CHEESE BALL

This cheese ball is a New Year's Eve tradition for us.

I think I've been making it since Jr. high school.

I make it in the morning so it can chill in the frig all day.
Here it is going into the frig this morning:

Cheese Ball
2 packages cream cheese
2 packages thin sliced beef , diced
2 t. worcestershire sauce
diced green onions, or 2 or 3 T. diced onion

Mix all together, form into ball, refrigerate, & eat. Yum. :)
I hardly ever remember to get green onions, so I usually just dice a few tablespoons of regular onion.

And here's our snack spread for tonight, although I did forget to set the chips out.
1st there's the all important, super traditional Chex Mix! And look at this wonderful, huge, awsome bowl I got for Christmas from my S-I-L! It is HUGE & I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

And here's the cheeseball with crackers, cheese in a can, chip dip, cheese & summer sausage, & olives. This is snack heaven. :) I will be grazing all evening.....

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
MAY GOD FILL YOU TO OVERFLOWING WITH HIS BLESSINGS.

Oatmeal Peanutbutter Scotchies

These oatmeal cookies won the Mrs. Fields & iVillage 30th Anniversary Cookie Contest
Oops, that link didn't work. Here's the link to that actual cookie winner:
http://photos.ivillage.com/food/mrsfields/2007/04/oatmeal_peanut_butter_scotchie.html

I also saw Claire make them here:

http://cookiedoc.blogspot.com/2007/12/cooking-with-kaitlyn.html
I also saw them over at Cookie Madness, but now I can't find her link.

We really love oatmeal scotchies, so we really enjoyed these too.

Here they are in a cookie jar my s-i-l gave me years ago.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Scotchies

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups chunky peanut butter (not the sugar free kind)

4 1/2 cups rolled oats (can do all old fashioned or do half old fashioned and half instant depending on your texture preferences)

2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 whole eggs

2 tsp baking soda

1 bag of butterscotch chips

3/4 cup chopped pecans

Cream butter, peanut butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Stir in oats, soda, butterscotch chips and nuts until combined. Drop by spoonful on a greased cookie sheet or use parchment paper. Bake 350 degrees for 12 minutes (brown on bottom and some browning on top). Cool on cookie sheet 5 minutes before removing to cooling rack. Makes 72 cookies.

And these are delicious with tea for breakfast. Oatmeal is a breakfast food, right?
:)

I really love our Christmas plates. My brother got them for us one year, & we always use them now in December. Helps to put us in the Christmas mood. It's now about time to pack them up for the year.

Mint Chocolate Cookies

I have always LOVED chocolate & mint, together or seperately.

So when I saw this recipe at Shazam in the Kitchen, I HAD to try it.

They are very good. They are nice & moist, almost like a brownie.

Mint Chocolate Cookies
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp mint extract
2 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
powdered sugar
Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt in small bowl. In separate bowl, mix together melted chocolate, oil, sugar and mint. Add eggs one at a time stirring until blended. Add flour mixture into chocolate mixture. Cover dough and chill for at least 4 hours (no more than 2 days). Scoop out 1 tsp at a time into small balls and roll in powdered sugar. Place balls about 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350° for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool on the pan for a minute before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

I did one thing differently.
I doubled the recipe. :)

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

DAD'S HOT CHOCOLATE MIX

I know this is a common recipe, but I call it Dad's Hot Chocolate Mix because he always made it. He always made a huge batch & kept it in a HUGE tupperware thing. Then he'd fill empty coffee jars (the instant coffee jars) & give them to us. He'd always refill them too.

I have 1 jar left that he gave me. I enjoy drinking it, but am sort of dreading finishing this jar.

I'll just have to start making it myself. That would make him happy. :)

DAD'S HOT CHOCOLATE MIX

1 Box (8 oz.) non-fat instant powdered milk

1 box (16 oz.) Quick chocolate milk mix

1 jar (11 oz.) powdered coffee creamer

3/4 c. powdered sugar

Mix all ingredience together & store in coffee cans or large tupperware. When ready to use, mix 1/3 cup into 1 cup of boiling water. ( I think my dad made

double double batches of this!)

I love creamy hot chocolate, so I never use water, I use milk.

Sometimes I put marshmellows on top, & sometimes whipped cream like the picture. And it looks really fancy to sprinkle just a pinch of chocolate milk mix powder on the whipped cream.

