Category Archives: recipes

• 

  Posted on January 31, 2011 by Christine in recipes

  

  To the Chocolate-Craver.

  The one who will literally eat semi-sweet chips out of the pantry…

  because it’s the only chocolate you can find.

  This fudge will be your best friend.

  

  This is all you need.

  Milk chocolate chips-whole bag

  Peanut butter chips-2/3 of bag- or more if you want

  Can of sweetened condensed milk

  1 Teaspoon vanilla

  

  Mix chips and condensed milk in a mircowave safe bowl.

  Cook on high in microwave for 3 minutes.

  Add vanilla, stir QUICKLY, and pour into greased dish.

  

  Let cool, refrigerate for a while.

  Cut.

  Eat.

  Yum.

  

  You can serve them at parties.

  You can serve them at brunch.

  You can have them for snack.

  Or even for lunch!

  on http://www.greatoakcircle.com" class="pin-it-button" count-layout="horizontal">Pin It
  10 Comments.

• 

  Posted on January 25, 2011 by Christine in kids, recipes, valentine's day

  

  Yummy for my tummy Valentine Bark from My Computer is My Canvas

  

  And you can get this free printable to gift the yumminess! LOVE!

  

  Love these DIY heart crayons for your kids to share at school from Creative Mommas

  

  Valentine Heart Lollipops from Making Memories with your Kids.

  on http://www.greatoakcircle.com" class="pin-it-button" count-layout="horizontal">Pin It
  6 Comments.

• 

  Posted on January 24, 2011 by Christine in recipes

  

  Oh Paula Dean, you did not do me wrong with your Strawberry Cake.

  I usually make cakes from scratch…but…time…well…ran out.

  So I gussied up a box mix with my friend Paula, and gave Lynde her favorite birthday dessert:)

  

  Here is the recipe from Food Network:

  You will need:

  1 (18.25-ounce) box white cake mix
  1 (3-ounce) box strawberry-flavored instant gelatin
  1 (15-ounce) package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed ( I actually used a little more…like 18 oz)
  4 large eggs
  1/2 cup vegetable oil
  1/4 cup water
  
  Frosting:
  I used store-bought out of a can strawberry (gasp!)
  Here is her recipe from scratch

  

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees

  Lightly grease 2 (9-inch) roundcake pans or line cupcakes

  In a large bowl, combine cake mix and gelatin.

  Add pureed strawberries, eggs, oil, and water; beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth.

  Pour into prepared pans, and bake for 20 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

  Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.

  

  You will lick the bowl love this.

  Promise.

  Happy Baking:)

  I am linking up to a few parties:

  Sugar Bee

  Cupcake Party

  on http://www.greatoakcircle.com" class="pin-it-button" count-layout="horizontal">Pin It
  3 Comments.

• 

  Posted on January 16, 2011 by Christine in recipes, valentine's day

  

  Be still my heart.

  The combination of melty chocolate, yummy cherries and homemade cookies makes me gooey inside.

  Somebody bring me a glass of milk!

  I promise.  This is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever.

  

  You will need:

  1 cup of butter (2 sticks) softened

  3/4 cup white granulated sugar

  1 cup packed light brown sugar

  2 eggs

  1 tablespoon vanilla (the real stuff)

  1 tsp. salt

  1 teaspoon baking soda

  3 cups flour

  2 cups semisweet chocolate chips ( I used BIG chips)

  dried cherries -about 1/2 cup-chopped

  

  Cream together softened butter, white sugar, and brown sugar in electric mixer.

  Add eggs and vanilla, cream together.
  In a separate bowl, mix together salt, baking soda and flour.
  Slowly add dry mixture to wet ingredients in mixer.
  Mix well.
  Fold in chocolate chips and cherries.
  Roll onto floured surface to about 1/2″thick.
  Cut into heart shapes.
  Bake at 350 for 10-13 minutes (depending on thickness and baking sheet used)
  
  These cookies will NOT brown much.  They will remain white, but the top will start to wrinkle, and the edges will start to brown.
  No one likes over-cooked cookies.
  Just sayin’.
  Also- I made these thick, so I got about 24 out of this recipe.

  

  You can make the hearts into sweet love notes with cellophane bags from your craft store, and postage labels created by The Graphic Fairy.

