Kitchen Scrapbook - Page 4 of 11 - Recipes and Cooking Ideas for Homemakers and Amateur Cooks

What do you get when you mix snickerdoodles with sour cream cookies, but don’t have eggs?

June 5, 2009 December 12, 2019

Posted on June 5, 2009
Filed Under Cookies and bars

You get these cookies. Not bad, huh?

Ok, time to dust off this site again. For those of you who have come back over the last 2 weeks to check if there’s anything new, do you sorta feel like you’re getting to know Trevor? And don’t you want one of his cookies?

We got a serious cookie craving awhile ago… Lexi said, “Mom, can we make cookies?” and I said “Sure!” and without another word, we both stopped what we were doing, headed for the kitchen and I went for the cookbooks and she pulled the flour out of the cupboard. That’s when you know it’s a serious cookie craving. If it wouldn’t have been, we would’ve just acted like that would be a good idea and say how we’d “sure like some cookies” and “maybe this evening we could make some” and then just went on with what we were doing.

The first problem was that we had no chocolate chips. The second problem was more serious… no eggs. There are LOTS of cookie recipes with no choc chips, but very few with no eggs. I thought of making Mary’s Cream Cheese Cookies. (The reason I thought of making those is because this exact thing had happened and after searching cookbook after cookbook, I had fiiiiiiiiiiiiinally found one without eggs.) I’ll bet you anything when Shannon reads this, he’ll wonder why I didn’t Google ‘cookie recipe no eggs’ or something like that. His brother Wendell will probably wonder that too. Now that I think of it, I kinda wonder too.

Anyway.

What ended up happening is that we have a brand new made-up recipe. Not usually what I have in mind when I say I’m gonna try a new recipe. I looked at the cream cheese cookie recipe this time and noticed there were no secret ingredients taking place of the eggs and I had sour cream in the fridge, so I combined and deleted some ingredients and changed a few amounts on a snickerdoodle and sour cream cookie recipe and here it is:

2 cups brown sugar
1 cup shortening
1 1/4 cups sour cream
4 cups flour
2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla

Cream sugar and shortening. Add dry ingredients alternately with sour cream. Add vanilla. Roll into balls. Flatten a bit. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar. Lexi was in charge of putting on the cinnamon sugar and when she started loading it on, I almost said “Not so much!”, but just in time, I thought, ‘You know, that looks kinda good!’ And it was!

Bake for 12 minutes at 375.

Well, they look pretty normal, don’t they?
And they tasted great! Seriously! Sometime, I want to try them with chocolate chips and omit the cinnamon sugar. Or would cinnamon be good with chocolate chips?

Look how soft they are. They’re nice and chewy, not crunchy.

Now I hope that I’m not out of eggs AND sour cream AND cream cheese when the next cookie craving hits. If so, we’ll have to settle for No Bake Cookies, which isn’t a bad choice. At all.

Ok, I’m off to Google ‘Why do cookie recipes have eggs in them?’ Or maybe I’ll Bing it. Just this week, I learned there’s such a thing as Bing.

Comments

9 Responses to “What do you get when you mix snickerdoodles with sour cream cookies, but don’t have eggs?”

Arla on June 5th, 2009 3:54 pm

I thought I was the only one who ran out of stuff you shouldn’t ever be out of, like eggs. The cookies sound really good, but I have exactly one person in our household that even remotely needs cookies. And of course, he could care less, which is so not fair. But we do make cookies. I have a bucket of them in the freezer and Lance is supposed to know that and get a cookie craving now and then and snitch when he wants one. The other reason I like to keep cookies in the freezer is for when little children come to our house and they look up at me trustingly and ask for a snack. Do I look a grandma that much? Keep it up, Kay. My drop down kept you near the top, because I kept checking in.
Amy on June 6th, 2009 7:20 am

Oh, I’ am so glad to know this! I have the occasional no-eggs-in-the-fridge thing going on too. They look wonderful! I think choc chips and cinnamon would go great together!
Audrey on June 8th, 2009 8:48 am

Well, what I would have done is gone to recipezaar.com and put in the ingredients that I had and the ones I didn’t have (eggs) and then it would have given me a list of recipes that I could make. But, sounds like maybe it turned out better for you this way anyhow! I like baking with my kids…Kendall is my little kitchen helper.
Sharon on June 15th, 2009 9:51 am

A Story:
Faye is going to Sharon’s house.
Faye reads Kay’s site.
Faye thinks, Wow, no eggs, I could make some and even Sawyer could eat them.
Faye makes cookies and takes them to Sharon’s house. (Faye is nice, you know)
Everyone at Sharon’s house is just THRILLED (they don’t get cookies much), especially Sawyer.

End of Story.

Moral of Story: Kay’s a genius. Faye’s a thoughtful auntie. THANKS!
Sharon on June 15th, 2009 9:53 am

oh I forgot…
Yeah, next time try Google. You really can find cookie recipes without eggs. Some of them aren’t so good, but some of them really are.
Katrina on June 20th, 2009 1:34 pm

Okay, so all this and now I don’t know what Bing is! Off to google!
But wait, those cookie look awesome. My husdbands favorite cookie is snickerdoodles. I’ll bet he’ll like these! Way to create and make do.
Sharon on December 13th, 2009 10:19 am

Cookies sound great. What happened to the cooking time and oven temp?
lisa on January 15th, 2012 5:58 pm

I just stumbled upon your cookies recipe and I must say these are fantastic. Thank you so much for posting this recipe — my husband and two boys absolutely love them!
Liz on September 22nd, 2014 1:30 pm

Even though this is an old post (I came looking for it because I only have one egg and thought you had posted about making cookies without eggs) I just have to say that cinnamon and chocolate chips go great together. One of my kids’ favorite cookie is sour cream cookies. I always put chocolate chips in them. Which an acquaintance of ours thinks that it just ruins them. But obviously chocolate experts such as us should know better. Thanks for the recipe.

Birthday Cakes

Thomas the Tank Engine Birthday Cake

May 21, 2009 December 12, 2019

Posted on May 21, 2009
Filed Under Birthday cakes

I am planning to make a Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake for Trevor this afternoon. Here he is:

He’s my friend Beth’s little boy and he’s turning a big whoppin’ 3 years old! The party is tomorrow.

I’ll be taking progress pictures and hopefully this pile of miscellaneous stuff will have turned into a Thomas the Tank Engine cake by this evening.

(Hopefully, the upside-down Whoppers don’t bug any perfectionists out there… just noticed it now and I don’t feel like taking another picture.)

Next step is to bake the cake. Or cakes. I’m actually not sure if it’ll take one or two, so I’ll probably make 2 right away so I for sure have enough. I’m planning to make the engine, a caboose, and 4 cars in between.

I’ll be back after the cakes are baked and cooled…

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Back again, but not with cake yet. For anyone who thinks I have my act together here, I’ll admit a little tidbit that I could easily hide. And the only one who would’ve discovered it is Beth, after they’ve eaten the last of the cake and she’s throwing away the thing it was on.

I was about to start and then thought, “Oh! What am I gonna put this train on?!” Usually, I buy those little cake board things or cover my cutting board with something, but a train requires something strong and long. So, I wandered thro’ my house looking for something. In the storage room, I saw a sturdy Dewalt cardboard box. So I cut it up till I had 6 rectangles, stacked them in 2 stacks of 3, and covered them with aluminum foil. Sounds crazy, I know. But the result is a sturdy cake board that’s the right size (but doesn’t all fit on my 4′ dining table!)…

By the way, those pieces of cardboard on there are just for an idea of how the train will fit on. Who knows what it’ll actually end up looking like or what size the cars will be, but that’s just something to go by. I’m going to leave the cake board in 2 pieces for easier moving around and transporting to the party. Ideally, when they’re pushed up against each other, it won’t be too noticeable where the crack is.

You know, I was just thinking… I don’t think I’ve EVER used the word Dewalt before in a birthday cake post! Or in a cooking post of any sort.

Now, I’m gonna go make some frosting…

Here is the frosting recipe that I always use:

Wilton Buttercream Icing

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
2 Tbsp. milk

In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.

For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.

For thin (spreading) consistency icing, add 2 tablespoons light corn syrup, water or milk. I do this step for the frosting I use to frost the cake. Then for decorating, I either save some frosting out before adding these 2 extra Tbsp. of milk or add some powdered sugar.

After a bit of stacking cake and carving, meet Thomas:

Thomas the Tank Engine is done. I don’t like the face. I messed around with it for quite awhile, trying to texture it (as in 3D), but just couldn’t get it to look right, so I just made it flat and piped a face on.

Thomas, coal car, circus car…

I’ll post the rest in the morning.

Good morning!

Thomas the Tank Engine, coal car, circus car, tanker, boxcar, caboose.

And now for some close-ups (you can see all the flaws better, but I’m fine with that)…

You know that pile of misc stuff up there? Well, some of that was a total guess of what I’d need. I didn’t use all the stuff, but I used some stuff that wasn’t on the pile. Like, speghetti, a carrot, and popsicle sticks. ????

Ah, what fun this was to make! Hope Trevor likes it! Happy birthday, Trevor!

Comments

36 Responses to “Thomas the Tank Engine Birthday Cake”

Beth on May 21st, 2009 11:34 am

What can I say? You do stuff the right way! I never dreamed it would take all that to make a Thomas train. I’ll definitely keep checking for updates.
Freida on May 21st, 2009 11:41 am

THIS will be interesting!!
Rosalyn on May 21st, 2009 12:05 pm

wow! lots of interesting ingredients!! can’t wait to see your progress! ????
Ruthie on May 21st, 2009 12:39 pm

This should be exciting! I will be checking back to see how it is going for you! =)
Shannon H on May 21st, 2009 1:59 pm

Just checking in on Thomas.
Cheryl on May 21st, 2009 3:53 pm

Oh Kay…I admire you….cheers for you and Thomas.
Monica on May 21st, 2009 5:45 pm

Oh, this is so neat!! Can’t wait to him when he’s all done!!
Beth on May 21st, 2009 7:22 pm

It looks great…Trevor is going to be so impressed!
Beth on May 21st, 2009 7:26 pm

His exact response was, “yum, yum. That’s my Thomas cake. yum, yum.” Now he’s getting mad cuz he can’t see it anymore.
Arla on May 21st, 2009 8:09 pm

Wow! Kay, what a lot of time and work AND talent. I’m going to send this link to Gillian Lattin. She loves to see cakes in the making.
Cheryl on May 21st, 2009 8:39 pm

Wow….and backwards…Wow. Good going.
Kay on May 22nd, 2009 6:49 am

Great! We’ve got some positive feedback from Trevor! ????
Berneice on May 22nd, 2009 1:20 pm

I can only dream of doing something like this. I just keep wowing! :p
Bobbi on May 22nd, 2009 1:47 pm

That looks great!!! He will be one happy little boy.
Monica on May 22nd, 2009 2:57 pm

So very nice!! Did you come up with this idea on your own or did you have something to go by? So creative…….:)
Liz on May 22nd, 2009 6:17 pm

Wow, I am way behind the times. I am just now seeing this. Looks good. Did you have a picture to go off? wonder how long it will be till i’ll have to do a thomas one for my little guy. Maybe it’ll have to be sometime when you are around.=)ha!
Kay on May 22nd, 2009 8:19 pm

I printed a couple pictures off of a Thomas website. We are probably one of the only households in America that doesn’t have anything Thomas! No toys or books. :rolleyes: So, I just went off of those pictures to do the cake. I couldn’t find any with the back of the engine on it, so I just kinda made it however. The cars were just kinda whatever too. I think I should’ve had a passenger car because I think that’s what Thomas is mostly pulling. But, oh well, I didn’t catch onto that little tidbit in time. Now Lexi and Tiffany are all into Thomas.
Katrina on May 26th, 2009 8:20 am

Great job. What a lot of work! I used to make cute theme cakes, but when my kids don’t eat it and end up throwing away a lot of cake, it makes it annoying to do all that work. Awesome cake!
Shannon H on May 26th, 2009 8:08 pm

Wow wow wow. You did a splendid job. I think you could start a business.

All at once tonight I rememebered that I hadn’t checked on Thomas again. My poor girls are looking wide eyed and saying, “Mom, could you make….” and I shut them off before they even asked. ???? No, I can’t! We’ll just call Kay!
Shannon H on May 26th, 2009 8:10 pm

Ok they say if that’s the case, we don’t want Thomas, we want a girly princess one. ????
Anneta B on June 1st, 2009 8:28 pm

Wow! What a lucky birthday boy to have a friend who would use her creativity to bake such a cake! I am sure it will one of the highlights of his childhood. Congratulations on a job well done! I hope you or his mother took tons of photos to memorialize this fantastic gift. You know he will be increasingly proud that someone cared this much.
Mariann on June 1st, 2009 9:57 pm

Kay, you are amazing!! That is one adorable Thomas cake.:)
renita on June 3rd, 2009 8:33 pm

Ok, I don’t think I’ll let my boys see this one. But on the other hand, maybe you just got a job for the next birthday. What an awesome talent you’ve got! I’m glad you live close to me!
Judi on June 4th, 2009 12:34 pm

I’m sure Trevor absolutely loved it!! You did a great job and your hard work really show.
Kim on June 7th, 2009 6:41 pm

What a Thomas cake! Jared had one for his bday, too, but I did mine the easy way…I put on a Thomas train toy and made the track with pretzels. I thought it looked pretty nice… till I saw yours. I won’t let Jared see the one you made, then I should be safe. =)
I never know how much to write here that’s not cooking-related.
Any chance you’ll be at the Midwest mtgs this summer? If not, we’d like to see you somehow. It’s been awhile….
Suzanne on June 9th, 2009 12:19 pm

I decorate cakes too and just have a question after I saw yours. How do you get such true colors of blue, red and black. I have such a problem with that and can’t figure it out. Could you please give me some tips because I can’t keep decorating cakes forever without using those colors. Thank you so much
Kay on June 9th, 2009 12:33 pm

Suzanne, I use Wilton concentrated paste icing colors. It comes in little cans about 1 1/2″ tall (there are actually some sitting around in a couple of the pictures above) and can be found in the cake decorating section at Walmart, Hobby Lobby, Michaels, etc. Also, I buy the actual colors I’m going to be using (for example, I don’t mix blue and yellow to make green, I buy green paste). I used to use food coloring (the liquid stuff) and since I discovered the paste, I’ll never go back to food coloring for cake decorating! If you use this paste and still aren’t getting the true colors, then add more… even tho’ it’s really concentrated, it’s amazing how much you have to use sometimes! Happy cake decorating! It’s fun, isn’t it?!
Lisl Lattin on June 13th, 2009 6:52 am

The cake is truly a work of art, Kay. I only have one question–and I suppose if I were a maker of cakes I would know the answer. But I’m not. How did you transport Thomas, and all his cars, from the surface you decorated him on, to the train track? I can just imagine the dreadful things that would happen if I were to try to figure out how to scrape him gracefully from one location onto another. Help! This shall boggle my mind until I know the answer!
Kay on June 13th, 2009 11:31 am

Ha, Lisl. You’re very perceptive. The maneuver you mentioned was VERY nerve-wracking!

When it was time to move Thomas over, I just stared at it for awhile, not wanting to do it, and wondering what would work the best. I have a huge knife (with Chinese writing on it) that has a 4″x8″ blade. I sprayed it with cooking spray for easier sliding. That worked great by itself for the cars, but for Thomas, I had someone help me and used the knife on one end and a pancake turner on the other end.

