Cinnamon Fudge

I decided I needed more sweets this holiday season and made fudge. Lots and lots of fudge.  The favorite was cinnamon.  The original recipe was for peanut butter, but, I tweaked it.  I got the recipe out of the book Eagle Brand Classic Recipes, on page 102.

2 (10 ounce) packages peanut butter flavored chips I used cinnamon chips and I have the sneaking suspicion that any other type of chip might work, too.
1 ( 14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk.)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, cut into pieces
1 cup chopped salted peanuts I did not put nuts in the cinnamon fudge, but, I did put it in the PB fudge.

1. Butter 8 inch square dish (Grease a piece of foil with butter or margarine.). In 2 quart microwave safe bowl combine chips, milk and butter. Microwave at MEDIUM 4 to 5 minutes, stirring at  1 1/2 minute intervals. I cooked the mixture on the stove and stirred it constantly.

2. Stir in peanuts and pour into prepared dish. Cover and chill 2 hours. Cut into squares. Store covered in refrigerator. Like I said I didn't use peanuts in the cinnamon fudge mix, but, I did use chopped Spanish peanuts in the PB fudge.

3. Flip the fudge out the pan and gently remove the foil. Turn over, cut and eat.

I don't have a picture. It was all eaten and I was too busy to get one. But, trust me it tastes GREAT!

That's it for today. Till next time...


I added some pictures. Not of the cinnamon, since there are none. But, you can see what other fudge I made.

PB/chocolate with nuts and chocolate chips.

PB/chocolate, PB with nuts, Chocolate caramel, Dark chocolate.

Cookie Palooza 2013

Well we did it, again. We made more cookies than one person could eat in a year. Well, maybe not a year, but, perhaps a week?!

A sea of cookie goodness...

Sadly I didn't count them when I divvied them out. "One for you, one for me...."

Here is an aerial view.

In the process I had to peel 5,000,000 Hershey kisses.  

So many kisses.

So many wrappers.

Here is a list of the cookies:

Peanut Butter Blossoms: https://www.hersheys.com/recipes/recipe-details.aspx?id=5191&name=Peanut%20Butter%20Blossoms

Kisses Macaroon Cookies: https://www.hersheys.com/recipes/recipe-details.aspx?id=8064

Irresistible Peanut Butter Cookies: http://www.jif.com/recipes/details/960

Mr. Food Granola Cookies

Mr. Food's Fudgy Brownies: http://www.mrfood.com/Brownie-Recipes/Fudgy-Brownies-1844

Chocolate Chip Tollhouse Cookies: http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/18476/original-nestl%C3%89-toll-house-chocolate-chip-cookies/detail.aspx

Snowball Cookies: http://www.food.com/recipe/christmas-walnut-snowballs-104837

Now the challenge is to stay-out-of-the-cookies. I had three today, but, the night is still young. I think I am going to have to give some of them away.  For my health and my waist.

That's it for today. Till next time....

Winter Wonderland and a Cat

Today and tomorrow we are supposed to get many inches of snow.  The snow looked so pretty (as long as you don't have to go anywhere.)  I decided to go out and take a few pictures.

I then heard a meowing and lo and behold our "old" cat decided to follow me. 

Apparently he likes to take walks with his people. Snow or not.

I then walked to the other side of our property and Gizmo continued to follow me.

I started to head back to the house and Gizmo decided to cooperate and "pose" underneath the pine tree.

After taking too many pictures of the tree, the cat and the tree and the cat, I headed back inside. Gizmo followed after a bit.  He then parked his butt under the Christmas tree in the warm and cozy house.

That's it for today. Until next time...

Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes!

I made my normal amount of crust and ended up with leftovers. I also made a dessert just for C#1 and ended up with extra pumpkin. What to do!? What to do?!

I then thought why not mush the pie crust into the muffin tins and figure out a pumpkin pie filling. And this is what I came up with.

Pie crust to mush into the bottom of a muffin tin

1 package of yellow cake mix (or whatever flavor works for you.)

1 package french vanilla instant pudding (or regular vanilla or whatever works for you.)

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups pumpkin

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie seasoning

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

Prepared vanilla frosting

Combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, pumpkin, pumpkin spice, cinnamon and baking soda with a mixer or beater or whatever you use for three minutes. Pour batter into prepared muffin tins with the pie filling -- 3/4 full (any extra can be put into a regular muffin tin with a paper liner.)

Bake in preheated oven at 325 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until wooden pick inserted at center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from wire rack to cool completely. Spread cupcakes with frosting.  Makes 24 cupcakes/muffins.

Viola!

There was some skepticism when I presented them to the fam. But, after a taste test they were definitely a winner.  I will be making them, again, or maybe a different variation.

That's it for today. Until next time...

My new favorite toys!

This summer/fall I discovered two new favorite toys!  Thanks to my grandma, I was able to use the top toy without too much stress. I don't even dare say what it is. You know ---> in case someone is monitoring my blog...........

The second favorite toy is a "Foley Food Mill"! I was very glad that I purchased the bigger size, since it worked perfectly!

