Super Simple and Yummy Dessert

This is a really quick, really yummy, really simple recipe to have on hand, especially when company calls and are headed over and you want to make something to share with them.  It's very easy to keep the ingredients on hand for just such an occasion as well.  

Three ingredients is all you need for this yummy treat - a cake mix, pie filling, and butter, that's it, really!

Dump pie filling into a 9x13" pan.

Melt butter and stir into cake mix.

Crumble cake mixture on top of pie filling.  Bake.  It pretty much looks the same before it bakes as it does after.  Spoon it onto a plate and top with whipped cream (or ice cream) if you like.  Enjoy!  Really, that's all there is to it, the easiest dessert ever.  And you can change up the cake mix and the pie filling for different tastes.

The cat snuck up on me while I was outside taking pictures and popped into the picture.  Don't worry, he didn't eat any of it, just sniffed around it a little. :)

Easiest Dessert Ever
Ingredients:
2 cans pie filling (I've used cherry and blueberry, our favorites)
1 cake mix (I've done chocolate and white)
1/2 c. butter, melted


Directions:
Dump pie filling into 9x13" pan.  Melt butter and stir into cake mix.  Crumble cake mix on top of pie filling.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 min.

Creamy Tomatillo Ranch Dressing

Sorry for the lack of posts.  We had our three days of spring break (yes, we only get 3 days!) and I enjoyed every second of having my kids home, even while watching the blizzard raging outside Friday.  It's been so nice since then, I've been spending a lot of time outside, too.  We had a great Easter, too, except for the part where I went to whip up some easy skirts for Chloe and Maddie on Saturday and my sewing machine wouldn't work.  Nice!  I spent a good couple of hours trying to fix it to no avail.  Eventually, I gave up, ran to town to get them something different for their Easter baskets and borrowed my mom's sewing machine.  So hopefully I'll get those done tomorrow and can show you.  Then yesterday and today I've spent most of the time catching up on what I didn't do while we were playing (including taking my machine in to be repaired.) 

Anyway, on to today's post.  I'm having good run of Pinterest recipes for the past couple of weeks.  It's been great, especially following the bad run I had about a month ago.  My family was getting pretty leery of hearing me say, "I found it on Pinterest."  Last week in our Bountiful Basket (an awesome food co-op program, check and see if there's one by you) I got several tomatillos.  I'd never had one before and was excited to try them.  A couple days later, several of my friends had pinned this recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen for tomatillo ranch dressing, supposedly like Cafe Rio's.  Since I had all the ingredients on hand, I made it for dinner to go along with our enchiladas we were having.  I've never had Cafe Rio's so I can't compare it that way, but it was delicious!  So yummy you'll want to try it too!

Creamy Tomatillo Ranch Salad Dressing

Makes about 2 ½  cups of dressing

2 cups prepared Ranch Dressing (I used a packet of Ranch dressing mix, but you can make your own dressing if you prefer)
1 small bunch cilantro, large stems removed (about 1/2 cup chopped cilantro)
2 large or 4 small tomatillos
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
2 T fresh lime juice
1 tsp. Green Tabasco sauce or 1 diced jalapeno pepper (I used a Mexican red hot sauce.)

Prepare Ranch dressing according to directions on the package or recipe you're following and set aside.

Remove large cilantro stems, then wash leaves and spin dry or dry with paper towels. Add cilantro to food processor fitted with the steel blade and pulse until finely chopped. (If you don't have a food processor, chop all ingredients well by hand and then blend dressing in a blender.)

Add tomatillos, garlic, lime juice, and Green Tabasco or chopped jalapeno to the food processor and pulse until ingredients are finely pureed. Add the 2 cups of prepared dressing and pulse just a few times, until ingredients are well combined. Chill dressing for an hour or two and serve.

Variations:
~To make a roasted tomatillo dressing, dice tomatillos, place on a baking sheet, and roast at 400F for 15-20 minutes before adding them to the food processor.
~If you'd like even more tomatillo flavor, use 4-5 large tomatillos and decrease the buttermilk or milk in the Ranch dressing by about 1/4 cup.