When we were putting Thomas over, I got a bad case of the giggles, which zapped me of my steadiness and strength. :rolleyes: Have you ever done that at in-opportune times? I was thinking, “I can’t laugh!” and that made me laugh all the more! Sigh. But miraculously, it made it on there and I only had to do minimal touch-up around the bottom edges.
Rebecca on July 7th, 2009 4:46 pm

Now that is a birthday cake!
Larna on June 23rd, 2010 5:00 pm

Hi, I found your blog and was inspired to try this for my son’s 3rd bday despite not being a baker! Yikes! I have one question, though, which is can I leave the frosted cake in the fridge uncovered overnight? I have to frost the cake the day before due to time constraints, and the cake is going to be too big to cover, but I am worried about the frosting drying out in the fridge overnight? Any thoughts? Thanks! Your cake is awesome!
Kay on July 20th, 2010 10:47 am

Larna, I’ve put cakes in the fridge overnight and the frosting stayed just fine!

If you’re using fondant though, I wouldn’t put it in the fridge… I made an ice cream cake base with fondant-covered cakes on top and so it had to go in the freezer. That does NOT work!

Regular frosting should be fine, though.
Thomas the Train Table on September 9th, 2010 9:08 pm

That is a awesome Thomas birthday cake! Great job! I am sure Trevor absolutely loved it!
Shane on February 5th, 2011 9:11 am

That is simply amazing. My son Chase loves Thomas. We are having a Thomas themed second birthday for him today. I was going to just draw the front of him on a cake. Not anymore! I have six hours to do what you did. I better get started. Thank you so much for giving me a great idea and for making my sons birthday that much better. Great job!
Sara on August 31st, 2011 2:27 pm

How creative! I made a train cake similar to this for my daughter 3 years ago, but I love how you did your track and rocks! Now my son is turning 3 and wants Thomas also. I was just going to do the tank engine, but I am inspired now to do all the cars that go with it, complete with a caboose! Great job!
Helen on October 1st, 2011 8:06 pm

That cake is AWESOME! My daughter asked me to make a Thomas cake for her son’s 2nd birthday so I was looking for ideas – yours are great!
One question where did you use the spaghetti, carrot and popsicle sticks. Must be well hidden, can’t see it anywhere but I’m wondering if that is how you held pieces together. Please let me know. Thanks so much

Cookies and Bars

Jam Bars

May 13, 2009 December 12, 2019

Posted on May 13, 2009
Filed Under Cookies and bars

Usually when I’m flipping thro’ a cookbook and a recipe JUMPS out and grabs me, it’s a recipe with chocolate chunks or melted milk chocolate in it. This time, it wasn’t though. I think what grabbed me about these bars was the cream cheese. And the fact that when there’s a brown sugar/oatmeal/butter mixture, it’s always good… like these Peanut Butter Dream Bars, for example.

This recipe comes from the Tasteful Delights cookbook. The committee behind this cookbook includes a couple of my friends, Michelle and Monica. Good recipes in there! Sometime, I want to try the stuffed mushrooms, bacon cheese chicken, frozen mocha dessert, and a bunch of others. But for now, we’ve got some scrumptious jam bars…

Jam Bars

Printable recipe

2 cups rolled oats (I used quick oats)
1 3/4 cup flour
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
Desired amount of cream cheese filling
Any flavor jam

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.

Reserve 2 cups crumbs and press the rest in a 9×13 pan and bake for 10 minutes.

Spread cream cheese evenly over crust, then jam over cream cheese.
I used about 1 cup of cream cheese filling.

I used about 1/2 cup of jam. Next time, I’d use more like 1/4 cup of jam. It was a little too sweet and the strawberry flavor over-powered the cream cheese flavor, I thought. And that’s not good when fruit over-powers cream cheese! ????

Sprinkle crumbs over jam.

Bake until crumbs are golden. After 17 minutes, it looked like this, so I got it out of the oven… looks great to me!

These didn’t last long around here! They’re pretty easy too. They oughta cool before cutting and eating though. They didn’t hold their shape very well while still warm. They are THE best out of the fridge. I don’t think they’d need to be stored in the fridge, but they were extra good when they were chilled. By the way, I made only a half batch (and used an 8×8 pan) because I didn’t have enough of one of the ingredients and I wanted to make them NOW.

About the cream cheese filling, I buy it in tubes at a local bulk foods store, but if you don’t have access to it or would rather make your own, here’s a wonderful cream cheese filling recipe:
8 oz softened cream cheese, 1 egg, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/2 tsp. vanilla. Beat till smooth.

Comments

12 Responses to “Jam Bars”

amy stauffer on May 14th, 2009 5:07 am

I love “regular” jam bars, but with a layer of cream cheese filling… they have got to be 10 times better!!! yummy! and just what I DONT need!
liz on May 14th, 2009 3:40 pm

These look good. I’ll have to try them sometime. Think I would have to make the cream cheese filling though. Good to see another update.;)
liz on May 14th, 2009 8:28 pm

Does the cream cheese filling have to be baked if it has an egg in it? I know in this recipe it is.
Kay on May 15th, 2009 7:52 am

Liz, cream cheese filling is something I’ve always wondered about and never really found answers for… Does stuff with cream cheese filling need to be baked? and Does it need to be refrigerated afterwards?

So, here’s what I do: When I make something with cream cheese filling that doesn’t get baked (like filling in a jelly roll), I always use the stuff from the tube. If it gets baked and I don’t have the a tube of filling on hand, I make some filling w that recipe up there. And I usually refrigerate the baked bars/rolls/danish overnight instead of letting them sit out. I also refrigerate cakes with cream cheese frosting.

If anyone has answers, please tell us!
Wendell Martin on May 15th, 2009 9:43 am

For your Cream Cheese question try this.
http://tinyurl.com/q9zjeq
Kay on May 15th, 2009 9:58 am

Wow, Wendell! That’s cool! Now, I don’t care as much about the cream cheese… my question now is HOW did you do that?! You know, making it type itself and the mouse moving and clicking. Maybe I should Google the answer to that question too. ????
Twila on May 16th, 2009 3:18 pm

I bought that cookbook and gave it to my daughter for Christmas, but first I copied some recipes from it!. And btw, Michelle and Monica are my nieces.
Wendell Martin on May 18th, 2009 7:27 am

Kay, If you go to this address http://lmgtfy.com/ you can type in any search. It is really good for dumb questions. Like if someone would ask you how to get to Kitchen Scrapbook or how high you rank on the search engines (#1 by the way) you could give them this http://tinyurl.com/qk457a
Barb on May 18th, 2009 12:58 pm

i made your Jam Bars for our church ladies night and they are awesome,keep the recipes coming!!!
Katrina on May 19th, 2009 12:20 pm

Looks de-lish!
Bobbi on May 20th, 2009 6:49 pm

Yum!!! I just made 12 jars of strawberry jam I may have to make these tomorrow. Thanks.

Bobbi
Traci on June 2nd, 2009 9:35 pm

Kay, thanks for stopping by my blog. Did you change servers or something…there are so many posts on here that I’ve missed….I re-added you to my list just in case.

The spoons are screwed on….it isn’t what I really wanted it to look like…I wanted the screws to be smooth and not have the tale tale phillips screwdriver thing on it…tee hee.
I added a nut behine the spoons to make them stand out a bit. I was going to use forks, but was afraid they would hang on clothing and rip stuff. I do have two forks above my microwave…would be hard to snag there.
My spoons do not match either…some even have a story behind them. We drilled holes in the spoons first…then put them up to the doors and matched them up as best we could and put a mark on the doors for the screws. I hope this is making sense….we used long screws and had to saw them off after getting the spoons attached.
Good luck!!!

Chicken and Turkey, Main Dishes

Chicken Cheese Melts

April 27, 2009 December 12, 2019

Posted on April 27, 2009
Filed Under Chicken and Turkey, Main dishes

Sometimes I feel stuck. In a rut. With cooking, that is. Well, other things too, but we’ll just stick with cooking. ????

I have a certain style of cooking and I don’t deviate from it much. I want to change that. Maybe doing some more ‘Out of my Comfort Zone’ foods would be a good idea. I don’t make stir-able casseroles. Pretty much the only all-in-one casserole type things I make are wet burritos and lasagna. Other than that, it’s sandwich-type things (like these melts) and most of the time it’s meat, potatoes/pasta, veggies, and rolls. And I pretty much use the same seasonings too. So, this evening for supper, I was browsing a cookbook for new recipes and passed up the Chinese Beef and the Sirloin Squash Shish Kabobs and landed on something ‘safer’ like Chicken Cheese Melts. I use way more chicken breast than any other meat and I never buy the dark meat unless I get a whole rotisserie chicken. Other meats I keep on hand and regularily use are ham, ground beef, beef roasts, and bacon. And that’s pretty much it. Other kinds of meat are very rare. Over the summer (think, more grilling), I buy pork chops, brats, and steaks.

Do you think I need a bit of help here with diversity? What’s your style of cooking? I’d love to hear it! Tell us in the comment section!

Meanwhile, here is a recipe using exotic ingredients like chicken breast, butter, cheese, and bread. Just kidding about the exotic part. This recipe comes from my newest cookbook, which I’ve owned for a little over 48 hours now… What’s Cookin’, compiled by the Schlabach family. Makes it more fun because I’m good friends with some of these Schlabachs. And I like seeing their names under a recipe now and then.

Chicken Cheese Melts

1 cup chicken, cooked and chunked (I used more like 1 1/2 cups, you can never go wrong with more meat ???? )
1/4 cup margarine, melted (I used butter)
1/4 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp. onion, chopped
1 Tbsp. parsley flakes
Shredded cheese

Saute onions in margarine briefly.

Mix together all ingredients.

Put on slices of French bread or any other bread. I used hamburger buns. And toasted them first.

Top with cheese.

Bake at 350 until cheese is melted. The cheese was melted after about 5 minutes, but then I turned on the broiler because I like cheese to have a bit of browning on top.

These, by the way, got rave reviews and were thrown into the ‘Yum! Make again!’ category. And they were easy and fast too, esp since I pulled chunked up fried chicken breast out of the freezer.

Now, I wanna hear about your this-is-the-norm-for-me cooking. Also, do you plan menus? I’ve seriously thought of doing that. Seems like that would eliminate the 4:00 p.m. staring in the fridge/freezer/cupboards/cookbooks for a supper idea!

Comments

15 Responses to “Chicken Cheese Melts”

Cheryl on April 27th, 2009 11:21 pm

Last week I made a Chicken Tetrazzina which was basically a chicken spaghetti. I thought it was good and I asked Dan if he liked it. His reply, “I don’t talk like that. :)”” Okay. All this to say casseroles aren’t a big hit here.
Twila on April 28th, 2009 5:27 am

I don’t really plan out menus specifically, but something that has helped me is I kind-of have certain things I make on nights of the week. For example, on Wednesday night we always have soup and some kind of bread. On Thursday nights I make some thing using chicken. Monday and Tuesday nights can vary, but usually on one of them I use ground beef, and the other one I use steak or pork chops,sometimes using the grill. Friday evening is usually something simple like grilled hamburgers and fries, or tacos. Saturday evening is always pizza. Sunday, roast beef (I have alot of meat, so for some people this might not work) Or if we have to many leftovers we eat those. (Yes,leftovers for Sunday lunch!)
This has really helped me, because usually the week before when I get my groceries I’m already thinking into the next week.
I enjoy your site, and have used quite a few of your recipes!
Wendell on April 28th, 2009 6:05 am

My normal cooking style would be hot dogs, and on a daring morning a scrambled egg, but then I am a guy with a bad case of culinary illiteracy. Though I think sometime if I really want to impress my girlfriend with a special high class meal I just might be able pull off the Chicken Cheese Melts.
Rene on April 28th, 2009 6:33 am

Those look great!! My normal mode of cooking is like you — several tried and trues that are relatively safe. I work outside the home (ugh) so many times I’m looking for something fast that will just fill the need. Right now while I’m caring for my husband 24/7 after his transplant I’m needing to cook for his eating abilities and right now that’s soft food which means lots of pasta with very mild sauces. It’s also kind of strange to only be cooking for 2.
Shannon on April 28th, 2009 6:59 am

Same old, same old here. Generally when I try something new, they turn up their noses at it unless it has the basic ingredients that I use in most everything else. I think I’ll try these soon. They look fast, easy and good!
Freida on April 28th, 2009 7:06 am

These look like my style- fast, easy, and good. I love to try new things, but my family doesn’t as much, so we try to find a balance. I stick with the basics, with a few different things stuck in every now and then.
Kelly on April 28th, 2009 7:43 am

Hi Kay!
First off, I ALWAYS meal plan. It keeps our grocery bill down, which is important for us. Every meal during the week is planned, and weekends consist of leftovers or a treat at eating out.
I blog my menus/meal plans every Monday morning, if you are looking for ideas.
I plan my menu Friday night or Saturday morning, then make a grocery list, farmer’s market list, and walmart list. Then DH goes to the grocery store, and I do farmer’s market and walmart. Honestly, most of our stuff comes from the farmers market — fresh fruit, veggies, dairy, meat, etc. Grocery store is for pantry items, and walmart for toiletries and paper products.

Since I love blogging, I try to make at least 1 new recipe per week. It can be a lunch for me at work, or a dessert for my co-workers, or a dinner, but at least 1 new recipe. That helps me incorporate new things all the time. Admittedly, sometimes they’re flops, but sometimes they’re pure deliciousness!
We eat pretty similar to you as far as meats, etc, but I just try to find new ways to eat those things.
I’ve learned I DON’T like at-home-chinese-style food. It just isn’t as good. I also don’t like most vegetarian meals, or anything with soy or tofu. So I just try to adapt the meats and veggies we already love into new things. I’ll post some of the new items I’ve made recently that were delicious to give you some ideas.

Finally, I use my vegetable steamer all the time. I steam fresh veggies and toss them with olive oil, or lemon juice, or whatever, and it makes us new, healthy sides all the time. We eat a lot of broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, potatoes, peas, etc. Pretty standard veggies!

Spicy Honey Chicken (grill recipe, so the hubby can make it!): http://kellycooksandotheramazingfeats.blogspot.com/2009/04/spicy-honey-chicken.html

“Ben-chiladas”: http://kellycooksandotheramazingfeats.blogspot.com/2009/04/ben-chiladas.html

Saucy Baked Chicken: http://kellycooksandotheramazingfeats.blogspot.com/2009/03/saucy-baked-chicken.html

Cafe Rio Pork (this one is truly amazing and delicious): http://kellycooksandotheramazingfeats.blogspot.com/2009/03/cafe-rio-pork.html

Crockpot Ranch Pork Chops: http://kellycooksandotheramazingfeats.blogspot.com/2009/03/crockpot-ranch-pork-chops.html

Southwestern Potatoes (great side!): http://kellycooksandotheramazingfeats.blogspot.com/2009/03/southwestern-potatoes.html
Aug on April 28th, 2009 10:23 am

Well, as you know, I do plan menus, kind of off and on. But it sure if nice to know what you are making that night instead of the midafternoon going through cookbooks, starting at the refrigerator, etc.

I like to try new things but I would say about 1/2 of the time they are not a hit with my family and two times lately they would hardly even eat what I made. Kind of hurt my feelings just a little, cuz I try to make things I think they will like.

I usually do my menus on a 6 week rotation and then when I am kind of tired of that 6 week menus (maybe I would do it 3 or 4 times) then I’ll make up a new one. The way that I kind of narrow down what to pick for menus is that I divide it up by the meat part of the meal and then fill in from there. Like, I plan one meal with pork, one meal with chicken, one with hamburger, one with ham slices, one breakfast meal and one no-meat meal. Like soup or english muffin pizzas, or this crock pot lasagna stuff that uses ravioli.
But recently I found that site called “Recipe Zaar” and so I’ve gotten lots of new recipes from there. I’ll just put in chicken for the ingredient, put main dishes, takes less than 60 minutes and I’ll look through what comes up.

But, if you’re “stuck in a rut” and that works out well for you and your family, then hey, whatever works. I think sometimes Jeremy would say he’d rather have me “stuck in a rut” than trying all of this new stuff. But I think, “How would I ever find these wonderful new recipes if I’m afraid to try stuff??”