I drank the above cup of hot chocolate after watching the kids play in the snow, & wearing furry warm slippers while reading a Christmas letter from a friend.

It was perfect.

:)

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

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HOMEMADE BEAN WITH BACON SOUP

This is probably one of our favorites! We've always loved Campbell's Bean with Bacon soup.
So when I saw this recipe over at the W@H board, I knew we'd like it. Here is the origional recipe:
HOMEMADE BEAN WITH BACON SOUP
Soak 1 bag of navy beans in water for 3 hours (or overnight). Drain & add 9 cups of low salt chicken broth. (you can use boullion but it is too salty, if you use this, use only 5 cubes per 9 c. water.)
Meantime, melt 1 stick butter & saute 1 chopped onion & 5 chopped carrots. When onions start to carmelize, dump it all into the pot of beans & chicken stock.
Fry up half a pound of chopped bacon. Drain the grease & dump the bacon into the pot of beans.
Add 2 dashes of liquid smoke.
When boiling, cover & simmer for 4 hours or so, until thick & the beans are tender.


I always double this recipe, but I don't double the stock.
I use 2 bags of navy beans & 10-12 cups chicken stock. I usually have homemade stock in the freezer, but when I don't have enough, I have added canned & it's fine. So I double everything but the stock. I think 18 cups of stock would be too much. (we like thick soup)
Also, I put my beans to soak when I go to bed. I rinse them around noon & start the soup by 1 or 2:00 in the afternoon.
You cannot believe how this smells when it's cooking. Oh.My.Word. It is OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!!!
A doubled recipe makes a large stock pot full. It's just perfect for a family of 4 for 2 days, with maybe a little left over to freeze for a rainy day.
And like most soups, it's even better on day 2. Sitting in the frig overnight the beans soak up more liquid & it gets really thick. You can even see how much thicker it is in this picture, taken on day 2:

CARAMEL DIPPING SAUCE

Our daughter had this at chuch a few weeks ago & had a fit at how good it was.

So I told her to get the recipe. I was suprised to see that it had sour cream in it. She said that all she knew was that it tasted like caramel & that it was very good. So we bought some sour cream & made a double batch - which was a mistake (sort of) because it makes a lot. :)

Caramel Dipping Sauce

1 Stick of butter

1 C. brown sugar

1 8oz. sour cream

1 t. vanilla

Melt butter & brown sugar on top of stove. Add sour cream & vanilla. Let it simmer for about 1 minute. Let it cool down & then refrigerate.

We couldn't wait that long & we had some warm. We dipped apple into it & it was delicious. Because it was still warm, it was a little runny. Well, not really runny, just not 'thick, caramel like', if that makes sense. We have a lot since I doubled the recipe so I had to put it in a Country Crock butter bowl. It filled it about 3/4 full! LOL

The next day I got the munchies & pulled out a bag of pretzles to dip in it. Oh my goodness.....SO GOOD. You know how sweet & salty go so well together!

You do taste the sour cream, but believe it or not, it still tastes like caramel. Or maybe even a little butterscotchy.

It is good. I was trying to think of something else to dip into it & I thought it might be good drizzled on BROWNIES !

LORI'S MOM'S CREME DE MENTHE CAKE

I really wish I had a better picture of the whole cake.
I've been having trouble with the flash settings on our camera. I think I've finally figured out a better flash setting, but this picture was taken back in August, before I messed around with the settings.


Lori's Mom's Creme de Menthe Cake

1 box white cake mix
liquid for cake along with 4 Tablespoons creme de menthe (to equal liquid for cake)Bake as directed, cool. ( sometimes I use more creme de menthe)
Cover cooled cake with a jar of chocolate ice cream topping.
Mix large container of whipped cream with 4 Tablespoons of creme de menthe & spread on cake. (I also add a bit of green food coloring.)
Cover cake with shaved chocolate from a Hershey's bar.

YUM! YUM! YUM! YUM! YUM! YUM! YUM! YUM!

Thanks to my good friend Lori for this recipe! She gave us this recipe a few years ago & we LOVE it so much. Our teenage daughter requests it now for her birthday every year. She's also got a hankerin' for me to fix it again.
I have never put ice cream fudge on cake before. It is SO GOOD! It makes me not understand why I haven't done this before!
I think this is the best cake I've ever had.
Ever.
:)
Thank you Lori!

