Oatmeal Cookies

This recipe is one of my mom’s favorites! I usually make it with raisins, but today I made them with dried cranberries and dark chocolate chips and drizzled them with white chocolate. But no matter how you make them, they are one really yummy cookie!

When my mom makes them, she pours boiling water over her raisins and lets them plump up a bit. Then she saves some of the water she soaked the raisins in to use in the cookies. Just be sure to drain the raisins really well!

3/4 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 Tbsp water

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

3 cups oatmeal

Mix butter, sugars, egg, water and vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients. Stir in oatmeal. Add nuts, raisins, chocolate chips…

Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes on greased baking sheets.

Easy Peasy Sweet Rolls

These sweet rolls are great to make out of half a batch of Easy Peasy Bread dough. When I make pizza, I use the rest of the dough to make these for breakfast in the morning.

Roll out the dough into a large rectangle or square.

 As you can see, I’m not big on perfection of my rectangle or square

Brush with melted butter.

Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.

Roll up into a long log shape.

Cut into slices.

For sticky buns: Melt butter in bottom of glass 9x13 pan. Sprinkle generously with brown sugar.

Place rolls into pan cut side down.

For cinnamon rolls. Place rolls cut side down in a greased 9x13 glass baking pan.

Cover the pan and let sit overnight in fridge.

Remove from fridge and let sit out while oven preheats to 350.

Bake for 25 minutes or until golden.

Serve sticky buns right out of the oven. Let cinnamon rolls cool a bit and then spread with icing.

Apple Bread Pudding

I found this recipe on Allrecipes. I made it with my Easy Peasy Bread recipe that I made into orange marmalade bread. I cut it into cubes and let them dry out for a couple of days. It was one of the best desserts I have had in a LONG time. Talk about the ultimate comfort food!!!

• PUDDING
• 4 cups soft bread cubes
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 2 cups peeled and sliced apples
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 3/4 cups milk
• 1/4 cup margarine
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 
  
• VANILLA SAUCE
• 1/8 cup white sugar
• 1/8 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 7x11 inch baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, combine bread, raisins, and apples. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine 1 cup brown sugar, 1 3/4 cups milk, and 1/4 cup margarine. Cook and stir until margarine is melted. Pour over bread mixture in bowl.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and eggs. Pour bread mixture into prepared dish, and pour egg mixture over bread.
4. Place prepared dish into a 9x13 pan. Fill 9x13 pan with 1-inch of very hot water.
5. Bake in preheated oven 40 to 50 minutes, or until center is set and apples are tender.
6. While pudding is baking, mix together sugar, brown sugar, milk, margarine in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat, and stir in vanilla. Serve over bread pudding. Eat while still warm.

Cornflake Cookies

Today I bought a box of corn flakes. I haven’t had corn flakes or these cookies in FOREVER! But I had a craving for ‘em and my sister sent me the recipe. They only took me about 15 minutes to make and were as yummy as I remembered them!

Just be careful when you roll them into balls… they are really hot!!!

Thanks for the recipe card Theresa! It was so cute that I just had to include it in the post…

7-Up Salad

This was one of my favorites growing up and still is. I especially enjoy it on hot summer days! My mom always made it with lime Jello, but I like it with just about any flavor…

1 1/2 cups applesauce

1 small box of Jello

1 cup 7-Up (or any lemon-lime soda)

Heat applesauce until hot and bubbly. Dissolve Jello in applesauce. Pour into bowl and let cool. Stir in 1 cup 7-up. Chill until set.

Soft Pretzels

I was looking through old photo albums and found these pictures of the boys making pretzels. They were so fun and easy to make, and yummy, that I decided to try them again. And I discovered that they haven’t changed a bit…

Zack (3 years) & Andy (26 months)

2 1/4 tsp yeast

1 1/2 cups hot tap water

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

4 cups flour

Sprinkle yeast on top of water in bowl. Add salt, sugar and flour. Mix gently and let sit for 10 minutes. Mix well with hands. Turn onto floured surface and knead for 3 minutes.

Divide and roll into long ropes and shape into whatever you would like. Brush with a beaten egg and sprinkle with coarse salt.

Bake at 425 on greased baking sheet for 12-15 minutes.

Best when warm!

now we just make them into boring pretzel shapes :o)

Chicken & Dumplings

For me, this is the ultimate comfort food! It was a special treat growing up and my brother’s favorite food EVER! This isn’t my mom’s recipe, but I do like it. It’s also not a very exact recipe…

Just to warn you… I realized that the picture doesn’t make it look very appetizing. I promise you that it tastes much better than it looks.

Pour 6 cups of chicken stock and 1 Tbsp butter into a large pot on medium/high heat. Put in cooked/shredded chicken breast, sliced carrots, chopped onion, sliced celery and salt and pepper to taste.

I love the flavor of the celery leaves! But you gotta take ‘em out before adding the dumplings… :o)

Bring to a boil and then simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make dumplings:

1  1/3 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

4 Tbsp oil

1/2 cup milk

Mix dry ingredients in bowl. Then stir in milk and oil till combined.

Whisk together 1/2 cup cold water and 1/2 cup flour in a small bowl. Stir into pot, bring to a rolling boil.

Drop spoonfuls of dumpling dough into the boiling chicken. Reduce heat to simmer and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

Be sure to carefully sneak a spoon under the dumplings while cooking to make sure the chicken doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.