  Note to reader: The chocolate is gooey and will slip and slide all over the cello bag.  So…if you plan to do this, please refrigerate the cookies for a while. :) ok thanks.

  Now.

  I made the labels into an easy sheet for download.

  Old Fashioned postal labels

  Wanna print this recipe?

  Open the pdf right below.

  Amazing Chocolate Chip Cookies

  

  And ps-my sister and family came for lunch.

  We ate loads of cookies, and drank loads of milk.

  It was awesome.

  And pss-I am gathering more ideas for Valentine’s Day, you can track them all on the new picture in my side bar.

  I am linking up to The Graphics Fairy Monday

  Someday Crafts

  Blue Cricket Design

  CSI project

  Funky Junk

  

  on http://www.greatoakcircle.com" class="pin-it-button" count-layout="horizontal">Pin It
  19 Comments.

• 

  Posted on January 15, 2011 by Christine in pioneer woman's recipes, recipes

  

  I am obsessed with my new Pioneer Woman cookbook.

  Most of you know that from this post, where I decided I would cook through the whole thing this year.

  So my favorite so far is this recipe for Egg in a Hole.

  You should know that my favorite breakfast is a fried egg on a piece of bread…so now we are adding butter.

  Good decision.

  Butter is always a good decision.

  

  This is also Polly’s favorite recipe.

  Jeremy gives her the cut out piece of bread.

  He makes her catch it off her nose.

  It’s her best trick, even though she’s been a little sloppy at it lately.

  She would tell you that she needs more practice…ie-more treats.

  

  I also made her meatball recipe.  They were yummy.

  I always make mine with breadcrumbs, so hers is a nice variation.

  Oh, and I made chili, which I really liked, but didn’t take a picture of…

  …because I am a bad blogger.

  Oh well.

  

  Are you making her recipes?

  What is your favorite?

  Leave a link to your blog if you have posted about it:)

  on http://www.greatoakcircle.com" class="pin-it-button" count-layout="horizontal">Pin It
  7 Comments.

• 

  Posted on January 10, 2011 by Christine in recipes

  

  Somethings are just better homemade…they just are.

  I think this is one of them.

  Yes, it’s a little work, and yes, they sell packaged handy snacks in the store already. But I promise this is sooooo good.

  You need equal numbers of  yellow and green apples.  I use 3 each.

  

  Peel and chop up the apples, then add them to a pot with a little bit of water.

  (They will make juice themselves, so don’t add much)

  Simmer on low heat for a few hours until it turns into sauce. Stir it a few times along the way:)

  Sweeten to taste with maple syrup and cinnamon.

  Eat.

  

  YUM!

  

  on http://www.greatoakcircle.com" class="pin-it-button" count-layout="horizontal">Pin It
  3 Comments.

• 

  Posted on January 3, 2011 by Christine in recipes

  

  You wanna make an EXCELLENT treat for your next breakfast or coffee chat?

  This Swedish tea cake will blow you away. It’s amazing.

  My friend Celia blogged about this recipe awhile back and I have really wanted to try it, but it seemed difficult and a bit overwhelming.

  I typically don’t make things that include “yeast” as an ingredient.
  I have cake mixes for that:)

  But seriously, when my house started smelling like donuts and cinnamon rolls it was all over for me.

  I just gained 10 pounds.  OK…11.

  

  For Tea Ring you will need:

  2 pkgs yeast 1/2 cup lukewarm water
  1/4 cup shortening
  1/2 cup sugar
  1 tsp salt
  2 eggs
  1 cup milk,scalded
  5 cups all purpose flour
  2 tbs melted butter
  brown sugar (1-2 cups)
  cinnamon (2ish tablespoons)
  nuts (about 1.5 cups)

  And also: plastic wrap, electric mixer, flour for kneading, Crisco for greasing, and courage.

  

  1. Scald 1 cup milk (bring to almost boiling on the stove).

  2. While milk is heating, use a mixing bowl to combine 1/4 cup shortening, 1/2 cup sugar 1 tsp salt.

  3. Add scalded milk to bowl and set aside to cool to lukewarm temperature. It won’t fully combine, which is OK. You MUST let this cool.

