General Tso's Chicken

I made this night for dinner and there are NO left overs it was a huge hit in fact Porter my pickiest of eaters ate 3 helpings and was talking about it still this morning! Definitely will be making it again!

General Tso's Chicken
1 pkg thinly sliced chicken breast (about 7 breast) cut into cubes
1 cup cornstarch
4 eggs beaten
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp ground ginger

combine the spices with the cornstarch and toss chicken cubes lightly in the seasoned starch. then toss in the eggs and back in the corn starch. Fry till golden brown and drain place in a 9x13 pan

Sauce
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white vinegar (less if you don't like vinegar) I used just under 1/3 cup
4 T Ketchup
1 T Soy sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger

Whisk and combine well, taste and adjust seasoning to taste, if you like more vinegar or soy whatever add it now. Once the chicken is all fried, pour the sauce over the chicken and toss to coat well. Bake at 350' for 15-25 minutes till chicken cooked all the way through and the sauce is thickened. Serve over white or fried Rice

* For a true General Tso's Chicken you would add Red Pepper flakes to the sauce but being that my kids are little I figured they wouldn't like it. And it was awesome without it!

 

Hot Chocolate Truffles

So I've been trying to come up with a good little gift for the boys' teachers for Christmas, I didn't want to spend too much money as that is always tight this time of year. So I decided I was going to make them something. I figured no one really will want a steak cake so I came up with Hot chocolate truffles.
I got the idea from pinterest where I saw a marshmallow stuck to a peppermint stick to use as a stir stick for your hot chocolate and I thought Why not have something that is the actual chocolate that I would stir into the warm milk...
Here is what I did, pretty much you are making a ganache....

2 bags semi-sweet or Dark or milk depending on your taste high quality chocolate chips
    (I used Giradellis)
2 cups Heavy Cream
1 T of sugar more or less to taste
pinch of salt
Crushed up candy canes
Hot chocolate mix

Place chocolate chips in a large bowl. Heat the cream in a sauce pan, add the sugar and salt to dissolve. Once the cream is simmering, pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Whisk till combined and smooth, it will look grainy at first and be a milky brown once it starts to incorporate it will get dark and silky shinny. Cover with Plastic and place in fridge overnight. Place crushed candy canes on a paper plate and the Hot chocolate mix on a separate one. Pull ganache from fridge and with a large spoon, spoon out large balls of the ganache. Place the ball in either the peppermint or the mix and roll to coat and form a ball. Wrap separately in plastic wrap and keep refrigerated.

To use, Heat a mug of milk up and drop your truffle into the warm milk, stir till completely melted and get lost in the silky chocolate heaven.

I placed about six in a cute little mug for their teachers and I'm going to write up some cute poemy type thing if I can be that creative! Of course you have to save one for yourself... quality control and man oh man are they GOOD!

Forest Waterfall Cake

So about a week ago I was asked to do some sketches for some cakes for an event here in town. The Forest Service was celebrating their 40th year of volunteers, so I drew up several sketches along with prices and they picked from them. They were on a budget so I was only gonna do one layer of cake on each teir rather than the normal two, which would be more on point for the servings they wanted and the price... however once I got making it...it just wouldn't have looked right with only one layer of cake, so needless to say they got a steal. It was lots of work but lots of fun, however it was hard because I got sick along with the kids...no fun, My hands are raw from washing them so much! But it was worth it!




the front, everything is edible except the stump :) If I were to do anything differently I would listen to Darwin and do the fondant under the water fall blue rather than white as the "water" did kind of run off the edges and you could see the white underneath. over all it was a success!

The back side of the cake, I used a chocolate marshmellow fondnat recipe that I'd never worked with before and it cracked like crazy but I left it for this cake as it was rustic and dirt/bark like.

Now I'm going to bed!

Here is the most Recent of my cakes. This was for Darwin's cousin reception that was in Burns last weekend. It is a walnut carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. The carrot cake was a HUGE hit...it is a really tasty recipe so I thought what better place to share than on my blog :) So here it is....


