Cold Days & Warm Hearts

When I woke up this morning, it was quite chilly, so on my way to work, I decided that I wanted to make this day a little warmer day...for me at least! I really thought about Christmas Shopping, but decided to wait a little bit longer! Oops...did I just say Christmas before Thanksgiving! Ha ha! I Love Christmas!

I finished work by noon and headed home...when I got there; I built me a little fire and then set to work on gathering ingredients for my treats that I wanted to cook up! (I Love My Food Storage!)

Greg loves pumpkin cookies...I don't think they’re too bad either...so they would be my first whip up for the afternoon, sure glad too, nothing better than a warm pumpkin cookie with melted chocolate chips to munch on while cooking more yummies!
 
I used these three ingredients to make quick and easy pumpkin cookies and wanted to show you how darn easy they really are...so I added some illustrations.

Pumpkin Cookies

2 boxes of cake mix (spice or yellow)
1 large can of pumpkin
1 cup chocolate chips
Mix together well
* Add spices to taste like pumpkin pie - allspice, cloves, ginger, nutmeg
Place on baking paper lined cookie sheet and bake @ 375 degrees for 10 - 12 mins.

I was on a roll and decided since I hadn't eaten lunch yet, that I would get dinner started before I sat down to eat a couple of left overs from last night for lunch.

I decided to make Taco Soup. This is so easy it's scary.

Taco Soup

1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
1 lg. can tomato juice
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 can kidney beans, rinsed & drained
1 can tomatoes (not drained)
1 can black olives, sliced (I like to cut my olives up with my egg dicer)
1 pkg. taco seasoning mix
1 pkg. ranch dip seasoning (optional)
Grated Cheese
Dorito chips or other salsa chips
You may like to add a little water to thin the soup...this is up to you!

Brown ground beef in large pot then drain, add other ingredients except cheese and chips and simmer.
I like to put mine in my Crock Pot and cook on low for 1-2 hours.
Serve with crumpled chips on bottom of bowl add soup and top with cheese.

So...Carla, my sister brought me this neat cornbread recipe last night...she knows that my family loves cornbread...so I decided to try it...and yep, it was so easy and very yummy!
I forgot to take a picture of the ingredients...but I did shoot the mix after I got it all mixed up.

Sweet Chili Cheese Cornbread

1 cup butter (room temperature)
1 cup sugar
4 eggs (room temperature)
1 4oz can chopped green chilies
1 can cream style corn
1 cup flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoons salt
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

*To quickly bring eggs to room temperature, place them in warm water for about 10 mins before cracking)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat butter and sugar together until fluffy.  Add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each one.  Add green chiles and corn and mix well. 
Add flour, baking powder, corn meal and salt.
Mix well
then add: cheese
Take a spoonfull of flour and toss with grated cheese (this helps prevent the cheese from sticking together in a big lump.) Mix well

Pour mixture into a pam sprayed 9x13 baking pan.  Reduce heat to 300 degrees and bake for 50- 60 mins. or until knife inserted in center of pan comes out with no goopy batter on it.  (Why yes, goopy IS an official culinary term.)

So yes, here is the final eats of this chilly rainy day...Greg and I truly enjoyed them and I sure wish that Carla would have been home to try the cornbread...it is yummy...I'll be adding it to some of my favorite recipes.

Well, this wraps up my baking and cooking on this chilly day! I managed to make this day more pleasant and I did indeed manage to warm two hearts... I hope I was able to warm some of your hearts by sharing these recipes with you and may you find them as yummy as much as I do! 

We are now enjoying a cozy warm fire, watching a BYU Men's Basketball Game, while waiting for the JAZZ Basketball Game at 8 p.m. tonight!  Pretty sure Greg will be having a glass of milk and a couple of pumpkin cookies before the night is over...for me...well, I will pop up some popcorn, make up some hot chocolate and really enjoy this chilly November 2012 night!

Good Eats, Warm Hearts and Good Night!

The Way I Think Today

Hello...Hello! Have you ever just had a week that you seemed you couldn't fit everything into? Well...I definitely have had one this week.
I wanted to get these cute little pictures of Chasin on here...clear back from last Saturday...but here it is almost a week later and okay...so now I finally get them on.

Chelsie gave me a yumo cookie recipe and now I need to share it...so for those of you that love Pumpkin Cookies...here goes:

PUMPKIN COOKIES
Bake at 375` for 14 mins. Makes about 3 dozen cookies

1-box of spice cake mix ( or ) yellow cake mix and add the spices...that's what I did
1/2-can of pumpkin
1/2- bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
Mix cake mix and pumpkin together until well blended...add choc. chips

It is a sticky mix...don't be alarmed. They are really moist!
Bake...Cool slightly...Enjoy!

*You can use the whole can of pumpkin and 2 cake mixes...and of course...more chocolate chips to double it...that works too.
I hope you enjoy them as much as we did and making them is 123 easy!


Whitney finally has her learners drivers license...watch out...here we go again:-O
She is going over to Chelsie's today...so she can tend the boys tomorrow...Chels has to work and Nolan does too...I guess if you can call a bull sale work...naw...really Noly has to work the sale...but I really think that he enjoys it???

I really want it to warm up...I need Spring to get here...I want to get the garden spot tilled and ready...I don't know why...then we'll just have to weed it...but it is kind of a fun thing in life...and I love going out everyday and seeing what's new in the garden. My flower beds could really use some working over this summer...O...I don't know...now that's work right there...but they are so darn pretty when they finally bloom and add color to your green lawn...and the butterfly's and bee's and humming birds all come to visit...and then you get happy...and then you can just sit and sit for hours watching and listening to the beauty that God has given us...so yeah...I think that I better get my flower beds in order! I can't wait to smell the fist lawn mowing...without doggie poo going through the blads...O...makes you want it to warm up and get green...Please Warm Up and bring me SPRING!


Today's Quote:
Listen, can you hear it? Springs sweet cantata. The strains of grass pushing through the snow. The song of buds swelling on the vine. The tender timpani of a baby robin's heart. Spring.
~Dinne Frolov and Andrew Schneider~

So here's to everyone that looks forward to Spring like me...keep smiling until you can actually smell it:-)