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I saw this recipe earlier on Dawn's blog and decided to try it tonight! Yummy!! And SO easy!

Slow Cooker Cherry Cobbler

• 1 (21 ounce) can cherry pie filling
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Coat the inside of your slow cooker with cooking spray. Pour in the cherry pie filling. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center and pour in the melted butter, milk and vanilla. Mix until well blended. Spread evenly over the cherry pie filling. Cover, and cook on high for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until a toothpick inserted into the topping comes out clean.

(Recipe found at Allrecipes.com)

 

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My wonderful SIL Valerie found these cake directions online for me! Someone asked where I found the directions, so here is the link! It was super easy!!

Ballet Slipper cake

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While we're on the subject of homemade gifts, I thought I would share my *other* favorite gift to give - homemade treats!! Baked goods! Baking is something else I love to do! (while cooking meals is another story!) And since I can't bake sweet breads, cookies and yummy things like that ALL the time, I CAN bake them for gifts to give! So, I thought I would share a few of my favorite recipes to give as gifts! And if you have any favorites to share, please do so!

Muffins

(with my new grain mill, all my muffins and breads will be using freshly ground whole wheat flour!)

Banana Blueberry Muffins

3 large, ripe bananas

¾ c sugar

1 egg, slightly beaten

1/3 c butter, melted

1 c blueberries

1 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

½ t salt

1 ½ c flour (you can use whole wheat with these)

Mash bananas in large bowl. Add sugar and egg. Add butter and blueberries. Combine dry ingredients and gently stir into banana mixture. Pour into 12 well greased muffin cups. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

 

Pumpkin Bread (I make into muffins)

1 cup flour

1 cup brown sugar (I use raw)

1 T baking powder

1 t cinnamon

1/4 t salt

1/4 t baking soda

1/4 t nutmeg

1/8 t ginger or cloves

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 milk

2 eggs

1/3 c shortening (I use butter sometimes, too)

1 cup flour

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

1. Grease the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan, set aside.

2. In a large mixing bolw combine 1 cup flour, the sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, ginger/cloves. Add pumpkin, milk, eggs and shortening/butter. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed til blended. Beat on medium to high for 2 minutes. Add the 1 cup flour, beat til blended. Fold in walnuts and raisins.

3. Spoon batter into prepared loaf pan (or muffin tins.) Bake in a 350 degree oven for 60-65 minutes or till a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove loaf from pan. Cool completely on a wire rack. Wrap and store overnight. **Muffins take a much shorter amount of cook time - mine took about 15 minutes to bake.

 

Banana Bread Muffins or Loaf

2 ½ c all purpose flour

1 t salt

1 t baking soda

½ cup shortening

2 c sugar

2 c mashed bananas

3 large eggs, beaten

1 t vanilla (or 2 t imitation vanilla)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease bottoms of 2 loaf pans.

Combine flour, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl. In a mixing bowl, combine shortening, sugar, bananas, eggs and vanilla. Beat until well blended. Add dry ingredients and stir just until moistened. Pour into prepared pans. Bake for 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. If making muffins, cook for much less time.

Cookies and other treats!

 

Heath Bits Peanut Butter Cookies

½ c shortening or margarine

¾ c creamy peanut butter

1 ¼ c brown sugar

3 T milk

1 T vanilla

1 egg

1 ½ c flour

¾ t baking soda

¾ t salt

1 1/3 c heath bits, divided

Preheat oven to 375. Beat shortening, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl til well blended. Add egg. Combine flour, baking soda and salt, gradually beat into peanut butter mixture. Stir in 1 cup toffee bits. Drop by heaping teaspoons about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Top each with toffee bits. Bake 7-8 minutes until set. Cool 2 minutes and remove from pan to finish cooling.

