A Cooking Tip On Rice

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Ah, rice. 

Rice is in so many dishes and a great side to many meals. But for the past few months (ok, years) I have SUCKED at cooking it. My rice is always soggy or sticking to the pan. Maybe because I too often follow package directions. I have fiddled with my rice making recipes and haven't come up with anything good. I am a little intimidated by it cause I never know how it will turn out. Rice something I definitely don't make for dinner if we have company coming over.

Want your rice to look like this!?! I do!

 

Image Source

So fluffy and nice!

Yesterday, I found out there is a such thing as the "pasta method" for cooking your rice. It's very easy! I didn't take a picture, but my rice turned out like the picture above. (If not better, ha) I am just a LITTLE excited about this!

This is what I did:

-Put a big pot of water on the stove and set to boil. I used my soup pot and filled it a little under halfway, so that's probably around 8 cups of water.

-Once the water is boiling, just pour 1/2 cup of white rice into the pot. 

-Let it cook, uncovered, for 13 minutes 

-Drain well

-(If you are anything like me) You now have the nicest looking rice you've ever made, ready to enjoy for dinner!

That's it! I know, I was freaked out to do it. I am more of a fan of brown rice than white. I don't know how long it would take to cook the brown, but I'm going to be doing some experimenting in the kitchen and let you know. 

Recipes from Near and Far

I made these chocolate chip cookies and they were probably the best cookies I've ever made. I don't know about you, but I always look at pictures of cookies and wish that mine turned out picture worthy. They always flatten, burn on the bottom, or I add too much chocolate chips cause I want to get rid of the bag. These cookies DID turn out just like the picture, no joke.. and they are everything a chocolate chip cookie should be and more.

This picture and recipe are from cookingontheside.com Click for recipe

We tried this casserole the other night and we really liked it. I was a bit nervous about the fennel. I've never eaten it before, and was afraid it would taste like black licorice (EW). But! The fennel tasted great! This is a recipe I am going to keep making for sure! I got a little creative with the type of sausage to put in the casserole, I used chorizo mexican sausage and it was a great spicy addition to the recipe.

Picture and recipe from Kayotic Kitchen Click for recipe

If you are ever in the mood for a salad and you're sick of the same ol' same old thing, you should try making Napa Cabbage Salad! My sister-in-law brought this to Christmas dinner and it was amazing! I need to make it myself soon, because I can't stop thinking about it! So tasty, crunchy, colorful, and delicious! Mmm Mmm!

Napa Cabbage Salad

Ingredients

1 large head Napa cabbage

1/4 - 1/2 cup sesame seeds

2 pkg. Ramen noodles, crushed

1 bunch green onions, chopped

1 cup sliced almonds, browned

Dressing

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup oil

1/4 cup vinegar

2-3 Tablespoons soy sauce

Directions

Mix only cabbage (broken in pieces) and green onions. Just before serving add remaining ingredients and toss the salad with the dressing.

Cheese Cranberry Bread

There are certain things that really remind me of Christmas. Forget the tree, decorations, and hot chocolate, this bread is IT for me. It's worth baking for the smell in your kitchen alone. All the different flavors are delicious! So here it is:

Cheese Cranberry Bread
1 1/2 cups cranberries, halved
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup nuts, finely chopped (I used walnuts)
2 teaspoons orange peel, freshly grated
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, finely shredded
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted

(1) Mix cranberries and 1/2 cup sugar in a small bowl.
(2) In a separate bowl blend together the next four ingredients flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
(3) Mix in sugared cranberries, nuts, orange peel, and cheese.
(4) Beat eggs, milk, and butter together in a separate bowl. Add wet mixture to dry mixture. Stir just until ingredients are moist.
(5) Turn batter into buttered (bottom only) 9 1/2 x 5 1/4 x 2 3/4 loaf pan. Spread evenly into corners (can use wax paper)
(6) Bake at 350 degrees about 1 hour or till toothpick comes out clean. Cool loaf on cooling rack. Refrigerate.

Mmm! This was breakfast this morning. I almost put butter on it, but then you wouldn't be able to see the great colors this bread has. Hope you bake this! And if you do, hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Casey's Birthday

May I start this post by showing you how adorable Casey was as a child... 

..Well, still is in my book of course!

For Casey's birthday I made Carrot Cake Cupcakes!

