Breadcloth from long ago & Peanut Butter Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies

Recently I had a delicious meal at my brother and sister in law's home, and I was so excited to see them use a breadcloth I stitched for them years and years ago.  I had to share it here, of course. 

I recently baked up some delicious cookies.  Here is that recipe:

Chewy Oatmeal Peanut Butter Butterscotch Cookies

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 Tbsp. honey

2 tsps. baking soda

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups peanut butter

4 1/2 cups rolled oats

11.4 ozs. bag butterscotch morsels

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat together butter, peanut butter until well combined. Add brown sugar , sugar, and beat until smooth. Add honey, baking soda and mix in well.  Stir in oats and butterscotch chips.  (see below for variation) Use a cookie dough scoop to put on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 12 minutes, do not overbake. Cookies are flat and chewy.  Cool on the pan for a few minutes, then remove and enjoy! 

I split the batter into two parts and added 1 cup butterscotch morsels to one part, and the other part was doused with 1 cup of chocolate chips instead of butterscotch. (semi-sweet chocolate morsels)  My family preferred the chocolate chip ones over the butterscotch ones.  To each his own, I say! 

White Chocolate Party Mix

One of our holiday and celebration traditions is to prepare a White Chocolate Party Mix.  I highly recommend it.  The chocolate's sweet taste mixes so well with the salty ingredients.

White Chocolate Party Mix- This batch shows extra white chocolate added.

White Chocolate Party Mix    

                                

+This can be divided in ½. This full batch is very large. I recently made half a batch, but used one and half bags of white chocolate chips for the half batch, instead of just one bag.*

1 package (10 ounces) mini pretzels- the curled kind work best

5 cups Cheerios

5 cups Corn Chex

2 cups salted peanuts- I use dry roasted peanuts

1 pound M & M’s

2 packages (12 ozs. Each)

     vanilla chips

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

In a huge bowl (When I make a full batch, I use two large pots and divide the ingredients evenly in the two) combine first 5 ingredients; set aside.  In a microwave-safe bowl heat chips and oil on medium-high for two minutes, stirring after the first minute. Microwave on high for 10 seconds, stir until smooth. Pour onto the dry ingredients that are set aside, stir well.   Spread onto 3 waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Cool. (I set each cookie sheet in the freezer for five minutes to harden it quickly.) Break apart. Store in an airtight container. Full recipe makes 5 quarts. * 

* I often times use more of the white chocolate chip/oil combination than called for in the recipe.  I find it makes for a better chocolate coverage in the finished snack mix. 

Thanks for stopping by today! 

Embroidered Pieces

Last month in the world of Facebook there has been yet another 'challenge'.  This particular challenge asked for stitchers to share their needlework for seven days.  On one of the days I shared a collage of my surface/stamped embroidery work.  My grandma taught me how to embroider in 1974, and I recently came upon a photo of me stitching for the first time along side my grandma. At that time my grandma was 84 years old! She was fortunate, and lived a full life and was in her own home until the end of her life, passing away when she was 96.  I miss her to this day. 

 This collage shows a bunch of pieces I stitched between 1975 and 2015 or so: 

I still own the cut-off shorts and chambray shirt, but it's for sure they don't fit me anymore.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Minestrone Soup

One thing that's really appreciated in our home is good cooking.  We all love soup, so tonight I tried out a new minestrone recipe.  I really liked it, and wanted to share it here.  We ate this with french bread, and found it to be filling and delicious.

The photo above shows it with parmesan cheese sprinkled generously on top, before cooking, cooked on the stove and ready to be eaten, and in a bowl before the garnish of cheese.


Skinny Minestrone

1 lb. ground beef
18 ozs. tomato juice
2 cups of beef broth
1 - 16 oz package of frozen italian vegetables
1 large onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups chopped celery
1 zucchini, chopped (or another vegetable you like)
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 tsps. italian seasoning
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Saute ground beef and drain off fat.  Heat tomato juice and broth in a large pot; add vegetables, garlic, and spices.  Cook until tender.  (about 20 minutes or so) Add meat and simmer 30 minutes more.  Top with grated parmesan cheese.  This yields six servings.

This recipe can be halved, doubled, or tripled.  This old recipe indicates that if you'd like, you can use any leftover meat.  If you use chicken, substitute chicken broth.

Enjoy!

Lasagna Recipe

It's been a relaxing summer so far around here. I've managed to get some home projects done, been able to read a bit, and even stitched some. No progress picture today of my stitching, but I promise there will be one soon.

I've had a few family gatherings here, and it's always fun to celebrate. Today we celebrated several birthdays in our family. My husband, son, and son-in-law all have birthdays within five days of each other. It makes for  a fun and busy June.  

Today I cooked up lasagna for our main dish at our birthday celebration. We tend to eat at home as a family, instead of going out to eat. All of us contribute a portion of the meal, and we enjoy eating our meal together at home, and enjoying the yard and other home activities. I know that a lot of families go out for all occasions, but this just has never been our tradition.