Updated April 29, 2008
I now use the BIG Hershey's candy bar & look at the difference it makes!
So much more chocolate! It makes the chocolate curls on the above cake look pretty sad....lol!

Announcing the Holiday Bundle

**This is going to be a 'sticky' & stay at the top through Dec. 8. So scroll on down for any newer entries. **
There is a wonderful giveaway over at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Jocelyndixon/432336/

I am supposed to write about a special memory. I'm a terrible writer, so just bear with me. lol
Well, I have 2 children, so I can't just write about one of them.
Both of my babies were born just weeks after Christmas. They are 12 years and 3 days apart.
My 1st was born on a cold, icy, Saturday morning less than 2 weeks after Christmas. We didn't call anyone when we left for the hospital because the weather was terrible & we knew we had plenty of time since it takes a long time to give birth to your 1st baby. Well, 2 hours after arriving at the hospital our beautiful daughter was born! Family members started arriving an hour or so later. :)
Then 12 years & 3 days later, our son was born. After a full day of babysitting 4 or 5 little ones, those familiar tummy squeezes were happening every 2-4 minutes, so we left quickly for the hospital! This time we called our family while we were on the way to the hospital. An hour after arriving, our wonderful son was born!
Our children are our biggest blessings, & their births are my fondest memories.

Win an Incredible Prize Pack from Parents® Toys

5 Minutes for Mom are having another one of their wonderful giveaways! They’re giving away a prize pack of goodies from Parent’s Toys.
Check it out & enter soon!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Bean Salad

1 can dark red kidney beans, drained

2-3 heaping T. mayo

1/2 t. salt

pepper to taste

1 t. sugar

1/2 t. garlic salt or powder

2-3 T. onions, diced small

2 celery stalks, diced

2 hard boiled eggs, diced

Combine everything in a bowl & refrigerate for a few hours.

I'm not a big bean salad fan, by my dh & ds LOVE this. :)

BEN HUR BY LEW WALLACE

I finally finished this 1st book for the Baby Steps Challenge (over at the Nattie Challange) onWednesday evening. I am so glad that I stuck with it! It was very good. I really enjoyed the story. There were a few places that I got kind of bogged down in, but I think that was mostly in the beginning. Maybe to me it was a slow start. I also had a few things ‘going against me’. My book was 432 pages of very small print. So it seemed like my progress was slower than molasses going uphill on a cold day. I had 4 or 5 different times where family members were hospitalized. We just generally had super busy times, so that there were even a few weeks in a row that I wasn’t able to read even a chapter. Even though one evening I picked up my copy of Christy & got started on it, I never did give up on Ben Hur. I am so thankful I put Christy down & kept at this one going. I really did enjoy it. I rolled my eyes at the King James English being spoken by 1st century Jews & Romans…..but I got over it. lol I even cried a few times. The first time I cried was when the story finds Judah Ben-Hur’s beloved mother & sister. And I WEPT when Amrah, the family servant, saw them for the first time. It brings chills to my arms now to even think on it! And I was so angry at Judah’s love interest….I wanted to reach thru the pages & give him a V-8 smack on the forhead! I cried when two lepers called out for Jesus as He passed them on the road leading into Jerusalem. They called out to Him, "O Master, Master! Thou seest our need: thou canst make us clean. Have mercy upon us-mercy!"
"Believest thou I am able to do this?" He asked.
"Thou art He of whom the prophets spake- thou art the Messiah!" she replied.
"Woman," He said, "great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt."
I mean I WEPT!
And I cried as Jesus was nailed to the cross.
And I even cried when Belthasar, one of the wise men from the beginning of the story, knelt at the foot of the cross.
There was one more thing about this book that I’ll remember: the author actually speaks to you, he calls you Reader. Lol For example: "O Reader, you may remember from the previous chapter that…." The first time or two it did get on my nerves a bit. But it didn’t take long to endear me to it. By late in the book, I would smile when he’d do that.
I will probably go back and read this again in a few years.
I gave it 4 stars over at goodreads.com, only because there were a few slow parts for me. But, this is a classic, & I’ve given lesser literature 5 stars, so I think I may be going over and changing that.
It’s a great bookthat took me weeks & weeks to read it. But it sure was worth it!
If I ever do get over to the Lew Wallace Study Museum, I’ll be sure to take some pictures.