Carrot Cake:

2 cups Sugar

1 ½ cups Oil

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

2 cups flour

2 tsp cinnamon

3 cups grated carrots (sometimes up to 5 cups)

1 cup chopped walnuts

Cream sugar and oil until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat well. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Mix on low speed just until moist. Fold in carrots and nuts. Bake at 350' for 50-60 minutes in greased and floured pan.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick of butter . softened

16 oz box of powdered sugar

8 oz package softened cream cheese

½ tsp vanilla

½ tsp lemon juice

Mix butter and cream cheese. Add powder sugar and beat well. Add vanilla and lemon juice and mix it in. Frost cake when cool

And here is one more recipe for kicks... so like the recipe says you should grease and flour your pans...this is kindof a pain and you are always wondering anxiously...did I grease and flour it enough...will the cake come out. Until alas, you flip that pan over and nothing happens.... well us cake people that do lots of cakes use something called cake release...

it is an 8 oz bottle and usually goes for about $5.00...now that can get pretty spending if you use it alot like I do....so I did alittle googling and found a homemade version and man oh man I'll never buy that kind again!

 So here it is for you all...

Cake Release

1 part veg oil

1 part shortnening

1 part flour

 whipped till combined and smooth Store in air tight container stir if necessary before use. I store it in a mason jar.

Green Chili Enchiladas are currently one of my favorite things...I don't know if it the sauce or the cream cheese I put in the filling or what but man oh man they are SO good!  Here's what I do:

makes about 24

5-6 boneless skinless chicken breast
1 T garlic powder
1 T onion powder
1 T cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 T veggie oil
1 onion, diced
1 T minced garlic
1 can diced green chillies
1 pkg cream cheese
24 flour tortillas( you can use corn but I prefer flour)
1 large can green chili enchilada sauce of choice
1 lb grated Monterrey Jack cheese

Toss the chicken in the Garlic onion, cumin, salt pepper, pepper flakes and oil. Place on a baking tray and bake at 350` till cooked through. Set aside to cool and rest. In a large pan, saute the onions and garlic till golden. Add the green chilies and cream cheese. Stir to allow the cream cheese to melt completely. Dice the cooled chicken into small cubes. Add chicken to the cream cheese mixture and mix well. Scoop into flour tortillas and roll, place on tray. Top with the canned enchilada sauce and then top with cheese. Bake at 350` for about an hour, serve hot with rice and beans on the side!

Made this for dinner lastnight and Darwin said he would be happy if I made this meal once a week, and the kids ate it so I guess it is a keeper! It was pretty good. Now you might have noticed that I seem to always change at least something to each recipe I find. I always like to change it a bit to make it my own, so I did switch it up alittle bit, added a few more seasonings, Here is the link to the orginal recipe http://jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com/2011/10/crispy-cheddar-chicken.html But this is what I did...

Chicken:
8 large chicken breasts

2 sleeves Ritz crackers
1/4 t salt
1/8 t pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder 

2 C milk
1 tsp cayenne
1tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
1 T garlic powder

4 C cheddar cheese, grated
fresh parsley
Sauce:
1 14 ounce can cream of chicken soup
4 T sour cream
2 T butter
salt and pepper to taste
fresh parsley
1/4 tsp thyme
Milk as needed to thin out sauce

Combine the Milk, with the cayenne, salt, pepper and garlic powder for about a half hour. place ritz crackers in a food processor and pluse till fine, add salt, pepper, garlic and onion. In another dish combine the cheese and parsley. Remove the chicken from the milk and place into the cheese, pat cheese on each side, then coat with the ritz crackers, and place on a baking sheet. Bake the chicken at 350` for about 40 minutes or until the chicken is completely cooked. Meanwhile prepare the sauce, in a sauce pot combine all ingredients and bring to a simmer. Season as needed with salt and pepper and if you want a thinner sauce as as much milk as needed. Top the chicken with the sauce.





Then this is a picture of the wedding cake I did for Devin and Emily's wedding, that was the day before I had Carter....the top three layers are a combo of styrofoam and rice crispy treats....They ordered sheet cakes for the rest of the the guest and the wedding cake was just to serve the wedding party...I won't do that one again. Working with the styrofoam was such a pain! Thank heaven's for my Dear friend Michelle who was a life saver and helped SO much with this cake, not only did she provide me with a house to do the cake in but she did so much as my large baby belly continued to get in the way. For future reference I will NOT do wedding cakes when I'm nine months pregnant! overall it turned out good, however this picture shows the bottom teir strip is not level and I must admit as I look at it even now it is DRIVING ME NUTS! oh well. I just got hired to do my first cake in Lakeview too, a wedding in December, with cake to serve 100, buttercream and simple decorations, should be great!

