Hi everyone! Thanks so much for inviting me Megan to this blog. I'm excited about sharing recipes. I love to cook, especially new recipes. Here is a great coffee cake recipe Justin and I found online at allrecipes.com. I wanted a coffee cake for my birthday and Justin was making it. His first cake ever! :) This recipe is so easy and very delicious. He did a fabulous job! My mother-n-law is making it for me again this weekend :)

Cinnamon Coffee Cake II

INGREDIENTS

1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix (Duncan Hines or cake mix without pudding in ingredients)
2 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
1 cup water
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup of applesauce
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together the cake mix, vanilla pudding mix, Add the eggs, oil,applesauce, and water, mix until well blended. In another bowl, stir together the brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts. Pour half of the batter into the pan, spread evenly. Sprinkle with half of the nut mixture. Cover with the rest of the batter, and sprinkle with the rest of the nut mixture.

3. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, then turn the oven down to 325 degrees and bake for an additional 35 minutes. Check the oven though to not overcook.

Creamy Broccoli Soup:
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup diced zuccini and or squash
1/2 cup diced onion
3 tbs oil
2 cans chicken broth
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup instant white rice
2 cup milk
4 1/2 cup broccoli florets
1/4 cup parmesian cheese

Sautee vegetables(not broccoli) in oil. Add broth and pepper, bring to a boil. Add broccoli and rice cook until broccoli is tender. Transfer to a blender or food processor and blend together. (I use a hand mixer, I like to leave some chunks of vegetables). Return to pot, add milk and cheese. Cook until heated through.

Great whole-wheat pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting.
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
16 oz can pumpkin
2 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350'. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg, vanilla, and pumpkin. Add all dry ingredients. Mix together. Add chocolate chips. Drop onto cookie sheet with spoon.
Frosting: Cream together 3oz cream cheese and 1/2 cup butter. Stir in 1tsp vanilla. Slowly add 2 cups powdered sugar, beating until creamy. (I like to add a little almond extract to my frosting-great flavor)

Cold Noodle Salad

1/2lb. to 1lb. - Linguine or thick Spaghetti, cooked and drained
1 large to medium - Cucumber, seeded and cut into strips
2-4 carrot stalks - Carrots, peeled and cut into strips
2 tbsp. - Sesame Seeds, toasted

Sauce:
Whisk the following together in a bowl or pour into blender to blend:
1 cup - Vegetable Oil
¼ cup - Rice Vinegar
1/3 cup - Soy Sauce
1 ½ tbsp. - Sesame Oil
1 tbsp. - Honey (optional)
¼ cup - Brown Sugar
2 cloves - Garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp. - Ginger, grated
1/2 cup - Peanut Butter
1 tsp. - Salt
1 tsp. - Black Pepper

Pour sauce over noodles and gently stir in vegetables.
Top with Sesame Seeds.
Serve cold or room temperature.
Great dish for a potluck.

- - -
the recipe above came from my co-worker's mother-in-law, who is Chinese and a very good cook! it's delish.

sorry i haven't been posting, but i no longer have a kitchen. B & I are living with my parents, while I finish a dreadful grad school semester. we are so grateful God gave us a place to live while we are rent our primary residence, plus our 3 investment residences, during this real estate market meltdown. in a nutshell, right now my mom is my gourmet cook, so i just print recipes like these out and request them!

Well girls, haven't been blogging since I lost my paper with passwords on it. But, since Megan is growling at us I thought it would be easier to just get a new password than to hear her complain! HA! Just giving you a hard time Megan! You know I love you! Hey, you get no pictures with my bloggs so hope you have good imaginations.

Megan called me for this recipe so I thought I would just share it with all.

Granny Mag's Stack Cake
3 1/2 C. flour (or more) 1/2 Tsp soda
1/2 C. Lard or shortening 1/2 Tsp salt
2 eggs 1/2Tsp. vanilla
1/2 C. buttermilk 1 1/2 Tsp. ginger (or more according to taste)
2 Tsp baking powder 1 1/2 C. sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together shortening, sugar and eggs. Sift together dry ingredients and add to sugar mixture alternating with buttermilk. Mix well. This should be a stiff dough like cookie dough. If not gradually add flour until it is. Knead in a container of flour or on a floured board until smooth. Pat into 3- 9in round cake pans or iron skillets and bake until who knows how long, my granny just says,'until it's done hunny'. You should probably go with about 30 minutes just so that it is starting to brown and completely firm. Just watch them closely and you should be able to tell. It's just like cooking a big gingerbread cookie, which is in essence what you are doing. Back to the recipe: Once the cakes have baked, let them cool...completely... I would dare to say overnight even, if at all possible. Then, stack them with either cooked dried apples or apple butter(this is what my Granny Mag used).

Let me share with you my screw ups when attempting this recipe so that you don't do the same. First of all, when the batter started getting thick, I stopped adding flour, thinking the batter should look like cake batter instead of cookie dough. Mistake! Second of all, I did it in a rush, as I do most things. So, I took the cakes out of the oven when they were cooked as a moist cake would be, not a cookie. Finally, I did not let the cakes cool enough because I wanted them for dinner that night and didn't start them until probably 5:00. Ha! My result was a cake that tasted great but was about the ugliest thing that you have ever seen. It completely fell in the middle and I couldn't cut it but had to scoop it out like a pudding. Rather interesting!!! Well, good luck Megan. Learn from my mistakes and let me know the results. A picture would be nice too, since you are a bit more computer savvy than I.

Go Hannah--way to try to keep this thing going :)
Now that we are headed into fall, I'd love to start getting some ideas for meals from everyone. We went apple picking last weekend and I have been making homemade applesauce in the slow cooker. No sugar. Just apples, a bit of water, and a sprinkling of cinnamon. It is so yummy!
We've been eating alot of beans and rice lately. Tonight I am making homemade chicken pot pie since it is 50 degrees outside and I am in need of some warming up!
I'll try to be more faithful at posting. I am in the kitchen all the time with the boys but just have been slacking when it comes to sharing our food ideas with you all.

Hi Ladies,
How are things in your kitchens? Well, I have been in a slump with cooking lately. We've been eating cereal, quesadillas, frozen pizza and other "convenient" foods lately. So I have nothing fun or exciting to share. Hopefully things have been going better in your kitchens. Pass along some menus and dishes!
love, Hannah