Joy in the Kitchen!

Time to carve pumpkins!   Be sure to save the seeds for snacking.   We look forward to pumpkin seeds every bit as much as carving the pumpkins at our house.  Last night we carved 4, and got PLENTY of seeds to enjoy.  If Worcestershire isn't a flavor you enjoy, try substituting 1/2 tsp season salt or garlic salt.  I love the Worcestershire though, Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm! Seasoned Pumpkin Seeds 2 C. pumpkin seeds  (or winter squash seeds bake up nicely too) 2 T. margarine 2 tsp.  Worcestershire 1 tsp. salt Clean and rinse the seeds.  Cover in water and bring to a boil for 10 minutes.  Drain.  Mix margarine, Worcestershire sauce and salt in saucepan.  Add seeds and coat well.  Coat cookie sheet with cooking spray and spread seeds evenly.  Bake at 350 until seeds darken and seem crisp.... maybe about 30 minutes.  Stir occasionally.  Just keep checking them every 10 minutes until they ...

I LOVE Pumpkin Pie, but sometimes I just don't feel like going to the work of making a good pie crust.  This dessert has filling really similar to pumpkin pie, but instead of a crust, you just sprinkle a dry cake mix across the top, drizzle butter over that and bake.  Easy Peasy!  (Or Easy Cheesy Lemon Squeezy as my 1st grader says. lol)  My 8 year old daughter mixed up the filling pretty much by herself. (I reached the spices out of the cupboard) Once it cools, Pumpkin Pie Cake cuts into squares nicely.  Often, we just spoon it out of the pan though, not worrying about a nice, clean cut square.  Tonight we used canned whipped cream, but nothing beats freshly whipped real cream as a topping.  MMmmmm! Pumpkin Pie Cake 1 29 oz. can pumpkin 1 12 oz. can evaporated milk 3 lg. eggs 1 C. sugar 2 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. nutmeg 1/2 tsp. ginger 1/2 tsp. cloves 1 pkg yellow or white cake mix 1 C. butter or margarine 1 C. chopped walnuts Preheat o...

Pumpkins are one of my favorite fall decorations!  We grew several large jack-o-lantern pumpkins and more than a dozen small pie pumpkins this year.  Right now our large ones are adorning the front door while they wait to be carved next week. Pumpkin is also one of my favorite ingredients!  Pumpkin pie is my favorite pie, hands down.  These Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins are a delicious way to celebrate fall.  I got the recipe from someone at Frugal Families about 5 years ago.  I can't even count how many batches I've made.  My family loves them!   I usually make a double or triple batch of these for 2 reasons.... 1.   We love them!  and 2. There are 3 cups of pumpkin in a 29 oz can and each batch uses 1 cup.  Each batch makes about a dozen.  They freeze really well and ship well too if you're looking for a treat to send.   If you have a hard time finding pumpkin in the store, don't be afraid to cook a s...

You may have noticed my blogging has slowed down the past week or so.  I've decided to try a sewing project.  Partly to prove you CAN teach an old dog new tricks. lol  I cook.... I don't sew.  (at least not very well)  I'm nearly done though, only a few seams unpicked, a few pin stabbings, and only once had the urge to say a bad word. (and I even resisted that!)  lol  Soon we'll get back to our regular hobby of cooking. Apple Crisp .  You know, when I was younger, the only part I liked was the crisp part on top.  Okay - so that was pretty much up until now.  The apples were always just a little too tart for my taste and often too firm, I like them almost mushy.  SO... with my need to figure out ways to use apples right now, I decided to fiddle with the recipe and see if I could make a crisp that I like, fruit and all.  I DO like apple pie filling - so I thought I'd treat the sliced apples the same as if I were making a pie an...

Dh's Grandma was famous for her rolls.  She always brought the rolls to Thanksgiving and other family dinners and those rolls disappeared FAST!  She submitted this recipe for our family cookbook, and I grew to love it!  I found out later that this is not the recipe she made most of the time, but I trust her judgment and if it was good enough to submit, it is good enough for me!  :o)  I sure miss having her here to call for help on a recipe or just to chat.  From start to finish this takes me almost 90 minutes only because I  bake one sheet of rolls at a time.  I could put both in the oven at once but I don't think they brown evenly that way.  These freeze well.  My photo would have looked better with the rolls piled up in a basket, but today these rolls were for a luncheon after a funeral.  They are transported easier on the baking sheets. You'll want a mixer that can handle 10 cups of flour, OR just mix them up by hand.  I...