So life has been a little more than just plain right crazy and thus the blog and me cooking took a back burner. Since my last post, I've done a wedding cake, while 9 months pregnant, had said baby, the day after the wedding and then spent 8 days in the NICU, got home and have been adjusting to life with five children all six and under! I'll post pictures of the wedding cake in the next post, we are so glad that Devin and Emily finally made it official and she is now part of our family!
Anyhow, this beautiful and oh so scrumptious picture above was of an experiment of mine and let me just say it was beyond a success, it was so yummy and we will definitely do it again as the possibilities are endless.

For a quick easy dessert all you need is
Cake mix of your choice (I used chocolate) prepared according to directions on box
strawberries, sliced and sweetened with a bit of sugar
vanilla ice cream
chocolate syrup
waffle maker

yep waffle maker, fill your waffle maker with the cake batter and cook till done. immediately top with strawberries and ice cream and syrup! You will have a quick and simple dessert that will be sure to dazzle your guests! And it is SO good!

Sundried Tomato Pesto Pasta

It has been SO hot lately I dread cooking, I now strange huh? Normally I love it and Look forward to making dinner...perhaps it is my growing belly that is making me miserably hot or the fact that my house doesn't cool off the way I would like it to...whatever it is my inspiration to cook has vanished. Plus the summer is supposed to be full of BBQ dinners...our BBQ isn't working. I think something must have gotten disconnected in the move because I can't get it hotter than 200`...alas the minimal cooking dinners.
I really didn't want the oven on so I decided to make a pasta dish and it was SO yummy!  Here is the recipe and let me tell you it is a GOOD ONE!

4 boneless skinless Chicken breast
2 T minced garlic divided
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes
bunch of fresh basil + 1 T fresh basil minced
3 T olive oil
1/4 onion
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1 box penne pasta, cooked al dente

Heat a bit of oil in a saute pan and add the garlic and 1 T basil, add the chicken and cook till complete. Set aside.
In a food processor or blender make the pesto. Add the tomatoes, bunch of basil, remaing garlic, onion, cheese and oil. Blend well, if too dry add more oil if too wet you can add more tomato, basil or onion. Season with salt and pepper. Slice the chicken breast, and add to the hot cooked pasta. Add pesto and toss well. Toss with a bit more cheese if liked and serve hot.
Simple easy and so good!

Mario Cake

Denver's best buddie Luke celebrated his 6th Birthday today. Luke came over when we celebrated Porter and Parker's Birthdays and all he could talk about was the marshmellow frosting! His mother asked me if I would make a cake for him using the marshmellow fondant. I was happy to. However I had to summon my inner video gamer, which I soon found out there isn't an inner one of those in me, so I googles alot. His theme was Mario. The cake turned out cute and it was a huge hit!

Marion Berry Pie...Mmmmmm

Alright, the move is done! For now until we get to do it all over again in a few weeks! I REALLY hope and pray that the house in Lakeview is ready by July 1!! Anyhow today we had a lovely sacrament farewell to Darwin's cousin Delight who will be leaving in 2 weeks to serve in the Baton Rouge Louisanna Mission. Later this evening we had a family get together and I was assigned to bring dessert. Well being that my living quaters are dishelved and unorganized..I went for simple and what ever it was had to come from stuff I already had on hand.. So Marionberry pie it was and my oh my it was good! Now I'm not a huge fan of warm berrry pies unless I have some cool ice cream to eat with it, so I decided to make a cold pie this time around and it was a hit.

Here is the recipe...

Marion Berry Pie
5 cups frozen Marion berries
1 cup sugar
4 T cornstarch
2 T lemon Juice
1 9inch pie crust baked

In a sauce pot add 2 1/2 cups of berries, the corn starch. lemon juice and sugar. Place remaining berries back in freezer till needed. Mash up the berries and cook on meduim heat till it comes to a boil. Cook for 3-5 minutes stirring constantly until berries are mashed and filling is liquid. Allow to cool completely, then gently mix in remaining frozen berries. Add to baked shell and chill till served. Serve cold.

Homemade Mac and Cheese

Who can so no to a comforting bowl of ooey gooey homemade macaroni and cheese, especially when there is bacon! One of my good friends, blogged about how she was craving some stick to your bones homemade mac and cheese so a midnight she started making it, and it was horrible. After reading her post I wanted mac and cheese so bad I decided to make it for dinner tonight and I'm making enough for her and her family so her craving can be satisfied as well!  It's a classic and a good one!

