Almond Cupcakes

Friday morning started off with the making of many delicious Almond Cupcakes. This is something I grew up making with my parents and now our family has inherited the tradition. We mixed and baked into the early afternoon while enjoying Christmas music. Here are a few pictures of the baking fun...and the recipe!

Almond Cupcakes

dough:
2 cups butter
2 eggs
2 cups sugar
4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

filling:
2 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups (1 pound) almond paste
3 Tablespoons lemon juice

1. Cream together butter, 2 eggs and 2 cups sugar. Then add flour and salt, mix together to make a soft dough. Fill small cupcake tins 1/2 full and spread out like pie crust in each cupcake hole.
2. To make filling cream together filling ingredients. Then put one small spoon full into each cupcake pan; or use a zip lock bag with one corner cut off and squeeze the almond paste into each cupcake pan. 
3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Put four tins (2 if they are double sized tins) on the top rack of the oven. Bake for 9 minutes. After 9 minutes rotate and turn pans and bake for another 3 to 4 minutes. 

Hot Apple Cider

I thought that I would share with all of you the recipe that we use to make our Hot Apple Cider. I have fond memories of my mom making this Cider when I was a little girl. It has become a favorite in my family too. It is perfect for a cold fall or winter day.

Hot Apple Cider


4 cups apple juice
1 cup water
1/2 cup orange juice
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1, 3 inch stick cinnamon

Combine all ingredients and simmer for 15 minutes or combine all ingredients and warm in crock-pot for several hours. Enjoy!

Our New Cooking Adventure

Over the last month it has been very quiet over here at "Joy In Every Step". I apologize for my absence. My time has been filled with relearning how to cook.

It all started with my middle daughter, Miriam. She has always had intestinal problems. This last year we pulled her off dairy. This seemed to help but she was still having some problems. Fast forward to about a month ago when we decided it was time to have her tested for food allergies.

From these tests we found that she is allergic to wheat gluten, eggs, and slightly to dairy and a few other random items. When we took her off these three things it made a huge difference for her. Because of the great results we also decided to have my husband tested and today we found out that he is allergic to eggs, dairy and a few other random items.

All this to say that we are on a new adventure to find dishes that suit everyone's dietary needs. It has required a lot of research on my part, trying new dishes, learning gluten free baking and more. This has required a lot more prep time and work in the kitchen. There are many things that I CAN make, but the big question is, WILL everyone eat it???

I hope to be back to posting soon. It just might take a little bit of time until I get a handle on this new way of cooking and have the time to post. I am trusting the Lord to help us through this time of adjustment! I am very thankful for those who have gone before us and paved the road making it easier for us newbies! I would love to hear from any of you who have experience with similar food allergies: blogs you follow, recipes you enjoy, anything!!!

Little House Fun

We recently started watching Little House On The Prairie season 1 and reading some of the "My Little House books". The girls have greatly enjoying learning about Laura, Mary and Carrie as the live in the little house on the prairie.

On one of the episodes that we watched they made apple fritters for dinner. The girls thought this looked like a lot of fun and so we check out the "Little House Cookbook"from the library so we could try and find the recipe. To our dismay there was not a recipe for apple fitters but we did find a recipe for Apple Turnovers. We decided to make the Apple Turnovers and have them for dessert. The girls had great fun making and eating them!

Apple Turnovers
from "The Little House Cookbook" pg. 122
Common Family Paste for Pies, double recipe (see below)
Tart apples, 3 to 4 (about 1 pound)
Brown sugar, 2/3 cup
Ground cinnamon or nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon
Butter, 2 teaspoons
Powdered sugar, 6 teaspoons

Chopper and bowl; bowl, 2-quart; pastry board and rolling pin; baking sheets, 2, or skillet, 12-inch

Following the recipe for Common Family Paste, double the quantities and prepare two balls of dough. Chill both while you prepare the filling.

Peel, core, slice, and chop apples. Mix them in the 2-quart bowl with brown sugar and spice. Set aside to chill.

