Recipe of the Week: SUPER SIMPLE Crockpot Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Good morning, friends! I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year spent with those that you love best! With the hustle and bustle of the holidays behind us, I hope to get back to a normal crafting/cooking/posting schedule, rather than the sporadic postings that I've had lately.

Today is my friend/co-worker Jenni G.'s birthday, so to celebrate I am taking soup and homemade bread to the office for our lunch today. Recently I came across a recipe video on Facebook for a super simple loaded baked potato soup that can be made in the crockpot. I tried it out on my hubby and he LOVED it, so I thought that I'd make it today to take to work for Jenni's birthday celebration. You can click HERE for the short video from 12 Tomatoes which details how to make this soup. (I added salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and paprika to taste.) Here's a pic of the soup, courtesy of the 12 Tomatoes website:

Have a fantastic first week of 2016!!

Blessings,

Recipe of the Week: Happy Harvest Snack Mix

Good morning! As you know, I love to make little treats to give to my friends and co-workers. Last week I whipped up a batch of Happy Harvest Snack Mix for them, and I put it in cute little handled jars with a pumpkin decal that I found at Dollar General. (I purchased the white plastic lids at Wal-Mart in the canning section.)

It is SUPER YUMMY, and was a hit with all of my peeps! Since this is a snack that both kids and adults love, I thought you might like the recipe to make some too!

INGREDIENTS:

• Half of a box of Crispix cereal
• 3 cups pretzels
• 1 1/2 cups salted, dry roasted peanuts
• 2 cups Reese's pieces
• 2 cups candy corn
• 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon cinnamon

METHOD:

Place parchment paper in the bottom of a large baking sheet/jelly roll pan. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. 

Place cereal, pretzels and peanuts in a large bowl and drizzle with melted butter, tossing ingredients to coat. In a separate bowl, stir together brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the cereal mix. Lightly toss mixture again to coat. Pour onto the parchment lined pan, and spread evenly. Bake for about 15 - 20 minutes and set mix aside to cool. 

Once mixture has cooled, pour back into the large mixing bowl; add Reese's pieces and candy corn, and lightly toss to combine. Scoop mixture into jars or bags for individual servings, or place it all into a tightly sealed bowl and enjoy!

Here's a photo of 4 of the jars that I put together and tucked into a cute little basket to give to our family friends, The Fitzpatrick's:

Do something nice for someone this week, and reap the blessings of showing kindness! :)

Recipe of the Week: Ms. Sharon's Pumpkin Cake Roll

Hi, friends! I meant to get this post up yesterday, but I got busy with a couple of other projects, and then Mike and Justin got home from their Colorado elk hunting trip, (I'll share pics of that with you later this week), so my post got pushed back until tonight.

Last week my friend & co-worker Christi W. mentioned how much she loved pumpkin cake rolls, and that she hadn't had one in a long time, so I made one, (SO YUMMY!!), and took it to the office for everyone to enjoy. I thought that you might enjoy making one for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, so I am sharing that recipe with you today.

My Pumpkin Cake Roll recipe comes from a sweet lady that I know from my hometown of Afton, OK. Several years ago she and I worked together at the Afton Farmer's Co-Op. Ms. Sharon G. was the office manager, and at the VERY YOUNG age of 19, I was hired as a secretary there. (I was the third generation, but the only girl, in my family to work at the Afton Farmer's Co-Op...my grandpa retired from there and my dad ran the grain elevators.) Anyhoo, here's the delicious recipe that she shared with me almost 30 years ago:

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
• 1 cup powdered sugar (plus a little extra for sprinkling)
• 6 oz. softened cream cheese
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat eggs on high speed for 5 minutes. Gradually add sugar; then stir in the pumpkin and lemon juice. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Fold dry mixture into pumpkin. Spread batter in a 15x10x1 inch jelly roll pan that has been thoroughly sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Top with chopped walnuts or pecans and bake for 15 minutes or when a toothpick comes out clean after being inserted into the center of the cake. Turn cake out onto a muslin tea-towel that has been sprinkled with powdered sugar. Beginning at the narrow end of the cake, roll towel and cake together and place in the refrigerator to cool. (About 45 minutes.) While cake is rolled up and cooling, beat together powdered sugar, softened cream cheese, softened butter and vanilla until smooth. Unroll cake and spread cream cheese mixture over the cake. Roll up in the towel again and place in refrigerator until completely chilled. Remove from fridge and towel and carefully slice. Makes about 14 slices.

