lemon brownies

I came into the kitchen one day and happened upon this set up on my stove. Looks like Cate was doing a little pretend cooking in the real kitchen. 

And then I felt like maybe I had stumbled upon a brilliant idea. Felt Food Blogging. You still get to share your favorite recipes but without all the hassle of actually baking anything. Also, zero calories. I like it. This might be short lived because Cate's stash of felt food isn't very extensive but for now, I'm excited.

I've been making these lemon brownies for a while. I'm sure I've raved about them on here for just as long. We all know that I prefer to eat my sugary calories in the form of chocolate. But if I have to pick a second place winner, it has to be lemon.

I made oodles of these lemon brownies for my friend's wedding last month. I tweaked the recipe a bit and I think it's pretty much perfect. Know what the best part is? The edges. I know some brownie lovers are edge people and some are middles but the edges on these are scrumptious. It's where the glaze puddles on top of the crispy side pieces and holy yum. I had to trim off a lot of edges so the brownies were all uniform and beautiful for the wedding. By the end I had a huge bowl of edge slivers. Thank goodness for nephews who think I'm the best baker in the whole world or I'd still be eating them.

Lemon Brownies (adapted from Rita's, even though hers are divine just the way they are)

6 eggs

6 tablespoons lemon juice (freshly squeezed is best of course)

2 tablespoons lemon zest

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

2 sticks softened butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix it all up. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes in a greased 9x13 pan.

For the glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon lemon zest

Mix it all up and spread on top of cooled brownies.

all the leaves

Oh, my goodness.  These pictures make me smile.

Especially the last two.

This is the lovely time of year when I rake the same leaves into a pile over and over and over again.

Heaven forbid they see me raking and just help me load all those leaves into bags.

Nope.  Jumping it is. I let them.

It's fun for them and I guess it's some kind of upper body workout for me.

I'm happy to have trees with oodles of leaves though.

Certainly fall would be boring without them.

Pioneer recipe: brown sugar cake

Just continuing on my little tradition of Pioneer Day treats (because I live in Utah and I like Pioneer Day and I like treats and any excuse to make a treat that the pioneers probably ate is extra fun). In case you missed the others, last year I made apple candy and the year before that it was washboard cookies. Now you're all caught up.

This year's treat is my favorite pioneer recipe by far (I've only made these three but this one still takes the cake...heehee).


Brown Sugar Cake

1 1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 cup buttermilk

Stir it all together and pour it into a greased 9x13 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Let cool before frosting.


Frosting:

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup evaporated milk

1/4 cup butter

Boil for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Stir until mixture is smooth. Frosting will be warm when you pour it over the cake. Cooled cake with harden frosting.

+   +   +

My kind neighbor brought this brown sugar cake to my house last Christmas with the recipe all typed up on some cutesy Christmas paper. It was delicious. Moist and sweet, but not too sweet. I am not a frosting lover and this frosting glaze stuff is right up my alley.

I can't believe I love a non-chocolate cake as much as I do. I made it twice last week and it earned my sister's seal of approval. She called it evil. Just like those peanut butter cookies I forced her to eat. Next time I think I'll double the recipe and bake it in my sheet cake pan (especially if this certain sister is around). That way we might actually have leftovers.

This yummy cake has a sub title even. "Old pioneer recipe - white sugar was too expensive"

Credit for this yummy brown sugar cake goes to my kind neighbor's husband's father's mother. Get all that? Her name was Ethel. I'm glad she shared this with her family and that my neighbor shared with us.

Happy Pioneer Day!

finally

It wasn't much but it was enough for Cate to scoop into a big bite and shove into her mouth without getting a pile of dirt and dead leaves in it too.

That was all I was hoping for anyway.

It's mostly melted now.

I'll just sit here and look at that picture of my stinkin' adorable kids while I patiently await the next storm.

Do you love their rain boots in the snow as much as I do?

Good.

season's greetings

evil cookies

That's what a sister of mine (who shall remain anonymous so as to not embarrass herself) called them.

The cookies will be taking that as a compliment.

They were evil enough that she decided to eat 9 in one night.



Danny was so sad that we left the remainder of the cookies at this anonymous sister's house last Sunday night that I made another batch just for him the next morning.

See what a good little mommy I am?

It's the least I can do.

Here's the recipe. Easy Gluten-free Peanut Butter Cookies

The best part about these cookies (other than the fact that they are seriously the best peanut butter cookies I've ever made) is that there's no sitting around waiting for butter to soften. No butter. There's peanut butter but no butter butter.