 

Hershey Bonbons
Approximately 21 oz. Hershey's Chocolate™ (I prefer using three 7 oz. Symphony™ Bars)
8 oz. Cool Whip™
4 oz. crushed Vanilla Wafers

Break the chocolate into pieces in a medium-sized microwavable bowl. Microwave for about 3 minutes, stirring every minute (it may need more or less time to melt). Try to get the chocolate into a 'just barely' melted texture. Mix in the Cool Whip™, and let sit for a few minutes while crushing the vanilla wafers.

Drop the chocolate mixture by the spoonful into the crushed wafers. Roll lightly into a ball, and let set up on wax paper or plastic wrap. Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container. For firmer Bonbons, let them set in the refrigerator uncovered for at least an hour.

 

Magic Cookie Bars
1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine, melted
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup (6 oz.) chocolate chips
1 1/3 (3 1/2 oz.) flaked coconut
1 1/3 cups (15 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

Pour melted margarine onto bottom of a 13x9x2 inch pan. Sprinkle crumbs evenly over margarine. Sprinkle nuts over crumbs, then chocolate chips, then coconut. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over coconut. Bake at 350oF for 25 minutes or until lightly browned on top. Cool in pan 10-15 minutes and cut into bars

 

OREO BALLS OR SNOWBALLS
1 package regular size Oreo cookies, crushed
1 (8 ounces) package cream cheese, softened

1 package white almond bark
1 package chocolate almond bark

1. Using a blender or hand held mixer, mix Oreos and cream cheese together.
2. Roll into walnut size balls.
3. Chill for an hour.
4. Melt approximately 3/4 package of white almond bark.
5. Stick a toothpick in an Oreo ball and dip it in the melted white almond bark.
6. Allow to harden on wax paper.
7. Takes about 15 min.
8. While waiting, melt about 1/4 package of chocolate almond bark.
9. When Oreo balls are no longer sticky to the touch, decorate with drizzles of chocolate and white almond bark.
10. I just use a sandwich bag with a tiny hole cut in one corner to drizzle the almond bark.

Peanut Butter Kisses

1 C butter

1 C peanut butter
1 C brown sugar

1 C sugar
2 eggs

1/4 C milk
2 tsp vanilla

3 1/4 C flour
2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt
sugar for rolling chocolate kisses or stars

Heat oven to 350. Mix butters and sugars. Add eggs, milk and vanilla. Blend in dry ingredients. Roll in 1" balls, then in sugar. Bake 8-10 minutes. Gently press on candy. Cool completely before storing.

 

Thumbprint Cookies

1 pkg cream cheese, softened

¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

2 ¼ cups flour

½ tsp. baking soda

1 cup finely chopped pecans

Your favorite preserves

Beat cream cheese, butter, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with mixer on medium speed til well blended. Add flour and baking soda. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place on ungreased baking sheets. Indent centers. Bake 10 minutes, then fill each cookie with 1 tsp. your favorite preserves. Continue baking 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

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UPDATED with recipe!

Monday - Creamy Chicken Burritos - ok, when I looked in my recipe book, the recipe I was wanting to make was Creamy Chicken Enchiladas, a great recipe from my friend Holly. So it isn't actually burritos. Sorry! But here is the recipe I made last night! I think they are very good, but I used 1 can rotel and it was pretty spicy, too spicy for my kids. So I think next time I will mix some regular diced tomatoes with the rotel. I have made this recipe before, and it wasn't this spicy, maybe it depends on the actual can of rotel and how spicy it is.

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

2 10oz cans diced tomatoes with green chilis, undrained

2 cups chopped cooked chicken

1 8oz package cream cheese, softened

5 green onions, chopped

1 8oz container sour cream

8 flour tortillas

1 cup shredded cheddar or Monterey jack cheese

 

Stir together ¼ cup diced tomatoes, chicken, cream cheese, and green onions. Stir together remaining diced tomatoes and green chilies and sour cream, set aside.  Microwave tortillas at high for 15 seconds til warm. Arrange chicken mixture evenly down center of tortillas, roll up and place, seam side down, in a lightly greased 9x13 dish. Bake, covered, at 350 for 30 minutes. Pour some sour cream mixture over enchiladas, top with cheese. Bake 10 more minutes, let stand 15 minutes and serve.