STROGIE HOAGIE

1st off- I can't figure out how to spell hoagie. LOL

Basically, this is beef stroganoff on a bun, without the noodles. And it is GOOD.

I saw it on Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals last month. All through the show she called it "Strogie Hoagie", but on her site, the recipe on-line is called" Sliced Steak Stroganoff in French Bread". I only made a few changes to her recipe that is found here. Instead of using baguettes, I just used deli style buns & I buttered them & toasted them in the oven. I also added a splash or so of worcestershire sauce & a can of drained mushrooms. And I didn't use watercress.
Here it is cooking in my big cast iron skillet:

And here it is on the plate, served with a simple tomato & cucumber salad.

How did this taste?
As Rachel Ray would say...YUMM-O!
(be sure to have plenty of napkins!)

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Turkey (or Chicken) Casserole

I remembered that I have a lot going on tomorrow, so I thought I should put this recipe on here today, or I might not get to it tomorrow.

This recipe has no noodles, it's more of a dressing type of casserole.

As you can see in the picture, I had to make this in my oldest pie pan! I had used up all my 8x8 pans & all my deep dish pie pans for the casseroles I was freezing. I do line the pans with saran wrap so I can lift the froozen casserole out, then wrap more securely in foil & store them in the freezer that way so that my pans aren't in use in the freezer when I need them. But still, they hadn't frozen solid enough yet by last evening to take them out (I like to freeze them for at least 24 hours before removing them from the pan). So I was down to my oldest pie pan. lol

Turkey (or chicken) Casserole

Mix:

1 C. milk

1 C. turkey or chicken stock

2 eggs, beaten

1 onion, diced

salt, papper, celery salt, any other seasoning you like. I also added garlic powder, sage, thyme, & basil.

3 C. turkey or chicken, cut up

3 C. soft bread crumbs, cubed (if it's still a bit soupy, I add another slice of bread, cubed)

Pour into greased 2 qt. baking dish. (pie pan will do *snicker*)

I set mine in 1 inch of water & bake at 350 for 1.5 hours. I usually start checking it after 1 hour. I freeze this (obviously...lol), I let it set out for about 30 min. then put right in the oven, covered with foil. I usually bake it an hour, maybe more if it needs it.

TURKEY CASSEROLE MAKING DAY

Today was turkey casserole making day.
Inbetween taking dd to & from work twice today, & going to the funeral home, I made 8 turkey casseroles. And I am tired.
I have cream of chicken soup in the picture, but didn't use any, although I do have some recipes that call for it, I always end up making a roux (equal amounts of melted butter & flour & then some milk and/or turkey stock) for my casseroles. And the turkey stock in the picture did have the grease removed from the top! (gross...lol)
Six of the casserole's were made with 'light & fluffy' noodles. I have the recipes on the side bar. I used broccoli & cheddar cheese in some. The last two casseroles I ran out of cheddar, so I used mozzarella & instead of broccoli these had spinach. That may be interesting. lol The last two are in the oven now, as they are 'dressing type' casseroles that need to be baked before freezing. All total, I made 8 casseroles using 18 cups of turkey!
.....looks like we'll be having turkey casserole about once a month for the next 8 months!

Robin's Caramel Pecan Pie

My very 1st email pen pal, Robin, gave me this recipe quite a few years ago.

We LOVE this pecan pie, & I have made it for Thanksgiving & Christmas every year since then. This recipe for pecan pie uses kraft caramels instead of karo syrup.

I can't remember how long ago it was she gave me this recipe. It was at least more than 5 years ago, because I know we had the old computer & lived at the old house. I'm thinking it was the late 90's!

The caramel is WONDERFUL with pecans. They were actually so beautiful melting in the pan with the butter, that I had to take a spap. :)

Robin's Caramel Pecan Pie

36 Kraft Caramels

1/4 c. water

1/4 c. margarine

3/4 c. sugar

1/4 t. salt

1/2 t. vanilla extract

3 eggs, beaten

1 c. pecan halves

1 deep dish unbaked pie shell

Melt caramels with water and marg. in a saucepan over low heat. Stir occasionally until smooth. Combine sugar, salt, vanilla, & eggs. Gradually add caramel sauce & mix well. Stir in pecan halves. Pour into pie shell, bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Pie filling will appear to be very soft, but it becomes firm as it cools.

This is delicious!

Thank you Robin!!!