I tweaked the recipe a tiny bit and added 2 heaping tablespoons of cocoa powder. I was craving chocolate that day (what's new?) and wondered if cocoa powder would make these cookies taste chocolatey. It didn't.

But they are still very tasty.

Anonymous sister can attest to that.

And if you don't like gluten (or it's not welcome in your house), you're in luck. None in these cookies. Unless there's gluten in the cocoa powder. I have no idea about that.



I came across this website that will calculate the calories in your recipe. Pretty cool.

That's the breakdown for the cookies (with my added cocoa powder).

I plugged in 24 servings since that batch made 21 cookies and I figured that my kids probably ate enough dough to equal three cookies.

I love that the ingredients get grades. I like getting grades. I kind of miss that. I got grades for over half of my life and then I graduated from college and had no way of knowing if I was doing anything right anymore. The only feedback I get nowadays is when my kids tell me I'm a meaniac for making them do something they don't want to do. You know, like a maniac but meaner.

A- for you, Cocoa Powder. You're such an overachiever. Good job, Egg. You get a B+. Better luck next time, Sugar. D+.

So there you go, Anonymous Sister of mine. 99 calories in each evil cookie. Next time don't eat 9 in one night. I'm pretty sure she's not even going to read this so I might just have to warn her in person.

And now for those of you family members who read this blog (which I'm not really sure there's any of you left) and couldn't care less about how much flour is in a recipe (in this case, there's none!) and only click over here once in a blue moon to see if I've posted cute pictures of my kids, here you go.



Not sure if that's a cute picture but they certainly are my kids.

And it's proof that I don't brush Cate's hair as often as I should and Danny's getting pretty good at picking out his own jammies.

baked pumpkin spice donut holes

I started a new diet a few weeks ago.

It's called The Don't Eat Crappy Food, Drink Lots of Water and Exercise Your Butt Off Plan.

I lost 6 pounds in 2 weeks. Pretty impressive if I do say so myself.

And then I found this recipe and made 2 batches this weekend. I'm pretty sure I found those pounds again.

It was kinda sorta worth it because these little pumpkin spice donut holes are delightful. Light and fluffy. Just the right amount of pumpkiny spicy goodness.



I ate 6 out of the first batch. Danny ate 5. I figure since they're smallish, it would take 3 of them to equal a regular sized muffin. So really I only ate 2 muffins. That's not so horrible. Six sounds bad though.

I couldn't help myself. They were warm and that buttery coating that makes the cinnamon sugar mixture stick is oh, so good. And buttery. And cinnamony. And sugary.

I'm not really sure they count as donut holes though. You bake them in mini muffin pans and they come out looking like mini muffins. Whatever. I don't let the name bother me. They're good.



I shared with my neighbor to try to get a few of them out of my house.

I slapped some BYU stickers around the edge of the plate. I may or may not have written some dumb football related remark on the bottom of the plate wherein I substituted the word don't for donut. I'm not telling. It might have been pretty cheesy but my creativity is waning.

But sadly for me, my appetite for these little gems is not.

Maybe next batch (because I'm sure there will be a next batch...lots of pumpkin leftover in the fridge) I'll toss in a few mini chocolate chips.

Yum.

lovely, love my family

Tonight's installment of Friday Night Videos:


The Roots singing "Lovely, Love My Family"

On the rare occasion that the t.v. is on (hee hee, that's a joke) and tuned in to Nick Jr. (is there any other channel?) and this little "commercial" just happens to come on, I stand up and boogie with my kids. Danny will usually join in because he loves a good dance party. Cate just tells us to stop dancing. I ignore her. How can I not dance to this song? I don't have a clue.

I think I saw this for the first time when Cate was just a wee babe. I had grand ideas of dressing up for Halloween as some kind of Yo Gabba Gabba! family. I figured Dan could be DJ Lance Rock and I could be his lady with the platform heels and knee socks. Danny would be Muno and baby Cate could be Muno's baby brother, GoGo. Nobody knows that GoGo is a boy right? It's ok to cross-dress in a Halloween costume if you're a baby.

And then I remembered that I don't like dressing up for Halloween and I don't know how to sew.

My favorite parts of this video are the sousaphone player and the pick in the drummer's afro. The sousaphone player reminds me of marching band. I really loved marching band. The drummer's afro pick is just cool.

Plus, this song helps me remember that I lovely, love my family too.

the force is strong at our house

...and so cute it'll darn near kill ya.

