Busy Day Chicken 'n Gravy

Aren't they all busy days? But that's what this one is called. It's from The Everything Cookbook. It's the last one I have marked in here to try. Turns out when you use this cookbook in your 6th year of doing new recipe nights, you already know how to make a lot of what's in there.

Busy Day Chicken 'n Gravy
2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp pepper
4 bone-in chicken breast halves, or any 4 chicken pieces of your choice (I used 2 breasts, 2 thighs, and 2 drumsticks...I used the wings and neck [gross] that came with the chicken to make broth)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
4 oz frozen pearl onions (I used fresh peeled because I had a bunch left over from something a few weeks ago)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of onion soup (using these soups kind of goes the opposite from the direction I have been trying to head lately, but this one sounded so good, so, so what? It's okay once in a while, pretty sure)
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning

Preheat oven to 350. Mix together the flour, paprika, and pepper in large ziploc bag. Rinse the chicken and pat dry, then shake in the flour mixture. Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken on both sides, about 10 minutes total (you might have to do this in batches, depending on how much chicken you have and how big your skillet is).


Place the chicken pieces in a deep-sided baking dish; they should fit snugly but without stacking (?? I think they mean overlapping). Sprinkle with the onions. Combine the soups and poultry seasoning and add to skillet, scraping to remove all bits. Pour over the chicken. Cover and bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours or until the larger pieces are no longer pink in the center (use a meat thermometer to 170 for breast meat and 180 for dark meat). The chicken makes a gravy-type sauce as it bakes. Serve with mashed potatoes if desired (we did).

This was quite good. It smelled great, everybody ate it, and there was some leftover for Steve's lunch. Overall, pretty good and easy. But not healthy. At all. But sometimes you don't want that anyway, right??

Steak and Cheese Wraps

This is another recipe from that old cookbook from my mom, The Everything Cookbook. This actually worked out perfect, because my mom has the kids today because I had to go to the dentist to get the rest of my root canal done. This is something my kids wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole, so it worked out well to have this tonight when they are eating pancakes with Oma. I knew Steve would love this, that's why I picked this one.

Steak and Cheese Wraps
4 tortillas
8 oz Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheese (I used shredded Mexican. Cheese. Not a real shredded Mexican, that would be mean and gross)
2 large onions, sliced thickly
2 green peppers, sliced thickly
1 pound sirloin steak, sliced into 1/4" strips
3 tbsp olive oil
2-3 tsp black pepper

Preheat oven to 350. On a baking sheet, layer tortillas with thinly sliced cheese to within 1 inch from edge. Set aside. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, green peppers, and black pepper. Stir and cook for 3-4 minutes. Push vegetables to sides of pan and add the steak strips in the middle. Cook to desired doneness, stirring occasionally. When about 4 minutes are left in cooking time, put the tortillas in the oven. Mix together the steak and onion/pepper mixture in the pan. Remove tortillas from the oven when the cheese is close to melted, and layer each tortilla with the steak mixture. Roll the tortilla halfway from bottom to top, fold one side in about an inch so no ingredient can slip out that side, and continue to roll the rest of the way. Continue with remaining tortillas. Serve hot.

So my rolling didn't work exactly that way, I think maybe because my tortillas were too small. They were 8 inch ones, but they were very hard to roll. I just folded them and we ended up eating them like soft tacos. Also I only ended up using 1 onion and 1 green pepper. It just sounded like too much to have 2 of each. It ended up being perfect. I think you could use a red pepper too with yummy results, plus you would look way more authentic. These were very yummy and definitely a keeper!!

Beef Stew Calzones

This is a Rachael Ray recipe. Last month my mom got the Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine and she gave it to me when she was done. Usually that's not my style of cooking. At all. But this looked like something I could tackle. I should have known. Dough and I do not mix. No pun intended. But seriously, I have tried so many things that have to be rolled out, and almost always fails. This one--no exception. But I will still post it, for those of you who are not dough-impaired.

