Spiced Apple Bread

I hate to waste! I hate throwing out food that has gone "bad" because we neglected to eat it. It's the same as throwing away money! So anytime I have some mushy brown bananas I will make Banana Nut Bread! BUT today while cleaning I ran across 6 mushy apples..... I knew I could make applesauce but I wasnt in the mood for that, so I immediately ran to the iPad and googled "what to make with mushy apples"  and ran across this recipe for Spiced Apple Bread on a Taste of Home blog! I gathered all my ingredients and went to work!

I peeled, cored, and sliced my apples 

 Put the wet ingredients in the mixer

Mixed in the dry Ingredients and poured them into loaf pans (I used 1 9x5 and 2 smaller ones not sure of size)

After 20 minutes sprinkled the top with cinnamon/sugar mixture 

40 minutes later.........

DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!

Spiced Apple Bread

This spiced apple bread recipe contains fresh chopped apples, raisins, chopped pecans, and spices.

Ingredients:

• 2 2/3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 4 cups coarsely chopped apples
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 2 teaspoons sugar mixed with 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Preparation:

In a bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. In a mixing bowl, combine sugar and oil. Beat in eggs and vanilla, then stir in chopped apples, raisins, and pecans. Add the dry ingredients and mix until well blended. Grease 2 9x5-inch loaf pans and line bottoms with waxed paper. Greased waxed paper. Pour batter into pans, smoothing the top with a spatula or spoon. Bake for 20 minutes at 325°. Pull out rack and sprinkle loaves with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Continue baking for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes; turn out onto a rack. Slice and serve or freeze.

Chicken n’ Dumplins’

I've had this recipe sitting around the kitchen to make for a few weeks and just got to it last night. Well, I'm sorry to say I waited so long! I think this recipe rivals Cracker Barrel's version!!

I of course got the recipe via Pinterest (my go to for everything).

I didn't get a finished product picture because we were all too busy scarfing it down! Tyler said it was the best he's ever had and even called his mom to tell her mine was better than  hers (I'm still not sure that was a good idea!) and Griffin kept saying "I want more of those "DUNKLINGS"!

 

Recipe

Homemade Chicken and Dumplings 

by Eat at Home on August 2, 2009 

Prep Time 30 Minutes
Cook Time 20 Minutes
Difficulty Easy

Ingredients

• 2 cups Flour
• ½ teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 pinch Salt
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 cup Milk, A Bit Less Than A Full Cup
• 2 quarts Chicken Broth
• 3 cups Cooked Chicken

Preparation Instructions

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a fork or pastry blender. Stir in the milk, mixing with a fork until the dough forms a ball.
Heavily flour a work surface. You’ll need a rolling pin and something to cut the dumplings with. I like to use a pizza cutter. I also like to use a small spatula to lift the dumplings off the cutting surface.
Roll the dough out thin with a heavily floured rolling pin. Dip your cutter in flour and cut the dumplings in squares about 2″x2″. It’s okay for them not to be exact. Just eye ball it. Some will be bigger, some smaller, some shaped funny.
Use the floured spatula to put them on a heavily floured plate. Just keep flouring between the layers of dumplings.
To cook them, bring the broth to a boil. Drop the dumplings in one at a time, stirring while you add them. The extra flour on them will help thicken the broth. Cook them for about 15-20 minutes or until they not doughy tasting. Add the cooked chicken to the pot and you’re done!

Recipe Starter

I made this yummy dish before I started my cooking blog, but lucky for me I always take pictures of the food I make!

Tyler had been saying for days he wanted a homemade pot pie and I just happened to stumble on this recipe while grocery shopping. I had cut out a coupon for the NEW Progresso Recipe Starters. As I was browsing their selection I noticed a Chicken Pot Pie recipe on the back of the Creamy Roasted Garlic starter. I  put the can in in my buggy an bought the other ingredients I  needed.

IT TURNED OUT DELICIOUS! 

Tyler was very impressed and it was simple to make! I will definitely be making this again!

New name, new purpose!

NEW BLOG NAME....NEW BLOG PURPOSE! Well, since I never seemed to be able to write anything about my life or what was going on in it, I decided to share one of my passions.... COOKING/BAKING! I have been a cooking machine the past few weeks or so and I have always loved to bake! I wish I would have started this blog a little sooner because I have made several delicious dishes lately (you can ask my husband for verification) that I would have loved to share! But it's never too late and today it hit me! So that brings me to my "first" blog!

