Cinnamon and Sugar Toasted Almonds

I LOVE walking through the mall and smelling these DELICIOUS almonds! BUT I do NOT like spending 7 bucks on a little packet of these things! So, I figured, why not make them myself and have my house smelling SUPER delish? SUPER easy to do too! I got a big bucket of almonds for 10 bucks at Target and the rest of the ingredients I already had. SOOOOOO good!!!!!!!!! Infact, I am munching on these as I write this out! They are SUPER good warm, but also good at room temperature.



Beat the egg white until "frothy". I consider this "frothy"


Almonds covered in egg white and water mixture


Yum, look at all that cinnamon and sugar!!


Dump all that cinnamon and sugar goodness over the almonds


Lookin' good!


All covered with cinnamon and sugar...


Dump onto a greased baking sheet (or a very well seasoned Pampered Chef stone, like I did! :)) and put in the oven for an hour.....



YUMMY, just look at those almonds!!!


Cinnamon and Sugar Toasted Almonds
1 egg white
1 teaspoon cold water
3 1/4 cups almonds
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Lightly grease jelly roll pan.
Lightly beat egg white, add cold water and beat until "frothy", but not stiff. Add nuts and stir until well coated.
Mix sugar, salt and cinnamon together and sprinkle over nuts. Toss to coat, spread evenly over prepared pan.
Bake 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes, or until nuts are golden.
Allow to cool and store in an airtight container.


*I didn't toss these, I ended up stirring them. Next time I will toss them in my big bowl... I think either way would work just fine! Let me know what ya think!!!

Peppermint Meltaways

Sorry that this is so late! I was going to post something last nite, but my little man got sick and had to take care of him. So I never got the chance to make anything last nite and post for today, then I was going to try and make something fast this morning, but I didn't have the one MAIN ingredient, so that wasn't going to work either! I JUST finished these cookies tonite! And man, let me tell you, they MELT in your mouth! They are really easy to make and oh so good!!!!! There is just enough peppermint to make it good, not to strong and not to weak!
GOTTA try these!!!





My bubby helping me!!!





He's a wiper! (all you Harshberger's know what I mean!!! LOL)


Bake until lightly browned on the bottom!



SOOOOO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Peppermint Meltaways

Cookies:
1 cup softened butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup cornstarch

Frosting:
2 tablespoons softened butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoons peppermint extract

1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies

In a small bowl, cream butter and powdered sugar until light a fluffy. Beat in the extract. Then add the flour and cornstarch. Mix well.
Shape into 1 inch balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes, or until bottoms of cookies are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.
In small bowl, beat butter until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, milk and extract. Beat until smooth. Spread on completely cooled cookies. Add the crushed peppermints on top of frosted cookies.
Store in an airtight container.


*Oh my goodness! Just writing this out makes me want to go eat another one! I may not have any of these left to give to my hubby's managers! I will also FOR sure need to break out the Wii Fit!!!! LOL
I mixed these by hand, very easy. Even the frosting is easy to mix by hand. Infact, my little guy helped me mix the cookie dough!
I know it's alot of butter, but yum, they melt in your mouth, seriously!!!
ENJOY!!!! :oP

Sunday Post

So I couldn't come up with a better title! Too tired to think!! :)

I figured I would leave Sunday's open, well, not open, but no recipe today. Sorry folks... Just as we need food to nourish us, we also need God's word to keep us going as well. Ok, we need God's word and food everyday to keep us going.

As important as it is, food is not the chief ingredient of life. “Man does not live by bread alone, but...by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord ”

He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Deut 8:3


Failure of food should not destroy faith in God!

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. Hab 3:17 ,18


Life is more than food

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Matt 6:25

Make sure you take some time this week get some food for your mind, heart, and soul! Get a cup of tea and read God's Word!




This week I am going to do all cookie or candy recipes! That way you will have enough time to do some before Christmas so be sure to check back for some yummy recipes!!! Make sure you comment and let me know what you think too! (I fear this week I will gain about 20 pounds trying all the goodies!!! Better get that Wii Fit out moe often!!!)

