Friday, November 03, 2006

I'm Back to Cooking Again!

I was completely out of it from mono and being very sick for a couple months, but now I am starting to get back on my feet. That means I'm cooking a little more now! My wonderful husband did a great job at cooking when I was sick. It's good to have a handy man who likes to cook and does a good job at it!

My family didn't have meatloaf very often, but I wanted to try it and got this recipe from my mother-in-law. I'll call it Mom's Best Meatloaf.

1 pound ground beef
1/4 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup bread crumbs (or 2 pieces old bread, crumbled)
1&1/2 teaspoons onion powder
2 eggs
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 quick cooking oats

Mix all ingredients. Bake in a crock pot for 1-1&1/2 hours or in the oven at 350 degrees in an uncovered baking dish. You can also cook it in the microwave. Mine burnt around the edges (that's why I didn't take a picture!) the first time because my oven is hotter and I have to turn the temperature down for certain things. I'd suggest watching it closely as it cooks and finding out what works for you.



I love butternut squash and got this recipe from my husband's sister. It's delicious and easy to make!

Butternut Squash Casserole

1 pound sausage (not the breakfast kind)
2 cans green beans (or beans of your choice)
1/2 medium butternut squash, cooked and mashed
1 cup shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown and drain sausage. Spray casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray. Mix green beans with squash in dish. Spread sausage over green bean/squash mix. Sprinkle cheese over top. Bake uncovered for 10-15 minutes or until heated through.

I baked my first pie all by myself and took it on extension last weekend for everyone to enjoy. It was delicious!


Dutch Apple Pie

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
FILLING:
2/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1-14 cups water
3 cups diced peeled tart apples
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine first 4 ingredients; set aside 1 cup for topping. Press remaining crumb mixture into an un-greased 9-in pie plate; set aside. For filling, combine sugar, cornstarch and water in a saucepan until smooth; bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 1 minute or until thickened. Remove from heat; stir in apples and vanilla. Pour into crust; top with reserved crumb mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Yield: 6-8 servings.

NOTE: I did 2 cups of the apples and 1 cup of frozen (thawed) strawberries instead and it turned out delicious!

I made two batches of these cookies for gatherings at Northland and everyone loved them so much that there were no leftovers to bring home.
















Chewy Gingersnaps

1-1/2 cups margarine
2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2 eggs
4 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cloves
4 teaspoons cinnamon
4-1/2 cups flour

Mix first 8 ingredients well. Mix in flour well. Chill dough for 10-15 minutes. Roll into 1" to 1-1/2" balls, then roll balls in a cinnamon/sugar mixture. Bake @ 375 for 7-10 minutes or until golden brown on bottom edges and just set, but not hard on top; should feel like a crust.

NOTE: To make lighter, try white sugar and light molasses or honey instead. I did this and they were delicious!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your apple pie looks good! Apple is my favorite pie :). The gingersnaps photo isn't showing up for me, just wanted to let you know! :)

Jessica said...

I'm glad you're back to cooking, Bonny! I'm looking forward to making some of these recipes...gingersnaps sound good...I only need to buy some molasses.

Bonny said...

If you don't have molasses, honey works great. I like them better with honey myself.

Jessica said...

Actually I don't have honey either ...it's so expensive! So far I've just been using pancake syrup in my granola recipe that calls for honey, but I doubt that would work in cookies. =)

Jenn said...

Wow, I'm sorry to hear you've been ill. UGH!!! I had no idea. I've been away from here a couple months now......I'm glad you are getting back to your self, and glad to have found a gold mine of recipes here today. hehe

Hugs,
Jenn