By the way, do you know that Jeremy is pretty closely related to the Slabaugh’s (his Dad was Ada’s son) and that I even have some recipes in that cook book??
Melissa K on April 29th, 2009 5:25 am

Kay,
Don’t really have a “normal” cooking style. I love to try new recipes, but have a house full of very picky eaters (even my hubby!) so I’m kind of limited. I do make out a menu every week. otherwise, I can’t think of anything and we end up with sandwiches or cereal or something!!
Also, there are quite a few blogs that I regularly follow to get new meal ideas. There are tons of great blogs out there!
Kay on April 29th, 2009 8:26 am

This is really interesting! I like all your thoughts, tips, and ideas.
Thanks for the recipe links, Kelly. Yeah, I knew you plan menus… some week I oughta just do your menu. ????
Aug, I saw a recipe in that cookbook for Eclair dessert w your name under it, wondered if that was you.
Ha, Cheryl, sounds like you’ve got a ‘meat&potatoes’ man, too.
Twila, your rough menu planning is kinda like my mom used to do. I remember chicken on Tues nights, breakfast on Wed nights, and pizza on Sat nights, and i forget what the other ones were, but she kinda had a plan with certain types of things on certain days, but the actual dishes would vary.
Glad to see there are some like me too, including some nights you can’t think of anything, so it’s kinda just eat whatever. ????
Debbie on April 30th, 2009 11:11 am

Those look like total comfort food to me. So delicious!
Christy on May 2nd, 2009 7:21 pm

My cooking style is lots of Mexican and Italian. Those are our two favorites and the easiest for me to slap together. We used to grill once a week, but don’t have a grill anymore. I miss it!

I have already done the certain type of food per day thing. Funny thing is, I rotated startch instead of meet. Like Monday might have been rice, Tuesday potatoes, Wednesday pasta:) One day was leftovers or whatever, one day grill, one pizza-ish something and the other day?

When I got married, my sister wrote up a list of probably 75 menu ideas. I still refer back to it when I get stuck in a rut. Or then I’ll try a new recipe. Or make one up; that would be the most likely.
Roxanna on May 12th, 2009 3:36 pm

mMMMMMMMM…I’m trying these sandwhiches tonight AND the Southwestern Potatoes from Kellycooks! Can’t wait for supper! Thanks Ladies!
Priscilla on May 13th, 2009 6:47 pm

Hi Kay! I just discovered your site and have spent the last hour (at least) just browsing. So interesting! Katie made your berry mandarin salad for the sewing today, & it was delicious! These Chicken Cheese Melts look really good…I will try them sometime soon.
Judi on June 4th, 2009 12:36 pm

These look yummy! I’ll have to try them

Cookies and Bars, Cooks in Training

Chocolate Chip Cookies – Cooks in Training #7

April 23, 2009 December 12, 2019

Posted on April 23, 2009
Filed Under Cookies and bars, Cooks in Training

Yeah, I know… as you scroll down this page, the posts look a little heavy to kid stuff. It wasn’t planned, it kinda just happened, but how fitting… because that’s pretty much my life. And I say that in a good way, I love my 2 little girls and I know they’ll grow up way too fast. But until then, they’ll be a part of my cooking blog.

Lexi is 6. She already loves doing stuff in the kitchen, especially if it involves using her mini cooking stuff. She has declared it her job to make the iced tea around here, if I just do the part of dumping the hot tea into the pitcher. And, on non-school days, she often makes lunch around here (nothing on the stove). I’d have her pack her own school lunch, except that it makes more sense for me to do it while she’s eating breakfast or getting ready. She does have opinions though… the other day, she said, “Mom, next time you pack my lunch, do you think you could think of something healthy to put in it like an apple or something? I don’t wanna get all weak and stuff.” Thing is, it wasn’t exactly unhealthy, it was a sandwich, chips, and grapes.

Tiffany is 3. She loves doing stuff in the kitchen too. But WHY can’t she dump a 2 1/2″ in diameter measuring cup full of flour into an 8″ in diameter mixing bowl without spilling it out over the side?!!!!! ????

We’ve got a chocolate chip cookie recipe to feature today, from the Kid’s Cook cookbook. Cute little chocolate chip cookies. I told them to make the dough into balls and (because of their little hands?) the balls ranged from the size of a marble to the size of a super ball. Instead of the usual 12 cookies that I bake on one sheet, we got almost twice that many on, no problem. I realized I kinda like little cookies… they’re bite-sized and easy to pop in your mouth. This is not my usual chocolate chip cookie recipe, but it’s actually pretty close. This recipe is a small recipe, which is nice because there’s less chance of the mom having to finish the cookies when they get tired of making them and run off to play. I usually copy the directions word for word, but I’m just gonna paraphrase these because it’s written kinda kid-like and detailed.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375. Stir egg, sugars, and butter with wooden spoon until mixed.

Add flour, soda, salt and stir with wooden spoon till mixed.

Stir in chocolate chips. Form into balls and put on cookie sheets.

Could I please have the cookie in the front on the left up there?

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Comments

6 Responses to “Chocolate Chip Cookies – Cooks in Training #7”

Shannon on April 23rd, 2009 2:30 pm

Oh boy, now mine will have to make the cookies next time.
Lorrie on April 24th, 2009 12:03 pm

That’s the cutest thing. They are so sweet. I miss my daughter being that age.
Rina on April 24th, 2009 8:45 pm

I cannot WAIT till my son is old enough to help me in the kitchen!!! Great pics.
liz on April 27th, 2009 10:44 am

Okay, finally getting around to commenting. I usually have one arm full when I’m on the computer.
The 3rd paragraph sounded like you were talking about my girl. Can’t complain about Kaitlyn wanting to help bake cause she also helps me clean and do the not so fun stuff. She is wanting to start breaking the eggs too. :{
That one choc chip cookie that you spoke for definitely looks like the best one! After Kaitlyn saw the pics she wanted to go make cookies. Didn’t happen yet though.
Katrina on May 5th, 2009 12:11 pm

Awesome! Same issues I have with kids in the kitchen. That’s how they learn though, huh! Trial and error. Looks like you let them do WAY more than I do. What a fun pail full of cookies!
Bonniejean on June 7th, 2009 12:14 pm

Thanks for the recipe! Finally a fool proof chocolate chip cookie recipe. I made them yesterday and they are some of the best cookies I’ve ever made. Yummy!

Cookies and Bars, Desserts

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Squares

April 15, 2009 December 12, 2019

Posted on April 15, 2009
Filed Under Cookies and bars, Desserts

Pumpkin. Cream cheese. Chocolate. They make a fine trio.

This recipe comes from the Simply Wonderful cookbook compiled by the Honeybrook Community Church. I’ve only had this cookbook for several months and it’s already a favorite! It’s got lots of cheesecake recipes in it, a grilling section, and the salad department is outstanding! If I were to describe this cookbook in one phrase, it would be “good ol’ Mennonite cooking with a bit of flair”. My cookbook is dog-eared on pages with recipes I’ve gotta try.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Squares

Printable recipe

1 c. canned pumpkin
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1/3 c. oil
1 c. flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ginger

1/2 c. chocolate chips

4 oz. cream cheese
1/4 c. sugar
1 egg

Mix together pumpkin, sugar, egg, and oil. Sift together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and ginger. Stir into pumpkin mixture. Pour into a greased 9×13 pan.

Beat together cream cheese, sugar, and egg. Drizzle mixture over batter.

Cut thro’ batter with knife for marbled effect. I know, the whole marbling thing didn’t get as pretty and marbled as I thought it should, either… too much white, not enough pumpkin showing on top.

Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Shannon (H.), don’t even THINK of leaving out the choc chips! ????

Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes.

Mmmmmm! Make these at your own risk… they’re dangerous to the waistline. And they loudly call your name every time you wander thro’ the kitchen, even if you’ve hidden them out of sight.

Comments

11 Responses to “Pumpkin Cream Cheese Squares”

Shannon on April 15th, 2009 2:12 pm

Um, you know me to well. I was reading along thinking, “I bet it would be really good without choc chips” and I’m like “WHAT?” she’s reading my mind!!! ????
Monica on April 15th, 2009 6:23 pm

Mmmm!! They sound good!! But, I would probably leave out the choc chips, too, or maybe use the mini chips and only use half of the amount!! I’m not a big choc chip fan, either! The pumpkin and cream cheese parts sounds delicious.
Katie Mast on April 15th, 2009 7:59 pm

I agree that cookbook is one of the best. I have it only 1/2 a year and just love it. I got it for my mom and sister for christmas.
Katrina on April 15th, 2009 8:44 pm

Ooh, that does sound like a great trio of flavors!
Debbie on April 16th, 2009 11:31 am

Looks absolutely delicious. Just found your site and love it!!
Renita on April 16th, 2009 12:07 pm

One of the many recipes in my favorite cook book I got to try. And right now it looks real good..can you tell I’m hungry? But oh the addition to the wistline gets me to hold off at least for another day. I KNOW how I don’t have self control with something like that around.
Rhonda H. on April 20th, 2009 2:12 pm

Oh. My. I just ruined my dinner by eating two pieces of this dessert–warm, right out of the oven. Delicious! It was almost a baking disaster, as I was distracted and poured a whole cup of oil in before I realized what I was doing, but I dumped out all but 1/3 c. – and then I didn’t have quite enough baking powder – but it still turned out great. This is a keeper. Thanks!
liz on April 21st, 2009 1:19 pm

Rave reviews from the Northwoods Mennonite Church. Well, ok, they didn’t tell me that, but I took a 15 x 11 pan of them to carry in and I didn’t bring any home. Good bars and definitely put the chocolate chips in! They wouldn’t be near as good without it.
Andrea on April 24th, 2009 8:11 am

This is one of our favorites!
Danielle on October 24th, 2009 8:44 am

omg i love punkin crean chease squares they are my
favirote!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Danielle on November 25th, 2009 4:15 pm

oh my go punkin chease squares are so good every one in my family loves them including my dad,an he doesent even like cream chease.

Breads Biscuits and Rolls, Cooks in Training, Holiday Cooking

Easter snack – Cooks in Training #6

April 13, 2009 December 12, 2019

Posted on April 13, 2009
Filed Under Breads Biscuits and Rolls, Cooks in Training, Holiday cooking

Ideally, I’d plan ahead and make Easter food to feature BEFORE Easter, huh? Well, sigh, that didn’t really happen this time.

I forget where I saw these little rolls… it was online last year sometime. The reason these are called an Easter snack is because they’re meant to symbolize the empty tomb. It’s pretty neat how it works. You wrap a marshmallow inside a crescent roll and while it bakes, the marshmallow melts and lines the inside of the crescent roll, leaving it empty inside!

I don’t have an actual recipe, but my little cooks will show you how it’s done…

Unroll refrigerated crescent rolls and separate into triangles. Butter the trianges.

Put a marshmallow on each crescent roll and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Fold the dough over and around till the marshmallow is all enclosed. Pinch seams to seal.

Bake at 375 for 12 minutes. And this is how they look! A couple of them were open, not sure if it was supposed to be like that or if the seams weren’t pinched shut well enough.

I hope you all had a happy Easter. We did. It started with an outdoor sunrise service at church. It was a perfect Easter morning… clear skies and a beautiful sunrise. The coffee, hot chocolate, donuts, and campfires were a nice addition too.

He is risen! Hallelujah!

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Comments

2 Responses to “Easter snack – Cooks in Training #6”

Sharon on April 13th, 2009 7:32 am

Cute! The sunrise service sounds neat. We used to do that some where I grew up… would love to do it again. Maybe WI is too cold for that?
Mom Martin on April 14th, 2009 11:28 am

I didn’t know they are called Easter snacks. I have the recipe. They are delicious!
Never went to a sunrise service…always wanted to do that. I guess it’s still too cold out here at Easter time.

Birthday Cakes

Tiffany’s 3rd birthday cake, Noah’s Ark…

March 30, 2009 December 12, 2019

Posted on March 30, 2009
Filed Under Birthday cakes

I’m going to do this cake a little different. Instead of making it and updating when it’s done, I’ll keep editting this post and update as I go. So far, we have the animals and a baked 9×13 cake.

So, if you want to watch it develop into a whimsical little Noah’s Ark, check back now and then! At least we hope that’s what it’ll develop into anyway… ????

Next update: I cut 2 pieces from the cake (approx 5″x the width of the cake) and stacked them…

Now it’s shaped a bit and has a door… yeah, frosting covers alot of imperfections!

By the way, Tiffany dug into the top of it, if you see a hole in the top. She said, “Well, I just wanted to taste it. You can mix the hole up again so we can’t see it.” Huh?

Now we’ve got some frosting on…

I know, the door didn’t get in the middle. I did that on purpose. ???? Just kidding, I was trying for the middle. *roll eyes*

Now the top part is going on…

Know what’s between that chunk of cake and the graham cracker ‘roof’? Frosting. Lots of frosting. I just piled a whole bunch on top and squished the graham crackers down over it. Doesn’t get much easier than that!

Tiffany said now she wants water for her boat.

Lexi just got home from school (she’s in Kindergarten)…

Got some trim on…
The animals are chompin’ on the bit to get in their ark.

The grass is started…

Here’s how far I got with the grass till my hand was sore AND I ran out of green frosting. So, instead of trying to make more and match it, I decided to just make ‘dirt instead. I was actually going to make the whole thing dirt because it was, after all, a construction site. But, the cake was colorless enough with the brown ‘wood’, so I thought grass would brighten it up a bit.

The girls are pairing up the animals. Soon, I’ll turn them loose with putting them in the grass and up the ramp.

The animals are going on…

And the cake is DONE!

Here’s the birthday girl. The party is tomorrow.

Roxanna asked in the comments where I got the animals… I got them at JoAnn Fabrics. My SIL Liz found them for me.

Other birthday cakes:
—winter scarf, hat, boots, & gloves cake
—doghouse cake and Legos cake
—coloring book cake
—cake with roses and ribbon
—123ABC blocks cake, snowman cake, ice cream cone cake, & house cake

———————————————————————————————-

Now it’s the next day. The birthday party is over. Editting to add a couple more pictures…

Comments

33 Responses to “Tiffany’s 3rd birthday cake, Noah’s Ark…”

liz on March 30th, 2009 1:30 pm

looks good so far! i’ll be checking back later that’s for sure. got to love the thinking of a 3 year old.
Shannon on March 30th, 2009 1:35 pm

Lookin’ good so far.
Michelle on March 30th, 2009 2:36 pm

Looks good! I just made a baseball cake for Jadon for his 3rd b-day. It was alot of fun!
Monica on March 30th, 2009 2:40 pm

Cute!! I love interesting birthday cakes!
Victoria on March 30th, 2009 3:28 pm

That’s the cutest cake I’ve ever seen!
Roxanna on March 30th, 2009 3:49 pm

I’m impressed! That is sooo cute! I think even I could do that! Where did you get those animals?
Sandra on March 30th, 2009 4:17 pm

You did such a great job..love it!!
Rosalyn on March 30th, 2009 4:21 pm

wow! that is very cute!
Mom Martin on March 30th, 2009 4:39 pm

Very clever! You sure are creative! Tell Tiffany Grandma’s worried about her two alligators. they’ll need water…indoor pool?
Shannon on March 30th, 2009 4:48 pm

The girls are having fits over it. M wants to know if I can make them one. “Noooooooooooo”
Monica on March 30th, 2009 5:00 pm

I love it!! I’ll have to put that in my “birthday cake” file!!
liz on March 30th, 2009 6:17 pm

what is the dirt?
Kay on March 30th, 2009 6:39 pm

The dirt is cake crumbs, but that looked too dark, so I crushed graham crackers up and sprinkled some on top of the cake crumbs.
Ruthie on March 30th, 2009 7:32 pm

Neat! So can we come to the party tomorrow? =) How did you make the ridge on top?
Barb on March 30th, 2009 7:43 pm

Very cute cake…
Kay on March 30th, 2009 8:09 pm

Ruthie, yeah, come! For that ridge, I just put frosting in a plastic bag, snipped about 1/2″ of the corner off, and piped it on. I thought it would be round, but was pleased when it turned out more vertical.
Cheryl on March 30th, 2009 8:51 pm

So cute… I think that I’ll try it. But I’m far too lazy to make grass out of frosting. I think you can put coconut and a drop of green food coloring in a ziploc bag and squish it together and use that. But then the animals might not stay standing. Guess I’ll have to think about it awhile. I have til June.
Cheryl Weaver
Rene on March 30th, 2009 9:01 pm

That is so adorable!!
Amy on March 30th, 2009 9:04 pm

That is absolutely ADORABLE!!!! I’ve never tried doing a cake, but this is just too tempting and I know my daughters would LOVE it. =)
Rina on March 30th, 2009 9:50 pm

That’s amazing!! GREAT job!
Beth on March 31st, 2009 4:42 am

All I can say is you are one amazing lady! GREAT JOB! Happy Birthday, Tiffany! And have fun at your party.

