Oatmeal Crispies refrigerator cookies

These oatmeal crispies have a family reputation of my father and his sisters as children and teenagers  sneaking into fridge and eating the dough. When my grandma was ready to cook the cookies she would find there was not much cookie dough left. After making the dough, I decided I would taste it just to see what all the hype was about the legend of the cookie dough. I can now say I understand why they ate the dough, it was really good! After cooking the dough I called my father up to ask him of they were suppose to be crunchy, and not soft. Because I had followed the recipe I was unsure if I'd done something wrong. Yep they are called oatmeal crispies because they are dunking cookie. Because I drink almond milk I wondered how they would taste... These cookies are so good! All around these cookies were a fun and easy treat, to take down memory lane with my father and aunts. Thanks for the stories y'all.

Oatmeal crispies refrigerator cookies

1 cup of shortening               1 tsp salt
1 cup of brown sugar            1 tsp soda
1 cup of granulated sugar     3 cups of oatmeal
2 beaten eggs.                      1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups of flour

Cream shortening and sugars together. Add eggs and vanilla, beat well.  Add sifted dry ingredients. Add oatmeal and chopped walnuts; mix well. Shape in a log roll. Wrap in waxes paper and chill overnight. Slice 1/4 inch thick; bake on ungreased cookie sheet on 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Really good sugar cookies

These sugar cookies have so many memories for me and my family. I personally can remember many years of walking through the front door after school and the house was filled with the sweet sound of Christmas music playing. I could smell the sweet scent of sugar cookies cooking in the kitchen. My mom has made dozens and dozens of these sugar cookies for neighbors, friends, teacher, and over the past 12 years son in laws. These sugar cookies have a soft place in my heart because whenever I see my mom making them it takes me back to the holidays during my childhood.

That is when the green and red frosting with sprinkles and colored sugar was placed on the counter waiting to be decorated, placed on plates and handed out to those we were happy to share with. So thank you mom for savoring these memories and keeping the sugar cookie recipe alive!

Really good sugar cookies

1 1/2 cups of sugar             1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups of shortening     3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp salt                       2 Tbs milk
1 1/2 tsp baking powder     1 Tbs vanilla
4 1/2 cups of flour

Mix sugar, shortening; eggs, vanilla and milk together.  Mix dry ingredients together except flour. Then add together, mix well. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Roll out dough and cut out with cookie cutters. Bake on 400 for 8-10 minutes. Be careful with the time because everyone's ovens are heated differently. You want the cookie soft, so take them out before the edges of the cookie browns.

Buttercream frosting

1/2 cup of softened butter
1/2 cup of shortening
1 1/2 tsp of vanilla
5 cups or 1 bag of powdered sugar
3 Tbs milk
Cream butter and shortening, add vanilla and gradually add sugar. Add milk one Tbs at a time and beat at high speed until light and fluffy. Add food coloring; frost cookies and enjoy!

Chili and Cornbread Pinterest Style

We have found several fun and creative ideas on Pinterest that we set out to try.  This idea is one of them.  I made my homemade Chili Recipe and Corn bread recipe and recreated the Pinterest idea. 

We discovered NEXT time we should not use a Belgian Waffle Iron to make the Corn Waffle but, instead use a regular Waffle Iron.  So, without further ado........Chili on Cornbread Waffle. DELISH!

Chili

1-2 lbs. Ground Beef
1 Can Kidney Beans
1 Can Black Beans
1 Can Chili Beans
1 Can Great Northern White Beans
1 Can Pinto Beans
1 Quart freezer bag Corn (that has been previously bagged from our garden)
1 Packet Chili mix (western family)

Brown Ground Beef in a big soup pot.  Open all cans of beans and add to the pot.  Add corn and packet of Chili mix.  Heat to Boil. 

Corn Bread

1 Cup Cornmean
1 Cup Flour
1/3 C Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 Egg, Beaten
1/4 Cup oil
1 Cup milk

 Mix all Dry ingredients together.  Add Egg, Oil and milk.  Stir until combined. 
Place 1/4 C in Waffle Iron. 

Putting the Two Recipes Together

Cook Chili.  Cook Waffle.  Place Chili on top of Waffle and top with Cheese, Sour Cream, and any other toppings you desire.  ENJOY!!

Homemade pizza has rules? Well we broke them!