Recipe via Pioneer Woman. (Click here for recipe) A place to find good recipes when you can't get a hold of your Mom or your Mother-in-Law. (ahem, Kathy C)

Mmm! 

These cupcakes are so tasty, Casey ate four! And he really would've appreciated it if I didn't put candles on his cupcake, or take his picture.. Hmm

Josey giving her Dad some birthday love this morning before he left.

On the Birthday Dinner Menu is:

Baked Chicken Thighs, using the spices from my "The WHOLE Chicken" recipe. (Click Here)

Baked Sweet Potatoes, with butter and brown sugar.

Frozen corn, ...cooked of course! Add some sugar to them while they're heating up.

and Sourdough Bread not made by me, but I would like to some day.

 I Love you Casey! Happy Birthday!

Kohrs Superhero Sandwich

In a recent conversation with my older sister we were tossing sandwich ideas back and forth.

I wanted to find ideas for meals Casey can eat while driving the combine.

(This is a combine ;)

After she read to me a recipe idea, we both stopped and said "Mmmm! Doesn't THAT sound good?" (we started licking our lips and giggling at each other) We read about a three layered french bread sandwich, each layer slathered in butter, then tossed in the oven.

Doesn't that sound good???

Both of us did decide that the recipe needed major modifications. There wasn't even cheese on the original recipe! I decided to make this for dinner last night. My sister's family sadly missed out, but were sent pictures to drool over.

So, this is what we came up with.... A Kohrs Superhero Sandwich!

What you need:
French bread
Butter
Lunch Meat
Cheese Slices
Caramelized Onions
Italian Dressing (or similar)
Oven Temp: 400 degrees

First, chop up your onion and place it in a pan over med-low heat with 2-3 tabs of butter. Then, cut about 4-6 inches off of your french bread, to make the size of your sandwich. Then, take your bread that you want to use for the sandwich and cut it into three slices horizontally.

Spread butter on the bottom slice and add meat and cheese. Take the middle slice and spread with (ALOT of) butter, and drizzle with Italian dressing. Place onto the bottom layer of the sandwich.

I decided to do one sandwich with Italian dressing and one with Spicy Ranch. Both were tasty! Now, place meat and cheese on top of your dressing. Take onions off of the stove and scoop them right onto the top of your cheese.

Now put the top of the sandwich on and spread with butter.

Wrap in foil and place in preheated oven on top rack for 15 minutes. I was nervous for how the sandwich would turn out. I thought that when I opened the foil I was going to have a huge mess inside. But surprisingly I didn't!

Here's a close picture of all the layers. Mmm Mmm delicious!

Casey's reaction wasn't bad either! I was told that the sandwiches were amazing the first bite. After the second bite, I got a DOUBLE thumbs up, and Casey said the sandwiches were a home-run!

The salad you see is from a previous post, you can find the recipe here.

I love having recipes like this that are so quick to make and taste so good!

Kitchen Redemption

I needed a little redemption after making the most horrible dinner late last week. NOTHING turned out. Not even easy peasy to make frozen vegetables. We were of course, more hungry than normal that night. I was so mad I couldn't talk all through dinner... that gross dinner.

After a few humbling days of just sticking with what I know, I decided to try a some new recipes again. Thank goodness, everything turned out last night.

Chicken Cordon Bleu stuffed with canadian bacon, Red Leaf Salad, and Italian Peasant Bread were on the menu.

Along with the grand finale... Peanut Butter-Banana Pudding for dessert.

Here it is! I thought it was so pretty!

Peanut Butter-Banana Pudding
(from Southern Living Secrets of the South's Best Barbecue)
This is a make ahead dish. Prep time: 10 minutes, Other: 2 hours.

1 (3.4 oz.) package French vanilla instant pudding mix
2 cups milk
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 (8-oz.) carton sour cream
42 vanilla wafers
6 small bananas, divided
1 (8-oz.) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

Prepare pudding mix according to package directions, using a whisk and 2 cups milk. (Do not use an electric mixer.) Add peanut butter and sour cream, stirring well with a wire whisk.
Line a 2 1/2- qt. casserole with 14 vanilla wafers. Peel and slice 4 bananas. Top wafers with one-third each of pudding mixture, banana slices, and whipped topping.
Cover and chill at least 2 hours. To garnish, peel and slice remaining 2 bananas; arrange slices around outer edges of dish.
Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Well! Aren't you just a peach?