Whole Wheat Bread

Who doesn't love the smell of fresh baked bread? And whole wheat at that? This is a pretty easy recipe, as long as your kids don't go jumping around and make it drop down (like mine did) BUT it still tastes and smells GOOD!!!



Yeast in warm water


First mix it up with a regular beater, then use the bread hook...


What it looks like before letting it rise


I like to turn my oven on to about 350d for about 10 minutes, turn the oven off, then set the bread in the oven. That way it's nice and warm and will rise nicely


It usually gets a bit higher for me, but with the running around, this is best I got!


After it has risen in the bread pans




It isn't supposed to have that big indent in the middle, but that's what happens when you have 3 kids running around! I even told them that they wouldn't get any bread if they kept running around, but yeah, they listened... It still turned out, so I'm not gonna complain! :)




Whole Wheat Bread


4 cups whole wheat flour
1 heaping tablespoon yeast
2 1/2 cups warm water
3/4 cup honey

Mix all these ingredients together for 3 minutes.

Add 1/3 cup oil, 2 teaspoons salt and remaining flour, anywhere from 4 to 6 cups more. Beat for 7 minutes. Raise in warm draft free place until it doubles in size, about an hour and 15 minutes. Punch down and put into 2 bread pans. Place in a draft free place again and raise until doubled, about an hour. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. Or until golden brown.


* I use coconut oil in place of the oil. There is no taste and it is healthy for you. Also don't always add the salt. Also, if you want a more "airy" and lighter bread, use some (vital) wheat gluten. You can purchase it at your local Health Food store and I am sure some grocery stores. (I can't out here, but you may where you live) There are directions on how much to put in a recipe, but I used about 5 to 6 tablespoons of gluten powder to my 2 loaves of bread. I don't always add it either. I just put it in when I put the flour in.

Filled Cupcakes

These take a bit of work, but they are SUPER delish! Those of you who know Skylar, know what happened when I gave her one of these. NEVER again will I give her a full one!
Even though these take a bit of work, they are soooooo good! I took the extra ones I had to IN to give to dad. It was his birthday cake! :) He really liked them too!




Ordinary chocolate cupcakes...


Fill them up...


Spread some homemade special icing on the top...


Make some type of design in white icing on top of the chocolate..



Yummy!!! :oP




Filled Cupcakes

Cupcakes:
1 box Duncan Hines chocolate cake mix
3 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/3 cups water

Filling:
1 7 oz jar marshmallow creme
1/3 cup shortening
3 to 4 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/4 salt
1 teaspoon water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Chocolate Frosting:
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (rounded)
1/3 cup very hot water
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups powered sugar, sifted

White Frosting:
1/3 cup powered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon milk

Make cupcakes according to box directions. Put on wire rack to cool.
As they are cooling, prepare the filling by combining 1/4 teaspoon salt with 1 teaspoon water in a small bowl or cup. Microwave for 10 to 20 seconds on high, then stir until the salt is dissolved.

Beat the marshmallow creme with shortening in a medium bowl with a mixer until smooth and fluffy. Add the powered sugar, salt and water mixture, and vanilla, beat well.

When the cupcakes have cooled, insert a toothpick in the top of cupcake and swirl it around to make room for the filling. Fill each cupcake with about 2 teaspoons filling.

For the chocolate frosting, measure 1 cup of sugar and 1/3 cup of cocoa powder into a deep 1 1/2 or 2 quart glass bowl. Add a rounded 1/4 teaspoon of salt and mix the ingredients together.

Add the 1/3 cup of very hot water and the vanilla to the mixture and stir until all ingredients are mixed well combined.

Loosely cover the glass bowl with saran wrap and microwave at 50% power for 2 minutes. Stir carefully to dissolve the sugar. Cover the bowl with the plastic wrap, but make sure it's on tight this time. Microwave on high in 30 second increments (to avoid boiling over, and it will!) for 2 minutes. The mixture should begin to bubble, but watch it carefully so that it won't boil over. Remove the mixture from the microwave and poke holes in the plastic wrap with a tooth pick to let the steam escape. Let sit for 15 minutes.