Beef Stew Calzones
1 pound thin boneless sirloin steak, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 tbsp flour
Salt and pepper
3 tbsp olive oil
16 baby carrots, cut into thirds
1 rib celery, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 onion, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup red wine (I used more beef broth)
1 cup beef broth
1/4 cup canned diced tomatoes
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 pound refrigerated pizza dough

In a large bowl, toss the steak with flour, salt, and pepper. In medium Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the steak and cook, turning, until browned, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a plate. Add the carrots, celery, and onion to the pot and cook for 3 minutes. Return the steak to the pot, add the wine and cook, stirring up the browned bits, until slightly reduced, about 2 minutes (I did mine for a bit longer since broth takes longer to evaporate than wine). Stir in the beef broth, tomatoes, italian seasoning, and 1 tsp each salt and pepper. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Stir in the potato and cook until tender, 10-12 minutes. Set aside to cool, about 15 minutes; coarsley shred the meat.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 475. Divide the pizza dough into 4 pieces. Working with 1 piece at a time, roll out the dough to a 7-inch round. Arrange 1/4 of the beef stew on one side of the dough round. Lightly brush the edges of the dough with water and fold to enclose, crimping the edges to seal. Repeat with remaining dough and stew. Transfer the calzones to a flour dusted rimmed baking sheet and bake until puffed and browned, 15 to 20 minutes.

I bet someone somewhere is laughing about this. The RR people probably giggle at night thinking about hapless wives cooking these complicated things. This time, I did get the dough rolled out, the beef stew on it, the edges sealed, etc, but when I tried to transfer it to the baking sheet, it fell apart. Arrgh. So, we just had beef stew. Because after the first failed attempt, I just threw away the rest of the dough. I didn't want to try again and potentially waste that much more stew. Luckily I had made a fresh loaf of bread earlier today, so we had soup and bread. So it wasn't a total disaster. And we've had worse meals.

Homemade Barbecue Sauce

I made this today. Perhaps my family is getting sick of the homemade things. The other day (if you are my friend on facebook, you saw this as my status) I was making homemade mac & cheese, and Emma almost started crying and said "why are you making everything homemade now?" I told her it was because it was healthier. She said "I think the stuff in the blue box is healthier." That's why I was so surprised that she liked last night's supper, because it was a homemade substitute for something she really likes. Anyway in our quest to be healthier, I know we have a LONG way to go. We are just doing baby steps. Maybe even slower. But one thing we have tried to eliminate is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). It is in soooo many things. Have you seen King Corn? It will make you not want to consume it either. They have it on Netflix, Watch Instantly. Watch it, along with Food Inc, and you will be horrified, disheartened, and disgusted. Anyway. All the barbecue sauce I have seen in the stores has HFCS. Probably now that there is this campaign against it, there will be some without it, that blaze on their labels NO HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP. But there will still be other bad things in it. Oh and did you hear that food manufacturers want to change the name of HFCS to corn sugar? That is a trick to make you think it's from a thing that grows in the ground so it's probably okay. This is a trick I am familiar with. I use it to convince myself that potatoes are healthy and that pickles are a vegetable. I tried to tell my mom this when I was growing up. She never believed it, but I still kind of do. So anyway. This recipe for homemade barbecue sauce is the last recipe I have marked to try from the Farmhouse Cookbook. Even though I wasn't crazy about the recipes in this one, it was a good read, because it was all about her field trips to farms and such. So in a few years it will be fun to read again. This sauce is from a farmer in Arkansas, one who is a barbecue expert. According to who, I don't know. The American BBQ Panel, perhaps. It still starts with store-bought ketchup. I don't have a food processor. And I hate peeling tomatoes, that's really hard. So I bought "Simply Heinz" which has only natural ingredients, according to them. So I think it's a pretty good base, then we are keeping the texture that the fam is familiar with. Can't change too many things at once or the natives rebel. You may have experienced this in your own family.

