Pumpkin Pancakes

This recipe is thanks to Martha Stewart.

1 1/4 cup flour
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. each of cinnamon, ginger, and salt
pinch cloves
1 cup milk
6 Tbsp. pumpkin puree
2 Tbsp. melted butter
1 egg
Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and spices. In a seperate bowl, mix the milk, pumpkin, butter and egg. Fold together and cook on a greased griddle over medium-to-medium-high heat. Use about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake.

Easter Story Cookie

While Easter has since past, I thought I would share this cute idea I found a few years ago to do with your kids around Easter time. It's also a perfect FHE idea.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 cup whole pecans
1 tsp. vinegar
3 egg whites
pinch salt
I cup sugar
zipper baggie
wooden spoon
tape and Bible

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place pecans in zipper baggie and let children beat them with a wooden spoon to break into small pieces.

Explain that after Jesus was arrested, the Roman soldiers beat him.
Read John 19: 1-3.
Let each child smell the vinegar. Put 1 tsp vinegar into mixing bowl.
Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross he was given vinegar to drink.
Read John 19:28-30.

Add egg whites to vinegar. Eggs represent life. Explain that Jesus gave His life for us.
Read John 10:10-11.
Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand. Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl. Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers, and the bitterness of our own sin.
Read Luke 23:27.

So far, the ingredients are not very appetizing.
Add 1 cup sugar.
Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us. He wants us to know and belong to Him.
Read Psalms 34:8 and John 3:16.
Beat with a mixer on high speed the egg white mixture for 12-15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed. Explain that the color white represents the purity in God's eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus.
Read Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3.
Fold in broken nuts. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a wax-paper covered cookie sheet. Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid.
Read Matthew 27:57-60.

Put the cookie sheet in the oven. Close the door and turn the oven to OFF.
Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door. Explain that Jesus' tomb was sealed.
Read Matt. 27:65-66.

GO TO BED! Explain that they must feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight. Jesus' followers were also in despair when the tomb was sealed.

Read John 16:20 & 22.
On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie. Notice the cracked surface and take a bite. The cookies are hollow! On the first Easter, Jesus' followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty.

Read Matt. 28:1-9. HE IS RISEN!

Amazing Coconut Refrigerator Cake

This is for a couple of friends who requested the recipe. We made it for Easter dinner this year and joked that it was a "true" Easter cake because it's best if you leave it in the fridge up to 3 days. But the longer the better!

Cake:
1 package white cake mix
1 1/3 cups water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 large eggs

Coconut frosting:
2 cups sugar
2 cups sour cream (16-oz. container)
3 1/2 cups grated coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease and flour two 9-in. round cake pans. Place the cake mix, water, oil and eggs in mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low for 1 minute; stop and scrape the bowl and then mix on medium speed 2 minutes more. The batter should look well-blended. Divide the batter between the two pans. Bake the cakes until they are golden brown, about 27 to 29 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the frosting by combining the sugar, sour cream and coconut in a bowl, and let the mixture rest in the refrigerator until the sugar dissolves, about 1 hour. Remove the cakes from the oven and let them cool 10 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edges and invert onto a rack and let cool another 30 minutes. When the cake is cooled, carefully slice the cake layers in half horizontally using a long serrated bread knife or a long piece of unflavored dental floss. You will have four layers. Assemble the cake by spreading some frosting on the bottom half, topping with another half, and so on until the four layers are assembled. Frost the top and sides with remaining frosting. Chill the cake, uncovered, until the frosting is firm, about 1 hour.

You can store the cake, covered with wax paper in the fridge for up to one week. The whole eggs in the batter and the sour cream frosting soaks down into the cake, making it improve as the cake chills. The coconut flavor also increases daily.

Gingery Apple Crumb Pie

From November's issue of "Real Simple." Very easy and very good!

1 piecrust, store-bought or homemade fitted into a 9-inch pie plate
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour, spooned and leveled
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 lbs. apples (about 5; such as Granny Smith, Braeburn or Empire) peeled and thinly sliced
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. kosher salt

Set an oven rack in the lowest position and heat oven to 375. Place the pie plate on a foil-lined baking sheet. In a food processor, pulse the butter, 3/4 cup of the flour, and 1/4 cup of the sugar until large clumps appear. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate until ready to use. In a large bowl, toss the apples, ginger, cinnamon, salt and the remaining 1/2 cup sugar and 1 Tbsp. of flour. Transfer the apple mixture to the crust, sprinkle with the crumb topping, and bake until the top is golden and the apples are tender, about 55 to 60 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Note: I used Granny Smith apples, and I didn't have fresh ginger, so I substituted 1/4 tsp. ground ginger, but you can add more if you want it more gingery. I also heard that adding Apple Pie Spice is good, but my store was out of it, so I didn't add it. I also made it the day ahead and covered it loosely with foil and stored it on the counter.

PUMPKIN CAKE

PUMPKIN CAKE *(THIS IS YUMMY)
29 OZ. CAN LIBBY BRAND PUMPKIN
4 EGGS
1 CUP OIL
1 2/3 CUP SUGAR MIX TOGETHER
SIFT IN
2 CUPS FLOUR
1 TEAS. BAKING SODA
T TEAS. SALT
2 TEAS. CINNIMIN
2 TEAS BAKING POWDER
MIX WELL POUR INTO BUTTERED SHEET CAKE PAN FOR 30 MINUTES ON 350’

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
8 OZ. Soft Cream Cheese
1 Cube Butter
1 lb. powdered sugar
2 teas. Vanilla
mix well and spread

Old Fashioned Gingerbread Cake

For Enrichment tonight, I signed up to bring some gingerbread cake. I didn't have a recipe, so I just looked this one up online. And it was pretty good so I thought I'd share! I like it because it's moist and not too sweet, and everyone should already have the ingredients ready to whip up in their pantry (no shopping required.) I sprinkled some powdered sugar on the top, and voila! Nothing says Christmas like Gingerbread.