HELPFUL HINT:

Instead of cutting my cake roll with a knife, I like to use uncoated dental floss so that the cake slices don't "squish" during the slicing process. By sliding a piece of floss under the cake roll and then crossing it over and pulling it through the cake, I get nice, clean slices for serving:

 

 Here's my pumpkin cake roll all plated up on a pretty fall plate to serve at work:

 Thanks so much for dropping by today!! I'll be posting photos from Mike and Justin's Colorado elk hunting/camping trip later this week, so be sure to stop back by to see those. :)

Have a FANTASTIC week!

Recipe of the Week: Easy Cherry Jam

Good evening and happy Monday! A couple of weeks ago my pal Robbi gave me a great idea to make cherry jam using canned, tart, water-packed cherries:

Cherry jam is my son's favorite, so I decided to give it a try and it turned out FANTASTIC!! It was really easy to make too, so I knew that you'd want to know how to make some as well. (Think upcoming holiday gifts for teachers, neighbors, co-workers, etc.)

Let's get started!

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 - 15 oz. cans of tart, pitted, water-packed cherries
• 4 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 box Sure-Jell
• 7 - 8 oz. jelly jars with lids and rings

METHOD:

Sterilize the jars and lids by washing in hot, soapy, bleach water; then rinse with clean hot water. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and allow the jars and lids to soak in the boiling water for at least 10 minutes while cooking your jam.

Drain the liquid from the cherries and reserve that liquid in a separate bowl. Finely chop cherries. (You will need 4 cups of chopped cherries, but if you are a little shy of that amount, you may add some of the liquid that was drained off of the cherries to get the measurement to the 4 cup mark.)

Place the 4 cups of chopped cherries/liquid into a large pot and add Sure-Jell. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly.

Add sugar, stirring constantly. Bring to a full-rolling boil once again, and boil mixture for exactly 1 minute. (NOTE: Even though the canned cherries state they are "pitted", I discovered several cherry pits floating to the top while my jam was cooking. Watch out for those and scoop them out of your jam while it's cooking...no one likes to bite down on a cherry pit and possibly break a tooth - YIKES!!)

Turn off heat and skim off any foam using a metal spoon.

Immediately pour jam into sterilized jars, wiping the mouth of the jar with a clean, wet cloth. Cover with sterilized lids, and place/tighten the rings on the jars. Turn the jars upside down for 5 minutes, then turn upright to set and to allow the jars to completely seal. Once jars have cooled, check seals by pressing the centers of the lids with your finger. If the lid does not spring back, the jar is sealed and may be stored in your pantry for up to 1 year. (If the lid springs back, the jar didn't seal properly and am must be stored in your refrigerator.)

Enjoy!!

Recipe of the Week: Amazing Coconut Pie

Good morning, friends! I had a busy weekend...along with my normal house-hold/laundry chores, I managed to also make a batch of apple butter, finished 2 craft projects that I started last weekend, (tutorials forthcoming on those projects!), made my sweetie a chocolate pie and then tried a new recipe that my sis-in-law Sandy shared with me, which is the recipe that I am sharing with you today!

I LOVE coconut cream pie, so Sandy was telling me about a recipe that she found on the back of a bag of Baker's Coconut for "Amazing Coconut Pie". Anyhoo, I decided to try it out yesterday and although this pie has more of a custard taste and texture, versus the typical creamy texture of a coconut cream pie, it turned out pretty good!

I think that a little more coconut flavor would make this super simple pie even better, so I am going to try using 1 cup of coconut milk and 1 cup of milk vs. 2 cups of milk the next time that I make this. I may even add a little more vanilla that the recipe calls for as well. (I'll let you know the results of my version/recipe change in a future post.) If you'd like to make one of these easy pies, here's the recipe...and if you try using coconut milk before I get a chance to try that addition, let me know how it turns out...