Thankful for harvest

Just a few words to say how thankful I am for EVERYTHING God has blessed us with.
I am so thankful for my Lord & Savior. I can never say thank you enough times for the forgivness I have for all of my sins because of the sacrifice Christ Jesus made.
I am so thankful for my family.
And I am thankful for the bountiful harvest that God blessed us with.
We had a HUGE crop of zucchini, a nice large crop of tomatoes, a good crop of green peppers, green beans, broccoli & radishes. And a wonderful, bountiful crop of corn.
And here's a picture of some of the freezer corn.

It was so worth all this work & all this work!
It does not taste like it came out of the freezer. :)
It tastes like fresh, sweet corn right off the cob.
And easy cooking instructions!
Remove corn from freezer & open ziplock bag.
Microwave for 1 minute.
Pour into bowl & add 1 T. butter & some salt & pepper.
Microwave for another minute or 2.
Done!
We'll probably have this at least once a week & should have enough to last us through spring or early summer.
Thank you Lord our Provider!

Turkey Casserole

I had one turkey casserole left in our deep freezer & I baked it a while back.

Now that it's the turkey season, I thought I'd share this recipe, it's a little different than the other one I posted.

Turkey Noodle Casserole

1 (6 oz.) pkg. noodles

1 small chopped green pepper

1 chopped onion

2 stalks celery, diced

4 T. butter plus 1 T. olive oil

4 T. flour

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. pepper

1 c. chicken stock

1/2 c. milk

2 c. turkey, diced

1 small can mushrooms

Cook noodles, drain, & set aside.

Saute green peppers, onion, & celery in butter & olive oil until tender. Blend in flour & seasonings. Add milk & chicken stock & cook until thickened, stirring constantly. Stir in the turkey, noodles, & the can of mushrooms. Pour into greased casserole dish & bake at 350 for 25 minutes. OR-if you want to save it for another day if you're a little tired of turkey....

freeze it! Pour it into a casserole dish lined with foil or saran wrap & freeze it. Once it is frozen, you can lift it out & then wrap it really well in saran wrap & foil, label it, & put it in freezer.

When ready to fix it, remove foil & return it to the origional casserole dish. Bake at 350 for 70-90 minutes. I kept mine covered with foil so the baking wouldn't harden the noodles on top, & I also stirred it a few times.

We had it with oven fries & sliced tomatoes. It felt like a free meal, because the only cost was a few potatoes! (sorry this picture quality it pretty bad...)

Spiced Apple Cookies

I found a great apple cookie recipe at Cookie Madness.

I won't type up the recipe since you can get it from there.

These are very nice, soft cookies. There's an icing recipe that goes with it, but we liked them without the icing.

I have made two batches of these now. I took some to the pitch-in at church the other night.

I have so many apples that I need to use up, so I'm sure I'll be making them again. :)

I loved them with my tea in the morning. :)

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Stuffed Baked Potatoes -OR- The Best Mashed Potatoes Ever!

Stuffed Baked Potatoes
5 medium baking potatoes (I think I usually use 8)
¼ c. butter or margarine, softened
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese, divided
¾ c. sour cream
1 envelope ranch salad dressing mix
1 T. snipped chives
1 garlic clove, minced
crumbled cooked bacon (or bacon bits)
chopped green onions (optional)
Bake potatoes at 400 for 1 hour or until tender. Reduce heat to 375. Cut each potato in half lengthwise; scoop out the pulp, leaving a thin shell. In large mixing bowl, beat the pulp with butter. Stir in 1 cup of the cheese, sour cream, salad dressing mix, chives & garlic. Spoon into potato shells. Sprinkle with remaining cup of cheese.
Place on baking sheet, Bake for 15-20 minutes or until heated through. Top with bacon & green onions.

That’s the recipe as it appears on the cut out card I have from a Taste of Home magazine.
But, I NEVER can get the pulp scooped out of the shell right. It always looks a mess.
So I just skip all of that & make these into a casserole dish. I bake the potatoes & let them cool a bit so I can handle them. Then I cut or peel the skin off & throw the skins away.
Once I’ve made the mashed potatoes, instead of trying to put them back in the shells, I put it all into an 8x8 or 9x9 dish. I top it with cheese & bake for 15-20 minutes. If I have them, I add bacon & green onions to the top after removing from the oven.
My pictures didn't turn out so great, but here's the dish:

And here's a close up once we had dipped into it, so you can see all the speckly stuff.