 

Tuesday - Taco Casserole (not the healthiest, but so yummy!)

Taco Casserole

1 can crescent rolls

1 bag fritos

2 lbs ground beef (I used only 1 pound)

1 pkg. taco seasoning

1 cup sour cream

1-1 ½ cups shredded cheddar

toppings as desired

Unroll crescent rolls into a casserole dish. Sprinkle with crushed fritos. Brown beef with taco seasoning, drain, add to dish.  Spread on sour cream, sprinkle with cheese and another layer of corn chips. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes

 

Wednesday - Sloppy Joes

Thursday - London Broil with baked potatoes

Friday - ladies banquet at church!

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This came in the mail for me yesterday - HIP HIP HOORAY!

And I picked up these buckets of wheat on Tuesday night! I have officially milled my first round of flour. Is milled the right word? ground? I'm not sure...anyway, I made my first batch of freshly milled/ground flour tonight! I'm excited!

Next on my list...a mixer! Then I'll be all set!

 

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Monday - Chicken Casserole and steamed broccoli

Tuesday - chili and homemade wheat rolls (maybe on the rolls!)

Wednesday - Taco Roll Ups were on the menu - but that may be changing due to trick or treating that evening...we shall see!

Thursday - Creamy Chicken Enchiladas and some sort of Spanish rice

Friday - homemade pizza - this is my wish for Friday night - I'm going to attempt it again now that I have had my bread making class and watched someone do the crust - we shall see what happens!

EXCITING NEWS on the cooking front - I made homemade wheat rolls from scratch today for the first time ever!! And they turned out yummy! I am soooooo excited! This is something I have wanted to make but been a little fearful of - kind of like the whole "bread is a science" thing and not sure if I would get it just right. I made up some dough in the bread maker, took it out and divided it into 2 sections. 1 section made a loaf of bread, the other I divided into about 10 rolls and dipped in butter and then baked. Yum! And David was excited that these were for us to eat and not to take somewhere, lol. I told him he could eat my practice round of rolls - which thankfully turned out well!

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Another Monday...time for another week of new recipes to try! This week my new recipe is Toasted Almond Chicken, which I am fixing tonight for dinner! I'll let you know if it turns out to be a keeper!

Monday  -- Toasted Almond Chicken and Green Bean Casserole

Toasted Almond Chicken

6 chicken breasts

1/8 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. black pepper

3 Tablespoons butter or margarine, divided

1 1/2 cups whipping cream

2 Tablespoons orange marmalade

1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard

1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper

1 package 2.25 oz) sliced almonds, toasted

*Place chicken between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and flatten to 1/4 inch thickness, using a meat mallet or rolling pin. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

*Melt 1 1/2 tablespoons butter in large skillet over medium-high heat, add half of chicken, and cook 2 minutes on each side or until golden. Remove chicken from skillet and repeat procedure with remaining chicken.

*Reduce heat to medium; add whipping cream and next 3 ingredients to skillet, stirring well. Add chicken, sprinkle with almonds and cook 8 minutes or until sauce thickens.

Tuesday -- Vegetable soup in the crockpot

Wednesday -- little pizzas that we never had last week!

Thursday -- Lasagna

Friday -- my brother is coming into town and our family will all be going out to eat with him!

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I realized a week or two ago that I had been forgetting to post my weekly menus. Not that anyone cares what we are eating for dinner...but it seems to help me get into gear with planning and actually following through. I actually have done better the past month or so in getting better meals on the table for my family. Usually I go in spurts, so I hope this latest "spurt" lasts a little longer.

Here is what we're having for dinner this week...

