All-American Chili

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
2 cups finely chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
8 garlic cloves, minced
1 4 oz. can diced green chilis
2 T. chili powder
2 T. brown sugar
1 T. ground cumin
3 T. tomato paste
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
2 bay leaves
2 14.5 oz. cans diced tomatoes with juice
2 15 oz. cans kidney beans, drained
1 15 oz. can pinto beans, drained
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup water

DIRECTIONS
Brown ground beef in skillet adding onion, green bell pepper, and garlic halfway through cooking. When beef is completely browned, put in a large crock pot with all remaining ingredients. Cook on Hi or 4 hours or Low 8-9 hours. Before serving discard bay leaves. Ladle chili into individual bowls. Sprinkle each serving with cheese.

This recipe can be made in a large stock pot on the stove top. After browning ground beef with onion, green bell pepper, and garlic, put in a large stock pot with all remaining ingredients and bring mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour. Uncover and cook 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Discard bay leaves and serve.

Kookaburra dipped licorice

I have a serious addiction to these. And that's all I have to say about that!

INGREDIENTS
Red Kookaburra licorice
White chocolate, for melting
Sprinkles, for garnishing

DIRECTIONS
1. Line baking sheets with wax paper.

2. Slowly melt white chocolate over low heat. (I usually melt mine in the microwave in 20-30 sec. intervals). 3. Dip licorice pieces into chocolate and set on baking sheet. Garnish with sprinkles. Cool until chocolate has dried.

Caramels

INGREDIENTS
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup light Karo syrup
1/2 cup butter
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla

DIRECTIONS
Combine sugars, syrup, butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Bring to a boil and slowly add sweetened condensed milk; constantly stirring. Bring to a soft ball stage. Take pan off heat and add vanilla. Pour into a buttered 9 x 13 glass baking dish. Cool and cut. Can top with coarse sea salt or pecans.

*Keep heat on a low boil. Cooking too fast will not allow caramels to set up correctly. Also, everyones candy thermometers and elevations where you live are different. It really can have an affect on how your candy will turn out. You can test by dropping some of the caramel into a glass of cold water to see how it is setting up. If you candy is still too runny, keep cooking while watching the temperature gauge.

Pecan Caramels

INGREDIENTS
2 tsp. plus 1 cup butter, divided
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1 /4 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup dark corn syrup
2 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
2 lbs. chopped pecans
1 tsp. vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
1. Line a 9 x 13 pan with foil; grease the foil with 2 tsp. butter and set aside.

2. In a large heavy saucepan, combine the sugars, corn syrup, 1 cup cream and the remaining butter. Cook and stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil. Slowly stir in the remaining cream. Cook, without stirring, until a candy thermometer reads 245 degrees (firm-ball stage).

3. Remove from the heat; stir in pecans and vanilla. Pour into prepared pan (do not scrape saucepan). Let stand until firm. Using foil, lift candy out of pan. Discard foil; cut candy into 1 inch squares. Wrap individually in waxed paper; twist ends.

Homemade Marshmallows

INGREDIENTS
2 tsp. butter
3 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1 cup cold water, divided
2 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/8 tsp. salt
1 tsp. clear vanilla extract

Optional Toppings: melted chocolate, hot fudge and/or caramel ice cream toppings

Optional garnishes: baking cocoa, confectioners' sugar, crushed candies, chopped nuts, colored sugars and/or sprinkles.

DIRECTIONS
1. Line a 9 x 13 pan with foil and grease the foil with butter; set aside.

2. In a large metal bowl, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup water; set aside. In a large heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, salt and remaining water. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Cook, without stirring, until a candy thermometer reads 240 degrees (soft ball stage).

3. Remove from the heat and gradually add to gelatin. Beat on high speed until mixture is thick and the volume is doubled, about 15 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Spread into prepared pan. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 6 hours or overnight.


4. Using foil, lift marshmallows out of pan. With a knife or pizza cutter coated with cooking spray, cut into 1-in. squares. Dip or drizzle marshmallows with toppings if desired; coat with garnishes as desired. Roll other marshmallows in the garnishes of your choice. Store in an airtight container in a cool dry place.

Creamy Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients
1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow creme
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk chocolate chips
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
1. Line an 8x8 inch pan with aluminum foil and lightly spray with cooking spray. Set aside.

2. In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine marshmallow cream, sugar, evaporated milk, butter and salt. Bring to a full boil, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

3. Remove from heat and pour in semisweet chocolate chips and milk chocolate chips. Stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Stir in nuts and vanilla.

4. Pour into prepared pan. Chill in refrigerator for 2 hours, or until firm.

Apple Crisp (over 100 yrs old)

If a recipe is that old and is still around, it should be a good one right?! I grew up surrounded by apple orchards so I've had my fair share of apple pie, apple crisp, apple cobbler, dried apples, apple dip, apple juice...and the list goes on. This is my all time favorite apple crisp and nothing beats dishing up a nice warm bowl of this and topping it with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream!