I did have to smirk a little bit that she dug into the cake. If I would have tried to make that cake, Trevor would NEVER have been able to sit there mildly watching me frost. And your girls just sit there so calmly waiting to put the animals on.
Freida on March 31st, 2009 6:48 am

Wow! That is amazing, and ever so cute. Did anybody ever tell you that you really should do cakes for a living…. seriously. Good job! Happy birthday, Tiffany!
Lorrie on March 31st, 2009 8:04 am

Great job Mom! It looked like a lot of work, but that smile on that last picture must have made it worth it.
Lisa on March 31st, 2009 10:25 am

How adorable! Great job and Happy Birthday Tiffany from Rhode Island!!!
Renita on March 31st, 2009 8:36 pm

WOW! I know who I’ll be asking to ask to do my b-cakes. You are too good and so close. YOU ARE HIRED!Happy Birthday Tiffany!
Alva on April 1st, 2009 8:29 am

Wow you are amazing and so creative! Your children are so lucky to have you for a mom! I think a cake like that is a dream come true for most children!
janae on April 3rd, 2009 11:11 am

awww! kay the cake is adorable!! Brianna is sitting on my lap and drooling for a cake like it!!it is very very neat!
Katrina on April 4th, 2009 10:16 pm

What a great cake! Awesome!
I love the elephant behinds going in the door!
Tons of great photos!
Mariann on April 6th, 2009 8:49 pm

So cute!! My 4 year old son was thrilled with all your cakes.:) Of course he wants one too, but his Mom is not good with cake decorating.:(
How much icing do you make to decorate an average cake? Do you have your icing recipe on here somewhere?
Kim on April 27th, 2009 7:07 pm

NEAT cake, Kay! Jared has been begging for a Thomas cake, but when he saw Tiffany’s cake he changed his mind! He only has a few days to decide! Hey, I haven’t browsed your site for ages, but it made me miss you like crazy!! (gulp!)…you’re one of a kind! (In a very GOOD way!) You really need to come back to WI for a visit!! Just maybe we’ll see you in OH this summer?! Shaina says “Hi” to Lexi!
Melanie (Durban, South Africa) on November 26th, 2009 11:10 am

Love the cake. going to make one for my daughthers 4th birthday this weekend.
Thanks for the lovely photos.
taree on April 26th, 2011 2:13 am

thats a A plus for me !!! thank you you are very clever i like to decorate cakes tooo its real fun
taree on April 26th, 2011 3:21 am

ummm… can you list some ingrediants im goin to try make a ark wish me luck

Chicken and Turkey

Mushroom Muenster Chicken

March 26, 2009 December 12, 2019

Posted on March 26, 2009
Filed Under Chicken and Turkey

This is one of those recipe names that you pretty much know what the dish is… the 3 main ingredients in this dish are mushrooms, muenster cheese, and chicken. And a good combo that is!!! Really, how could you go wrong with those ingredients.

This recipe was in my pile of loose recipes. It’s clipped out of a Country Woman magazine, I don’t know what year or month. It was on page 51… I guess you don’t need to know that, unless you want to go thro’ your stack of Country Woman magazines and look up all the page 51s. ???? In the italic print with the recipe, it says it won 1st place in a festival contest.

Mushroom Muenster Chicken

2 eggs
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs (I used crushed Town House crackers and mixed in a bit of Italian seasoning and seasoned salt.)
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1″ cubes
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. Cajun seasoning
1/2 lb. sliced fresh mushrooms
10 oz. Muenster cheese (I have a little scale, so I dutifully weighed the cheese and guess what! 10 oz was exactly 10 slices!)

In a shallow bowl, beat eggs. Place breadcrumbs in a large resealable plastic bag. Dip chicken in eggs, then place in bag and shake to coat.

In a large skillet, cook chicken in oil over medium heat for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Transfer chicken to a greased 9×13 baking dish. Sprinkle with Cajun seasoning.

Top with mushrooms and cheese.

Cover and bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until chicken juices run clear.

Yield: 6 servings. Serve with a mixed green salad or steamed fresh green beans. I served it with California blend veggies (cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots) and crescent rolls. And to serve the chicken, I just put a serving spoon in it and we dished it out like you would a casserole.

This tastes great and is easy to throw together, but we thought it was a little greasy. I want to try it with grilled chicken to see if the greasiness was from frying the chicken in oil. If it’s still greasy w grilled chicken, I’ll assume it’s because of the muenster cheese and try mozzarella or provolone instead.

Comments

9 Responses to “Mushroom Muenster Chicken”

Rosalyn on March 26th, 2009 8:45 pm

This sounds like something my family would love!
Rose on March 26th, 2009 9:31 pm

This sounds like it would be really good with bacon on top! I’ll have to try it, we love to eat chicken!
Lorrie on March 27th, 2009 3:21 pm

This looks really yummy, but as usual I’ll have to make a seperate dish made with soy faux chicken for my vegetarian son. The cheese he’ll eat though. Thanks!
Angela on March 28th, 2009 8:45 am

My mouth is watering- 3 of my favorite foods here. Unfortunately, I’m about the only one in my family who enjoys mushrooms. As a side note, have you ever tried tallying nutritional information with any of your recipes (calories, fat, etc)? I’m not sure how to do it, but it’d be interesting to see how some recipes pan out.
Kay on March 28th, 2009 8:58 am

Angela, I actually do tally calories pretty often, I don’t do the other info though, like fat grams etc. I don’t really wanna put it on here because it would kinda wreck it for some people… “Oh, yum, that looks good! I oughta make it! Oh no, it has 640 calories per serving, guess I won’t.” (This dish isn’t 640 cal per serving, but those caramel pecan pancakes from awhile ago were close to 1000!) ????
kris on March 28th, 2009 1:20 pm

hey…im giving this recipie a try..from the pic it looks really good! IM going to add oinions and peppers to mine ..
Marissa on March 30th, 2009 12:56 pm

We tried this recipe with a blended colby cheese and Adobe seasoning (what we had on hand). It was DELICIOUS; definitely make again. Thanks for sharing such a simpl, yet tastey dish
Anna on March 31st, 2009 5:11 am

Congrats on this, my mouth was watering as i read it. My mind was thinking, a bit greasy, and then i saw that you wrote that the family also thought the same. Maybe after covering the chicken in bread crumbs, roasting them off in the oven to brown as oppossed to frying? would certainly cutdown on the grease.
Must try this at home, reckon the family will love it.

Greetings from portugal.

Much love,

Anna
Al Malekovic on April 2nd, 2009 9:55 am

I tried to find you email address, but could not. I hope you don’t mind me sending this. My name is Al Malekovic (al@countrybobs.com) and I represent a very, very small company called Country Bob’s, Inc. We are making a great sauce called, “Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce” and we would like to get the word out about our product.
I know that blogs are a great way to get information to the general public. I conducted a google search for food blogs and your name came and after looking at your blog, I was wondering if you would be interested in trying my sauce and perhaps reviewing it for me.

If you send me your name and address via e-mail, I would gladly send you a recipe brochure along with two bottles of Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce in hopes that you would write a review.

If you would like more information, I would be glad to respond to any questions you might have. In fact, if you are interested in interviewing me after you’ve sampled the product, I would gladly make myself available!

Thank you for your consideration. http://www.countrybobs.com I will also give you two two bottle give a ways and just email me the winners and we will mail out.

Easy Meals, Snacks

Fried Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich

March 19, 2009 December 12, 2019

Posted on March 19, 2009
Filed Under Easy meals, Snacks

Have you ever tried that? Yesterday, while we were making fry pies, Renita and I were talking about quick lunches or something (I forget exactly how we got on the subject) and she said that her son likes his pb&j sandwiches fried, like a grilled cheese sandwich. I had never heard of it, so I decided I’d have to try it.

Fast-forward to a couple hours later… I got home around 1:00 p.m. and hadn’t had lunch yet, so I was staring in the fridge when suddenly I remembered the fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. So, I made 2, one for me and one for Tiffany (Lexi was at school). Then, after eating that one, I made another one for me. They are good! The peanut butter gets all warm and melty and gooey and the sandwich is crispy to bite into. It just kinda bumps plain ol’ peanut butter and jelly sandwiches up a level. ????

So, here you go, no recipe, just the process in pictures…

Peanut butter & Jelly…

Grilled cheese and tomato soup…

Yup, I don’t use a frying pan for this type of thing, mostly which is grilled cheese sandwiches. And that reminds me of this post, which was written on my old blog before I started Kitchen Scrapbook. And when the posts were transferred to Kitchen Scrapbook, the comments didn’t come with them, so here are a couple other ideas that people had for doing right on a smooth top burner and skipping the frying pan: warm tortillas up, make quesadillas, and someone knew of someone who fries onions and sausage right on the burner! I haven’t tried that one! Someone also said this, “Something to try next time you have tomato soup. Hard-boil 3 or 4 eggs, then grate or shred into soup just before serving. Yummy!”

I LOVE my smooth top stove! Not just for this, but because it’s easier to clean too.

Comments

12 Responses to “Fried Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich”

Shannon on March 19th, 2009 1:33 pm

Oh we love these, well the girls and I do. Eric ate them last year when he was sick and can’t handle them anymore. I’ll have to make them again, kinda forgot about them.
Monica on March 19th, 2009 2:26 pm

I just might have to try those!! Sounds interesting. That’s cool how you grill them on your stove top–that would be the only reason I would want one like that……….I like my gas stove!!
Traci on March 19th, 2009 4:31 pm

Yep….I do this all the time….try it w/ bananas and not jelly….YUMMY!!!
Christy on March 20th, 2009 2:27 pm

If we’re going to fry them and make them less healthful, why not make it peanut butter and chocolate? I bet that would be good!
Kay on March 20th, 2009 7:21 pm

Traci, I’ve heard of p.b. & banana sandwiches… I’ve gotta try it, never did.

Christy, you are SO my kind o’ girl!!!! I oughta try that combo too. ????
Msclovy on March 21st, 2009 1:26 pm

You must like to clean a stove more than I do…I did think though that you really arent supposed to do that to a smoothtop???
Michelle on March 23rd, 2009 11:49 am

Tried the fried p&b and jelly sandwich today. Was very good. Much better than eating it cold.
Shannon H on March 26th, 2009 2:19 pm

Still frying pb&j? ???? Just had to ask!
Kay on March 26th, 2009 4:23 pm

Msclovy, I actually never asked anyone if it was ok to do that. Seems like you shouldn’t, but I’ve had my stove for 11 1/2 years and the burners still clean up good as new!

Shannon, ha, yeah, the loaf of bread is about gone now, so we’ll switch to something else soon. ????
Jessica on March 30th, 2009 1:42 pm

Egg in soup? Well after going to a certain Bible school establishment a certain year (namely the one you came engaged) I just can’t handle eggs in soup. Too much like breakfast leftovers in my lunch. ugh.
Jennifer on April 4th, 2009 9:22 am

My daughter and son just loved these. They thought I was crazy at first when I suggested it. Now they won’t eat them cold anymore. Thanks!
Tiffany on April 24th, 2009 9:46 am

That looks so good. But, i have a gas stove at home. But i’m still going to try that today.(:

Breakfasts, Snacks

Granola, with normal ingredients

March 16, 2009 December 12, 2019

Posted on March 16, 2009
Filed Under Breakfasts, Snacks

I’ve never made granola before. Or granola bars. They always call for bran or wheat germ and those are 2 ingredients that keep me flipping thro’ the cookbook and thinking, “Well, I guess I won’t make granola this time”. (*whisper* I’ve never even seen bran and wheat germ or know what they are.) So, I buy my granola at the bulk foods store (only on rare occassions because it’s pricey) and buy my granola bars at the grocery store.

Then, just lately a few of my friends started raving about this granola and when I looked at the recipe, I was glad to see that it took ‘normal’ ingredients! So, I made some. It is SO good! Like one of my friends said, it’s good at any stage of the making process… you can’t help but sampling it here and there while mixing, baking, and stirring it.

Eat it with milk in it, put it on top of yogurt, eat it plain as a snack, or sprinkle it on top of a dessert.

Granola

10 cups quick oats
3 cups graham cracker pieces (this was 1 1/2 packs of Honey Maid)
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups coconut
2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped pecans
3 sticks of butter (1 1/2 cups)
1 cup peanut butter chips (I tried some with chocolate chips… it was better ???? )

Melt the butter and mix with dry ingredients.

Divide between 2 large baking sheets. I did it on 3 baking sheets… the vertical one is chocolate chips and peanut butter chips mixed, the horizontal one in the back is peanut butter chips and the one in front is chocolate chips.

Bake at 300 for 40 min or until golden brown. Stir every 15 min the 1st 30 min, then every 5 min. Add peanut butter chips in the last few minutes of baking time.

I sampled all 3 varieties and liked the one with just chocolate chips the best. I thought the next best was the one with chocolate and peanut butter chips mixed. The one with peanut butter chips was good too, but I will from now on just use chocolate chips and maybe put some peanut butter chips in too if I have some on hand.

And this is how I like to eat it the best: with milk and a spoon…

Comments

10 Responses to “Granola, with normal ingredients”

Freida on March 16th, 2009 9:57 am

Glad you like it. I still want to try the choc. chips sometime, but it will have to be at someone else’s house. The peanut butter chips get the rave reviews here.
Berneice on March 16th, 2009 10:00 am

Grr. i still don’t have all the “normal” ingredients. I bought some tiny cinnamon chips last week that I want to try.
Lisa@The Cutting Edge of Ordinary on March 16th, 2009 4:27 pm

I make granola all the time. I love mine with coconut and almonds. Yours looks great!
Fran on March 16th, 2009 6:51 pm

We like granola too, and I make it occasionally, but I’m not sure about the chocolate chips in it. Maybe it would be better than I think. I like the idea of graham crackers, I’ve never heard of that. It sounds wonderful.
Beth on March 16th, 2009 6:56 pm

Glad you’re telling the “world” about this awesome stuff! Seriously…this granola is so simple & makes a person want to quit dieting. I ate it for breakfast & again for lunch one day.
Twila on March 17th, 2009 7:37 am

That recipe is almost identical to mine. Except I use 2 packs of graham crackers, and the original recipe called for 4 sticks of butter, which I can hardly bear, so I’ve cut it back to two. I don’t usually add the nuts, and I use miniature butterscotch chips. I stir them in after I take it out of the oven. I also started adding vanilla to the butter before I stir it into the rest of the stuff. Your right, is is good. In fact, I just made some yesterday.
Heather on March 17th, 2009 1:24 pm

That granola does look delicious! My family used to make breakfast cereals to sell so I’ve been making granola almost forever! Anytime you see wheat germ in the recipe you can eliminate it and just add a bit more of one of the other dry ingredients. I always add it because I know it’s good for me and all the bulk food stores in this area have wheat germ at a very reasonable price. The granola that I make currently I’m sure is not as tasty as yours but I’m going for the ‘dieting’ aspect of things. Very little butter & sugar….