So what are your new found favorite recipes from Pinterest?  Are you finding it a good source for new inspiration? 

Cupcake Hints & Tips

 Last week we were in charge of bringing treats to Billy's basketball game.  I also needed a treat for the kids after dinner on Sunday, because there wouldn't be enough of the Rainbow Spring Dessert and most of them wouldn't appreciate the goodness of it.  So I made two batches of cupcakes, perfect solution for the game and dessert on Sunday.  Since I've pinned many a great tip and tricks for cupcake making, I decided to test a few of them out.  Some were great, others not so much, so here's my thumb up or thumb down rating for some of the best cupcake tips on Pinterest.

First up - This tip for making bigger higher cupcakes by filling the cups a little fuller and cooking at a lower temperature.  Sadly, it didn't make any difference for me.  I filled the cups 3/4 of the way full, preheated the oven to 350 and then I turned on the convection which lowers the heat to 325.  Still the same flatter cupcakes.  I don't know if the convection made any difference, I wouldn't think so, so maybe it was just the recipe she used that made them dome up like that. 
So for this tip - THUMBS DOWN

Next - This tip (or several others) for using canning rings to hold your cupcake liners so you can bake more at a time.  I was really excited for this one since I was making two batches and didn't want to be in the kitchen all afternoon.  I lined my rings out on my pan, set the liners in, and when I started filling, the liners all sank down into the ring.   I don't know if I did this wrong, I don't know how I could do it any different, but I had a big mess as most of the cupcakes overflowed the liners and cooked onto the pan.   I should have taken a picture.  I measured (eyeballed) and the rings are a little bit smaller than a muffin tin cup, so it made the liners sit up straighter, thus giving a little less room for batter.  They were a little skiwampus where the overflowed, or small little things, all edible still, but not very pretty.
So for this tip - THUMBS DOWN

I was pretty discouraged and a little leery of trying anything else, but I persevered all in the name of science. lol

3rd Tip - Back to the same site as the first tip, I decided to try this, her recipe for Nanny Burke's Buttercream Frosting.   Winner, winner, chicken dinner!  I'm not usually a fan of buttercream because it's just too sugary tasting, but this wasn't, it was buttery flavored and pretty good.  I did add the shortening with it for firmness like she mentions.  Now I wasn't piping it on to my finger to eat it liked she did, but it was good.
So for this tip - THUMBS UP

4th Tip - This genius little video for mess free filling/using your pastry bags.  It's so simple and worked really well.  However, it didn't work very well for using two different colors at the same time, but I think I might have filled the one too full.
So for this tip - THUMBS UP

Finally the last tip - This trick from Our Best Bites (those girls are amazing!) for making multiple color swirled frosting.  I didn't have any disposable decorating bags, so I just used ziploc sandwich bags and cut the corners off.  I filled them like they said, not too full, flattened them down a little, stacked them together and slid them in my decorating bag.  It worked perfectly!  This was fun, I've got to try it again.
So for this tip - THUMBS UP

Overall, a good little experiment.  I crossed 5 things off my Pinterest "to do" list and we got to eat the yummy results. :)



 

Rainbow Spring Dessert

Looks delicious, doesn't it!

Sorry, for the lack of posts this past week.  I was doing things, but being too lazy to write about them. :)  I just needed a little break.  But I'm back and ready to share some of the fun I was having.  This past weekend was a great one!  All of my brother's and my younger sister (we missed you Kristen!) and their families all hung out together.  Leslie and I did some crafting, making super cute wreaths (we'll show you soon), my mom made a safety pin watch like I did here, all the while we were torturing my daughter, Cheyenne, by listening/singing along with Disney music.  (If you want a great station on Pandora, type in Walt Disney, awesome!)  The cousins, big and little, played and played.  Yes, I'm saying the teenagers played and not hung out since the biggest occupier of time on Sunday was when they took over the cardboard playhouse and played house. lol  Seriously!!  The reason for the gathering was my parents were speaking in church before they leave for their mission to Salt Lake City - see more about that here.  This is mission number 3 for them, I'm so proud of them.  They did a great speaking and then we all gathered for a big dinner at their house afterwards.

