
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In small saucepan combine water and rice. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed, stirring once.

In medium bowl combine eggs, milk, Pumpkin Puree, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, and salt. Stir in rice and 1/2 cup of the cranberries. Pour mixture into 1-1/2-quart straight-sided deep baking dish. Place dish in baking pan on oven rack. Pour boiling water into baking pan until water comes halfway up sides of baking dish.

Bake 30 minutes; stir. Bake 35 minutes more or until outside edge appears set. Remove dish from oven. Cool slightly on wire rack.

To store, cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours.

Chicken in a Pot

I don't know why this is called Chicken in a Pot. It should be called Chicken in a Skillet. My mom and I made this a few nights ago and it's really good. Mom used three cans of sliced shiitake mushrooms instead of fresh because that's what she had in the pantry. My younger brothers don't like mushrooms and liked the chicken without sauce.

Chicken in a Pot

3/4 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 clove garlic, minced
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
3 tablespoons dry bread crumbs
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 cups fresh sliced mushrooms



In a medium bowl, combine the broth, tomato paste, ground black pepper, oregano, salt and garlic. Mix well and set aside.

Dredge the chicken in the bread crumbs, coating well. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Saute the chicken in the oil for 2 minutes per side, or until lightly browned.

Add the reserved broth mixture and the mushrooms to the skillet and bring to a boil. Then cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove chicken and set aside, covering to keep it warm.

Bring broth mixture to a boil and cook for 4 minutes, or until reduced to desired thickness. Spoon sauce over the chicken and serve.

Parmesan Knots

We made these two nights in a row because we liked them so much. They're easy and delicious!

Parmesan Knots

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Dash pepper
3 (12 ounce) cans refrigerated buttermilk biscuits


In a small bowl, combine oil, cheese, parsley, oregano, garlic powder and pepper; set aside.

Cut each biscuit in half. Roll each portion into a 6-in. rope; tie in a loose knot. Place on greased baking sheets.

Bake at 450 degrees F for 6-8 minutes or until golden brown; immediately brush with the Parmesan mixture. Serve warm or freeze for up to 2 months."

Coconut Orange Cupcakes

This sure to be a hit! Good for any occasion.

Coconut Orange Cupcakes

1 cup sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup orange juice
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 can (11 ounces) mandarin oranges, drained
1 cup vanilla or white chips
TOPPING:
1 cup flaked coconut
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted


In a large bowl, beat the sugar, oil, eggs and orange juice until well blended. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; gradually stir into orange juice mixture just until moistened. Fold in oranges and chips.

Fill paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. In a small bowl, combine topping ingredients; sprinkle over cupcakes. Bake at 375° for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool. Yield: 2 dozen.