BTW, my sister in law recently told me about your site and I love it! I live in Ohio and have two little kids, almost 4 and almost 2.
Mariann on March 27th, 2009 12:03 pm

I haven’t made granola for a long time, this makes me hungry for it! The dry ingredients sound similar to my recipe, but mine says oil instead of butter. I think butter would give even more yummy flavor to it. [I tried putting wheat germ in it once & did NOT like the taste of that stuff.:(]
Sherilyn on March 27th, 2009 1:41 pm

That looks alot like the recipe I sometimes use only it had rice krispies in it. We loved it and now when I try new recipes I just use rice krispies when it calls for anything I don’t like or don’t have. I think the krispies kinda lighten it up when you’re eating a whole bowlful.
Elmina on September 1st, 2009 12:39 pm

I made some of this granola today, and it’s da bomb! I just hope we don’t get “high” on all that butter!! Thanks for sharing the recipe my sister Freida uses, and reminding me to try it.

Chicken and Turkey, Grilling, Main Dishes

Grilled Chicken Sandwiches

March 9, 2009 December 12, 2019

Posted on March 9, 2009
Filed Under Chicken and Turkey, Grilling, Main dishes

Hi again! It’s been awhile! The ‘famine’ on here doesn’t mean we haven’t been eating! It means that the last 2 weeks have been abnormal weeks as far as cooking goes, with company and then being busy with a booth at a Home and Garden show. Not a cooking show booth, by the way. ????
We were selling these:

Anybody need a beautiful cedar gazebo in your yard?

I do love those little cooking show booths at shows though, even though the chefs always use the same lines and the same jokes. It just amazes me how they can talk AND cook at the same time! I think I’m a bit too absent-minded for that. And the cookware that cooks stuff without water… Wow! And the food doesn’t burn… Wow! I have a hard enough time WITH water! Tonight while we were making supper, I even burned a piece of toast (not in water though… see, that’s what happens when I cook without water)! Yeah, WE were making supper, not ME… because it involved grilling and that is my husband’s territory.

Here, I’ll show you what we ate tonight:

We’re always trying to think of new things to do with grilled chicken breast besides chicken breast salad, shishkabobs, or just eating it plain w bbq sauce. This sandwich is actually along the lines of the Open-faced Pork Chop Sandwich that is a specialty around here.

Grilled Chicken Sandwich

Bread
Chicken breast
Provolone cheese (or cheese of choice)
Barbeque sauce OR dijon mustard

Toast the bread. Season and grill the chicken, then chunk it up.

Assemble in this order: Toast, chicken, bbq sauce or dijon mustard, cheese, toast.

Microwave for about 1 minute, 2 min if you’re doing 2 sandwiches.

And… enjoy!

Mmmm, so good and so easy and so quick and not much cleanup!

Wouldn’t you just like to snitch a piece? It’s flavored SO good and is nice and juicy! Not sure what seasonings he used. Edit: He just said he used Cajun Black’n seasoning from the Bayfield Spice Company in Rhinelander, WI.

Comments

6 Responses to “Grilled Chicken Sandwiches”

Shannon on March 9th, 2009 8:34 pm

Oh I am so ready to get the grill out again. Haven’t had time so far and I’m afraid it’s gonna get cold again. These sound good!!
Sandra on March 11th, 2009 9:17 am

Hey I saw the famous daves bbq sauce..the best!!This looks so good!I grew up on sandwiches so this looks great!
Monica Y on March 13th, 2009 9:51 am

Oh those look good!! My little grill is just begging to fired up again!! I can hardly wait. Were you at the Home and Garden Show in Columbus?? I love walking around looking at all the stuff…..but we didn’t make it there this year. If I’d a known–maybe I would have went and looked you up!!
Monica Y on March 13th, 2009 10:00 am

By the way, I’d take one of those gazebos. Sadly, it’s not in our budget.
Freida on March 16th, 2009 9:55 am

Oh yum… This gets me in the mood for summer! We do grill occasionally in the winter,tho. Its too hard to stay away from it all winter long. Gonna try these!
Audrey Miller on March 17th, 2009 1:44 pm

These look really great and totally look like something that we would eat. Yeah, I am getting pretty hungry right now. Keep the posts coming because I always enjoy looking/reading through your recipes. I know it takes a lot of time for you though.

Main Dishes, Snacks

Petite Pizza Puffs

February 23, 2009 December 12, 2019

Posted on February 23, 2009
Filed Under Main dishes, Snacks

Once again, I’ve attacked my pile of loose recipes, which grew since the last time I got it out back when I did this post. I went thro’ and categorized them all and am planning to be cooking alot from them the next while and will either paste them into my ‘blank’ cookbook or pitch them. In order to keep them, they’ve gotta be ‘would definitely make again’ quality. If it tastes good, is easy to make, and looks good, then it’s a keeper. If only two of those three qualities are true, then I make a decision of whether those two outweigh the other one and still keep it.

So, here’s the recipe I chose out first and I’ll tell you at the end if I kept the recipe or threw it away. Yeah, I chose a recipe that starts with the word ‘petite’!!!???!! When I think of ‘petite’, I think of things like little dainty delicate teacups with little BREAKABLE saucers under them. And I usually shy away from anything like that because I get all thumbs when I’m around those types of things.

Petite Pizza Puffs …recipe comes from a card that came with my Pampered Chef Cut-N-Seal.

Printable recipe

12 slices pepperoni
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 Tbsp. chopped mushrooms
2 Tbsp. pizza sauce
1 pkg. (10 oz) refrigerated pizza crust

Preheat oven to 375. In Small Batter Bowl, combine pepperoni, cheese, mushrooms, and pizza sauce. Roll out pizza dough to 11″x15″ rectangle, using Dough and Pizza Roller. Cut 12 circles in dough using Cut-N-Seal.

Using Medium Scoop, place 1 scoop (2 Tbsp.) pepperoni mixture in center of 6 circles, spreading slightly.

Place second dough circle on top. Lightly seal edges with fingers; seal with Cut-N-Seal.

Place on flat Baking Stone. Bake 15-17 min or until light golden brown.

Serve with additional warm pizza sauce, if desired. Yield: 6 pizza puffs
I put a little more cheese on top and put them back in the oven for a couple minutes. Not sure why, I guess I just thought the tops looked a little plain or something. And more cheese is a good thing. ????

And there you go. Petite Pizza Puffs. Simple as that.

Or not!

So, the question: Will I keep this recipe? Yes, and decide for sure after I make them again. I saw afterwards how I should’ve done it to make it easier. How I did it was quite time-consuming and what a mess! I tried to assemble them on the stone and you cannot pick up a circle of thin sticky pizza dough and keep it from shrinking or ripping or losing its round shape. I should’ve assembled them right where I cut out the circles (which is how I think the recipe means that it should be done), then the whole puff may have been easier to move onto the stone. I should’ve also used some flour underneath the dough before rolling it out.

The taste was all there (I mean, really, how can you go wrong with those ingredients?). And the finished look was great.

So, here is the recipe. They really are perfect for something snacky or a lunch. Go ahead and try it and let me know some tips if you have any. If you don’t have a Cut-N-Seal, a round cookie cutter and a fork or your fingers oughta work fine.

Comments

5 Responses to “Petite Pizza Puffs”

Andrea on February 23rd, 2009 12:48 pm

MMMmmm! Those look like a tasty lunch item! I am always up for new lunch ideas!
newlyb on February 23rd, 2009 2:21 pm

These look so yummy! What a great alternative to regular pizza night.
Katrina on February 26th, 2009 3:48 pm

Yum! My boys would love these!
linda on March 2nd, 2009 3:17 pm

Thought I might as well comment here since your kaylouann site is badly neglected! Your comments made my day! I love getting comments from you. And, btw, Thankyou Thankyou foy the b-day money. I am properly horrified that I never told you sooner. Belated Thankyous are by far one of my worst traits. I saved it for that perfect thing “just for me” and after freezing our ____ off at the Birke we walked Mn. Street where I stumbled onto this really cool “coffee” sign at the Pavilion. Ever go in there? I love the store but they are usually a little pricey. Well, it was marked down to $8 so I nabbed it, brought it home and set it on my dining room ledge and now love it! Would love to sit and blab with you. Ever coming up here again? Heard you’re liking it really good down there. Am so glad you do but still miss you up here. We can’t even get motivated to scrapbook w/out you.
Roxanna on March 9th, 2009 3:58 pm

Hope everything is okay with you-haven’t had an update for awhile! I can’t say much cause I’ve let mine go, but you are much more dedicated so just worried about you and yours!

For Special Occassions, Holiday Cooking

Valentine Cookies for Grandma – Cooks in Training #5

February 14, 2009 December 12, 2019

Posted on February 14, 2009
Filed Under For special occassions, Holiday cooking

Lexi (6) was all into Valentines all week. So often I heard “Hey, we should try making that into a heart shape because, you know, it IS Valentines!” And setting foot inside a store created alot of inhales and exclaiming from her (the V-tine displays were always right inside the door). And she has a stack of Valentines ready to go with her to church tomorrow for her little friends.

We had a bit of fun earlier this week. We took regular cookie recipes and made Valentine cookies out of them. We used the Smiling Sugar Cookie recipe featured here, only they cut heart shapes out of rolled out dough instead of forming balls and putting popsicle sticks in them. We also used my good ol’ chocolate chip cookie recipe (which I don’t think I ever featured) and left the chocolate chips out, then they put chocolate decor on top of the cookies.

First up is the sugar cookies…

And then the chocolate chip cookies, with a bit of variation…

First, I melted chocolate and spread it out to harden, then they cut hearts out of it for on top of some of the cookies.

Then, they cut the rest of the cookies into heart shapes and decorated them with melted chocolate…

Now the cookies are all ready. We separated them out, one batch for each Grandma. Lexi scrapbooked cards for each one and we packed them in a box and UPSed them.

P.S. I did help some with these cookies so the process wouldn’t drag on and on.

And now, we wish you a Happy Valentines Day, with our Valentines gifts from Husband/Dad.

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Comments

4 Responses to “Valentine Cookies for Grandma – Cooks in Training #5”

Shannon on February 14th, 2009 9:50 am

Ohhh that looks like fun! M has been soo into V-day this year too. The V-day party at school didn’t help the hype.

I love that last picture!!! You and your flowers are beautiful and they look so cute holding theirs.
Karen Layman on February 14th, 2009 10:20 am

Awww….I think that is so sweet that the little girls got flowers from their Daddy. Precious!
liz on February 14th, 2009 3:05 pm

hey, it’s good see pics of u guys again. So what happens if the box comes within the next couple of days? i’ll send an e-mail with more thoughts
Kay on February 14th, 2009 3:37 pm

Liz, don’t eat ‘em. Actually, the box got to the office yesterday. When we made them, we forgot they were gonna be gone.

For Special Occassions, Garnishing, Holiday Cooking

How to Make Chocolate Roses

February 11, 2009 December 12, 2019

Posted on February 11, 2009
Filed Under For special occassions, Garnishing, Holiday cooking

Valentines Day… Chocolate. Roses. What a perfect time to merge the two and make Chocolate Roses! Actually, it isn’t just a Valentines treat, it’s timeless decor for any table or dessert year-round.

I’ve been wanting to try these for awhile. But they always looked so complicated. But they still intrigued me. So, I finally made some…

This is all you do:

Take about 2/3 cup of chocolate chips and melt them. Add about 3 Tbsp. light corn syrup.

Stir until mixture starts pulling away from the sides of the bowl and starts balling up. It’ll be kinda like taffy. Dump it out onto a piece of plastic wrap and flatten. Cover with more plasic wrap and refrigerate for a half hour or so.

Get it out and pull a chunk off, about a tsp., and roll it around with your fingers till it’s a smooth ball, then flatten it into a petal. Make 6 -10 petals, depending on how big you want your rose.

Take one of the petals and roll it up loosely. Use your finger to bend the top back just slightly.

Take the next petal and start it just behind where the first petal ended.

Continue like that until all the petals are used up, bending the tops back slightly as you go. When your rose is done, cut off the stem (which will have gotten quite chunky) so the rose can sit flat. Or, go ahead and try making it thin and having a long-stemmed rose! I might try that next time.

I tried a rosebud by using only 2 petals. After making 2 roses and 1 rosebud and the leaves, I had some chocolate left yet, so I just made a heart with it. So, what you see on this plate is how much 2/3 cup chocolate chips makes.

Now what I need is a nice dessert to put them on. ???? But, I don’t have one, so I’m just gonna keep them in the freezer and whip ’em out sometime when I need some quick dessert decor!

So, what do you think? You gonna try them?

Comments

11 Responses to “How to Make Chocolate Roses”

Katie Mast on February 12th, 2009 6:17 pm

Yes i will try them this week. They look so beautiful. I will let you know how they get for me. I used to make roses out of apples, much the same way you did here. Thanks for the cool idea
Lori on February 12th, 2009 9:55 pm

I made a flourless chocolate cake. It is a dense chocolate cake for chocolate lovers. I found the recipe at allrecipes.com. The roses would look great on my heart shaped cake!
Elaine on February 13th, 2009 12:51 pm

These would look great on my Chocolate Turtle Cheese Cake for our couples dinner tonight. Now let’s see if I can do it!
karen on February 15th, 2009 6:30 pm

Wow!!!!!!!!Thanks for the beautiful idea. It worked great and I used them on a fruit platter.
katie mast on February 17th, 2009 7:13 pm

I tryed them, they didnt look as pretty as yours. I thought mine melted so fast. did i do something wrong?
Maria on March 25th, 2011 7:01 am

Hi. Wow, it looks really amazing, and it looks like it’s not that hard to make. Looking forward to try making some roses, hope I’ll manage to make’em as pretty as yours
jayne on May 5th, 2011 3:48 pm

Hi Kay,
Chanced upon your site as I am looking to make chocolate roses (I recon I will need around 80-100 for my daughters wedding cake. I can only find recipies with corn oil. Do you know what the equivalent of this is for us in the UK ? can we use a sunflower oil?
Thanks
Jayne
Kay on May 10th, 2011 5:10 pm

Jayne, use corn syrup instead of oil. Wow, 80-100, that sounds like work, but FUN work! That will be beautiful on the cake! And congratulations to your daughter!
Kim on May 17th, 2011 3:44 pm

Do you have to use chocolate chips? I would like to make red roses. Can I use red chocolate wafers?
Kay on May 17th, 2011 3:54 pm

Awesome idea, Kim! I don’t know if it will or won’t work, but I’m going to try it!
UMM on June 6th, 2011 6:01 am

HOW LONG DO THESE KEEP IN THE FREEZER AND HOW LONG TO THAW

Holiday Cooking

Some Valentines Day ideas…

February 9, 2009 December 12, 2019

Posted on February 9, 2009
Filed Under Holiday cooking

Ok, enough of the chili soup and fry bread! And it IS warming up outside too! Yesterday felt like Spring! Yay!

We’ll have a Valentines ‘Cooks in Training’ post later this week with a couple Valentine ideas that Lexi and Tiffany are working on (and that I’m being the damage control person on) and another Valentines post or two, but for now, I’ll just pull up some ideas from previous posts from other years.

Conversation hearts (featured here) out of angel food cake and glaze and frosting…

My family has an annual Valentines supper… Mom started making heart-shaped food for Valentines supper fun when we were little kids and she faithfully did it every year, then when we got older, we got more involved and now it’s become a tradition. Over the last few years, the menu has changed every year, but this year is planning to be the Valentines meal menu we grew up with, complete with little heart shapes of bologna in the lettuce salad. 🙂

Here are samples of the last couple years:
… and the links to the posts (2007) (2008)

Simple easy decor… a little basket, a napkin, and candy.