INGREDIENTS
6 medium apples, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup sugar
cinnamon

TOPPING:
1 cup white sugar
1 cup flour
1 tsp salt (I use 1/4 tsp)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
(I ALWAYS double the topping)

1/2 cup butter, melted

DIRECTIONS
Mix apple slices, 1/4 cup sugar, and cinnamon. Put into a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. In a medium bowl, mix sugar, flour, salt, and baking powder. Add egg and mix until it looks like crumbs, the size of peas. Sprinkle over apples. Drizzle 1/2 cup butter over top of crumb mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until light brown. Let cool 5 minutes. Serve with ice cream or cool whip.

Divine Breadsticks

Sunday we had family coming over for dinner and my husband informed me we were fixing Spaghetti for dinner (his favorite, not mine). I've made these breadsticks several times and I love them 1st for the taste, and 2nd for the quickness in whipping up a batch. I found the recipe at one of my favorite recipe internet stops My Kitchen Cafe. Enjoy!

*Makes about 20-25 breadsticks, depending on how thick or thin you cut them.

1 ½ cups warm water
1 T. instant yeast
2 T. sugar
3 ½ cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
3 T butter, melted (for the baking sheet)

Mix all ingredients (except melted butter) in a large bowl or electric mixer and knead for three minutes. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spread melted butter onto an 11X17-inch baking sheet. Roll out the breadstick dough about 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick and cut into strips with a pizza cutter. Twist slightly if desired and place about 1/2-inch apart on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with garlic salt, herbs of choice and parmesan cheese. Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise 30 minutes. Bake 15-20 minutes at 375 degrees until golden brown.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

My gma recently took an old family favorite peanut butter cookie recipe and spiced it up by adding some oatmeal to the mix. From now on I don't think i'll ever make peanut butter cookies again w/o adding oatmeal. It makes the cookies so chewy and adds more flavor and texture to what was already a great cookie.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
Beat thoroughly.
Add: 2 beaten eggs.
Add:
1 cup peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups quick oats
2 tsp. soda
Drop onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

Mormon Champagne

My mom came up with this yummy drink for my sister's bridal shower this summer. I also recently served it at another bridal shower this fall and both times it got rave reviews. It's so simple and it's even better to make extra so you can sip on leftovers for the next couple of days!

INGREDIENTS
1 (2 liter) bottle grapefruit flavored soda (Fresca), chilled
1 (64 fluid ounce) bottle Welch's white grape juice, chilled
8 oz. jar maraschino cherries plus 1/2 the juice

DIRECTIONS
Combine above ingredients and serve.

Halloween puffed treat

My mom shared this recipe with me TWICE while we were visiting in WA for apple harvest. Although I was blatantly ignoring my health while consuming this tasty treat, we polished off the first bowl so fast I was secretly hoping she would make a second batch, and i wasn't dissapointed. During the next 3 weeks I whipped up 4 more batches but did force myself to share most of it because the guilt was slowly rising...but it really is that good!

INGREDIENTS
2 cubes butter
1/2 cup light karo syrup
1 1/3 cup sugar

Cook over medium heat to soft ball stage (constantly stirring). Pour over 1 1/2 bags of Chester's puffs (buttered flavor).

Apple Dip

I made the mistake this week of trying 2 similar dip recipes at the same time, side by side. Of course I got into a hurry and dumped the wrong ingredients into the wrong bowl. The result was pretty tasty. Below are the 2 separate recipes. Our family has always enjoyed the first with the peanuts but when you combine both recipes with the peanuts and the toffee bits, it's even sweeter and a great treat to share!

Apple Dip #1
INGREDIENTS
1 8 oz. pkg cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chopped peanuts

DIRECTIONS
Blend ingredients and serve with apple slices.

Apple Dip #2
INGREDIENTS

1 8 oz. pkg cream cheese softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2/3 pkg heath toffee bits

DIRECTIONS
Blend ingredients and serve with apple slices.

Chili in a Pumpkin

When Brandon and I were on his field trip earlier this week the cashier lady told me about a recipe I should try with the pumpkin. She said that the particular pumpkin we were buying was really good for baking. (I am completely oblivious to the differences in pumpkins). Anyway, it looked like a smaller "sugar" pumpkin.

She said to cut the top off the pumpkin and scrape out the seeds and guts. Then dump 2 cans of chili inside. Spray the outside of the pumpkin with cooking spray and place it on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Bake at 375 degrees for approx 1 1/2hrs or until the inside of the pumpkin can be forked easily. About 3/4 way through the cooking time I placed another peace of foil over the top of the pumpkin because I was worried about it getting too dark.

Once the pumpkin is cooked, scoop out the inside of the pumpkin along with the chili and place into bowls. Top with shredded cheese and sour cream.

I was so excited to try this recipe that I just used canned chili that I had on hand. It was really good. Next time though i'm definitely going to make homemade chili to try in the pumpkin.