Facts from a Fact Woman

Inexpensive Baby Gift- Pocket Bib Pattern and Tutorial to Sew for an Infant or Toddler with a Bonus Pattern for a Matching Doll Bib! Easy to make!

2016-04-21T22:41:00.002-06:00

Handmade gifts are a tradition in our family. My grandmother knitted, crocheted and sewed things for my mom, me and my kids, my mom sews and knits for me, my kids and now my grandkids. There’s something very special about using an item that was made with so much love, especially when it’s from your great-grandma or your grandma! For each baby I usually make a couple of flannel receiving blankets. I always use plaid flannel shirting, it looks the same on both sides and is so very soft. (Our family isn’t really into baby fabrics. We all like fabrics that can be used well into childhood.) I crochet a simple edge onto one of them. I also sew burp clothes and bibs. When my daughter became pregnant 4 years ago, I went into full grandma mode. I started sewing up a storm. I designed this pattern because I just couldn't find a bib pattern that I really liked. The other patterns made bibs that were either too small, too big, no pocket or didn’t provide enough coverage. so I designed my own. I took me 3 years and sewing dozens of bib to develop this pattern. Everyone who has used it calls it the perfect bib! This is a very easy pattern to make and feel free to adjust it to suit your baby or grand baby. This bib can be made without the pocket as well. There are some bibs that have different sizes. We’ve found that this size works from infant through ages 3-4. For an infant it gives total coverage which is good since they make the biggest messes.

These make a wonderful inexpensive baby gift. The pattern is $2.99 and the fabric ends up being around $3.00 for each bib. At that price you can make a few and give a handmade gift that is unique and made with love.

Pattern

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE PATTERN WITH FULL INSTRUCTIONS
Print the bib pattern out. Make sure when printing not to click Fit to Page! You want it to print at 100% size to be correct. There will be 3 pages- A- Bib Top, B- bottom and C-pocket. The Doll bib pattern is on the last page. If you buy 3/4 of a yard of fabric you won’t need to print the C Pocket pattern page.
Cut the extra paper off of the bottom of the Top-A pattern piece and lining up the bottom line with the top line of piece B- Bottom. Tape the 2 parts together to make the full bib pattern.

Fabrics
Prewash and dry before cutting and sewing the bibs!
I like to use a cotton print for the front, a layer of white cotton flannel for the lining and a layer of a colored or print flannel for the back. I like a flannel backing because it’s soft against their skin. You can easily use 2 cotton prints one on the front and one for the back. I add a layer of cotton flannel in-between my front and back fabrics. It adds some absorbency to the bib. You can skip that if you want but I highly recommend it! You can also use a waterproof layer in the middle if you want to. Do NOT use cotton gauze in the middle. Even after pre-washing the cotton gauze in hot water and drying in a hot dryer, it continues to shrink wash after wash and distorts and ruins the bib!

Amount of Fabric
For 3 bibs with pockets buy: For 3 bibs without pockets buy:
3/4 of a yard of front fabric 1/2 of a yard of front fabric
1/2 yard of lining flannel 1/2 yard of lining flannel
1/2 yard of backing fabric 1/2 yard of backing fabric

3/4 yard (27”) will make 3 bib fronts with pockets.
1/2 a yard will make 3 Bib fronts without pockets OR 3 Bib Liners OR 3 Bib Backs- You don’t cut pockets out of these just the Bibs.
If you want to use scraps here are the measurements of the full bib cut out.
The bib front with a pocket needs a piece of fabric 12” wide by 26 3/4” long
The bib front without a pocket, the bib back and the lining EACH need a piece of fabric 12” wide by 15 3/4 long.

Using coupons at Joann’s or looking for sales I usually can make 3 bibs for $3.00 each. Less if there’s a great sale!

Notions

Thread to match fabric for inside sewing and topstitching.

Pins to pin the layers together before sewing. (If I am using flannel for the lining and the backing, I don't pin! The fabrics "stick together" enough to not need pins.

A chopstick or knitting needle to use to smooth seams when turning bib right side out.

An Iron- to press bib flat before top stitching.

The pattern includes step by step photo illustrated instructions that are very detailed with tips on things I do to make it easier. I also included 2 different sized doll bib patterns so your child and their favorite doll can match.

It is an easy sewing project that makes a great gift!

There are 2 of each bib in this photo below. That why it looks like there is solid fabric under the turned down corner!

Perfect, Chewy Maple Cookies with Maple Glaze

2016-02-10T02:00:00.000-07:00

My husband has been working in Canada for the last couple of weeks and has been bringing me home all sorts of maple treats. I've been in such a maple mood that I decided to try my hand at some maple cookies.

If you like crispy cookies, these are not for you! These are chewy, moist cookies that make your mouth sing! They have just the perfect hint of maple from real maple syrup. I'm not talking about pancake syrup, that has the same amount of real maple sugar in it that an oak tree has. I'm talking about the real kind that comes from boiling the spring maple sap down into it's golden deliciousness.

If you like more maple flavor you can add in some maple extract! You can decide how much maple you'd like!

CLICK HERE FOR A PRINTABLE COPY OF THIS RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

COOKIE DOUGH

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup real maple syrup
1-2 tsp maple extract (optional) This is for more maple flavor- if you prefer.
4 cups of all purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

GLAZE

1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
3 TBS melted butter
1/3 cup real maple syrup

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 375°
Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs, maple syrup and (optional- maple extract) until fluffy.
Combine the flour, salt and baking powder and with mixer off, add to the creamed ingredients. Turn mixer on low and mix until just combined.
Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto the greased or lined cookie sheets.
Bake in the 375° oven for 10-12 minutes until cookies are lightly golden browned. the tops will be cracked.
Remove from pans to cool.

GLAZE

Mix 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, 3 TBS melted butter and 1/3 cup real maple syrup together until well blended. If the glaze is too thick you can add a couple of drops more of maple syrup or water to thin out.

PUTTING THEM TOGETHER

When cookies are completely cooled, drizzle glaze over the tops. I use the whisk or fork that I mix the glaze with. I dip into the glaze and then go back and forth over the cookies.

These freeze really well if you don't eat them all first!

Peanut Butter Blossom or Kiss Cookies

2016-02-09T03:35:00.000-07:00

These cookies are chewy and peanut buttery and delicious. You can use a Hershey's chocolate kiss in the middle or a Brach's Chocolate Stars. I like the stars because they come in milk or DARK chocolate and as far as I'm concerned, the darker the better when it comes to chocolate plus they look so pretty. We love these not only at Christmas but any time of the year.

Click here for a printable/ downloadable version of this recipe!

Ingredients
• 48 Hersheys' Kisses or Brach's Chocolate Stars
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Granulated sugar to roll dough balls into before baking
Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Beat butter and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended.
Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy.
Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well.
Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Do NOT put the chocolate on the cookie yet.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned.
Remove from oven and immediately press a chocolate into center of each cookie, the cookie will crack around edges.
Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.
Cool completely.

Makes About 4 dozen cookies

DIY- Life Hack- Quickly and Easily Clean your Garage Floor with Snow

2016-02-07T15:42:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you but my garage floor gets so dirty during the winter. The dried dirt and crud from the roads just covers it.

During the summer, I use the hose to rinse it all out but, during the winter, I don't want a skating rink in my garage. I've used this method to clean my garage floors during the winter for years and thought I would share it with you.

How do I do it- I use snow!!!! Think of a snowcone. A snowcone just sucks up that syrup and that's what snow does to all the dirt and dirty water on the garage floor. Plus snow crystals are slightly abrasive so it scrubs off that dried on dirt as you sweep it all out the door.