Most of the family, missing my sister, Kristen and family, and 3 of my nephews who are also serving missions right now.

Anyway, back to the big dinner, Mom asked me to bring dessert and I knew exactly what I wanted to bring.  Seeing as how it has been very spring like for the last week here in Idaho, and I've had a serious craving for it because I haven't had it in years, I made Rainbow Spring Dessert - a delicious cheesecake, pistachio pudding dessert on a pecan-sandie-like crust.  Oh, my mouth is watering for it again, and I ate the last piece for breakfast on Monday. :)  It's heavenly, not to rich, light and fluffy, and perfect for any spring meal or great for baby showers, too.  We always make it for baby showers and change the top layer to either pink or blue. 

Rainbow Spring Dessert:

1^st Layer:              1/2 c. butter, softened

                               1 ¼ c. flour

                               1 c. chopped pecans

Cut the butter into the flour and mix all together for crust.  Press into a 9x13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20 min.

2^nd Layer:             8 oz. cream cheese (softened)

                              1 c. powdered sugar

                              1 ½ c. whipped topping (like cool-whip)

                              Pinch salt

                              ¼ tsp. almond flavoring

                              8 drops of yellow food coloring

Mix well and spread on crust.

3^rd Layer:             2 pkgs. (small boxes) instant pistachio pudding mix

                              3 c. cold milk
Beat together and pour over 2^nd layer.  Chill.

4^th Layer:             2 c. whipped topping

                              ¼ tsp. almond flavoring

                              Enough red food coloring to make it pink

Mix and spread over green layer.

Can be frozen, allow several hours to thaw.  Garnish with sliced almonds and whipped cream (I’ve never added more whipped cream.)

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Easiest Supper/Snack Ever!

Another favorite Pinterest find today, this time from Plain Chicken.  I saw these a couple months ago, and since my kids LOVE pizza rolls, but I don't really love making them, these were awesome and easy.  Here is the easiest, quickest, recipe for a delicious snack or dinner. 

I apologize for the not-so-great pictures.  It's really hard to take a good picture at night.  How does everyone else do it?  Do you only take food photos in the day time?

Ingredients:
A package (or 2 or 3) of crescent rolls
A package of pepperoni
Mozzarella cheese sticks
Garlic powder

Super easy instructions:
Unroll crescent rolls and separate into triangles.  Place about 5 pepperoni slices at the big end of the triangle.  Cut a cheese stick in half and put one half on top of pepperoni.  Roll up and sprinkle with garlic powder.  Bake at 375 for 12-15 min., until golden brown.  Also great with some pizza/spaghetti/marinara sauce or ranch dressing to dip them in.

Perfect for an after school snack, and easy enough for kids to assemble themselves.  To make a dinner out of them, cook a lot :), and add a nice big salad with it.  So, so good!

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Lotion and Lip Balm - Beat the Winter Weather

It's the middle of January, the bitter coldest winter month; snowflakes flying; kids praying for wind so we can get out of school; the temperature dropping to negative digits - again the kids praying it gets to the magic number for school closure.  Well, that's usually what January is around here.  Today is a balmy 35 degrees already at 8 a.m., rain if we're lucky, and not a trace of snow. :(  However, my hands and lips are still feeling the effects of winter's wrath, always dry, chapped, and cracking.  I have a solution, and this year, my hands are much better than in the past.  I found two great recipes for making your own lotion and chapstick and they are great!

I found this recipe from Katie at This Chick Cooks.  She also has a great cost break down if you're interested in the nitty gritty of it.