The lasagna recipe comes from a dear family friend, and I first ate it at her home while I was in high school, back in the seventies, when I was wearing embroidered jeans. Indeed!

 It was always a delight to have her lasagna, and I am so glad she shared the recipe with us. She told us the recipe came from a cooking magazine, but we just know it as her recipe.

A photo of it, before baking it today:

Lasagna

Grease a  9 X 13 or a bit larger casserole dish.

Ingredients
Sauce
1 pound sweet italian sausage
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 -12 ounce can of tomato paste
1  -16 ounce can of diced tomatoes. (I add an extra 8 ounces of tomatoes or else it's too dry)
1 Tbsp basil

In a pan, simmer one pound sweet italian sausage, and two cloves of garlic that you've minced. I use a bit of olive oil for the simmering.  Drain the grease, and add a 12 ounce can of tomato paste and a one pound can of chopped tomatoes (and the extra 8 ounces of them, for added moisture), and 1 tablespoon of basil. Simmer this for about an hour, stirring once in a while.

Cheese Filling
24 ozs of ricotta cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

Also needed
1 lb. mozzarella cheese, unsliced

While the sauce is simmering, stir up the cheese filling portion of the dish and refrigerate, covered in a bowl.

Cook up a box of lasagna noodles according to the package directions. Lay the rinsed noodles out on layers between wax paper, or else they'll stick together.

To assemble the lasagna, put a thin layer of sauce in the bottom of the greased pan.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Follow the thin sauce layer with a layer of noodles, cheese filling, meat sauce, and thinly sliced mozzarella cheese. (At times I cheat and buy the pre-shredded mozzarella cheese, but it truly doesn't taste as good that way.) Repeat this with another layer of noodles, cheese filling, meat sauce, and thinly sliced mozzarella cheese. Repeat two more times, ending the final time with the meat sauce on top. You'll have four layers of noodles, meat, and cheeses when you're done.  Bake at 350 degrees for one hour,and let it rest five minutes before cutting it up. Enjoy!

This recipe can easily be doubled. One time a few of us ladies in my family made four of these for a huge anniversary celebration for my parents. It was a rather large undertaking, but the results were so worth it.

Last of all, a photo of the birthday cake from today:

My daughter baked and brought it. She added an extra 1/3 cup of cocoa to the chocolate cake mix, and we always make chocolate icing using the recipe on the Hershey's cocoa box. We jokingly laugh that in our family we are not allowed to use canned icing, nor frosting mix. It is 'forbidden', so to speak!

Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope you too are enjoying summer.

Mom's Coleslaw

On the cooking front, I wanted to share my mom's delicious coleslaw recipe. We plan on preparing it soon as it's so perfect when enjoyed with summer barbecue fare.

Mom's Coleslaw

Chop up one head of cabbage. On top of this place a half of an onion, grated. Set aside. I put my cabbage pieces and onion in the refrigerator, in a plastic bag.

I was somewhat of a novice at this cabbage chopping thing, so I went onto Youtube and found various videos that explained how to chop it quite easily.

Mix up the dressing and allow it to chill well in the refrigerator-- for at least four hours, or overnight:
1 cup mayonaise
1/2 cup half and half
2 tsp. prepared mustard
1 tsp. salt
A little bit less than 2/3 cup sugar

When you're ready to serve the coleslaw, combine the chopped up cabbage/grated onion fixture with the dressing. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Bread

Thanks for all your comments on the previous post regarding the antique sampler and my own house and garden sampler. I really appreciate your kind words!

I have managed to do a big of work on Paula Vaughan's Wedding Ring Bouquet in the last week. It is coming along rather nicely, and I will post a photo soon of it. I started it years ago, so perhaps it will be finished in the next few years!

In the meantime, I have been doing some baking and cooking for different family events. I baked up a cinnamon quick bread for our Easter celebration, and all seemed to enjoy it.

Cinnamon Quick Bread

2 cups flour (I use Gold Medal's "Best for Bread" flour)
1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3 teaspoons butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 9 X 5 inch loaf pan.
Measure flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda,  1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, and salt into a bowl. Mix together. Fold into the dry mixture the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Stir until the dry ingredients are wet and just combined, being careful not to over mix the batter. Pour into prepared pan.

Topping: Combine 1 tablespoon white sugar, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 3/4 tsp cinnamon, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, and 3 teaspoons butter, mixing until crumbly. Sprinkle topping over smoothed batter. Use a knife and cut in a swirling motion very lightly to give a marbled effect.