Monday -- Meatloaf, baked macaroni and cheese, steamed broccoli and we had pumpkin muffins with cream cheese frosting for dessert!

Tuesday -- Crockpot Chicken Parmesan Chicken (a yummy chicken and rice meal with onion soup and parmesan cheese in it. I love finding yummy crockpot recipes, so if any of you find any new and good ones - please share!)

Crock Pot Parmesan Chicken

1 package dry onion soup mix (using my homemade mix from the Make a Mix cookbook)

1 1/2 cups milk

2 cans condensed cream of mushroom (also using a homemade mix)

1 cup converted long-grain white rice

6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts halves (I usually just throw 4-5 whole chicken breasts in there)

6 teaspoons butter

pepper to taste

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

*mix the dry onion soup, milk, mushroom soup and rice in a medium bowl

*put chicken in bottom of a greased slow cooker

*place 1 tsp butter on each chicken breast

*pour soup mixture over all

*season with salt and pepper

*sprinkle with parmesan cheese

*cover and cook on low heat or 8-10 hours (my crockpot gets too hot, so I lower this cooking time to about half the day instead)

Wednesday -- sloppy joes and fries

Thursday -- Little pizzas (I will be gone on this evening)

Friday -- no cooking - scrapbooking night at my house! Come one and come all - no kids allowed! Have some good mommy fellowship at my house! (with yummy snacks of course - speaking of which, I need to figure out something yummy to make!)

What's cooking at your house this week?

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This afternoon my girls and I have been baking, baking, baking! I found the cutest leaf cookie cutters at the store the other day and so I just HAD to use them! I used Becky Jane's recipe for sugar cookies (one of the authors of FIAR, from the FIAR board) and they turned out beautifully! I made some powdered sugar frosting and bought some FALL food coloring colors to put on the cookies.

Becky Jane's Sugar Cookies

2 Cups sugar
1 cup real butter
1 cup Crisco
2 eggs
2 teaspons almond extract
4 Cups flour
1/8 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 teaspoons baking soda

Cream together the sugar, butter and shortening. Add eggs and almond extract to liquid mix. Mix together all dry ingredients in another bowl and gradually add to the butter mixture. Make into balls and roll in sugar.

Place on an ungreased cookie sheet (I always use a Silpat (silicone) sheet...but parchment is nice too...really helps prevent any sticking w/out adding grease). Press each cookie dough ball down very slightly to flatten. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350. Cool on wire rack. YUM!

(I make each ball of dough slightly larger than a walnut)

*I did not roll them in balls and sugar, cause I used the cookie cutters. This recipe is a little difficult to roll and cut out, even after chilled. So, we ended up cutting leaves out of about half the dough and making circle cookies out of the rest. Either way...yum!

So, if you are coming over for playgroup on Monday (come one, come all) or if you're in my Tuesday morning Bible study,  you'll get to taste test these fabulous cookies.  The leaf cut outs didn't exactly look too much like leaves and I am not a professional decorator, but these still look autumn-ish with the color and taste good enough that my lack of decorating skills don't matter so much.  Happy Autumn!

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I have been wanting to avoid the "Cream of" soups for awhile...but so many of our favorite recipes contain cream of mushroom or cream of chicken. So, I have tried to just use them more sparingly...all the while hoping for a successful substitute to come along! Well, I may have found the answer! Here is a recipe, I just used it and it worked wonderfully! Maybe it will work for you, too!

Cream Of Soup recipe

2 1/2 cups flour

2 cups powdered milk

1/2 cup boullion powder (this is the 1 ingredient I did not have, it seemed fine though)

2 T onion powder

1 t basil

1 t oregano

1 t pepper

To use:

1/2 cup of mix

1 1/2 cups water

Mix together and use as you would with any Cream Of soup in a recipe.

(sorry, I cannot figure out how to get the extra lines out of my posts...when I hit "enter" it skips a space, like it's double spacing, which isn't the best for posting a recipe, sorry about that!)