Thank you to my husband for the title...

For those of you who know him, picture him saying this in a goofy voice, head cocked sideways, arm up like a diva, leaning back in his recliner, while he gets peach cobbler served to him for the SECOND night in a row.

Aaahh Casey...

Okay! This cobbler was so easy to make and delish, I didn't mind being asked to please make it again.



Peach Cobbler for Two
(from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients
3 Tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups fresh diced peaches
1 Tbsp butter
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Topping
1/3 cup flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
2 Tbsp milk
4 1/2 tsp butter, melted
1/4 tsp grated orange peel

Directions
In a small saucepan, combine brown sugar, cornstarch and water until smooth. Add peaches; bring to boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low; stir in butter and lemon juice.
For topping, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Stir in milk, butter and orange peel. Transfer hot peach mixture to an ungreased 1-qt. baking dish. Spoon topping over peaches. Bake, uncovered at 400 degrees F for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

If you live in Illinois, you have got to get your hands on some Calhoun County peaches! They are absolutely delicious!

I have another recipe if you're not really in the cobbler mood. This recipe is from the August 2011 issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Made this at my mother in laws house when we went there for her birthday. YUMMY! Also very easy to make!

Cheesecake-Stuffed Peaches

6 peaches, halved and pitted

1/4 cup butter, melted

3 Tbsp cinnamon-sugar*

1/2 of an 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 15x10x1 inch baking pan with parchment paper; set aside. Trim a very thin slice from the round of each peach half so the halves will stand flat on the baking pan. Dip peach halves in melted butter to coat. Arrange peach halves, cut sides up, in prepared pan. Sprinkle cut sides of peaches with cinnamon-sugar, set aside.

2. In a medium bowl beat cream cheese with a mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla. Beat until combined. Spoon cream cheese mixture into peach centers. 

3. Bake, uncovered, about 30 minutes or until lightly browned and softened. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes 6 servings.

*Note: Use a purchased cinnamon-sugar mixture or combine 3 tablespoons granulated sugar with 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon.

Baby Puffs, Carne Asada

Today was Josey's first day of eating baby puffs! Her first step to eating real un-pureed food! I was scared to give these to her, and wanted to wait until she had teeth. There's no sign of teeth yet, but thought I'd let her have them anyways. (they completely dissolve and melt in their mouth) Josey really liked eating her puffs! I could tell she felt like such a big girl. Staring at me the whole time to make sure it was okay to put something she was holding in her mouth. She ate a bunch!!

I'm amazed everyday at how much she is growing. 

Well there's not much else going on today. Other than grocery shopping, cleaning out the garage and making our version of Carne Asada.

If your interested, here's my recipe I have jotted down... 

There's so many different versions and varieties, but this works well for us. Click here for a link to the Cilantro Lime Rice recipe, it's absolutely delicious.

Carne Asada

2 lbs meat (flank steak- sliced paper thin)

1-2 oranges squeezed on top

1/2 onion sliced thinly

handful cilantro cut with scissors

pappy's seasoning to coat

Marinate meat most the afternoon with everything on top. Couple hours at least. Put on hot grill 1-2 minutes each side. It goes fast!

Eat by itself or on hard taco shell with black beans, refried beans, tomato, shredded lettuce, cheese, green onion (or similar)

Sides

Cilantro Lime Rice

Corona and Lime (which I may or may not have just opened after writing this) 

Salad and a Mixture of Topics..

Hello!

Our little fishing trip to Minnesota didn't end up happening. That is okay.

Casey's Grandma hasn't been feeling well, and the whole McCausland family came together to support her. Which is what family is all about! Thankfully, Grandma is on the mend! I think we might go see her tonight and bring her some dinner :)

Speaking of Grandma's dinner.... I want to make Chicken Romaine Salad for her. It's been blazing hot outside and this is my take on a "summer chicken soup". It would be ridiculous to bring soup to someone in this weather.

So here is the recipe!