Lasagna

Cheesecakes to share. They’re about 4″ wide. We put them on the table right away and used them as place markers.

Decorate the kids.

Heart-shaped pizzas staying warm by the fire till serving time.

Fruit pizza. Yum, this picture makes me hungry for some. This recipe is actually featured here.

Any Valentine decor or food ideas from you? We’d love to hear them! 😉

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Comments

4 Responses to “Some Valentines Day ideas…”

Joanna on February 9th, 2009 1:15 pm

My Fruit Pizza does not need to be heart-shaped.I just need fruit pizza -any shape- right now!!! That looks so good!!!!
Rene on February 9th, 2009 1:36 pm

What a neat idea — heart shaped food! My wedding anniversary is on Valentine’s day but it’s so hard to go out and enjoy yourself with all the crowds that we celebrate our anniversary a week earlier. That always leaves me wondering what to do for Valentines day. I think I’ll do this! That would be a fun tradition to start. Thanks for the idea Kay!

Hugs,

Rene
Bobbi on February 9th, 2009 2:40 pm

Thank you for the Heart Day ideas. I think I might do the cheese pizza and fruit pizza.
Lori on February 12th, 2009 10:01 pm

You mentioned you would like ideas. I like yours,now I’ll give you mine. I made “Lil’ Cheddar Meatloaves” for Valentine’s last year, I think. They are great looking in a heart shape! They keep their shape, and you put the ketchup sauce on top and you have red edible heart meatloaves. These are the only way I’ve come up with to have red heart meat. If you want the recipe, let me know. It only takes ground beef, oatmeal, egg, milk, and cheddar cheese, things I always have on hand!

Breads Biscuits and Rolls, Soups

Chili Soup and Fry Bread

January 27, 2009 December 12, 2019

Posted on January 27, 2009
Filed Under Breads Biscuits and Rolls, Soups

When it looks like this outside,

it oughta look like this inside:

“Huh?! Shouldn’t it be chili soup and cornbread?” you say.

Nope.

I do like chili soup with cornbread too. But not nearly as good as chili soup with fry bread!

I grew up with that combo. ‘Chili soup and fry bread’ was like ‘peanut butter and jelly’ or ‘cake and ice cream’ or ‘donuts and coffee’… where one was, it was a given that the other would probably be there too. I wonder if my mom grew up with the chili-soup-and-fry-bread combo too. The reason I wonder that is because my fry bread recipe comes from my aunt Dar. She gave me a little collection of recipes when I got married and this was one of them. Aunt Dar and my mom are twins, complete with rhyming names… Darlene Fay and Marlene Kay (just a little tidbit from my family tree).

Navajo Indian Fry Bread …I’ll bet you’ve got all the ingredients on hand for this.

Printable recipe coming soon

4 cups flour
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 cups warm water

Mix by hand. Set aside in a covered bowl for a few hours. Take out small bowl of soft dough and, with hands, stretch and flatten into shape of a pancake, round and flat. Melt 1 cup of shortening in frying pan. Deep fry at 375 degrees.

When it looks likes this,

flip it over, browning on both sides.

Makes 8 pieces, about 4″ in diameter. This, by the way, is a little saute pan. I only made a half batch of fry bread because they don’t make good leftovers, so I just used a little pan. Another really good thing to do with this fry bread is to coat it with cinnamon sugar as soon as you get it out of the frying pan. Would make a good breakfast side dish or an after school snack. Yum!

HOT Chili Soup …as in spicy. This recipe did not come from a cookbook. This is from my kitchen, exactly how I like chili soup…

Printable recipe coming soon

1 lb. ground beef
1/2 of an onion, chopped
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup water
1 Tbsp. flour
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
1 16 oz can hot chili beans, juice and all, do not drain
2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 cup canned hot jalepenos, chopped
several shakes of Tabasco sauce

Brown beef with onion. Stir in rest of ingredients.

Simmer, covered, for 30 min. Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, and FRY BREAD. You could adjust the spiciness of this to your liking, maybe you don’t like your nose to run while you’re eating. This isn’t very juicy. Or brothy. Or whatever you call it when it’s chili soup. That’s how I like it. You could always add more diced tomatoes or tomato juice.

Comments

8 Responses to “Chili Soup and Fry Bread”

Monica on January 27th, 2009 10:19 am

Your chili recipe looks alot like mine…I had to come up with a new recipe after I got married because my husband likes his spicy, too!! I use chili-ready tomatoes instead of regular diced tomatoes and a pack of chili seasoning. I used to use spicy chili seasoning, but the kids won’t eat that!! He sometimes adds hot sauce for more zip!! Not sure how he would like the fry bread….he’s pretty stuck on cornbread in his chili. Puts me in the mood to make chili again, since they’re calling for a winter storm tonight!!
Lisa@The Cutting Edge of Ordinary on January 27th, 2009 5:55 pm

Your fry bread reminds me of what we make here in New England….dough boys. We cover ours in cinnamon sugar…yum! Soup looks great!
Kay on January 27th, 2009 6:04 pm

Mmmm, Lisa! Mom used to make dough boys too! She baked her own bread and on bread-baking days, she’d save some extra dough and fry dough boys for us for after school snacks.

Monica, I never saw chili-ready tomatoes! Will have to look for that next time.
Sandra on January 27th, 2009 9:47 pm

Yah that Indian Bread is a hit at our house too!!The other nite I made chili w/out the bread that was a mistake!!I believe the recipe comes from Grandma Hershey.I haven’t found a recipe for chili soup that I can make off a recipe that turns out the same every time.So I will try yours!!Do your girls eat this if its spicy?
Kay on January 27th, 2009 9:56 pm

Nope. The girls don’t eat it if it’s spicy. I don’t blame them, so I make something else for them, or take some out before putting the spice in.
Sheila G. on February 19th, 2009 5:25 pm

I’m making this for supper tonight. It’s been a chilly day(for us southerners that is! ???? Hubby is always looking for something to try in his Fry Daddy so I’m going to give the Fry Bread a trial run too. BTW-Occasion is spelled w/ only one ‘”s”.–I’m not being picky I just figured you might like to know.
April on March 21st, 2009 6:02 am

I know this is a bit late commenting… But we call that bread Bannock! We grew up in Canada, NW Ontario and that’s the native bread. They also use a slightly different recipe and bake it in a cast iron pan or other pan. I like it batter the way you featured and I’ve got to make it and introduce my children to it!
I enjoyed reading your site… lots of new stuff and I like that. I tend to collect a lot of recipes and not got to use most of them! LOl.
Simple Bread Recipe on June 18th, 2009 8:44 am

I was pulled up short by the mention of your Aunt Dar, because I’m an Aunt Dar too and have never heard of another one. It’s good to know I’m not alone I was attracted by the bread recipe, but it was the soup that really appealed. That one’s going to be appearing on my table very soon – it looks scrummy!

Breakfasts

Caramel Pecan Cream Cheese Pancakes… and the bananas are optional ;)

January 22, 2009 December 12, 2019

Posted on January 22, 2009
Filed Under Breakfasts

Other than the desserts and cookies, THIS recipe would have to be one of the best dishes on this site. And it’s easy to make it a nice presentation too.

The last time I was at a Bob Evans restaurant for breakfast, I was looking at the menu and, as usual, everything was grabbing me. I always have that problem at restaurants. Sometimes it’s so bad that after we’ve ordered and are waiting for our food, I forget which one of the 5 things I couldn’t decide between that I actually ended up ordering. Anyway, when I saw these pancakes on the menu, the decision-making was OVER.

To make a long story short, I got hungry for these and decided to do a search to see if there was a recipe online. I found one at Meemo’s Kitchen …this cooking blog has alot of recipes from restaurants on it!

I didn’t do any short cuts, in fact there are 3 recipes within this recipe! So, this is REALLY from scratch! ????

Caramel Pecan Banana Cream Cheese Pancakes …I think Bob Evans’ and Meemo’s name for them was a little different, but mine aren’t EXACTLY the same, so I’ll name them this.

Printable recipe for now.

2 cups vanilla pudding
2 cups (or 2 8 oz pkgs) cream cheese

Pancake batter

2 Tbsp. honey-roasted pecans

1 banana, sliced (So far, in talking about this recipe to my friends, there’s been some opposition to the bananas… you know who you are! ???? They (the bananas) could easily be left out and it would not take away from the quality at all.)

Caramel sauce

Powdered sugar

Whipped topping

I very seldom use instant vanilla pudding. Instead, I use the filling recipe that I use in peanut butter pie. I grew up with homemade pudding like that and there is just no other pudding that compares to it. So, I made this pudding, measured out 1 cup, added an 8 oz block of softened cream cheese, and whisked the mixture till smooth.

For the pancake batter, I used my regular pancake recipe here.

For the honey-roasted pecans, I took regular pecans, tossed them with some honey (approx 1/2 cup pecans w 1 Tbsp. of honey) and baked them at 350 for about 15 min.

For the caramel sauce, I put 1 cup of sugar in a kettle (dry). Stir over medium heat and eventually it turns to a tan liquid! I should’ve timed it, I’d say it took maybe 7-10 minutes. After it’s all liquid, add 6 Tbsp. butter and stir.

Remove from the heat and slowly stir in 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream. Whisk till smooth. Pour into a different container to cool. Note: That sugar is easy to burn! I made the caramel sauce twice because the first time, I stirred it intermittently while doing other stuff and burned it a little. I didn’t know it was burned till I tasted it, it wasn’t bad, it just had a tiny bit of a burnt flavor. The second time, it turned out perfect and was actually a shade lighter in color.

Now, the fun part… we’ve got it all ready to go here:

Pour batter into the frying pan like usual. I always do 3 pancakes in my frying pan because that’s what fits the best. So, instead of a stack of 2 big ones like Bob Evans does, I made a stack of 3 smaller ones. And yeah, sometimes they get too big and run together, so my pancakes don’t always turn out round. Put a few banana slices and some pecans on top.

Flip pancakes as usual (and sometimes a banana slice may go flying off).

When done, put a pancake, bottom side up, onto a plate.

Spread a couple spoonfuls of the pudding mixture on top.

Put another pancake on top.

Spread some more pudding mixture on and drizzle with caramel.

Put the 3rd pancake on top, drizzle with more caramel, sprinkle with powdered sugar,

…and add a dollop of whipped topping.

Mmmmm, I can’t tell you how good this is! And it’s very filling too! I didn’t even eat lunch.

You’ve gotta try this! If it looks too complicated, you could buy caramel sauce, use regular pecans, and use instant pudding. But, it’s so worth it to do it from scratch, especially the pudding!!!! (In my mind, I’m adding about 20 more exclamation marks about the pudding.)

Comments

27 Responses to “Caramel Pecan Cream Cheese Pancakes… and the bananas are optional ;)”

Shannon on January 22nd, 2009 4:09 pm

Oh my word, these look so good. I think yours look better then then the other ladys. I’m gonna try them sometime, I really am.
Lisa@The Cutting Edge of Ordinary on January 22nd, 2009 4:53 pm

Wow, that could be a dessert!
Doris High on January 22nd, 2009 7:18 pm

I should not have showed this entry to my husband! That looks delicious.
Doris High on January 22nd, 2009 7:20 pm

shown! Where is edit when I need it.
Bobbi on January 22nd, 2009 7:27 pm

They look so good. I wish I had everything I needed for tomorrow morning.
Rosalyn on January 22nd, 2009 8:04 pm

I think I need to try these sometime! ???? Thanks for sharing!!
Monica on January 23rd, 2009 7:39 am

Those look soooo yummy!! I am going to try them!! Now, all I need is a recipe for Bob Evans Cinnamon Pancakes and I’m all set–those are my husbands favorite!!
Mary Faith on January 23rd, 2009 9:37 am

I want to print this recipe. Didn’t there used to be a “printable version” link? I can do a bunch of copy/paste… I don’t want to print all the pics.
This looks awesome by the way. I definitely want to try them!
Kay on January 23rd, 2009 9:43 am

Uh, yeah, Mary Faith. I’ve sorta fallen by the wayside in the printable recipe department. I’ll get one up there within an hour (if no emergencies come up). Gotta help my kids get their snow stuff on to go outside first. Thanks for the reminder!
Joanna on January 23rd, 2009 8:34 pm

Soooooooooo…….how many calories per serving? Do I want to know?
I am drooling over these but trying to forget about them at the same time. Maybe they can be my reward after the first 10 pounds come off…
Joanna on January 23rd, 2009 8:35 pm

And definitely NO bananas!
Jo on January 23rd, 2009 8:36 pm

Just now noticed that my full name is on those ^^^ two comments. So you know it’s me & not the other one, I changed it.
Kay on January 23rd, 2009 10:01 pm

Uh, no, Jo, you don’t want to know how many calories per serving! I was very surprised! BUT, it is SO worth it to splurge once in awhile on these. ????
Christy on January 23rd, 2009 10:06 pm

These look absolutely scrumptions, but sound like too much work. May I just come over for brunch on Monday?
Donna-FFW on January 23rd, 2009 10:33 pm

Amazing is the best word I can use to describe how these look. Sinfully delicious! Special occasion pancakes for sure.
Beth on January 24th, 2009 4:41 pm

OMW, Kay! I am printing this recipe! It looks like something excellent for supper at our house. So I’m definitely printing this! 15 exclamation marks.
Katrina on January 27th, 2009 2:31 pm

Those look divine!
janae on January 27th, 2009 2:34 pm

m-m-m—i think i’ll try some someday!!or do you serve breakfasts??
Charlene on January 27th, 2009 3:31 pm

I think you really need to post how many calories….
It looks simply delicious and also looks like it would be a NO NO for my diet
Rachel on January 29th, 2009 2:53 pm

Wow, those look WAY too good. And I think the bananas would go with it perfectly.

I think I’ll save trying this for a special occasion. It sure looks like a ‘special’ kind of breakfast!
Anne on February 28th, 2009 1:17 pm

I made these one snowy day when hubby didn’t go to work! What a fun treat! Thanks for all the great ideas….
Lorrie on March 29th, 2009 7:27 pm

Oh my word! This is so going to make me go off my diet! But it will be worth it.
Kimberly Bates on June 11th, 2009 4:28 pm

Hi,

I made these for dinner last night and everyone loved them. My husband who normally doesn’t like pancakes, loved them and had seconds. My kids liked them to, even my 4 year old had seconds. And she hardly ever finishes a plate let alone have seconds of anything:) I will be trying other recipes on your website sometime next week.

Thanks for sharing!
sabrina on February 15th, 2010 7:49 am

ya these are delicouse my mom made these but when she made them i dont think she used puddin and she cooked the pecans in with the sauce and just poured them over top the pancakes alog with the sauce……..which were delicouse! and she only made a two stack but of course she was feedin all kids so yeah but they were delicouse even if yer not a big pancake fan .youll love this if your makin a big breakfast i also recommend these pancakes there delicouse
chilady0923 on March 23rd, 2010 9:19 pm

OMG! I tried these tonight for dinner. I had seen the Bob Evans version online and have been dreaming about them. I did use this reciipe but to make more calorie and sugar free diet friendly, I adapted the recipe. The kids loved them. Here are my changes:

1. Instead of vanilla pudding I used Sugar Free, Fat Free Banana Cream Pudding

2. I used Fat Free Cream Cheese (To get the smooth consistency I blended with vanilla pudding mix and milk in the blender)

3. I used glazed walnuts(my preference over pecans)

4. I used Smucker’s Sugar Free Caramel Topping

5. I made a Splenda/cornstarch version of the powered sugar (1/4 cup of splenda with 2 tbsp of cornstarch put in food processor and ground until the right consistency)

6. I made whole wheat pancakes using whole wheat pastry flour and added a tsp of vanilla for flavor

7. For the kids, there were some changes: daughter had bananas, chocolate chips and a chocolate sauce; son’s friend had bananas only; other daughter had sliced strawberries with strawberry topping

The total calories for 3-4inch or 2 5 1/2 inch pancakes is 584. As I said, the kids made me fix theirs and they loved it. I couldn’t finish mine.
subhie on April 10th, 2010 2:10 pm

wow..this look so…good..any had try this combo..wth pecan..a must give try one….thx for sharing!
Alicia on May 17th, 2014 12:25 pm

I have the pecans baking now. I’m so excited, I’m surprising my fiancé with these this morning. I used butterscotch instant pudding and pre-made Carmel topping, but I’m using my IHOP harvest grain pancake recipe. Thanks for the recipe!