1 lb bacon, diced and fried
1 T bacon grease
7 T butter
3/4 cup flour
1/3 Cup cream cheese
5 cups milk
2 lbs cheddar cheese grated
1/2 medium onion with core still attached
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1 large bag elbow macaroni

Add the bacon grease and butter to a pan and melt, add flour to make your rue. Cook for about 3 minutes, add about a cup of milk and mix well with the rue. Add Remaining milk and seasonings. Add the onion and a bring to a boil. Cook for a few minutes so that the rue is thickened. Reduce heat to a simmer and add the cheese in small amounts so that it melts completely. Meanwhile cook the macaroni till al dente`. Add the cheese sauce to the noodles and toss well, add the bacon and place in a baking dish. Top with either more grated cheese or bread crumbs or even crushed potato chips, or leave it plain. Bake for about 15 minutes so that it gets crispy. Serve hot.

Oh the Popcorn...

So for Christmas we got a Popcorn popper like this...

I admit I hadn't opened it until this past weekend. The kids LOVE popcorn, but the convience of a microwave had prevented me from opening it from it's packaging until Conference weekend. Now for family home evening we do things alittle different than the traditional family. You see having four and a half kids under the age of six one can imagine they RARELY sit still let alone not touch and pester one another for more than five minutes... Enter two items, laundry baskets and popcorn. We place each kid in their own basket, complete with pillow and blanket if requested and give them each a bowl of popcorn. This allows us to get through a still brief lesson with out arguing about so and so is touching me, breathing on me, looking at me etc.... 

So Conference seemed like it called for laundry baskets and popcorn. They did pretty darn good for being under 6! We got them to watch quietly 1/2 of the Saturday morning session(holy cow temple being built in my home town! Fort Collins!! AWESOME) and they watched all of the Sunday morning session! Good job kids. Now on Sunday I made my good friend Michelle's AMAZING caramel popcorn, recipe is top secret and (tear) will not be shared here, as it is top secret, held under lock and key and I kid you not I could eat a bath tub full of it and still want more of the gooey caramel goodness... drooling yet? however I thought I would share a few tried and true wonderful popcorn recipes, my children's favorite, regular buttered and salted popcorn and plain M&M's. Here is one of my favorites,

  

Garlic Parmesan Popcorn

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp garlic powder *more if you want more garlic flavor

dash of black pepper

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup popcorn kernels

2-3 T melted butter

Pop the popcorn according to machine's specifications. Toss the popcorn in the melted butter and then toss with the spices. Serve immediately.

Another tasty popcorn idea is popped corn melted butter and dried ranch dressing mix, toss and serve.

What are your favorite Popcorn ideas and recipes? Now that I've busted out the popper I just can't seem to stop! :)

Spicy Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork

Oh my goodness, I LOVE Pioneer Woman! HSe has some of th ebest recipes...other than myself of course ;) I saw this on her web site and decided I had to try and my oh my was it tasty. I served it with my cilantro lime sauce, and fried corned tortillas. It was fabulous and will definately do it again!

Ingredients

■1 whole Large Onion

■1 whole Pork Shoulder ("pork Butt") - 5 To 7 Pounds

■Salt And Freshly Ground Black Pepper

■1 can (11 Ounce) Chipotle Peppers In Adobo Sauce

■2 cans Dr. Pepper

■2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.



Peel the onion and cut it into wedges. Lay them in the bottom of a large dutch oven.



Generously salt and pepper the pork roast, then set it on top of the onions in the pan.



Pour the can of chipotle peppers over the pork (include the sauce.) Pour in both cans of Dr Pepper. Add brown sugar to the juice and stir in.



Place lid tightly on pot, then set pot in the oven. Cook for at least six hours, turning roast two or three times during the cooking process. Check meat after six hours; it should be absolutely falling apart (use two forks to test.) If it’s not falling apart, return to the oven for another hour.



Remove meat from pot and place on a cutting board or other work surface. Use two forks to shred meat, discarding large pieces of fat. Strain as much of the fat off the top of the cooking liquid as you can and discard it. Return the shredded meat to the cooking liquid, and keep warm until ready to serve. (You can also refrigerate the meat and liquid separately, then remove hardened fat once it’s cold. Then heat up the liquid on the stovetop and return the meat to the liquid to warm up.



Serve on warm flour tortillas. Top with shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, grated cheese, avocado slices, salsa, and whatever else you’d like.

Roasted Garlic & Romano Butter

Oh my goodness, there is NOTHING better than a warm roll with this butter smeared all over it. It is the best! It has the yummy roasted garlic flavor with the salty Romano cheese with a bit of black pepper for bite and oh so good! I could eat this and only this for a week...