-Chicken Romaine Salad-

3 medium heads romaine lettuce, cut into strips
2-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and chopped, or grilled on the BBQ
8 ounces tri color twist pasta, cooked, rinsed, and drained

Dressing:
1/2 cup mayo
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, minced

Make dressing a few hours ahead and refrigerate, to let all the flavors blend together. Then, cook the chicken and pasta. Chop the romaine lettuce, and the chicken. Toss everything together with the dressing, and refrigerate for at least another half hour before serving. (If you can wait that long, most of the time I cant!)

Make it! It's awesome and the leftovers are even better! I wish I had a picture to share, because it's a beautiful salad. Maybe I'll take a picture of it tonight and post it for you, to make you hungry and have no choice but to make it.

          .... after making this a few days ago I would suggest doubling the dressing ....

Something exciting happened this weekend! My sister-in-law, Kelsey, got engaged! So happy and excited for her, and her fiance! Ah! SO EXCITED!

Josey has been teething for the past week. No teeth yet :( Today and yesterday she's been acting more normal. The days before that, WATCH OUT! She had never been such a sad fussy little girl. Poor baby.  Hopefully I will have news of a tooth (or teeth) soon and can show a picture. I told Casey's mom that for  all the work and fussiness Josey is going through now, I sure hope there will be more than one tooth. We'll see!

Ooo! I must share THE BEST teething advice. If your baby has soothie pacifiers, fill them with water and stick them in the freezer, then let your baby gnaw on their frozen pacifier. I always make sure I grab the little bit of ice that falls out. Josey already wants her pacifier all the time with her teething, and this is the best medicine for her lately! (Thank you Rebecca H.!)

And I need to mention, I have said I'm going to show you my house and haven't done it yet. Don't worry, I will! You just don't want to see it today... I promise!

Now, go make some pasta salad, or some kind of food to keep you cool, and have a good rest of the day!

Maid Rite Sandwiches

Never heard of these places until I moved to Central Illinois. I guess this is a Midwest thing? To be honest the first time I saw one I thought it was a cleaning service or a household appliance store. 

It's hard to find an appetizing picture of this... Just ground beef on a hamburger bun, and I topped it with ketchup and mustard.  And no, it's not sloppy joe-ish either.

My whole life just plain ground beef browned like this was the beginning of taco meat, chili, or a casserole. So I didn't want to try a Maid Rite sandwich for a long time. 

What made me break was the overflowing amount of venison in our deep freeze. By the way if you are local and would like to work something out, I would love to get rid of some deer burger and deer sausage!!

Got a recipe idea from my mother-in-law, this is what I did.

Venison Maid Rite's 

1 lb. ground beef

1 lb. deer burger

2 beef bouillon 

1/4 cup water

1/2 onion, chopped

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Salt & Pepper to taste

Brown everything together in a skillet over med-high heat. Let simmer until water dissipates. Put burger on some nice warm hamburger buns with desired toppings.  

So simple.. kind of a DUH recipe. 

I guess I'm sharing cause I was surprised that I liked the sandwich. It's an AWESOME way to get rid of deer burger, and a super easy dinner to make for the kiddo's. Yum Yum! Gets a few stars in my book :)

Video, Pictures and a Recipe

Today I am feeling like I'm finally getting stuff done in the house.

Only after a few hours of procrastination of course.

If you are anything like me you are itching to see my house, inside and out. Which I will show, I mean it! I didn't really show the last place because I fell out of love with it QUICK, and didn't feel like sharing pics anymore. But this place is different... and I will show you.

This whole moving and thinking I'm going to organized with a baby is harder than I thought. But, Little Miss Josey is a welcome distraction most of the time. So you'll have to wait a little bit for pictures n stuff. In the mean time, enjoy Josey's baby pictures and video's without late 60's avocado green carpet. :)

Casey giggling in the background is also precious and priceless to me!

Josey helping me unpack

Oooooo and a little late afternoon pick-me-up!

At home Iced Mocha Latte!

Iced Mocha Latte

Leftover coffee from this morning
Milk
Chocolate Syrup
Ice

Fill glass a little under halfway with coffee. Add a handful of ice cubes. Then pour milk on top. Take the chocolate syrup and give it a few swirls over the glass, and stir. Taste test and add more of any ingredient if you want.

This is so simple. My family makes it a lot, maybe yours does to! I had forgotten about this until yesterday and I am loving a little afternoon caffeine!

Enjoy your drink! Have a great rest of the day!