Roll the first dough ball to a rectangle 5 by 15 by 1/8 inches. Cut it into three 5-inch squares. Using a fork )so the juice stays in the bowl), place about 3 tablespoons of apples in the center of each square. Wet the edges of each square and fold over each pastry to enclose the apples in a triangular pocket. Seal edges by pressing with fork tines. Cook the first three while you use the remaining dough and apples to prepare the other turnovers.

To Bake The Turnovers:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees as you butter the baking sheets. Transfer turnovers to sheets and bake 20 to 25 minutes, until nicely browned.

To Fry The Turnovers:
Melt half the butter in the skillet, add half the turnovers and cook on medium hight heat 10 minutes to a side. Repeat with remaining pastries.

Dust Warm turnovers with powdered sugar and let them cool before packing them in your lunch pail.

Common Family Paste For Pies
From "The Little House Cookbook" pg. 194
White flour, 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose, plus extra for dusting
Salt, scant 1/2 teaspoon
Lard, 1/3 cup (5 tablespoons)
Butter, 1/2 teaspoon

Bowl, 2-quart; pastry surface and rolling pin; pie pan, 9-inch

Chill all ingredients and bowl on ice or in refrigerator. Rinse hands into cold water and dry them. Prepare a cup of ice water. In the bowl mix flour and salt. Spoon the lard into the flour and blend with fingers (not warm palms) until the mixture is uniformly coarse. Continue to toss as you add 3 tablespoons of ice water. Press the dough into a ball and chill it while you prepare the pie filling (in summer Ma Ingalls might have set the dough bowl in a pan of cold well water).

If your dough is a double recipe for making two crusts, divide it with a knife and work with one half while the other half cools.
(see cookbook for the rest of the recipe)

Shepard's Pie

I grew up eating Shepard's Pie and every time I eat it, it brings back fond memories of my childhood. Recently a friend of mine made Shepard's Pie for the meal exchange that I am a part of and it was delicious! I recently made it for my family and it turned out great; one of the most tasty Shepard's Pie recipes that I ever had!


Shepard's Pie
2 tablespoons corn oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups beef stock
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 tablespoons worchestershire sauce
salt and black pepper to taste
3 to 4 large potatoes cut up into chunks
2 tablespoons butter
2-3 tablespoons butter
2-3 tablespoons milk
1 cup grated aged Cheddar cheese
I also added frozen corn to the meat mixture

Heat oil in a large saucepan, add onion, celery and carrot and cook for 3 minutes. Add the ground beef and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until browned. Drain off most of the liquid.

Add flour and cook, stirring for 1 minute.

Add stock, tomato paste, Worchestershire sauce, salt and pepper to taste and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes

Meanwhile, prepare the potato topping: cook the potatoes in boiling salted water for 20 minutes or until tender. Drain. Add the butter and milk to the potatoes and mash until soft. Add salt and pepper to taste and stir in the cheese.

Spoon the ground beef mixture into casserole dish (or four individual dishes) and cover with the potato mixture.

The dish freezes wonderfully. You can either freeze or cook at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until the potato topping is golden brown and the meat mixture is bubbling. Serve hot!

Biscuits & Gravy

Biscuits and Gravy have always been a favorite of my husband. I do not think that I had ever heard of this dish until I met my husband. I remember always thinking that it did not look very appetizing. Well, since moving out to the mid-west (where you can buy biscuits and gravy at McDonalds) it has also become one of my favorites. Over the last few months I have made it a few times and it has turned out great! Even our 6 year old is warming up to it. Our youngest two still prefer their biscuits with butter and honey.

Gravy

• 1/4 a pound Breakfast Sausage
• Sausage drippings or butter
• 2 Tablespoons Flour
• 1 cup Whole Milk
• Salt
• Pepper
• 
  

Cook up the sausage according to the instruction, in a frying pan (when making this recipe I usually make up the whole pound of sausage to get all the drippings of grease that i can, and then just freeze what I do not use for pizza toppings). When cooked, scoop out the sausage from the pan leaving behind the grease.