Here's the before! Obviously my garage floor needs to be repainted this spring but you can see how the dried on dirt is all over where the car parks.

Here's how to do it:

First: Sprinkle fresh clean snow all over the floor with a shovel making sure to cover any dirty spots. Second: Let it sit for 5-10 mins.

Third: Using a wide broom, sweep the snow out of the garage. Usually the dried dirt comes right up with the snow, but occasionally you might have to move the snow back and forth over a stubborn spot to get it up.

The snow just sucks up the dirt and any water on the floor. It's like magic!!!

All the dirt is gone! Boy, do I ever need to paint this floor!

Here you can see how the snow absorbed the dirt and muck?!! Sweep all the dirty snow into a pile and shovel it off to the side so it doesn't get tracked back into the garage. You now have a clean garage floor in minutes!

I hope you find this method as useful as I do!

Brandy Snaps with Cinnamon Eggnog Cream or Brandy Cream

2015-12-20T02:00:00.000-07:00

I love brandy snaps. They are light lacy crisp tubes that you can fill, leave unfilled and dip one end into melted chocolate or leave plain. They take a bit of practice but after one or two you'll find them very easy to make!

You really have to find some Golden syrup to make this recipe. Karo just doesn't work as well. I get mine at Cost Plus but Amazon has it as well.

This recipe makes 24 cookies.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2/3 cup sugar
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup Lyle’s Golden Syrup
1/2 tsp lemon juice
Preheat oven to 350º
Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment and then grease the handle of a wooden spoon well and set aside.
Into a small bowl stir together the flour and the dried, ground ginger
Add the butter, sugar and golden syrup to a medium saucepan over medium-low heat and heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Don't stir too much or allow the mixture to boil or the sugar can crystalize. This will take about 10-15 minutes
Once the sugar is dissolved, remove from the heat and stir in the flour and the lemon juice.
Using a tablespoon, scoop 1 TBS onto the cookie sheet. Place 3-4 scoops 4" apart onto a cookie sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes until cookies are golden brown, spread out and bubbling.
Remove from oven and let sit for 2-3 minutes. The cookie needs to be just firm enough to remove, but pliable enough to shape. I use a thin knife or very thin spatula to carefully peel up an edge. If the edge doesn't stretch out it's time to shape!
Roll the cookie around the greased spoon handle and set on a cooling rack.
You have to move fast to get them all done before they harden up too much.

Let the cookies cool completely before dipping one end into melted chocolate or filling with the Brandy cream or the Eggnog cream.

Brandy Cream

1 1/2 cups whipping cream

2 TBS Brandy

1/3 cup sugar

Combine cream, brandy and sugar and whip until stiff peaks.

Cinnamon Eggnog Cream

1 1/2 cups of whipping cream

2 TBS Brandy

3 TBS Eggnog

1/2 tsp of cinnamon

1/3 cup sugar

Combine all the ingredients and whip to stiff peaks.

Homemade Plain or Peppermint Marshmallows and Cocoa Mix for Teacher Gifts or Neighbors

2015-12-01T04:00:00.000-07:00

Here is an easy gift to make for teachers, neighbors or friends. Marshmallows and cocoa mix. If you've never made marshmallows, I hate to be the one to tell you that they are super simple and very impressive. I love making peppermint marshmallows to put in cocoa but you can make plain if you prefer. You can also try rolling them in toasted coconut or even chopped nuts to eat them like candy.

Homemade Marshmallows:

For a printable version of this marshmallow recipe click here!

* 3 packages unflavored gelatin
* 2 cups granulated sugar
* 1/2 cup light corn syrup
* 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
* Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Sprinkle powdered sugar into 2 8"x8" pans or one 9"x13" until bottom is completely coated.
Pour the gelatin and 1/2 cup of cold water into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with your whisk attachment and allow this mixture to sit while you make the syrup.

In a large saucepan, preferably one that has a spout, combine the sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Place the lid on the pan for 1 minute to wash down the sides of the pan. Raise the heat to high and cook until the syrup reaches 240 degrees F on a candy thermometer. If you live at higher altitudes, reduce the final temp by 2 degrees for every 1000 feet in altitude. I live at 6000 feet so I only cook my mixture to 228 degrees. Remove from the heat.

Turn the mixer onto low speed, while mixer is going, slowly pour the sugar syrup into the dissolved gelatin. The gelatin will be all chunky when you turn on the mixer. Once all of the syrup is poured in turn the mixer up to high speed and whip until the mixture is very thick, about 15 minutes. Add the vanilla and mix thoroughly.

Pour the marshmallow batter into the prepared pans and smooth the top of the mixture with damp hands. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or whatever topping you are using.

For the peppermint, I removed half the marshmallows for the plain pan and then stirred in 2 drops of red food coloring and 1/2 tsp of peppermint flavoring into the remaining half. After placing this into the second pan I sprinkled crushed peppermints over the top.

Allow to dry uncovered at room temperature overnight.

Remove the marshmallows from the pan and cut into squares. I dip a knife into very hot water before each cut then roll each strip in powdered sugar before cutting into squares. Roll the sides of each square carefully in confectioners' sugar.

Once they have dried for a few hours and aren't sticky, they can be bagged up for gifts or stored in a sealed container or sealed baggies.

Creamy Cocoa Mix

For a printable version of this cocoa mix, click here!

This makes 20 cups of mix or about 60 servings. I make a big batch at the beginning or the winter and we use it all season.

13 cups dry milk powder
6 1/2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
2 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups powdered non-dairy creamer (1- 15oz jar of powdered creamer)

Sift together all these ingredients into a large bowl.
For extra chocolaty goodness I add-

2- 12 oz package of mini chocolate chips

Stir to combine the scoop into jars for gifts or store sealed in a container for storage.

Variations- You can use flavored creamer if you want flavored cocoa or try adding some cayenne pepper to the mix for a bit of spicy heat.

To use this cocoa mix; Scoop 1/3 cup of mixture into mug and add boiling water. Stir and enjoy.

Alton Brown has a Recipe for Cocoa mix that I haven't tried just because I love the creaminess of my recipe but for those who don't want to use powdered creamer here is his recipe.

2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup cocoa (Dutch-process preferred)
2 1/2 cups powdered milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Mix all ingredients together and store in airtight container.

Fluffy No Bake Peanut Butter Pie with a Chocolate lined crust!

2015-11-09T01:00:00.000-07:00

Fluffy No Bake Peanut Butter Pie

We love to go to a very small town cafe about a half an hour away for their pan fried chicken, cooked to order, and their homemade pies.

The Castle Cafe always has a killer banana cream pie but every few months the chef will get in a mood to make a Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie that is one of the best things I've ever had and I'm not even a big peanut butter person. Note the "only every few months" part of that- it's not nearly often enough so, I had to play with some recipes to come up with one that tastes just like his!!! We all agree that this is a perfect copy!

One of the secrets to his great pies is his chocolate coated graham cracker crusts. He uses it for his Banana Cream Pie and his Peanut Butter Pie. Brilliant! The crust never get's soggy!!I hope you enjoy this pie as much as we do!

For a Printable Version of this recipe- Click Here!

Ingredients

Pie Crust- Makes one 9" pie crust- You can also just buy one!!!

1 package from a box of graham crackers- about 10 sheets of crackers
1/3 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of melted butter
3/4 of a cup of chocolate chips

Peanut Butter Filling

1 1/2 8oz packages of low fat cream cheese at room temperature(12 oz)
1 1/2 cups of creamy peanut butter- store bought not the fresh kind. I like Jif
3 TBS of water or milk
1 1/2 cup of powdered sugar- divided into 1 cup and 1/2 cup
1 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup of chocolate chips- Optional- you can mix some into the filling or you can just top the pie with some or both.