  4. Dissolve 2 yeast packets in 1/2 cup warm water, according to package directions.

  

  5. Add dissolved yeast, 2 beaten eggs, and half the flour to your above milk mixture.

  6. Beat well.

  7. Add remaining flour and from a soft dough.

  

  8. Knead dough on a floured work surface until a little shiny and pliable. At this point Jeremy is wondering why our nice camera has to be around all the flying flour. Polly is smelling the air. Now she is licking the air. Why does dough smell so good???!!!!

  

  9. Place in a greased bowl and cover. Let rise to 2x its size.

  10. Once doubled, punch down and turn out onto floured work surface again.

  

  Can I have a moment to talk about my new sugar bear? He keeps my brown sugar from getting hard.

  Sweet baby.

  Thanks sister:)
  

  11. Divide your dough in half and shape into two 1/4″ rectangles.

  12. Melt 2 tbs butter and brush on dough.

  13. Cover dough with brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts. This is really to your taste and liking.

  

  14. Roll the dough up into a log tube. For me this was just bringing the edges up and crimping together with my fingers.

  15. Make a circle and join the edges.

  16. Be concerned that this is NEVER going to be eatable.

  17. Move to greased cookie sheet. Keep each circle a little separate, it’s going to rise more.

  18. Use scissors to cut slits in dough.

  

  19. Pull it a little to separate and show the filling.

  20. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise to double. About 30 minutes I guess. It’s so hard for me to judge this part.

  21. Bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes. Watch for the top to brown. Mine only took 20 minutes, so don’t just walk away and forget about it.

  At this point I am also confessing on Celia’s Facebook wall that this will never turn out!!

  Now, start the icing.

  Can I make a suggestion?

  Don’t think too much about what you are about to put in a bowl and then your mouth. Don’t count the calories up, don’t even think about

  calculating how long you will need to run to burn them off.

  OK

  For Coffee Cake Icing you will need:

  1/4 lb. butter 6 tablespoons Crisco

  3 tablespoons flour (I added a little more)

  1 cup granulated sugar

  1 teaspoon vanilla

  2/3 cup milk

  

  1. Place all in mixing bowl and beat on high speed until fluffy (ie. FOREVER).

  

  There were moments when I thought maybe this is a cottage cheese recipe. It wasn’t at all “fluffy,” it wasn’t even really mixing well.

  Just walk away, it comes out fine in the end. Besides, it melts on the tea ring.

  

  Pull the ring out, cover with icing and eat with a big fat glass of milk.

  Or coffee.

  Yum.

  Thanks Celia

  Want a printer-friendly version? You can click to open the pdf .

  Or right-click to save the pdf to your computer.

  Swedish Tea Ring Printable

  

  Funky Junk Saturday Night Special

  

  on http://www.greatoakcircle.com" class="pin-it-button" count-layout="horizontal">Pin It
  7 Comments.

• 

  Posted on December 27, 2010 by Christine in recipes

  

  Ok, so there are a few things that I don’t like after the holidays.

  1. I realize it’s cold outside. With no dreaming of a white Christmas and all, this is upsetting.

  2. I am OVER eating ham for the 13 meal in a row because we had a big ham and didn’t eat it all at dinner.

  So I found this fun recipe for ham chowder and LOVE it!

  You will need:

  red potatoes (as many as you need to balance the ham)
  1/3 cup minced onion
  2 tbsp. butter
  1-1/2 cups canned evaporated milk
  left over ham-diced
  1 can cream of mushroom soup (10-3/4 oz)
  1 can cream-style corn or 2, whatever

  I don’t peel red potatoes, I like them with the skin on.  You do what you want, then dice and boil them until tender.  Drain and set aside.   Melt butter and sauté onion. In a large pot, add onions, milk, ham, cream of mushroom soup and potatoes. Cook over medium-low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cream-style corn, salt and pepper. Bring to boil, reduce heat, simmer for 20 minutes. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

  Make cornbread muffins.  Eat until sick. I promise, you will love.

  (adapted from a yummy cooks.com recipe)

  I linked this to Remodelaholic recipe party

  and It’s so very Cheri

  on http://www.greatoakcircle.com" class="pin-it-button" count-layout="horizontal">Pin It
  1 Comment.