Happy Thanksgiving!

Have a great day with family and friends! Some of my family is coming tonight, so I am running around today trying to get everything together. This is our pretty table:) (pretty to me anyway!)

Tomorrow we are headed to the in-laws, then Saturday I will go home to see my family and Steven will be here from Florida!!

Lots of great things have been made at school and at home since last recipe posting...I have the pictures but the recipes are mostly at school, so I will update soon! I did make Paula Deen's gingerbread pumpkin trifle for tonight, and I am excited about it--I like the looks of it and I know I'll love the taste. I guess my trifle dish isn't quite big enough, because I only used one of the two gingerbread cakes it calls for and about 2/3 of the pudding/pumpkin mixture and cool whip. I will make another small one to bring to my kids on Monday, I guess! Otherwise, we're keeping it pretty simple tonight and my aunt and grandma are bringing some yummy stuff to go with our stand by of the most simple pork chops ever!

Enjoy your holiday and travel safely!

New addition!

We are getting a puppy! He is the white one closest to the fence. He is so cute:)
We are trying to decide what to name him....any ideas?
We are thinking Bruno or Billy. We get him December 6!

Jackpot!

This is a painting that I found over one year ago, when we were registering for wedding gifts. I looked all over for this thing, after seeing only one at the store we were in. At the time, I didn't have a place to hang it or store it, so I didn't buy it. Then, I wanted it even if I didn't have a place to put it, went back to get it, and it wasn't there. I looked at all the other of the same chain and couldn't find it. Not onilne at that store. I even searched by the name of the picture (Leaf Dance. strange name) online on every site I could find and could not find it.

We went looking at model homes last spring, and hanging above the fireplace of one of the homes was MY PICTURE! I wanted to steal it, but my bag wasn't big enough. We went back to that open house at least two more times, and I can't even tell you what the house looked like; I only know they had my picture and I wanted it!

On Tuesday night, we went to Dillon's Marketplace (geez that place is HUGE! and awesome!) and I wanted to look in the furniture section quickly. I found an entry table for 35 bucks that we really like, so I thought the day was ending great. THEN we walked back to the closeout section and I saw a familiar picture. I told Norris that I knew that was by the same person who made the one I was looking for. We walked around to the other side and it was there! At closeout price!

So, long story short-- I finally found the picture I wanted and it was half price! Now it's hanging in our basement and I love it!!

Caramel Apple Bars

For a taste of fall, try these little lovelies.

I shared them with our neighbor boys, grandparents, and aunt, and we still had some.

If you can find unwrapped caramels, use those. I was getting so frustrated unwrapping all the little caramels!!

Norris loved them; they were gone almost immediately. YUM!!

I got the recipe from "Kickin it in the Kitch", who got it from Betty Crocker. Betty knew what she was talking about when she put these together! Thanks for the recommendation, Kitch! :)

And, she has a much better picture-- I'm not so good at this whole food photographing thing! (or any photography for that matter...although I still love it!)

Betty Crocker's Caramel Apple Bars

Ingredients:

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/4 cup shortening

1 3/4 cups flour

1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

4 1/2 cups coarsley chopped peeled tart apples (3 medium)

1 bag (14 ounces) caramels

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix brown sugar, butter and shortening in large bowl. Stir in flour, oats, salt and baking soda. Reserve 2 cups oat mixture; press remaining oat mixture in 13x9 pan.

2. Toss apples and 3 tablespoons flour; spread over mixture in pan. Heat caramels over low heat, stirring occasionally, until melted; pour evenly over apples. Sprinkle with reserved oat mixture; press lightly.

3. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until topping is golden brown and apples are tender.

No Exaggeration here! Chocolate chip cookies...

These were seriously the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had (no offense to those of you who have made me chocolate chip cookies before!) The funny part is that I don't even really love chocolate chip cookies. I am constantly making them trying to find a recipe that doesn't look like a pancake when I bake them. These were big, chewy, and perfectly done. DING DING DING! Here they are!

We made 6 batches/ 135-ish cookies in one of my classes and refrigerated the dough overnight. This morning, we baked them in our awesome industrial ovens (completely irrelevant, yes, but I love them!) and sold them for .50 a piece! The kids made 50 bucks! We are doing it again next week and the week after-- this is their entrepreneurship unit, so they are being little entreprenuers and making and selling cookies!