Pour grease out of the skillet into a separate bowl, adding back only what you want to use to make the gravy. For one to two people, use about 3 Tablespoons grease. If you do not have enough grease use butter in its place. Over low to medium-low heat, add about 3 Tablespoons of flour to the grease/butter mixture (if making a bigger batch and you used more grease/butter add more flour) whisk immediately. You want your mixture smooth but stirable. If it is too lumpy just add some more grease/butter. You want to find a good balance between the four and the grease.

Keep stirring with the whisk and allow the mixture to brown for a few minutes. As you whisk, scrape the bottom of the pan bringing anything from the bottom of the pan up as you stir.

After 2-3 minutes, whisking constantly, pour in about a cup of milk (more if you are making a bigger batch). If the mixture is dry, lumpy or pasty, add in more milk - again, drawing a balanced mixture. At this point I like to add back the ground sausage meat. The next important part is to add salt and pepper to taste. Let the gravy fully warm over low heat, stirring occasionally. Cut biscuits in half and pour the gravy on top. Enjoy!

When learning how to make biscuits and gravy I found The Pioneer Woman's post on biscuits and gravy very helpful! I am a visual learner and she provides step by step pictures that were very helpful to me.

Angel Biscuits

I have tried several biscuit recipes trying to find one that was light and fluffy. This one came the closest. The other wonderful thing about this recipe is that you make it up the night before and store it in the refrigerator over night. Anything to cut down on the morning breakfast rush is a plus in my book. When making this for my family, I cut this recipe in half.

1/2 cup warm water

4 teaspoons yeast

5 cups flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup butter, melted and cooled

2 cup butter milk

In a small bowl sprinkle yeast in warm water. Let stand 5 minutes. In a large bowl mix flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Add remaining ingredients including yeast. Stir until all mixed together. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at lease 2 hours or overnight. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Pinch dough into 24 balls (I use a cookie/ice cream scoop). Place them on two baking sheets just touching each other. Bake until just golden brown about 14-20 minutes.

Happy New Year!

Over the last week and a half we have been enjoying a break from school. A chance to play more, get some projects done, and get re-organized for school starting back up next week! Tonight the fun continues as we are getting together with family and friends to celebrate and bring in the new year.

One of the traditions that I grew up with and that we carry on, is enjoying an array of tasty appetizers all night. Tonight I will be making a "7 Layer Tex Mex Dip" that I came across here! This 7 layer dip is so tasty! I have made it several times over the last year and it is always a hit, especially with my husband. I hope you all have a wonderful new year!

7 Layer Tex Mex Dip

3 avocados, mashed

3 tomatoes, chopped

1 bunch green onions, sliced

1 small can chopped olives

1 package taco seasoning

1, 16 oz can refried beans

8 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1-2 bags tortilla chips

In a bowl, mix avocado with lemon juice, salt, and pepper. In a separate bowl combine sour cream, mayonnaise, and taco seasoning.

On a medium-sized platter, spread beans in an even layer with a knife. Follow with the avocado mixture. Use a knife or back of a spoon to achieve a nice smooth layer. Next, add the sour cream mixture and spread evenly. Finally follow with tomatoes, olives, green onion, and cheese.

Our Favorite Homemade Bread Recipe

As the days grow colder, oh... how a warm piece of homemade bread hits the spot. I do not make this as often as I would like, but whenever I do make this bread it is eaten up quickly by the whole family.

What I love about this recipe is that my bread machine does all the work. All I have to do is measure out the ingredients, put the dough in the loaf pan, pop it in the oven, and it's done!

Ingredients:
1 cup warm water (110-115 degrees F)
1/3 cup sugar (I use organic sugar)
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons oil
3 cups flour* (I use 1 cup unbleached white & 2 cups wheat)
1 tablespoon dry yeast

Instructions:
1. Dissolve sugar in water, then stir in yeast. Allow to stand until yeast forms a creamy foam (about 15 minutes). Put into bread machine pan and add oil. Swish around to mix them together.
2. Add flour on top, and salt on top of the flour. Set machine to dough setting and start on dough setting.