Homemade Barbecue Sauce
2 cups good-quality ketchup
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp molasses
Several drops Tabasco sauce, or to taste (I did like 3 drops)
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 tbsp dry mustard, mixed to a paste with 2 tsp cold water
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
1 fresh jalapeno pepper, trimmed and minced (optional)(I left it out)
3/4 cup minced fresh pineapple, or rinsed and drained canned pineapple (I left this out too...don't want chunks in my barbecue sauce)

Mix all ingredients except pineapple in medium sized bowl, making sure they are thoroughly combined. Then stir in the pineapple and adjust the seasoning to taste (they helpfully suggest that you just keep licking your fingers until you like it...). Use immediately or ladel into hot sterilized canning jars and seal according to lid manufacturer's instructions. Or do what I did, and put it in Tupperware and put it in your fridge. I don't think it will go bad any sooner than ketchup, but I don't know, we'll see.

I haven't actually tried this yet, but it does smell good. It seems more watery than store-bought sauce, maybe because of the vinegar and worcestershire sauce. I think the tomato paste was meant to thicken it up, but it didn't for me. Maybe if you add more...Also I was on the phone with my mom at the time I was making this and she suggested that I heat it up, to steam off some of the liquid and make it thicker. She is so smart. So I did that. It did help some. Stay tuned, I will try to remember to post if we liked this or not after we eat it.

Chicken Parmesan

Don't judge me. This is one of my favorite things to buy, make and eat. We had this a lot when I was growing up, because my dad worked crazy hours and it was easy. If my mom served it with a vegetable, I would be mad, because I thought that was ruining it. As a grown-up I have tried several other On-Cor greatest hits, such as Sliced Turkey and Gravy, Salisbury Steak, and Lasagna. I haven't liked any of those. But this one I can't give up. I KNOW it's so so so bad. It's probably not even real chicken. The whole thing only costs $2.08. But it tastes so delicious. Well. I tried this recipe to try to duplicate one of my favorite things. This version does contain actual chicken, so already I'm skeptical...however you fry the chicken in oil, so maybe it has potential. This recipe is from a cookbook my mom gave me years and years ago, called The Everything Cookbook, The Basics of Good Cooking. We had this last night, with Buttered Cheese Noodles (which you can find somewhere on this blog), which we also have whenever we have the above-pictured chicken. Incidentally, Emma has dubbed this chicken "Yummiest Chicken in the World." She can cook it all by herself. Add in her killer garlic bread (also in another post) and I basically don't have to do anything. Another point in On-Cor's favor.

Chicken Parmesan
Sauce:
1 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 onion, diced
1 can diced tomatoes, lightly drained
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp Italian seasoning
Chicken:
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp pepper
1 egg, beaten
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
vegetable oil for frying

In small skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and onion, and cook until onion is translucent, about 3 minutes. Add diced tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic salt, and Italian seasoning. Reduce heat to medium and stir occasionally until thickened, about 10-12 minutes.

While sauce is cooking, combine bread crumbs, cheese, and pepper in wide-rimmed bowl. Dip both sides of chicken breasts first in the egg, then in the bread crumb mixture. Cover a large skillet with oil 1/4 inch deep, and heat to high. Fry chicken breasts for 12-14 minutes, or until no longer pink in the middle, turning once. Drain on paper towels.

At this point, you can put the chicken in sandwich rolls, top with sliced mozzarella and the sauce, and have Chicken Parm Hoagies. Or, you can make pasta and serve the chicken on top of the pasta and top with the sauce and shredded mozzarella.

Amazingly, Emma thought this was an acceptable stand-in. I told her it was Homemade Yummiest Chicken in the World. She liked it. Sam and Steve did too. So did I. Nathan.....DIDN'T!! He didn't like the "crust" on the chicken. What a crazy kid I have. So, although we cannot say this is a healthy meal, I do think it's probably better than my old standby. Because of the real chicken, real tomatoes, real cheese, and lack of preservatives. Again I say, do not judge me. Hee hee.

