German Pancakes / Dutch Babies for Two!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 - 3 Tbsp butter for baking dish - not mixed in w/ other ingredients
• 2 eggs at room temp (can put in a bowl of warm water for a bit)
• 1/2 cup warmed milk (heat up for about 20 sec in microwave) 
• 1/2 cup sifted flour
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
• 1 pinch salt
• Juice from 1 lemon and about 2 Tbsp powdered sugar for topping

PREPARATION:

1. Preheat the oven to 425° F 
2. As the oven is warming, put butter in 8x8 baking dish and let melt as oven preheats.
3. Place eggs and milk in blender, blend lightly until frothy. Add remaining ingredients and blend until just incorporated. 
4. Remove baking dish from oven with melted butter and pour batter in without stirring or mixing and return to oven.
5. Bake 20 - 25 min. until golden brown crust on top and puffy!
6. Top with lemon juice and powdered sugar and enjoy!

Broccoli Salad

So this past Easter we had a family lunch/dinner at my Sis-in-law Melanie's house, and she made this awesome salad. We got the recipe from her and as I was looking it over to add to the site I discovered I had one incredibly similar already posted from when I took my cooking class back at BYU. Who knew? 

I certainly hadn't been using it lately and I definitely fell in love the version I had at Easter so I decided to update and kind of mash the two recipes together, hence all the options for quantities! Seriously though, you can just eyeball everything and it will still turn out fantastic, it's that great. 

Hearty enough to be a meal on it's own with a side of rolls/bread/cornbread or whatever else you want! The dressing recipe included is the halved proportions. We found that the original had to much dressing for our taste. So if you like more dressing with your salad, it can easily be doubled.

INGREDIENTS:
For Salad:

• 1 large head (3-4 cups) of fresh broccoli, washed and trimmed
• ¼ - ½ cup red onion, finely diced
• ½ - 1 cup craisins or raisins

Optional (but highly recommended) Mix-Ins:

• 4 - 6 strips of bacon, fried crisp and crumbled
• ½ - 1 cup shredded cheese (I've used sharp cheddar and Parmesan before, both great) 
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup pepitas
• ½ - 1 cup cashews or chopped pecans or walnuts

For Dressing:

• 1 cup low-fat mayonnaise
• 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (can substitute w/ regular vinegar if it’s all you have)
• 2 Tbsp sugar

PREPARATION:

1. In small separate bowl, make salad dressing by combining all ingredients. Refrigerate for at least a couple of hours, preferably overnight.
2. Cut broccoli into small florets, peel the stem and cut into 1/2" pieces.
3. Combine broccoli, onions, craisins, nuts, bacon, and cheese.
4. Pour dressing over salad.
5. Refrigerate until ready to serve and toss before serving

Note: This salad can be made ahead of time and refrigerated for hours, even overnight.

Chewy Ginger Cookies

So this is the recipe I've taken to making lately when I make Ginger cookies. It has a few more spices than the previously posted recipe, (which I'm leaving up because it's Mom's original one) but for the most part though, they are incredibly similar ingredient and even measurement~wise. I've just found I prefer the taste of these ones...warm and chewy and filled with Christmas~y memories!

DRY INGREDIENTS:

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp salt

WET INGREDIENTS:

• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp water (some people recommend using orange juice)
• 1/4 cup molasses

• 2 Tbsp white sugar for rolling cookie dough balls

PREPARATION:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Sift together dry ingredients and set aside.
2. Cream together butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg then stir in water and molasses. Gradually add sifted ingredients to wet ingredients. Shape dough into balls and roll in 2 Tbsp of sugar to coat. Let chill in fridge for an hour or so, even overnight if convenient.
3. Place cookies 2" apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake w/o flattening balls to get a crackle on top.
4. Bake for 8-10 min. in preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet to settle, approx. 5 min. before removing to wire rack to cool completely. Store in airtight container.

Sweet Potato Casserole

Don and I both agreed that this was the best thing on the table for Thanksgiving this year! We ended up being so busy with preparations that I completely forgot to make the pie and didn't remember until we were sitting down to dinner. Don said though that these were so good we didn't even need pie, which made me feel a lot better! :) Our crumble/streuesel topping didn't turn out looks~wise (ended up more mushy then crumbly-I think our butter was too soft), but taste-wise was still awesome. 

No marshmallows on top this year, but that's probably for the best. While I like the look of the roasted marshmallows on top, the leftovers will keep better this way. Leftover marshmallow topping never works out. I've discovered from previous years that it gets all slimy and gross and we end up peeling it all off anyways. Our version ended up being a slight adaptation b/w this recipe and this recipe. which are pretty much identical except for a couple of ingredients and preparations. 
   

INGREDIENTS for SWEET POTATOES:

• 4 cups peeled and cubed sweet potato (This ended up being about 2 medium-large potatoes)
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 eggs beaten
• 2 Tbsp milk (Original recipe calls for heavy cream, but we didn't have any. If you happen to have cream on hand, I imagine it would be good. Milk worked out just fine though.)