3. When dough is made, take it out of the bread machine pan and work it lightly in your hands to get the air bubbles out (I don't put it on a floured board for this but you can one if you like).

4. Form into a loaf and put in a greased loaf pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place about 30-45 minutes, until almost doubled in size.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until done. If loaf is browning too quickly, cover top loosely with foil. When bread is finished, take it out of the oven and allow it to set for 5 minutes. Remove from pan, place on wire rack, and cover until loaf is cool.

This recipe originated from Tammy's Recipes
(see Tammy's Recipes on how to make this bread with out a bread machine)

Whats Cooking?

We have had fun trying some new recipes over the last few weeks. Sometimes I wonder why I need my cookbooks when there are such good recipes out there on the web that have been tasted and tried. I do still use my cookbooks, but have enjoyed these new recipes. Here are a few that we have enjoyed.

• First we made Brown Bag Burritos. These are very tasty and easy to make. The are a freezer meal so they will be made and ready when you need them. They are great for sack lunches, lunch at home, or even dinner.

• Secondly, we made these Breakfast Burritos. My husband especially loves these. This recipe does not say to freeze them, but they freeze well. We have just popped them into the oven frozen and cooked them at 350 degrees for about 45 min. As I was getting ready to make these I read that you need to leave the eggs a little gooey, leaving them a little under cooked. These were so handy to have in the freezer that I am hoping to try some other breakfast burrito recipes. Anyone have a good recipe for me to try?

• We also made these delicious Homemade Baked Chicken Fingers. Madisen had fun helping me make these. They were delicious and the girls greatly enjoyed them.

• We also tried making this Spinach and Rice Casserole. It was very good and healthy. I did change up the recipe a little bit cutting the amount of spinach down and halving the Worcestershire sauce, adding a little seasoning salt, and next time I would half the salt. We only made the girls eat one bite and they did not seem to mind it. When I cook up the rest that I froze they will be eating more of it. There is something about green stuff in their food that they do not like.

• Last but not least we made these homemade Granola Bars that my good friend Carrie posted. My girls loved these. I have to admit though that I did leave out the raisins and added chocolate chips. Next time we make them I am planning on adding less chocolate chips and adding some peanut butter. I also added flax seed (ground up). This makes such a healthy snack. We have been trying to eat more healthy snacks around here and these granola bars have helped greatly! What are your healthy snack ideas. I would love some ideas.

Picture From Allposters.com

Bread Machine Soft Pretzels

Every Thursday night we have "family night". I am always looking for fun things for us to do together. This last Thursday we made Soft Pretzels. I have been wanting to make soft pretzels for some time and when I came across this recipe that uses the bread machine I knew I wanted to try it. Here are some pictures of the fun and the recipe.

Measuring out the ingredients.

Bread machine mixing the dough.

Rolling out dough ropes.

The dough ropes formed into pretzels.

Boiling the pretzels for a few seconds.

Ready to go into the oven. We changed thing up just a little bit by sprinkling cinnamon sugar on a few of them, yum...

Warm out of the oven.....

eaten.....

and enjoyed.

Bread Machine Soft Pretzels

1 1/4 c. water

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. salt

1 egg yolk
2 T. sugar

1/8 tsp. pepper

3 1/2 c. bread flour
1 T. active dry yeast

1 egg white

1 T. water

Place all the ingredients except the egg white and 1 T. water in the bread machine. Set on dough setting. When complete roll out on floured surface into 16 inch ropes. Shape into pretzels. Drop in boiling water for 8 to 10 seconds. Place on greased baking sheet. Make glaze with egg white and 1 T. of water. Brush glaze over pretzel and sprinkle with Kosher salt. Place into preheated oven at 375 for 15 - 20 minutes.

