Caramel Apple Dip

I was at an open-house recently where a huge smorgasbord of appetizers waited to tempt us.  I indulged, mostly in the caramel apple dip.  And then I asked my niece for the recipe.  And now I'm passing it along to you.  Just because. I know you will like it too!

• 1 - 8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup caramel topping (small jar sundae topping)
• 1 package Skor bits (or chopped Skor bars) 
• 4-6 apples (Granny Smith or your favorite)

1. Mix cream cheese and brown sugar until blended.
2. Spread in pie plate or large glass serving plate.
3. Chill for one hour.
4. Spread caramel topping over cream cheese mixture.
5. Sprinkle with Skor bits...sparingly or use the entire package! 
6. Slice apples and arrange around dip.

Enjoy!
 

Florence's Carrot Cake ~ Flashback Friday

I received this recipe from a neighbor of mine many years ago. And I am sharing this with you again today.  Just recently she called me and could not believe that her Mom, Florence's carrot cake recipe was on our blog post. 

It's fall time, and on this beautiful day, you can hear the tractors and machinery tilling up the land, planting winter wheat.  What better treat than to serve a fresh piece of moist carrot cake loaded with almonds and a fresh cup of coffee?  We don't know how long the weather will last.

Florence's Carrot Cake

• 3 cups of raw carrots, grated, set aside
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups salad oil
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups white flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups chopped almonds

Follow normal cake making directions.

1. Mix sugar, oil, and eggs. Add vanilla and the combined dry ingredients and nuts.
2. Add the carrots to the batter and stir well.
3. Bake in a well greased 9 x 13 pan at 350 F for 45 minutes.

Frosting

• 1/4 cup butter
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1. Soften butter, add cream cheese and blend until smooth. 
2. Add powdered sugar and spread on cake when cool.  
3. Sprinkle chopped almonds on top.  

This cake becomes better with age and freezes so well.  This cake will be going along on a road trip to visit family for Thanksgiving weekend.

Country Fried Pork Steaks

Any kind of country fried steak or Schnitzel, be it beef, pork or chicken is a favorite for the one I cook for most.

For this recipe I purchase fast fry pork cutlets and tenderize them with a meat mallet until they are quite thin. You can also use rouladen cut beef or thinly slice some chicken breasts and tenderize them.

Ingredients:

• 6 - 8 slices of fast fry boneless pork cutlets or as many you wish to make
• salt, pepper, seasoning salt and garlic powder
• 2 - 3 eggs
• 1 -2 cups fine bread crumbs
• oil for browning
• 2 cups mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup light cream
• 1 - 2 Tbsp flour

Method:

1. Trim fat on meat. Tenderize and season lightly on both sides.
2. Prepare a shallow bowl of whisked eggs as well as a plate with bread crumbs for dipping
3. Pour about 2 -3 tablespoons of oil into a large non-stick or stainless steel frying pan, set on medium heat.
4. Dip each slice into egg, then coat with crumbs and place into heated frying pan.
5. Fill pan, but do not crowd. Brown both sides, repeating with added oil if needed. Keep warm on ovenproof plate covered, on low heat or serve immediately if not making gravy.
6. To make gravy, add sliced mushrooms to pan drippings, stirring for a few minutes.
7. Stir in cream. Shake up flour with a small amount of cream or water and add to thicken.Season with salt and pepper according to taste.

 

Apples and Everything Muffins - Big Batch

Who doesn't love Apples?

Bushels and boxes full of fresh apples are now appearing at farmer's markets and shops. 

Here is a recipe that utilizes this favourite fruit.

These muffins have lots of apples in them plus almost everything else.

They are moist, delicious and freeze well.

The recipe makes approximately 36 medium sized muffins.

• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup natural bran (not cereal)
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 4 cups shredded peeled apples
• 1 cup shredded peeled carrots
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 1/4 cups raisins or dried cranberries
• 1 cup coconut
• 1/1/2 cups oil
• 1/4 cup fancy molasses
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 3 teaspoons vanilla

1. Lightly grease muffin tins and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients.
4. Add shredded apple, carrots, pecans, raisins, and coconut and toss together with dry ingredients.
5. In another bowl, mix oil, molasses, milk, beaten eggs and vanilla.
6. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix lightly until evenly moistened.  Do not over mix.
7. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.
8. Bake at 350 degrees F for 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in muffins come out clean.
9. Immediately loosen muffins from edge of cups and tilt each muffin in it's cup. This keeps them from getting soggy in the pan.
10. Remove muffins to a rack.  
11. Serve warm or let cool completely and freeze.

Harvest Brown Bread

Tucked into the bread section of my Mennonite Treasury Cookbook is a stained and worn piece of paper with the recipe for our family favorite brown bread. I got it from a friend in the late seventies and is simply known as Ruth P's brown bread. I often wonder what happened to Ruth, one of those people who was part of my life for a time and who I haven't heard from in twenty years. But I think of her whenever I bake her bread and hope things have gone well for her and her family.

• 2 Tablespoons fast rising yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 Tablespoon salt
• 1 large tablespoon honey
• 4 cups warm water
• 2 cups rye flour
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 3 cups white flour (plus 1-2 additional cups in step 5).
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 cup sunflower seeds

1. Prepare yeast mixture by dissolving sugar in lukewarm water...add yeast and let stand ten minutes.
2. In large bowl, dissolve salt and honey in warm water...add yeast mixture.
3. Mix together the three types of flour. Add flour slowly to mixture in bowl and beat well.
4. Add oil and sunflower seeds.
5. Knead in enough white flour to make dough smooth and elastic.
6. Cover and allow to rise in a warm place until light. 
7. Punch down and form loaves. Let rise until doubled in bulk.
8. Bake at 375°F for 30 minutes.
9. Yield 4 medium loaves
   
   *When using instant yeast, add to flour in step three and omit step 1, proofing yeast in sugar water.)

I gave you the recipe as it is written, but since I always use my Bosch machine to mix bread, my methods and amounts differ slightly. I usually do one-and-a-half times the recipe, and make a few little loaves for the grandkids.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe came to me all the way from Kansas. From the first bite I knew I would be asking for the recipe. Thanks to my sister in law Lynda's friend Cindy for sharing it with me.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups butter or margarine
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 cups white flour
• 1 15oz can pure pumpkin
• 2 cups oatmeal
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cups chocolate chips

Method:

1. Beat together butter, sugars, egg and vanilla.
2. Alternately add flours and pumpkin and beat well.
3. Add oatmeal, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and beat until just blended.
4. Lastly mix in chocolate chips.
5. Drop onto cookie sheets and bake at 350º for 15-18 minutes.
6. Remove immediately to cooling rack.

Cookies freeze well.

Saturday's Tips from Judy's Kitchen

When it comes to cooking or baking, it seems one is always converting measurements.  Today's tips are all about 'how to measure up'!

Here are some links to free printable versions of handy kitchen charts.

I printed off this conversion chart many years ago and it is always right where I need it...taped inside my 'cupboard door' next to the measuring cups. 

Or this one...

Print out this guide (or download it to the favourites on your phone) and easily translate between metric and standard measurement units without having to Google it each time!

How about pan sizes?  Have you ever wanted to bake a cake in a different size than the one called for?  Here's a chart that will help you figure out what size you should be using.

(Click on image for printable view)

We often get comments on the blog about our recipes being TOO big!  Well...many recipes are easily made smaller.  The following chart helps you do the math.

And here's a chart for those of you who like to move your favorite oven-baked dishes to your slow cooker.

Have a wonderful Saturday!

Spicy Chicken Soup

The season is upon us again to get the soups simmering on the stove top or in our slow cookers.
I love coming home to a meal all ready that just took minutes to assemble in the morning, and greets us with wonderful aroma that says "Welcome Home" and we enjoy a steaming bowl of soup. If your slow cooker is way back in the cupboard collecting dust, bring it out and start using it regularly. Just for this recipe alone, you will be glad you did.

