Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

As promised, here is the recipe for the cookies I mentioned yesterday!  I haven't made them yet and I won't be making them until next week, but who could go wrong with this combination?!

According to the internet, they should look like this.

2/3 cup of brown sugar

2/3 cup of butter or margarine, softened

2 large eggs

1-1/2 cup oats raw

1-1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 ounces Craisins

2/3 cup white chocolate chunks

Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and mix well.  Combine oats, flour, baking soda and salt in a seperate bowl.  Add butter mixture slowly, mixing well after each addition.

Stir in Craisins and white chocolate chunks.  Drop by rounded teaspoon onto ungreased cookie pans.  Bake 10-12 minutes at 375*F. 

Makes approximately 2-1/2 dozen cookies.

Sounded yummy right??  

Pumpkin Galore!

I cannot believe that Thanksgiving is one week away!  I'm excited about it, but also a little weirded out that it's almost here already!  Where has time gone this year?!

I can't wait to start preparing, making goodies and enjoying family and the little traditions John and I have started over the years!  Our first married Thanksgiving!  Nothing in our plans will change from the past few years, but it's still a fun little milestone!

I thought I'd share some dessert recipes today that are or at least look delicious so you can start prepping for them if you're so inclined to try any.

I found this recipe for Pumpkin Cheesecake online.  

A local radio station mentioned it this week and it looks tasty and easy!  I haven't tried it yet, but it's tempting!

I've also mentioned the Pumpkin Cookies and Pumpkin Bread here.

Finally, the traditional dessert: Pumpkin Pie!  

(The link also has a recipe for Apple Pie if pumpkin isn't your thing)

And if you're looking for something for breakfast, the lovely Meg from Henning Love posted an amazing Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll recipe too!  I can't wait to try that one this weekend!

What are your favorite Thanksgiving traditions??

Mine is running the Turkey Trot 5K the morning of Thanksgiving every year, then getting ready for the first meal (John's family's) while watching the Macy's Day parade.  And spending the day with our families!

What desserts do you have every Thanksgiving?? 

Mixing Up Mondays

I'll never complain about it being October (it's my favorite month) but, where did the year go?!  I cannot believe that we're in the 10th month of the year already!  Goodness.  Before you know it, we'll be talking about Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Walmart has skipped Halloween and Thanksgiving and already has their Christmas stuff out.  Really?!

This weekend, we spent all day Saturday on the lawn and garden.  The day included two trips to Walmart and Home Depot, oh the horror joy!  It was time to mulch to the flower bed, replace grass from a certain incident that happened a few weeks ago and get a little festive for fall.  Oh, and plant a garden!  I'm excited for fresh veggies!  Thankfully, the weather was perfect for spending some time outside...and that really got me in the mood for fall goodies!

Pumpkin recipes anyone??

My first favorite pumpkin recipe is from Joy the Baker.

These pumpkin cookies are now a fall staple at our house.  I make myself wait to bake them until a little further into October because once I start baking them, we eat the whole batch and then I bake more and we eat more and it becomes a vicious cycle...until I loathe the thought of eating one more cookie.  I think they're that good (so does John).  They're the consistency of muffin tops (win!) and are so yummy.  Joy recommends butterscotch chips, which are good, but I experimented with white chocolate chips and like that much better!

Pumpkin bread is another favorite.  I'm going to share a family recipe with you for this one.  My grandma has been making this bread forever and it's yummy!

Ingredients:
1 cup oil
3 cups sugar
4 eggs, beaten
1 can pumpkin
2/3 cup of water
3-1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon nuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Cream together oil and sugar.  Add all remaining ingredients, mix well.  Add batter to greased loaf pan and bake at 350 for 1 hour.  Yields 4 loaves.

I hope you enjoy the recipes!  They're two of my favorites for fall!

Pumpkin Cookie Recipe

That fabulous little gem is a pumpkin cookie.  I got the recipe from Joy the Baker's blog.

They are perfect for fall and the consistency of a muffin top!  YUM!

Tips:

• I substitute white chocolate chips for the butterscotch chips...I like the flavors together better, but both are tasty.  
• You'll see below it calls for baking on parchment paper, if I don't have parchment paper, as I did not last night, I just spray a little Pam on a non-stick baking sheet and it worked just fine.  
• I also put all the pans in the oven at the same time without any problems.  I totaled three pans last night to fit all the cookies.

Without further adieu...

Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola or corn oil
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup butterscotch chips

Position a rack in the middle of the oven . Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and butter the paper.

Stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together in a medium bowl and set aside.  In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the eggs and sugar until smooth and lightened in color, about 1 minute.  Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing.  On low speed, mix the oil, pumpkin, and vanilla until blended.  Mix in the flour mixture to incorporate it.  Mix in the chips.

Using an ice cream scoop with a 1/4-cup capacity, scoop mounds of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing the cookies at least 2 1/2-inches apart.  You could also simply use a 1/4-cup measuring cup if you don’t have a  scoop.  Use a thin metal spatula to smooth and flatten the rounds.

Bake the  cookies one sheet at a time until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, about 16 minutes.  Cool them on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool cimpletely.

Dust the cooled cookies lightly with powdered sugar.  The cookies can be stored in a tightly covered container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

ENJOY!

Chocolate Chip Cake

Last weekend, I made a chocolate chip cake for dessert for one of our football parties.  It came out rather delicious.  

Here's the easy recipe:

1 pkg. yellow cake mix

1 pkg. chocolate instant pudding (small)

8 oz. sour cream

4 eggs

1/2 cup Wesson canola oil

6 oz. chocolate chips

Mix, beat 2 minutes.  Stir in choc chips. 350 degrees @ 45 minutes

It's easy, moist and tasty.  Enjoy!

Mixing Up Mondays

So, I've decided to write about recipes I have or am planning on trying on Mondays.  This week is Slow Cooker Jambalaya with Corn Muffins.  The food smelled so good as it was being prepared yesterday!  John helped me chop and cook up some sausage for it.  Then, last night, I was reminded I had dinner plans for Monday evening, so this meal will be enjoyed Tuesday instead.  Right now it's sitting in the crockpot in the fridge waiting for me.  It took about 20 minutes by the time everything was chopped, although I'm sure you could buy pre-sliced/chopped food from your grocery store to make it go a little faster. 

The Corn Muffins took about 5 minutes to prepare and they were yummy!  We split one yesterday just to taste test. 

*Pictures to come*

Jambalaya

What you need:

1 large onion, chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
4 celery ribs, chopped (I use outer stalks of celery hearts)
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 (28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cups smoked sausage, chopped (fully cooked)
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper sauce
1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined (uncooked)
4 cups cooked rice

Directions:Put everything in the slow cooker, except the shrimp and rice.
Turn on low for 7-8 hours
Add shrimp in for 30 minutes or until pink
Serve over rice
Makes 8 servings

Corn Muffins
What you need:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3/4 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degree Fahrenheit 

In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar, honey, eggs and salt. Mix in flour, cornmeal and baking powder; blend thoroughly. Stir in milk and corn. Pour or spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Makes 12 muffins.

This dinner is also a good way to get your veggies in!

I will let you know how it turns out, after I actually get to eat it!