Meal Planning Mommies

I wanted to share with you all a new blog that I have been reading. It is Meal Planning Mommies. This blog is put together by three moms and as you can tell from the name it is all about meal planning. I have enjoyed the recipes and suggestions. Last week they did a week on freezer meals and for those of you who know me well know that it is one of my new favorite hobbies.

Hop on over and check out Meal Planning Mommies, to get some meal planning inspiration. Oh, and by the way I was honored to be asked to guest post, so today you will find my Chicken Salad Sandwich recipe posted there.

Scrumptious Sandwich Saturdays

It is time to share another delicious sandwich recipe. I have always enjoyed chicken salad sandwiches but never attempted to make them myself until Madisen's Ballerina Party. These turned out great and the recipe is definitely a keeper. They would be great for picnics, a baby or bridal shower, or as we ate them today, for lunch.

Chicken Salad Sandwich

4 boneless chicken breast halves cooked and cut or shredded (for convenience sake I used canned chicken)

4 stalks celery cut in small pieces (I omitted)

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 cup green grapes halved (Our grapes were really big so I cut them into fourths)

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup mayonnaise

Mix and chill to blend flavors. Place on your favorite bread. Enjoy!

Valentines Shortbread Heart Cookies

One of our Valentine traditions is to make these delicious shortbread heart cookies! I have had this recipe for years and I think it came out of Family Fun magazine years and years ago. This recipe is a little time intensive, so we made parts of the cookies throughout our day: the dough in the morning, cut them out after lunch, I baked them during nap time, and we put the raspberry jelly on after nap. We will be delivering some of these cookies to our neighbor lady after dinner tonight, with some little valentines that the girls made. We'll be enjoying the rest ourselves over the next few days.

Shortbread Heat Cookies

2 sticks butter
½ c. sugar
1 t. vanilla
2 to 2 1/4 c. flour

raspberry jam

powdered sugar

• Take the butter out of the refrigerator let it sit for 20 min.
• Turn the oven on to 350 degrees.
• Mix the butter and sugar together with your hands. Add the vanilla. Add the flour a little at a time. Mix well.
• Press the dough into a flat, round shape. Wrap it in plastic and put it in the refrigerator for a half hour.
• Roll out the dough on a clean, dry counter top until it’s about a ¼ inch thick. Use hart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the cookie. Use a spatula to slide the cookie onto an un-greased baking sheet.
• If you make harts of different size, put them on separate sheets. Cover the cookies and chill in the refrigerator for 20 min.
• Bake the cookies until they’re light gold (8 to 10 min. for large hearts, 6 to 8 min. for small hearts). Slide the cookies off the baking sheet and cool on a wire rack.
• Use a butter knife to paint a jam heart on each cookie. Or put two cookies together to make a heart sandwich with jam in the middle. Press each side of the sandwich onto a plate of powdered sugar.

Mexican Lasagna

This week I have found little time for blogging as we have two sick little girls in our home, which had made for many sleepless nights. It is times like these when I am very thankful for the meal exchange group, that I am a part of, and for the dinners that I am able to pull out of the freezer.  These meals help me have more time to give to my sick little ones.

This last week we had one of our family's favorite freezer meals. This dish is delicious! I use this recipe (minus the olives) to season and cook the chicken for this recipe. I think it helps add to the wonderful flavor of this dish.

Mexican Lasagna

12 oz. cooked chicken, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 cup sour cream

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided

1 cup shredded Cheddar, divided
½ cup mild, med. or hot salsa (we use med.)

1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chilies (I use a little less then a can)
2 T. chopped fresh cilantro leaves

1 t. ground chili powder

1/4 t. ground cayenne pepper (I use about half this amount)

8 (6-inch) corn tortillas, cut into wedges

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 11 by 7 inch baking pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine chicken, sour cream, ¾ cup of the Monterey Jack cheese, ¾ cup of the Cheddar, salsa, chilies, cilantro, chili powder, and cayenne pepper, mix well and set aside.