The WHOLE Chicken

This was pretty intimidating to cook for me. I bought it in a moment of confidence and a sale at the grocery store. I didn't know what the heck to do with it. So I let the little chicken sit in the freezer waiting to be made, until last night.

This is what I did with it. And it was surprisingly easy!

Recipe:

1 (3-4 pound) whole chicken

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon thyme

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon onion powder

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Dash of country herb seasoning

1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Rinse chicken under cold running water, take out giblets. Pat dry with paper towels. Place chicken in smaller baking pan. Rub with olive oil. Mix together spices in separate bowl, and sprinkle on all sides. Put an extra dash of salt, pepper, and country herb seasoning on all sides. Put butter under the skin by the breasts. Before putting chicken in oven, flip it so it is breast side DOWN. I also added half an onion cut into wedges around the chicken. And gave it a few slaps, because that's what seemed like the right thing to do. 

Now roast the chicken in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Baste with drippings and lower temperature to 475 and cook for another 20 minutes. Flip the chicken over to breast side UP with tongs, baste, and lower the temperature on last time to 425 for 20 minutes. Chicken should be cooked to an internal temperature of 180 degrees. Take out of oven and let rest, covered, for 10-15 minutes. 

Came out awesome! We are using the leftovers on sandwiches, or by itself. You can also take it off the bone and freeze it for a quick dinner on a later date. Buying the whole chicken is cheaper than most other meats, 89 cents a pound, on sale, here! 

Glad I finally made my chicken, wasn't as painful as I thought it would be!

It's Raining... We're eating!

Food.

It's a necessary part of our day. So why don't we make it healthy and enjoy it?!

I know that things I put on here wouldn't be categorized as "healthy" in many people's eyes. Or even mine all the time. But if it's homemade, from scratch, REAL ingredients, it's healthy to me. Whole milk anyone? Real butter? Sour cream? Cream cheese? Making cookies, brownies etc. from scratch? Making your own mashed potatoes even?

I do indulge in the plastic container meal, or from the box... Duh, you need backup. Ooo and chinese take out!

So, eat this super quick and easy healthy food!

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus
- asparagus
- bacon
- toothpicks
In a deep skillet, put about 1/2 inch water, or enough to just cover asparagus. Cut the hard ends off of asparagus and put in pan. Let heat up in water just until fork tender. You don't want it to go longer than this. Empty pan of water, put back on stove for next step. Once asparagus is cool enough to handle, wrap a strip of bacon around two pieces of asparagus. Secure with toothpick on each end. Fry the bacon wrapped asparagus in pan until bacon is cooked.

Recipe credits to my sister Laura, except for the toothpicks part :)
We have eaten this 3 times in the past week or so and I am not sick of it yet!

Josey has been getting in on the eating action to!

How dare I stop feeding her to take a picture

Sweet potatoes and carrots are awesome!

By the way... This toy suctioned to her tray is awesome! It's a great distraction while I'm getting the next bite! If I would have known it makes noise every time it spins I wouldn't have gotten it, but of course Josey loves the noise. 

We had a good weekend. Looked at a house in town to rent and fell in love with it.

We are moving. 

Yay! The house we live in has charm.... but charm faded when we got our first months utility bill. Charm especially faded throughout the winter with bills that made me cringe, all the while still freezing my butt off. Every time the wind blows the curtains move. 

I am so excited to decorate and get all settled in a new home. The next house has TWO bathrooms! One connected to the master! Sweet! There is a dishwasher too! LAAA! We haven't had one yet, and this makes me very happy. I am excited to be in town close to the river, playgrounds, stores. It would be a long walk to the store, but worth saving on fuel these days! The lot that the house is on is very big. We are at the end of 2 roads, which created a loop around the house, so we have no neighbors touching our yard. I'm excited about that! So I'm going to get the ball rolling on everything it takes to move. Can't wait to be done and enjoying some central AC this summer!

Pizza Pizza!

Soooo good! Not to time consuming! Makes 2 pizza crusts. I wrap the second crust and freeze it.