I got the recipe from the blog A Taste of Life.

(Source: Baking Illustrated, page 434)

Makes about 18 very large cookies.

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (10 5/8 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm

1 cup packed (7 ounces) light or dark brown sugar

1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar

1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1-1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Adjust the oven racks to the upper- and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.

3. Either by hand or with an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in the chips to taste.

4. Roll a scant 1/4 cup of the dough into a ball. Hold the dough ball with the fingertips of both hands and pull into 2 equal halves. Rotate the halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, join the halves together at their base, again forming a single ball, being careful not to smooth the dough’s uneven surface. Place the formed dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, jagged surface up, spacing them 2 1/2 inches apart.

5. Bake until the cookies are light golden grown and the outer edges start to harden yet the centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time. Cool the cookies on the sheets. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets with a side metal spatula.

Oh and P.S.-- I realize the step 4 rotating dough, etc. sounds ridiculous. We actually did it and we are glad we did. Not really sure why, to be honest! The kids asked me why we were doing it, and I said "just trust me-- do it!", which apparently is not a sufficient answer for teenagers. I told them it was because then the tops had more texture and then it was like two little cookies baking pressed next to each other and they might bake differently this way.

Anybody know the actual answer to that question?!? THANKS!

Fall Feast!

To kick off the real fall weather (and because I got a big bag of free apples!), we made a fall feast yesterday and today in my classes. We made roasted pork loin, apple stuffing, and pumpkin bread. The pork loin was great because it was marinating overnight and we made some random cuts in it to get the flavor all the way through. The apple stuffing was defnitely different, but I liked it. A little less liquid next time, in my opinion. We also cut the onion in half. The pumpkin bread was SO great. It was so full flavored, and a little spicy with the nutmeg, cloves, and allspice. It was incredible--definitely my favorite! Good thing, because we are going to use that recipe for our fall food sale!
Fall food sale choices were finally made; we will be making that pumpkin bread, the apple spice bars, pumpkin pie, lemon poppyseed bread, cinnamon sugar biscotti, and cloverleaf yeast rolls. We will put the order forms out tomorrow and start baking up a storm in a couple of weeks! Hopefully we have a lot of orders from the teachers in the building--we wrote on the order form that people who order can "fool your family members into thinking you made it yourself!" If that's not a selling point, I don't know what would be !! :)

Today's menu and recipes:

Roasted Pork Loin (from allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 (4 pound) boneless pork loin roast

DIRECTIONS
Combine spices and rub over pork loin.
Randomly cut 20 deep slits, 1 in. wide, on inside surface of roast. Fill slits with some of spice mixture. Wrap in foil. Marinate in refrigerator for at least 6 hours (overnight is fine).
After marinating, remove foil and place pork in a shallow baking pan. Bake, uncovered, at 450 for ten minutes. Then lower oven temperature to 275 to cook for 1 ½ to 2 hours longer. Check internal temperature to determine doneness.

Apple Stuffing

(I looked at a whole bunch of different recipes, from allrecipes to Joy of Cooking, to decide on the following recipe. It's mostly from Joy of Cooking. I would change it for next time by using about 3/4 of the liquid we used this time.)

8 slices white bread, torn into small pieces
3 apples, peeled and cut fine
½ t rubbed sage
¾ t salt
1 dash pepper
½ c margarine
1/2 medium onion, chopped fine
½ c milk
1 egg, beaten

1. Mix bread, apples, sage, salt, and pepper in a bowl and set aside.
2. Melt margarine over stovetop and add chopped onion. Simmer a few minutes.
3. Remove from stove and add milk and egg.
4. Pour this mixture over dry ingredients and mix well.Bake in greased casserole pan at 375 degrees for 30-45 minutes.

Pumpkin Bread

from Good Things Catered; originally from Joy of Cooking; funny because I found it in Joy of Cooking and figured I'd browse the internet quickly to see if there were any better ones, and saw it again, and knew it must be good! It is the best pumpkin bread I've ever eaten and I am a pumpkin lover!
We took the allspice out of one batch and left it in the other; they tasted pretty similar; if you don't have it you don't have to go out and buy it for this. It is tasty both ways!