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups milk
• 1 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup Bisquick
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) of butter or margarine
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/3 cups flake coconut

METHOD:

Place milk, sugar, Bisquick, eggs butter and vanilla in blender container, cover and blend on low speed for 3 minutes. Pour mixture into a greased 9" pie plate and sprinkle top with coconut.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until center of pie is set and top is golden brown. Serve warm or cool on wire rack before serving. Store leftover pie in the refrigerator.

Thanks for dropping by today! Be sure to check back in a couple of days to see the latest craft project/tutorial that I've been working on! :)

Have a WONDERFUL week!!

Recipe of the Week: Pepperoni Pasta Salad

Hello! I hope that you are doing well today! It's been excruciatingly HOT here in Oklahoma, so when it gets this hot I hate to turn on the oven or stove to cook something because it heats up the house. When it's just to hot to cook, I like to whip up a delicious pasta salad. One of my favorites is a Pepperoni Pasta Salad, so I thought I'd share that recipe with you today:

Here's what you'll need to make this YUMM-O-LICIOUS dish:

INGREDIENTS:

• 12 oz. pasta, cooked to package directions and rinsed (I used colored Rotini pasta, but you can use shell pasta, bow-tie pasta, penne pasta...whatever you have on hand will work just fine!)
• 1 cup of your favorite Italian dressing (I like/used Kraft Tuscan House Italian)
• 1 - 4 oz. can sliced black olives
• 1 - 4 oz. jar diced pimentos
• 8 oz. of your favorite cheese, cubed (I used Monterrey Jack, but you can use mozzarella, cheddar, co-jack...once again, whatever you have on hand will work just fine!)
• 2 large carrots, thinly sliced
• 1 large cucumber, peeled and diced
• 1 medium green pepper, diced
• 3 oz. pepperoni slices, quartered and separated
• 1/4 of a small onion, finely chopped (I can't use onion in mine, as it it a migraine trigger for me, so I used onion powder to taste.)
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• Optional: If you have cherry tomatoes on hand, you can quarter several of those and toss into the salad too

Once pasta has been cooked, drained and cooled, add the rest of the ingredients. Chill until ready to eat and enjoy!

Wishing you a blessed day!

Recipe of the Week: Fresh Blackberry Cobbler

Hello friends! I hope that the beginning of your week has started out fantastic! I am super excited to show you the first batch of blackberries that I picked from my little garden on Saturday:

Aren't they beautiful? They are HUGE too...most of them are the size of the end of my thumb! (Not saying that I have huge thumbs - LOL! - but that berries the size of the end of my thumb are huge!)

I decided that these lovelies should be made into a delicious cobbler and bowled up with some vanilla ice cream, and I knew you'd want the recipe! :)

I wanted a quick cobbler recipe, so I did a Google search and found one at allrecipes.com that fit the bill nicely! Here's the recipe that I used:

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups blackberries, rinsed and patted dry
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup self-rising flour
• 3/4 cup milk

METHOD:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in an 8" x 8" glass baking dish. In a medium mixing bowl, combine sugar, flour and milk, stirring until mixed. Pour batter over the top of the butter in the baking dish. Place berries on top of the batter and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until top is lightly browned. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream and store any leftovers covered in the refrigerator.

Have a great week!

Blessings,

Recipe of the Week: Pepperidge Farm French Toast Casserole

Happy Wednesday! We're half-way to the weekend, folks! Speaking of the weekend, I thought I'd share a recipe with you that I recently made for our Saturday morning breakfast. I stumbled upon a recipe on Pinterest for French Toast Casserole using a loaf of Cinnamon Swirl bread from Pepperidge Farms, and since I had just bought a loaf of this yummy bread I had to try the recipe:

(Image from Pepperidge Farm)

You can click HERE to go to Pepperidge Farm's link for the recipe. I added a 1/2 tsp. of rum extract to the egg batter, for a little extra flavor. It turned out really good, but I've decided that the next time I make this I'm going to toss in some chopped pecans and brown sugar for a little added texture and sweetness. (I even wondered what it would taste like to toss in some cooked, chopped bacon? I love the taste of bacon dipped in maple syrup, so it might be pretty delish!)