Mom's Pizza Dough
Ingredients:
1/2 cup warm water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 Tablespoons oil
2 1/2 - 3 cups flour
Yeast Mixture: (mix in measuring cup)
1/2 cup warm water
3/4 Tablespoon yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
- mix all this around with your finger a bit, let rise until at 1 cup mark to make sure you know the yeast is working
Method:
-First make your yeast mixture. In the mean time mix together sugar, salt and oil in separate bowl. Add yeast mixture to bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups flour. Beat until smooth and gradually add in additional 1 1/2 cups flour. Dough should be like biscuit dough. Turn on lightly floured board until smooth and elastic. Place in greased bowl and let stand 45 minutes, or until doubled in size. Punch down and divide into two.  Let rise 10 minutes. Then, roll out dough on lightly floured surface and place on greased cookie sheets sprinkled with cornmeal.

I was hungry so I didn't take to much time making the crust's look pretty :)

Let rise 10 minutes. Place in 400 degree oven for 7 minutes. After taking the dough out of the oven carefully flip over. Let set a few minutes and then add desired toppings. Bake again at 400 degrees for 12 minutes.

Topping Ideas:
Tomato sauce, oregano, mushroom, 1/2 green pepper, pineapple, tomato, olives, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, beer or summer sausage.... etc.

Chicken Mixture

What I top it with.... via watching Mom
First I do a layer of cream cheese, then a chicken mixture that I've pre-cooked on the stove. Mixture has cubed chicken, mushrooms, oregano, italian spices, a lot of garlic, green onions and such. I don't measure or anything, just make sure it smells good! :) Okay so.... cream cheese, little sprinkle of mozzarella, chicken mixture, more mushrooms, parmesan cheese, then a little more mozzarella cheese and you're done!
DO NOT OVERLOAD IT! Gets all soggy in the middle. Ew!

Just a P.S. to my sister Laura.... let's not act like we're on allrecipes hahaha!

Planting Started!

Today the men started planting corn! Woohoo! That means lots of things to do, and Casey hardly getting any sleep. He asked for a big chunk of time off at his day job, cause there is so work he can't farm just at night. We are really excited though! So nice to have one year down so that we know what to expect! I hope to post some pictures this season!

There is always a "race" with the farmers to see who can start planting earliest, and I must say we are one of the first ones in our area! :)

Since Casey's gone so much I find myself antsy. He's getting home late now, and I want to make sure I am feeding him really good so he's not hungry.

So on this first day I am baking chocolate chip cookies to take in the tractor!

Recipe:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips

Oven temp - 330 degrees
Time - 13-15 minutes

Mmmm mmmm!


Josey will be four months old this week Thursday. It's happy and sad. She is even trying to sit up now to! She wobbles a lot, but she's trying!!! Here she is talking to her Grandma Kathy on Skype to show her how she's started sitting! :)

"Sgt. E." Bars

So many memories come back when I make these! They were a regular in school lunches, and a favorite snack growing up.

There was a name change to the bars when I was in high school. My older brothers recruiter Sgt. E. ended up being a close friend to the family, at school one day he was offered a bar from one of us, and from that day on he would HOUND us for his favorite "cookie". There was never really a name for these before that, so in honor of his love for these, we changed the name :)

RECIPE

1 cup butter

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups brown sugar

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups rolled oats

Fudge Nut Filling

1-12 oz. package chocolate chips

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup finely chopped nuts

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Cream together butter and sugar. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Stir in rolled oats. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Set aside while you make filling.

In saucepan over boiling water mix together chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, butter and salt. Stir until mixture is smooth. Stir in nuts and vanilla extract.

Spread about 2/3 of oatmeal mixture on cookie sheet. Cover with chocolate mixture. Dot with remaining oatmeal mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until lightly browned.

ENJOY! Cut up into desired bar sizes and store in freezer. Cause that's where I put everything. I even prefer to eat these frozen. But eat as you like! These are awesome!!!!

More Food!

Yes! More food and recipes to share! It's cooled off a bit so I can turn on the oven without making the kitchen over 85 degrees! And being pregnant, I suddenly have a lot more patience to actually go through with making things cause I soooo look forward to the end result!

Salsa

2-99 oz. cans whole, peeled tomatoes

1-16 oz. can tomato sauce

8 medium onions

12-20 jalapenos

1/2 C. sugar

4 oz. cider vinegar

4 tsp. canning salt

Dice and combine all ingredients. Bring to a boil and cook for 30 minutes. Put in jars. Makes about 2 gallons.