Topping

1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips- Optional

Instructions

Pie Crust

Preheat your oven to 375º
While the crackers are still wrapped, press of the sides, top and bottom to start to break them up.
Place the crackers into a food processor. You can also put everything into a large zip lock bag and crush and mix the ingredients in the bag.
Add the sugar
Pulse until the crackers are a fine crumb
Pour the melted butter over the crumbs and pulse until all combined.
Press the crumbs into the bottom of a 9" pie plate. I use a measuring cup to press it in nice and tightly.
Bake for 7 minutes
As soon as you take the crust out of the oven, sprinkle the chocolate chips over the bottom of the crust.
Let it sit for 5 minutes until the chocolate chips are melted.
With the back of a spoon, spread the melted chocolate over the bottom and up the sides of the crust.
Place in the refrigerator until cool

Peanut Butter Filling

In a mixing bowl, beat the whipped cream with 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar until it forms stiff peaks. That means when the beaters are pulled up out of the whipped cream, the points stand up straight.
In another mixing bowl, place your 12 oz of softened cream cheese, the 1 1/2 cups of peanut butter, 1 cup of powdered sugar and 3 TBS of water. Beat until well combined and slightly fluffy.
Take 1/3 of the whipped cream and stir it into the peanut butter mixture to lighten it.
Take the remaining whipped cream and fold it into the peanut butter mixture and fold until all combined.
Spoon the peanut butter filling into the chilled crust and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Topping:

In a mixing bowl, beat the whipped cream with 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar until it forms stiff peaks. That means when the beaters are pulled up out of the whipped cream, the points stand up straight.
Spread the whipped cream over the top of the pie and sprinkle on the mini chocolate chips.

Note: You can beat all 2 cups of whipped cream and the 3/4 cup of powdered sugar together- just remember to pull out a quarter of it to top the pie with before mixing the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture. It's up to you! I tend to forget the pull out the topping so I beat the cream in separate batches!

Cinnamon Spiced Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple Cinnamon Mascarpone Filling

2015-10-15T02:30:00.000-06:00

There's something about this time of year that makes me long for warm, cozy, down home foods and pumpkin to me is one of these foods.

I was feeling like some fall food so jumped onto Pinterest and found lots of delicious pumpkin recipes. When I saw a couple of recipes for pumpkin whoopie pies, I knew I found what i wanted to make/eat! The problem I ran into was the recipes either used vegetable oil or a cake mix or both and I didn't want to go there. If I'm going to eat fat, it's going to be butter. Butter just tastes better and makes anything it's in or on taste better too and if I'm going to bake, I want to do it from scratch. It only takes about 5 minutes longer to measure some ingredients and the final result just tastes so much better..

After reading through different recipes for pumpkin whoopies, I found a few that sounded kind of good, but not quite right. I combined the best of those recipes with a recipe I have for a soft molasses cookies and the Libby Pumpkin Pie recipe and came up with this one. It's a perfect spiced pumpkin cake like cookie with a creamy, buttery, slightly maple flavored filling. I served it to company, family company so they'd be honest, and they were a hit. I hope you enjoy them as much as we all did.

Spiced Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple Cinnamon Mascarpone Filling
Click here for a Printable version of this recipe.

Whoopie Pies
3 cups all purpose flour
1 TBS cinnamon
1 ½ tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
½ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground cloves

1 cup softened butter
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
3 TBS of molasses
1-15oz can of Libby's Pumpkin chilled- I just throw the can in the fridge for a few hours.(this chills up the dough so you can scoop and bake right away. If you don't want to chill the pumpkin, then chill the finished dough for a couple of hours before scooping it to bake.
1 tsp vanilla

Maple Cinnamon Filling
4 cups powdered sugar
8 oz of mascarpone cheese room temperature
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 stick of butter softened
3 TBS of Maple Syrup or (¼ cup of Maple Sugar plus 3 TBS milk)

The Whoopie part:

Preheat oven to 350° F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper
In a small bowl whisk together the dry ingredients- flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda, salt
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugars until combined and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat to combine. Add pumpkin and vanilla and beat until combined.
Add in the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Do not over beat.
Using a small cookie scoop or a tablespoon, drop batter onto the parchment lined sheets about 1 inch apart.
Bake for 10-12 minutes making sure that the cookies are cooked through. They will start to crack on the top- it’s part of their charm! I used a toothpick inserted in to the center to make sure they were done.
Slide parchment off of sheets and onto counter to cool.

Filling

Beat the butter and marscapone cheese until fluffy and smooth- this will take 3-5 minutes. Add the cinnamon and half the powdered sugar then the maple syrup (or the maple sugar and milk) and the vanilla. Beat until combined. Then continue adding the rest of the powdered sugar until it is thick enough to hold it's shape well.

Assembly
Match up the cookies into sets of 2 similar size and shape and turn one over. Spoon or pipe the filling onto the upside down cookies covering the entire surface. I spoon all the filling into a quart size zip lock bag and cut one corner off , then all I have to do it squeeze it out to pipe it.
Place the other cookie on top of the filling and press down slightly to get the filling all the way out to the edge. Repeat for each whoopie pie.

Storage
Please store these in the refrigerator. You can store these for up to a week in the refrigerator. Take out and let sit at room temperature for about 15-20 mins before serving to soften up or just eat them cold.

How to Make Pumpkins from Sweaters- A Tutorial on Sweater Pumpkins

2015-09-18T02:22:00.000-06:00

How to make Darling Sweater Pumpkins

Here's one to pin!

I've been spending some time on Pinterest, it's dangerous. I usually set a timer so I don't get lost there for hours browsing all of the amazing ideas. I was looking for some fall decor ideas and found lots of pictures of these darling pumpkins made from sweaters. I couldn't resist making a few. A quick trip to the Salvation Army store and Hobby Lobby and I was set. I paid $4.10 for 3 sweaters, $1.99 for the stuffing and $3.99 for the twine.

I learned a few things along the way though so here are step by step instructions on how to make them with my tips I learned the hard way through trial and error.

Here's what you'll need:

    Pullover Sweaters- (XL Men's sweaters give you the most material to work with)- I found the heavier knits are more forgiving in terms of not showing lumps and bumps from the stuffing as easily. See orange pumpkin at botto
m of page!
    Stuffing: I used a bag of loose poly-fill stuffing and also some old quilt batting. I also used the scraps of the sweaters that I wasn't using for pumpkins as stuffing.
    Twine, string, dental floss, or even a heavy elastic band to close up the bottom.
    Natural Jute 3 ply twine. I used this kind.
    Sissors
    Glue Gun

Steps:

Find the parts of the sweater you'd like to use. The sleeves are really easy and you can get one larger and one small pumpkin from each sleeve, if you are careful. You can use the front and back as well. I cut a square from the front and a square from the back and sewed that square into a tube with my sewing machine. You can also use a glue gun. Fold the square in half, right sides together and run a line of glue down the edge to seal them together.

Take the Jute and measure out 5 pieces that are about 2 to 3 times the length of the piece of sweater you are using. Tie one end of these 5 pieces together in a knot, to hold them together.

Turn the piece of sweater inside out so the seams are facing out.

Thread the pieces of Jute through the tube with the knot coming out what will be the bottom end of the pumpkin (the wider end).

Take your twine or elastic band and tie the bottom of the tube very tightly. The Jute will be coming out of the center. I tie a knot then wrap the twine around then tie another knot.

Turn the tube right side out.