Have a GREAT day! :)

Recipe of the Week: Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

My sweetie loooooves chocolate chip banana bread, so since I had a couple of really ripe bananas laying on the kitchen counter, I decided to make a loaf for him this weekend:

Just look at that oooey-gooey warm chocolate and those big pieces of pecans...DELISH! If your mouth is watering, here's my recipe...

Ingredients:

• 2 very ripe bananas
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup chocolate chips (milk chocolate is my sweetie's fave, but you can use semi-sweet if that's what you have on hand!)
• Extra sugar to sprinkle on top of warm loaf (optional)

Method:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease loaf pan. Combine bananas and eggs, mixing until blended. Add salt, soda, flour and sugar to banana mixture and beat on medium speed. Using a rubber spatula, fold in chopped pecans and chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 1 hour, laying a piece of foil over the loaf after 30 minutes to keep from over-browning. Remove from oven and sprinkle additional sugar over the top of the warm loaf. (The sugar on top melts a little to give the bread a pretty sheen, but you can skip this step if you want.) Remove bread from loaf pan after 15 minutes and allow to cool before slicing. (Or...if you are like us and can't wait to dive into it after smelling it bake for the past hour - LOL! - you can slice it while it's warm so that the chocolate chips are all melty and gooey while you're eating it - YUMMMMMY!!) Store cooled slices in an air-tight container.

Have a FANTASTIC week!!

Recipe of the Week: Detox Bath Concoction

Good morning! Last week was kind of a bust as I came down sick with acute bronchitis and had to go to the doctor. Upon arriving at the doctor's office, they immediately made me put on a mask since they didn't know if I had the flu or another virus. (Thankfully, my flu test came back negative!)

While sitting in the patient room waiting for my flu test results, I snapped a photo of this cool quote canvas that was hanging on the wall...love it!

After the doctor diagnosed me with acute bronchitis, he said that it could either be bacterial or viral, so in the event it was bacterial, he prescribed a "Z-Pack". I ran a fever of over 101 degrees for 3 days, even with taking the antibiotic, so I am going to take an educated guess that it's viral and will have to run it's course.

On Wednesday, after missing 2 days of work - UGH! - and still running a fever, I decided to Google recipes for a detox bath in hopes that it might help me get rid of the persistent fever and aches that I was being plagued with. I came across a recipe at the Bewitchin' Kitchen Blog that I tried, and it really seemed to help! After soaking in the detox bath for 30 minutes on Wednesday afternoon, my fever broke and didn't return - yippee!! I was able to return to work on Thursday, and although I am still coughing like an asthmatic sea lion, I am feeling much better! Anyhoo...since the flu and other nasty viruses are going around, I wanted to share the detox bath recipe with you in hopes that it will help you like it helped me. :)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Epsom salts (can be purchased at any pharmacy and are very inexpensive)
• 1 cup baking soda
• 2 Tablespoons ground ginger

Method:

In a mixing bowl combine ingredients. Run a bathtub of water as hot as you can stand it and pour detox ingredients into the running water so that they can dissolve. Climb into the bath and soak for 30 to 40 minutes. (I read my new issue of Country Sampler Magazine while soaking...LOVE that magazine!!) Oh! Bring a bottle of cold water with you when you're soaking because you'll get unbelievably thirsty! 

Once you get out of the bath and dry off, put on a clean pair of PJs and curl up in a quilt in your favorite chair...I started sweating so much and was SUPER thirsty due to my fever breaking, which was a welcome sign after having a fever for 3 days.

Wishing you good health!!

Blessings, 

A Recipe and a Book Recommendation...

Good morning and happy Monday, friends! I hope that you enjoyed a nice, relaxing weekend. We had an early Christmas get-together at our house on Saturday. My parents, Justin and his girlfriend Hailee came over for lunch and to open presents. We ate waaaaay too much and had a great time visiting. :)

Today I'm going to share with you a fabulous recipe for white bread/rolls that was given to me by my sweet friend Robbi R. With Christmas just a little over a week away, you might want to bake some of these tasty rolls up to serve with your holiday meal:

Ingredients:

• 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 cups of flour
• 2 packages of yeast
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 Tablespoon salt
• 1/4 cup soft butter
• 2 1/4 cups very hot tap water

Method:

Combine 2 cups flour, sugar, salt and yeast together and blend well. Add butter and combine with flour mixture. Add hot tap water all at once. Mix at medium speed for 2 minutes. Add 1 cup of flour and beat on high for 1 minute. Add remaining flour and, with dough hook attachment on mixer, and combine until a soft dough forms. Knead for 5 to 10 minutes, cover with plastic wrap and towel. Allow dough to rest for 20 minutes and then punch it down. Shape into loaves or rolls and place in a greased pan. Rub surface with oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Refrigerate 2 to 48 hours and let stand for 10 minutes before baking at 400 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes or until a light golden brown. If you want to make the rolls immediately after rising, rather than refrigerating the dough for later use, then cut the baking time to 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Rub tops of bread or rolls with a stick of butter upon removing from the oven to keep them soft.

Serve warm with butter and/or Christmas jam. (Click HERE for Christmas jam recipe.)

Lastly, I want to share a Christmas book with you called Christmas Treasures of the Heart by Cheri Fuller. (Shown in the photo at the top of this post.) This is a wonderful little book chocked full of short stories and simple Christmas celebration ideas to inspire and enlighten you during this holiday season. My sweet sis-in-law, Lea Ann, gave me a signed copy of this book many years ago, and I re-read it and place it on my coffee table every year for visitors to look at if they want. I think you would enjoy this book as much as I do, and it makes a terrific little gift to share with teachers, friends, co-workers, neighbors, etc.

Have a blessed week!

Recipe of the Week: Cinnamon and Applesauce Ornaments

Happy Monday! I had a wonderfully productive and fun weekend! I got a lot of little projects tackled around my house and I got to spend Saturday afternoon with my favorite 4th grade girl, Heather F. (Heather is the youngest daughter of my friend Megan; and the little sister of my son's girlfriend, Hailee.) We made Christmas gifts for her family, baked up some cinnamon applesauce ornaments, drank spiced cider and played several games of a card game called Rack-O...and yes, Heather beat me fair-and-square at most of those games - lol!

These ornaments smell absolutely wonderful!! Here's how we made them:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup applesauce

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Combine cinnamon and applesauce, stirring until it makes a sticky dough. Sandwich half of the dough mixture between 2 sheets of waxed paper and roll out to about 1/4" thickness. Cut shapes out with a cookie cutter and place on parchment lined cookie sheet. Using a wooden skewer, poke a hole at the top of each ornament to create a hole for hanging. Bake at 200 degrees for 2 hours. Allow to cool and then tie a ribbon through the hole of each ornament and hang on your Christmas tree. At the end of the season, store ornaments in an airtight container or a plastic Zip-Loc bag and they will retain their yummy smell for many years to come.

Have a blessed week!

Recipe of the Week: Christmas Jam

Hi, friends! Last weekend I made a little batch of Christmas Jam, so I thought I'd share the recipe with you today:

My pal Robbi R. shared this recipe with me several years ago, and it is a delicious way to top off hot-from-the-oven biscuits! Let's get started...

Ingredients:

• 1 - 12 oz. package of fresh cranberries
• 2 - 10 oz. packages of frozen, sliced strawberries with sugar
• 4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 package Sure-Jell
• 7 - 8 oz. jelly jars with lids and rings

Method:

Sterilize jars, lids and rings. Process cranberries in a food processor until well chopped. (I freeze the cranberries first so that they don't become mushy while in the food processor.) Combine the chopped cranberries with the strawberries and sugar in a large pot. Bring to a boil and allow to boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add Sure-Jell. Bring to a full rolling boil and boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat, skim off foam and pour into prepared jars. Wipe rims with a clean, damp cloth and place prepared lids and rims on jars to seal. Invert jars for 5 minutes, then turn upright to completely seal. Jars are sealed when the lids do not spring back when touched. Yield: 7 - 8 oz. jars.

Have a great week!

Blessings,

Recipe of the Week: Mike's Venison Chili

Good morning, friends! Sorry that I didn't get anything crafty posted last week. Truth is, I've been working on some gift projects for Christmas, and I'm not quite ready to post them yet.