Homemade Bee Balm Recipeyields 16 ounces of balm 1 1/4 cups grated bee wax (about 2 ounces)
2 cups light olive oil or coconut oil
15-20 drops of essential oil (optional)
Containers for your balm

Set out your containers that you will be putting the balm into so that they are ready. Next, find a large pot and a smaller pot that will sit in your larger pot (or a double boiler). Add enough water to the larger pot so that it comes up around the bottom of the smaller pot. Bring the water to a boil.
In the top pan, add the olive oil and cook for 15 minutes. Next, add your grated bee wax. Stir the mixture until everything is melted. Add essential oil. Dip a spoon into the mixture and set it aside for a few minutes to see if the balm is your desired consistency. If you want thinner balm add more olive oil, and if you want a thicker balm add more bee wax.

While the mixture is still liquid pour it into your containers. Let it sit uncovered for several hours until totally cooled and it will harden and be ready to use. 

I used coconut oil and a some mango essential oil and it smells delicious.  However, the coconut oil really overpowers the other smells and the essential oil isn't noticed much.  Also, when you grate the beeswax it smells like honey, who knew?! Probably all you smart people out there. :) I've never used beeswax for anything so this was a nice little surprise. lol  Anyway, this is SUPER easy.  I'm not sure why you need to heat the oil for 15 min. because it took maybe 1 minute for it to all melt so I might try shortening that time next time I do it.

Lisa at Lisa Take Six shared this super cheap, you can get everything at the Dollar Store, but wonderful recipe for really moisturizing lotion at her blog a few weeks ago.

Super Moisturizing Lotion

Baby lotion
Vitamin E Cream (found out from looking at other recipes, this was probably supposed to be Vitamin E face cream)
Pictured here is a cocoa butter WITH vitamin E.  Pretty much any lotion will do, the vitamin E cream would just be more nourishing for your skin
Vaseline (small jar)
Containers - these small travel bottles are perfect for a purse, a desk drawer, or to give as gifts

Just dump everything in your mixer or you can use a bowl and hand mixer, and start whipping.  Tip - if you cut down the middle of the bottle, you can use a spatula to scrap out every bit of the lotion.  However, you might want to keep your biggest bottle to reuse and put the lotion back in when you're done.

Looks yummy, doesn't it?  Let it combine until it's all nice and fluffy.

That's it!  Now put it in your containers.  I tried using a funnel to fill the jars, it worked okay, but I spent a long time trying to "push" the lotion down, it doesn't pour.  However, I found an awesome tip from another lotion blog and I apologize to whomever I found it from, I forgot to write your name down, but she scooped the lotion into a ziplock bag and cut a corner off the bag to easily squeeze it into jars.  Trust me, do it this way, it's got to be sooooo much faster! This is a nice thick lotion. It's a little greasy at first (because of the vaseline) but it really soaks in quickly, and I'm a little picky about how greasy my lotion is. I don't like to be slimy. lol  This would be great to rub into feet and wear a pair of socks to bed or into hands with some cotton gloves to really let it soak in all night.

I made these for my friends for Christmas, and to decorate the jars, I used Avery 2x4" labels.  You can go to Avery's website and design them however you want, even bringing in any digital scrapbook papers, or even pictures if you want.  For the lip balm jars, I used the same labels, but used a 1" circle punch to cut them out.  I'm sorry, I don't have pictures, I guess I never took any before I gave them away and the ones I kept are just plain.  Plus, at the time, I only had a black/white printer (got a new color printer now, yeah!) and the labels weren't super cute. :)

Hope this helps with you beat your winter dry skin!  Now pray for snow or spring, I can't decide which I want more now. :)

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Delcious Cinnamon Bread - Neighbor Gifts

We're down to crunch time people!! 5 DAYS 'TIL CHRISTMAS!! I'm so excited! Anyway, I found this DELICIOUS cinnamon bread on Rae Gun Ramblings about a month ago.  It claimed it was the same as Great Harvest's Cinnaburst bread.  Since my family loves their cinnamon bread I decided this was the perfect thing for my family and to take to friends and neighbors.  So I gave it a try and it was just as good as Great Harvest's!  So I went crazy and made 12 loaves in one afternoon/evening and 4 more last night.  I bagged them all up and put them in the freezer so they will be nice and fresh when we deliver this week.