Arrange half of the tortilla pieces in the bottom of the prepared pan, overlapping pieces slightly to cover the surface. Top with half of the chicken mixture and smooth over with the back of a spoon to even the top. Layer remaining tortillas over top, and spoon over remaining chicken mixture. Top with remaining ¼ cup each of Monterey Jack and cheddar cheeses. This is when I freeze this dish, when you are ready to serve just defrost and follow the next cooking directions.

Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 30 more minutes, until top is golden and bubbly. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

To reheat, bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Copyright, 2005,Robin Miller, All rights reserved

My Favorite Things

After reading a post a few months back at Money Saving Mom about starting your own cooking club, I knew that it was something that I wanted to try. Thankfully I have some great friends who were willing to give it a try and it has been such a great blessing and time saver.

We each pick a main dish to make and we make one for each person participating in the exchange. Then we meet and exchange meals. This month we have seven of us participating so I will come home with seven different meals. Most of us have small families so we exchange half portions (half of a casserole size dish serving 3 to 4) and we have one family who participates who makes two dishes, in exchange for full size dishes from the rest of us. We have even made a blog were we post the recipes and rate the dishes that are made each month, helping all of us know which dishes would be good to make again.

This has been so much fun and such a blessing for me. Some of the things that I love about the meal exchange is that it makes meal planning so much easier as two to three meals a week are already made and in the freezer, we get to try new dishes that we might not normally make, on busy days it makes dinner prep so easy (all of you with little ones know how that time before dinner can be), I spend about three hours in the kitchen one Saturday a month and have two to three meals a week made, it cuts down on dishes as I am cooking once for many dinners, and I can more easily shop sales for the few ingredients that are needed for my dish cutting down on my grocery budget.

This idea has caught on quickly as my sister who is in California has started her own group, and even her sister-in-law has started her own group. Even if you only have one or two friends to exchange meals with, I think it would be well worth it. Each person could even each make two dishes to exchange. 

Next week I will share with you one of our families favorite freezer friendly meals. If any of you are interested in this idea I would encourage you to read the above posting and comments as there is many good ideas and suggestions. 

Fruit Kebabs

Madisen is our little chef. She loves to help out in the kitchen. She was very excited to receive Paula Deen's my first cookbook for Christmas from my parents. My hope is to let her pick something each week to make from her cookbook.

This last week we made Fruit Kebabs. Both Madisen and Miriam had fun putting them together. They are really very simple to make. The recipe has you take skewers and put red grapes, green grapes, strawberries, and pineapple on each skewer. We ended up substituting the green grapes for blueberries because that is what we had on hand and they turned out very well! My girls are good fruit eaters, but Miriam does not always care for pineapple and blueberries, but she ate them all up.

We have really enjoyed this cookbook so far! The illustrations are so very cute. All the ingredients are laid out in picture format, which makes it easy for Madisen to see what we need to make each recipe. We are looking forward to making Frozen Bananas (chocolate covered) next.

A Christmas Morning Traditions

Our days have been filled with much activity as we get ready for Christmas and enjoy the Christmas season: from an outing to see Christmas lights, shopping, a Christmas concert, baking, cleaning, our Jesse Tree, wrapping gifts, getting ready for out of town guest, Christmas music , food prep for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and much much more.

One of the things that the girls helped me prepare today was Sticky Christmas Rolls. This has become a new Christmas morning tradition for our family. Last year someone from our church gave us these Sticky Rolls as a Christmas gift and they were wonderful! We have made them several times since then. They are so easy to make, and you can make them ahead of time and just keep them in the freezer until you are ready to make them. This year I will be serving these with a quiche and fruit.

Sticky Christmas Rolls

1 pkg. Rhode's frozen dinner rolls (I buy a big bag of these rolls and use 12 of them)

1 sm. box butter scotch pudding (the cook and serve kind)

3/4 c. pecans (I usually leave out)

1/2 c. margarine

3/4 c. brown sugar

Grease a 9 by 13 inch pan. Cover bottom with nuts. Put frozen rolls on top. Sprinkle pudding over the rolls. Melt butter and mix in cinnamon and brown sugar. Pour over rolls (You can freeze them at this point). Place damp cloth over the pan and let rise overnight in a cold oven. Remove from oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Bake rolls for 30 minutes. turn onto a foil-lined tray when done. Serve hot. Enjoy!