YUM-O!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

GREEN TOMATOES

I picked a lot of green tomatoes on Saturday. I guessed the bags were about 10 pounds a piece so I decided to step on the scales. Sure enough, both bags added 21 pounds to my weight.

We've had a few frosts, but so far, believe it or not, it has missed what's left in the garden! One morning I looked out & there was frost all over in the neighbor's front grass field. But the tomato plants didn't have ANY on them. Knowing that freezing weather was coming this week, I picked the best of the green tomatoes. I can put them in brown bags & they will ripen up. Not as good as vine ripened, but still better than what we can get in the store. We probably have a week's worth of red ones left in the frig, then in a couple weeks these greens ones will ripen....& then that's it for the year. >sniff sniff<

Saturday evening we had steak sandwiches, & I couldn't not fix fried green tomatoes with it. :)

BEEF STROGANOFF

We love Beef Stroganoff. I didn't make if for years, I guess I was intimidated by it so I just bought it frozen. A few years ago I found this recipe on the back of Light & Fluffy noodles. It is SO GOOD.

Beef Stroganoff

1-1/2 pounds boneless beef round, cut into 1 in. cubes

1 onion, chopped

3 T. butter or marg.

1 can beef broth

1 T. Worchestershire sauce

1 4 oz. can sliced mushrooms, undrained

1 C. sour cream

1/4 c. flour

3/4 package of light & fluffy noodles

Saute beef cubes & onion in butter until browned. Add broth & worchestershire sauce; cover & simmer for 1 hour, or until beef is tender, (stir occasionally). Add mushrooms with liquid. Combine sour cream & flour & blend into meat mixture & cook 5 minutes or until thickened.

Meanwhile, cook noodles by directions on package & drain. Add to meat mixture. Stir & serve.

We like this with mashed potatoes & some kind of veggie, like green beans or corn.

This is really good comfort food, especially good in cool/cold weather. :)

WALNUTS

Looking up into the black walnut tree

Unhulled walnuts:

We ended up tearing the hulls open this way:It sure was a lot of work.
Now they have to dry for a few weeks.
But, I did a smaller batch more than a month ago.
When I crack them open they are no good. :( They're not moldy or anything, just too soft.
I am hoping this large batch turns out.
Otherwise....it was a whole lotta work for nothin'!

Wordless Wednesday

Bacon Chicken Sandwich

This makes a really GOOD sandwich! I did forget to take pictures, so I took this picture of the leftovers.

These sandwiches included:

Cooked, skinless, boneless chicken breast with lemon pepper & colby-jack cheese

Crisp bacon

Tomato

I put mayo & a little bit of dijon mustard on mine, & served them on sesame seed buns.

YUM!

CHEWY OATMEAL SCOTCHIES

This is one of our favorite cookies. I've been making oatmeal scotchies for years, but I've been using the recipe on the back of the butterscotch chips bag. They were really good, and they came out of the oven looking really good. But as they cooled, they always went flat. They went really flat. They were good, but flat.
Then I found a recipe for Chewy Oatmeal Cookies from an Amish cookbook. I kind of combined the two recipes. The Amish recipe didn't call for the butterscotch chips or cinnamon, & of course we need those! But I like the measurements in the Amish recipe. And I learned something here....the Amish recipe calls for 1 cup of Crisco & the cookies don't fall flat. The recipe on the chips package calls for butter or margarine. I've always used margarine so I am assuming that is what causes them to go flat.
So I have combined the two recipes & this is what I get:
CHEWY OATMEAL SCOTCHIES
1 c. white sugar
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. crisco
2 eggs
3 c. quick oatmeal (I've used regular oats before & it was fine)
2 c. sifted flour
1/2 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 t. vanilla
1 package (11 oz.) butterscotch chips
1/2 t. cinnamon

Cream sugars thoroughly with crisco until light & fluffy. Beat in eggs. In seperate bowl sift the measured flour with salt, baking soda & powder, & cinnamon. Add the flour mixture to the crisco & sugar mixture & mix well. Add vanilla. Then stir in the 3 c. oatmeal & the butterscotch chips. It will be pretty thick, I use a heavy wooden spoon.
Roll into balls & bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 350 for 10-12 minutes.
Let set on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes then remove to wire rack (I have never had a wire rack...lol...so I just use paper towels).
These are SO GOOD....especially WARM right out of the oven.

