Double Delight Peanut Butter Cookies

This recipe isn't one of mine, it was put in the Stenersen cookbook by my uncle Lowell. But I figured just in case you don't have one of our wonderful cookbooks at your finger tips, I'd post the recipe so you don't miss out! ;)

1/4 C. dry roasted peanuts, finely chopped (I had the party style so I used those)
1/4 C. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 C. creamy peanut butter (I didn't have creamy so I used chunky... and extra chunky)
1/2 C. powdered sugar

1 (16.5 oz.) roll refrigerated peanut butter cookie dough (I can't find a roll in the stores around here so I just bought a 14 oz. package. But the first time I made these I just made the dough too!)

In a small bowl, mix the chopped peanuts, sugar and cinnamon. Set aside. In another bowl, mix the peanut butter and powdered sugar until well blended. Shape mixture into 24 balls, about 1 inch each.

Cut roll of cookie dough into 12 slices. Cut each slice in half to make 24 pieces. Or if you're using your homemade dough divide it into 24 balls.

Flatten the cookie dough slightly and form around one peanut butter/powdered sugar ball, covering completely. Repeat with remaining dough and peanut butter balls.



Roll each covered ball in the peanut-sugar mixture; gently pat mixture completely onto the balls.

Place 2 inches apart on a large ungreased cookie sheet. With a drinking glass, flatten each ball to 1/2 inch thickness.

Sprinkle any remaining chopped peanut mixture on the cookies; gently press into dough.

Bake at 375 degrees for 8-12 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool 1 minute. Remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Store tightly covered.

And as Lowell said on his recipe... HIDE FROM KIDS!!! Probably from yourself too if you eat them like I'd like to!

My Bread

I found this recipe a hundred years ago in a family cookbook that mom got from one of her Fuller Brush customers. It was originally called Basic Whole Wheat bread, but I have this slight problem that every time I make pure whole wheat bread it comes out of the oven about the thickness of the sole of my shoe. Well, flip flop I should say, everybody tells me they aren't shoes. Anyway, I think it's a problem that was inherited. The flat bread I mean, not the shoes... because Mom has the same issue with her WW bread. So therefore I adapted and adopted and fiddled around until I came up with this. And it turns out perfect every single time I make it. Unless I'm making it for someone ELSE other than just my family. Like when I made it a couple days ago... but that's another story. The loaf above is sadly misshapen please excuse that, because the flavor is still good! The bread knife in the picture is one of Grandma Stenersen's that I used when we stayed at her house and I loved it dearly so I stole it from mom who had inherited it from Grandma. :D

5 C. warm water
3 1/2 T. yeast
4 tsp. sugar
7 T. oil
2 T. honey
2 T. molasses
2 tsp. salt
6 C. UNbleached white flour
3 C. whole wheat flour
2 C. rye flour
1 C. oat flour (just stick a cup of rolled oats in your blender and blend it up and there's your flour!)

If you want it to be less crummy you can add in 5 T. + 1 tsp. of Gluten.
A tip from the Panera Bread cookbook says to never put the salt directly on the yeast or it will kill it and your bread won't rise.

Pour your water into your Bosch. ;) Add the yeast and sugar, mix it up a little bit, then add the oil, honey & molasses. I always alternate the oil & honey/molasses so it all comes out of the measuring spoon easily. Add the salt and mix it all up. Put in all the white flour first and get that all mixed in, and then add the rest of the flours. Let that knead for a while and then check it. If it's still kinda sticky add more white flour. Knead for 10 minutes. Oil your table or counter or whatever you're raising your bread on, dump the dough out and turn it so it's all oily. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until double. Raising it this way takes about half the time it normally would if you raised it in a bowl! Form into 4 loaves, prick the loaves, and let rise to your desired height. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and the pans and butter the tops. If you don't want crunchy crust, butter the sides and bottom also. Put in bags when it's still basically hot but don't shut the bags until it's pretty cool or you just might have soggy bread and that isn't quite as good! ;)

Hamburger Soup

First of all, I will introduce you to the main cast of characters:



Potatoes, rutabaga, cabbage, peas, onion, canned tomatoes,  green beans, celery & mushrooms. I only had this sorry can of mushrooms left and none of those wonderful fresh Baby Bellas... sigh. Oh yeah. And there's hamburger too. It just wasn't all that photogenic. And I also added in the rest of the Pepperoni that Rosie and I didn't eat while it was waiting to go into the soup. Reece laughed at me when I accused her of being as bad as me! LOL

So you chop and diced and pour and mince and stick everything in a big huge pot. And then you add a few spices...

Basil, Oregano, Thyme, Red Pepper flakes, Garlic powder, Onion powder, Mrs. Dash of course, Parsley, Italian Seasoning & Black pepper.

Here's the recipe...

