Joy in the Kitchen!

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...

The holiday's are upon us!  Even though it is a week before Thanksgiving, we are making fudge and caramels and other treats to send in a Christmas package to our missionary son who is in Canada.  We need to ship early to be sure it arrives to him in time. Dave's Grandpa made caramels pretty much every year.  I'd bet that he learned to make them from Grandma, but he was the one who taught me how to make them.  He had acquired a tall , 6 quart pot, a marble slab and made 4 iron bars to form sides on the marble to pour the caramel into.  We were lucky enough to inherit those tools when Grandma and Grandpa weren't able to use them anymore.  Most years we make caramels and though it is at least an hour long process of stirring and watching, the outcome is so creamy and delicious it is worth the time! Grandma often dipped these caramels in chocolate.  She also used the warm caramel to dip a candy nougat to make pecan rolls.  I never saw these, ...

One of our families favorite activities in the fall is pressing apple cider!  We have several apple trees, all different varieties.  This year our two heaviest bearing trees were our Gala and Honey Crisp trees.  Honey Crisp is one of my favorite apples!  So sweet!   Cider seems to taste best if it comes from a mixed variety of apples so in this small batch we used from the Gala, Honey Crisp, and a few Jonathan's.  It was perfect!    We only took time to press 7 1/2 gallons on this particular day but we plan to have at least one more cider pressing day this fall.  I usually just fill plastic jugs and freeze them to use later, though once in a while I'll water bath can some of it in quarts. Here are a few pictures from our little family day! Here are our amazing apple washers!  They washed a few bushel of apples. They did end up pretty wet themselves. Once the apples are washed we cut them into 1/4th or 8th's dependi...

There's nothing that fancies up a soup like serving it in a bread bowl!  Thickened soups work best in my opinion, but any hearty soup will work great.   I just used my favorite French Bread recipe for the dough and divided it into 6 bowls.  I thought they were just about the right size.  Tonight we filled them with Cream of Potato soup topped with cheese. Mix up a batch of the dough - you can find the recipe HERE.   Be sure the dough is nice and firm - not sticky at all.  Divide into 6 pieces.  Shape into a nice, round roll and place on a greased cookie sheet several inches apart. (I did 3 bowls per cookie sheet)  Let rise until doubled and bake at 375° for 25-30 minutes or until nicely browned.   Let cool enough to handle.   Slice off top and pull out enough of the bread inside to make room for the soup.   These will freeze fine for a few weeks if you need to make them ahead. Bread Bowls are also a fun way to serve...

We love muffins!  Once in a while, for special occasions, we make these delightful French Puffs.  They are moist, tender, and just melt in your mouth.  Mmmmm!  This morning we are watching the LDS General Conference on T.V.  My kids tell me these muffins are tradition for conference mornings!  (Often, "tradition" means that we did something once and they liked it so we should do it again. )  The main recipe is in my old Betty Crocker Cookbook I got when I was married.  The cover is gone and pages wrinkled, stained, and torn, but the tried and true recipes in it are still legible.  Give these wonderful treats a try!  They are so easy and elegant! French Puffs 1 egg 3/4 C. milk 1/2 C. oil 2 C. flour 1/3 C. sugar 3 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. salt Heat oven to 400°.  Grease a tin for 12 muffins.  Beat egg,  milk, and oil.   Stir in remaining ingredients all at once just until flour is moistened (batter w...

Look at these adorable garden helpers! The weather is cooling and was forecasting rain for the weekend so last week we harvested quite a few of our onions.  We are blessed to live in an area where temperatures and humidity allow us to store produce for several months in our garage once it's harvested.   These onions will be set out to let the outer skin and tops dry up and then we'll put them in mesh bags and hang them in the garage to store.  Most years I've been able to keep them in usable condition until March or April.  Once in a while I have to put a heater in the garage at night if the temperatures are getting below zero, but most of the time they're okay. Wes and Ben helped pull the onions and put them in the garden cart.  They did a good job and were amazed at the huge onions! Soon it will be time to dig potatoes and carrots.  We'll keep the carrots in coolers and potatoes in burlap bags in the garage for the winter as well.   Love ...

I've been wanting to try a Chicken Tortilla Soup for a while but there are so many recipes out there I couldn't choose which one to try.  My daughter is visiting this week from Tennessee.  She woke up this morning with all congested and though soup sounded good for dinner. She likes Chicken Tortilla Soup so we just made our own version (to add to the myriads out there) with the ingredients she likes best. My younger girls had a cross-country race today and we'd arrive back home just in time for dinner.  This soup cooked up nicely in a crock pot so when we got home all we had to do was bake the tortilla strips.  They could have been baked ahead, but I ran out of time before we left.  My daughter thinks she'd like to try this lightly thickened, but I liked it just like this.  If you like it spicier you could add some cayenne or other hot pepper. Chicken Tortilla Soup 6 C. chicken broth (canned or made up from water and bouillon) 2-3...