Spicy Chicken Soup

• 2 cups of mild salsa
• 1 28 oz. can of tomatoes
• 4 cups of chicken broth
• 1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 onion chopped
• 3-4 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons of taco seasoning mix or more to taste
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 2 cups of frozen corn
• 4 chicken breast
• 1/2 cup of freshly chopped parsley or cilantro

1. Put all the ingredients in to the slow cooker.
2. Cook on low for 8 hours.
3. Take out the whole chicken breast an shred return to soup.
4. Add the chopped parsley.
5. Serve with sour cream or plain yogurt, grated cheese and Tortilla strips if desired.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls ~ No Knead and Dairy Free

Would you like a no knead recipe for fluffy and soft delicious pumpkin cinnamon rolls? Then this is the recipe for you. I adapted this recipe from Coleen's Recipes. Thank you Coleen. I have made the original recipe and this adapted one and they both turned out wonderful. I love that this dough with pumpkin is such a beautiful orange color.

Dough:

• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon instant yeast
• 4 1/2 cups flour, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling: (in a small bowl mix together first 3 ingredients)

• 3/4 brown sugar
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup pecans, chopped ~ optional
• 1/4 cup lactose free margarine, make sure it doesn't contain milk products

1. In a medium sized microsafe bowl heat coconut milk, pumpkin puree, oil, and sugar just until warm not hot.
2. Remove and stir in yeast. 
3. Stir 4 cups of flour into the liquid mixture until well mixed. Dough will be sticky.
4. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place for an hour.
5. In a small bowl, mix remaining 1/2 cup flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
6. Once dough has risen for an hour, stir down and add the final flour mixture, mixing until well blended. The dough will be soft and slightly sticky.
7. Roll out on well floured surface to approximately 20" x 14".
8. Spread rolled out dough with lactose free margarine, then spoon brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt mixture evenly on top and sprinkle with pecans if using.
9. Roll up tightly jelly roll style and pinch the seam closed.
10. Cut into 14 even slices and place in well greased 9" x 13" pans.
11. Cover and allow to rise in warm place for 30 minutes.
12. Bake in a 375º oven for 20 minutes or until golden in color.
13. Drizzle with glaze while still warm.
14. Yield: 14 rolls

Glaze:

• 1 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin puree
• 1 teaspoon maple extract
• 2 tablespoons coconut milk.

1. Whisk together until smooth.

Giving Thanks

We are celebrating Thanksgiving in Canada today...

enjoying turkey with stuffing and serving pumpkin pie for dessert. 

Rather than posting a recipe here today...

I will leave you with a little food for thought!

It's not how much we have...

but how much we enjoy...

that makes happiness.

Charles Spurgeon

All that we behold is full of blessings.

 ~William Wordsworth

Gratitude is the memory of the heart.

~Massieu

Gratitude makes sense of our past...

brings peace for today...

and creates a vision for tomorrow.

~ Melody Beattie

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.

-~Thornton Wilder

Gratitude consists of being more aware of what you have, than what you don’t. 
~Unknown

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; 

they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.

~Marcel Proust

As we express our gratitude, 

we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words,

 but to live by them.  

~John F Kennedy

O Lord that lends me life, 

Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness! 

~William Shakespeare

Reflect upon your present blessings, 

of which every man has plenty; 

not on your past misfortunes of which all men have some. 

~Charles Dickens

The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest. 

 ~William Blake

Thanksgiving Day is a jewel,

 to set in the hearts of honest men; 

but be careful that you do not take the day, 

and leave out the gratitude. 

~E.P. Powell

Enter His gates with thanksgiving,

and His courts with praise.

Give thanks to Him;

bless His name.

Psalm 100:4

Whether or not you are gathering around the Thanksgiving table this weekend...

may your hearts be filled with gratitude...

for all that you have.

Wishing you a happy and blessed Thanksgiving...
from all of us at MGCC!