I found this recipe on allrecipes.com.  Very easy and oh. my. word. sooooo good.  I just got this out of the oven, let it cool for 20 minutes and just sat down and ate half the loaf myself.  Sadly, I’m not even kidding.  Perfect for a cold, winter day.  The house smells great and I’m hoping some lasts until tomorrow morning so I can eat it with my morning coffee.  Enjoy!

Sugar Cinnamon Quick Bread:

1/3 cup white sugar

2 t. cinnamon

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 T. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

1 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a 9×5 loaf pan.  Mix flour, baking powder, salt and 1 cup of sugar.  Add egg, milk and oil.  Stir until just blended.  Pour half of the batter into the loaf pan.  Sprinkle with cinnamon and 1/3 cup of sugar.  Cover with remaining batter.  Sprinkle with a little more cinnamon and sugar.  Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes.  Remove to a cooling rack and let cool completely.  Enjoy!

Ok, so my mom has been making these bars my entire life.  She keeps the original ingredients in the house at all times.  We are somewhat snowed in today, so I’ve been cooking.  I’ve been trying to use up extra stuff laying around and as I was searching through the cupboard, I saw the lone can of sweetened condensed milk.  This made me think of my mom’s seven layer bars.  I pulled out the recipe and started grabbing all the ingredients.  When I got to the third missing ingredient, I decided to just make up my own recipe today.  So here is my version of the classic seven layer bars.  Enjoy!

Seven Layer Bars:

1 sleeve graham crackers, crushed

1 stick butter, melted

1 bag caramel bits

1 bag toffee bits

1 bag chocolate chips

1 bag chopped pecans

1 can sweetened condensed milk

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 10×10 pan.  Melt butter.  Crush graham crackers.  Mix butter and graham crackers.  Pat into the bottom of a 10×10 pan.  Sprinkle with caramel bits.  Sprinkle with toffee bits.  Sprinkle with chocolate chips.  Sprinkle with pecans.  Pour can of sweetened condensed milk over entire pan.  Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  Cool completely.  Enjoy!

I found this recipe in the latest issue of Food Network Magazine.  They looked so good I just had to try them.  These would be great for your upcoming Super Bowl party!  The only thing I did not have was celery, they might have been just a little better with something green, like celery or even lettuce.  The original also had a recipe for homemade ranch dressing, but I just used store bought.  These were easy and tasted great.  Enjoy!

Buffalo Chicken Subs:

2 cans cooked shredded chicken breasts

2 T. dark brown sugar

2 t. paprika

1/2 t. cayenne pepper

1 T. olive oil

1 cup buffalo wing sauce, such as Frank’s

salt/pepper

1 loaf of soft French bread

1 cup crumbled blue cheese

ranch dressing

celery or lettuce

Heat chicken and olive oil (and chopped celery if you are using that) in a Dutch oven or skillet over medium heat.  Season with some salt and pepper.  Let cook for 10 minutes.  Add brown sugar, paprika, cayenne pepper and wing sauce and let simmer for 20 minutes.  Stir occasionally.  When ready to serve, cut French loaf length wise.  Place blue cheese crumbles along the bottom half of the loaf.  Spread chicken on top.  Ranch dressing on the top sub half.  Top with lettuce if you decide to use it.  Cut into appetizer size bites, or full sub servings.  Enjoy!

I decided to enter the chili cookoff at church this past weekend.  Since I do not like chili, I had to find a recipe that I could make that I might want to eat.  I went online and found this one on Taste of Home’s website.  It turned out great and I came in runner up in the medium heat category.  Not bad for my first try.  Enjoy!

Pumpkin Spice Chili:

2 lbs ground beef

1 medium onion

2 can hot chili beans

2 bottles chili sauce

2 cans condensed tomato soup, undiluted

1 cup canned pumpkin

2 t. pumpkin pie spice

1 t. salt

1 t. pepper

1/8 cup chili powder

1/8 cup hot sauce (like Frank’s)

In a large Dutch oven, cook beef and onions over medium heat until no longer pink.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Add water if desired to reduce thickness.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat.  Cover and simmer for 2 hours.  Now I like a lot of heat, but feel free to leave out the hot sauce and not add as much chili powder.  Otherwise, enjoy!

