Oat Delights
2 c. white sugar
6 tbsp. cocoa
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. coconut
3 c. rolled oats
Melt butter in a medium saucepan over med-high heat. Add sugar, cocoa, and milk. Mix very well, bring to a boil.
Mix together coconut and oats in a bowl. Add chocolate mixture to oat mixture. Mix well.
Spoon balls onto wax paper and refrigerate.
**This recipe makes a TON, because I got it from my mother-in-law and she has 11 kids. But they freeze really well.
strawberry lemon squares
1 3/4 c. flour
1 1/2 c. rolled oats
1 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. allspice
1/3 c. melted butter
1/4 c. canola oil
Filling:
1 c. raspberry or strawberry jam
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. grated lemon peel
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 13X9 inch baking pan. (I just used one of my cake pans.)
To prepare filling, combine jam, lemon juice and lemon peel. Mix well. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combing flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and allspice. Mix well. Add melted butter and oil, tossing with a fork until coarse crumbs form. Set aside 1 cup of crumb mixture. Firmly press remaining crumb mixture into prepared pan.
Spread filling over crumb mixture in pan. Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. Bake until topping is golden, about 25 minutes. Place on a wire rack and cool completely. Slice into 32 bars.
NUTRITIONAL FACTS:
Calories: 113 (31% from fat)
Carbohydrates: 19 g
Protein: 1 g
Sodium: 60 mg
Fat: 4 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
velveeta noodle bake
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. flour
1 c. milk
1 c. velveeta cheese cut into 1/2 in. cubes
2 c. pasta, cooked, drained.
1/2 c. grated cheddar
6 or 7 crackers, crumbled – we like vegetable thins or vegetable Breton crackers
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Melt butter in saucepan over med. heat. Whisk in flour; cook 2 min., stirring constantly. Gradually stir in milk; cook until mixture boils and thickens, stirring constantly. Add velveeta; cook 3 min. or until melted, stirring frequently. Stir in pasta.
Spoon into casserole dish. Sprinkle with cheddar and crackers.
Bake 20 min. or until heated through.
**So, I know that velveeta isn’t for everyone. Even my husband and I, while it was super tasty, could only have one bowl each. If you like processed cheese, you’ll love this. There was a bit of a communication hiccup between my father-in-law and I when he went to buy cheese, and he thought I meant velveeta. So now I have a big block of it in my fridge, and since we don’t eat a lot of processed cheese, the only thing I could think to do with it was to make cheese sauce. For what it was, it turned out great, but like I said, it’s not for everyone.
turkey pot pie
1 sweet pie crust (no sugar), or double recipe savory pie crust.
4 tbsp. butter, divided
1 sm. onion, minced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried basil
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp. chicken bouillon
2 c. water or chicken stock
3 potatoes peeled and cubed
1 1/2 c. cooked turkey
3 tbsp. flour
1/2 c. milk
Preheat oven to 425 F. Roll out bottom pie crust. Press into 10″ pie plate. Set aside.
Melt 2 tbsp. butter in a large skillet over med. heat; add the onion, carrots, peas, corn and spices. Cook and stir until the vegetables are soft. Stir in the bouillon and water. Bring mixture to a boil. Stir in the potatoes and cook until tender but still firm.
In a med. saucepan, melt the remaining 2 tbsp. butter. Stir in the turkey and flour. Add the milk and heat through. Stir the turkey mixture into the veggie mixxture and cook until thickened. Cool slightly, then pour mixture into the unbaked pie shell. Roll out top crust and place on top of filling.
Bake in preheated oven for 15 min. Reduce temp to 350 and bake for another 20 min.
pumpkin pie with whipped cream
1 sweet pie crust (makes a double, so I just use one and wrap the other up and put it in the freezer. Or if you have a family like mine, just double the recipe and make 2 pies!)
1 15 oz. can pure pumpkin
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 c. sugar
1 tbsp. flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
3 eggs
1 c. whipping cream
1/4 c. milk
3 tbsp. dark rum
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 13 in. round. Transfer to 10 in. pie dish. Fold edge under and crimp decoratively. Pierce crust all over with fork. Freeze 30 min.
Preheat oven to 450 F. Bake crust until pale golden, pressint with back of fork if bubbles form, about 15 min. Transfer to rack and cool. Reduce oven temp. to 375 F.
Meanwhile, prepare filling:
Whisk first 10 ingredients in large bowl until smooth. Whisk in all remaining ingredients until well blended. Pour filling into crust.
Bake pie 20 min. Reduce oven temp to 325 F. Bake until filling no longer moves in center when dish is shaken, about 30 min. longer. Transfer pie to rack and cool completely.
(Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temp before serving.)
***So, my can of pumpkin worked out to only about 13.5oz., so it was a bit moist. What I could have done was cut back on the whipping cream or even left out the milk and it would have balanced out the lack of that 1.5oz.
***I’m also not going to tell you how to make whipped cream. 
chewy gingerbread cookies
These cookies are effing delicious. A perfect autumn treat.
3/4 c. butter
3/4 c. shortening
2 c. white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c. molasses
4 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. allspice
2 tsp. ginger
Preheat oven to 350.
Beat butter and shortening until creamy. Add sugar. Beat in eggs and molasses.
Mix together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice and ginger.
Add dry ingredients to creamy mixture.
Taking rounded teaspoonfuls, roll into balls. Dip in sugar. Place sugar side up on cookie sheet. Bake for about 13 minutes. Do not over-bake and they will be soft and chewy.
**Don’t crowd the cookies! They spread out quite a bit.
white chocolate and cranberry cookies
This recipe is a total rip-off from here.
2/3 c. white sugar
2/3 c. brown sugar
1 c. butter
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
pinch of salt
1 c. white chocolate chips
1/2 c. dried cranberries/craisins
Cream sugars and butter. Whip in egg and vanilla. Add flour, soda and salt. Add chocolate chips and craisins.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Spoon batter onto a cookie sheet. I like to roll them into nice little balls so they’re perfectly round and delicious.
Bake for 10 minutes. Easy peasy.
shortbread cookies
- 1 lb. soft butter
- 4.5 c. flour
- 1 c. icing sugar
Cream butter and sugar. Add flour, beat. Roll out, cut, and bake at 300 degrees for 10-15 minutes.
peanut butter balls
- 1 c. icing sugar
- 1 c. Rice Krispies
- 1 c. crunchy peanut butter
- 1 tbsp. butter
- water
- icing sugar
- coconut (as needed)
Cream butter, sugar and peanut butter. Add Rice Krispies. Roll by hand into bite-sized balls. Dip each ball into mixture of 1.5 tbsp. water and some icing sugar. Roll in coconut.