Time to stuff!!! As you stuff, you have to pull the knot up through the center to the height you will want the pumpkin to be, you'll see why in a minute. Stuff the pumpkin around the outside of the Jute. Here you can see I used some of the stuffing and some of the sweater scraps. I kept the stuffing on the outside and the sweater scraps on the inside, so it was smooth and un-lumpy.

Once it's stuffed as much as you want, it's time to close up the top. Here's the SECRET!! You have to have the knot come up through where you tie it at the top. I grabbed the top with the knot above my hand then pulled the bottom strings to get the knot exactly where I wanted it to be deep at the base of the neck.

The knot is the key to having it look like a pumpkin! The first few ones I made I didn't have the knot above where I was tying the neck and the pumpkins didn't look like a pumpkin. See the difference? The advantage of a tutorial- I make the mistakes and figure it out so you don't have to!!!!

While holding the neck under the knot pull the ends so it's nice and tight.

Take one of the jute strands and come up the side and wrap it around the neck. I threaded the end under the jute coming up and pull it tight to anchor. Pull it tight so that it pulls the side in a bit and pulls the knot down.

Repeat with each of the 5 jute strands.

Put a dot of glue where each string crosses itself.

Begin to wrap the jute strands around the neck. On some I just tied them into a knot and left the ends hanging down. On some I took the 5 pieces, lined them up and used them to wrap the stem all the way up to the top.

Once you've got the ends where you want them glue into place and trim the ends.

Trim the sweater to the style that you want. On some I wrapped up and inch or so and then left the top of the sweater lose and sticking up. On a couple of the white ones in the photo, I trimmed the top even with the jute. You can do it any way you want. You can also shape it, squeeze to make it taller and skinnier or push down and flatten to make it more short and squat.

I hope you enjoy making your sweater pumpkins!

Moist, Delicious Strawberry Shortcake- A super fast and easy vanilla cake to go with berries!

2015-09-09T01:00:00.000-06:00

I'm not a fan of the dry, crumbly, biscuit style of shortcake. I want a moist tender cake for my berries. 16 years ago, we ordered the strawberry shortcake at a restaurant and I was in heaven. It was the perfect cake for berries. I had to have the recipe and with a bit of flattery and begging, the chef shared the recipe with me. The one catch was, he had to leave one ingredient out to give it to me. Thankfully, he made it easy when he told me that it was a vanilla cake and guess what ingredient was missing?
We always have this on Easter to usher in berry season and is one of our favorite spring & summer treats. It's so fast and easy to mix up and bake. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Click here for a Printable Version of this recipe

Moist Vanilla Strawberry Shortcake

Makes one 9x13 pan or 12 cupcakes or one jellyroll pan
Ingredients

3 cups of flour
2 cups of sugar
1 1/2 TBS baking powder
1 cup melted butter
2 cups milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°
In a 2 cup glass measuring cup or a microwavable container- microwave 1 cup of butter for 60 seconds or until melted. I leave the sticks in the wax paper and micriwave it that way. No spatters and you just have to pull them out when it's melted. Easy and no mess.
In a large bowl stir together the flour, sugar and baking powder
Stir in the milk and vanilla then the melted butter and mix well. There may be a few small lumps but just leave them. Don't over stir!
Pour batter into a greased pan and bake in the preheated oven until golden on top and a toothpick comes out clean.
Baking Times:

For a 9x13 or cupcakes- 25 to 30 minutes
For jelly roll pan- or 20 mins f.

For a large half sheet pan 2”x13”x18”- Double the recipe and bake for 40 to 45 minutes.

Greek Yogurt Panna Cotta with Almond Coconut Milk and Fresh Peaches that's Gluten Free!

2013-09-06T10:44:00.001-06:00

Panna Cotta is one of those desserts that sounds much harder to make than it is. Once I discovered how easy it was to make, I make it often. It really only takes about 4-5 minutes to whip together and then an hour or so to chill. I came up with this recipe when I wanted something a little different that I could make for a dessert but also eat for breakfast and not feel guilty! I used a combination of Nonfat Greek yogurt and almond coconut milk as the base. It turned out thick and rich and delicious and guilt free.

I feel so blessed to live in Colorado, especially during the summer peach season. This year, because of a late freeze, the peaches are harder to get than a good night's sleep but when you can get your hands on them, it's worth the effort. They're the kind of peaches that when you cut or bite into them, the juice just flows out and the perfumed scent fills the room. They are so sweet and so delicious! Just writing about them is making me want to go cut another one but I have to pace myself so I can extend this batch of them. I decided to chop some up to put into this batch and I was not disappointed. If you don't like peaches you can use almost any fruit except fresh pineapple or fresh papaya- their enzymes will prevent the mix from setting up.

You can make it in small jars like I did and just eat it out of the jar, or you can make it in small ramekins that you can un-mold onto a plate. You can also make it in a regular 8-9" round cake pan and un-mold that onto a large plate to serve. I just like eating it out of my cute Weck jars plus I didn't feel like un-molding anything! If you want to un-mold it- Lightly grease the inside of your pans/ ramekins so that the panna cotta will come out easier. I also get a bowl of hot water and hold the mold in the water for a few seconds to loosen it before un-molding.

Greek Yogurt Panna Cotta Makes 5-6 medium servings

Ingredients:

1 envelope of unflavored gelatin
1 cup of Almond or Coconut or The Blue Diamond Almond Coconut Milk. (you can use unsweetened or sweetened it doesn't matter. but if you use unsweetened, you might cut back on the agave or sugar)
1/4 cup agave syrup or honey or 1/3 cup sugar
1- 17 oz container of Plain Greek Yogurt- nonfat, 1 %, whole milk- doesn't matter
1 tsp vanilla- optional
2 large or 3 medium peaches chopped- Optional You can also use strawberries, blueberries, blackberries or apricots. Any fruit but fresh Pineapple or papaya- they have enzymes in them that will prevent the gelatin from setting up so you'll end up with a yogurt and fruit drink!

Instructions:

Take a 1/4 cup of the almond milk in a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over the top. Let sit 1-2 minutes while you get the rest of the ingredients together and chop up the peach.

Add the yogurt and 1/4 of the almond milk to a small bowl- (preferably one with a spout to pour out of) and whisk together until smooth.
Take 1/2 cup of the almond milk and the sweetener and place in a small saucepan
Over Medium heat, heat the milk and sweetener until mixed together and all dissolved.
Add the softened gelatin to the pan and stir until the gelatin is dissolved. You don't have to bring it to a boil. Heat just until everything is dissolved.
Remove from the heat and pour the warm mixture into the yogurt.
Add the vanilla to it if you wish. I think real vanilla tastes like plastic and the fake stuff is worse!
Pour the mixture into your containers- filling 1/2 way.
If you are adding fruit, add the chopped fruit and push the fruit down into the yogurt mixture with a spoon. Then top with the remaining yogurt mixture so that the fruit is covered.

Chill for 1-3 hours depending on the shape of your container. a thinner layer will chill in an hour. A 5 oz jar will take closer to 3 hours.

The panna cotta will still jiggle a bit but not be set up. Think a little less gigglier than jello. It's really a softer jello consistency.

Easy Zen Tomato Tarts

2013-07-01T02:00:00.000-06:00

In the summer tomatoes are so delicious. Juicy, sweet and filled with flavor. I grabbed some at the farmer's market last week and wanted to use them up by making these Tomato Tarts. I made 3 tarts; one with goat cheese, one with parmesian and one with some white cheddar. The thing that makes these so special is the seasoning. This month our challenge from the The Fennel Friday Cooking Club (hosted is by The Pollen Ranch and Kimberly, at The Hungry Goddess.) was to make a vegetable dish using The Pollen Ranch's Zen-Sational Seasoning Blend as an ingredient. We all post our recipes to the Fennel Friday group to share our recipes. Head on over to check out the other delicious thing we all came up with!
These take about 10 minutes to make (not including the thawing time for the puff pastry and are baked and ready to eat in 30 minutes.