 When I was first married to my sweet husband, I thought pizza was made when you spread the dough into a pan and put some sauce on the dough and add some toppings that clearly everybody likes. Well I was wrong! I learned very quickly that there is an art to making pizza and it is not a quick meal there are steps that need to be taken and ways that the dough needs to be neatly rolled out into a perfect circle and placed on a specific pan so that the crust cooks perfectly to a golden color. Some toppings cannot go on the same pizza together thus it contaminates the flavor.  If your making a pepperoni pizza the pepperoni's need to be neatly spaced in perfect symmetrical circles so the slices have even amounts of pepperonis. Over years of experimenting with pizza dough recipes and pizza sauces we have found the perfect pizza recipe for our family, and would like to share it with all of you.
 ingredients you will need
Flour
Sugar
Yeast
Salt
Water
Oil
Contadina Pizza Sauce
Feta Cheese
Sweet basil chopped


Pizza Dough:
3 cups of flour
2 Tbs sugar
2 1/4 tsp or 1 envelope of yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup of warm water
2 Tbs olive oil
Mix all the ingredients together in a bread mixer.
We use our trusty kitchen aid so that it mixes the ingredients evenly because this is important when making recipes with yeast in them. Once you have all the ingredients mixed evenly place a towel over the dough and let it sit for 45 minutes. Once the dough has risen you can evenly separate it into two balls of dough. place the dough on a lightly floured surface and begin with rolling the dough out from the middle out to the edges. The heavier the rolling pin the easier it is to roll the dough. Once you have the dough rolled out to the size you would like and the edges are rounded, sprinkle some corn meal on the desired pan and place the dough on the pan and then tuck under any edges that hang over the edge of the pan. We prefer to use a pizza stone because we like the bottom of the pizza to be more crispy then a bread consistency. When your pizza dough is ready, spread on the pizza sauce we use Contadina Pizza sauce. you can purchase this in any grocery store, in a can or bottle. When your finished you can place your topping on if you prefer cheese first or cheese last it is to your liking. We use a mix of mozzerella and munster shredded cheese. We have not been able to find a packaged mixture of the two in stores so we just shred it and mix it before placing it on the pizza. Place it in your oven on 425 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and cheese is melted.
The pizza I chose to post was one Natalie and I made when our husbands were not home so we could try toppings we knew our husbands would not care for. I also have yet to perfect the dough to be rolled out neatly to the edges, but I have also learned that looks are not everything because even though this pizza did not look neat and perfect like one you would buy from a pizza place or my husbands perfect pizza, it was going to taste amazing. We made the dough and let it rise and then rolled it out and place it in the oven on 425 degrees for 8 minutes, pulled it out of the oven and spread about a 1/4 cup on the center and sprinkled chopped sweet basil and feta cheese on top and then placed it back into the oven for 5 more minutes and Wa-La! it was Delish!

It all comes down to Pie!

Our whole adventure began with two delightful and mouth watering pies!  Loni and I, decided making pies sounded like fun.  So, we set to work making pies and in the process decided to make "baking day" a weekly happening.
After a few weeks, we came to the conclusion that we needed to start making our Grandmas' recipes to share with all those who enjoyed them, along with us.  We have had several weeks of fun as the kids play while we bake.  Afterwards, we enjoy the finished product, all while enjoy the memories of sisterhood.


Coconut Cream Pie

Crust

1 Cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 C shortening
2-3 tablespoons cold water

Mix flour,salt together.  Cut in Shortening with pastry blender until crumbly.  Add water and mix and knead until all mixed together.

Roll out and place in pie plate to desired liking.

Bake 450  for 8-10 minutes.

Coconut Cream

2 1/4 C whole milk
3/4 C sugar
3 Eggs
1/4 C corn starch
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 toasted coconut
1 tablespoon butter


Whisk 2 cups milk and sugar together.  Place the pan over medium heat and bring the liquid up to a simmer.  Whisk the egg yolks together.  Temper the hot milk into the egg yolks.  Whisk the egg yolk mixture into the hot milk mixture.
In a small bowl, dissolve cornstarch in the remaining milk, making a slurry.  Whisk the slurry into the hot milk mixture.
Bring the liquid up to a boil and reduce simmer.  Cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until the filling is thick, about 4-6 minutes.  Fold in vanilla, coconut, and butter.  Mix well.
Pour filling into crust and let cool completely.  Place in refrigerator for a few hours.

Whipped Cream

1/2 pint heavy cream
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Whip cream with mixer.  Be careful not to over beat or else it will turn to consistency of butter.  When it begins to thicken, add sugar and vanilla, stir.  Place on top of the coconut cream pie. 


Toasted Coconut

We like to toast our own coconut.  So we just take sweetened coconut and place it in a skillet on low heat and stir until the coconut is toasted.
*We place coconut in the pie crust before the cream filling.  Then more on top of the cream filling before the whipped cream.  Then even more on top afterwards.


Fresh Strawberry Pie

Cut up fresh strawberries
Make Strawberry Jell-0 as pie filling on box

Pour into cooked crust.
Enjoy!