Joy in the Kitchen!

Holidays are always a fun time to add excitement to your family!  Some years I make a bigger deal out of them than others, especially smaller holidays like St. Patrick's Day.  Maybe if we had some Irish lineage, we'd be more inclined to Corned Beef and Cabbage (which we tried last year and with a huge fail from the family) but as we're Danish and Scottish, we lean more to celebrating with "color" and theme. This year I'm being a bit lazy.  I THOUGHT about doing green shamrock pancakes for breakfast ....  but mornings have been tough lately and I'm on day 2 of a headache, SO....  I'm settling for Lucky Charms and green tinted milk.  Can't you just picture how festive the table will look with the green milk AND a leprechaun! My lunch crew tends to prefer peanut butter sandwiches - and are too young to understand the holiday anyway so I'm off the hook there. Dinner will be our main festivity and will include: Shepherds Pie (which IS a co...

T his cookie recipe was in an old Watkins Cookie Book.  They really taste a lot like a ginger snap.  They are especially good right after they're baked and still warm.  Mmmmm!  I played around with the recipe as usual.  I'm not a huge fan of shortening so I substituted butter, and this time I subbed 1/2 C. whole wheat flour for part of the white.  They're good either way, but the whole wheat makes them a little chewier and a step closer to a healthier choice. :-) Dusty Millers 3/4 C. butter 1 C. sugar 1 large egg 1/4 C. molasses 2 1/4 C. flour (or sub in 1/2 C. whole wheat and another 2 T. white flour) 2 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. ginger 1 tsp. cinnamon cinnamon sugar Cream butter and sugar.  Mix in egg and molasses.  Scrape the sides of the bowl.  Add flour, baking soda, ginger and cinnamon.  Mix well.   Roll into teaspoon sized balls, roll in cinnamon sugar and flatten with the bottom of a glass.  Bake at 350 for 8-9...

I didn't get a menu done for the past week and it has been hard to think up something I want to eat, and feel like cooking.  I tend to procrastinate deciding until I've only got an hour or so until dinner and then my choices are pretty limited. Planning a menu make eating and cooking a lot more fun and allows me to use my Bountiful Basket produce more effectively. Today on Facebook I asked for help with menu ideas and got a bunch of great ones!  One of the best parts of this menu, is that I have everything on hand!  LOVE having a well stocked pantry!    This is what we'll be enjoying the next week or so: Wednesday -    Breaded steelhead with lemon, broccoli, Oven Fries, and strawberries with whipped cream Thursday -        Spaghetti and Meatballs, tossed green salad,  home made French Bread Friday -            Chicken Enchiladas (I have a pa...

Much to my kids' dismay, I've been avoiding baking a lot the past few weeks because I'm watching calories.  BUT today I've got 5 extra kids for afternoon snacks AND I volunteered to bring treats for my 8 year old daughters basketball game tomorrow.  I've been craving chocolate, and since I KNOW I'll sneak some of whatever I make, I figured I just as well tend to that craving. :)  (We know it's important for Mom's to take care of their needs so they can tend to the needs of the family, right?  At least that's how I'm justifying it today. LOL ) These cookies are an adjustment to another recipe I have for plain chocolate chip cookies.  I just added the cocoa, adjusted the eggs and flour.  This makes a large batch - about 6 dozen cookies.  (I've never heard any of the kids complain about that.) Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies 2 C. butter or margarine 2 C. brown sugar 1 1/2 C. white sugar 3/4 C. baking cocoa 4 eggs 2 tsp. vanilla 3 tsp. baking p...

  Cupcakes (or pupcakes as my 2 year old calls them) are an easy, pre-portioned treat to make.  They can be simple and undecorated, filled, or fancied up for special occasions.  Most of the time, when I'm not using them for a special occasion, I just spread the frosting with a knife... which is very tedious or I let the kids frost their own with a knife - which is messy.  However, if I don't mind adding extra frosting to the top, using a decorating bag and a larger tip is a super fast way to make a cupcake look dressy.  Add sprinkles or edible glitter for extra fun! I used a regular cake mix.  (which I was not wild about - they always turn out too light & crumbly) But this time I added a good sized spoonful of sour cream, and replaced about half of the water called for with yogurt.  Not quite so dry and a little heavier.   I used a basic decorator icing recipe with my own twist to get a good chocolate flavor: Creamy Chocolate Frosting...

My hubby works a lot of closing shifts so often this means he doesn't get home until 9:30pm.  So often I make dinner for the kids early because they're in bed before he gets home and then I fix dinner for him and I.  It can be really hard to cook for just two especially for me coming from a big family.  This is more of directions than a recipe.  This is my favorite way or rather only way I make salmon at home. Rosemary Salmon 2 4oz Salmon Filets ( I like to get the ones from Walmart) 1 TBSP Olive Oil Sea Salt Dried Rosemary (Fresh would be better) Heat a skillet on medium heat.  Add olive oil and heat.  Place the Salmon filets in pan and sprinkle with sea salt.  Crush a pinch of rosemary in your hand and sprinkle onto salmon.  Sear both top and bottom then lower heat to medium low, cover and finish cooking (about 5-8 min).  Enjoy! Audra's Notes:  I serve this most often with hashbrowns.  Tonight I also served it with a s...

When Mom first started this blog she asked if I wanted to contribute to it.  Well, I did one recipe right at first and then time always seemed to get away from me, then a broken camera, and then because of school I haven't been cooking very much.  But now I've set a goal to manage my time better and cook more plus I got a new camera (Woot woot!)  I also felt that my recipes were boring and often don't use a recipe because I'll only cook for 2 or 3.  But I figure that maybe I'll want to remember how I did certain things and sometimes you only need to cook for 2.  So here's my first of many (I hope). This is by far mine and my family's most favorite clam chowder.  I got the recipe from my mom (Joy) who got it from her mom.  My husband begs for this soup and tells me I can make it any time.  I always make the full batch so that we have lots of leftovers for lunches the next couple days.  I would normally make some kind of biscuit like cheddar ...