So we're a little over 7 months late for this but here it is.
Cate was finally ready to wear her Halloween costume from last year.

After I took these pictures (on my cell phone, hence the poor quality),
Cate pushed her toy shopping cart over to Danny and said,

"C'mon, Darth. Let's go shopping."

I kid you not.

Maybe they'll buy me a two liter of Yoda soda.

double chocolate peanut butter cookies

I don't have much to say about these cookies other than I'd like to stuff my face with them on a regular basis.

Make some and stuff your own face.

You'll thank me for it (but only if you like peanut butter cookies swirled with melted semisweet chocolate and plumped up with milk chocolate chips).


Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

6 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12 ounces milk chocolate chips (about 2 cups)
24 to 30 whole shelled peanuts

Preheat the oven to 300º. In a double boiler, melt the semisweet chocolate over hot, not simmering, water. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the brown and granulated sugars, then add the butter and beat until well combined. Add the peanut butter and beat until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until just combined. Add the flour mixture and the milk chocolate chips and beat until no streaks of flour are visible.

Pour in the melted chocolate and mix partially with a wooden spoon until marbled. Drop the dough in 3-tablespoon mounds 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Top with one whole peanut. Bake for 23 minutes or until just set but still soft. Cool on the cookie sheet for 30 seconds, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: About 2 dozen.

{My helpful tips: Use a smaller scoop. You get way more cookies and they taste just as good. Skip the silly peanut on top. I don't know what that's for. Give most of them away lest ye be tempted to eat them for breakfast every day until they're gone.}

This recipe is from my I Love Chocolate! Cookbook by the lovely Mrs. Fields. It's the first one in the book. It's also the only recipe in that book I've ever made. I can't seem to move on. But being stuck on double chocolate peanut butter cookies isn't a bad place to be if you ask me.




Aunt Nancy has declared these cookies to be evil.

Eeeevil.

Wanna know what else is eeeevil?

These.

Wanna know what else is evil?

Costco, for forcing me to buy them. Sure they're only 80 calories per package. That's not much help when you could easily eat 5 of them in one sitting. But the bottom of the crisp is covered in a layer of dark chocolate and that's practically like taking your vitamins so I guess they're not as evil as they seem.

I'm just hoping they've given me enough vitamin power to lug my big bum to the gym tonight.

Good grief.

chocolate chip cookie dough bars

Hello, sugar. I've missed you so.

I whipped up a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough bars last night.

Candis made me do it.

I ate some.

I shared lots with her.

She practically skipped over to my house when I called her to come get them.

I watched her out my front window so I know.

Don't try to deny it, my friend.



I ate some for breakfast today.

And some more for lunch.

This is why I have to say no sugar. I can't control myself.

Here's how I prefer to eat them.



And a view from the top.



Everybody knows long and skinny has fewer calories than short and fat.

Plus, if you slice slivers off the big hunk every time, it's less obvious to the other people living in the house that you've been eating it.

I think that's a trick I learned in college in order to eat my roommate's brownies without her knowing.

Pretty sneaky.

Next time I make chocolate chip cookie dough bars I'll spread them in a bigger pan and double the top layer. It's the best part.

And there will be a next time.

I think I'll be making another trip to the gym tonight. Two trips in one day.

It's ok though.

They were worth it.

mud balls

My thoughtful mother-in-law gave me this book many moons ago. I've only tried a handful of activities so far. I've got plenty tagged with tiny stickies, just waiting for me to gather supplies and energy to give them a try.

A few weeks ago I was flipping through the book and came upon a recipe in the Kids in the Kitchen section. Mud Balls. I asked Danny if he'd like to make some mud balls with me and duh. His face lit up and he said yes.

What four-year-old is going to say no to making mud balls in the kitchen?



I put him to work crushing the graham crackers (which he pronounces dam cack-uhs). I might have asked him a few times what he was crushing just so I could hear him say it again. Dam cack-uhs. Dam cack-uhs.

He got bored of all that work before he'd crushed them all. I finished up while he got a spoon and ate peanut butter straight out of the jar.



They turned out quite yummy. I knew Danny would like them because he loves eating the dough whenever I make a batch of cakies.

I didn't put raisins in our Mud Balls because I knew nobody but me and Dan would be eating them if there were raisins inside. I'm sure that was just an attempt at making them look more healthy anyway. The recipe didn't specify how many graham crackers to use. I chose three and it worked just fine.

Of course I couldn't leave well enough alone so I went and did this to a few of them.


Mud balls for people with a more sophisticated palate.