I found this recipe on Pinterest a few weeks back and they were so pretty I just had to pin them.  I’m trying to make a new recipe every Saturday, and so far into the new year I’ve done pretty well.  These only use 4 ingredients, it does not get much easier than this.  Easy, pretty and oh so good.  Enjoy!

Lemon Crinkle Cookies:

1 box lemon cake mix

1 egg

1 – 8 oz container of whipped topping (Cool Whip) thawed

powdered sugar to roll cookies in

Mix cake mix, egg and whipped topping together.  The batter is very sticky and gooey.  Drop large tablespoonfuls of the dough into a bowl of powdered sugar and roll in sugar.  Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges are golden brown at 350 degrees.  Cool on sheet for 1 minute and then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.  Enjoy!

I found this recipe today in the latest issue of Midwest Living magazine.  The original recipe called for pecans in the recipe, but I left those out.  It also called for sea salt sprinkles on top, but I only did that for half the batch.  Either way, they taste delicious!  Enjoy!

Caramel Oatmeal Cookies:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 t. salt

1/2 t. baking soda

1 t. baking powder

1 t. cinnamon

2 eggs

2 t. vanilla

1 1/2 cup flour

3 cups rolled oats

1 eleven ounce pkg caramel baking bits

coarse sea salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large mixing bowl, beat butter on medium high speed for 30 seconds.  Add sugars, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.  Beat until combined, scraping sides of the bowl.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Beat in flour.  Then hand stir in oats and caramel baking bits.  Drop dough mounds 2 inches apart on parchment lined cookie sheets.  Sprinkle with sea salt.  Bake for 12-14 minutes.  Cool on cookie sheets.  Transfer to wire rack, cool.

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com last week and had a perfect cold winters day to try it out.  I switched a few things from the original recipe, but it turned out so good.  A real comfort food for a cold Michigan day.  Enjoy!

Crock Pot Chicken Pot Pie

1 can chunk chicken

4 medium potatoes, diced

1 can sliced mushrooms

1 cup chopped celery

2 cans cream of chicken soup

6 cubes chicken bouillon dissolved in 1 cup water

2 t. garlic salt

1 T. black pepper

1 bag frozen mixed vegetables

Combine all ingredients except frozen vegetables in crock pot, stirring well.  Cook on high for 5 hours.  Then stir in frozen vegetables and cook for 1 additional hour.  Bake 1 tube of refrigerator biscuits just before serving.  Put on a plate, cover with chicken stew and serve.  Yum!

Just thought I’d share a few pics from our family thanksgiving yesterday.  I tried a bunch of new recipes, but only a few really stood out as keepers.  I made the Pioneer Woman’s soul sweet ‘tators.  I also made a recipe for cranberry shortbread out of Bon Appetit magazine.  My favorite new recipe of the day was the buttered apple cider from Sandra Lee’s Semi-Homemade magazine!  I’ll include these three recipes in this post.  I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving day.  Other than the fact that my husband was sick all day, we had a wonderful day as a family and I felt blessed all day long.
GIVE THANKS
WITH A GRATEFUL HEART
GIVE THANKS
TO THE HOLY ONE
GIVE THANKS
FOR HE’S GIVEN
JESUS CHRIST, HIS SON

AND NOW LET THE WEAK SAY
I AM STRONG
LET THE POOR SAY
I AM RICH
BECAUSE OF WHAT
THE LORD HAS DONE
FOR US
GIVE THANKS…

Buttered Apple Cider:

Mix 1 stick of softened butter, 1/4 cup light brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon each of nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves until combined.  Put the butter on a piece of plastic wrap and roll into a 1-inch thick log.  Wrap and chill 1 hour.  Pour 3 cups of apple cider into a slow cooker, cover and heat on high for 1 hour.  Divide 1 cup bourbon among 6 glasses.  Top each with hot cider and a slice of the spiced butter…YUMMY!
Cranberry Shortbread

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar, divided

1/4 t. salt

1 stick chilled unsalted butter, cut into slices

1 – 10 oz bag fresh cranberries

1/4 cup fresh grapefruit juice

1 t. grated grapefruit zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray an 8×8 pan.  Whisk flour, 1/4 cup sugar and salt in a medium bowl.  Using your fingertips, rub butter into dry ingredients until mix resembles coarse meal.  Transfer to prepared pan, press evenly onto bottom of pan.  Prick dough with fork.  Bake shortbread until cooked through and golden pale, about 25 minutes.  Let cool completely.

