Halloween

A chill is in the air and Halloween is almost here. I love this picture as it portrays how I feel about all the Halloween candy! Since I no longer have little ones living in the house I don't have to worry about all the candy they bring home. I do have to worry about any candy left over in the big bowl I hand out treats from. I can only hope I have lots of trick or treater this year and the bowl is totally empty at the end of the night. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Happy Halloween to All!!

Homemade Country White Bread

 

Grandma's Country White Bread from Pennies and Pancakes

Can't believe it's been a month since I posted anything. Ok, the reason, I admit it, is that I got sidetracked by Pinterest. My daughter ask me one night on the phone if I had ever checked out Pinterest, and when I said no, I didn't even know what it was, she told me I really needed to look it over as there was so much neat information there. Well, here I am, a month later, finally pulling myself away from Pinterest to do a post on my site. My mind is still in a fog from all the wonderful recipes and crochet patterns I've seen and been trying. SO.....BE WARNED! If you haven't checked out Pinterest yet don't even wander over there if you have anything at all that you need to get done - PEOPLE HAVE DISAPPEARED THERE FOR WEEKS AT A TIME!!!!!!!

I have always loved yeast breads but now that my kids are grown and I live alone I just never make it anymore - guess it just seemed to much effort for one person. But then there was Pinterest, tempting me with all these new recipes I had never seen before - No Knead Bread?? Fast & Easy?? Wow, they sounded really good. First I tried the "No Knead Bread" and I loved it. It made a beautiful round loaf that could be flavored with all types of add ins. I will try to get that recipe posted in a few day because if you haven't tried it you really might want to. Talk about easy, quick and delish!!

I really wanted to try a regular loaf of white bread like I remembered growing up with but I no longer had my Mom's recipe. Then I found this recipe! Not only is it far faster and easier than any I used to make, it raised up beautifully and tastes absolutely wonderful! I will definitely be making this bread again and again!

At the Pennies and Pancakes site Andrea has a wonderful tutorial called "How to Make Homemade Bread (Step by Step) that you might want to check out. Thank you Andrea for the wonderful recipe and the great tutorial!!

To try this great bread stop by Andrea's site or continue reading for the recipe:

Strawberry Banana Dessert

I recently made this dessert for a family get-together. My family always requests my chocolate desserts and they disappear quickly along with smiles and comments of "my favorite dessert!". But, great as chocolate is, I really wanted a   change of pace so decided on this strawberry banana dessert - I mean really, who doesn't like strawberries and bananas?? Well, this was a definite hit! One brother even commented that he now has a new "favorite"! I don't have an actual "recipe" so I've tried to list the ingredients I used as accurately as I remember. If you have any questions on the dessert please do not hesitate to e-mail me or put your questions in the comments and I will get right back to you. I really hope that you enjoy this dessert as much as my family did! (My picture doesn't do justice to the dessert so please don't judge it based on that - give it a try anyway)

Homemade Chocolate Pudding

I love puddings and by far prefer cook and serve puddings to instant puddings. I'm also a big fan of items I can make at home that taste as good as the items you can buy, but that don't have the long list of chemicals. When I saw this pudding recipe listed at Hillbilly Housewife I just had to give it a try. I was very pleasantly surprised! This pudding recipe was very easy to make and tastes fantastic. It's a rich and creamy chocolate and has a great consistency. In addition, it has no eggs and can be made with powdered milk - what more could I want? If you, like me, like homemade items, this is a recipe you really should give a try - it's well worth the little amount of time it takes to make it and you can serve it to your family without worrying about unwanted chemicals!

Butterscotch and White Chip Cookies

I seem to be on a cookie jag lately. Cookies are a fairly easy dessert to make and take to get togethers and picnics and seem to be enjoyed by everyone. I saw these on Pinterest and just had to give them a try. The recipe was from Jamielyn at I Heart Nap Time and they turned out every bit as good as she said they would, and that I hoped they would. These cookies have less sugar than some cookie recipes, are soft and the butterscotch and white chips give them a great and very butterscotch flavor. Give them a try, I really think that you will like them.

Homemade Oreo Cookies

I have seen many recipes for Homemade Oreo Cookies on the internet and most of them are very similar. This is the one I decided to try, and was very pleased with the result. These vary only slightly from the other recipes so I have no doubt that all of them are very, very good. I know that I love Oreos, who can resist these favorites we grew up with? Not me, that's for sure! And, everyone I have had sample them has thought these cookies were delicious. To me they don't taste just like Oreos but I find the difference to be one that I really like. These cookies are softer and can have as much filling as you might want to put in them. Anyway I look at it, I and my friends thought these cookies were definite winners!!!

White Chip Chocolate Cookies

My family has a big get together each year over Labor Day weekend and I usually supply the desserts. This year I was looking for something a little different than what I usually make. So in addition to the tried, true and requested that I make each year I decided to try some additional, easy to eat on the run items. I made up some of my Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies the first night and when they disappeared quickly decided to do another cookie the next night. I found white baking chips in my cupboard and found this recipe on the back of the Hershey's Premier White Chips bag. Since chocolate is always a big favorite I decided to give it a try. The cookies baked up really nicely and had a really good flavor. They were soft and chewy and got rave reviews! But then, with my family, anything chocolate always goes over big. If your family is like mine, these are a winner!