Fruit Oatmeal Cookie Bars

I've been thinking with the dawn of this new year that I really need to start paying more careful attention to the things I feed my kids. It seems lately that all they want to do is eat, and when they recently devoured an entire box of Kellogg's® Nutri-Grain® Cereal Bars within the span of two short days, I knew I reallllly needed to get serious...for their sake, and for the sake of our grocery budget! And I've been inspired lately to try more home made meals and snacks, as opposed to conveniently prepackaged food items, so this afternoon I tried these yummy Fruit Oatmeal Cookie Bars found at allrecipes.com. They were a big hit during our Tuesday Tea Time today! Just as good (if not better) than the name brand store bought variety (at least in my opinion), and, if not actually better for my kids, I at least felt better for having made them myself. :)

Fruit Oatmeal Cookie Bars

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups any flavor fruit jam

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch pan.

Combine the butter, brown sugar, flour, baking soda, salt and rolled oats. Press 2 cups of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Spread the preserves over the top and sprinkle with the remaining crumb mixture, gently pressing crumbs into jam.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 35 to 40 minutes. Allow to cool before cutting.

Melissa

Belgian Wassail

I tried this recipe for the first time this year and found it to be surprisingly delicious despite how easy it was to prepare. And you can easily pour the leftover wassail back into the apple juice container and refrigerate; simply warm up a cup of it in the microwave anytime you want!

Belgian Wassail

2 oranges
2 lemons
4 cups water
1 tablespoon allspice
2 cinnamon sticks
1 cup sugar
1 gallon apple juice

In large bowl, squeeze juice from oranges and lemons. Reserve juice and rinds. In large saucepan boil water, orange and lemon rinds, allspice and cinnamon. Simmer 1 hour. Remove rinds and add sugar, apple juice and reserved juice. Stir to dissolve sugar. Serve hot.

Makes 20 servings.

Robin

Pasta Bake

I have been making this recipe for years! It meets so many family menu needs - cheap, easy, fast, large and mighty tasty!

Italian Pasta Bake

1 lb. ground beef or Italian sausage
4 cups mostaccioli or penne pasta, cooked, drained
1 jar or can of spaghetti sauce, any type
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
2 cups shredded Italian cheese

Brown meat in large skillet and drain.

Stir in pasta, spaghetti sauce and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Spoon into 9 x 13 baking dish. Top with shredded cheese and the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

Celeste

Cranberry-Orange Bread

This delicious recipe came from the mother of my mother's dear friend growing up, Mrs. Beissner. It is a delicious recipe and really pretty easy to put together. The kids helped me with it today!

Cranberry-Orange Bread

2 cups sifted flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup orange juice
1 Tbsp. grated orange rind
1 egg, well beaten
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1-2 cups fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Combine orange juice and grated rind with well-beaten egg. Pour all at once into dry ingredients, mixing just enough to dampen. Carefully fold in chopped nuts and cranberries. Spoon into greased loaf pan. Spread corners and sides slightly higher than the center. Bake at 350 for about an hour or until crust is golden brown and toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from pan. Cool.

** I am not a nut person, so I leave them out. It is still delicious!

Celeste

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

These soft cookies are a fall favorite in my family, and I've been meaning to share the recipe here for over a month now! The kids and I made another double batch yesterday and their numbers are rapidly diminishing. :)


Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 C. butter or butter flavored Crisco
3/4 C. brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 C. canned pumpkin puree
2 C. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 C. chocolate chips

Cream together butter and brown sugar, then add eggs, vanilla, and pumpkin and beat well. Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt, and stir into mixture. Stir chocolate chips into the batter, and drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Enjoy!

Melissa

Taco Salad

Two recipes in one day! I guess I'm making up for not posting any in so long!

This recipe is one my mom has made for a number of years. I hadn't made it in awhile and finally prepared it for dinner last night. It's such a wonderful salad, I just have to share the recipe. Our version has changed somewhat over the years, but I will post the original recipe to the best of my memory. Some of the ingredients you just add as much as you prefer. The original recipe is for twice the amount I suggest - and my family has been known to consume it all in one night - but unless you have a very, very big bowl, you may want to see if the smaller portion is enough. :)

Taco Salad

1 head of iceberg lettuce, chopped
1 bunch of green onions, chopped
tomatoes, diced
1 lb. hamburger meat
1 15oz. can Ranch Style beans
shredded cheddar cheese
1 bag chile cheese flavored Fritos
creamy italian dressing

Mix together the lettuce, green onions, and tomatoes in a large bowl. Brown the hamburger meat and warm up the beans on the stove. Drain the hamburger meat and drain and rinse (with warm water) the beans. Stir into the salad mixture. Add desired amount of cheese. Crunch up the Fritos and either stir directly into the salad before serving, or add to individual servings to maintain crunchiness. Add dressing if desired.

Variation: Though the dressing was always very yummy in the salad, to keep the salad healthier, we no longer use it. The Fritos flaver it enough. Personally, I like to use baked Tostitos in place of the Fritos. They don't give the additional flavor, so I also add a little picante sauce, like a dressing. Today I tried something new since I didn't have any picante sauce. I sprinkled just a little Lawry's Seasoned Salt into my bowl of salad. Perfect! I think this will be my new preferred way to eat it! Of course, the rest of my family still sticks with the Fritos. And I must say, they really do make the salad extra yummy!!!

Robin

Pumpkin Cream Muffins

This delicious recipe comes from the Gooseberry Patch Pumpkin Cookbooklet #15. I made it for the first time today, and even though I didn't have quite enough cream cheese and I forced all of mine into 12 muffins instead of the 18 it was supposed to make, they still turned out super yummy!

Pumpkin Cream Muffins

1-1/3 c. sugar, divided
1-1/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
3 eggs, divided
3/4 c. oil
1 c. canned pumpkin
8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened (I used about 5 oz. of fat-free cream cheese)

Topping:
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 t. cinnamon
3 T. all-purpose flour
2 T. butter

Combine one cup sugar, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, 2 eggs, oil and pumpkin; set aside. In a separate bowl, blend together cream cheese, remaining sugar and remaining egg. Pour pumpkin mixture into greased muffin cups, filling 2/3 full. Place a heaping teaspoon of cream cheese filling in the center of each muffin. Sprinkle each with one teaspoon topping mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes. Makes 1-1/2 dozen muffins.

Robin