These are perfect with a salad for a lunch or a light dinner or sliced up into small pieces as an appetizer. You can make them up to 2 hours ahead of when you want to serve them. They are just as good at room temperature as they are warm.

Click Here for a Printable Version of This Recipe

Ingredients

1 sheet of puff pastry- thawed
3 large tomatoes. I used Roma
1 tsp of Zen-Sational Seasoning blend
2 tbs basil chopped of chiffonaded ( fancy way of saying cut into thin little strips) I use scissors!
1/2 cup of the cheese or cheeses of your choice.
Olive oil

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425º
Unroll the puff pastry sheet and cut into 3 strips
Place the strips onto a parchment lined or greased cookie sheet
With a sharp knife, cut just into the top part of the puff pastry all the way around leaving about 1/3 of an inch between the score line and the edges

With a fork, prick holes all over the center of sheet staying inside the score lines- this keeps the center part from puffing up while allowing the edges to rise up
Brush the center with some olive oil
Slice the tomatoes up into thin slices and chop up the basil
Arrange the basil pieces evenly over the pastry

Sprinkle each strip evenly with 1/3-1/2 tsp of Zen-Sational Seasoning
Arrange the tomatoes in a line down the middle
Top the tomatoes with 2-3 TBS of the cheese of your choice.
Place them into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and the cheese is melted.

Serve these warm or at room temperature.

The Zen-Sational blend is made up of Pollen Ranch Fennel Pollen, Sumac, Sesame Seeds, Orange Peel, Ginger, Fleur de Sel (Sea Salt), Yellow Curry, Savory Leaf, and Cayenne. It is not hot but adds a lovely earthy warmth to the tomatoes! It's a perfect blend!

10 Minute Summer Pasta for a Fast and Easy Dinner

2013-06-27T02:00:00.000-06:00

In the summer I don't really feel like cooking. I just want a fast and easy dinner recipe that's healthy and not too heavy. This dish fits the bill. It takes only 10 minutes to prepare - 20 if you count waiting for the water to boil. It's filled with colorful tomatoes, basil, arugula, spinach, garlic and feta and only gets one pot dirty. Enjoy this delicious dish warm for dinner tonight and chilled for lunch tomorrow.

Ingredients

1 pound of campanella, penne or any shape pasta you'd like.

6 large roma tomatoes or 4 large regular tomatoes

2-3 cloves of garlic crushed and minced

1/3 cup chopped basil leaves or 1 TBS of Gourmet Garden Basil.

2 cups of super greens or spinach and or arugula

1/2 cup feta cheese

3 TBS extra virgin olive oil

1- 1 1/2 tsp of salt to taste

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp of oregano or italian herb blend

1 TBS kosher salt for the pasta water

Click Here for a Printable Version of this Recipe!

Instructions

Bring 4 quarts of water to a full boil with 1 TBS kosher salt or 1 1/2 tsp regular salt in the water
Add Pasta to the water and cook for the recommended time until al dente
While the pasta cooks- Cut up the tomatoes into bite size pieces and place into a large serving bowl. Leave room to toss it all together- unlike the one in my picture!
Add the chopped basil and the greens to the bowl
Add the feta to the bowl

In another small bowl - or you can just dump it on top of the pasta.
Mix the olive oil, minced garlic, 1 tsp salt, pepper and herbs together.
Once the pasta is cooked, drain and add it to the bowl right on top of the tomatoes, greens and feta.

Pour the oil blend on top and toss to combine.
Serve with some warm bread and you're already done!

Do you know your family health history? Time to have everyone fill out a Family Heath History Questionnaire

2013-06-24T01:00:00.000-06:00

The last few months I have found out some things in my family medical history that I had no idea were there. We have a large family reunion coming up and I think it's time to start gathering some health history information that could affect my family and their families. There is so much health information that can disappear when a family member dies and it's then lost forever. It would be nice, when a health issue pops up, to have some data available to show if it's something that is common in the family or something new.

photo from freedigitalphotos.net

There were 2 major things that caused me to think about this. One was a family member that had some issues nursing her baby. She just wasn't producing enough milk. In mentioning it to an older family member, I found out that this older woman had also had issues nursing her kids and so had her mom. None of them produced more than an ounce or two of milk at a feeding and had to supplement with bottles of formula. I never know that!!! Had this young mom known this information, it could have prevented 2 very frustrating months with a very fussy and, now we know, hungry baby. He was gaining weight and growing but just not getting quite enough as he got older.

I also started thinking about it because of the last, very difficult, couple of weeks. We watched and prayed for a young couple, my daughter's husband's twin brother and his wife who had a beautiful baby boy who was born with a very rare, fatal lung condition, alveolar capillary dysplasia. He was fine for the first 36 hours and then started having breathing problems, after 2 weeks of intensive tests and treatment, he was diagnosed with ACD and he passed away. It's such a sad a tragic situation. Please keep his parents John and McCayla in your prayers.
ACD is almost always a spontaneous non-hereditary issue but the fact that it happend should be passed down to future generations so that they will know. So often, information just isn't shared and you never know when it could be important or could make a difference!

I spent a couple of hours creating a family health history form that covers a broad spectrum of health issues. Take the time to fill one out and to have each of your family members fill it out. Collect the information and see what trends there may be in your family tree that you had no idea were there!

CLICK HERE TO GET A PRINTABLE COPY OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE

Sour Cream Potato Salad, Mayonnaise Free, with the taste of a baked potato!

2013-06-20T01:30:00.000-06:00

Potato Salad is a classic, American, summertime favorite. There's just one problem with it, it has tons of mayonnaise and gotta say, I'm not a fan and neither are most of my kids. As I was topping baked potatoes the other day it struck me that I could use sour cream instead of the mayo to make a potato salad with. I'm sure people have been doing this for years and years and it's nothing new but it was new to me. That wonderful taste of a baked potato in a salad! What more could I want? Nothing! Plus, the light sour cream I use (Daisy) has half the calories and a quarter of the fat that mayo has which is a bonus in my book! Since I was going with the whole baked potato idea I combined some of the flavors of regular potato salad and the flavors of a baked potato and this is what I came up with.

Note: Some people may like a super ~~slimy~~ creamy potato salad- if you're one of those people, double the dressing recipe for the same 2 pounds of potatoes to get that effect. We don't like it very creamy but you can make it any way you want. Some people also may want to add 2 chopped up hard boiled eggs to this recipe, if you're into that kind of thing, go for it.

Ingredients- Makes enough for 4-6 servings

2 pounds small red potatoes cut into small cubes
4 sliced of bacon cooked and crumbled
3 green onions (scallions) sliced very thin the white and the tender greens
4-5 stalks of celery diced
2 TBS chopped Dill or use 1 tsp of the Dill- Gourmet Garden Herbs in a tube
3/4- 1 cup low fat sour cream
2 TBS yellow or spicy brown prepared mustard
2 TBS lemon juice or 1 TBS vinegar (optional if you don't want to use relish) I like a little acid in my salad
1 tsp salt or to taste
1/4-1/2 tsp pepper to taste
3 TBS pickle relish (optional)

Instructions

Cut up the red potatoes. place in a large pan and cover with water. I usually add about a tsp of salt to the water.
Bring the potatoes to a boil over high heat, once they are boiling reduce heat to med and cook until potatoes are tender when stabbed with a fork. You don't want crunchy potatoes or mashed potatoes so check every 5 mins. It will take about 20-30 minutes.
Pour potatoes into a colander and drain well. If you're in a hurry to serve this and want it cold, you can dump them into a bowl of ice water for 5 mins and that will chill them faster.
While the potatoes cool down or even while they cook make the dressing.