Spicy Halloween Ginger Cake

Even though this has Halloween in the name, it is not scary. It is just fall-ish. If I save this recipe, I'm not going to write down the Halloween part, just the Spicy Ginger Cake part. This is from the Farmhouse Cookbook that I've been working through. The lady got the recipe from farmers in Oregon. She said this cake is wonderful the first day, and is even better the second. We'll see about that. Well, tonight I am bringing this to home fellowship, so maybe we won't see if it's better the second day, because there might not be any left. But maybe...

Spicy Halloween Ginger Cake
2 cups molasses
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup strong brewed coffee
4 3/4 cups cake flour (if you don't have cake flour, here's a link to subsitute with regular flour and cornstarch--it's what I did...www.food.com/recipe/cake-flour-subsitute-87689)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground cloves
4 tsp ground cinnamon
4 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground mace
2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
4 tart apples, such as Granny Smith
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups sour cream
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips or baking chocolate cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 350 (don't really do this until I say...it will be on for like 2 hours if you make this your first step). Lightly oil a 13x9x2 inch baking pan. Combine the molasses, butter, and coffee in a medium-sized saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. As soon as it boils, remove from the heat. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of your electric mixer, and let cool to lukewarm (which takes a long time).

Sift the flour, spices, salt, and baking soda together. Set aside.

Core, peel, and halve the apples, then slice them into 1/4" thick slices. Line the prepared pan with the apple slices, slightly overlapping them. Sprinkle with the brown sugar.

(Turn on the oven now.) Whisk the eggs into the molasses mixture (this is why you have to let it cool, otherwise the eggs will start cooking when you add them in, and you will have scrambled eggs in there, ha ha). Add the dry ingredients and mix quickly but thoroughly. Then add sour cream, mixing just until it's incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips, and then pour the cake batter over the apple slices.

Bake in the center of the oven about 55 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes back clean. Place pan on wire rack to cool. To serve, cut the cake in pieces and turn them out of the pan upside down, so the apple slices are on top. Or turn the whole cake out onto a large serving platter, and serve.

So this cake was quite good. Some people didn't flip it over, because I didn't stand right by the cake and tell everyone. I did tell a few people. In fact, I told Steve in advance. Brooke and I had the same pan (she brought apple crisp) and Steve flipped her dessert over, thinking it was mine. Hee hee. Steve's feedback was that it was good, but could have used some whipped cream. Nobody else said anything, so I'm not sure if that means it wasn't that good or not. I thought it was a bit dry, compared to some other cakes I have made. But I think I will keep it anyway. It took a long time to make but wasn't really hard. And now I have all that mace.

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte

I saw this recipe yesterday on the Solution FM website. I thought I would try it because I happened to have some left-over pumpkin puree from another recipe, so I had all the ingredients on hand. I thought if it turned out yummy, I could bring it to home fellowship tonight. It has how to make it sugar-free, which obviously I'm not down with. Ha ha. But here is their recipe, and then I'll tell you my substitutions.

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte
3/4 cup strong brewed coffee
1 cup milk
3 tbsp sugar free pumpkin spice syrup (store bought or recipe below)
2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients. Makes 2.

Pumpkin Spice Syrup
1 can pumpkin puree (I happen to know this is about 2 cups)
2 cups Splenda (I used plain old good old granulated sugar)
2 cups water
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (if you don't have that, you can google it and get a good way to make it, out of nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, etc)

Bring water to a boil on stove in medium saucepan. Turn down to medium and add Splenda or sugar until dissolved. Add pumpkin and simmer 5 minutes. Add pie spice and simmer 5 more minutes. Stir out all the lumps (I used a whisk). Remove from heat and cool. Makes 3.5 cups.

Nope. Not good. My syrup didn't really get syrup-y, it was pretty thick. When I added it to the coffee and milk, it all settled to the bottom. I stirred it, and tasted it, but I could feel the grit, so to speak. Maybe I did it wrong. You can still try it if you want. It did smell good, anyway.