I processed tomatoes and apples and more apples and moreeeee in the unmentioned above item. Both items work together to make the very best applesauce.  And yes, I took loads of pictures.  

Here is how you make the applesauce.

Clean the apples. Cut up the apples and put ALL (skins/stems/seeds) of it into a pot with about an inch of cider or apple juice or water or all of the above.

Cook it until it's mushy.  Spoon it into the grinder -- every last bit.

Work the grinder until all you have left is skins, seeds and stems.

The apple remnant.

The lovely applesauce in the pot.

Pour it into the cleaned pint jars (or whatever size you use.) Make sure you purchase a canning funnel. It is a must have!

Put the jars with the new seals and lids into the unmentioned item.  Cook until it reaches 5 lbs and cook for 8 minutes.

Once it has thoroughly cooled in the unmentioned item, you have yourself some yummy, delicious, homemade applesauce. And all you will want to do is make more, moRE, MOREEEEEEEEEEE!!!  It's an addiction, I tell you!  But, sadly there is an end to the apples. *sigh*

So there you have it my toys and the fun stuff I've been doing.  I do apologize for my lack of blogging. It is very easy to get away from it. You know life and all.

Till next time...

Pumpkin Pie Shake

I had a partial can of pumpkin pie filling and I did not know what to do with it.  I was looking through a magazine and came upon an idea.... Pumpkin Pie Shake!  The recipe that ignited my idea was not a shake --- but, I altered it to make even yummier!

1/2+ cup canned pumpkin pie puree

1 cup vanilla ice cream

3/4 cup apple cider

1/2 cup milk

healthy shake of cinnamon

3 TB maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup ice

Combine all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into glasses and garnish with whipped cream and cinnamon, if desired.

Everyone loved this and said it tasted like pumpkin pie! 

It was definitely a good use of extra pumpkin.

That's it for today. Till next time...

How to make awesome French Toast!

Everyone knows that I like to do the price-match thing at Walmart.  And very often I forget to bring a cooler with any ice packs.  So instead of worrying about things spoiling in my car as I multi-task the crap out of a shopping trip, I buy a bag of Rhodes frozen white bread loaves.

This stuff is awesome. I makes excellent pizza dough and excellent bread.  

Well I got a little crazy at my other favorite store (Sam's Club) and bought too much meat.  Now these lovely loaves take up quite a bit of space.  Needless to say I had three loaves that thawed out and I decided to do the bread thing (rather than pizza -- since we did that the day before.)  

There was no way we were going to eat three loaves in one night, so I thought why don't I try to make french toast.  Come to find out, after sitting out all night it was finally "set." Which means --> It didn't squish down flat when I cut it -- like at dinner the night before.

I mixed up the normal eggs,  milk, vanilla and cinnamon french toast mix. Sliced up the loaf of bread, dipped it in the egg mix and slapped it onto a frying pan.  And viola!

THE PERFECT FRENCH TOAST!

Everyone loved it! Andddd C#1 road tested the leftovers this morning for breakfast and they heated up in the microwave quite nice, too. This "creation" is definitely a keeper!

I am sure anyone that makes "real" homemade" bread could use this neat little trick, too.  It was a good way to use a loaf of bread.

That's it for today. Till next time!

Concord Grape Cobbler

The grape pie that I made a couple days ago was a definite hit.  Not that I didn't already know that since this was my second attempt at making it.

http://beckysbiscuits.blogspot.com/2013/09/grape-pie.html

I thought it might be fun (and necessary) to make another grape dessert.  But, I was feeling incredibly lazy and did not want to make a pie crust.  I know -- I'm a big baby about that...

So I decided to make a "grape cobbler."  That should work, right?!

I grabbed my "go to" cobbler cookbook.  This book did not have any grape recipes to speak of. Hmmmm...

So then I thought, I can just fake it with the pie recipe.  And I did with a couple alterations.  Does that make it my recipe?!  I don't even know.  Probably not...

The BIG alteration was there is no crust! (YAY!) And the small alteration is that for the topping I used 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 cup brown sugar.  Soooooooooooo not really that different.  But it worked! And that is all I care about.  And it tasted fabulous...  That too.

So there you have it "Concord Grape Cobbler."  Easy peasy! Except for the deskinning/deseeding part.

Till next time!

Concord Grape Pie!

It is that time of year, again. But, sadly our grapes produced naught.  Thankfully I have a very generous friend who filled that needed void.  And alas, there was grape pie to be had...

Of course, grape pie is extremely time consuming.... UNLESS you have the right tools and certain "little" people to do your bidding.

I found the tried and true recipe from BH&G Encyclopedia of Home Cooking Volume 9 ---> "Concord Grape Pie" ---> on page 1051.

The recipe itself is pretty easy, but, the skinning and deseeding of the grapes does prove to be a mite tedious.  But, like I said before with the right tools and C#1 and C#2 readily available it made for a quicker job.  C#2 proved to be a whiz at removing the pulp from the skin.  But, refused to do it all. So, I instructed C#1 on how to do this task, too.  They didn't complain too much.

The inside grape pulp kind of look like eyeballs. Or something creepy like that...