1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1 cup molasses
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup hot water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-inch square pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the egg and mix in the molasses.
3. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Blend into the creamed mixture and add the hot water. Pour into prepared pan.
4. Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan before serving.

A solution for leftover Thanksgiving turkey...Turkey Soup!

After about the third day of eating Thanksgiving leftovers, my palatte gets a little bored. So I whipped this up today with my leftover turkey meat, and it was really good! My kids even ate it all up! I got the recipe from Williams-Sonoma but I added about 1/3 cup alcohol-removed white wine, and it gave it a great flavor. (P.S. If you don't have alcohol-removed white wine, just use the regular stuff, it will cook off; but if you don't have it at all, just omit it, but it's really good to use it. By the way, as you can tell, I don't think it's against any religious views I hold to cook with wine, but you be your own judge.)

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
6 cups homemade chicken stock or canned low sodium chicken broth (I just used 6 cups hot water with 6 small chicken buillion cubes)
About 1/3 cup alcohol-removed chardonnay white wine
1 cup broken egg noodles or other large, flat pasta
2 cups chopped cooked turkey meat
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large soup pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion, carrots and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, 7 to 10 minutes. Add the stock and wine and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat so the stock is just barely simmering. Add the egg noodles and simmer until they are cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes more. Add the turkey and simmer until the meat is heated through, 1 to 2 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into warmed bowls. Serves 4 to 6.

My Thanksgiving Must---Yams!

So we all have our own Thanksgiving favorite recipes, you know, the one that if it weren't there it wouldn't feel like Thanksgiving. Mine is yams. My mom has been making these yams ever since I can remember, and they are the BEST!

Now I know what 80-90% of you are thinking...you don't like sweet potatoes, or yams. And this is why I'm posting this recipe, so I can convert the world into yam lovers! But first, a few clarifications: one of the reasons why people don't like them, is because they are buying sweet potatoes, not yams (yams are usually bigger, longer, and deeper in orange color, meaning, more flavor); the second reason they don't like them is because they are made the wrong way. Most people boil them. To think of that makes my stomach turn. The secret is to buy yams and to bake them, just as you would a baked potato. The baking seals in the flavor and doesn't boil it away. Also, too many people make them with too many ingredients: cream, cinnamon, milk, etc etc. For this recipe, you will need the following:

Yams (about 1-2 large per person, if you want leftovers)
Some orange juice
a 2-lb. bag of brown sugar
1 bag mini marshmellows
That's it!

So let's begin!

After piercing your yams with a fork, bake them in a 350-375 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes. Test them with a fork. You want them to be cooked and tender, but not too overdone. You want them to be firm, not mushy. Also, if you haven't already done so, I would line my oven with foil at the bottom, because once the yams start cooking, they drip their yummy juice and it can be a little messy. When they've finished cooking, I usually put them in the fridge for a few hours or overnight so they can firm up before I peel and cut them.

Peel off the skin and slice your yams. I like to slice mine lengthwise, but you can slice them any way you want!

Next, take a casserole dish...

and pour enough orange juice on the bottom just to coat the bottom of the dish.

Next, start layering your yams, and sprinkle brown sugar on them. Now I don't know how much sugar to use, but the more the better. You'll need a lot more than you think you will.

Yummy....

Then sprinkle some marshmellows on top. Repeat this process until all the yams are in the dish.

Now take your dish and bake it in about a 375 degree oven for about an hour or so. The sugar will carmelize, the marshmellows will melt, and it will turn into a sugary-yummy yammy treat.

The finished product. Now you can make this the day ahead, and then just reheat them the day of Thanksgiving dinner. I've also been known to taste them and add more brown sugar, which is what I did here. I like them sweet and when I say sweet, I mean icky sweet.

Gobble gobble! You must try them. Must! I will make a yam-lover out of you yet!

Thanksgiving Bundles

I'm going to make this tonight for dinner to tide us over till Thursday! Looks easy and delicious! You might be able to use your leftovers for this too. I got the recipe off of good things Utah.

INGREDIENTS:
2 rolls of Crescent Dough Sheets
6 oz. Turkey Flavored Stove Top Dressing (plus ingredients to make)
2 Celery Stalks
3 cloves garlic
1 pound ground turkey
.87 oz Gravy (pick your style)
Salt and Pepper to taste
PREPARATION:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Follow the directions to cook the Stove Top in the microwave. While the Stove Top is cooking, ground the turkey until browned. Cut up the garlic and celery into small pieces. Cook the gravy according to package directions. Combine the ground turkey, celery, garlic, salt and pepper and half of the gravy in a large bowl.
Roll out the dough and cut into 2X2 inch squares. Place about 2 tablespoons of the mixture into the center of each dough square and fold edges to meet at the top. Place in muffin cups and cook about 13 minutes or until dough is golden brown on top. Serve with remaining gravy, mashed potatoes and a veggie of your choice.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

This recipe is from one of my good friends, Cara Newman. She was my visiting teacher for a while and would make this for me every fall and bring it to my house. It is so yummy!

2 beaten eggs
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 cup pureed or canned pumpkin
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
1 2/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Scant 1/2 tsp ground cloves
About 1/3-1/2 cup chocolate chips
Combine eggs and sugar, mix well. Add pumpkin, oil, and water. Blend thoroughly. Add all dry ingredients and mix well. Pour into greased mini loaf pans about 2/3 full. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.