Aunt Florence's Plain Cookies for Decorating

This is my great aunt Florence's recipe for sugar cookies.  The copy of the recipe that I have actually calls them Aunt Florence's Plain Cookies for Decorating.  I have always thought that was funny and so I like to call them that for fun.  These cookies are delicious and taste different than any other sugar cookies I've ever had.  I think it's the nutmeg.  I made a batch of dough up last night then rolled them out, cut them, baked and decorated them today.  This takes quite some time and is definitely not a quick little baking project.  However, they are really good and I hadn't made them in close to two years.

Ingredients:

3 eggs

2 C sugar

1 C crisco

3 T milk

5 C flour

1 T baking powder

1 tsp nutmeg

First mix together eggs, sugar and crisco until smooth.  Have you ever used the Crisco bars instead of the big tub?  I did it for the first time last night and it was soooo much cleaner.  I hate dipping into that big ol' tub of Crisco.  1 stick = 1 Cup which was perfect for this recipe.

Add milk and mix.

Add half of the flour, baking powder and nutmeg and mix well.

Slowly add the rest of the flour and mix together.  This dough is super thick and so is almost impossible to make without an electric mixer.  

Roll dough into a ball and chill.  I refrigerated it over night.

Roll out dough and cut into desired shapes.

Bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes.

 These cookies are intended to be decorated (hence the name) and you can do so however you choose.

I mix confectioner's sugar, a little milk and a little vanilla or almond extract plus food coloring to the desired consistency and often add sprinkles.  I am not great in the decorating category so my cookies always get decorated with solid colors.  You can only see Christmas trees in the picture but I also did snowmen, snowflakes, candy canes and gingerbread houses.

Dutch Oven Cherry Cobbler

We celebrated Father's Day last night and I made cherry cobbler for dessert. This recipe is so very easy and good!

Ingredients

4 cans cherry pie filling

1 box white or yellow cake mix

1/2 C brown sugar

Cinnamon 

1 stick butter

Dump cherry pie filling into a Dutch oven 

Top with dry cake mix.

Sprinkle brown sugar over cake mix.

Sprinkle cinnamon over top.

Cut stick of butter into 1 T slices and lay over the top.

Cook covered at 375 degrees for 45-60 minutes.  It is finished when the cake mix is a nice golden brown color.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

This can also be cooked over a camp fire.

Most Popular Recipes of 2013

I thought I would recap some of the most popular recipes on the blog for 2013.   These are the top recipes by page views and pins on pinterest.   Far & away this was the most popular post...   Beef & Broccoli  

  Followed by my Crockpot Buffalo Chicken  

  Pesto  

  Pizza Rolls  

  Pumpkin Dip  

  Baked Ziti  

Pasta Primavera   

      NOW FOR SOME OF OUR FAVORITE DISCOVERIES OF THE YEAR... Strawberry Rhubarb Pie  

   Grilled Pizzas  

Shrimp & Grits

 Oven Roasted Butternut Squash  

Sweet Potato Casserole

I started making this dish back in high school and I love it.  I have no idea where I originally found the recipe as I have it written on a scrap of paper in my recipe binder.  I should probably transfer the recipe to something that will last.  I love sweet potatoes but not with marshmallows.  This one is wonderful and has a nice crunchy top.  I took it to 2 Thanksgiving meals this year and it was well received all around.  Even better I had sweet potatoes left from my last CSA portion earlier in November.

 

  Ingredients   3 cups of mashed sweet potatoes (usually about 4 large potatoes) 1/4 C brown sugar 1/4 C granulated sugar 2 T butter 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla 1 tsp nutmeg 1 tsp cinnamon 1 5 oz can evaporated milk   Topping 1/2 stick butter, melted 1/2 C chopped pecans 1 C crushed corn flakes 3/4 C brown sugar       Peel & boil sweet potatoes until very tender.   Then mash. Add all ingredients through evaporated milk to sweet potatoes and mix well together. In a separate bowl, mix all ingredients for topping together. Spread sweet potato mixture into casserole dish - I usually use a 9x5 dish Top with topping mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
 This is my absolute favorite Thanksgiving side.  I like it so much I make it at Easter too!  Enjoy it!