Tuesday was Trick-or-Treat in Ashland and for anyone who lives here or has been watching the news knows that THANKS TO SANDY we had some early snow along with very cold weather, wind, and rain! Needless to say we didn't have many trick-or-treaters and a lot of Halloween candy left over! No, I'm not opposed to eating the whole bowl of candy by myself, but I wanted to find something a little different for it! I got on my trusty computer and logged on to may favorite site-Pinterest- and searched for it....."Halloween Candy Cake". I had several hits BUT only found one that I knew would be perfect for my vision! I printed out the recipe and got started.....

Gather all the ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, eggs, sugar, butter, va. extract, milk, candy

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy Add the egg and egg whites and mix until fully combined.  Add the milk and vanilla extract, continue to mix until fully combined. Add dry ingredients and mix until incorporated.  Fold in chopped candy.

 Pour batter into a greased and floured bundt pan and bake in a 350 degree oven for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Halfway through baking....

AND THE FINISH PRODUCT..........

 Leftover Halloween Candy Vanilla Bundt Cake
Fond on The Noble Pig

2 cups all purpose flour plus more for tossing in candy
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg, room temperature
2 egg whites, room temperature
3/4 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-3/4 cup Halloween candy, chopped
Powdered sugar, optional

Here's the candy I used:  Whoppers, chocolate-peanut butter eyeballs, M&M's, Butterfinger, Snowcaps, Milk Duds, Nestle Crunch Bars, Milky Way, Snickers and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

I chopped up all the candy with the exception of the M&M's and Snowcaps, I left those whole.  I used 1-3/4 cups chopped candy.  I also tossed my candy in all-purpose flour in the hopes it would help it not all sink to the bottom of the pan.  I think it worked and also helped separate pieces that were stuck together.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy; about 3 minutes.  Add the egg and egg whites and mix until fully combined.  Add the milk and vanilla extract, continue to mix until fully combined.

Add dry ingredients and mix until incorporated but do not overmix.  Fold in chopped candy.

Pour batter into a greased and floured bundt pan and bake in a 350 degree oven for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let the cake cool completely on a wire rack before removing from the pan.

Dust with powdered sugar if you choose.

Here we go again!

I'm back by popular demand....Hahahah! Thanks to Lauren Brooke Cooper who informed me of the new blogger app I might actually get back to this thing and keep you updated on the daily (not so exciting) life of yours truly!

So let's get caught up with Courtney!

Hole in One!

Summer 2011 has been quite successful so far! Several days at the pool, relaxing around the house, eating out and enjoying time with the ones I love! Yesterday was no exception. The morning started out with a massage and ended with a mini golf butt kicking!!! The time in between consisted of relaxing on my parents screened in porch and eating dinner at my favorite Tex-Mex restaurant, Fiesta Bravo! Yesterday evening was so nice that I suggested that Tyler and I go to Chesapeake and play some miniature golf (we could use the practice for vacation next week!). On the ride over Tyler kept saying he was going to kick my butt and bragging about beating me, etc. I wasn't arguing because  I normally STINK at putt-putt......WELL was I wrong! I was on fire last night! Ended up beating Tyler by 9 strokes. Enjoy some of the pics from our game (sorry they are blurry stupid iPhone!).

Tyler concentrating on his putt.

 

My ball was on the edge of going down a slope and in to the sand trap! Needless to say...Tyler wasn't so lucky! haha

 

Tyler made fun of me because I would draw an imaginary line from the cup to my ball. I think it helps me line up. Apparently it worked!!!

 Final Score Card!

Tyler- 58      Courtney- 49

To the Extreme!!

My new mission in life: TO BECOME AND EXTREME COUPONER!!!! Anyone who knows me knows that I am tight when it comes to money! I hate spending it and I'm as "tight as a bark on a tree". I never would watch the "Extreme Couponing" show on TLC because I knew that I would get obsessed with free and cheap stuff and then start doing it myself. Until last night I had been successful in not watching it. Well when your fiance is asleep (and snoring) on the couch and nothing is on TV I had no choice but to watch it......agree? Plus they were having a marathon...I think I watched two+ hours of people getting $1,000 worth of groceries for $5.00 or less! This one lady bought a total of $2,123.56 worth of groceries but with all her coupons the store ended up owing HER $57.51!!!!! That's crazy!!!!! So I started doing some research, getting online, printing coupons, etc. I have called 3 people who said they would give me the ads from their Sunday paper plus I will buy my own. With the help of couponmom.com I CAN DO IT!!!!  For those of you who like to clip coupons you need to visit the coupon mom website....it does all the work for you pretty much! Just watch the short tutorial video and you will become a coupon master! I am feeling such a rush and I haven't even started shopping yet! I will keep you updated on my progress and let you know how it goes!

P.S. If you get the Sunday paper and just throw out your coupons.....please send them to me first!