Great Harvest Cinnaburst Copycat Bread

1 cup warm water
1 cup warm milk
1/3 cup sugar
2 1/4 teaspoon yeast (1 pack)
1/3 cup oil (I used veggie oil)
1/2 T salt
1 egg
4 1/2 to 5 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup cinnamon chips

• In mixer combine yeast, sugar, and warm water and milk; let bubble for about 5 minutes.
• Add in oil and egg.
• Slowly add 2 cups flour, mix and then add salt.
• Add 1/2 cup flour at a time until it comes away from side of bowl. Add the cinnamon chips when it gets close to the right consistency. The dough will be very sticky but the softer the dough the lighter the bread. So use the least amount of flour you can handle.
• Let rise in mixing bowl for about 30 minutes.
• Form into loaf (or whatever shape you want).
• Let rise and additional 30 minutes.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes.

Makes 2 loaves

Tips I learned:  This dough is really like making rolls, it's sticky.  I used powdered milk instead of regular, worked great and cheaper.  My loaf pans are a little smaller, but perfect size for nice, big, full loaves - 4 1/2" x 8 x 2 1/2" deep.  I also used mini cinnamon chips which gave it more cinnamon swirl.  If the bread browns up too fast, put a piece of tin foil over top for the last 10 min. or so.

This bread would make wonderful french toast on Christmas morning, too.  Yum!

I found these really cute tags that I printed out and tied one with cute ribbon I found in the dollar section at Target.  I love Target! TaDa! Cute, yummy neighbor gifts!

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Doctored Cake Mix & Cheyenne's Birthday

As I mentioned in this post, my daughter Cheyenne turned 16 a couple weeks ago.  We had both sets of grandparents over for presents and cake and ice cream.  Since she is now allowed to date, her dad and I gave her a "promise" ring - a promise to us ring, to remember who she is, make wise decisions and to stay pure and clean.  I think she liked it.  However, I don't think that was her favorite present.  Bill's brother, Uncle Thomas, loves to tease Cheyenne.  He loves to give her presents like a John Deer tractor poster or calendar, or a TinkerBell calendar, usually wrapped up with Hannah Montana wrapping paper or Jonas Brothers cards.  This year was no exception, and topped everything he'd ever given her before.  He gave her a tote box and inside this box was all the ingredients (and I mean everything!) to make HIS favorite cookies with instructions that she had until the expiration date on the milk to make them for him.  Little does he know that when he returns from his honeymoon (he just got married this past weekend, yeah!) he'll have a plate of beautiful cookies waiting for him - with a little pepper or some other special ingredient in them. Oh, and Cheyenne's wedding present to him, a beautiful, bright green John Deer tractor poster for their new house. :)

I'm not a big party person, I'm too cheap. :)  My parties here and here are fairly low-key and pretty simple and easy.  Now these two fabulous parties here and here are my sister, Leslie's, awesome creations.  See, she loves to plan a party, me, not so much.  So back to Cheyenne, 16 is one of those big years and we told her she could have a party.  She wasn't sure she wanted to, which friends should she invite, it costs too much, it's too much work for you, mom, and on and on.  I told her 16 is a time to celebrate so quit your whining we're having a party! ;)  Let me tell you though, a 16 year old party is so much easier to plan than a 6 year old party.  I decorated our bonus room a little, bought a bunch of pizza, and left them to have fun watching movies, playing xbox, ping-pong and pool.  They all had a great time, I think, and there was only one small casualty of a broken pool cue (thank goodness it was just the little one.) 

