TheKitchenCookie

morning sun from my front porch Usually the end of August after the children return to school I have a week or two that seem like anything but a vacation! These weeks usually involve tomatoes, pears, peaches, and anything else that is ripe. This week there are also peppers...and a son turning 16... and a meal to prepare for someone from church. Along with a few other extras and the normal duties of a wife/mom. All things I enjoy doing, but still that in-over-my-head feeling will surely be present! We were fortunate to escape Irene with leaves and twigs being the only cleanup necessary. And we had electricity through the whole storm. Blessed indeed! So I just thought I would warn you all that there probably won't be anything interesting being cooked or baked at our house this week. ☺ What does your week look like? Be Blessed!

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♥♥♥ We love Pumpkin Bars! I know it's a bit early to begin with Fall flavors but I needed something for lunches and was out of butter so I decided it has to be something with oil and these bars were the first thing that came to my mind. My next dilemma was that I had only a big can of pumpkin and I don't really like to have that stuff hanging around in the fridge so I made a very large pan of bars and also a few cupcakes. This took care of the whole can of pumpkin and now I have some goodies in the freezer. I only used 1 recipe of Cream Cheese Icing for a double recipe of bars. I really like this icing but also like to be able to taste what's beneath it. ☺ They are easy and go together in a jiffy. 4 eggs, well beaten 1 cup canola oil 1 cup pumpkin 2 cups sugar ½ teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons cinnamon 1 teaspoon baking powder 2 cups all purpose flour 1 cup chopped nuts, optional In a mixer bowl beat the eggs till light and fluffy. Add the oil, pumpkin, and sugar. Mix; then...

Recently I made a big batch of these meatballs and since then we have enjoyed them in various ways. They are full of flavor and very versatile. 2 lbs. 90% lean ground beef 1 sleeve Ritz Crackers, crushed fine 1 cup grated Parmesan Cheese 2 eggs 2 Tablespoons onions, finely chopped 2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder 1 teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon black pepper Mix all together and form into balls (size 50 cookie scoop). Fry in Olive Oil or bake @ 375° for 25 minutes. I've done them both ways and much prefer the baking method. Less time consuming and less fat. For my last batch I didn't have grated Parmesan Cheese so I just used a shredded mixture of Romano, Parmesan, and Asiago cheeses. Delish - with lots of flavor!                                          ...

Yum! I had some leftover roasted chicken and some fried bacon in the fridge begging to be used, so for lunch today I thought I would make a wrap like Subway's delicious sandwich that I enjoy when I go there. I usually eat it in a flat bread but had these almost paper thin tortillas on hand instead. It was scrumptious! melt the cheese in the microwave roasted chicken, bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion, pepperoncini, and ranch dressing wrap it up and enjoy! Be Blessed! Giveaway going on here. Home Sweet Home , Turning The Table , Inspiration Friday , Hodge Podge , Cast Party , Simply Sweet , I'm Lovin' It! , Weekend Wrap Up , Weekend Show Off Show and Share , Six Sisters   Sunday Showcase , Sundae Scoop , So Sweet , Savory Sunday , On The Menu , Creative Blogger , Simply Designing , Met Monday Talent Show

Fresh, Warm, and Delicious What could be better than a cooler, calm morning with fresh and fruity muffins with spice and nuts and a struesel topping? Well...I'm sure we could all think of something in our life that is way better but for a treat this morning I decided we should enjoy these. They are moist and tender oh so yummy! ¼ cup butter, softened ½ cup brown sugar 1 egg 1½ cups all purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder ¾ teaspoon allspice ¼ teaspoon salt ¾ cup milk 1 cup finely chopped apples ½ cup walnuts (I used pecans) Topping: 4 Tablespoons butter, softened ¼ cup brown sugar 1/3 cup all purpose flour ½ teaspoon allspice Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Beat in the egg. Combine the next four ingredients   Add alternately with the milk. Begin and end with dry mixture. Do not overmix. Stir in apples and walnuts. Fill greased muffin pans (I used paper-lined ones) using a size 20 cookie scoop. Combine the topping ingredients until crumbly. Sprinkle ...

Quite a few years ago a friend of mine shared this recipe with me and I think it's the best tasting home canned pizza sauce I've tasted yet. It has just about everything in there and is nice and thick. I've been putting up tomatoes and peaches this week and made this yesterday with more to come. One thing that I would not want to do without to make this stuff happen is this little gadget right here: It's easy to assemble and beats a Victorio Strainer by a mile in the making of tomato juice! Also easy to take apart and keep clean. If you don't have one you should get one. I've had mine for more than ten years and it still works like a top! I can't remember the name of it though, I think it was something like Tomato Press. If anyone could help me out there that would be great! I bought it at an Amish store in the area here in Lancaster County. Another thing I do to make sure the tomato juice is thick is to drain the cooked tomatoes t...

Delicious!  Because I was too tired and uninspired to cook anything awe inspiring tonight I decided on these waffles, and because I was peeling and chopping peaches today for the freezer (previous post) I thought I would try mine with them instead of the usual peanut butter and syrup. YUM!! My husband had some of his waffles like this as well and they passed the test for him too. I didn't have buttermilk but I had some plain yogurt and to fill out the measure of buttermilk I needed I also used regular milk with lemon juice in it. If you let it sit for five minutes it will curdle and thicken like buttermilk. So with the combo of the yogurt and the homemade buttermilk I was good to go with the rest of the ingredients. I added about a ¼ cup of lemon juice to 1¼ cups of milk. Buttermilk Waffles 2¼ cups all purpose flour 1½ Tablespoons sugar 1½ teaspoons baking powder ¾ teaspoon salt ¾ teaspoon baking soda 3 egg yolks 2¼ cups buttermilk 9 Tablespoons butte...

In case anyone was wondering, I haven't forgotten this little place where I share yummy food ideas but the last few weeks have been busy!! Getting everyone ready for school and trying to get a few last minute fun things in and doing some canning and freezing. Yeah, just haven't had the time or inspiration for a lot of brainstorming in the foodie part of my life. It's 4:30 now and my son just reminded me that I should start getting concerned about whats for supper. I know... I should! But I feel like the day should be done and a simple cup of tea would be fine with me. I know though, that I will have to come up with something more substantial than a cup of tea! But no matter I'll figure it out shortly, just now I need a break! I was peeling peaches today... and driving my son to and from work... and pondering how to be a Mom to teenagers for the next - hundred years. ☺ It's all good, I just need a bracing cup of tea or something! Notice I didn't say chocolate...

                                                                  mmm mmm MMM! A couple of weeks ago our church family enjoyed an ice cream social and I decided to take along some peanut butter topping. My husbands favourite sundae at Friendly's is the Peanut Butter Cup one. I've tried to imitate it in the past and never quite achieved the texture that I wanted, so after doing some more research I found this recipe here . The texture is perfect and the flavor is delicious! I wanted to increase the recipe so that I would have plenty to share at the social, hahaha, however! I ended up with WAY more than I expected! So after serving it and giving some away and freezi...