Picture Courtesy of Allposters.com

Cranberry Streusel Muffins

First, I have to share that they are here. My parents and two of my little sisters moved out here at the beginning of last week. They are getting settled into their new home. When Chris and I decided to go into the ministry over 7 years ago, I never thought that I would live close to my family again, and here I am not moving back home to California, but they are all moving out here to Indiana. They are just 10 minutes away! Now we just need to get my sister Sarah and her husband and new baby out here.

This last weekend we had my little
sister Amy and Katie over for a sleep over. My girls and sisters had a wonderful time together. For breakfast we made Cranberry Streusel Muffins. We all had fun making them together! They were delicious!

I found this recipe in All You Magazine. After making them, I have made a few slight tweaks to the recipe. I hope you enjoy these muffins!















Cranberry Streusel Muffins

Topping:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

2 Tbsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup chopped walnuts

8 Tbsp. melted unsalted butter

Muffins:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

8 Tbsp. unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup chopped fresh cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two muffing pans with 18 paper liners. In a bowl mix all the topping ingredients together until moistened and clumpy. Set aside.

2.To make muffin batter mix together flour baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside. In an electric mixer on medium-high cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg. Add half of the dry ingredients, then milk and vanilla. Mix in the remaining dry ingredients. Fold in the chopped cranberries into muffin batter.

3. Divide batter among the 18 muffin cups. Sprinkle topping generously over muffins, pressing lightly. Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden. Let cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pan to rack.

Scrumptious Sandwich Saturdays

Today I am sharing with you one of Madisen's favorite lunches. She loves helping me make these Chunky Egg Salad Sandwiches. I have to be honest with you all and say that I do not put the red onion, the celery or the dill in this recipe when making it with the girls. To them, anything that can be seen or is too crunchy is not OK and will be picked out. I have made this recipe in full with my sister and it was very good! I hope that you all enjoy it.

Chunky Egg Salad Sandwiches

1/2 medium red onion, chopped

12 large hard boiled eggs

1 stalk celery (with leaves), chopped

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 table. chopped fresh dill

2 table. whole - grained mustard

1 table. plus 1 teas. freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 teas. kosher salt

Sourdough bread, or your favorite bread, sliced

1. In a small bowl soak the onion in cold water, for 15 minutes. Drain

2. Cut eggs into desired size (I have the girls help me by using the egg slicer and we cut them twice, once length wise and once weight wise).

3. In a large bow, mix together the onion, celery, mayonnaise, dill, mustard, lemon juice, and salt.

4. Add the eggs to the mayonnaise mixture and gently mix them together. Season with pepper to taste. Serve on bread.

Scrumptious Sandwich Saturdays

It's that time again! Time for another one of our favorite sandwiches. This is a sandwich that I read about over at the homespun heart a few weeks ago and made it right away, and I think it is going to make a frequent appearance on our lunch menu. Today I am sharing the Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwich.

This sandwich is so rich and delicious! It makes for a nice change from the same old grilled cheese sandwich we normaly make, and I normally have on hand all the ingrediants to make it. This recipe makes enough for us to get two lunches out of it. I just froze half of the Italian loaf and defrosted it a few days later and the sandwiches tasted just as good as they did on the first day. I did not use quite a 1/3 c. of the cheese mixture on each sandwich. If you give this sandwich a try I hope you enjoy it!

The Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwich

1 pkg. 3 oz cream cheese, softened

3/4 c. mayonnaise

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. seasoned slat

10 slices Italian bread (cut 1/2 inch thick)

2 Tbsp. butter or margarine, softened

Mix cream cheese and mayo until well combined. Stir in remaining cheese and seasonings. Spread about 1/3 c. mixture on one slice bread. Butter both outside edges of bread and toast in skillet until lightly browned.