Now if you've stayed with me this long, I'll share my favorite cake recipe.  I made this once for the family party and then again as cupcakes for her friend party.  I'm not a beautiful cake maker.  It takes me too long and I don't have enough patience for it.  I've adopted the motto that it's not what's on the outside, but what's on the inside that matters.  So true in life, and even more so for cake! :)  See above for my fancy decorating, well, actually Natalie did the writing (that's how Cheyenne used to sing "Happy Birthday"), I only frosted.  I'm as busy as the next mom, and sometimes a box cake is just faster.  However, my husband is somewhat of a food snob and can always tell a box cake from a "real" cake, and then complains.  So when my friend, Hilary, shared her "doctored cake mix" recipe, I was all over it.  This is so good and very moist, unless my husband sees the box (which I usually quickly bury in the garbage) he can't tell it's a box mix.

Basic "doctored mix" Recipe
-Hilary Muckleroy

Prepare cake mix as per package directions.  In addition to this add:
1 egg
1 c. flour
250 ml (or 8oz.) sour cream or yogurt
1 c. white sugar
1/3 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla or other suited flavoring

Use any flavor cake mix, yogurt, or flavoring.

Bake according to box directions.  If baking a 9x13" pan, it will be more full, so it will take a little extra time.  Or, you can make a 9x13" pan (normal fullness) and 6 cupcakes.  I saved the 6 extra cupcakes in the freezer for later. 

Use your imagination when it comes to flavor combos.  I've done white cake and chocolate cake with strawberry yogurt, both good.  I wonder what white cake with key lime yogurt or boston creme pie would taste like?  Maybe chocolate with butter flavoring?  Chocolate with orange yogurt and orange flavoring?  The possibilities are endless and now I'm getting hungry. :)  What else could I try?  What are your favorite flavor combinations?

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Pie!

Pie is a BIG deal in my family and coincidentally, my husbands family, too.  For as long as I can remember, my dad always requested cherry pie for his birthday instead of cake; I think my brothers did, too.  After I got married, I found out Bill loves pie, too.  In fact, when we get together to celebrate any birthday for his dad or any of his uncle's, we always have pie.  To prove how big of a deal pie is at our house, a few years ago we hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our house and ended up with 9 pies for 7 adults (and kids, who don't each much pie. :) ) We like our pie!

This was for Bill's birthday, thus the "B" on top. :)

Lucky for me, my mom is an amazing pie maker and passed her talent on to me.  Not to be bragging here, but pie is one thing I excel at, maybe it's all the practice I do now.  One of the highlights of my newly married life was when my FIL raved over my pie (a little to MIL's chagrin) and then the next time we had pie, MIL sprinkled sugar on top and did a few things to try and make her's like mine.  I was secretly ecstatic!  (MIL is a pretty good cook, and I had heard too many times already "Call my mom and see how she does it.")  She has since admitted that I can make a better pie than her and leaves that to me now.

Since Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I already have my pie crusts in the freezer, I thought I'd share a couple recipes with you.  First of all, my mom's Fool Proof Pie Crust.  This recipe is awesome!  I've never had it come out tough, only tender and flaky.

Fool Proof Pie Crust

No matter how much you handle this dough, it will always be flaky, tender and delicious.  Scraps can be re-rolled if necessary and crust will never be tough.  Dough can be left in the refrigerator up to 3 days or can be frozen until ready to use.  Recipe makes 2 double-crust pies.

4 c. flour                      1 c. shortening (not refrigerated; do not use oil,

1 Tbsp. sugar                  lard, margarine or butter
2 tsp. salt                    1 Tbsp. white or cider vinegar
1/2  c. water.                 1 egg

In large bowl, stir together with fork flour, sugar, and salt; cut in shortening until crumbly.  In small bowl; beat together water, vinegar and egg; add to flour mixture and stir until all ingredients are moistened.  Divide dough in 4 portions and with hands, shape each in flat round patty ready for rolling; wrap each patty in plastic or waxed paper and chill at least a 1/2 hour.  When you are ready to use the pie crust, lightly flour both sides of the patty and roll out on lightly floured board or pastry cloths.