I used this as a base recipe and changed a few things. I used a grocery bag of tomatoes (how much that is, I don't know.. 5-6 lbs?) no tomato sauce, and 6 jalepenos with seeds. I added 3 Tbsp. cilantro, 2 tsp. lime juice, and 1 Tbsp garlic. I pretty much just threw in there what sounded good, and taste tested as I went.

Pumpkin Puree!!

I used the boil method and really like how it turned out. I used these 3 smaller pumpkins and it made a one quart jar of puree. I did learn though, that you have to freeze puree or keep it in the fridge for 2-3 days, just canning it supposedly doesn't keep it like it should.

Pumpkin Wheat Honey Muffins

These were made immediately after the puree, they sounded so good! (minus the raisins, cause I can't stand them) They didn't taste to 'healthy' either, I was kinda nervous for that. I will be making these again once this batch is gone... which may be sooner than later.

Other than food, there has been a lot on my mind lately. I don't know why, but suddenly I feel like the baby is coming tomorrow and not in 14 weeks. There's so much I have to get done! We haven't really touched the nursery. There is only a dresser/changer in there and 2 massive deer heads, which of course the heads are not staying in there. They are just in there to get out of the living room.... and will hopefully move to the office soon. Casey can't wait for bow season, so he can get another monster buck on the wall. Which is fine I guess, I just don't want to be greeted by them when I walk in the front door, or have them hanging over our poor babies crib. Oh no no!

Anyways... We did recently get a crib for the nursery from Grandma Kathy! We've had it for a couple days. I honestly almost cried when I wanted to put it together immediately and Casey said no, cause it was quarter after 8 at night, we had just got home and hadn't eaten yet. (he was right and being rational) It was still in the box until this morning... I am forcing myself to wait until Casey's day off tomorrow to put it up WITH him. I wouldn't be able to get all the bolts and screws as tight as he would ... at least that's what I'm telling myself so I don't do it today. So in the next while I will have the giant deer heads moved out of there and the crib up! Would love to share pictures of everything as it gets done!!!

What's Been Cookin...

Something great about moving out here on the farm is Grandpa's garden. He really beefed it up this year cause he knew Casey and I would be eating from it to. We have had parsnips, green onions, onions, beets, green beans, potatoes, tomatoes, sweet corn, peppers, peas, cucumber, and zucchini just to name a few. My freezer is overflowing!! Once that overflowed I asked Grandma McCausland to show me how to can. I had seen it done, but not really done it by myself. So now I've started canning on and off and I really enjoy it. It's not near as hard as I thought it would be. So I wanted to share what I've been making and plan to make with all this!

Sweet Zucchini Relish!

I made this recipe exactly as written and it is FABULOUS!!!

I didn't mention raspberries up there but they grow wild here and I made these muffins. They were very easy to make and very yummy.

Raspberry Buttermilk Muffins

Pumpkins are just starting to come out of the garden and I plan to make Pumpkin Pie Squares, and I'm planning on making pumpkin coffee bread which sounds amazing! So many fun recipes to bring in the Fall season! Maybe I'll try a soup with them to...

Last weekend I made Blackberry Cheescake!

Make your own graham cracker crust... it's not that hard!

Apples and pears are almost ready to! I am planning on making Apple Gouda Ladder Loaf. Made this last year and Casey looooooves this! I didn't have gouda cheese so I substituted that with vanilla yogurt, and was very happy with how it turned out! I also want to can (or freeze) apple pie filling, thinking about doing an apple pear crisp, and trying to find a recipe on canning pears.

Last weekend I made salsa... which was a combo of about 3 recipes and I had never made it before. I have a huge bag of tomatoes on my kitchen table again, so I'll be making more and try to remember what I did and write it on here. Sucks cause I really like how it turned out, so hopefully this next batch goes over well.

Corn Tip!!

When shaving corn off the cob, put the smaller end of the cob into the center of a bunt pan while shaving, and shaved corn will fall into the pan instead of all over the kitchen.

I am just starting out on making a lot of this, but I'm really liking it! And no I don't bake all these goodies at once. These are my favorites from the past year to six months. Freeze what goodies you bake, so you don't feel like you have to eat it before it goes bad! Bread, cookies, cupcakes, leftovers, everything!! Makes more sense to me.... :)

So happy baking and cooking especially as fall is coming and the holidays!