Granny's Caramel Apple Cookies

This is for all you poor souls out there who have never had or made Granny's wonderful apple cookies...

1/2 c. shortening

1 1/3 c. brown sugar

1 egg

2 1/4 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 c. peeled, diced apples

1/2 c. milk

1 c. nuts (optional)

Cream together shortening, sugar, and egg until light and fluffy. Mix dry ingredients together separately, add to creamed mixture gradually. When well blended, stir in milk and apples. Drop by teaspoonful onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350F for 8-10 min. or as done as you'd like. Frost when cool. (You could skip the icing, but why?)

Caramel icing:

1/4 c. butter

1/4 c. brown sugar

Cook together until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Add:

1 1/2 c. icing sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

2 1/2 Tbsp. light cream or milk

Beat together and spread on cooled cookies.

Instant Oatmeal Mix

18 oz (2 1/4 c.) quick oats
3.2 oz (about 1/3 c.) dry milk
1/3 to 1/2 c. brown sugar
2/3 to 1 c. raisins
2 tsp. cinnamon
salt to taste

Mix together and store in an airtight container. To make: combine 1/2 cup of mix and 1/2 cup water or milk in a bowl. Microwave on high for about one minute. Makes about 16 servings.

Of course, the sugar, raisins, cinnamon and salt are optional. This recipe is from Woman's Day (December 09 issue, page 190), and changed a little by me. I think it's pretty handy!

Pumpkin Pancakes

2 cups all-purpose flour (I did part whole wheat)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons vinegar

In a separate bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt, stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

This is from allrecipes.com and it is so good (duh)! Kirk and I both love that the pumpkin actually stands out really well. We just had this for breakfast with bacon and eggs and I liked it so much I just had to get it on here aqap (that means "as quickly as possible;" only slightly different than the similar "as soon as possible"). Yep, this one's a keeper.

Kim's Italian Enchiladas

Well, I decided to make my experiment into a little date night, so we started with this:

And finished with this:

Here's my recipe:

Sauce:

8 roma tomatoes, halved

3-5 cloves garlic, peeled and whole

1 onion, quartered

5-7 leaves fresh basil

olive oil

salt

pepper

Place all ingredients except basil on a baking sheet and bake at 375 for 10 minutes, adding basil for an additional 2-3 minutes. Blend together in blender.

Filling:

1 lb. spicy sausage

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

16 oz. cottage cheese

1 can cannellini

1/2 box frozen spinach, thawed and drained

2 roma tomatoes, diced

Fry sausage with onions and garlic, drain. Mix all 7 ingredients together.

Cook 1 box (12 noodles) wide lasagna, al dente. Drain. Pour half the sauce into 9x13" pan. Place scoop of filling in each noodle, rolling to form "enchilada" shape. Cover with last half of sauce. Top with mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or until bubbly and brown on top.

Ok, despite the poorly written instructions, this actually turned out pretty well. As you can see, I leaned more towards Italian and less towards Mexican. My "Mexican" influences were the spiciness of the meat, the beans, and the shape of the enchiladas. Next time I will make a few changes, such as: Use a high-quality spicy sausage, or else use plain sausage and season it yourself. Make sure not to use old noodles, because they're gross. In fact, it might be fun to make your own or buy fresh. And one last tidbit: The sauce part makes a delicious roasted tomato basil soup.

Italian Enchilada Challenge

Did anyone join us in this challenge? If you did, we'd love to see your results. Just leave a link to your blog in the comments and we'll come visit you. Thanks for playing!

Rhonda's Italian Enchiladas

Meatballs:

1 lb ground beef

½ cup bread crumbs

1 egg

½ cup milk

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp herbes de provence

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese (real, please)

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper (or more, if you like)

Mix all ingredients together and shape into small meatballs. Bake at 350 until browned and cooked through (15 minutes?). Cool slightly and mix with 1 ½ cups spaghetti sauce.

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Cheese Sauce:

1 envelope béchamel sauce mix, prepared according to directions

1 tbsp dried parsley

1 cup fromage blanc

¼ tsp pepper

½ tsp dried basil

3 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

2/3 cup grated cheese (mozza, or something similar)

Prepare béchamel sauce and then stir in the other ingredients.

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6 large flour tortillas

2 ¼ cups grated cheese (mozza, or something similar)

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

Herbes de provence

Fill each tortilla with 6-7 meatballs and sauce, 2-3 tbsp grated cheese and a sprinkle of herbes de provence. Roll them up like burritos.

Spread 1 cup cheese sauce in the bottom of a 9x13” pan. Place filled tortillas over the sauce, and pour remaining sauce over them. Top with remaining cheeses and a generous sprinkle of herbes de provence.

Bake at 400F until bubbly and golden.

These were pretty tasty. I asked my family to rate them on a scale of 1 – 10 and they gave an average score of 6. Matthew and I both thought it was like eating a meatball sub, and for us that’s a good thing!