Pumpkin Cookies

First mix 2 1/2 Cups of flour


1 t baking powder


1 t baking soda


2 t of ground cinnamon


1/2 ground nutmeg


1/2 t ground cloves


1/2 t salt
Then mix all together and set aside


In a bowl add 1 1/2 Cups of sugar


and 1/2 C of softened butter (softened not melted...I let mine go too long in the microwave)


Cream together with a mixer


Add 1 Cup of canned pumpkin puree and 1 egg


1 t vanilla and mix together and beat until creamy


Then add the dry ingredients


Mix together until dry ingredients are mixed through


Drop onto cookie sheet by the spoonful
Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes
After the first batch I rounded them into balls and flattened them out a bit on the sheet and they looked better that way.

THE ICING:


2 Cups of powdered sugar


1 t vanilla


1 T melted butter


2 T of milk and mix together. Add more milk if needed


Drizzle icing over cookies


Dust with cinnamon if desired


I love the pumpkin cookies at City Bites and had heard these were similar. They were good, and were more cake-like than cookie. Next time I will make them with cream cheese icing like they have a city bites. Enjoy!

Roasted Potatoes

Preheat the oven to 425.

All you need is: 1 envelope of onion soup mix, 4 potatoes, and 1/3 C of olive oil.


This is the soup mix I use. Chop up your potatoes and toss with the dry soup mix and olive oil.


Turn occasionally throughout the cook time. Cook for 35-40 minutes, or until tender and golden brown. Very Good!

Crockpot Chicken

This one is so easy:


Place onions, garlic, and lemons in the bottom of your crockpot. (Or celery, potatoes, carrots, anything you like).


Take a whole chicken and rinse in water. (I bought the kind of chicken that already has the inside parts taken out. Otherwise, you would need to fish those out at this time.) Cover the chicken with seasoned salt.


Place breast down over the veggies. Cover and cook on low or high depending how long you will have it in there. I left this while I was at work all day so I put it on the low- 10 hour setting.


When I came home this is what it looked like. Mmm Mmm! You can save the broth to have chicken broth on hand.


Cut and serve.


The chicken was tender, but not really flavorful. I may add more lemons and seasoned salt next time. I will definitely make this again. Depending on how big your family is, you can use the left overs in tacos, enchiladas, sandwiches, salad, or soup.

Molten Chocolate Cakes

Preheat the oven to 450

1 Cup of unsalted butter


8 oz of semisweet chocolate


Melt butter in a medium heat-proof bowl over simmering water


Stir together and remove from heat when completely melted together


In another bowl mix 5 eggs


1/2 cup of sugar and a pinch of salt



Beat together with a hand mixer until the sugar dissolves


Add egg mixture to the chocolate mixture and beat together until smooth


Add in 4 T of flour and beat together just until combined.


You can use 8 ramekins or 8 extra large muffin papers placed in muffin tins. Spray each with cooking spray.


Divide batter evenly between the ramekins or muffin cups. Bake at 450 for 8-10 minutes. Bake until the batter puffs, but the center is not set. Pull papers away or run a knife around cake in the ramekin. Transfer to a desert plate.


Dust with powdered sugar, and serve with strawberries, raspberries, whipped cream, ice cream...


Or just milk!
The great thing about this recipe is you can make the batter up to 6 hours before you plan to serve it and put it in the ramekins in the refrigerator. Just allow to warm to room temperature before baking.

Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie

First you need 3 eggs and 3/4 C of white sugar


Mix together


Add 3/4 C of light corn syrup


add 1/4 C of melted butter and 2 t of vanilla


Mix together well until all ingredients are combined


(For the crust, I used the pie crust recipe in the post below this.) In the shell of the crust, place 1 C of semisweet chocolate chips and 3/4 C of chopped pecans.


Pour the filling over the top


Until it covers the chocolate chips and pecans


Bake in the oven at 350 for 45 minutes.


I don't really like pecan pie, but I really liked this pie! MMmm mm!

My grandma's pie crust

My dad's mom taught my mom how to make this pie crust, and my mom taught me.
All you need is:
2 C flour
1 C Crisco
1/4 t salt
some ice cold water


Mix together the salt and the flour. Then add in the crisco using either a fork to cut it in or a pastry blender.


'It should look lie peas' my mom said. I wasn't really sure what that meant, but this was it. Basically you cut in the crisco until it is in small pieces throughout the flour. Then you make a well in the middle of the dough by pushing the dough to the sides. Pour in 1/4 C of the ice cold water. Mix it all together. Continue adding the water by a 1/4 C until it becomes "doughy". I think we ended up using 3/4 cups of water.


This recipe makes about 3 pie crusts, or in this case 2 pie crusts, and 1 smaller pie crust with a crust on top. Divide the dough into three equal amounts.


Place flour down on a pastry sheet or clean counter. Take one of the thirds and put it on top of the flour. Place more flour on top. (Side note: I love this one of my mother's hands working. There is a part in the movie Beaches when Hillary is looking everywhere for a picture of her mother's hands because she can't remember what they look like. That part always made me really sad thinking about my mom being gone one day and missing things about her. I really treasure getting to do these things with my mom.)


Using a rolling pin roll out the dough with about three strokes. Then pick up the dough, place more flour down, flip the dough over, and lay on the flour. Roll out again until flat and thin. Then fold in half.


Place the dough half way in your pie pan.


Unfold and pat into the corners.


Cut off any pieces that are too long. Then taking your index finger and thumb pinch the edges together to make the crinkles around the top.


This one is cherry (obviously). Apparently fruit pies have to have vents to cook, which you can cut open the middle or just some cut outs. Pour a small amount of milk on top of the crust and spread around. Then sprinkle sugar on top. You will bake the pie at different temperatures based on the type of pie it is.
I hope this all makes sense. It was hard to try to get down into measurements and steps a recipe that is passed by word of mouth!