Pies

ShooFly Pie – a Pennsylvania Dutch specialty

January 20, 2009 December 12, 2019

Posted on January 20, 2009
Filed Under Pies

Did you ever have it? I’m pretty sure I did before, but I’d never made it. Shannon grew up with it. He mentioned it awhile ago and I couldn’t think what it looked like or tasted like, so I decided to try it. It was good!

About the only thing I’ve ever made with molasses is Gingerbread cookies at Christmastime. If you like molasses, you’ll love this pie.
I got the recipe from my friend Charlene.

Wet Bottom Shoo-Fly pie

Crumbs
1 cup flour
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1 Tbsp. butter

Combine all ingredients and mix until uniform Set aside 1 cup.

Liquid
1 egg beaten
3/4 -1 cup golden molasses ( Charlene said, “I always use 1 cup”, so I did too)
3/4 cup boiling water
1 tsp. baking soda

Stir soda into water. Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Stir in remaining crumbs.

Pour into unbaked pie crust.

Top with 1 cup of crumbs.

Bake at 375 for 10 min and then 350 for 30 min.

Yum! Make one for yourself! This one didn’t last long around here.

Comments

10 Responses to “ShooFly Pie – a Pennsylvania Dutch specialty”

Marylou on January 20th, 2009 12:27 pm

I love shoo-fly pie! Especially served warm with ice cream! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
JoAnn on January 20th, 2009 9:03 pm

Ha! That’s my SIL’s comment up there, and I was going to write the exact same thing! I always bring home an extra pie when we visit Lancaster!
Cordy on January 21st, 2009 8:22 am

I’m so glad it turned out delicious for you! I live in the heart of Lancaster Co. so these are very available at every market you shop! I’ve found from our own church cookbook that this shoofly pie recipe varies as much as a potato salad recipe (well, maybe not quite!) Thanks for all your recipes! I just love coming to your “kitchen!”
Ann on January 21st, 2009 10:12 am

I was eager to see the sliced piece of pie to see how much of a “wet-bottom” this recipe has. I also live in the heart of Lanc. Co. and have enjoyed this pie many times esp. since it is my dads favorite. My mom makes a kind that everything is beaten together – no crumbs on top; which is also very delicious! I love the “wet” kind and think I will try this recipe – thanks for sharing!
Kay on January 21st, 2009 11:51 am

Thanks for your input!

I wonder what a ‘dry-bottom’ shoo fly pie would be like. More like cake?

Also, just since I made this one, I saw a recipe that said you could substitute some corn syrup for some of the molasses. I’d like to try that sometime… this was borderline too rich of a molasses flavor for me.
Judi on January 21st, 2009 3:34 pm

any pie sounds good to me. I’ll have to give this one a try. Every recipe I’ve gotten from you has been great.
stirling on February 2nd, 2009 9:16 pm

my mom RIP. used to love this but down south they called it molasses pie. you can well believe that I’ll try this one.
Debbie on February 10th, 2009 5:33 pm

Wow, now that looks like a wet bottom. I drive Amish in Lancaster and Chester County Pa so I see and eat lotsa shoo fly pies and this one sure looks great. My daughter makes ours at our house and does something a little different. Instead of using molasses she uses King Syrup which is lighter than molasses and is considered table syrup. Thats how my grandmother used to make them so we do too.
Debbie on February 10th, 2009 5:37 pm

Thought I’d share the link for King Syrup

http://www.carriagehousebrands.com/kingsyrup.html
sharan on May 4th, 2009 10:48 am

Hi There, I am looking for a recipe for shoofly cake. It has buttermilk in it. Makes for a wet bottom cake. Very good. If anyone can help I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

Cooks in Training, Side Dishes, Snacks

Ants on a Log – Cooks in Training #4

January 15, 2009 December 12, 2019

Posted on January 15, 2009
Filed Under Cooks in Training, Side dishes, Snacks

Well, our little cooks are back! Actually, they never went anywhere and have been quite busy in the kitchen, it’s just that they haven’t been making recipes on their own lately. One reason I know they’ve been in the kitchen is because I’m often tripping over their little chairs that they stand on.

It seems like a hassle, the way they have to move their little chairs around while working in the kitchen… put them in front of the sink, climb up and wash their hands, get down, move the chair over to the cupboard, climb back up, etc. I do wonder how it would be to be working in the kitchen and the counter is at eye level though, so I guess it’s worth all the moving around.

The food I’m featuring here barely merits calling it a recipe. But, we got it out of a cookbook and it was in recipe form, complete with amounts. We got a kid’s cookbook (a Betty Crocker cookbook named Kids Cook!) for Lexi for Christmas. She loves it. She often gets it off of the cookbook shelf and sits around looking at it and saying, “Mom, we should try this!” So, one time I told her she could pick something to make sometime soon because we’re going shopping and we should see first if we need any ingredients. And THIS is the recipe she picked. It is called:

Ants on a Log (Gag! Who ever named them that?!)

Celery
Peanut butter
Raisins

I’ll spare you the recipe details and let the pictures and video show you how it’s done. Or how it WAS done anyway, maybe not how it oughta be done (there was a bit of licking fingers by the 2-yr-old). One nice thing about the mini cooks making this is that it didn’t involve the oven or stovetop or mixer. It did, however, involve a sharp knife for a little bit, but that was closely supervised, and when we were done with that step, everyone still had all fingers intact.

And here it is in action:

Comments

7 Responses to “Ants on a Log – Cooks in Training #4”

Joanna on January 16th, 2009 6:50 am

I love Lexi’s comment,” I can’t believe we are having peanut butter for supper!”

I agree with the name???Ants on a log????
Monica on January 16th, 2009 8:06 am

I’m with you on the “tripping over chairs in the kitchen”!! Megan likes to be in on the action, too, and often wants to stand on a regular table chair and it’s so big that I can’t get to the counter!! I’m trying to teach her to use her “Dora” step stool, but it’s not quite as high and she can’t see as well!! Cute post with the videos!!
denise weaver on January 16th, 2009 9:10 am

Cute post! Loved the videos. Cody also loves to help me in the kitchen. But I’m not sure I would trust him too far with a jar of peanutbutter and a table knife. Who knows where the peanut butter would end up. His favorite part of helping me is when I’m finished mixing something up and I let him lick off the spoon or beaters before it goes in the sink or dishwasher. He’s always right there asking for a taste before I’m even done.
Liz on January 16th, 2009 10:00 am

Way to go with the videos!
Janice on January 16th, 2009 10:14 am

Cute videos!
Lisa@The Cutting Edge of Ordinary on January 17th, 2009 7:51 am

How adorable! Your girls are too cute. I remember making ants on a log with my Mom when I was young.
What a great memory your making.
Judi on January 21st, 2009 3:39 pm

Too cute. I’m really looking forward to little Peanut helping me in the kitchen. She’s only 18 months old though and not quite old enough. Looking forward to it though cause I can see how much fun you’re having.

Soups

Hearty Hamburger Soup

January 12, 2009 December 12, 2019

Posted on January 12, 2009
Filed Under Soups

Mmmmm, soup. Perfect for winter. That reminds me, last Spring I got a taco soup craving and was going to spend this winter perfecting a taco soup recipe because I love taco soup… and now the winter is already half over!

One problem with soup is that you don’t get as much meat as you would in a meal with the meat separate. So, when I made this soup, I doubled the meat because it was going to be the main dish (served with biscuits and mozzarella cheese sticks). I wasn’t planning to feature it at the time I was making it because I put in double meat and added an extra spice (as in, I didn’t follow the recipe perfectly), so after the first step, I stopped taking progress pictures. Then, at mealtime I was regretting it because it was SO good and I thought you oughta have the recipe after all. ???? So, the ‘done’ picture was taken at lunch today when I warmed up the leftover soup and served it with fresh Red Lobster biscuits, salad, and sliced cheese.

Hearty Hamburger Soup …from the Treasured Recipes for our Mothers (compiled by the 3rd &4th grades 1990-1991 at Lebanon Valley Christian School, but I’ll bet the moms did more work at the compiling than the students did, altho’ the students names are written beside the recipes ???? )

2 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup chopped green peppers
1 lb. hamburger (I used 2 lbs)
1 cup diced or shredded potatoes
1/8 tsp. pepper
4 cups milk
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup sliced carrots
2 cups tomato juice
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup flour
and I added about 1/2 tsp. of Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Meat Magic seasoning

Melt butter in pan. Add onion, carrot, and green peppers. Cook until onion is tender, not brown.

Add hamburger and cook until meat is crumbly (I assumed this meant how it gets after it’s browned). Stir in tomato juice, potatoes, and seasonings. Cover and cook over low heat until tender. Combine flour with 1 cup milk and beat until free of lumps. Stir into soup mixture. Add remaining milk and heat, stirring frequently. Do not allow to boil.

Soooo… what do YOU usually serve with soup? It’s often a got-all-the-food-groups-in-it dish (assuming you add crackers or croutons), so what food groups do you double up on?

Comments

9 Responses to “Hearty Hamburger Soup”

Mrs.kw on January 12th, 2009 4:57 pm

That soup looks delicious! I can’t wait to try it. I have been wanting a hamburger soup recipe to replace the one I have that calls for Dry Onion Soup mix.

We usually have toast made with homemade whole wheat bread or cornbread with soup.
Chris on January 12th, 2009 10:13 pm

Is this Lebanon Valley as in Pennsylvania? That’s where I grew up. I now live in Arkansas, enjoy your web site.
Lisa@The Cutting Edge of Ordinary on January 13th, 2009 5:20 am

That looks just scrumptious! Great for the record cold temps we will get here in RI. High of 1 on Friday!
Kay on January 13th, 2009 7:22 am

Chris, yeah, same Lebanon Valley. My husband grew up around there too (till he was 14 yrs old).
Joanna on January 13th, 2009 2:24 pm

It’s a blustery, snowy, COLD day here — perfect for a bowl of hot soup! You just may have inspired me to make a decent supper for the boys & I tonight. I use a Hamburger Soup recipe from Esther Shank’s cookbook.
Mom M on January 14th, 2009 9:38 pm

I make this soup a lot and love it, but I just cook the onion and peppers with the meat when I brown it and add the carrots when I add the potatoes. Cutting corners, I guess…wonder if I’m also cutting flavor! And my recipe has a bit of brown sugar added. Could we make a diet version? Maybe ground turkey and skim milk and none of those delicious looking croutons. =(
ahhh…January!
Sharon on January 14th, 2009 9:38 pm

I think that recipe is about the same as the one in Esther Shank’s. It IS yummy! We love soup, it’s our regular Wednesday night meal, at least in the winter. It’s fast, you can make it ahead and let it simmer while everyone is getting their baths, and it’s ‘one-dish’, so it makes less to clean up before church. I usually serve it with some sort of bread, sliced cheese, maybe pickles, and fruit.
Just a health tip: more meat really isn’t necessary–we Americans think it’s a main food, where we’d do better to think of it as a side. (okay, that was all quoting from a certain doc I know…) If I want to stretch soup, I usually add more veggies. Sometimes I’ll even skimp on the meat, and even it out with veggies. But hey, I’m not sayin’ you gotta do that, ya know.
BTW, I love your food photography. You’re getting good at this!
Linda on January 14th, 2009 9:40 pm

I enjoy dill cheese biscuits with soup.
Barbara Miller on January 31st, 2009 2:22 pm

I made this for our family (5 children and their spouses plus 11 grandchildren) over our ice storm and it was a winner!!! Served it with homemade bread. I also love your photography….. Not good for my diet though :(.

Side Dishes, Snacks

Baked Mozzarella Sticks

January 8, 2009 December 12, 2019

Posted on January 8, 2009
Filed Under Side dishes, Snacks

Ok, so I get an F on making mozzarella sticks! About half of them had melted cheese running out. The taste, though, gets an A+!

I’ve had an eye on this recipe for awhile and I’d buy string cheese and before I got them made, the string cheese got eaten, so I’d buy another pack of string cheese, and it would get eaten again, and so on. String cheese is a great snack, especially if you need a snack on the run… the pieces are individually wrapped, so you don’t have to waste time putting it in a snack bag or anything.

Just to clear the air a bit, in case you’re wondering why I’m posting non-diet things, I did figure out how many calories these little things have… it’s 80. 80 calories each and they’re only about 2″ long! And you can eat one in 2 bites. But it is a really yummy 2 bites!

Baked Mozzarella Sticks

2 packages (5 oz each) string cheese
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 large egg whites
2 Tbsp. water
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs (I used cracker crumbs)
1 tsp. dried oregano (I think next time I might try Italian seasoning instead)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. melted butter

Marinara sauce

This is the cheese I used…

Remove cheese from packages; cut each cheese stick in half crosswise.

Combine flour and cornstarch in a shallow dish. Beat egg whites and water in another shallow dish until well mixed. Combine bread crumbs, oregano, and salt in a third shallow dish. Coat cheese with flour mixture. Dip into egg white mixture, being sure to coat thoroughly, including ends. Coat with bread crumb mixture.

Dip into egg whites and bread crumbs a second time, being sure ends are coated. I ran out of the egg white mixture AND the crumb mixture and had to make more. The flour mixture looked like it barely had a dent in it! Place on ungreased baking sheet.

Freeze at least 1 hour. Preheat oven to 400. Drizzle cheesesticks with melted butter. Bake until crumbs just begin to brown, 5-7 minutes.
Oh, no!!! Cheese all over the place!

Here is what happened: I totally forgot the ‘drizzle melted butter over them’ part and took them out of the freezer and put them in the oven. When they were in for about 5 min, I suddenly remembered the butter! So, I got them out and drizzled butter over them. At that point, no cheese was showing. I put them back in for another 5 min so they could brown and this is what they looked like when I got them out again. I thought of waiting and making them again before featuring them, but decided you might as well know that I make plenty of mistakes (some of which I can hide though ???? ).
Serve warm with marinara sauce.

This recipe came from an Easy to Bake Easy to Make recipe card. A tip on there is: “Since these must be frozen before baking anyway, keep several batches in the freezer and bake them whenever you need a quick snack.” Sounds like a great idea for spur-of-the-moment company! Or if you need a quick side dish to go with a meal. Last night, I served them with Hearty Hamburger Soup (to be featured later) and biscuits.