Into a small bowl add the sour cream, mustard, lemon juice/vinegar or pickle relish, salt and pepper. Stir until combined.
Cook and crumble up the bacon- Set aside
Chop the green onions, celery and dill*
Add the onions, celery and dill to the dressing

Once the potatoes are cooled, place them into a large bowl and pour the dressing over the top. Stir until the potatoes are coated.
You can actually serve this warm or chilled. We had it both ways and it was delicious either way. If you like it chilled it will take about 3-4 hours to get it good and cold. This also allows the flavors to meld together.
Just before serving sprinkle the bacon over the top or stir it in if you're like me.

*Let me share my thoughts on Gourmet Garden Herbs. They come in a tube found by the fresh herbs at the grocery store and you store them in your refrigerator or freezer. Now that all my kids are gone, my husband and I can't use up a ton of fresh herbs before they go bad. It's reality. Even when my kids were all at home, I had trouble using herbs up sometimes or I'd need herbs for a recipe and wouldn't have them. I wish I'd had these. My daughter, Laura, introduced them to me. I now always have the Garlic, Basil and Dill on hand. They last about 3 months in the fridge but I do use them up faster than that. Plus bonus they don't smell up the refrigerator. They are easy and delicious, just squeeze and stir them in! They have no idea I'm talking about their product but I really do like them. Do I still buy fresh herbs- yes for some things but for everyday cooking these are so easy and taste so good! I love that!

Map of the Black Forest Fire - Map shows the 92 homes that have been reported to be lost so far.

2013-06-12T18:41:00.003-06:00

There is a terrible fire burning just north of Colorado Springs in an area called Black Forest. My Sister in law and brother in law live there.
Our hearts and prayers go out to those families that have lost their homes and belongings.

UPDATED- The Sheriff released the list of houses that have been destroyed as of 2am on 6/13/2013. I took the addresses and mapped them to show exactly where the fire has moved. To see the map, please go to-

Click here to see a MAP Of the Homes reported to be lost in fire

Summer Grilled Corn Salad with Feta

2013-06-06T02:00:00.000-06:00

Fresh Corn is one of my favorite things during the summer. The crisp snap as you bite into the sweet kernels just makes me happy. There's nothing like it. I always make at least 4 extra ears of corn when we have it and hope that there are leftovers. I use the leftover corn to make corn fritters for breakfast or to make a summer salad like this. Cook once and get two meals out of it is my summer montra.

When we grill, I always grill some extra vegetables or meat for another meal. Grill while the grill is hot!! Last week I grilled stuff for that dinner, fennel for a pizza I wanted to make and some extra vegetables for this salad.

In addition to the grilled corn for this salad, I added some grilled zucchini and some cherry tomatoes. I had some feta so I threw some of that in and topped it all off with a light vinaigrette. It would have been great with some blue cheese crumbles instead of the feta and with some fresh basil chopped up but I was out!

Ingredients

Salad

The kernels cut off of 4- 6 ears of grilled or cooked corn
1 zucchini cooked and cut up into small pieces
3/4 cup of cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup of chopped basil leaves- Optional
1/3 cup of crumbled feta or blue cheese

Dressing- This dressing is a play on my good friend Kathy's. She makes this dressing with 2 TBS sugar for spinach and strawberry salad and it's delicious. I cut the sweetness for this corn salad but it is a great salad dressing recipe!

1/4 cup olive oil
2 TBS balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 dash of hot sauce- like Cholula
2 teaspoons sugar

Whisk all ingredients together and pour over the salad. This can be done ahead of time to allow the flavors to meld together.

Fennel and Chicken Pesto Pizza with Fennel Polen

2013-06-02T15:40:00.000-06:00

I recently joined a food blogger group called The Fennel Friday Cooking Club hosted by The Pollen Ranch and Kimberly, at The Hungry Goddess. Each month we are given a theme challenge to make something using one of The Pollen Ranch's delicious products. This month's theme was flatbreads or pizzas using Fennel Pollen as an ingredient. We all post our recipes to the Fennel Friday group to share our recipes. Head on over to check out the other recipes.

I've never used Fennel Pollen before and was excited to receive the complimentary sample from The Pollen Ranch to use in my recipe. As soon as I opened the tin, I was surrounded by the scent of fennel. The fennel pollen adds a subtle fennel flavor to whatever you use it on. It's just a bit sweet and has tons of unique flavor to it. It will be a secret ingredient in many dishes now that I've tried it. In addition to this pizza, I used some in a batch of brown rice and it was delicious. I'll be using it in lots of dishes. I'm also thrilled that it's an organic product!

I decided to make a fennel and chicken pesto pizza for this challenge! Last weekend we fired up the grill for Memorial day and grilled up a ton of chicken and vegetables. We had chicken, corn, zucchini and potatoes. While the grill was hot, I threw on a sliced fennel bulb to use for this pizza. You can use any vegetables you like on it but I decided to just use the grilled fennel, grilled chicken and a few sliced cherry tomatoes for some color. I hope you enjoy it.

Pizza Dough

You can also buy store bought but here's the recipe that I use.

3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
3 TBS olive oil
1 cup of warm water (110º F- 45º C)

Combine flour, salt, sugar, and yeast into a large bowl.
Add in the oil and the water.
Mix well until it forms a ball.
Knead for 5-7 minutes then let rest covered for 10 minutes. If you have the time you can let it rise until it doubles in size before rolling out but if you don't have that time you don't have to.
Roll flat or press into a pizza pan.
Bake at 450º for 5 minutes then remove from oven and add toppings.

Sauce and Toppings

Sauce:
You can use anything you like. Olive Oil and garlic, a red pizza sauce, marinara or make a simple pesto sauce of:

2 cups of spinach
1/2 cup basil
2 cloves of chopped garlic or 1/4 tsp garlic powder
3 TBS olive oil
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Throw all these ingredients into a the blender or food processor and pulse until ingredients are blended and slightly chunky to make a simple pesto sauce. Add salt to taste if the cheese doesn't make it salty enough for you. If it's too thick you can add a bit of water or more olive oil to thin it out a bit.

Spread the sauce over the partially baked crust.

Toppings:
Scatter the remaining toppings evenly over the pizza.

1 cup chopped chicken breast
1/2 a fennel bulb chopped. You can slice the bulb and grill it on a grill with some olive oil or just chop it and saute it in a bit of olive oil for 5-7 minutes until it's softened and browned.
1/2- 3/4 of a tsp of fennel pollen
1/2 cup of cherry tomatoes or any tomatoes sliced thinly
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese. You can also add as much mozzarella or other cheeses as you'd like. I'm lactose intolerant so I only use a bit of parm.

Return the pizza to the hot oven and bake for another 7-10 minutes until crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted.

Don't forget to head over to the Fennel Friday group to see what everyone else came up with!!!

Sweet and Spicy Nuts to go on a Salad or to Nibble on with Cocktails!

2013-04-30T04:00:00.000-06:00

After 4 straight weeks of snow and cold weather, this weekend was gorgeous. In the 70's and perfect weather to enjoy drinks on the deck. I made some of these nuts to go on top of a kale and spinach salad yesterday. As I was mixing us up a couple of Old Fashioneds, I thought we needed a little nibble to go with our drinks so I pulled these out. They were delicious!
These nuts are the perfect thing to throw together for unexpected company. They take under 5 minutes to make and are delicious. This recipe is so versatile and can be used with any kind of nut and any kind of herbs to create many different results.