Along with the Arctic front that blanketed most of the U.S. last week, we received our first snowfall over the weekend. We only got about an inch of snow at our house, but some of the surrounding areas got more. The bitter cold temps and the snow got my sweet hubs in the mood to cook up some venison chili, so I thought I'd share his recipe with you today:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs. ground venison
• 1/2 of a large green bell pepper - diced
• 1/2 of a yellow onion - coarsely chopped
• 1 - 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
• 8 oz. can tomato sauce
• 1 can pinto beans (optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 3/4 pkg. of Williams chili seasoning

Method:
Brown venison in a large cast iron skillet. Add tomato sauce and diced tomatoes to cooked meat. Stir to combine, then add chili seasoning and pinto beans. Simmer for 5 minutes, then add bell pepper. Simmer 5 minutes more before adding the onion. Cover and simmer for an additional 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Spoon into bowls and serve with crackers, Fritos, sour cream, shredded cheddar, etc. if desired.

Have a great week and stay warm!

Recipe of the Week: Mom's Best Dinner Rolls...

Hi, All! Recently my mom sent me a recipe that she's been using to make yummolicious dinner rolls. Since the weather has finally turned cooler, I decided to make a big pot of Tortellino Soup and a batch of her dinner rolls on Sunday afternoon. (Click HERE for my Tortellino Soup recipe.) Here's the recipe for Mom's Best Dinner Rolls:

Ingredients:

• 4 - 5 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 pkg. active dry yeast
• 1 cup whole milk (I used 2% and the rolls turned out fine.)
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tsp. butter
• 2 eggs

Method:

In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, sugar, yeast and salt. In a small sauce pan or in microwave safe bowl, heat milk, water and butter to 120 - 130 degrees. Add to dry ingredients; beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. Add the 2 eggs; beat on high speed for 2 minutes more. Stir in enough flour to form a soft dough. (Dough will still be slightly sticky.)

Turn dough onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic - about 6 - 8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning dough once to coat the top. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size - about 1 hour.

Punch down dough and turn onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into 24 portions and shape into balls. Divide the balls between 2 greased 13" x 9" baking pans. 

Cover with a clean, lightweight towel and let rise until doubled. (About 30 minutes to 1 hr.) Brush lightly with beaten egg if you are going to sprinkle with one of the topping ideas given below. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 - 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks. (NOTE: When not using a topping, rub the tops of the hot rolls with a stick of butter to keep them soft.)

Topping Ideas:

Parm - Garlic: 2 Tablespoons grated Parmesan and 1/2 teaspoon dried, minced garlic.

Almond - Herb: 2 Tablespoons chopped, sliced almonds and 1/2 teaspoon each kosher salt, dried basil and dried oregano.

Everything: 1 teaspoon each poppy seeds, kosher salt, dried minced garlic, sesame seeds and dried minced onion.

Have a SUPER week!

Recipe of the Week: Dutch Apple Pie

Hi, all! The hubby of my friend Megan F. celebrated a birthday on Sunday, so I baked one of his favorite desserts for him - a Dutch apple pie:

Here's my recipe:

Pie Ingredients:

• 6 tart apples (I used Granny Smith apples in this pie)
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1 unbaked pie crust (I like to use Jiffy Pie Crust Mix...it's super easy and the results always turn out great for me!)

Topping Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup cold butter, sliced
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup quick oats
• 2/3 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel, core and thinly slice apples. Place slices in a large bowl and add sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and flour. Gently stir to coat apples and set bowl aside. 

Roll out pie crust and place into pie place, crimping edges as desired.

In a medium-sized bowl, combine topping ingredients. Using a fork, mix together until crumbly. Sprinkle crumb mixture over the pie, being sure to coat the top as evenly as possible. Gently press topping into pie with your hand. 

Bake for 1 hour, possibly 5 minutes more if needed, and remove from oven to cool. Slice and enjoy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream if desired...DEEEEELICIOUS!!! :)

Have a blessed day!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Fall Things...

I admit it...I am a junkie for fall! I looove the changing colors of the leaves; the beautiful orange, red and gold colors that unfold almost overnight! I LOVE decorating for fall...incorporating beautiful yellow mums and pansies into my flower gardens and porches, as well as tucking in a few pumpkins here and there. With that being said, I thought I'd share with you a few of my favorite fall things that I've been privy to so far this month...