The next fun thing is to cook the pulp.

And then probably the second most fun thing about making this pie is removing the seeds.

With the right sieve, this wasn't too bad.  

Then you have to mix the pulp and skins all together and the rest is easy...

The recipe is really short, which is exactly what I like.  And after it was all done it looked like this:

It is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good!!! It has been a couple of years, since the last time I (we) made this.

Here is the recipe --- well a very close replica:

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/pies/concord-grape-pie/

I also discovered that there were enough grapes to make two more pies!!! And with C#1 and C#2 ready to help (heehee!) those grapes were deskinned and deseeded in no time!!  I will freeze that extra filling for another day.  Maybe we'll be able to wait a little bit, before needing more...  It's so good, that will be very hard.

That's it for today.  Till next time...

Two recipes from Diner Desserts -- Rum Raisin Pudding and Lemon Meringue Pie!

I have been making "new" stuff or should I say actually using my cookbooks -----> well one of them.

Diner Desserts by Tish Boyle

I have made many a rice pudding in my day (I had a favorite recipe.) However, I now have a new fav. "Rum Raisin Rice Pudding" on page 108. And I found a link, so I don't even have to type it.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/saras-secrets/rum-raisin-rice-pudding-recipe/index.html

I followed the recipe, mostly to a T. I did, however, use Jasmine rice instead of long grain. It cooked faster that way and was very delicious. My only complaint is that it is more labor intensive than my previous favorite.  But, it was well worth it.

The other dessert I made was "Sky High Lemon Meringue Pie" on page 42.

http://www.chroniclebooks.com/landing-pages/Chronicle/excerpt/0811824497-e1.html

And yay for finding a recipe link for this one, too!!

I actually remembered to take a picture:

I don't remember the last time I made this. It wasn't hard, but, it was time consuming. Lots of stirring and boiling and more stirring and more boiling.  I followed this one almost to a T, except I didn't have any lemon zest. I just went a little bit heavy on the lemon juice concentrate.  I also didn't add the salt, since I didn't have any unsalted butter. It didn't taste strange, so that worked, too.

I chilled it (vs room temp) and it was great! I will be making this (and the other recipe), again.

That's it for today.

Till next time...

A Tail of Two Kitties

One day C#2 and I were visiting our friends and there were kittens.

C#2 was totally smitten.

She repeatedly asked me, "Can I have a kitten? Can I have a kitten? Can I have a kitten?"

"No way Jose!" Who is she kiddin'?!

After some thought and a discussion with her Dad, it was decided there were some kittens to be had.

When we returned to the farm to retrieve her new cats, an adventure ensued. And that is a fact.

The black and white was friendly.

The calico not so much. 

When it was time to leave, the black and white was safely stashed in the box.  The calico, however, ran like a fox.

She ran under a pile of wood. She would not come out and that was where she stood.

After some smart thinking, C#2 and friend came up with a solution on how to bring this to an end.

After putting on protective gloves. They forced her out with a shove.

Her claws were bared, and her hisses were loud.

But, once she was caught, no harm was allowed.

The kittens were boxed and sent to their new home.

And after such a traumatic fright, they just wanted to be left alone.

I am sure that they will be making friends with everyone, in the days to come...

Princess George and Princess Hissyfitz about one month later.

They have a rough life.

A new hiding spot...

I have a story to tell about the new kitties, but, it's a work in progress. However, after putting up the last blog  (today) about the fish and the newly organized books, one of the new kittens did this:

Of course, I ran to get the camera.  but, then we have to discourage her from doing this ---- since I don't want her (or her sister) on the counter.

There ya go. Two "blogs" in one day!

Till next time...

Beer Battered Fish!

I am trying to eat what is actually in my freezer and I came upon three swai fish fillets.  There was a discussion sometime in the previous week about beer battered fish.  So I figured, I would do that.

I knew I had a recipe sitting around somewhere, but, where could it be?!?! I looked through my many, MANY cookbooks -- and you know I have many. And I found one!

But, first speaking of many cookbooks, I found a way to store even more cookbooks!!! You know that you can never have too many.

What happened was, I was getting something (I don't even remember what) and everything started to avalanche onto the floor. *Sigh*  Just what I needed to do. An unintended clean up/task.  However as I worked on shoving everything back into their correct position, it occurred to me that if I stacked these delightful cookbooks horizontally, I could actually see/fit more. Whoohoo! 

Anyway, back to my original story.  I had purchased Betty Crocker: Bisquick to the Rescue book from a bargain basement type store and remembered that their was a recipe for beer battered fish.  Not only was it a quick find, but, it was quick to make, too!

I even found a link, for the recipe, on the lovely internet.  I don't even have to type it out.

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/beer-battered-fish/8cd22903-e917-4d7e-af18-c04051be3d30

I did add paprika, pepper and granulated garlic to the batter for more flavor. It tasted fantastic!

If you want to find it in the book, it's on page 177.

I also made steak fries and squash.  The fries were a hit! The squash ----- not so much...

I liked the squash, but, for some reason the peeps in my house don't.  Their loss.

That's it for today.

Till next time....