LittleHouseOnTheBigHill.com

Tasty Tuesday

2012-03-06 16:03:42+06:00

Well, February even had an extra day and I managed to not blog. Couldn't have had anything to do with the fact that baby Bee #3 was kicking my tail! I slept as much as I could and spent a lot of the rest of the time sipping ginger ale while telling the big boys to slow down. I have to get a recording of it so I can let my voice get more rest...

Any way, here's what we're eating this week (mostly things that sound good to me, since I'm the one doing the shopping, cooking and having the cravings):
Monday--Chicken Stuffing Bake, an old recipe favorite from when I was little, once when mom asked us all to list our top 5 this was in everyone's! with fruit salad and eclair cake for dessert.
Tuesday--Alfredo, I've been craving it for weeks now and every time I mention pasta the HH wants lasagna or spaghetti with red sauce (he's taken to favoring Ragu) with homemade breadsticks. I even bought tri-colored cheese tortellini at SAMS yesterday because they looked good. (don't tell my husband I was shopping with cravings yesterday, I also bought not one but two tubs of "cotton tails" white cheddar cheese balls, because I haven't been able to get them since before Christmas)
Wednesday: Salisbury Steak, mashed potatoes and green beans
Thursday: grilled cheese and soup (my favorite with grilled cheese is Campbell's Tomato Bisque, the boys like Spaghetti-Os), its supposed to be rainy so I want to seize the opportunity for comfort food.
Friday: Fish Fry! it's only available for a short time every year and all that

I think I need these...lots of them

2012-01-24 16:23:08+06:00

I'm a pinner. I'll admit it, I squander too many hours late at night when I should be sleeping pinning things, things I like, thinks I want, things I want to do/make. I have an entire board dedicated to my beloved mason jars and last night I found the perfect accessory to add to my collection the Cuppow. I need like a 37 dozen of them...I ran down stairs to the workshop to tell Chris I found something I had to have, to be met with the typical eye rolling. Later when he came upstairs to look at the picture he wanted to know why I needed 400 something lids for jars, um, because I'm pretty sure that's how many I have stashed away in the basement, kitchen, dining room and garage.

I wanna be cool with one of my own collection of these. Just gotta come up with some sort of a cozy to fit around my jar. Wonder if they'd sell them to me wholesale in large quantities? I see some great gift potential, but at $8 a pop? might be the whole gift.

What to do with extra Chocolate Chip Cookies

2012-01-24 16:17:01+06:00

Ha, like that ever really happens. More often I have to bake extra and hide them for extra special treats, like Mrs. Field's Peanut Butter Dream Bars. The HH loves them, but a trip to the mall kiosk and the price are a little to much for him to indulge in a special treat, so we have a recipe we use here at home:

for the crust:

8-10 medium sized chocolate chip cookies (the recipe actually calls for butter cookies, but I like the chocolate chip ones, or even a thin brownie crust...HH wasn't so fond of that) processed to a fine crumby pile

1/4 cup butter, melted

for the chocolate layers:

2 1/2 cups (15 oz) chocolate chips, melted (last time I made these I used 1/2 a bag of left over chips and 1/2 a bag of chocolate candy melts--used to be leary of them, now that I've used them--LOVE 'EM!)

for the peanut butter center:

1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter (don't use the reduced fat kind--tried it, doesn't give the same smooth yummy results)
1/2 cup butter
3 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla

process cookies and mix with melted 1/4 cup of butter, press into the bottom of an 8x8 square baking pan, bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes
while the crust is cooling, melt chocolate chips, or candy melts, or combination of the two
pour 1/2 of melted chocolate on cooled cookie crust allow to cool
mix peanut butter and butter then add powdered sugar and vanilla until you have a smooth mixture, spread over first chocolate layer. smooth out as much as possible.
you may need to remelt the chocolate, then spread over the pb layer. allow to harden or not and enjoy. mmmm!

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

2012-01-04 21:36:41+06:00

Here ya go KC, a new post just for you! Sorry I've been busy so long, I had lots of orders to fill this Christmas as well as a few of my own projects to sew. I've been back in the kitchen recently and having fun! More to come, I hope, not promises of number of posts per week or anything like that from me though.

My mom claims to have the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I one-upped her and made it better. :-)

*pre heat oven 300 degrees F
yields: depends on what sized cookies you are making... Chris likes the PC LARGE scoop, the most recent batch was a PC medium scoop, which I discovered fits nicely in an old Pirouette Can or empty Quaker Steel Cut Oat can.

