White Chocolate Chip Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

My friend posted these on her blog from Recipezaar a couple days ago. They are so good!

White Chocolate Chip Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

¾ cup sugar

¼ cup packed brown sugar

½ cup butter, softened

1 large egg

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 ½ cups quick-cooking oats (not instant)

¾ cup dried cranberries

6 ounces white chocolate chips or swirled (semi-sweet/white) chips

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a large bowl using an electric mixer combine the sugar, brown sugar and butter; mix well to cream together.

Add in egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined.

Add the cinnamon, baking soda, salt and flour and mix well.

Fold in the oatmeal, dried cranberries and white chocolate chips- making sure that all ingredients are uniformly distributed.

Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place 3 inches apart onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes, just until the edges are lightly golden.

Remove from oven and let cool for 2-3 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer cookies to cooling rack.

PUmpkin Muffins

Eek! October is almost over and I haven't even been publishing a smorgasborg of pumpkin recipes. I better get started!


Pumpkin Muffins
from somewhere on the Food Network

2 C flour ( i substitued 1/2 c whole wheat flour)
2 t cinnamon (i also added nutmeg and cloves- however much you want)
1 t b soda
1/4 t b powder
1/2 t salt
1.5 c sugar
3/4 c v oil
3 lg eggs
1 t vanilla
2 c pumpkin

Preheat oven to 325.

Line muffin tin.

Combine dry ingredients (flour, spices, b soda, b powder, salt) in a bowl.

Combine sugar, v oil, vanilla. stir with a whisk. add eggs one at a time whisking until combined. stir in pumpkin.


Add dry ingredients to wet.


Scoop into prepared muffin tins. I also placed a single pecan nut half on top of each one.




Bake for 30 minutes.

You can also do a loaf, but i think you need to bake it for 50-60 minutes.
I also still had left over ganache from the winning hearts and minds cake (i know i know, it's beena while since that cake) but i used up the last of it on top of the muffins and it was delicious!
Adding choco chips would be good too. or dried cranberries.

Happy Halloween!

I used a screw driver to make the swirly design. cool huh?

italian sausage soup

Gonna try this one tonight. It has good reviews, so we'll see how it goes. PS. It was fabulous! Darin had 2 bowls! I added some bowtie pasta to it too and it just added the right touch. Gotta make it! Italian Sausage Soup

Rated: Submitted By: SALLYJUN Photo By: Emily Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 40 Minutes Ready In: 50 Minutes Servings: 6

"This soup is easy to put together, and the flavor of the spicy sausage is balanced nicely by Great Northern beans, zucchini, fresh spinach, and carrots. Makes a delicious winter supper."

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound Italian sausage 1 clove garlic, minced 2 (14 ounce) cans beef broth 1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style stewed tomatoes 1 cup sliced carrots

1 (14.5 ounce) can great Northern beans, undrained 2 small zucchini, cubed 2 cups spinach - packed, rinsed and torn 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 1/4 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a stockpot or Dutch oven, brown sausage with garlic. Stir in broth, tomatoes and carrots, and season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 15 minutes.
2.	Stir in beans with liquid and zucchini. Cover, and simmer another 15 minutes, or until zucchini is tender.
3.	Remove from heat, and add spinach. Replace lid allowing the heat from the soup to cook the spinach leaves. Soup is ready to serve after 5 minutes.

cashew chicken

This comes from a cookbook put together by the church we went to in Lima. It was contributed by Dana Hays. I never have followed it completely with the vegetable ingredients, but just add whatever I have on hand or in the freezer. Tonight I made it with zucchini (which I substitute a lot for mushrooms since we don't like them), carrots, broccoli, onions, and green beans. It was a little salty, maybe because of the bouillon I used, but so far, it is my favorite recipe for the "brown sauce" on stir fry. Maybe since Eric is a stir fry connoisseur he has a better recipe?? Anyway, here it is:

3 chicken breasts sliced 1/8 inch thick

1/2 lb pea pods or 2 pkg of frozen peas partially thawed

1/2 lb mushrooms

4 stalks of green onions

1 can bamboo shoots, drained

1 Tbsp chicken bouillon granules, dissolved

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 Tbsp cornstarch

1 Tbsp oil

1/4 cup cashews ( I added 1 cup because I LOVE toasted cashews)

Dissolve 1 Tbsp bouillon in 1 cup of water or broth. Stir 2 Tbsp cornstarch into 1/4 cup soy sauch. Heat 1 Tbsp oil over medium high heat, and add nuts all at once, saute until toasted. Remove the nuts from the pan. Add chicken to pan, cook until it turns white. Add peas and mushrooms. Pour in broth, cover, and simmer 2 minutes or until veggies are tender. Add bamboo shoots, stir in the soy sauce mixture into the pan juices. Cook until the sauce is thickened, stirring frequently. Add nuts and green onions cut into fan shaped pieces. Serve over rice.