Bake for about 50 minutes, and remove from oven when a toothpicks comes out clean. Remove bread from pan to rack to cool.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Rum Cake

 

Yesterday we celebrated a birthday in our family, and I was called upon to bake the requisite cake. In my family, you don't buy one. You bake it, and preferably it should be something beyond just a mix and frosting. The birthday gal requested rum cake, and I couldn't wait to try and bake one. It turned out nicely, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. If you want to give it a whirl, here's the recipe:

RUM CAKE

Cake
1 Cup Toasted Pecans (to toast them, spread them on a cookie sheet that's been sprayed with a vegetable coating, like Pam. Bake at 350 degrees for about five minutes. The toasting brings out the flavor, or so I read.)
1 yellow cake mix
1 1.75 ounce instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
1/2 cup cold milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup dark rum

Glaze
1/2 cup butter (Don't use margerine!)
1/4 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dark rum

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and grease and flour a 12-cup Bundt cake pan. Sprinkle the toasted pecans into the bottom of the Bundt pan. Combine all the cake ingredients and beat on high for 2 minutes with an electric mixer. Pour into prepared pan, and bake for one hour. (Mine was done after 55 minutes, test with a toothpick.)

Towards the end of the baking (after it's baked about 50 minutes), prepare the glaze. (see below) After the cake has been removed from the oven and cooled for five minutes, pour 1/3 of the prepared glaze on top of the cake. This way the cake gets very moist and flavorful. Let the cake cool five MORE minutes, and then invert it onto your cake plate. Pour the remainder of the glaze on top of the cake. This cake gets better with each passing day. Enjoy!

Glaze Preparation


Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in water and sugar, and bring to boil while stirring. Boil five minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in rum. There will be a lot of steaming, so be careful to not burn yourself!

Mexican Lasagna

Today I decided to try a new recipe, and I'm happy to say it turned out quite well. Our guests enjoyed it, as did everyone else here at the house. Even the picky eaters enjoyed it, and that's saying something. The sour cream added right at the end of baking seemed to make the dish fluffier and smoother.

Mexican Lasagna
2 pounds ground beef
1 16 oz. can of refried beans
1 4 oz. can chopped mild green chiles
1/2 envelope taco seasoning
4 cups shredded monterey jack cheese
12 ozs. lasagna noodles - cooked, cooled (and laid out on wax paper so they don't stick together)
1 jar mild salsa
1 cup water
2 cups sour cream
1 small can sliced ripe olives, drained
4 green onions, chopped

Cook ground beef in large skillet, drain fat. Stir in the beans, chiles, taco seasoning. In a greased 9 X 13 pan, layer a third of the noodles and meat mixture. Sprinkle with one cup of cheese. Repeat layers two times. Combine salsa and one cup of water, pour over the top. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Top with 2 cups of sour cream, olives, onions, and the remaining cup of cheese. I put olives on only half of the dish, since some in our house don't like olives. Bake five minutes more, uncovered this time. Let stand for 10 to 15 minutes before cutting.

If you want more spice, add more taco seasoning and also include a few tablespoons of hot salsa (some like Cholula brand) when you throw in the beans. I skipped that part as we are wimpy about spicy food.

I hope you enjoy this fun lasagna!

Orange Cookies

My wonderful Auntie always baked these cookies for us when we visited her home during the summer. They are among the best cookies on the planet. Enjoy, and Happy 2012 to you!

Orange Cookies

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 cup margerine or butter

(you may use 1/2 cup shortening with 1/2 cup butter or margerine if desired)

2 eggs

1 Tbsp orange rind

1 tsp. vanilla

3/4 cup buttermilk (add after eggs)

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Cream the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, orange rind, and then add the buttermilk. 

Add the dry ingredients, mix well. Drop by tablespoons onto ungreased cookies sheets. (They get a lot larger, so don't make them too large or they'll be huge.)

After they are cool, ice them with this icing:

1 Tbsp orange rind

3 Tbsp butter, softened

3 Tbsp orange juice

3 cups powdered sugar

Makes about 40-45 cookies. 

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Manicotti Recipe

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  In being forced to move my blog, I've lost the collection of recipes I had on my old blog. Also due to the change, they're not organized at the old blog on the blog's main page. Sigh.
With that in mind, I'm attempting to build up my small recipe assortment over here. Here's a family favorite of mine. It's a manicotti recipe that always pleases the family.  Enjoy!




Manicotti Recipe
Makes one 9 X 13 pan of Manicotti

Ingredients:

One box of Manicotti Noodles
Sauce:
1 lb ground beef
1 jar of marinara sauce (or make your own)
one garlic clove, minced
oregano
         Cook ground beef, add the other ingredients and simmer.


Manicotti Filling:
1 egg
16 ozs ricotta cheese
6 ozs parmesan cheese
8 ozs mozzarella cheese, shredded (place some aside for the top of the dish)
garlic powder
fresh parsley flakes, a few tablespoons
sweet basil, one tablespoon


       Cook the noodles so they're not overly soft for easy stuffing. Stuff the noodles with the cheese filling.


       Place 1/2 the sauce in a greased 9 X 13 pan, place the stuffed noodles on top, and cover with remaining sauce and the remaining mozzarella cheese.


       Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.


        Enjoy!