YAY! IT'S CHILI TIME!

I am so happy that it's finally fall weather. Which means that it's CHILI TIME!

I know there are so many ways of making chili. I've even seen chili cook offs on the Food Network. Some folks say you should never add beans. Some say to never add hamburger. Some say to NEVER add macaroni, like it's a really big sin. lol Some even add cocoa.
It really doesn't matter to us. We like all kinds of chili.
So here's a picture of the chili I made on Thursday. I don't usually add macaroni...but I had some, & our family likes THICK chili, so I did use it this time. I probably use macaroni less than half the time. But we always use beans. :) And I go the easy route & use a 'chili packet'.
Here's what it looked like in my pan...

Here's my basic recipe. And like I said, sometimes I use macaroni, sometimes I don't.

CHILI

1-2 pounds hamburger

1 large onion, diced

1 green pepper, diced

2-3 cloves garlic, diced

1 Brooks chili packet

I large can Brooks Chili mild beans (I think it's quart sized)

1 small can Brooks Chili hot (or medium) beans

1 quart tomato juice (or v8 juice)

1 small can mushrooms (some might think this is weird...lol)

small box of any kind of macaroni (optional)

Brown hamburger in skillet with chopped onion, green peppers, & garlic. Drain off grease.

To the skillet add 1 cup of water & the Brooks chili packet & stir well. Add the hamburger back in, stir well & simmer on low for about 10 minutes.

To a large pot add the tomato juice, both cans of beans, & the mushrooms (of course you can adjust the beans to your liking). Turn on low & stir together. Then add the meat mixture. Stir well, cook on low. If you want macaroni, boil it up, drain, & add to chili. It's done, enjoy!

We always add crushed crackers to our bowls, & also shredded cheese on top.

Also, in our house, we do have one thing that we ALWAYS have with chili. It's not complete without :

A PEANUTBUTTER SANDWICH

It's a MUST!

It has to be in or on your bowl so you can dip it. YUM :)

(I usually add more chese than what you see in the picture, but I had already stirred it in & was about to take my first bite when I realized I should take a picture! Which, by the way, my family thinks is funny. lol We sit down to eat & I say "Wait!", then I jump up & grab the camera...lol)

We think Chili is even better on day 2. It's usually quite a bit thicker, so sometimes I add some more tomato juice. Last night my dh cooked polish sausage on the grill & they made GREAT chili dogs! mmmmmmmmm.........

Wordless Wednesday

The Nattie Challenge

This is my very first book challenge. I've read about them before-mostly on Think-Pink - but I have never participated in one.

This is called the baby-steps challenge .

I have chosen option B (2 of the books on my list are re-reads).

My books are:

1. Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace

2. A Man Called Peter by Catherine Marshall

3. Christy by Catherine Marshall

A Man Called Peter & Christy I read years ago. They are books my dad gave me. He really loved to read too. He had tons of books. These 2 books are old hardbacks of his & the date on A Man Called Peter says 1951. He has an address label in the front, & it is the address he had before he met & married my mom. My copy of Christy is also a hardback that my mom gave him for Christmas 1970 (she signed the front of it). Actually, all 3 of these books make me think of my dad. I didn't plan it that way.

I just had all 3 in my "Mt. to be read" pile. My dad gave me my copy of Ben-Hur for Christmas one year. It's super tiny print & I've just never gotten around to reading it. lol But I've always meant to. I've been to the Ben-Hur museum near where I live many times....as a child. (click on that link & read Lew's quote...it's pretty cool) We went there for field trips in grade school a lot. But now as an adult, I can't remember much about it. After I finish this book, I'd like to go back & have a look around. :)

Also, & I hope this doesn't sound creepy or weird or anything, but my dad is buried about 50-100 yards from Lew Wallace. Really, I'm not weird. lol It's just that I drive by Lew's grave to get to my dads. I know that must sound odd! lol Maybe I AM weird.....lol

Anyway, there's my 3 books. I didn't mean for them to be 'Dad' books, but that's how it turned out. So I'd like to do this 1st reading challenge in honor of my dad, who loved reading & passed that love on to me. And of course in honor of Nattie. It's a shame that I didn't know her well. I really wish I did. We talked a few times on the message board about our weather & our state starting to go with the rest of the country by observing that stupid (lol)daylight savings time.

Here's a picture of my dad & me. Thanks for my books, Dad. :)