Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Cookies-by Tami Powers

After Steve and I were first married I would bake desserts and treats that Steve could take in his lunches.  He insisted  that he wanted Oatmeal cookies but, this is not something I had a recipe for.  I started with a recipe from the back of the Oatmeal box but, they were too dry, then I tried a recipe from a standard cookbook but, they were too bland.  I tried to combine the two recipes one day but, I ran short of butter.  I had read that people were adding applesauce in the place of oil/butter in some dessert recipes to make them more health conscience.  I had a little applesauce so, I gave it a try and Voila, they were exactly they right texture, a lot of flavor, and they stayed moist for days.  OK, not days, cookies never lasts for days around here but, they were moist to the very last cookie.  

These Oatmeal Cookies are soft and chewy, the applesauce adds flavor and keeps them so moist. They are absolutely perfect with walnuts and/or raisins.

Ingredients

¾ cups shortening

¼ cup butter

1 cup light brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs
1tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

½ cup applesauce
1 3/4 cup flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp soda

3 cups uncooked oats

1 ½  cups walnuts and/or raisins to your liking

Cream together shortening and butter, add brown and granulated sugar and beat until it turns light in color.

Add eggs and vanilla and beat until fluffy.

Add applesauce and Oats beat just until incorporated.

Mix together flour, salt soda, and cinnamon. Add to creamed butter/eggs and mix lightly.

Remove from mixture and add nuts and /or raisins.

Chill in refrigerator for at least 3 hours or overnight

Bake 8 mins at 350 degree oven.  

Do not overbake, let sit on cookie sheet for 2 minutes before moving to wire rack to cool.

Icebox Cake-by Helen Rooks

Holidays were a veritable feast around our house growing up.  There were a few dishes you could always count on being served.  We never grew tired of some of these simple recipes and I hope future generations will love them too!!

This particular recipe was one of my Mom’s 'go to', recipes for every event.  She was extremely picky about the cookies.  We always had to use Hydrox, NEVER Oreo.  Always Nilla Wafers by Nabisco and never the ‘other’ brand. 

I must admit, I have lived in some places that just didn’t carry the ‘must’ have brands and I have had to resort to using the taboo ingredients.

I am pretty certain no one noticed and it all came out delicious….sorry Mom…

Ingredients-

1 pkg  Hydrox  chocolate cream filled cookies (Oreos)

1 Box Nilla wafers (Vanilla Wafers)

2 small bananas, peeled and sliced in to ¼ inch slices

1 small carton cool whip

1 small jar maraschino cherries

1 cup pecan halves

Grind in a grinder or food processor both packages of cookies, mix together and press into a 9” x 11” casserole dish. 

Add sliced bananas, cover entire cookie surface

Spread cool whip on top

Cut Cherries in half and alternate cherry halves and pecans in rows 1” apart down the length of the dish this should give you roughly 3 long rows.

Refrigerate overnight-

Sour Cream Green Chile Casserole-by Lynn Wood

One summer while visiting my sister in Phoenix, AZ, she made us a Mexican feast and among the dishes she served was this Green Chilie Casserole which, quickly became a family favorite.

Ingredients:

1 small pkg corn tortillas

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 small carton sour cream

1 small can green chilies-chopped

½lb shredded cheddar cheese

1 small onion

Directions-

Tear the tortillas into bite sized pieces, place ½ in bottom of a greased 8x8 casserole dish.  In a sauce pan add soup, sour cream, green chilies, onion and heat until bubbly.

Pour half the mixture over tortillas, added ½ the shredded cheese, add remaining mixture and remaining cheese.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Peanut Butter Cookies-by Gertrude Bliss Rooks

So excited to find this recipe in my Mom's recipe box. I can remember a few occasions where my Dad made peanut butter cookies, I was enlisted to help during these times.  At one point I asked, 'why always peanut butter' , he said it was one of his few memories of his mother as, she died when he was very young. Having never met my Grandma Rooks, I consider this a rare find and a blessing.

Ingredients

1 cup butter
1 cup peanut butter
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 well beaten eggs
2 tsp vanila

Cream together, butter and sugars.  Add eggs, beat until fluffy. Add vanilla and peanut butter, mix well. In a separte bowl combine- Flour, soda, and salt.  Add to creamed mixture and beat just until combined.  Chill dough overnight.  Roll into balls the size of walnuts, mash eash ball with a fork in a criss-cross patern.  Place on cookie sheet 1 1/2 inches apart, bake at 300 degrees for 12-15 minutes, until just lightly browned.*

*For months now I have been on a quest to bake the perfect Peanut Butter cookie, upon finding this recipe I decided to give them a try.  This is it!! Who knew it was right in my kitchen the whole time.... I did have to mess with the baking times but, I found that 12 minutes was perfect if, I let them set on the sheet for a couple of minutes before, moving to the wire rack.  My biggest issue with this is keeping Nikki from burning her fingers on the hot pan because, she wouldn't wait....

**I did alter the recipe ever so slightly, for the 1 cup of peanut butter I used 1/4 cup crunchy, 3/4 creamy (Steve likes the occasional peanut in his cookie)

Citrus Cleaner

Citrus Cleaner

This amazing citrus cleaner will disolve baked-on, burnt-on, messes in seconds.  I have given away samples from time to time and have had nothing but rave reviews. 

The peelings and leftover pieces of 4-6 citrus fruits (grapefruit, lemon, lime, pineapple..etc)
1 qt jar with lid
white vinegar

Place peelings/pieces in jar, cover with vinegar.  Place lid on jar but, do not tighten.  Wait 3 months-try to tighten lid and shake weekly.  Make certain to loosen lid before storing.  After 3 months strain into spray bottle and dilute 50/50.