1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter (it has to be REAL butter)
1/4 cup butter flavored Crisco
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 tps baking soda
2 1/2 cups of flour
2 cups chocolate chips (semi sweet, milk, dark, whattever you like)

cream sugars, butter and crisco until light and fluffy, seriously like 5 minute of beating them at a medium speed in your handy dandy mixer
add vanilla and eggs, combine well
add salt and salt and 1/2 of the flour, mixing well, add the chips and other 1/2 of the flour, mix until flour is just incorporated, if not a little unincorporated.
Use scoop to drop on baking stones and bake for 18-20 minutes until edges begin to brown. cool for 5 minutes on the stones before removing to cooling racks to cool the rest of the way. if you can wait that long before enjoying them, we cant.

**when I made these last week, I added 2/3 of a cup of cocoa powder to the recipe (not taking out any flour, resulting in a mound like cookie--still not bad, chewy and enjoyable). and added a half bag of mint and dark chocolate chips I picked up at Christmas because I thought they sounded like a fun experiment. Turned out awesome, all the reviews were great, just the right amount of minty with the chocolate for a fun variation.

December is here...where'd my year go?

2011-12-02 09:52:57+06:00

Well, I was going to do this last night, but I was beat by the end of the day, my body ached. I was beginning to fear I was coming down with something I was so tired and the away I was so achey. This morning I woke up feeling better after a night snuggled up under a couple quilts in front of the fire.

The start of December is marked by day one of our Advent Calendar. This year we made paper chains as our first activity, well, Em and I did while G and Ben took afternoon naps. We practiced patterns making 2 chains on in red and blue with an AAB pattern and the other in two greens with an AB pattern. Other Advent items for this year include books (almost every other day, I loved this idea after I found it on Pinterest), some new jammies made by momma, making homemade playdough, building a gingerbread house, making gingerbread cookies, going to cut down our Christmas tree, and finally, leaving cookies for Santa.

December 1st is also Em's birthday. He turned 5 yesterday and really intended for it to all be about him. He's been loving collecting the mail this week as he has been getting lots of birthday cards. His favorite was the one that played Happy Birthday from daddy's grandpa and Judy. I made sticky bread for him for breakfast and then he didn't want to eat anything. We had a steady flow of visitors all day, "aunt" Nikki came to get sticky bread for breakfast on her way to school and tell him happy birthday, Ben brought him a bounce house that he couldn't wait for daddy to get home to put up (today Christie said Ben was scared of them, but he hopped right on up there with G this morning), Lizard came by and brought a Toy Story 3 trash truck to dump Woody and an Alien out of (this is how we passed much of the afternoon--dumping our TS figures out of the trash truck), Omi stopped by to sing Happy Birthday on her way home, Grumpy stopped by with 3 new wooden Thomas trains from day of the Diesels and then Kristin brought over peppermint scented bubbles when she came to stuff Girl Scout Cookie envelopes and for dinner. He told Kristin that mommy's chicken nuggets are better than Chick-Fil-A's. Made my heart smile. Then, before bed we finished up the cake pops we'd started. I have to remember to take pictures during! They turned out fun and the boys love them!

I need a couple more weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, maybe even between Christmas and New Year's too. It just seem like it's a race to the finish at the end of the year. From Halloween to New Year's it feels like we're all about how much can we cram into the calendar and how many places can I be at once? I am trying to take it slower and not planning too much of my own stuff. This year the boys are having a combined birthday party on New Year's Eve with family and close friends, all are invited to come for birthday festivities and then stay as long as they like for New Year's. I counted and Christmas is right smack dab between their two birthdays and it was madness trying to plan 2 parties for each of them and then rushing back and forth for other stuff and New Year's on top of it. I decided to make it easy on mostly myself, but hopefully others so they don't have to do 2 parties here. I'm planning lots of my favorite snacks and such and then some games and fun.

Then a January full of nothing--ha ha ha!

Happy Pumpkin Season

2011-11-10 08:40:04+06:00

I love this time of year and can't get enough pumpkin goodies! When my sweet friend Suzanne brought me a dozen fresh eggs the other day she also brought me a Better Homes an Gardens Food Gifts book with lots of things I want to try to make. I thought Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies would be first, but that was just because I hadn't seen the recipe for Pumpkin Currant Scones! So, I made them yesterday and if the number of them G ate is any indication of how good they were they'd get 5 stars (or 5 eaten scones).

Sometimes I dream about living in a cute house like Kate Winslet's from the movie The Holiday where Cameran Diaz goes to stay when she is escaping California for the Holidays. Trouble is, I'd have to move to England and I tend to get a little big homesick. So, scones in my mid-America kitchen are about the closed I'll get to a quaint little life in the English countryside.

Of course I added pecans to this recipe because I like them and think they are an excellent addition to a pumpkin recipe.