Bring remaining 1/2 cup sugar, 1 1/2 cups cranberries and grapefruit juice to a simmer in a small saucepan and cook, stirring occasionally until cranberries burst and mix is syrupy, about 8 minutes.  Stir in remaining cranberries and cook until skins begin to split, about 3 minutes.  Let cool.  Spread cooled cranberry topping over shortbread.  Scatter zest over.  Cut and serve.  MMMMM…

Soul Sweet ‘Taters

4 medium sweet potatoes

1 cup white sugar

1 cup milk

2 large eggs

1 t vanilla extract

1 t salt

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup flour

6 T unsalted butter at room temp

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Put the sweet potatoes on the oven rack and bake until fork tender, about 1 hour.  When potatoes are finished cooking, let cool slightly.  Slice them open lengthwise and scrape out the flesh with a fork into a large bowl.  Increase oven temp to 400 degrees.  Add the white sugar, milk, eggs, vanilla and salt to the bowl with the potatoes.  Mash the mix with a potato masher until combined and slightly lumpy.  In a separate bowl, mash the dark brown sugar, pecans, flour and butter until crumbly.  Spread the potato mixture into a large baking dish, sprinkle the crumb mixture all over the top.  Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes.  AWESOME!

I pulled this out of Everyday Cooking Martha Stewart.  Finally found a nice pineapple at Costco today and it reminded me of this recipe.  Time to try it out!  When I tasted the batter before cooking, I was a little nervous.  This is not a very sweet cake, great for those of you that do not like overly sweet frosting.  But when I took it out of the oven and tried a piece, YUM!  It is so good.  Enjoy!

Jamaican Spiced Pineapple Upside-Down Cake:

9 T butter, divided

1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar

1 pineapple, peeled, cored and sliced

1 can coconut milk

3 large eggs

2 T lemon or lime juice

2 t vanilla extract

1 T baking powder

2 t ground allspice

1 t salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Melt 5 T butter and pour into a 9″ square baking pan, tilting to coat bottom.  Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of sugar and arrange pineapple slices in rows.  In a microwave safe bowl, microwave coconut milk and remaining 4 T of butter until butter is melted, but not too hot.  Mix in remaining cup of sugar.  Add eggs, lemon or lime juice and vanilla.  Add flour, baking powder, allspice and salt.  Mix until smooth.  Pour batter over pineapple and spread.  Bake until cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 1 hour.  Let cool for 1 hour.  Invert onto platter before serving.  Serve warm.

I found this recipe in Phyllis Hoffman Celebrate Fall 2012 magazine.  I’ve been waiting for fall season to make this yummy looking cake.  And today was the day.  The recipe below is the single cake size.  I doubled this recipe today and made two 9″ cakes.  My neighbors were the lucky recipient of the extra cake 🙂  Hopefully they enjoyed it as much as I did!  This would be perfect for after-church coffee time or even Thanksgiving morning.  Enjoy!

Apple Cinnamon Upside Down Cake:

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened and divided

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar, divided

3 large eggs

1/2 t. vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 t. baking powder

1/4 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 t. ground cinnamon

1 large granny smith apple, peeled and thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray 1 9″ cake pan with baking spray.  In large bowl, beat 1/2 cup butter at medium high speed with an electric mixer until creamy.  Gradually add sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar, beating until fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat in vanilla.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Add flour mix to butter mix alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mix.  Melt remaining 1/4 cup butter.  Pour into bottom of prepared pan.  In a medium bowl, combine remaining 3/4 cup of brown sugar and cinnamon.  Sprinkle over melted butter in pan.  Arrange apple slices in a single layer over brown sugar mixture.  Pour batter over apple slices.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a wooden pick comes out clean.  Cool in pan for 10 minutes.  Carefully invert onto serving dish.  Serve warm.  Enjoy!

And my son loved it too!  Homerun!