Ingredients:
½ c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/3 c. milk
½ tsp vanilla
6 Tbsp butter, at room temp
1 c. granulated sugar
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 c. pumpkin puree

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Have all ingredients at room temp and prepare 9x5 loaf pan.
Whisk together flour, soda, powder, salt and spices thoroughly.
In another bowl combine milk and vanilla.
In large bowl of mixer beat butter until creamy (about 30 sec).
Gradually add sugars and beat on high speed until lightened in texture (3-4 min).
Beat in eggs one at a time.
Add pumpkin puree on low speed until just blended.
Add flour mixture in 3 parts alternating with the milk mixture in 2 parts beating on low or stirring with spatula until just combined.
Scrape batter into pan and spread evenly.
Bake about 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Survived this week! Plus toasted ravioli, buffalo chicken dip, and BBQ Chops!

It's Friday, which means we made it through both the cinnamon roll sales and the sandwich sales! Whew! We made a good amount of money, which is great because my kids can do more labs with that money and invest it into another food sale. The kids had a lot of fun and took a lot of ownership with the project, and I am so proud of them! The lunch sales definitely went better, probably because it was later in the day....I am so exhausted!
Happy Halloween!

Here are a few recipes that I have made lately and wanted to share: (easy easy easy!)

Toasted Ravioli
8 oz fresh cheese ravioli
2 T extra virgin olive oil
Dry Italian Bread crumbs
Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese

Preheat oven to 400 F. Lightly spray a baking sheet. Brush ravioli with olive oil. Sprinkle lightly with bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Place on baking sheet and bake in preheated oven until golden, about 7-9 minutes. Serve hot with chilled red sauce as an appetizer, or with heated sauce as a meal.

Pork Chops w/ Homemade BBQ Sauce

Norris was helping our neighbors out with sheetrocking last night, so I volunteered to make all the hungry boys dinner. I had made some BBQ sauce a few days ago to baste onto some chops we've had, and we all agreed that these were at least in the top two best chops we've ever had! They cooked perfectly in the oven--I don't have a broiler rack nor do I want one because they're so large and take up valuable space! So, I used a pizza pan with a cookie sheet on the rack underneath to catch any drippings.

6 large chops (we had the "grillers" since they were on sale and they were huge and awesome!)

1/2 c brown sugar

1/2 c ketchup

2 T W sauce (worcestershire...?)

2 T soy sauce

a few other seasonings if you want (depending on what I have and my mood for spiciness!)- thyme, hot pepper sauce, garlic salt, spicy garlic seasoning, ground red pepper (choose a couple, or none, and add about 1 t of whatever you want; adjust according to taste)

Rub a little salt and pepper on the chops and lay them out on the pan. Baste the top side with some sauce. Put under broiler on high heat for about 8 minutes per side (adjust according to chop size). Flip, baste again, and broil another 8 minutes. Be sure to check to see they are done!

Serve with remaining sauce.

**food safety note: separate the sauce you will use for basting from the sauce you will use for serving so that you don't dip a basting brush with raw chop juice on it into the sauce you will later eat!

I served with roasted spicy garlic potatoes and salad...the hungry boys loved it!

Tonight we are having a sort of Halloween party with our neighbors, so we are making a few things for that. I have seen a bunch of posts on other blogs about this buffalo chicken dip, so I am trying the recipe from allrecipes.com tonight! I am serving it with chicken flavored crackers and celery sticks. I plan to use fat free and low fat versions of everything possible. Hopefully this does not affect the flavor too much. I will be able to just stick it in the crockpot, which is the best part! Now on to figure out something to bring to "Girls' night" which happens to fall on election night and something for next Monday night when Sara and Joey come to stay with us! So excited to have them coming!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

2 (10 ounce) cans chunk chicken, drained
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup Ranch dressing
3/4 cup pepper sauce, such as Franks® Red Hot®
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

1 bunch celery, cleaned and cut into 4 inch pieces
1 (8 ounce) box chicken-flavored crackers


DIRECTIONS
Heat chicken and hot sauce in a skillet over medium heat, until heated through. Stir in cream cheese and ranch dressing. Cook, stirring until well blended and warm. Mix in half of the shredded cheese, and transfer the mixture to a slow cooker. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top, cover, and cook on Low setting until hot and bubbly. Serve with celery sticks and crackers.