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons of brown sugar
1 cup pecan halves- or any kid of nuts you want
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1-2 teaspoons of rosemary, thyme or any other spices that you like. They are delicious with cumin and some chili pepper for a mexican flair or how about some oregano and rosemary for Italian night. (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

In a frying pan, over medium heat, add the butter and sugar, stir until butter is melted.
Add the pecans and continue to stir until pecans begin to get golden brown and toasted about 1 minute.
Add the cayenne and any other herbs you'd like and stir for an additional 15 seconds.
Remove from heat and let the nuts cool.

These are great on a salad or with drinks before dinner.

Pineapple Bran Muffins

2013-04-01T03:00:00.000-06:00

There is a wonderful hotel/ resort here in Colorado and they make the best Bran Muffins. We go for one night every year to clebrate our anniversary. I know how boring that sounds, to go to a wonderful hotel and order a bran muffin, but they are that good. I've spent quite a few years trying to duplicate them and this is pretty dang close! They are moist, full of flavor and so good that you forget that they're good for you!

INGREDIENTS

1 cup wheat bran
1 cup oat bran
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 egg
1/2 cup crushed pineapple with juice squeezed out
1/3 cup melted butter
2/3 cup yogurt
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup molasses
1/2 cup of raisins- Optional
1/3 cup rolled oats for tops

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 375°
Grease or paper a 12 standard muffin pan. I always spray the paper lightly if I use papers.
On a cookie sheet in the oven~ 7 mins or in a large frying pan over medium high heat, toast the Oat and wheat bran until lightly golden brown. This gives the muffins a nutty flavor.
Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
Drain and Squeeze the juice from the 8 oz can of pineapple
In a small bowl, place the egg, yogurt, honey, molasses and melted butter, beat to combine.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and then add the raisins or the dried cherries. Stir gently until just combined. Don’t over stir!
Scoop the batter into the muffin tins/ papers and sprinkle the rolled oats over the tops.
Bake in the oven for 20-25 mins until a toothpick or tester inserted into the center comes out with just a few crumbs on it. Not wet!
Let sit for 10 mins and remove from the pan. Serve warm or let cool. They will stay fresh in a sealed container in the fridge for 2 weeks.

Crunchy Banana Nut Muffins with Coconut

2013-03-21T03:00:00.000-06:00

I love this muffin recipe. You can make a batch and they stay fresh in the fridge for a week or so. They're perfect for a grab and go breakfast on your way out the door. They also freeze beautifully.

Click here for a Printer Friendly Version of this Recipe

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup melted butter, cooled plus 1/2 cup applesauce OR 1 cup melted butter
3 bananas- mash 2 with a fork and dice one
1 cup chopped pecans (you can also use walnuts or almonds)
1 cup granola- any kind is fine
1 cup shredded coconut plus 1/4 cup shredded coconut to top muffins with before baking.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)
Melt 1/2 cup of butter and set aside to cool. (or 1 cup if you are skipping the applesauce)
Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.
In a medium size bowl stir together your dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
Mash 2 bananas with a fork and chop the remaining banana

In a separate bowl whisk the eggs lightly then add the remaining wet ingredients: milk, vanilla, melted butter, apple sauce, and the mashed bananas- save the diced banana for just one more step.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir just until combined. There will be a few lumps.

Fold in the diced banana, granola, nuts, and 1 cup of the coconut.

Scoop into the prepared muffin cups and sprinkle the top with the remaining coconut.

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

Makes 24 muffins

Flourless Orange Almond Cake- Gluten Free

2013-03-18T03:00:00.001-06:00

It's Friday evening. We've eaten dinner, kitchen's all cleaned up, the last load of laundry is in the dryer, I put on some sweats and I sit down to watch, Say Yes to the Dress, and have some Pinterest Time. I 'm looking through the pins and see a delicious looking Orange Cake and have to have some- RIGHT NOW! I look at the ingredients and have everything except the Almond meal, but I have almonds, so I'm all set. I grind up the almonds THEN read the next step- WHAT??? I have to Boil the oranges for 15 minutes, drain, refill, bring to a boil for another 15 minutes, then let them cool!!!???? (OK, I should have read the recipe instead of just looking at the pictures of each step- that was not a step in the photos- My Bad.) No way was I doing all that! So I do some research.

You're supposed to boil the oranges to soften the skins up and make it easier to cook. But, I think to myself what a wonderful world.... Woops- I''m not supposed to be singing right now... I think to myself- if you boil the oranges and drain the water- wouldn't all the flavorful oils from the peel go down the drain? That's my conclusion. So I came up with a new plan, played with the recipe, made it 3 times and here is a delicious alternative that only took 8 mins to get into the oven and that time includes grinding the almonds. Plus Bonus- I used the food processor for every step. less to clean up! I could have made the original recipe faster but where would the fun be in that?!!!

Flourless Orange Almond Cake

Inspired by Scandi Home's Flourless Orange Cake

Click here for a printable version on this recipe. Ingredients:

2 whole medium size oranges If you only have big ones just use 1 1/2
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
3 cups of almond meal or 3 cups of whole almonds that you'll grind up
1 tsp Baking Powder

Instructions:

Grease and flour a 9" spring form pan- You can do a regular 9 " round but it is harder to get it out of the pan in pretty slices.
If you have almond meal- skip this step- Place 3 cups of whole almonds into the bowl of your food processor. Pulse until the almonds are a fine even texture. I actually left mine a little rougher because I like more texture in the final cake. It's up to you but DON"T over process or you'll be eating almond butter sandwiches for the rest of the month! Remove the meal from the bowl and set aside.
Stir 1 tsp of baking powder into the meal.
Zest all skin off of the 2 oranges and place in a bowl.
Preheat oven to 340º.
Peel the oranges then slice or pull into the sections and place the pieces into the Food processor bowl. There will be some almond meal in there but so what, it's all going to be mixed together in a minute. Pulse until the oranges are a nicely pureed. Pour the puree in with the zest and set aside. Try to get as much of the orange out of the bowl as you can.
Crack 3 eggs into the processor bowl and add the 1 cup of sugar. Turn on processor and process until the eggs and sugar are thick and pale yellow. About 45- 60 seconds.

Add the almond meal, the orange puree and zest into the egg mixture and process for about 10-15 seconds until combined.
Pour batter into prepared cake pan.

Bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted into the center and come out clean.

Serve dusted with Powdered sugar.

Biscoff Sheet Cake - Easy and Delicious

2013-03-14T03:00:00.000-06:00

Sheet cakes are the unappreciated younger sibling in the cake world. They aren't fancy or as pretty as a tall, slender 3 layer cake but they are easy and, in my opinion taste just as good as a layer cake and take a quarter of the time to make and frost!

My husband is from Nebraska and let me tell you, sheet cakes are BIG there! Not as big as Jello Salads but almost! When you're trying to get a huge dinner made by noon, for a bunch of hungry cattle ranchers who've been out feeding and moving cattle since the sun came up, a sheet cake is perfect. It mixes together in 5 minutes and bakes for 20 leaving the oven open for a casserole or rolls or whatever else is being made for the noon meal that day.

When we got married my mother-in=law gave me all her recipes for sheet cakes and casseroles that my husband had grown up eating. I've taken her peanut butter sheet cake and vanilla sheet cake recipes and played with them to make this Biscoff Sheet Cake. It is so good!!! The cookie caramel flavor of the Biscoff makes this a wonderful cake!