1 Stick of butter, softened
2 heads garlic
1 tsp black pepper
3 T grated Romano cheese
1 T olive oil

Cut off the tops of the heads of garlic, place in an oven safe pan, drizzle with olive oil and roast at 350` for about 30-40 minutes until the garlic is soft. Allow to cool till able to handle. Squeeze the roasted garlic out onto a cutting board. Using your knife smear, cut and smash the garlic until it is a mash. Mix with the softened butter add the cheese and the pepper. Smear onto toasted bread and warm rolls.

Shrimp Hash with a Bacon onion Balsamic vinaigrette

So we had this big get together dinner on Sunday with friends and it was great fun. It was a pot luck, I was to bring a side and dessert... So I brought Darwin's favorite goodies of his grandmothers...recipe will probably make its apperance here at some point, and I had 2 lbs of shrimp...so my mind was thinking what to do with this shrimp....I kid you not I went to sleep and dreamt about this wonderful yummy shrimp dish and woke up and decided it actually sounded quite tasty... so I made it and well lets just say my dear friend Michelle requested a tray full of it for her Birthday...which is in September.

Shrimp hash with a Bacon onion and Balsamic vinaigrette

3 large russet potatoes grated
1 T olive oil
1 meduim onion small diced
1/4 lb bacon diced
3 cloves garlic minced
2 lb shrimp
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 T olive oil
salt and pepper
4 T reserve bacon fat...I know not the most healthy thing but Mmmmmmm
4-5 T balsamic vinegar
1/3 tsp white pepper

Start by marinating the shrimp in the paprika, cayenne salt and pepper and oil. Set aside. Fry the bacon and when about half way done add the onion and bacon, drain reserving the grease and allow to cool. On a griddle spread the olive oil out and press out the grated potatoes, basically you are making hashbrowns. Season to taste and cook till golden brown adn crisp then flip and cook through completely. In the pan that cooked the bacon and onions add the shrimp and cook completely. In a bowl add the bacon grease white pepper and whisk in the balsamic vinegar.
Cut your hashbrowns into squares, then top each one with 4-5 shrimp, top each square with about 1 tsp of the bacon mixture then drizzle with the vinaigrette, serve warm.... yummy!

Alfredo anyone??

So I made this super yummy and way easy alfredo sauce tonight and it turned out really good. I had leftover shrimp and chicken from the other night and really didn't want to cook something new so I just made this sauce and cooked up some noodles and whala a whole new meal!

Alfredo sauce:

1/4 cup flour
2 T olive oil
1 T butter
2 garlic cloves minced
1 onion peeled and cut in half, core still attached
3 cups milk
1/3 cup cream cheese
1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
salt and white pepper to taste

Melt the butter and oil and saute the garlic and add the split onion, add the flour and cook your roux for about a minute, add the milk, bring to a boil to thicken, if too thick add more milk. Add cream cheese and Romano cheese, reduce to a simmer. Season to taste and remove onion. Supper simple and ooooooo so YUMMY!

Ham and Potato soup

I always make this whenever I have leftover ham, it is so basic and simple but so very yummy! I like serving it with crackers and cheddar rolls, and a salad. However the soup is filling enough on its own... I meant to take a picture but...oops.

3 cups left over ham, diced
4-6 potatoes, peeled and diced
1 large onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 boxes chicken stock (32 oz)
2 cups milk
1/2 cup flour
2 T oil
garlic powder
onion powder
salt and black pepper
white pepper

Heat the oil and suate the onion and garlic. Add the potatoes and Ham and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the stock. Combine the milk and flour and mix well to get rid of any lumps. Bring soup to a boil and add the slurry to thicken the soup. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes. Now you must season the soup to your likings. Usually I use 1 T onion powder 1 T garlic, 2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp black pepper and white pepper about a 1/2 tsp. The white pepper is very peppery so season to you and your families liking. We like it with a bit more peppery flavor. Simmer for an additional 30 minutes or till the potatoes are cooked through. Serve hot and enjoy!

Clam Chowder

I remember growing up and it was tradition to have Clam chowder on Christmas Eve.. we did it for years and then we switched it to French Dip sandwiches because none of us kids would eat the clam chowder... Now that I have more developed tastebuds and a passion for food, I love clam chowder and we've decided to make it our Christmas Eve tradition. Of course I serve it with chicken strips so my kids will at least eat something that night! So I made it for Christmas eve and my oh my did it turn out good! Iwas even told by several of Darwin's family members thatit was better than their grandma's!!! yes, I can die happy now! I didn't really write out my recipe... but here is what I did.