Crisp Oat Cookies

I love oatmeal raisin cookies. They are in my top 3, the other 2 being Becky's mom's molasses cookies and white chocolate macadamia nut. I don't even like white chocolate, or nuts in general, but for some reason, in that cookie, it really works. Mmmmm. I don't make them, I always get them at the hospital. For a hospital they bake a pretty good cookie. Anyway these are in that Farmhouse Cookbook I'm working through, and I thought I would try them. The cookbook author says these are the most satisfying cookies she's ever eaten. So of course with feedback like that, I had to try them.

Crisp Oat Cookies
1 cup raisins
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
12 tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup dark brown sugar (I didn't want to buy a whole bag of dark brown when I don't know what else I would use it for, so I just used regular)
1/2 cup heavy (whipping) cream
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 375. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (yes, I did buy parchment paper for this. It was my first time buying it. There happened to be a coupon at the same time for $1.00 off. My favorite thing about using the parchment paper was that I didn't have to wash the pans after. I just let them cool and put them away. Not sure how much of a difference it makes in the actual cookie). Soak the raisins in hot water to cover for at least 30 minutes. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt together. Add the rolled oats and set aside. Cream the butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add the brown sugar and mix until thoroughly blended and light. Then add the cream and vanilla. Drain the raisins, discarding the soaking liquid, and add the to the sugar mixture. Mix until they are distributed throughout. Add the dry ingredients and mix well. Divide the dough in half, and roll out one half so it is 1/4" thick. Using 2-inch cookie cutters, cut out as many cookies as you can. Place the cookies 1/4" apart on one of the prepared baking sheets. Repeat with remaining dough. Reserve any scraps, roll them out a second time, and cut out the remaining cookies. Try to use up all the dough, as it will toughen if it is rolled out again. Bake the cookies until they are golden, about 13 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool. 55 cookies.

Okay. I hate rolling out dough. That's why I don't like to make biscuits, or my own pie crust, or sugar cookies. I don't have a good reason, I just really don't like it. But I thought, if this makes the best cookies (as the claim is by this lady) then it will be worth a shot. But it didn't work, I still hated it. I rolled out and cut enough to fit on one of the cookie sheets. Then I was like, this is for the birds. So for the rest of them I used my Pampered Chef scoop and then flattened them down. They all tasted the same. Also, how weird to have a cookie dough without eggs. But I could at least let the kids eat it without feeling guilty or worrying about salmonella. Additonally, no cinnamon or nutmeg? Oh well. So long story short, these were okay. They aren't even going to replace the other recipe I have for oatmeal raisin cookies. But they weren't bad.

Roast Ginger Chicken with Potatoes and Onions

This is tonight's supper. It's from the Farmhouse Cookbook. This one came from a Pennsylvania Dutch farm. This cookbook suggests wines that you can have with each meal. The name of this one is so funny that I'm going to tell you what it is, even though I do not necessarily suggest it to you. "Try a full-bodied Alsatian Gewurztraminer, such as Zind-Humbrecht 1987, with this chicken." Just for fun, I googled that wine, and found out that to have 1 bottle of it, made in France, shipped to Miami, and then to me, would be about $40 for one bottle, or $352 for a case of 12. Not as expensive as I thought, but still waaaaay more expensive than water or chocolate milk. Plus I would rather have Diet Pepsi ha ha. But anyway back to the matter at hand. This recipe sounded easy enough, and I liked that it had the potatoes right in the pan with it, so here we go.

