Joy in the Kitchen!

Several years ago at a family reunion auction, we bought a cookbook put together from my husbands grandmother's recipes.  Not all of them, but some she'd collected over the years.  The cousin who made this cookbook made copies of the recipe cards in grandma's own handwriting and assembled them into a cute binder.  Seeing these hand written cards brings back sweet memories of when I joined the family and grandma helped me feel so welcome!   Thank you Jeana! Grandma Evelyn would be 118 years old now if she were still here on earth, and I'm sure this recipe was from the years she was raising her children.  Definitely fits that vintage era!  I would guess the 1940's or 1950's.  There were some delicious recipes then that were very basic homemade food. I already use some of Grandma's recipes on a regular basis but I decided to try some of the others out of this cookbook.  Since we have a few apples on our tree that could be used, I decided to try ...

  The weather is cooling down here. Today was overcast with some drizzling rain.  Finally some beautiful FALL baking weather!  With daytime temperatures in the mid 60's and night-time lows in the low 40's, having the oven on for a bit takes the chill off in here.  Ahhh. There are so many flavors and scents that celebrate fall.  Today I've had a simmer pot going with apple slices, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Oh! and one clove. A perfect scent to enjoy as I looked out the window at the trees changing color and the fields around in various stages of grain and potato harvest.  I almost baked Cinnamon Streusel Apple Muffins , but I had one cup of pureed pumpkin in the freezer leftover from last weeks batch of Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins  (one of our family favorites!), so I decided I'd better use that before I forget it's in there.  Sometimes I just delay throwing food away by putting it in the freezer to age first.  Not particularly thrifty or effic...

  I brought home an old cookbook from my Mom's stash of recipes.  I wish I'd have asked her more about it when she was alive, but now I'm just making guesses as to it's history.  This book is the Larkin Housewives Cook Book .  Copyright 1915,16,17, and 1923.   I love old books.  My Mom was born in 1929.  I would guess this is her mothers' cookbook.  Her mother passed away when Mom was 6 years old.  My grandpa cooked and had housekeepers to come watch after the house and children for several years after.  Any of them could have enjoyed using this cook book.    There are a few recipes with "good" or "very good" penciled in to the side.  A few small notes in lovely handwriting. (There are even pencil scribbles from a child on a few of the back pages - I had fun imagining my Mom or her brothers doing that while their mom's back was turned.)   One way I can tell the best recipes is in play in this book though, th...

  I don't know that it's fair to call this a pound cake, nothing was measured by pounds!   But it is moist and dense and delicious, just like old fashioned pound cake!  And chocolate to boot!  Can't beat that.  This is lovely in a Bundt pan but would work well in 2 loaf pans as well.  The smooth chocolate ganache on top is my favorite but you can just sprinkle with powdered sugar as it's cooling for a lightly sweet touch. I made this recently for an auction at church.  It was fun to see all of the fun desserts that others brought to auction off as well!  We went home with a delicious German Chocolate cake. Mmm! Triple Chocolate Pound Cake 1 chocolate cake mix (I prefer fudge or rich chocolate) 1 6oz box of instant chocolate pudding 1/2 cup white sugar 2/3 cup water 3/4 cup oil 1 cup sour cream 4 large eggs 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips Ganache 3/4 cup heavy cream 2 cups chocolate chips, semi sweet or milk 2 tsp. coconut oil, optional Prehe...

Lemon is such a vibrant fruit!  Color and flavor are bright and refreshing.  This old fashioned Luscious Lemon Cake is tart and sweet with a glaze that really packs a punch.  My mouth is watering just thinking about the melt-in-your-mouth goodness!   I got this recipe from my Mom who got it years ago from her friend at church.  I find so often that these recipes that were passed around amongst acquaintances are some of the best!  Tried and true, recipes to use over and over and pass along to a friend.   There is a 5 pound bag of lemons in my fridge waiting to be used so this seems like a tasty opportunity to share this recipe! Luscious Lemon Cake 1 lemon cake mix (any brand will work) 1 small package of lemon gelatin  4 large eggs 3/4 cup oil 3/4 cup water Glaze juice of 3 lemons grated rind from those lemons 2 cups of powdered sugar Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Beat together (by hand or in a mixer) the first 5 ingredients, scrapi...

S'More's   are one of our family's favorite camping treats.  A beautifully browned marshmallow and a few pieces of chocolate bar pressed between two crispy graham crackers.  Yum!   They are sticky and messy to eat and only the most patient of marshmallow roasters get them beautifully browned, but even S'More's with blackened marshmallows are tasty! I don't remember where I got the base recipe for these S'More's Cookie Bars, but we've been making them for about 20 years.  It's like a taste of camping anytime!  No fire to build, coals to wait for, or smoky clothes and hair when you're done!  Right now our firepit is buried in snow drifts as well so this is a much better option for this chocolaty marshmallow treat! Today I'm making these for my son to take to a get together with friends.  They need about half an hour to cool enough to cut and then a little longer to cool enough for the chocolate to set, so be sure to bake with time to spare....

Easy Cheesecake Cupcakes I love cheesecake!  It is one of my favorite desserts.  I've learned to make a pretty good baked cheesecake but it takes some time to get it smooth and creamy.  These little Easy Cheesecake Cupcakes are quick and easy.  You can enjoy that delicious cheesecake texture and taste with minimal effort and they look adorable. My friend Teresa gave me this recipe several years ago when I needed a portable dessert.  They work perfectly for toting to parties or for serving as a delicious dessert after a meal at home. I'm thinking we'll use these on Valentine's Day for a fun ending to our meal. Easy Cheesecake Cupcakes 1 C. sugar 3 8 oz. packages cream cheese, softened to at least room temperature 4 eggs 2 tsp. lemon juice 1 pkg. NILLA Wafers Cherry or Blueberry pie filling Whipped Cream, optional 24 paper muffin cups Preheat oven to 350 degrees.   Mix sugar, cheese, eggs and lemon juice until smooth.   Place...