First off, here's a pic of my front porch all "cuted out" for fall:

The next series of pics has to do with this sweet little apple tree that is growing in my backyard:

I harvested 24 apples off of it this year:

Aren't they so pretty?? They taste as good as they look too...all crunchy and juicy...apple perfection!

I whipped up a couple of pies using some of the apples from my tree, and they turned out absolutely SCRUMPTIOUS! (Click HERE for my apple pie recipe.) I even shared some of my bountiful apple harvest with my sweet friend Robbi R., who is BY FAR the BEST cook that I know! I tucked the apples that I gave her into a cute red pail that I placed a rub-on letter "R" on the front of. I folded a square of burlap inside the pail to cushion the apples, then added a sweet blue gingham bow to the handle:

Now Robbi can make a pie for her sweet hubs, Dave!

I also made a batch of apple butter...but I cheated and used store-bought applesauce to make it. (Nothing wrong with simplifying and cutting a few corners, gals!! The end result is UBER-DELISH!!! Click HERE for the apple butter recipe that I use...it was given to me by Robbi about 20 years ago, and gets rave reviews!)

Lastly, my friend and co-worker Christi W. had a cute little orange pail that she asked me to turn into a fall floral arrangement, so here's what I came up with:

I simply added a strip of burlap and lace ribbon around the outside of the pail, then glued on a button that I tied up with a pretty black gingham bow. Inside the pail I placed florists foam, then added yellow sunflowers, fall leaves, ivy, fall-colored silk hydrangeas, berries, and a rust-colored butterfly. I really love how it turned out, and I'm taking it to work tomorrow to give to her.

On a final note, my father-in-law's back surgery last Thursday went great and he is back at home to rest and recuperate! Thank you so very much for keeping him in your thoughts and prayers...much appreciated! :)

Thanks so much for dropping by today to share my fall obsessions! Wishing you a WONDERFUL week ahead!

Recipe: Made-in-Texas Peach Cobbler

Good morning! Recently I was flipping through the August 2014 issue of "Woman's Day" magazine and came across a recipe for Made-in-Texas Peach Cobbler, which happened to be perfect timing because I spotted some beautiful peaches at the grocery store that begged to come home with me - ha! ha!

The original recipe makes one cobbler in a 9" x 13" pan, but I decided to make two 8" x 8" cobblers so that I could share one with my friend Megan F. and her family. (Megan was kind enough to help me create a photo DVD set to music for my parent's 50th anniversary. Thanks, again, Megan for your help! The DVD is AWESOME!!)

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/4 cup butter flavored shortening (I just used regular Crisco, since that's what I had on hand)
• 5 to 7 Tbsp. ice-cold water
• 5 medium ripe peaches
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 2 Tbsp. butter

Method:

In a large bowl, whisk together 2 cups flour and 1/2 tsp. salt. Add the shortening and cut it in with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly. Stir in cold water, one Tbsp. at a time, until the mixture forms a ball. Transfer the dough to a zip-loc bag and pat dough out into a 1" thick rectangle.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Fill a large bowl with ice water. Score an X on the bottom of each peach. Place peaches in boiling water for one minute and then transfer them to the bowl of ice water. Once they are cool enough to handle, peel and cut into 1 inch pieces.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a large saucepan, bring the peaches, 1 1/4 cups sugar, the remaining 1/4 cup of flour and 1/4 tsp. salt to a gentle simmer. Remove from heat and stir in 2 Tbsp. butter until melted and combined. Transfer mixture to a shallow 9" x 13" baking dish that has been coated with non-stick cooking spray.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into an 11" x 15" rectangle. (If desired cut flower, heart, etc. shapes in the center of the dough using a mini cookie cutter.) Carefully lift the dough from the floured surface and place on top of the filling. Fold the crust under itself around the edges and crimp as desired. Gently poke holes in the crust to release steam as the filling is cooking. If you cut out shapes in the center of the dough, place the cut-out pieces on top of the crust, adding a little water to the back of each piece to hold it in place.

Brush a little melted butter over the top of the crust and then sprinkle with about 2 Tbsp. of sugar. Bake until the dough is golden brown, approximately 50 minutes to an hour.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream and enjoy!! 

Have a blessed day!