The next recipe, Huckleberry Pie Filling, came from my husband's Aunt Janie.  For those of you who don't know what huckleberries are, they're a cousin to the blueberry, but smaller and more tart.  They only grow up in the mountains and are a hot commodity.  Seriously, people around here will go to their death beds without revealing their secret huckleberry spot.  The berries are only in season for a couple of weeks at the end of July, usually, and it's back breaking work to spend hours hunched over a bush picking the little things.  Then you bring them home, freeze them, and treat them like gold, only to be used for the specialist of occasions. :)  Huckleberries pie is a favorite in Bill's family, so I was thrilled when his aunt shared this recipe with me.  This same basic recipe works for about any kind of berries, too.

Huckleberry Pie Filling

2 c. frozen berries                                 ½ c. water
3 Tbsp. tapioca                                     1 c. sugar

In a small pan on low heat, combine berries, tapioca and water.  Add sugar.  Bring to a slow boil.  Mix 2 tbsp. cornstarch and ½ c. water until smooth.  Pour into berry mixture.  Bring to boil and stir until slightly thickened. Let the filling cool a little before pouring into crust. This will keep it from boiling over and making a mess in your oven. Pour into pie crust and bake.

 After baking, let cool before serving.  This lets the pie filling set up so it doesn’t all run out when you cut it.

If you've never baked a pie, try it!  I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have about it, too.  I really think the secret is a lot of practice, so don't give up if it doesn't turn out perfect the first time.  Mine still aren't the prettiest every time, but at least they taste good.  

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PB/Choc Chip Cookie To Die For

Photo provided by the Idaho Potato Commission

This past week was a little crazy, that's why I only ended up with one post.  See my kids were out of school for Spud Harvest.  What's that you say?  Well, here in Idaho, potato country, the kids always get a fall break in order for them to help with the harvesting of potatoes.  Back in my day, it used to be a full two weeks, but then, a lot more kids were actually working in the spuds.  Now, it's more of a vacation week, with a very few helping with the harvest.  So we're grateful for a nice week and a day of fun.
 

We had one nice weather day in which we ripped out what was left in our garden.  The little four started swimming lessons - Billy is a little fish!  Maddie tries really hard and does a lot of splashing.  It took some practice, but Chloe and Jon will now put their heads under water.  All four made HUGE improvements since their first lesson, yeah!  The kids had a sleepover at my parents house including donuts for breakfast (big hit!) Wednesday and Thursday we had a little preview of winter and got a good couple of inches of snow.  Billy, Chloe, Maddie, and Jon even went out and built snowmen.  

 Finally, on Monday, Cheyenne was able to get a bunch of her friends together for a movie marathon at our house.  So naturally, I had to bake. :)  I always like to make some kind of treats when she (or any of the kids) have friends over.  So I went to Pinterest to find what delicious treat I had pinned and needed an excuse to try out.  *Side note, one thing I love about Pinterest is my wonderful friends who post awesome and incredibly motivating exercise quotes and routines and then the most delicious, decadent desserts.  Gotta love it!*

So here's my newest favorite cookie, which was a HUGE hit with all the kids at my house on Monday.  Bill almost didn't get any by the time he got home from work, oh, and I doubled the batch, too.  This recipe comes from How Sweet It Is.

Puffy Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate Chips

makes about 18 cookies 

Delicious butter/peanut butter mixture!

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoons baking soda
8 tablespoons of salted butter, melted and cooled
6 tablespoons of creamy peanut butter, melted and cooled
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Add butter and peanut butter to a microwave safe bowl, and heat in 30 second increments until melted. (Took about 1 1/2 min.)  Let cool completely.

Mix the flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mix the cooled butter/peanut butter and sugars until they are combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and stir until mixed. Gradually add flour and mix until a dough forms – it will look crumbly at first, but it will come together. (Mine wasn't crumbly at all.) I even used my hands to bring it all together. If necessary, add 1-2 teaspoons of milk, but I did not need this. Fold in chocolate chips.

Shape the dough into a ball the size of a golfball. (I went for more of walnut shaped, just a little smaller, made more cookies and they were still big.) Place on a baking sheet two inches apart and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are slightly brown. The centers should be soft and puffy. Do not over bake. Let cool completely then dig in!

Oh, so very, very yummy!!

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