SILK Holiday Recipe Contest

***Update 12/19/2011***
Thank you for all of your votes!! I won best dessert category in the Silk Holiday Recipe Contest.


Simply put, we have an Amish kitchen.The C family is lacking in the electronic department of our galley and Mama's arms are getting tired of working overtime in the kitchen. Meal time could be far more productive with the addition of an electric mixer in our lives.

Behold this lovely Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer.

A glorious addition to our counter top it would be. But we need your help. Please vote for my latest recipe Toasted Coconut Pumpkin Muffins on the SILK facebook page and tell all your friends to vote, and their friends to vote, and make a facebook page for your dog so he can vote too!

Please Vote For My Mama

Click here for recipe, Don't forget to click vote!

Dairy Free Toasted Coconut Pumpkin Muffins

"Healthier" Rudolph Cookies for kids

I originally came across the decoration idea for these cookies at Pinterest and I tweaked a few recipes to come up with something a little "healthier". We used a white wheat reduced sugar version of a basic sugar cookie and it turned out tasty, I think next time we will try peanut butter or gingerbread.

 

Ingredients

2 3/4 white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tbs milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg, vanilla, and milk. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto parchment lined cookie sheets. 
3. Flatten dough balls into rounds with the bottom of a greased cup. Gently press mini pretzels into the head for antlers and mini M&M's in for the eyes and mouth.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

Thanksgiving in Review

We hosted a small family dinner for Thanksgiving this year, it was cozy and everything I ever could have hoped for. Seeing my family healthy, happy, and united brings a salty little tear to my eye. Thankful does not begin to describe my overwhelming sense of gratitude for the blessings we received during our challenging time this year. Over the course of a three month period we experienced concerning health troubles, job loss, the birth of our dear baby H, two year molars, a new job, moving out of state, losing our family pets, and essentially starting over. There is no denying the amount of crazy that went down in that time frame but I am thankful for the knowledge gained from those experiences. Most importantly, *I* learned what it means to minister within your own community and how to ask for and receive help. Humility is beautiful.

I was so enmeshed in the joy of turkey day and cooking that I failed to take snapshots of our individual dishes but our menu looked something like this:

Thanksgiving 2011

 Greenburg Smoked Turkey

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

Sausage apple cranberry dressing

Fresh Corn

Greenbeans from grandpa's garden

Cranberry Compote
Sweet Potato Casserole with Toasted Marshmallows
Homemade Crescent rolls

H takes mashed potatoes seriously

 My brother flew  into town over the holiday, he's a good little brother and I often miss his quiet presence. I don't see him often due to the demands of college on the East Coast and his military career, so our time together is extra special. He got a kick out of being called "Uncle", by his eldest nephew for the first time. Here are some pictures of him on our post turkey walk along the Paducah flood walls.

 

 

3 generations of men; Grandpa, son, grandsons.

Choo-Choo
All Aboard
next stop 
Christmas

Fruit for Thought and a Serial Killer

 Grabbing a pomegranate out of the fridge I began to remark how beautiful the garnet gem appeared, quite frankly it was attractive, sexy. I vaguely remembered reading about it in the Bible so I looked up the passage and it looks like God intended it to be that way.

Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine has budded, whether the grape blossoms have opened, and the pomegranates are in bloom: there will I give you my loves. - Song of Solomon 7:12

What a neat revelation, Amen! Then after a moment of reflection I violently hacked it. Why I busted out the unnecessarily giant knife, we may never know.

Look, Blood Juice Splatter!

Mmm, yummy! Take a picture.

... the gruesome scene reminded me that I'm 2 seasons behind on Showtime's drama Dexter- simply summarized, "a likeable Miami police forensics expert moonlights as a serial killer of criminals who he believes have escaped justice."- IMDB

The moral of this story is pomegranates are awesome, I'm easily distracted, and it should be illegal to blog at midnight.

Have a great weekend,
Me

Chicken Salad Sandwich with Cranberry Sunflower Bread

Inspired by Paducah Kentucky's Kirchoff's Bakery & Deli 's chicken salad on cranberry walnut.

Sweet, savory, and bursting with Fall flavor this is the sandwich of the season!

Cranberry Sunflower Bread

1/4 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup water

1 cup yogurt

1 egg

3 tablespoons honey

1 1/2 Tbs. butter,

softened

3 cups white wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Dump all ingredients into bread machine, set on sweet cycle, push start. 

 Thyme Chicken Salad

2 cups prepared shredded chicken or 2 large breasts cubed

1 cup slightly cooked broccoli, cooled. 

1 1/4 cups mayonnaise

2 tbs. dry white wine

1/4 cup dijon mustard
1-2 tsp. thyme

Whisk together mayonnaise, wine, mustard, and thyme. Fold in chicken and broccoli to dressing mix.

Serve prepared chicken salad on lightly buttered toasted cranberry sunflower bread. Enjoy!

Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal with Honey Cinnamon Whipped Cream

See Budget Bytes for original recipe.

A new easy 'go to' recipe, baked oatmeal loaded with fresh pumpkin puree proved to be a delicious and healthy treat for all.

2 cups pumpkin puree` or 1 15oz. can
1/4 cup honey
2 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Dash of salt
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1 cup vanilla yogurt
2 1/2 cups dry old fashioned oats

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, honey, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and baking powder until smooth. Whisk in vanilla yogurt. Fold in dry oats.

In greased 8x8 pan add mixture, cover with foil, and bake for 30minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Honey Cinnamon Whipped Cream
During the final minutes of baking pumpkin oatmeal mixture, beat 1/2 pint heavy whipping cream with 2 tbs honey and 2 tsp. cinnamon until fluffy.

Serve warm with dollop of whipped cream.

*Note: Served cold and still delicious, this reminded us of  a chilled pumpkin pie.

Fall Frolic

Jennifer woke up to the usual sound of Harrison’s morning giggles, the chorus of raspberries and babble warmed her heart. Crusty eyed from new overnight contacts and groggy she stumbled over to the one toothed wonder, picked up the twenty five pounds of warm squishy cheeked infant, and made way towards the large window in the center of the house to spy on the herd of deer that usually graze in the yard each morning.  She looked out, blinked, but couldn’t seem to shake the morning blur of her contacts, after repeating the process a few times it dawned on her that the front lawn was covered with a blanket of fog.  Opening the door to get a better look a silhouette of a deer came into view just beyond the mailbox.

“It is not the clear-sighted who rule the world. Great achievements are accomplished in a blessed, warm fog.” – Joseph Conrad

 

Remembering that she had prepped cinnamon rolls the night before she began to droll in anticipation and popped the sinful beasts into the oven

 

The kitchen began to fill with the smell of Christmas as Bryan and A made their way out of bed for breakfast. Mama chanted, "Warm, butter gooey, goodness and ugly thighs for all!"

The C family took their sweet (cinnamon roll) time getting ready that morning and slowly made their way over to LBL to enjoy the colorful Fall leaves.

 " A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty."

 

"All things must come to the soul from its roots, from where it is planted".- Saint Teresa of Avila

 "Smile More"

 " The stone should be mostly flat, about the size of the palm of your hand and about the weight of a tennis ball. Triangular stones tend to skip best. Avoid circular stones. They’re less stable." -A Boy's Life Magazine

 Throw out and down at the same time. A skipping stone is bouncing off the water, so give it plenty of downward force. Try throwing faster instead of harder — strength is not the key, quickness is. -A Boy's Life Magazine

"..or just make a BIG splash"-Jennifer C.

  Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books. -John Lubbock

 C. Brothers A and H watching the waves

 Bull Elk resting in the distance

 American Beautyberry