AMAZING Recipes

There is so much to blog about, but today, I have to post about some amazing recipes. Thanksgiving was great and I didn't gorge and I actually lost a pound. Then, yesterday, I made these incredible pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with my leftover pumpkin and I think I'm going to gain 5 pounds because I can't stop eating them!

I love pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and they are also one of Braden's favorites. But he likes the store bought ones because they are so soft. I've used about 4 different recipes, trying to mimic the store bought brand to no avail. The last ones I made were too cakey, though I still liked them. So I dug around all my recipes and found the first recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that I was ever given. No need to search any further. These were amazing, even with dairy free smart balance butter. Perfect soft, melt in your mouth goodness.

PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

1 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp nutmeg
Dash ground cloves
2 cups flour
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350*F. Cream butter and sugars together. Add vanilla, eggs, and pumpkin. Beat well. Add dry ingredients and chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoonfuls on greased cookie sheet. Bake 15 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

The second recipe is for Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal. I love oatmeal in the winter (yes it is actually 40 degrees right now in AZ) and it's a great way to warm the body in the morning. My girls LOVE it too and generally request it over any other breakfast. I actually love oatmeal all year round, but need certain things to put in it. No matter what, it needs brown sugar. But there are some extra jewels I love in it too. In the spring, I LOVE strawberries cut up in it. In the summer, I love fresh peaches. In the fall, I love raspberries, though even store bought frozen raspberries are great in it, so I can enjoy that year round. But the cheapest and most convenient is Braden's Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal.

APPLE CINNAMON OATMEAL

1/2 cup quick oats
Approx. 1 cup water
1/4 applesauce
1-2 Tbs brown sugar, not packed
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Scoop oats into bowl with high sides. Add enough water to completely cover oats by 1/4 inch. Microwave for 2 minutes, watching so it does not boil over. Microwave an additional 15-30 seconds until the center of the oatmeal bubbles up and over itself, but not over the sides of the bowl. Remove from microwave and add remaining ingredients. Stir well.

We love to buy the huge cans of applesauce from Costco/Sams because it is dirt cheap, but we can't eat that much applesauce before it goes bad. So Braden discovered that you can separate it into individual containers (like sour cream or cottage cheese cartons) and freeze it! Then, just take it out, microwave on low power to defrost or put in a water bath or leave in your fridge to defrost it. It works great!

The third recipe is for Thanksgiving Bread Stuffing. I combined my mother in law's recipe and other recipes I found and I loved the end result. I used 2 loaves of store bought 100% whole wheat bread and 1 loaf of crusty french bread that was harder than a rock. I even cooked it in my CrockPot to free up oven space. It worked GREAT! It was done well before dinner was ready, but I just turned it off, left the lid on, and it was still perfect by dinner time.

THANKSGIVING BREAD STUFFING

2-3 loaves bread, cubed and dried (about 12 cups)
1 medium onion, diced (roughly 2 cups)
2 cups celery, diced
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 Tbs parsley flakes
1 1/2 tsp sage
1 tsp thyme (or 1/2 tsp ground thyme)
1/2 tsp marjoram
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
4-6 cups chicken broth

Saute onion and celery in melted butter until tender. Add seasonings. Mix with bread cubes in large bowl. Spray CrockPot with cooking spray. Pour into CrockPot. Pour chicken broth over top just until moist and stir well. Bake on low 6-8 hours. Add more broth as necessary during cooking. Or, if you want to do it in a conventional oven: Pour bread cubes and onion/celery/seasoning mix into greased casserole dishes and pour chicken broth over top just until moist. Stir well. Bake at 375*F for 20-25 minutes.

I hope you can enjoy these recipes!