Great Pumpkin Cookie Recipe

2 cups flour
1 cup quick or old fashioned oats, uncooked
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Cream butter; gradually add sugars, beating until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Alternate additions of dry ingredients and pumpkin, mixing well after each addition. Stir in morsels. For each cookie, drop 1/4 cup dough onto lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake 20-25 minutes, until cookies are firm and lightly browned. Remove from cookie sheet; cool on racks. Yields about 20 cookies.

Israeli CousCous with Lentils

I wanted to make something healthy for my lunches for the rest of the week. This should be delicious hot or cold, and is healthy but filled with protein and veggies. I just kind of threw it together, just like I am going to throw together this 'recipe' to remind myself what I did. 

Make 1 cup pearled couscous according to package directions, set aside. In the same pan, make 3/4 cup lentils according to package directions. Drain and add to couscous. In emptied pan, heat about 1/4 cup lime juice, 1 tsp olive oil, 1 Tbs of garlic and 1 Tbs of cumin. Heat until pungent and then toss with coucous and lentils. 

Baked Whitefish with Potatoes

This recipe came from my neighbor. She's provided so much advice, laughter, friendship, and delicious recipes throughout the years. This one was so delicious and easy, and came together quickly and didn't dirty many dishes!

The mixture of herbs was a delicious addition, and it's an easy and money-saving option to use dried. Dad said we should always fix fish like this. Keeper! 

Baked Whitefish with Potatoes and Tomatoes 

About 4 filets whitefish (tilapia, cod, haddock, halibut)

4-6 baby potatoes – cut ¼” thick

2 large tomatoes, cut in chunks


½ onion, minced 

1 clove garlic-minced

Fresh parsley

1 sprig rosemary-minced

1 sprig fresh thyme-minced (or dried)

Put potatoes in a 9x12 pan and add some butter (for flavor) and pre-cook in microwave for about 5 minutes. Add fish on top and scatter tomato chunks around fish. Spray all with olive oil or cooking spray. Mix. 


Cook the minced onion in oil. Remove from heat and ad garlic, parsley, rosemary, and thyme. Spread over fish and drizzle with lemon juice. Salt and pepper. 

Bake 25 minutes @ 400 degrees

French Breakfast Puffs

We've made French Breakfast Puffs for ages at my house. When I was younger and naive to how incredibly unhealthy they are, I would scarf as many in my face as Mom would allow. Now, I savor every bite even more knowing the damage they're doing. 

But honestly, these are to die for. In the "I don't care if I get diabetes, I'm eating these french breakfast puffs" kind of way. They're worth it. I mean, really, how many muffins do you get to dip into butter and then sugar?   

French Breakfast Puffs 

From: Mom

Serves: 10 Muffins 

1/2 C sugar 

1 1/2 C sifted flour

1/3 C shortening

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 egg

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

6 T melted butter

In mixing bowl, cream together 1/2 cup sugar, shortening, and egg. Sift together flour, baking powder, nutmeg; add to creamed mixture alternatively with milk, beating well after each addition. Fill 10 greased muffin pans 2/3 full. Bake at 350 for 16-20 minutes. Combine remaining sugar and cinnamon. Remove muffins from oven; immediately dip them in melted butter, then in the cinnamon sugar mixture until coated. Serve warm. 

Notes: 

*These are to be served right away. They're more delicious that way. But they heat up pretty well the next day too. They might freeze well, but I've never been able to test that out because of the lack of leftovers  on French Breakfast Puff day. 

*Also, you might burn your fingers when dipping them. But again, it's worth it. 

*We don't bother bringing out the mixer for this one. It's easy enough to just bring out the whip. Does it make them less delicious? Meh, I don't think so. And it makes clean-up a heck of a lot faster. 

Enjoy!

Apple Pie

Mom makes the best apple pie. Just sayin'. 

Tips and tricks to making a delicious apple pie: 

1) We make our crust with shortening. Always have and it yields great results. 

