Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip Brownies - A classic treat for a classic friend

When I was younger, birthdays were so important and I remember being able to remember when everyone's was and sending cards and gifts. Now that I am a little bit older it seems like birthdays are "bad" things and I get so caught up in the day to day that I forget to remember these important days in peoples' lives. So this weekend I am baking up a birthday gift (belated, of course) of Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip Brownies for one of my friends that I have had since I was young and still keep in touch. She is one of those classic friends that can never be replaced and always a comfort for you. Just like the age old classic peanut butter and chocolate combination. To make things even better this recipe is lower in fat so we can all enjoy!

Wacky Chocolate Cake - Showcasing my wacky, crazy life

Sorry fellow baker babe fans, I am a little late in posting this week. I was like a machine this week. Between working, being a mom, a million other things I was trying to do and watching the season premieres of my favorite shows, I had no down time to bake or even write a small blog posting. I desperately need some guest blogs to fill in, so if you have recipe ideas with a short story to share, please, please, please send it to me. In honor of my wacky, crazy week here is a recipe for wacky chocolate cake. Enjoy!

Wacky Chocolate Cake

Sift into a 9x13 pan:
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
6 Tbsp cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Make 6 holes (3 on each side):
1st hole - Add 6 Tbsp oil in each side
2nd hole - Add 1 Tbsp vinegar each side
3rd hole - Add 1 tsp vanilla each side

Pour 2 cups of water over all. Stir with fork, until thoroughly mixed. Bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes.

Cranberry Apple Casserole - Sweet way to use up the apples

Still apple season and I am still staring at my big pile of apples so I need to work on another recipe to help use them up. Here is a recipe for Cranberry Apple Casserole. This is another dish that always seems to pop up at the holidays. It is used as a side dish but could also double as a dessert. Enjoy!

Cranberry Apple Casserole

3 large apples
1 pkg cranberries (Fresh or frozen)
2 T. flour
1 cup sugar
3 pkg cinnamon spice instant oatmeal or 1 1/4 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup flour
1/2 brown sugar
1/2 melted butter
1/2 cup chopped pecans, optional

Peel and chop apples. Mix with cranberries and 2 T flour to coat. Add sugar. In a separate bowl mix oatmeal, flour, brown sugar, melted butter and pecans. Spread over cranberry mixture and bake 45 min at 350 degrees.

Apple Pear Crumble Pie - A New Fall Classic

We have a local farm that you can go and pick apples. It is a lot of fun but the only catch is that you have to pay for a big bag of apples in order to go on their hayride to the fields. Since the hayride is the only reason my son wants to go I always end up with a lot of apples. I am doing my apple a day keeps the doctor away command, but a person can only eat so many in a day. I am planning to bake up my classic apple crisp for dinner with friends but also needed to look for something different. I came upon a great Apple Pear Crumble Pie recipe in the Free Kraft Magazine I get in the mail. This one called for both pears and apples, but it was going to be an all apple project this time around. I am not typically a pie person (making pie crust scares me), but I have to admit this pie was great with the crumble topping and cream cheese layer. Putting whipped cream on the finished masterpiece was also tasty. Look for more apple recipes next week, we are going picking again on a class field trip. Enjoy!

Cereal Nut Cookies - Let the competition begin

I admit, I am competitive. I try not to be, but there is just something inside of me that always wants to win. It probably has to do with growing up with 3 other sisters. The famous story in my family is that the first sister was salutatorian of her class, the second was valedictorian, the third was valedictorian with a 4.0 and the last one was valedictorian with a 4.0 and perfect attendance. I think you get the picture. Sports are my favorite way to compete (I think I probably throw the most elbows in my 30 and over Rec Soccer league) but the other way is in baking. As I mentioned before, I love showing of new recipes and baking up winners. This week I get to compete in our employee bake sale to try to win the honor of best overall cookie. I am bringing my “A” Game with this recipe. A great combination of sweet, salty and crunchy, it has always been a winner in our family. Wish me luck.

1 cup margarine

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 cup vegetable oil

1 Tablespoon milk

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3 1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup crushed cereal (like Rice Krispies or corn flakes)

1 cup oats

1/2 cup coconut

Combine the margarine with the sugars. Add the egg, oil, milk and vanilla. Mix together and add the flour, salt and baking soda. Mix in the cereal, oats and coconut. Drop by the teaspoon onto cookie sheets and flatten slightly. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 12-14 minutes until golden brown.

Butternut Squash and Granny Apple Soup

Some days you bake and some you just hope you make it through the day in one piece. Today was the latter. I got up early, went to the gym, spent a whole day planting flowers and spreading mulch as part of a volunteer job for work, picked up my son, went out to dinner with friends, put my son to bed and then crashed on the couch. I knew I didn't have the energy to bake up something good, and was even questioning if I would have enough energy to type. Luckily for my fans the mocha chocolate frozen yogurt (that I some how did have enough energy to scoop) kicked in. So in a pinch I am borrowing a recipe that was published at my work site in their recipe book two years ago. I just happen to also be the editor and publisher of the book so I still had a copy on my computer. All I have to do is highlight...copy...paste. You can just enjoy and I can go to bed!

Butternut Squash and Granny Apple Soup

2 ½ lbs butternut squash, cubed

4 granny smith apples, cubed

1 small onion, diced

1 Tbsp olive oil

½ pint 1% milk

3 cans chicken broth, low salt

Heat oil, add onions and cook until tender. Add squash and apples and sauté 5 minutes. Add chicken broth. Cook over medium heat until tender. Remove from heat and cool. Put in food processor on smooth. Return to pan, stir in milk and water. Heat to serving temperature, do not boil.

Walnut & Dried Cherry bars - TV Review from the Gym

Gyms have come a long way in making it slightly more enjoyable to go by putting in TVs at the machines. Often times I go at night and my show choices are limited. I always feel a little weird and perverted watching E! Channels "Girls Next Door" or "25 Great Bikini Babes". I also can not watch "Wipe-out" anymore, as I learned laughing out loud gets you some weird looks from the treadmill next to you. So my stand-by favorite is always the Food Network. It motivates me in two ways. One, I realize that if I want to eat the "bad stuff" and not look like a whale I need to stay on the machine as long as possible and two, I am reminded that as soon s I get off the machine that I can eat again. This weekend I happened to catch a rerun of Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger which featured these Walnut & Dried Cherry Bars. If you have never seen this show before it is great, with easy healthy, cooking and baking recipes that you can find online after the show. After my workout I had to wipe my sweat and drool off the machine, but I was excited to venture home to bake up this healthy dish. Enjoy!

Peaches are Here - Peach Streusel Coffee Cake

I finally got my peach donation this week so I had to think of a great way to use them before they all go bad or I have to resort to freezing them. I have a long training session this Friday at work so I thought what better way to spice it up (and survive it) then to bring some Peach Streusel Coffee Cake in. Luckily I have all the ingredients on hand and no big plans except laundry, convention watching and more peach eating tonight, so I set out to Bake It Up! The recipe is fairly easy, but leave yourself plenty of time as it took me a while to get everything together. The longest part was pealing and cutting the peaches. Even using the recommended method at the beginning of the recipe, I still found it took me awhile since my peaches were a little below the average size. But now my coffee cake is baking and hopefully I can resist the urge to eat it until Friday. I apologize in advance to my co-workers if my willpower fails.

On a side note, thinking back to my presidential cookie analysis back in January, I couldn't help but wonder. If Sarah Palin runs for President, will we be seeing moose drop cookies (sorry I couldn't resist)? Enjoy!