INGREDIENTS for TOPPING:

• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup to 3/4 brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter softened (room temp.)

PREPARATION:

1. Put cubed sweet potatoes in medium saucepan with enough water to cover. Cook over medium high heat until tender; drain and mash.
2. Preheat the oven to 325.
3. In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the sweet potatoes and mix until smooth. Transfer to baking dish. (Both original recipes called for a 9x13 but we ended up using an 8x8 and it worked out great.)
4. In a medium bowl, mix the brown sugar and flour together. Cut butter into mixture with pastry blender  or fork until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Sprinkle over sweet potato mash.
5. Bake for 30 min. in preheated oven, or until topping is crisp and lightly browned.

Puffed Wheat Squares!

It's kind of funny, the things that you discover are 'Canadian' treats once you leave Canada. Like things you don't even give a thought to and sometimes don't even notice are missing. I remember one time a few years back when Don was working with a fellow Canadian at work he came back asking me about something called a 'Ninamus" and I had no idea what on earth he was describing. Turns out he was talking about Nanaimo Bars, hahaha. Eventually I will have to make those and share that here, but today, this is about Puffed Wheat Squares!

Who knew that these were a Canadian treat? I remember bringing it up one time saying I liked them and Don had no clue what they were. We then searched the internet for them and discovered that apparently it is something that is more common/popular in Canada. Curious and Curiouser! So for anyone who has not had them before, let me *formally* introduce you! They are similar to a Rice Krispie treat, but they are instead of Rice Krispies they use Puffed Wheat and instead of a marshmallow base, it's chocolate, yum! I found a couple of recipes and then narrowed it down to one where the amounts and ratios seemed most reasonable to me and tried it out last night. They were delicious and chewy! If not maybe a little bit too sweet? Checked a couple other recipes and here is my  ever so slightly adapted version of The Casual Bakers recipe. One of the wonderful things about these are that they whip up fast and you don't even have to use the oven at all! 

Oh, and one last note. I remembered this treat awhile back but never attempted it because I couldn't find any Puffed wheat locally - which could be why it's more popular in Canada, you can get Puffed wheat easily in your regular grocery store. Recently though, when Don and I were walking our local Walmart cereal aisle I noticed they had started carrying it! It was stashed away in the corner at the very end of the aisle! Success!!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/3 cup corn syrup
• 1/4 cup brown sugar (Original recipe called for 1/2 cup. I think it would be fine going for half that, Don thinks that's too extreme and maybe 1/3 cup?)
• 3 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 6-8 cups puffed wheat (I used 6, but I can see stretching it out over 1-2 cups more to spread out the concentration of chocolate/gooeyness. You'll have to try it out for yourself. Maybe start with 6 and then add more as you're mixing if you want to?)

PREPARATION:

1. Lightly grease a baking pan. We did ours in an 8x8, which left us with 2" thick squares. You could use a 9x13 I think for 1" squares if you're wanting to spread them out and cut more squares for serving a crowd.
2. Measure out puffed wheat into a large mixing bowl. I'd say you would only want it about half full with your puffed wheat or else when you mix it you'll send puffed wheat flying all over your counters!
3. Combine all  remaining ingredients except for the vanilla in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat while stirring constantly. Original recipe says to use a wooden spoon. I ended up using a silicon spatula. I think pretty much anything that can withstand the heat and won't add a taste to your base would be fine.
4. As soon as recipe starts boiling continue mixing over heat for 2 min. If you want your squares to stay chewy and gooey you have to be careful here. If you over boil your mixture it'll end up tough!
5. Remove mixture from heat and add in vanilla and stir a couple times to combine.
6. Pour entire mixture over puffed wheat in large mixing bowl and quickly stir to evenly coat.
7. Pour coated mixture into greased pan and press the mixture evenly into pan using spoon, or spatula. Original recipe says you can also use your hands to press into pan, but dang, that mixture is hot so I don't know if I would recommend doing it that way.
8. Cool, slice and keep stored in an air-tight container. I'm thinking I might try and do puffed wheat balls around the holidays similar to popcorn balls!

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Made this for the first time last year for Thanksgiving, and it was awesome! Plan to make this a tradition, liked it even more than regular pumpkin pie. Found it originally here, but there are so many different versions there decided to put it here for quick reference :)

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 (9") prepared graham cracker crust
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch ground cloves
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup frozen whipped topping thawed (Optional)

PREPARATION:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
2. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Blend in eggs one at a time. Remove 1 cup of batter and spread into bottom of crust; set aside.
3. Add pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to the remaining batter and stir gently until well blended. Carefully spread over the batter in the crust. 
4. Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 min., or until center is almost set. Allow to cool, then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Cover w/ whipped topping before serving. 

Original Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (12 oz. pkg) chocolate chips

PREPARATION:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit 
2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets
4. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.