Roast Ginger Chicken with Potatoes and Onions
1 chicken (3 to 4 pounds) with giblets (I don't believe in giblets...I buy chickens without them on purpose)
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp minced fresh ginger or 1 tsp dried
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 1/2 pounds potatoes, each potato cut into 8 wedges
6 large pearl onions, peeled
3 tbsp water

Preheat oven to 400. Rinse the chicken well inside and out until the water runs clear (put gloves on first, yuck). Pat it thoroughly dry. Sprinkle with cavity with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, mix together the butter, ginger, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Carefully separate the skin from the breast meat and legs of the chicken by running your [gloved] fingers between the skin and the meat. Using a paper towel, gently pat the meat dry. Spread the butter mixture under the skin of the breast and the legs. Place the chicken in a roasting pan, and roast for 15 minutes. Turn the chicken on its side, basting it if there are any juices, and roast for 10 minutes. Turn it on its other side, baste it, and roast for an additional 10 minutes.

Arrange the potatoes and the onions around the chicken, turning them as best you can so they are covered with cooking juices. Roast the chicken, breast side up, for an additional 20 minutes, until it is golden, the legs move freely in their sockets [gross], and the juices run clear when you hold the chicken up to drain (how will I do that?? It is hot. If I pick it up with a potholder, the potholder will get gross. If I pick it up with gloved hands, the plastic gloves may melt. Just use a meat thermometer. You want it to be at that safe minimum temperature anyway; let's not fool around with food safety. Especially if you've seen Food Inc, you really want to make sure you are killing all that potentially bad stuff...)(If you haven't seen Food Inc, they have it on Netflix Watch Instantly. Very enlightening and I recommend it. Plan to not eat while you watch it, and possibly for several hours/days after, ha ha).

Transfer chicken to a warmed platter and let it sit for 15 minutes, propped up slightly at the neck end to allow the juices to retreat back into the meat. Add the giblets to the pan [or don't] and stir so they are coated with cooking juices. Continue roasting the vegetables, basting and turning them frequently, until the potatoes are golden and crisp and the giblets are cooked through, about 15 minutes.

Transfer vegetables to the platter holding the chicken. Drain all but about 3 tbsp of the fat from the roasting pan. Add the water, and place it over medium-high heat. Stir the liquid, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Continue cooking until the sauce has reduced and thickened somewhat, 1-2 minutes. Season to taste, and pour over the chicken and vegetables. Serve immediately. 4 to 6 servings.

This came out very very good. The only issue I had was that there was no juice left at the end to make "gravy," maybe because I didn't use the giblets. But even without it, the chicken was moist, the potatoes were fabulous. I wish I had added carrots in with it, next time I think I will. Definitely a yummy keeper!!

Oatmeal Blueberry Muffins

This is probably one of the simplest recipes that is in this Farmhouse Cookbook that I'm going through. We do like blueberry muffins here. This recipe is from an Arkansas vegetable farmer. Apparently the lady really likes this one, the cookbook author said she had a bunch of exclamation points by this one. So I decided to try it. We had this for supper tonight with scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage. Breakfast for supper once again, oh yeah.

Oatmeal Blueberry Muffins
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
6 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
4 tbsp butter, melted
1 heaping cup blueberries (fresh or frozen. If frozen, do not thaw)

Preheat oven to 425. Lightly oil 12 muffin cups. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg together. Mix in the oats. In a large bowl, stir together the milk, vanilla, egg, and melted butter. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until they are thoroughly moistened. Don't overmix or the muffins will be tough. Fold in the blueberries. Fill the prepared muffin cups 2/3 full with batter, and bake in center of the oven until the muffins are golden and spring back when lightly touched, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove the tins from the oven, turn the muffins out on a wire rack, and let them cool for 5 minutes before serving. 12 muffins.

First of all I want to say that I almost forgot to add the blueberries. ???? How could that be? I mixed everything else and was about to put the batter into the muffin cups, when I felt like I was forgetting something. Oh yeah. The blueberries...So anyway once these were baked, they were not a hit. There was a lot of oatmeal there. Almost like there was no batter, just oatmeal and blueberries. Nathan wouldn't even try one, and Emma had one bite. Sam ate his, but he is getting better at just eating whatever it is. Steve and I weren't crazy about them either. Now I'm not sure what to do with the rest. It's not like I can freeze them and give them away to a family I'm making a meal for..."We didn't like these, so we froze them and saved them for you." Especially if that family is a reader of New Recipe Night. So I don't know what to do with them. Right now they are in a ziploc bag on my counter. I probably will eat at least one or two more for breakfast in the morning, but I don't know about the others. Probably grow some penicillin on them, maybe. With the rising health care costs, and me trying to make so many things homemade, it might be time to branch off into antibiotics, anyway.