Here's a few more interesting ideas from the busy book, in case you're in the market for a few good Just Get Me Through the Rest of this Stinkin' Winter activities.

Fun with Tape: The idea is to give your kid a piece of tape to play with. I read that and thought that maybe the person writing this book didn't actually have kids. Or maybe that they didn't bother trying out these ideas on real kids before including them in the book. I mean really. A piece of tape? It takes more than that to keep a kid occupied. And then I tried it. I was wrong. Who knew? A piece of tape! It's been that easy all winter long and I just figured out that all they need is a piece of tape.

Potty Pals: For this gem of an idea, you use contact paper to make eyes and a smile. Stick them to the underside of the toilet lid. The fun begins when your child uses the potty and "feeds" the pals as the day goes on. I feel like I'm too grossed out to even continue writing this. I'm assuming it works better for boys since they can actually see the pal they are "feeding" while they're standing there. Ewwww. I'm all for getting potty trained quickly (although I haven't managed to do that yet) but ewwwww.

Fun with Kleenex: The idea here is to actually give your child a box of Kleenex and let her have at it. Um, yeah. I don't think so.

Nuts and Bolts: Give your kids large nuts and bolts and let them screw them on and off to their hearts' content. Really? The activity suggests age 3 and up. I'm just wondering how large these large nuts and bolts are. I can see them turning into swords and poking tools and then someone crying and someone else being sent to his room.

Perfection

let's just call them cakies

I tasted my very first ever cake batter cookie at a cookie swap last month (my very first ever cookie swap, I might add). It's that chocolate one on the left. I really didn't even know that you could make cookies from a cake mix. Have I been living under a rock or something? Maybe.


Then I came across a recipe for red velvet sandwich cookies and whipped them up for a family Christmas party. (I think they'd be great for a Valentine's treat too, you know, because they're red and sweet.) My second encounter with cookies made from a cake mix (although the original recipe was for cookies from scratch and I just used the cheater version).



I made another batch last week. This time I used a chocolate cake mix. Danny enjoyed eating big chunks of the dough. After eating a few, he said something like, "Hey, Mama. How 'bout next time you put in some peanut butter too?" Genius! My child is a culinary genius. So I bought some peanut butter chips and gave them another try.



I'm calling them cakies. Cookies made from a cake mix. Cakies. And they're so good. Just ask Grandpa. He ate a little more than his fair share. I left him alone with just the cakies (and a napping Cate) while I ran some errands and went to the gym yesterday (because I ate more than my fair share of the cakies too).

Best part about the cakies, they're easy. Just three ingredients. Cake mix, 2 eggs and 1/2 cup oil. That's all (unless you want to jazz them up with some kind of chips...chocolate, peanut butter, maybe butterscotch).

Stir it all up. Use your cookie scoop (or just a tablespoon if you don't have one) and plop them on a lined baking sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Be careful you don't let the parchment paper slide off the cookie sheet when you're taking the hot cakies out of the oven. Some of those precious cakies might land on the floor. If that happens, use your best judgment on what to do with those broken (but still delicious) cakies. Just don't tell anyone if you eat the pieces that landed on the floor. That might be considered gross by some people.

If you do make some cakies and then go ahead and eat more than your fair share too, don't fret. Get yourself to the gym. You'll be in good company this time of year.

the birthday cake

Danny saw a Cars cake at Walmart a few months ago. That's what he wanted for his birthday. Um...nope. I don't think so. I'm not the mama who buys Cars birthday cakes at Walmart (no offense to the mamas who do buy Cars birthday cakes at Walmart).

I was going to copy the cake my friend made for her little boy last year. Then I remembered a page that I had ripped out of a Family Fun magazine several years ago. I keep it in my pile of Stuff I'd Like to Make Some Day. You can see my inspiration over at the Family Fun website.

Look at that grass! It's my favorite part of the cake. I bought a grass tip to pipe it. If anybody wants to make an Oscar the Grouch cake, come on over and borrow my grass tip. I think it would make perfect Oscar fur.


See those flags? I spent a good half hour coloring in those little squares with my fine tipped Sharpie...at midnight. I'm surprised the lines turned out as straight as they did.


A view from the top.


I bought three new cars for the top of the cake. I don't know the yellow guys' names but the orange one is my favorite. His name is Snot Rod. I have no idea if he's a good guy or a bad guy (I've never seen the movie) but I love his name!