Comments

12 Responses to “Baked Mozzarella Sticks”

Mama Bear on January 8th, 2009 11:29 am

Oh I don’t even care if cheese leaked…I LOVE mozzarella sticks, great recipe, I’m bookmarking!!!
Rosalyn on January 8th, 2009 1:12 pm

Yummy! Mozzarella sticks are one of my favorite appetizers! ???? In the past I’ve just taken the easy way out and bought them in the box (TGI Friday brand is delicious)

But…now I can make them w/o spending alot of extra money on them!
Freida on January 8th, 2009 1:53 pm

Oh wow, these look fabulous!! You may make these sometime when we come. ???? hehe.
Shannon on January 8th, 2009 2:24 pm

ummmm, I love mozerella sticks. I never have cheese sticks on hand but I think I’ll get some and make these, esp if you can just bake them instead of deep fry them!!
Monica on January 8th, 2009 7:21 pm

Yummy!! I could eat some right now. I love the idea of keeping them in the freezer for a spur of the moment snack. I’ll have to try that!!
Berneice on January 8th, 2009 9:29 pm

Another cheese stick lover here. You know that day you are planning to come here… you could bring these! I also like the baking instead of deep frying! Healthier ????
Marilyn on January 9th, 2009 5:20 am

oh those look so good, am defintely going to make some! :-)I also like the idea of baking the cheesesticks instead of frying ’em.
Melissa K on January 9th, 2009 6:11 am

Kay,
These look yummy! I make cheesesticks here too, but my recipe actually uses Bisquick and ends up being more like a breadstick with cheese inside. We all love them!! If you’re interested in that recipe, I’ll be happy to pass it on. It’s also not low calorie so I’m thinking maybe you want to wait on this one and, like me, try to avoid those types of foods for a while!!
My First Kitchen on January 10th, 2009 7:38 am

Hi, Kay! Thanks so much for stopping by! I love mozzarella sticks and have always heard that freezing them is the key. Looks like you have it all covered! I wanted to answer your question about flax seed. I’d definitely grind it before you sprinkle it on things; it’s tough to chew, at least for me. Enjoy the PBJ, and I hope to see you again!
Katrina on January 11th, 2009 9:17 pm

Yum. Great idea!
Judi on January 21st, 2009 3:41 pm

Gotta love the oozing cheese. mmmm
Terra on April 16th, 2009 6:42 pm

If you put the string cheese in the freezer until you’re ready to make them, the cheese doesn’t melt so fast, so it won’t leak out like that. I’m gonna try your recipe. Sounds great.

Tidbits

It Feels Like Whiplash

January 6, 2009 December 12, 2019

Posted on January 6, 2009
Filed Under Tidbits

December = cookie baking, candy making, chocolate eating, a big Christmas dinner, using butter in obscene amounts, never actually getting hungry…

Then BAM! January hits!

January = calorie limits, dusting off the treadmill (*ahem* and using it), having chocolate only in your dreams, drinking water water water, finding yourself frequently wandering out to the kitchen to look around for something ‘legal’ to eat…

Sigh! Anyone else suffering from ‘whiplash’?

Comments

7 Responses to “It Feels Like Whiplash”

Mama Bear on January 6th, 2009 11:09 pm

YES!!!

And, I am even hungrier than before Christmas…darn turkey/mashed potatoes/stuffing/pies.

*sigh*

It was back to the gym for me tonight. Am hoping to rev up my metabolism.
Traci on January 7th, 2009 5:44 am

Having my oldest move away to Hawaii has done wonders for my eating…..I’ve actually had to tell myself to go eat and drink. There is a silver lining behind every cloud! I haven’t weighed, I can just tell in my clothing…..afraid if I weigh it will do something to my psyche and I’ll start eating everything in sight…lol. I hope you are having a Happy New Year!!!
Rene on January 7th, 2009 12:23 pm

I’m definitely there with you! My husband goes in at the end of the month (hopefully) for his bone marrow transplant and there is a workout room in the hospital that I can use. My goal is to workout each morning since I won’t have work, cleaning the house, cooking, laundry, sewing basket, or any of the other convenient excuses I’m always able to find.
Katrina on January 7th, 2009 1:47 pm

Ditto All! Sigh!
Ruthie on January 7th, 2009 3:34 pm

Me too… boo hoo… Going from freedom to limits is never fun. Oh well, when you see me next, your mouth will drop open, you’ll go bug-eyed, and you will not believe how slim and youthful I am… then I’ll wake up.
Treva on January 8th, 2009 8:52 pm

Yes, indeed – “whiplash” – all out of shape. Will Power and I are not good friends. He requires too much from me. We don’t get along, are constantly arguing, and I keep trying to resist his advances – Go away, Will, go away.
Kay, I don’t know how you do it, working w/ all this food, constantly reading recipes, trying ’em out, taking n posting pictures. I gain 5# just reading through your posts. eeek Always makes me so hungry. Then’s when Will and i have to get along.
Judi on January 21st, 2009 3:45 pm

and to top it off I’m just getting over a sinus infection so I haven’t felt like working out for the last 2 weeks. But it’s definitely time. Start posting a few low calorie recipes. Save me the time of looking for them lol.

Candy, Grilling, Holiday Cooking

Our Christmas in pictures (and words)

December 30, 2008 December 19, 2019

So, what happened then is that Kitchen Scrapbook ended up totally missing Christmas! I was living the moment, er, moments, surrounded by family and making food and snacks without blogging about it.

You know how when you get a whole bunch of Christmas cards in a row, 4 one day and 5 the next, and then it tapers off towards the end of December and then no more cards and then the 2nd week of January, you get another Christmas card? Well, that’s how this post is… the other blogs you read have posted Christmas now and are switching from red & green colors to January blue and New Year’s resolutions, but here, we’re pulling you back to Christmas…

First, we have Pretzel Turtles

I got this idea from Judy on a message board that I frequent. Take small pretzels and put a Rolo candy on top of each one. Then, put them in the oven for a couple minutes at 350. When you get them out, immediately press a pecan half on top of each Rolo. Yum! They went over very well here!

We also had monster cookies, party mix, and gingerbreadmen:

Lexi said, “Mom, look! I made twins!”…

Hmmm, someone samples cookies as she decorates…

And then onto our Christmas meal…

Here was our menu:
–Mashed potatoes and gravy
–Ham, rotisserie on the grill
–Noodles
–Baked corn
–Candied sweet potatoes
–Corn chip salad
–Rolls
–Jellied cranberry sauce
–Pies (pumpkin, lemon meringue, and peanut butter)

This is my husband, making some awesome ham…

Missed the pies before they were eaten…

Pictured in the picture right under the ham collage is the candied sweet potatoes. I was trying to make a knock-off of Texas Roadhouse’s loaded sweet potato. I baked 3 sweet potatoes, peeled them and put them in an 8×8 pan and mashed them with a fork. Then, melted a stick of butter and stirred in some cinnamon and about 1/2 cup of brown sugar, poured it over the potatoes, put a layer of marshmallows on top, then baked it at 350 until the marshmallows were browned. It was GOOD!!!

In addition to food, our Christmas consisted of gift opening, football throwing, baby holding, and much more…

Comments

6 Responses to “Our Christmas in pictures (and words)”

Shannon on December 30th, 2008 7:53 pm

Aww it looks good! Fun fun fun with family isn’t it.
Berneice on December 30th, 2008 8:40 pm

Food and family go together very well. Like someone told me tonight. One without the other is like a kiss without a squeeze!
Ruthie on December 31st, 2008 7:13 am

NICE to see pictures of your family all together. The way it used to be… Happy New Year!
Suzanne on December 31st, 2008 10:46 am

Looks like you had a wonderful time. How did your husband make the ham? It looks to die for!
Liz on January 2nd, 2009 9:53 pm

Can we have a redo? Those couple of days were so MUCH fun!!!! The pictures of the ham makes me want to have some more and I would really love to have more candied sweet potatoes. At least you wrote it down so we can use the ‘recipe’ for next year. Happy New Year!
Fran on January 3rd, 2009 12:48 pm

Looks like you had a nice holiday. The ham looks really good, and I love the pretzel, rolo candy. I want to try those.

Holiday Cooking, Snacks

Chex Party Mix

December 18, 2008 December 12, 2019

Posted on December 18, 2008
Filed Under Holiday cooking, Snacks

I love party mix! For me, it is another ‘must’ for the holiday season! As much as I like it, I oughta make it year-round. It freezes well, so I could make a big batch and get a small bag out of the freezer as needed. Do any of you do that? Or is it more of just a holiday snack for you, too?

One thing about party mix is that is so variation-friendly. You can replace some of the Chex for other unsweetened cereal, you can use mixed nuts or peanuts, you can use different shapes of pretzels, and then the cracker part can be any kind of small cracker, cheesy crackers, bagel chips, or whatever. I don’t think I’ve ever made it the same twice.

I do use a recipe to get the total amount of cups about right for the amount of sauce, then follow the sauce recipe exactly. And where this recipe comes from is… the back of the Chex cereal box, but I bake it instead of microwave it.

The Original Chex Party Mix

Printable recipe

3 cups Corn Chex cereal
3 cups Rice Chex cereal
3 cups Wheat Chex cereal
1 cup mixed nuts
1 cup bite-sized pretzels
1 cup garlic-flavor bite-sized bagel chips or regular-size bagel chips, broken into 1″ pieces (I used Cheezits)
Or about 12 cups of any combo of the type of things listed above

6 Tbsp. butter or margarine
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp. seasoned salt
3/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder

In a large bowl, mix cereals, nuts, pretzels, and bagel chips; set aside. In small microwavable bowl, microwave butter uncovered on High about 40 seconds or until melted. Stir in seasonings.

Pour over cereal mixture; stir until evenly coated.

Microwave uncovered on High 5 – 6 min, thoroughly stirring every 2 minutes OR spread mixture out onto baking sheets and bake at 250 for 1 hour, stirring every 10-15 minutes.

Spread on paper towels to cool.

Store in airtight container.

So… what all do you put in your party mix? My sister, Jan, is looking for new ideas too. We just talked about it a couple days ago. And neither of us gave each other any good inspirations.

Comments

19 Responses to “Chex Party Mix”

Fran on December 18th, 2008 1:14 pm

I always put Life cereal in my party mix. It gives it just a little bit of sweet mixed with the salty. I will never make it without Life again.
Roxanna on December 18th, 2008 1:15 pm

Party Mix is our favorite snack at this house! It is a staple on any vacation, campout, christmases, etc.! I put Life cereal in it to add a bit of sweet to the salty. I have also used honey nut chex and honey nut cheerios. I am actually getting ready to go make some right now! That and some yummy ranch pretzels! I can’t seem to get in the mood to make sweet stuff this year-just the salty! That isn’t like me at all!!!!
Fran on December 18th, 2008 1:24 pm

A tip about baking party mix. Just leave it in that stainless steel bowl tou mixed it up in. Put the whole bowl in the oven and bake. It is so much easier to stir. It maight take a little longer to bake this way. The recipe I use says to bake for 2 hours and stir every 30 minutes, but it is a much bigger batch.
Audrey Miller on December 18th, 2008 1:31 pm

Very cool that you did this post right now because I have to take party mix to our Kilmer gathering and didn’t have a recipe to use. Was gonna go hunting, but now I don’t have to! Thanks! Aug
Michelle on December 18th, 2008 1:53 pm

I my party mix consists of rice chex, honeycomb, pretzals, goldfish, and bugels. I used to add several different kinds of chex and got tired of it. It was too many chex. So I cut back on the chex and started adding honeycombs. The goldfish I added this year are in Christmas shapes-a stocking and hat. The pretzals I added were in the shape of a christmas tree. I thought it made it look festive.
I leave my party mix in the bowl I mixed it up in and stick it in the oven like that. It seems to bake fine thatway. I also leave it in that bowl to cool.
I normally only make party mix around Christmas but I always think I’m going to make it other times too but for some reason I never do.
Kelly on December 18th, 2008 2:20 pm

I’m no help — we make ours the exact same way! And it never occurs to anyone to make it any other time but Christmas, LOL
JoAnn on December 18th, 2008 3:30 pm

Someone already gave this idea, but thought I’d add my voice, too. When we visited my inlaws in Africa last summer, my SIL made party mix and had Honeycomb cereal in it. I normally don’t care much for party mix, but the Honeycomb cereal REALLY made it good! I couldn’t leave it alone!
Jessica on December 18th, 2008 4:19 pm

I bake mine in the 13 qu stainless steel bowl I mix it in. I stir it every 10 minutes for 45 minutes or so. I use any chex, pretzels, cheez-its, deluxe nuts (no peanuts) I want. I sometimes like honeycomb in it. m&m’s are not bad too. Just don’t bake them.
Elvida on December 18th, 2008 8:41 pm

I make mine exactly like you …complete with cheese-its.I guess I do leave out the garlic and onion powder. I’ve tried it other ways and personally enjoy the sweet versions, but my family likes it best this old way…straight off the chex box!
Ruth on December 18th, 2008 11:03 pm

My party mix has come a long way from the original recipe. I make it only at Christmas, so I like to make it christmassy. No chex, no sauce, no baking … just all my favorite snacks. The base is nuts … peanuts, chashews, almonds, pumpkin seeds, pecans, whatever … add cereal, cocoa puffs, Capn Crunch, whatever floats your boat … pretzels, I like something delicate. I used to put in the christmas tree shaped pretzels, but I haven’t been able to find them for years. This year I used the cheddar Tiny Twists … Crackers, I love the gold fish, last year I used the Christmas colors, but couldn’t find them this year. Sometimes I use bugles and/or cheez-its. And last, but not least, Christmas M & M’s … lots of them, all kinds, peanut, almond, milk chocolate. The mix never turns out the same, it just depends what you find when you go shopping. This year I added a bag of cajun party mix to give it just a little kick. It’s not exactly cheap, I guess that’s why I only do it at Christmas.
Carmen on December 19th, 2008 11:52 am

I pretty much follow the recipe for the dry ingredients. I do use Cheezits and usually use pecans, almonds and peanuts. I adjust the amounts until it looks right. I make about 1 1/2 times the sauce, using more Worcestershire sauce, no seasoning salt, lots more garlic powder and some good shakes of Tabasco or some form of hot sauce. I scored a great deal on Chex. $1.56 per box and I had a coupon for $3 off on 3. Three boxes of Chex for $1.68. Woo Hoo!!
Kay on December 19th, 2008 12:37 pm

Wow, I love all the ideas! I hope my sister Jan is reading them too!

So, it is actually ok to put sweetened cereal in party mix?! And M&Ms?! I thought the sweet taste would clash with the worcestershire/garlic/onion taste! I will have to try it!!!!!
Twila on December 19th, 2008 6:36 pm

I guess I like to make certain things like party mix, caramel corn etc.In the winter,keeps it more special.I have recipes I only make in the summer too.I haven’t made party mix yet. I have a cajun one I like to make.
Suzanne on December 20th, 2008 9:05 am

I usually follow the recipe, but I don’t buy all the ingredients. I use what I have at home. I do put in Lawry’s garlic salt as an addition though. I don’t typically buy garlic chips. I’ve never heard of putting sweet stuff in the mix, and I honestly don’t think I will be trying that. Sorry. Corn Nuts might be good though. I like the Bugles idea.
Christy on December 21st, 2008 2:04 pm

I’m in the process of making some. I’d copied this recipe a long time ago, but have never made it. Just came to check if I had the butter amount right–it seemed sparse. Maybe as it bakes it mingles. I did use the beagle chips instead of cheese nips since we prefer them. I added honey comb, skipped the nuts, and will add m&m’s once it comes out of the oven. (I love salty and sweet together–like French fries and ice cream.) I forgot about adding bugles. I think the next time I’ll replace one kind of cereal w/ the honey comb, and the other w/ bugles. I didn’t really like opening that many boxes of cereal that we’re not crazy over.
Jo H. on December 21st, 2008 6:00 pm

I love your site! I couldn’t resist adding a comment this time.:) I have a Taste of Home recipe I like that calls for barbecue sauce, worcestershire sauce, seasoned salt and the melted butter. Its especially good with Famous Dave’s. But then, I love anything barbecue!
Lisa Feather on December 22nd, 2008 11:05 pm

Oh yum! Who doesn’t like Chex mix? I think it’s great fun to have a sort of unusual shape or ingredient or two. And I never really thought about freezing it. What a great idea.
Connie on December 23rd, 2008 11:21 am

Bugles are a must in mine, too. I use Krispex cereal usually. That way you get two kinds of cereal in one. I mix and bake mine uncovered in a roasting pan. Saves on washing dishes. Enjoy your site!
Cordy on December 24th, 2008 10:07 pm

I just wanted to wish you and your family, Kay, a very blessed and joyous Christmas. I have appreciated you so very much for all the recipes and accompanying pictures! I feel so blessed to have “found you!!” Christmas morning I plan to make your egg breakfast! I can hardly wait! (You have a kindred spirit in enjoying food!)