My kids have been watching Cupcake Wars on Netflix this summer.  We don't watch a lot of TV so the kids have only been able to watch while they fold clothes, shell peas, or snap green beans.  This gets some work done for me and they get an opportunity to watch TV.  Happy arrangement for all of us. (Though sometimes I suspect the clothes are taking longer to fold than usual towards the end of an episode!) Last year our zucchini didn't grow as well as we wanted so this year we planted extra and it is ALL growing well!   The combination of Cupcake Wars and our prolific zucchini plants brought about these beautiful and tasty cupcakes!   The cupcake is light, very moist, and the perfect carrier for a delicious Cream Cheese Frosting. (I find some people frown on just eating the frosting with a spoon.)  This is high on my list of ways to fix fruits and vegetables! Zucchini Cupcakes 1 C. oil 1 3/4 C. sugar 2 large eggs 2 tsp. vanilla 3 C. flo...

Cream Puffs.   LOVE THEM!   Easy to make, elegant, and so many delicious ways to serve them.  I usually do a basic chocolate or vanilla cream or ice cream filling, once in a while I'll do some chicken salad filling.  Today I wanted something a little different.... a little off the beaten cream puff path, so to speak.   Raspberry Lemonade filling was an absolutely delightful choice and look how adorable these little sweets are!   This rosy, tart, yet sweet filling was pretty easy to make, but takes a few minutes as you need to cool the cooked filling.  I was experimenting while creating this recipe so I did mine all at once, but it would be easy to do some of the steps throughout the day in between other activities. First, bake up some mini cream puffs.  You'll find the recipe HERE.    Spoon a walnut sized portion of  dough and drop onto a cookie sheet as directed in the recipe. You should get approximately 1 2 cream puffs...

This fun little dessert is so simple, easy, and tasty we should have it more often!  Mom always bought bushels of fresh peaches and canned them in quarts at home and they were in the most beautiful little halves.  Just lovely!  They were good all by themselves, but once in a while, especially if the milk cow was giving a lot of cream that needed used, Mom would make these for dessert. I just had cool whip when I made these this time, but to do it justice, you should have freshly whipped, sweetened cream that smothers the whole thing.  YUM!   Easy Peach Dessert Per person: 1 full graham cracker broken in half so you have 2 squares 1 peach half syrup from canned peaches whipped cream In each individual bowl place one graham cracker half, then the peach half with the cut side down, then top with the second graham cracker half.  Spoon a few spoonfuls of the peach syrup (from the can/bottle of peaches) over the top and then generously top with ...

My Favorite Guy and I decided to stay home for Valentine's Day this year.   It just doesn't seem as romantic having an intimate dinner for two..... with 75 other people in the restaurant!  Not to mention waiting in line, waiting to be seated, waiting to order, and waiting for your food.   We banned the kids to one of the bedrooms upstairs with a movie, chicken nuggets, apple slices, pop, and sugar cookies.  They seemed happy enough.  Their steak and crab days will come.  Right now the 6 year old is as happy with chicken nuggets as we are with steak and the 12 & 14 year old girls understand that we want space to ourselves and they got to pick the movie. I set a small table in the living room by the fireplace. Rounded up a yard of Valentine'y fabric someone gave me a few years ago and set the flowers Favorite Guy had given me earlier in the day there to enjoy.   A nice Pandora station of Harry Connick Jr. gave us some nice background music....

We love rice crispy treats.  Today I cleaned out my cupboard and found a few partial bags of marshmallows that really needed using.  These treats were the perfect choice!  Dress up your regular crispy rice squares with a delicious chocolate peanut butter topping.  So good! Chocolate Peanut Butter Crispy Rice Treats 1 10 oz bag or 4-5 cups marshmallow or a few more if you like extra marshmallowy treats. (if the marshmallows are getting a bit firm, add more)  1/3 C. butter or margarine 6 C. crispy rice cereal 1/2 C. chocolate chips In large pan, over low heat, melt butter and marshmallows until they're smooth.  Add chocolate chips and stir until melted and blended in.   Mix in crispy rice cereal until it is all coated with marshmallow mixture. Grease a 9x13 pan and press cereal mixture firmly into pan.  (You can use a greased spatula to do this or I just spray my  hand with cooking spray and press quick to avoid a burn)   L...

I've been craving Reese's lately.  A LOT.  Or Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream.  Tonight we have a pie and ice cream social to attend and I signed up to bring a pie.  I originally planned on baking an apple pie using fruit off of our trees, but considering my relentless Reese's craving, I changed my mind.  Peanut Butter Chocolate pie it is!   It might not go as well with homemade ice cream as the apple may have, but we'll just have to deal with that. You'll need a graham cracker crust and you can either make one or buy one.  Doesn't matter to me.  I made one so I didn't have to run to the store.  A chocolate cookie crust would be delicious as well, but... then I would have had to run to the store.  You can try it that way if you'd like.  OR next time I make this, if there happens to be a sleeve of Oreo cookies that have escaped attention (like THAT ever happens!) I'll try it.   This filling recipe makes enough fo...