Danny liked the cake. He blew out those candles twice since he requested the Happy Birthday song about smelling like a monkey in a zoo. I knew he would.


p.s. A big thanks to Judy for capturing that last picture. It's my favorite.

a helpful tip in the kitchen

Check your pantry before going to the store to buy the spices you need for a new recipe.

If you find the recipe in a magazine at the gym and then go straight to the store afterward because you simply must make that chili as soon as possible, call home to have your husband check the pantry for you.

Don't just assume that since you almost never cook with spices that you don't have the ones you need for the new recipe.

If you don't follow this helpful tip, you might just end up with more chili powder and ground cumin than you'll ever use in your lifetime.

Unless you make a lot of turkey chili.

And I just might end up making a lot of turkey chili from here on out.

It's yummy.

Here's the recipe for turkey chili. Make it. 'Tis the season for chili, right?

If you need chili powder or ground cumin, I'll let you borrow some. I've got plenty.


A little warning for people who've never used ground cumin before: It smells like b.o. It makes the chili taste wonderful but man, does it stink!

banana cake

I made this cake for the first time last month for my neighbor's birthday. I didn't give her the whole cake, just a piece. It's the thought that counts, right? Ok. So the truth is that I just really wanted to make the cake and it happened to be her birthday. We both win!



The banana cake was yummy! The best part about it for me is that there's no frosting. I don't like frosting. There's a brown sugar and cinnamon topping on it though. So good.

It's a good recipe to use if you've got some ripening bananas on your kitchen counter. Most of the time I use my oldish bananas for banana bread. This is a good alternative for when you want something a little sweeter. Or for when it's your neighbor's birthday and you have oldish bananas on your kitchen counter.


Banana Cake

2-3 bananas (1 cup)
4 rounded tablespoons sour cream
1 yellow cake mix
2 tablespoons oil
4 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup milk

Topping
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Mash bananas and mix with sour cream until smooth. Mix everything else in and beat for 2 minutes. Pour into greased and floured 9x13 pan. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over batter. Bake at 350° for 45-50 minutes. Cover with wax paper when cooling to keep moist.


I made this cake again today and added about a cup of mini chocolate chips. Even better!

the musical fruit

I wonder if this post is going to show up in someone's Google search for the little poem about eating beans and toots. That would be funny.

I wonder if anyone ever searches Google looking for the little poem about eating beans and toots. Is there anyone who doesn't already have it memorized?

Anyway, here's the recipe for my famous bean dip. That's the name of it on the recipe I was given by Karen Peterson many years ago. I don't like that name for this dip though. It makes me think of that bean dip you find in a jar on the shelf by the chips at the grocery store, the brownish stuff that looks like smooshed beans. This dip isn't anything like that. Maybe The Musical Fruit Dip would be a better name for it. That makes it sound fruity though. Whatever.

I made this dip for the baby blessing luncheon a few Sundays ago. I also made it for Judy's baby shower this weekend. It's good stuff (except if you choose to add green onions because onions are gross and they ruin everything).

Bean Dip

2 green peppers
1 can black-eyed peas
1 can black beans
1 can shoepeg corn
1 package Italian dressing mix (you'll need oil and vinegar to make it)
2 green onions

Rinse and drain the beans, black-eyed peas and corn. Place in a bowl.
Dice the peppers. Add to the bean mix.
Chop the green onions. Add to the bowl.
Mix the dressing according to the package.
Pour the dressing over everthing in the bowl and stir. Refrigerate overnight to make it really yummy.
Serve with tortilla chips. My favorite are the ones flavored with lime. Corn chips are quite tasty with it too.

* * * * * * * *

I buy the six pack of peppers from Costco. It comes with two red, two yellow and two orange. I use one of each because they taste good. And because they're pretty. If I double the recipe, I also add one green bell pepper. If you're doing the math, when I make a single recipe I use 3 peppers. When I double it, I use 4. Maybe I'm the one not doing the math but that's what I do. I've never heard anyone complain about it either.

I leave out the onions because onions are gross. That's why I add the green pepper. It adds a pretty color without the yucky taste of green onions.

Don't make the mistake of buying black-eyed peas with bacon. I did that once. Chunks of bacon inside a can of black-eyed peas is not a pretty sight, especially the bits of bacon fat. Gag. I picked out the bacon and served it anyway. My guests were none the wiser.

I use Good Seasons Italian dressing mix. The original recipe says to not use the Zesty flavor. I have no idea why. I haven't been brave enough to do it anyway to find out for myself. Maybe some day.

Will one of you be daring and go Zesty and let me know how it tastes?

Thanks.