Corn chowder is a wonderful warm meal for a cold evening.  This version is what my Mom always cooked, it is different than any other corn chowder I've seen because it is thickened with saltine crackers.  It is a bit thinner than a soup thickened with flour or cornstarch.  Last night we served this with homemade french bread. Corn Chowder 8 slices of bacon 1 medium onion, chopped 4 medium potatoes, chopped  2 C. water 2 C. cooked corn 8 saltine crackers 2 C. milk 1 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp pepper Brown bacon in large sauce pan.  Add onion and cook until tender.  Add potatoes and water.  Cook until the potatoes are tender.  Smoosh up the crackers into the milk and let soak.  Add corn, salt, pepper and milk mixture to potato mixture.  Heat to boiling.  Serve hot. Joy's Note:  Sometimes I add a tsp. of chicken boullion.  Once in a while we put shredded cheddar on top.

Yesterday was my birthday!  It is tradition at our house, that you choose your own birthday meal. (We also have a couple of fancy plates the birthday person gets to choose from.  They are from the dollar store but you wouldn't believe how much we look forward to this tradition!) I chose ham, scalloped potatoes (my Mom's recipe - it is THE best!), corn, and this Smooth and Creamy Pear Jello Salad .  Lucky Mom that I am, I got to fix my own dinner too!  LOL!  (I'm sure many others of you Mom's out there share this priviledge. lol )  My sweet daughter Audra made my cake.  Chocolate with chocolate frosting. I should have taken a picture. YUMMY!  Thanks Audra! I'm just featuring this Pear Jello Salad today.  It is absolutely wonderful.  It would work nicely as a light dessert as well.  I could eat a whole batch by myself.  I don't, but I could.  Just so ya know. ;o)  I used Lime flavored jello this time, but you could...

Mom shared a BUNCH of green peppers Dad grew in their garden.  THANK YOU Mom and Dad!  Our peppers were pecked to death by the chickens early on and we only got a few survivors. (peppers, not chickens lol )  I've been freezing the peppers from my parents a few at a time.  I've got 3 quarts of diced peppers in the freezer.  Tonight I chose to fill a few and use them for dinner.  Mom used to make these once in a while when I lived at home. YUM!   The little girls don't like peppers, so rather than waste a good pepper on them, I put some filling in muffin cups and let them have theirs that way.  I've found an easy way to keep the peppers upright while baking, is to set them in a large muffin tin. (the kind that makes large muffins)  If you don't have one of those, a casserole dish is fine, or check and see if your peppers are thin enough, they might fit in a regular muffin tin. As a side dish, and trying to use up more of our abundant c...

The temperature last night was under 25 degrees.  Brrrr!!!  My husband and son have been on a scout camp out and I'm pretty sure they'll need some warming up once they arrive home!  (Can I just say I am SO glad I was not a scout having to do that year round camping thing...  I LOVE to observe cold weather and snow from inside, while sipping hot chocolate. LOL) I decided on this Hearty Taco Soup for dinner.  It is easy to throw a big pot together, it holds nicely a long time, and it warms you to your bones. :o)  I used to work at a restaurant that served Taco Soup once in a while.  I loved it!  (I really miss working there, but am enjoying even more being a stay-at-home-Mom)  It took me a few tries to figure out what to put in it to make it pretty close to the one at work.  I usually just sort of dump, stir, and taste to get this right, but tonight, I measured just so I could post this for you.  I hope you enjoy it as much as ...

Mom used to make this for my sister and I when I was very young. Mom rarely colored my clay and it still worked great.  We used to make little tiny food shapes, like banana's, oranges, lemons, limes, and then let them dry and painted them. We used them for our Barbies. :)  My own children have spent HOURS being entertained with this play dough.    I'm sure there are recipes all over the place for this, but I want to include it in my blog so my married children with kids of their own can find it easily. This play dough will leave a light residue on whatever surface you play with it on, so I buy vinyl placemats (you can find them for around $1 at Walmart or I've seen them at the dollar store)  OR you could let your child color up a couple of sheets of cardstock and then have it laminated for a play mat.   We gather up a variety of "tools" to use with our play dough... cookie cutters, plastic knives, forks and spoons, scoops from baby formula, juice c...

