Spring Break!

It's spring break in Oklahoma AND Texas, so my Texas grandkids came to spend the week with us.

Jake and Paige have been so much fun to have and they love playing with their cousins Kayley and Lyndey.

The weather has NOT been cooperating much and it's been pretty chilly most of the time.  Papa and Jake did try going fishing (which Jake loves to do) but it was just too cold.  We did make it to the three parks around here all in one day.  The three girls couldn't make up their minds what they wanted to do.  We also went to a nearby city to play at Leonardo's, an adventure discovery place.  Paige and I have done some embroidering on tea towels for Easter gifts.  (I'll be posting pictures of them later.)  She loves to choose the colors and watch the machine do it's thing!

Of course, we've played the Wii a lot, rented videos and even squeezed in some reading this afternoon just to please Mom.  Yesterday Paige and I made Apple Orchard Cookie Bars (good--see recipe below and today we made Molasses Cookies with the majority of them going to my son-in-law, Mike, who sprayed our yard the other day.  He loves those cookies and the kids do too.  Hope they leave him some!  Tomorrow we're going to see "Diary of a Wimpy Kid".  That should be fun for them.

They go home on Saturday and Friday night we are expecting snow.  Yuck!  I believe that is the first day of spring.   Snow on the first day of spring--that's just wrong.

Here's the recipe:

APPLE ORCHARD COOKIE BARS

1/2 c melted butter
1/2 c sugar
1 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
2 beaten eggs
1/2 c rolled oats
1 c peeled chopped apple
2 c flaked coconut
1 1/2 c flour

Melt butter, add the sugars and stir.  Add baking soda, salt, baking powder, vanilla, cinnamon, and beaten eggs.  Mix well.  Then add the oats, chopped apple and 1 1/2 cups of coconut. (Reserve 1/2 cup for on top.)  Add the flour and mix it all thoroughly.

Grease a 9 x 13 cake pan.  Spoon the dough in and smooth it with a rubber spatula.  Sprinkle the remaining coconut evenly on top.  Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes.  This was more like a cake than bars to me, but still delicious especially on the second day.  You can really taste the apples more and it is so moist!

Potato Pizza

On our cruise, we stopped at Hobart, Tasmania and really loved that area!  For lunch, we stopped at a local cafe and had an unusual pizza. 

Rob is usually a meat, meat, meat, pizza man.  And family knows that means on our usual pizza goes,  pork sausage,  ground beef, ham slices, and  weinies. (I know people out there are screaming when they hear hot dogs, but he loves it.)   Plus all the cheeses, sauce, etc.  Needless to say, this is not made often and definitely a thick pizza.  So when he agreed to try this new dish, I was amazed.

We LOVED it.  Let me describe it to you.  A thin bread crust, a white cheese (mozzarella ?), sliced potatoes, red onions and the kicker ingredient--ROSEMARY!  I tried to replicate it the other night and did pretty well.  Needed a thinner crust though.  Lots of carbs, needless to say, but so good.

I love potatoes of any kind, prepared anyway.  Can you mess up a potato??  The only exceptions are sweet potatoes and baked potato chips.  Why bother?!!

Secret ingredient sweet bread!

This morning I tried a new recipe--a quick sweet bread.  It's similar to banana bread but no bananas.  It's also going to be a fun recipe to share with friends and family because of one special ingredient.  I'm not going to even tell them what it is.  Well, maybe I will if they like it!

Now don't be turned off when I tell you what it is, because when baked you cannot tell that it's in there.  Are you ready??  A can of Pork and Beans! The recipe is from a book by Joanne Fluke--The Plum Pudding Murder.  All her Hannah Swensen mysteries have lots of recipes in them because Hannah has a bakery, and Fluke incorporates the recipes in her stories.  Her books are quick, easy reads and I love reading the recipes. They all are a little different from the usual things I make.

PORK AND BEAN BREAD  (I'm changing the name on my recipe to "Secret Ingredient Bread")

1 15-oz can of Pork and Beans, undrained, pureed with blender or food processor
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup vegetable oil (not canola or olive)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
3 cups flour

Stir eggs with beans. Add oil and vanilla, mixing well.  Add sugar, then mix in soda, powder, salt and cinnamon.  Mix all this well and add nuts.  Add the flour in one cup increments, stirring after each addition.  Spoon batter into 4 small, greased and sugared loaf pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes.

I also made the Easy Cheesy Biscuit recipe that was in the book.  Really good!  The recipe had cream of tarter, sour cream and two different cheeses.  This would really be good with stew or beans.

My local library has several of her books.  This is her website:
http://www.murdershebaked.com/index.htm

Try one, they're delightful!

Misty, yucky day--so it's a BAKING DAY!

Today it is just one of those days, not raining, just misting and chilly--enough so you don't want to do anything. So it's time to go to the kitchen and bake.

I decided to do pumpkin bread. It just makes the house smell so good and it IS good.

The recipe is one given to me in 1966 (I know, I'm so old) by a co-worker in the office where I was working. She was a fantastic baker and shared all her terrific recipes. It's very easy and quick.

PUMPKIN BREAD

3 cups sugar
1 cup salad oil
4 eggs
2 cups pumpkin or one can
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
2/3 cup water
3 1/3 cup flour
2 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. vanilla
chopped pecans, optional (But who wouldn't want them)

Mix together and bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until done.
Makes 4 medium loaves.

New Look!

Thanks to my computer whiz daughter, I have a new header design and I love it! She found just the right look with the quilt/fabric and the hearts that look like cookies. And pink and brown is my favorite color combination right now. Thanks so much Julie!

Today was another wet, lazy day in Oklahoma. It seemed like a day for a casserole and since I had turkey leftovers, I made turkey tetrazzinni. It was a new recipe and really good. Here it is:

Turkey Tetrazzini

6 slices cooked turkey (1 pound) (I chopped mine)
2/3 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup oleo
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
1/4 tsp. dry mustard
2 cups milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 tbsp. sherry
1 can (4 oz) sliced mushrooms, undrained
1 pkg (7 oz) spaghetti, cooked, drained

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook and stir onion in butter until tender. Blend in flour and seasonings. Remove from heat. Gradually add milk. Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until mixture thickens. Add 2/3 cup of cheese. Add sherry and mushrooms to cheese sauce. Place layer of spaghetti in 12 x 8 inch baking dish. Cover with layer of turkey and layer of sauce. Repeat the layers. Sprinkle remaining 1/3 cup cheese over top. Bake 25 minutes. Yummy! Add a salad and some hot bread and you're set for a great meal!