Biscoff Sheet Cake

Click here for a printable version

INGREDIENTS

Cake:

2 cups flour
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup Biscoff Spread
1 cup butter- 2 sticks
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk
1 cup sour cream- can be low fat
2 large eggs

Icing:

1/2 cup butter- 1 stick

2/3 cup Biscoff Spread

1/3 cup milk

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Cake:

Preheat oven to 400º F
Grease and flour a 12x17 Jelly roll pan, or a 9x13 pan (thicker cake) or a 14"x11" pan- just use what you have!
In a large bowl place the 2 cups flour, 2 cups brown sugar the 1 tsp baking soda and the 1/2 tsp of salt. Mix together with a whisk until well combined and the brown sugar lumps are broken down.
In a medium microwavable bowl, place the butter and water. Heat on high for 2-3 mins until the butter is melted and it is almost boiling. You can also do this in a small saucepan on the stove if you wish. Remove from microwave and stir in the Biscoff Spread. Stir until the Biscoff is completely melted and mixture is smooth. Pour on top of the flour and sugar mixture. Don't stir yet!
In that same small bowl. Mix together the 1/2 cup milk, 1 cup sour cream and the 2 eggs until well mixed. Pour into large bowl with the rest of the ingredients.
Now you can stir it all together until well combined.
Pour batter into the prepared pan and put into oven.
Bake for 20- 28 minutes depending on how big a pan you have. The larger the pan- the thinner the batter will spread and the faster it will cook.

Icing:

In a large saucepan, over medium place the 1/2 cup butter, 1/3 cup milk and 2/3 cup biscoff spread bring almost to a boil- it may look kind of chunky and broken but no worries.
Remove from the heat (take it off the stove so you don't have powdered sugar all over it to clean up from the grates and burners- Yep that's what I do sometimes and it's a mess)
Add 2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla to the hot mix and stir until smooth.
Immediately pour over the hot cake and spread around to cover the top.

Eat warm or let cool before serving.

Pineapple Coconut Sheet Cake or Pina Colada on a Plate

2013-03-10T16:11:00.003-06:00

It's Sheetcake Week here! Actually, I made 2 different kinds of cake for a lunch I held for some bible study friends this week so, I thought I'd post the recipes I came up with. I also made the Biscoff Sheet Cake you can find here!

This is a dense full of flavor sheet cake. Packed with coconut and chunks of pineapple, it's a slice of a tropical paradise on a plate. You can top this cake with a thinner Coconut Glaze as shown or with a slightly thicker Icing. It's good either way.

Pineapple Coconut Sheet Cake

Click here for a printable version of this recipe!

INGREDIENTS:

Cake:

2 cups Flour
2 cups White Sugar
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1- 20 oz can of Crushed Pineapple in Natural Juice not syrup- Don't drain.
1/3 cup of Shredded Coconut
1/2 cup Butter- 1 stick
1/2 cup Sour Cream- can be low fat
2 large eggs

Glaze:

1 cup Butter- 2 sticks

1 1/2 cups of White Sugar

2/3 cup coconut milk- or if you thought you had coconut mil but it turned out to be Coconut Ginger Soup instead- just use 2/3 cup milk and a 1/2 tsp of coconut extract.

1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup flaked coconut- I like to toast mine but you can add it straight out of the bag.

OR
Icing:

1/2 cup butter- 1 stick

1/3 cup coconut milk or regular milk and 1/2 tsp coconut extract

2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup flaked coconut

1 tsp vanilla

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cake:

Preheat oven to 400º F
Grease and flour a 12x17 Jelly roll pan, or a 9x13 pan (thicker cake) or a 14"x11" pan- just use what you have!
In a large bowl place the 2 cups flour, 2 cups white sugar the 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder and the 1/2 tsp of salt. Mix together with a whisk until well combined.
In a small microwavable bowl, place the butter. Heat on high for 45-60 seconds until the butter is melted. Remove and set aside
In a small bowl. Mix together the 1/2 cup sour cream and the 2 eggs until well combined. Pour into the large bowl with the dry ingredients. Don't stir yet!
Open the can of crushed pineapple and dump it into the bowl- juice and all.
Pour the melted butter on top and then mix everything together until well combined.
Pour batter into the prepared pan and put into oven.
Bake for 20- 28 minutes depending on how big a pan you have. The larger the pan- the thinner the batter will spread and the faster it will cook.

Glaze:

In a large saucepan, over medium place the 1 cup butter, 2/3 cup milk and the 1 1/2 cups of sugar. Bring to a boil stirring constantly and boil for 2 mins.
Remove from the heat and add the vanilla and coconut and stir until smooth.
Using a fork, poke holes every inch or so into the top of the cake.
Immediately pour over the glaze over the hot cake and spread around to cover the top.

Icing:

In a large saucepan, over medium place the 1/2 cup butter, 1/3 cup coconut milk and bring almost to a boil.
Remove from the heat (take it off the stove so you don't have powdered sugar all over it to clean up from the grates and burners- Yep that's what I do sometimes and it's a mess)
Add 2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla (and the coconut extract if you're using regular milk) to the hot mix and stir until smooth.
Add the coconut and stir to combine.
Immediately pour over the hot cake and spread around to cover the top.

Eat warm or let cool before serving.

Salted Caramel Pudding or Butterscotch Pudding Recipe

2013-03-06T01:51:00.000-07:00

My daughter Hannah came for a visit the other night and was hungry for Butterscotch pudding. I of course had every flavor of boxed pudding except that one so I got on the internet and looked at dozens of recipes and took the three I liked best and combined them into this one. It is the perfect combination of salty and sweet and buttery caramel butterscotch flavors. It tastes like salted caramels. Start to finish in under 15 mins. Hannah was thrilled but is sad that I've ruined her for boxed pudding. It's scary to think that we came so close to settling for a box and never discovering this amazing pudding!

Hannah's Butterscotch Pudding

3 1/2 cups milk- 1%, whole or what ever you’ve got (For a richer pudding use 2 1/2 cups milk and 1 cup cream
1 stick butter
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar packed
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

· Separate 3 eggs and put the 3 egg yolks into a medium bowl. Set aside.

· Stir 1/2 cup cold milk with 1/3 cup corn starch until a smooth paste. Set aside.

· In a microwavable container, add 3 cups milk (or cream and milk mixture) and Microwave for 2-4 minutes until skim forms on top and milk is hot. Remove and set aside.

· In a large, heavy saucepan, over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir in the brown sugar, raise the heat to medium-high, and cook 3 to 7 minutes, stirring constantly, to caramelize the mixture. You'll smell a characteristic nutty-caramel odor when the butter browns, signaling that the mixture is ready. Turn heat down to medium.

· Immediately, gradually add the hot milk into the butter/brown sugar mixture stirring constantly.

· Take the egg yolks and whisk in about 1/2 cup of the hot mixture. Whisk in the cornstarch paste and salt until dissolved. Whisk the cornstarch/ egg yolk mixture back into the hot mixture in the saucepan. Whisking constantly, cook over medium-high heat until pudding is thick and just boiling. You will know that it’s done and thick enough when the spoon leaves trail marks on the bottom of the pot and the mixture will have a few large bubbles boiling up to the top.

· Turn off the heat and whisk in the vanilla extract. Pour into one bowl or 6 to 8 ramekins, or mugs and press waxed paper over the top to prevent a skin from forming. Serve warm or chill at least 2 hours or overnight. Warm or cold it's delicious.I had it with a small dollop of whipped cream. I think I'm going to put some chocolate shavings on it next!