1 1/2 lbs. hamburger browned with 1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 medium-large onion minced

2 1/2 C. diced potatoes

1 C. minced cabbage

2 C. rutabaga

1/2 C. minced celery
1 pt. green beans
1 qt. diced tomatoes
1 C. peas
1 can mushrooms -put them in the blender if you're serving this to mushroom haters-
About 1/2 of an 8 oz. bag of pepperoni, cut in to 1/4s
About a tablespoon of minced garlic
2 1/2 tsp. salt less or more... depending on your love of salt

1/4 - 1/2 tsp EACH -depending on how spicy you like stuff- of:
 thyme, black pepper, red pepper flakes, oregano, basil, Italian seasoning, cumin, sage, garlic powder, onion powder, Mrs. Dash & dried parsley

3 beef bouillon cubes
Water

Dump everything in a big pot over medium high heat until it starts boiling. Keep adding water and seasonings as needed until it's perfect, then cook on medium heat until all the veggies are tender.
*If you and all of your household can eat carrots you can reduce the rutabaga to 1 C. and add 1 1/2 C. sliced carrots. And if you have half a bag of broccoli taking up time & space in your freezer you can use that too. :)

This stuff is even better as leftovers because the flavors get to meld and get all lovey dovey with each other and stuff. It would also be great served with some wonderful crusty Panera bread... you can find some of their recipes here.

Lasagna

Let me warn you here and now that if you are looking for something low-fat, low calorie or low anything you have stumbled on to the WRONG page. I don't believe in that stuff. I think it tastes nasty so I don't use it. There is also the wee little problem that I forget to take pictures while I'm cooking. But I guess we can't all be PW and have "freaky alien fingers" -as she calls them-putting ingredients in to many and various pots and bowls and stuff. So here's the recipe. And some pictures I remembered to take.

I used the Italian Flat Leaf Parsley because that's what they sell at my Walmart. But when I was a kid and had to go pick it for mom and took long detours down to the barn to visit my cats we had the curly leaf stuff. It don't matter to me what you wanna use.
   

If you're wondering where this recipe came from... well... I kinda wanted Lasagna one day and I couldn't find a recipe that had EVERYTHING I thought there should be in Lasagna. So I grabbed 3 or 4 of my cookbooks and started taking all the ingredients I liked out of about 8 different recipes. Then I added a few more things I thought would sound good, and Voila! I had a recipe that Reece said wasn't too bad! Don't let that scare you tho... he says that about everything. And please don't mind the dented tomato sauce can in the picture. I didn't think about taking a picture until after I already used the UN-dented one.

                             

1/2 of a 1 lb. box of Lasagna noodles*
1 lb. hamburger
1 tsp. salt**
1 lb. Italian sausage
1 medium onion, minced
2 or 3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce (or just use a quart of your home canned tomatoes)
1 pkg. Baby Bella mushrooms, minced
3 T. butter
3/4 tsp. dried oregano (only because I keep forgetting to plant my seeds. Use fresh if you have it.)
3/4 tsp. dried basil (same sob story as above.)
1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper
1/2 C. chopped fresh cilantro, divided
1/2 C. chopped fresh parsley, divided
1/2 of an 8 oz. carton Ricotta cheese
8 oz. sour cream
8 oz. cottage cheese
6 oz. cream cheese
1/2 C. grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1 lb. shredded mozzarella cheese
10 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
Grated Parmesan cheese
Shaved Parmesan cheese
Parmesan cheese from the can for a generous sprinkle on top

*Please note. Do not be like me and forget to cook your lasagna noodles until you start layering your ingredients in the pan. It takes a lot longer to get your supper in the oven when you do such things.

**When frying hamburger, ALWAYS add 1 tsp. of salt to it WHILE cooking. Otherwise it will NEVER have the same flavor. And besides. I think it steals 3 times as much salt from everything else if it's unsalted when you mix it with other stuff.

Anyways, do you want some directions? Oh OK. I can't ever remember how to layer this right so if you screw it up you can blame my dog or the next door neighbor's pet Cheewawa ;)

Start frying the hamburger & Italian sausage. When it starts getting a little bit liquidy add the 1 tsp. salt, the onion & garlic. When the meat is all browned, drain the fat if there is any, and then add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, 1/4 C. cilantro, 1/4 C. parsley, 1/4 tsp. pepper, oregano & basil. Let that simmer on low while you do all kinds of other stuff.
Saute the mushrooms in the butter until tender. Add them to the hamburger/tomato mixture so nobody can find them. And while you're at it, don't tell Reece about this step. Thanks.
Start your noodles cooking and cook them until they're al dente. I always dump in some olive oil when I cook them so they don't lovingly cling to each other when they're cooked.
In your food processor, mix up the rest of the cilantro, parsley, Ricotta cheese, sour cream, cottage cheese, cream cheese, grated Parmesan cheese, egg, 3/4 tsp. salt & garlic salt.
In a big huge pan- LOL! I think mine is actually a roaster- layer one third of the meat sauce, one third of the white sauce, about one third each of the mozzarella, cheddar & grated Parmesan cheeses & half the noodles. Repeat that layer once, then put the remaining white sauce, meat sauce, mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese & shaved Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle with The canned Parmesan and some oregano or pepper or some other dark colored dried Italian spice. :) It should kinda look like this: Minus the funky color from having to use flash because my house has a weird lighting issue...

 Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.