2) Use Macintosh apples

3) our crumb topping that melts in your mouth is way better than any double crust

4) cut your apples as uniformly thin as you can 

5) After the top is nicely brown, cover the pie with foil for the remainder of cooking time

6) have my mom cook it. 

Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies

I have a few guilty pleasures when it comes to food, and it doesn't have anything to do with the exorbitant amount of sweets I eat on a regular basis. Growing up with homemade meals and the best homemade desserts you can imagine, I never ate many prepackaged  sweets. Whenever I found myself in front of the Lofthouse cookies, however, I couldn't seem to help myself. I admit, I'm a sweet snob, but these store-bought staples are good and I wanted to try and replicate them at home.

I was reluctant that these would be like the 'original.' But they are. They're delicious.Easily on my 'favorite cookies' list, which is surprising because I'm usually not a sugar cookie kind of girl.  The soft and pillowy cookie matches perfectly with the thick and creamy icing. Of course, they're perfect for any holiday, just adjust the frosting color and sprinkles! Yay :)

Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies 

adapted from What Megan's Making

Yield: 1 dozen large cookies

Ingredients: 

For the cookies: 

1 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 Cup butter(1 stick), at room temperature

1/2 Cup sugar

1 large egg

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract 

For the frosting: 

1 2/3 cups confectioners sugar, sifted 

2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted

2 Tbsp. whole milk (plus more, as needed)

Food coloring (optional)

Sprinkles (optional) 

Directions: 

Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt, and whisk together to blend. In a large bowl combine the butter and sugar and beat together with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until soft and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Beat in the egg and blend in vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients mixing just until incorporated and evenly mixed. Cover and chill the dough for 1 hour. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. When the dough is chilled, scoop a scant quarter cup of  dough and roll into a ball. Flatten the ball slightly and place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough, keeping the cookies at least 2-3 inches apart. Bake about 10-12 minutes or until set. (Do not over-bake! The edges should be no more than very lightly browned if at all.) Let cool on the baking sheet for several minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

To frost the cookies, place the confectioners sugar in a medium bowl. Add the melted butter, vanilla, and milk to the bowl and whisk until smooth. whisk in additional milk if necessary, 1 tsp at a time, until you reach your desired consistency. Tint with food coloring if desired.  Use a spoon to frost the cooled cookies. Top with sprinkles. Store in airtight container. 

Enjoy!

Quick, Easy, and Moist Whole Wheat Muffins

I'm excited to share this recipe! I made them a few days ago, but wanted to wait and see how they were the next day and after being frozen. The votes are in, and I'll definitely be keeping this recipe on hand to make again. It's a slight tweak of a recipe I found on The Kitchn (which if you've never visited you seriously need to check out. It's such an inspirational blog with lots of great ideas and recipes.)

These muffins are not only delicious, but they can be whipped up and taken out of the oven in about 30 minutes. The flavor is unique and really quite dependent of the whole wheat flour. The honey makes them slightly sweet but is more to balance out the slight bitterness of the whole wheat. They're delicious with a hearty soup, slathered with honey or syrup, or just plain!

They were great straight from the oven and the morning after, and if you freeze them and pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds they're as delicious as they were the first day. The texture was definitely really different than other muffins. The sour cream really makes them super duper moist. Yum! Enjoy!


Quick, Easy, Moist Whole Wheat Muffins
adapted from The Kitchen
makes 12 muffins | takes 30 minutes

1 3/4 Cup whole wheat flour
1/4 Cup oatmeal
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1 1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
2 T olive oil
2 T unsweetened applesauce
1/2 tsp vanilla extract


Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a muffin pan with liners, or by lightly greasing each lightly.

In a large bowl, lightly whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger.

Whisk the sour cream, honey, egg, olive oil, applesauce, and vanilla extract together in a separate small bowl. Make a small well int he center of the dry ingredients and our in this liquid mixture. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to gently but firmly fold the ingredients together, folding from the bottom up to make sure all the dry ingredients are incorporated. Stop as soon as the mixture comes together; do not over-mix.

Bake for 15 minutes or until barely golden on top, and the top springs back a bit when touched with a finger.