Pumpkin-Currant Scones from BH&G 2011 foodgifts

prep time: 25 mintues
bake: 12 minutes per batch
oven: 400 degrees F (I baked mine a little longer at 375 in my convection oven)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup dried currants or snipped raisins
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1 tbs water
coarse or granulated sugar

1. preheat oven to 400 degrees F. lightly grease two baking sheets; set aside (I didn't do this, I used my baking stones) in a large bowl stir together the flour, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. using a pastry bender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. make a well in the center of the flour mixture; set aside.
2. in a medium bowl stir together whole eggs (I also added the yolk from the egg for the whites to brush over the scones because I was using small fresh eggs, however, I wouldn't recommend this if you are using medium or large eggs as it would get moist and scones aren't moist), pumpkin, currants and buttermilk (I used soured milk because I don't keep buttermilk on hand--could have used plain yogurt, but we didn't have any made). add egg mixture all at once to the flour mixture. using a fork, stir until moistened.
3. use a 1/4 cup measure or scoop to drop mounds of dough about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. in a small bowl stir together the egg white and water. lightly brush scones with the egg mixture and sprinkle with coarse sugar (I used raw sugar).
4. bake for about 12 minutes or until light golden brown. transfer scones to a wire rack and let cool.
*a note on the recipe says that they can be reheated by wrapping in foil and placing in a 400 degree F oven for 5-8 minutes; we won't be trying this out as we took some to Em's teachers and then to the office and then there were all the ones that G ate...

Gramma's Pumpkin Pie Cake

2011-11-10 08:38:59+06:00

I've been thinking about Gramma lately, and today I've really been missing her. Sewing Halloween costumes will do that to me I guess, patterns make me nuts, all the tissue paper that has directions on it and then vague do this steps on the newsprint. I do better when I just create the item in my head. Not such an easy task when the 4 1/2 year old wants to be a Musketeer. Really? Thanks H.H. for showing him the Mickey, Donald and Goofy 3 Musketeers movie.

I don't think I ever remember seeing my Gramma use a pattern to sew anything, but I do remember her Featherweight being on her dining room table more often than it wasn't.
I did finally manage to get the pattern pieces of G's Sock Monkey costume cut out and the pieces for Em's Musketeer costume cut out this afternon. TGFNT (Thank God for Nap-Time).

G ended up being pretty cute in his monkey suit and Em wore his superhero cape with the fleur de lis smock I made. Omi is fixing the cape--it was a nightmare!

So, what to do when you miss Gramma? Pull out her recipe for Pumpkin Pie Cake and make some. It is ok right out of the oven, but even better the next day when it is cold, top it with a little whipped cream and it's perfect!

Pumpkin Pie Cake:

4 eggs, lightly beaten
1-15 oz (or larger) can of pure pumpkin
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp salt
1 (11 oz) can Milnot
1 package (18 oz) yellow cake mix
1 cup butter, melted
1 cup pecans, chopped

1. mix first 6 ingredients until combined, pour into ungreased 9x13 baking dish.
2. sprinkle cake mix over pumpkin mixture
3. pour melted butter over the top
4. sprinkle with chopped pecans
5. bake at 375 degrees F for 35-45 minutes, or a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Pumpkin Pancakes

2011-11-10 08:38:55+06:00

My challenge to myself this month is to see if I can make something pumpkin everyday for the month. So far, I'm 2 for 2. After visiting the Libby's site today, I've got even more ideas to try out.

I didn't look at the Libby's site until after I "created" breakfast, but wasn't too far off on the Pumpkin Pancake recipe they had. All I could find in my cookbooks was pumpkin waffles, and since the last waffle iron bit the dust a couple weeks ago I haven't gotten a new one. Thinking about going all out and getting something fancy and nice finally for the Handy Hubby (who put in a new attic access point in the hall this weekend so we don't have to clear out Em's closet every time he has to fix/look at something) for Christmas...I know sounds super exciting, but these boys around here love waffles on a weekend morning. I prefer pancakes.

I prepped my extra fluffy waffle/pancake boxed mix (I know, I actually do keep it on hand--one thing I do take a short cut on, HH gets the waffle and pancake books out and makes scratch) with the water according to the box directions for four servings and then added about 3/4 of a cup of canned pumpkin I had from baking earlier in the weekend, a splash of vanilla, a spoonful of honey (I've been adding it to everything lately) and a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice. YUM! Turns out it's almost exactly what Libby says to do if you download the power of pumpkin pdf on their site. I love it when I'm on the ball like that. I did put chocolate chips in pancakes for the boys--eww. They liked them, I prefer mine plain or with fruit, not chocolate chips.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies

2011-11-04 14:53:08+06:00

Last week, on our day off (Omi, mommy, Em & G), we went to see "Puss In Boots," cute! G did pretty well the first half and then we had to climb the stairs in the theater the last half. Em enjoyed seeing the movie with the triplets and Jessi too.