This is great for cleaning the smooth top stoves, just spray cleaner, sprinkle with baking soda.  Wait 5 minutes, wipe clean.

All Purpose Cleaner

All Purpose Cleaner

10 oz water
2 oz lemon juice
4 oz dawn dishwashing liquid
8 oz white vinegar
1 tbls baking soda

Mix first 4 ingredients together in spray bottle, add soda, wait for foaming to stop, tighten lid.

Great for bathtubs!!

Dishwasher Tabs

Dishwasher Tabs

2 cups of Borax
2 cups of Washing Soda
1/2 cup of Kosher Salt or epsom salt
1/4 cup of vinegar
1/4 cup lemon juice
ice cube trays

Mix dry ingredients together, add vinegar and lemon stir wait for foaming to stop.  Pack tightly 1 tbl into ice cube trays air dry for 48 hours, unmold store in airtight container.

Chocolate Cake (chocolate suicide)

I have had this recipe for years, I found the orginal recipe in a magazine while sitting in a doctor's office 30 years ago.  

I took it and began to tweak it just a little so that the cake was so unbelieveably moist you wouldn't be able to resist it.  

Then I began to make adjustment to the frosting, I wanted a frosting that wasn't overly sweet, that would stand on it's own without the cake, I think this is it.  Rather than see people scrape the frosting off to the side, I see them plowing right through and threatening to lick the plate.   

I have come across a few chocolate cake haters in my time, I fix this cake for them and have yet to not have a sold out convert.  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients

1¾ cups all purpose flour
2 cups granulated white sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa 
1½ tsp baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk 
½ cup butter, melted
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup mayo
1 cup strong  hot coffee

Frosting:

1/2 cup softened butter
2/3 cup cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
2/12 to 3 cups powdered sugar (for your own consistancy and sweetness)
1 tbls cream
1/2 cup marshmallow fluff


Instructions:

Grease and flour two 9-inch baking pans

In a mixer, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. 

Add eggs, buttermilk, melted butter, mayo and vanilla extract and beat until smooth

Remove bowl from mixer and stir in hot coffee with a spatula. 

Batter will be very runny.

Pour batter evenly between the two pans and bake on middle rack of oven for about 35 minute, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean with just a few moist crumbs attached.

Allow to cool 15 minutes in pans, then remove from pan and place on wire rack.  Cool for another 15 min and then frost while still warm.


This also works well in a 9x13 pan!

Chalupas

My Sister-in-law, Ann and her husband... :), made a Chalupa recipe for a family gathering many years ago.  Through the years I have added a few things to make it crockpot friendly and to suit the tastes of my own family.  This is such an easy, comfort food meal.  It's definitely a favorite.

INGREDIENTS

1 lb. pork shoulder
1 lb. dry pinto beans (rinsed)
1 15-ounce can fire roasted tomatoes
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 jalapeno peppers minced 
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
generous pinch or two of salt
1½ cups water
¾ cup shredded chedder cheese 
12+ flour tortillas

INSTRUCTIONS

Place the pork shoulder in the slow cooker. Cover with dry pinto beans, tomatoes, garlic, jalapenos, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, salt, and 1½ cup water. Cook on low heat for 6-8 hours or high heat for 4-6 hours. Don’t open the lid – it adds to the cooking time.Remove the lid after the cooking time and shred the pork using two forks. You can do this directly in the slow cooker. If it’s too runny, continue to cook with the cover off for a little while. If it’s too dry, add more water.Sprinkle cheese on top, replace the lid, and cook for another 30 minutes to allow the cheese to melt.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425. Place tortillas directly on the oven rack and bake for 2 minutes flip the tortillas and bake for another 2 minutes until bubbly yet soft. Be careful because they burn easily! 

Remove from oven and allow to cool.Top each tortilla with pork and bean mixture and sour cream.

 Other topping ideas include fresh tomatoes, lettuce, cilantro, sour cream or guacamole.

Lemon Loaf

I have to admit, this is a new favorite. It happened soley because a co-worker had a son who was hooked on Starbucks lemon pound cake.  She was in the process of attempting to eliminated chemicals and food dyes from their diet and found the restraurant version to be a violent offender.

I quickly went to work with a combination of pound cake/lemon cake recipes I had in my arsenal.

Below is the results of this experiement.  My coworkers son was my sounding board as, I considered him to be my resident expert.

He has proclaimed this to be, 'better than Starbucks'. -Thanks Ethan, I have yet another great recipe, because of you!!

Ingredients:


Cake:
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature*
2  cups granulated sugar divided
4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature*
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, divided
3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature*
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

Syrup:
1/2  cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice

Glaze:
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice


Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 
Grease and flour 2 (8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch) loaf pans. 

Cream the butter and 2 cups granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, add the eggs, 1 at a time, 

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. 

In another bowl, combine 1/4 cup lemon juice, the buttermilk, vanilla and lemon extract.

Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour until incorporated, do not over mix. 

Divide the batter evenly between the pans, smooth the tops, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Combine 1/2 cup granulated sugar with 1/2 cup lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves. 

When the cakes are done, allow to cool for 10 minutes. 

Remove the cakes from the pans and set them on a rack set over a tray or sheet pan; spoon the lemon syrup over them. 

Allow the cakes to cool completely.

For the glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar and the lemon juice in a bowl, mixing with a wire whisk until smooth. Pour over the tops of the cakes and allow the glaze to drizzle down the sides.

* I cannot stress how important it is to have your ingredients at room temperature for this recipe.  I know its a pain to wait but, it really does make a difference.