Pumpkin Muffins

These are my favorite muffins!

My sister-in-law gave me this recipe a while back, and it's dangerous. I actually halved the recipe because, otherwise, it makes too many and I end up eating all of them.

This is half the recipe, so if you need to make more for a gathering, it easily doubles.

Pumpkin Muffins

Sift together:

1 3/4 c Flour

1 t Baking Soda

3/4 t Salt

1/2 t Cinnamon

1/2 t Nutmeg

1/4 t Mace

1/4 t Ground Cloves

Cream together:

2 Eggs

1/2 c Oil

1 1/2 c White Sugar

1/2 c Brown Sugar

Add 1/3 cup Buttermilk and 1 cup canned Pumpkin alternately with the sifted dry ingredients.

Now, the original recipe calls for 1/2 c raisins and 1/2 c nuts. I, however, choose chocolate. I add 1 cup Chocolate Chips to the batter instead of the raisins and nuts.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Peanut Butter Popcorn

This is so easy and so yummy and makes a great snack for the kiddos. If possible, pop your own popcorn with an air popper. If not, use plain. The fun part is figuring out how much popcorn to use 'cause the recipe doesn't say. I just guess. If you have an air popper, probably one batch. For bags, probably 2-3. It kinda depends on how peanut butter-y you want it.

Mom? How much do you use? :-)

Peanut Butter Popcorn

1 cup sugar

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup white corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

Bring sugar and corn syrup to a rolling boil. Remove and add peanut butter and vanilla. Stir until smooth and add to popcorn. Mix till well coated. Spread on waxed paper until cooled. Store in air-tight container.

Harvest Grain Pancakes

I found this recipe online last night and made some of these for breakfast. Pancakes are always a big hit around here, but the kids devoured these. I took some strawberries and simmered them on the stove with some sugar, then popped them in the blender to make a syrup. Yum!

Copycat IHOP Harvest Grain & Nut Pancakes

I forgot the nuts (which aren't usually popular here) and they were still yummy.

Bread Machine Crescent Rolls

I am always looking for new bread recipes, and anything that I can put in the bread machine is a big plus. (Especially since I still need to get a dough hook for my new mixer.)

These were amazing and very easy with little work. The most effort was put into cutting and rolling them. They weren't exactly like the canned ones, but as close as I've found to them. And they were a big hit with my bread-lovin' hubby! Even the kids, who don't usually go for seconds on bread, wanted more.

Buttery Soft Crescent Rolls

Buttermilk Biscuits & Gravy

Sure, canned biscuits are fine. But, there is just something about homemade biscuits. I found this recipe years ago and it's just perfect.

2 c. All-Purpose Flour

2 1/4 t Baking Powder

3/4 t Salt

1/4 t Baking Soda

1/3 c Shortening (I use butter-flavored.)

3/4 c Buttermilk

Combine dry ingredients and cut in shortening. You can either do this with a pastry cutter (recommended) or with your hands. I've done both and both work well; the pastry cutter is just easier. Pour in buttermilk and mix. Roll out dough. I don't use a roller; I just pound it into shape with my hands. Cut into biscuits. If you don't have a biscuit cutter, like me, just grab a glass that's about the right size. Works perfectly. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes. If you need to double the recipe (this makes about 8 biscuits), just increase the baking time to about 12 minutes.

Now, for my sausage gravy secret. I don't typically have any trouble getting enough grease out of the sausage, but with some brands, I do. The first time I did, I thought I'd try adding some butter to the sausage. I added about 2 T to 1/2 lb of sausage. Best. Thing. Ever. It adds so much flavor. I do it now regardless of how much grease I get. I also season the gravy with salt, pepper, and seasoned salt. Seasoned salt is my friend!

Snickerdoodle Cake

My awesome friend Alisa made this Snickerdoodle cake for church on Wednesday night. She made it into cupcakes, which seems way easier to me. I'm not a big fan of layer cakes. Let me clarify, I'm not a big fan of making layer cakes. They're never pretty. Actually, they're usually a disaster. She did say that she used a stick of butter instead of the butter/applesauce combination.

I must say, though, that I'm not sure this was appropriate for church. It was absolutely sinful! And the frosting! Oh, the frosting! The best part, at least to my waistline, was that one cupcake was enough. It's very sweet and super satisfying for that sweet tooth of mine. My husband wasn't able to make it to church this week and since he loves Snickerdoodles, I may just have to make it for him. This will definitely go into the Christmas dessert repertoire as Snickerdoodles seem very Christmas-y to me.

Welcome!

Because of a rather annoying and unexpected "side effect", I've had to close down my other blog. But, I realized that my favorite thing to post was recipes. So, I'm dedicating this one to my kitchen.

I love food.

There.

I've said it.

And I'm proud of it!

And, my waistline will testify to it.

I have lots and lots of recipes and food finds and feel that I must share them. It just isn't fair to keep them to myself. And, frankly, I feel more comfortable when everyone else's waistlines are in the same shape mine is. :-)

In fact, I have at least 3 binders full of recipes. I have the fantastic one that's full of family recipes. My mom made it for me the first Christmas after I got married. Unfortunately (for my waistline), it's mostly filled with sweet stuff. It's where I found my cinnamon roll recipe. Funny aside: My mom has always bemoaned the fact that her cinnamon rolls never turn out like mine (and made me make them for family functions). While doing some Christmas cooking last year, I asked her where the shortening was. She said she didn't have any because she never used it. I asked her about the cinnamon rolls. Turns out, her cinnamon rolls don't taste like mine because she uses a different recipe!

I also have my "recipes to try" binder. It's fun to go through sometimes because there's stuff in there I've never even thought of and new twists on old favorites. I found my current favorite Enchilada recipe in there.

My other binder is the "tried and true" one. It has our current family favorites. And, of course, it's the messiest one. Hopefully, this little project will encourage me to go through and reorganize it. I've tried a couple of different ways of organization and haven't found one I like yet.