1/2 lb bacon
3 leekes
2 stalks celery, small diced
1/2 cup flour
6 cans of diced clams, save the juice
2 T butter
2 cups chicken stock
1 T garlic minced
2 cups milk
5 large potatoes, peeled and diced
salt and pepper to taste

Start by dicing the bacon and cook till brown and crispy, drain and set aside. Now one might say, bacon in clam chowder? Won't that take away from the sweet chewiness of the clams?? But I tell yo trust me, it adds a nice smokiness to it and it is tasty!! Next slice the leeks in half then slice then place in a bowl full cold water to clean, the dirt will sink to the bottom and you can scoop out the leeks on to a dry towel. (I use leeks rather than onions because they add a suttle onion flavor) In a large stock pot, melt the butter, saute the garlic and leeks, add the celery and potatoes and cook for a few minutes. Add the bacon and flour. The flour should heavily coat all of the chunks of goodness, if it seems like you need more flour go ahead and add more. Add the drained clams. season with a bit of pepper. Add the clam juice and chicken stock, stir well to combine all of the flour. Add the milk and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and allow to cook for at least 45 minutes. If it is too thick add more milk, too thin you can mix some flour and milk and combine it but be sure to bring soup back to a boil to get the full thickness. Season to taste and serve hot with crackers. Mmmmm Mmmmm good!

Grandma Grace Macbeth

This post is in honor of my Grandmother who passed away this week. 99% of my readers will already have this recipe but I wanted something to remind me of my grandma. I started by showing the kids a picture of Grandma, I explained to them that she died this past week and that mommy was really sad. I explained that it is okay that she died because she is with Grandpa and Heavenly Father and that she is happy. I then told them we were going to do something fun that will help us remember Grandma. I then told them that Whenever Grandma Macbeth came to visit I would wake up in the mornings and she would be in the kitchen rolling out scones to make. I loved it! We would cut them into different shapes and fry them up. I rember Grandma always cut them into rectangles then slit the middle and inverted one end into the other to twist it a bit. We would eat them with honey butter and jelly and powdered sugar. Such found memories. So then we made them and I decided I would share it with you all... even though you probably already have the recipe!

Scones:

3 T yeast

1/2 cup warm water

2 cups milk, scalded

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp salt

3 eggs

6 cups flour

Scaled milk and allow to cool. Combine yeast and water and set aside. Cream sugar and shortening. Add remaining ingredients and combine well. Allow to sit in the fridge for at least an hour or over night. Roll out on to a floured surface and cut into strips. Fry till golden brown on each side. Serve warm with honey butter, jelly and powdered sugar.

I Love you Grandma and I will miss you! Give Grandpa a hug for me and till we meet again!

So...thanksgiving...

Well if you've been reading my blog you have noticed that I didn't post everyday my thanksgiving recipes. I apologize... this week was FAR from what I planned. Oh well though, it was still good. What might you ask is the reason my plans crashed and burned? It was the sick kids, those darn little buggers spoil my plans all the time! Just kidding! It was the sick kids though. Parker started it, he was sick all last weekend hacking cough fever, the whole ten yards, then Denver woke up Monday hacking so no school for him, that night he really didn't do well, the cough turned to croup and we were up all night with him. I took him in first thing in the morning and his oxygen intake was so low they immediately admitted him to the hospital. I spent all day with him there, doing breathing treatments and oral steroids. We were sent home later that evening, to find Porter hacking. It was a crazy week, and they are all still trying to get over it. Though I must say it was the quietest my house has EVER been with the kids awake, none of them had voices, I must admit it was kind of nice :) Our Thanksgiving was nice, we brought the meal to Darwin's great grandparents and shared it with them. They couldn't believe how much food there was! It was fabulous, I made this fabulous sweet potato recipe that will now be a regular, it is divine! Don't be too shocked mom, my taste buds have fully developed now and I love things like, sweet potatoes and squash, not sure they are ready for mincemeat though;) here is the recipe for you all to try, super yummy!

4 medium sweet potatoes
1 cup white sugar
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup pecans
1/2 cup flour
3/4 stick of butter

Bake the sweet potatoes till fork tender about 30-40 minutes at 350` split open and scoop out the goodness into a large bowl. Mash, add the milk, eggs, vanilla, white sugar and salt. Mash till well mixed and smooth. Spread into an oven safe dish. Chop the pecans finely. In a small bowl, combine the pecans, flour, brown sugar and butter. Top the sweet potatoes with the "crumble" topping and bake for an additional 20 minutes. Serve hot. Delicious!