Carefully uncover the bowl (it will be very hot, so BE CAREFUL!!!). Stir in the sifted powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time. Mix thoroughly after adding each 1/2 cup. You may need to add a few drops of water to make the frosting spread easier. Spread about 2 teaspoons of chocolate frosting on each cupcake. You may want to moisten your knife to make it easier to spread smoothly.

Make the white frosting for the design on top of the cupcake by mixing 1/2 cup powered sugar with 1 teaspoon milk. Put it in a sandwich size baggie and cut a very small tip on the bottom corner of the baggie. Put any design you wish on the top.


*I think I added a bit more powdered sugar to the filling.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

I made up my own recipe for broccoli cheese soup. I never usually have Velveeta on hand, so I looked up some other ones to see what I could come up with. So I took about 3 or 4 different ones and came up with my own.



Ahh butter, it makes everything taste oh so good!


Mix the flour and butter together until it is all nice and mixed and smooth


That is chucks of turkey broth, I pulled it right from the freezer and dumped it in the pot. This is the broth, little bit of milk, butter and flour mixture


Umm, looking smooth and creamy and G-O-O-D!!!!!!!!!!!!



Cut up broccoli. I kinda cheated. I've been buying the big bag of already cut up broccoli from BJ's, and then I just trim them a bit smaller. Makes my life a bit easier!
Then dump in the broccoli to soup after you've added the cheese


Finished product! Mmm, it was sooooo good! You can have it without crackers, or...


...with! My kids prefer to have the crackers in the soup, but I like it either way!




Broccoli Cheese Soup

8 T butter
8 T flour
2 to 3 cups chili cheese conqueso
3 to 4 cups milk
2 cups broth or water
3 cups fresh broccoli (cut up to the size you want it)


Melt butter in pan and then add the flour. Make sure you stir it all the time, or it will stick to the pan, NOT GOOD! :) Then add the broth or water and the milk. Stir to make sure it's all mixed together. Then add the conqueso. Bring to a boil. Mix again and add broccoli. Turn heat down to simmer, and cover. Simmer for about 30 to 40 minutes or until broccoli is soft.
Serve with oyster crackers, yummy!
Enjoy!


*I used turkey broth leftover from Thanksgiving turkey. My mom put them in sandwich baggies and then put it all in the freezer for me. But if you don't have any broth, chicken or turkey, you can just use water.

Homemade Applesauce

I LOVE making homemade applesauce! It does take a bit of time cutting all the apples, but boy does it taste good! You can also either opt to not put any sugar in it, or you could add some, or add sugar and some cinnamon. I sometimes would put in red hots in place of sugar and cinnamon. I use all kinds of apples. While in IN, my mom got me some Goldrush, Honey Crisp, and Shizuka apples. The Goldrush are SOOOOO good for applesauce! Nice and tart, PERFECT! I always make sure I have about 2 different kinds of apples when making applesauce. Most times though I always end up putting in about 4 or 5 different kinds.




I use an old fashioned masher to mash it all up. It makes it kinda chunky, the longer you cook your apples, the less chunky they will be.

I cut these up into bite size pieces, and put it on high to bring it to a boil. I added a little bit of water to the bottom, you don't need much. Then had them boiling for 30 - 40 minutes, then took it off the heat to mash up. YUMMY!!!!

You can also bring it to a boil, then turn the heat down to simmer and cook until tender enough to mash. I also sometimes will just put it all in the crock pot and slow cook it all day. Makes the house smell super yummy!

If you do decide you want to put sugar in, if you use a big huge pot like I did, you will want to add about 1/2 cup at a time. If you only make a small pot, I would add maybe 1/4 cup at a time. Just keep adding sugar until it's the desired taste you want.

Enjoy!!!