After the movie, we hit up Noodles and Company for lunch because we can all find something we like to eat there! Well, of course G got antsy again and started walking the restaurant. Apparently the guy at the counter thought he was as cute as his momma does, because scored a free cookie. We were going to share it with Em, until G spit the chocolate chip Em picked out and gave him back on the cookie; Em was done. I manged to snag a bite before the chocolate chip slimming occurred and liked it, it was a chocolate chip cookie with oatmeal in it, not an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie.

All week I wanted to try to make something like it. I remembered the myth about the lady who was charged super ridiculous amounts of money for the Neiman Marcus cookie recipe and that it was a chocolate chip cookie with oatmeal. I found this recipe yesterday and tried it, not too bad. A little dry, maybe next time I'll sub some of the butter for shortening.
*the recipe says it will make 50-80 cookies, I made 1/2 the recipe and got about 55 cookies from my medium Pampered Chef cookie scoop--a decent size cookie--I wonder how big their cookies are?

Cooking with more Honey!

2011-09-04 13:51:54+06:00

I found this recipe while 'pinning' away on Pinterest one night (one of my new favorite internet obsessions--got great ideas for the boys' birthday parties!). I already have a cinnamon roll recipe and really like it, but I'm always on the hunt for a good cinnamon roll recipe. I also freeze the recipe I have so that they are read to go any evening I think that cinnamon rolls sound good for the next day's breakfast.

Anyway, I stumbled across this from Heavenly Homemakers and was intrigued, because the recipe is for a whole wheat (however I used half all purpose) roll with honey instead of sugar. Here is where I alert you to the fact that I didn't follow the recipe exactly as written--it just wouldn't feel right to do everything the way it was written, well that and the fact that we were out of milk because it all got used at breakfast that morning and I had already told Emmett we could make the roll dough when the guys went to take naps and I didn't feel like schlepping all 3 of them to the store and back just for milk. Luckily, I keep powdered milk on hand, in the back of the pantry buried under several layers of pasta, tea and other necessities.

Ok, on to the recipe.

1 cup water
2 tablespoons yeast
2 teaspoons honey
2 1/2 cups milk (we didn't have any left so I used powdered to make some)
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
4 teaspoons sea salt
8 cups whole wheat flour (I didn't have enough so I did 1/2 all purpose)

recipe "innerds"
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup rapadura or sucant (dehydrated cane sugar juice) I have no idea what these items are or where to begin to look for them, so I subbed white sugar as suggested
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

my "innards"
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

recipe frosting:
1/4 cup butter
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1-2 cups powdered sugar to make consistency you like

my frosting (I always look for a way to get cream cheese frosting to my hips):
equal amounts of cream cheese and butter (amounts will vary for number of rolls you make)
splash of milk
dash of vanilla
powdered sugar to consistency desired

the how to:
in a large bowl mix 1 cup warm water (110-115 degrees) 2 T yeast, 2 t honey, stir together and mush the yeast around until well combined. let this set (proof) for 5-10 minutes while you complete the next step

melt 1/2 cup butter in a large saucepan. add 1/2 c honey, 4 t salt, 2/12 cups milk. heat this to 120 degrees.

pour milk mixture into yeast mixture and stir. stir in 8 cups of flour, 2 at a time (adding more as necessary)

knead dough for 5-10 minutes. plop in a greased bowl and cover while it rises, about 1 1/2 hours.

after the dough has doubled in size punch it down (my second favorite part) and knead out all the bubbles, cut the dough in half (I cut mine in 3rds) working with one section of dough at a time:

roll on a well floured surface into a nice big rectangle, about 1/4 inch thick

use a pastry brush to spread melted butter on the dough rectangle (although mine always looks like some sort of misshaped oval like shape) sprinkle with the sugar/cinnamon mixture

roll the dough up--ok, here's my favorite part, cut it with a large piece of dental floss! you can use a knife, but that will flatten your rolls. slip the floss under the rolled dough and bring the ends up and cross above the dough and cut off into sections as big or small as you like. i got about 11 out of each of my 3 sections.

then i placed my sections on parchment lined sheets and placed them in the freezer under plastic wrap. (well except for the 6 I put in a greased baking dish for breakfast). the next morning I put the frozen rolls in a ziplock bag for later.

for the ones we baked we decided we were going to be too lazy to get out of bed in the AM so we put them in the oven to raise over night and set the oven to auto start for 30 minutes at 325 degrees. perfect. when they came out we iced them and enjoyed!

i'll edit with photos tomorrow after the computer finished backing up picture files tonight!