I love this recipe for bread.  Several years ago at Relief Society meeting my neighbor Joan, demonstrated how to make this bread by hand.  I had made bread with a mixer for years, but it always seemed a little heavy and dried out in a day or two after baking.  This method turns out a light, tender,  moist, loaf of bread.  You can do it in the mixer as well, but mine turns out best kneading it by hand.   I make mine in 6 loaf batches, if you don't use that much bread at once, you can either freeze some of your loaves, give a loaf or two away,OR it's easy to cut this down to 4 or 2 loaves.  (I may even get ambitious and post the amounts for just 2 loaves as well) You don't need many tools to do this by hand.  You will want:  a largish wire whisk, a LARGE bowl if you're doing the 6 loaf batch, a heavy wooden spoon, some plastic or something to cover the dough while it rises (I use an old bread bag cut open), bread pans, and a few muscles....

We used to call these Toad in a Hole, but after a little research on the internet, I found that Toad in a Hole is a traditional English dish with sausages in a batter. :)  Respectfully, we've renamed one of our favorite breakfasts... to Peek-a-boo Eggs.  (In asking around online at Frugal Families, and in real life, I find we are not the only family that used the name toad in a hole incorrectly. lol ) Peek-a-boo Eggs are a great dish for kids to fix for themselves.  I did help turn the eggs over, but the girls each buttered the bread, cut the hole, and cracked the egg.  If you use a larger skillet, you can do more than one at a time and fry the "hole" at the same time. Peek-a-boo Eggs Slices of bread eggs butter or margarine, softened Heat a medium sized skillet over medium heat.  Butter one side of the bread, use a biscuit cutter (or any round cutter) to cut a hole out of the middle of the bread.  Place bread butter side down in skillet.  Br...

Last night we had snow.  Today my son and husband were busy picking apples to bring in before the hard freeze we're supposed to get tonight.  I think they've picked about 2 bushel so far!  One delicious way to use fresh, crisp apples is in Apple Cake!  This will make a 9x13 pan.  It's as good or even better the next day and since it has basically the same ingredients as the Cinnamon Streusel Apple Muffins I make, I figure if there is cake left over, the kids can have cake for breakfast!  (Aren't I just about the nicest Mom...  just wait until they tell their school teacher's Mom gave them cake for breakfast. lol ) Every time I peel apples for recipes like this, I remember reading somewhere, I swear it was in the Little House Books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, that peeling an apple without the string of peel breaking, was a sought after skill.   I wish someone would find that source and tell me if that's where I read it.  Maybe it's time to ge...

When we were discussing our choices of what to make for Kids in the Kitchen, McKay (13) suggested making this Bruschetta he had seen in a Taste of Home magazine. I LOVE Taste of Home...  I've found some really good recipes there, and even better, I love to just thumb through the pages and look at the pictures. LOL!  I told McKay he could try it, but we probably wouldn't list it with the Kids in the Kitchen recipes. It is quite a bit more involved than I wanted our Kids recipes to be.  McKay did this pretty much by himself.  I only gave clarification & a little advice.  It is WONDERFUL! I can't post the recipe, but you can find it on this page at Taste Of Home .  We made a few changes.  These were:  we used french bread instead of italian,  We didn't have fresh basil so we used dry. (it was yummy, but would have been even better with fresh!), we also used regular slicing tomatoes instead of plum tomatoes. (it's what we had on hand. :)...

Talk about a quick and easy way to make cookies!  I was reminded of this recipe when someone on Frugal Families (which is my absolute favorite place to hang out on the internet.) posted it last year.  I've also seen it on cake mix boxes and church cookbooks.  They're popular for a reason!  These cookies are especially easy for kids because using a cake mix eliminates a lot of the measuring.  (and getting things in and out of the cupboard)  They can be mixed in a bowl with a wooden spoon easier than most cookies so no need for younger kids to use the mixer.  My 8 year old could mix it easily alone, my 6 year old needed breaks or to take turns mixing.   You can use any flavor (and brand!) of cake mix,  the girls chose lemon today and we added white baking chips.  You could also do chocolate with chocolate or peanut butter chips, or spice cake with nuts, or how about yellow with any flavor chips.  My kids love creating their own...