Pumpkin White Chip Macadamia Bars

Originally I was going to make these for women's Bible study on Tuesday, but I ended up feeling too sick and too exhausted to go. I had worked the night before, slept until 12, went and got my sweet children from our awesome babysitter, then came home. Too nauseated to drink coffee, I spent the afternoon in a fog. Once Steve got home, I laid down and my wonderful husband fed the children and let me sleep until 7:30, when it was time to put the kids to bed. I know it was because I was coming down with something, because then I got a bad cold. So. Now I am making these for home fellowship. Steve doesn't really like pumpkin-y desserts, but I didn't want to waste the ingredients since I already had them. I am hoping there will be other things there that he will like. Sometimes he eats what I make even if it's not his favorite, because he knows how much my identity is tied up in the food I make. Ha ha. So this recipe is from a cookbook a friend of mine passed to me. She was all "I have these two cookbooks that I can give to Goodwill or give to you." Of course I wanted them. The first one was like authentic Italian cooking. Half of the ingredients I had never heard of. And a lot of the recipes were for seafood (I guess because Italy is like an archipelago or something and sticks way out into the sea) with a very descriptive picture for each recipe. Yuck. So that one I decided to pass on to the good folks at Goodwill. The other one is Nestle Make-It-Simple Entertaining. There are a couple of recipes in here I will try, then I'll probably pass that one along as well. Okay so here's the recipe for the yummy fall dessert:

Pumpkin White Chip Macadamia Bars
2 cups flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup solid pack pumpkin
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups (12 oz pkg) white morsels, divided
2/3 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts (I gave away my dull PC chopper, so I just pounded them with my PC mallet...some of them were pulverized, while others were in big chunks...oh well)

Combine the flour, cinnamon, cloves, and baking soda in small bowl. Beat butter and sugars in large mixing bowl until creamy. Beat in pumpkin, egg, and vanilla until blended; gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in 1 1/2 cups of the morsels and the nuts. Spread into greased 15 1/2 inch by 10 inch jelly-roll pan. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 18 to 22 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack. Place remaining morsels in heavy duty plastic bag. Microwave on medium-high (70%) power for 45 seconds; knead. Microwave at additional 10-second intervals, kneading until smooth. Cut tiny corner from bag; squeeze to drizzle over bars. Makes 4 dozen bars.

So these were very moist and tasty. I told my kids they were brownies, because I knew they wouldn't want pumpkin anything. Becky couldn't even tell they were pumpkin, she thought they were ginger. So I would say this is definitely a keeper. Yumm-o.

Emma's Garlic Bread

For Emma's creative writing assignment today, she had to write directions about how to do something, step by step. Daddy had the idea that she should write about making her "specialty," garlic bread. Then once she was done with it, she had the idea that she could keep this recipe for when she's a grown-up. Then I had the idea to put it on the blog, so you guys could see how cute she is. So here are Emma's directions for making garlic bread, exactly as she dictated them to me.

How To Make Garlic Bread
First, you have to get two pieces of french bread. Then you have to get butter. Then spread it on the bread. Then you have to get garlic powder and sprinkle it all on. Then you have to get stinky cheese (shredded Parmesan). Then you put stinky cheese on the french bread. Then, you put it in the toaster oven. Then you set it for four minutes, or five. When the bread gets brown and fizzily, and yummy, then you take it out and eat it with your supper.

There's my cute smart girl. Next time we make it I'll try taking some pictures and adding them to this post.