Meal Planning Monday!

  I don't have a meal plan for this week.  We have so much stuff going on and a few meetings between when Eric gets home at 5:00 and I leave at 6:30 this week so there will be very little time for us to sit down and eat together.  Meals will likely amount to one of two things quick or frozen.  Then I am headed out Saturday morning for my vacation.  So what I have is a week in review.     Monday Plan: Baked Spaghetti    We made spaghetti on Sunday and made it baked spaghetti on Tuesday.  I forgot to take a picture after we added the cheese and baked it so it just looks like spaghetti here.  Eric made homemade sauce for the spaghetti and I shared the recipe here.

    Tuesday Plan: Smoky Corn Chowder We ate baked spaghetti again. I did end up making the chowder on Sunday for our football party and I will share the recipe this week.     Wednesday Plan: Drunken Noodles   This was a Schwan's meal that we had in our freezer.  We ate it along with some potstickers.  

    Thursday Plan: Bowling Alley Ate at the bowling alley.     Friday Plan: Charlottesville We headed down to Charlottesville when Eric got off of work to meet some of my college/sorority friends for dinner.  We got there earlier than they did so we headed to one of our favorite spots, Miller's, for drinks and appetizers before they arrived.   Then we met them at South Street Brewery for dinner.  These pictures are from Miller's.  I didn't take any at South Street...or with my friends...fail!  

    Saturday Plan: Zuppa Toscana Fail!  We went out to El Jaripeo with our friends Travis & Erika.  Who can pass up Mexican?     Sunday Plan: Football Party We had so much good food for our party.  I made crockpot chicken chili, smoky corn chowder with shrimp, pigs in a blanket, Mexican dip, and pumpkin dip.  We also had homemade salsa, bacon wrapped deer tenderloin, chips & dip and Reese's peanut butter rice krispies.   Click the links above to see the recipes.  I will share the dip & corn chowder recipes this week.  Of course, I forgot to take the picture before we started eating so this is all half eaten and no longer pretty.  

The half eaten spread

Crockpot Chicken Chili

"The Dip"

Smoky Corn Chowder with Shrimp

  I apologize if this week's menu seems a little boring.  I didn't have many recipes to share.  But as a bonus I made these Sea Salt Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies and we thought they were pretty amazing!

 

5 on Friday!

    {one}   I decorated my mantle for fall finally!  I even made a little DIY fall leaf garland.  

    {two} One week with 3 shifts at work is all that stands between me and 18 days off work.  I am going on a Western Caribbean cruise with my mom, my Gramma & my mom's cousin Shirley.  Then I have a few days to hang out back in Florida and my mom, my Gramma & my 2 aunts are going to Savannah, GA for 4 days.  I am so excited for vacation, a week of Caribbean sunshine, & most of all to go to Savannah as I have never been there!  I will be savoring this time because as of now, the next planned time I have a whole week off of work is next August.     {three}    Last Saturday night we had friends in town from Richmond.  We went out to dinner at a local BBQ restaurant with a big group of people.  It was so good!  Then we went to Bdubs after to hang out for a bit since that's the only place to go in Culpeper after 10pm.   

    {four}   I made Sea Salt Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies on Sunday.  They were really, really good.  We both loved them.  We took them to our friends Travis & Erika's to watch the Redskins game that night and they were fans too.  These will definitely get made again!  

  {five}   I'm meeting some friends/coworkers for breakfast this morning.  Work has been insane lately so it's nice that we can take some time to get together outside of work!    

Sea Salt Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies

After 4 days of straight rain over the weekend I was feeling a little stir crazy and bored so I decided to bake some cookies.  I had seen this recipe a long, long time ago on Pinterest for Sea Salt Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies and I thought it sounded pretty good.  I love chocolate or caramel with a hint of sea salt and these cookies have all three.

 

Ingredients

2 C + 2 T flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1.5 sticks butter

1 C brown sugar

1/2 C sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 tsp vanilla

3/4 C chocolate chips

16 caramel candies, cut in quarters

 

Cream butter & sugars together in mixer.
Add eggs & vanilla and mix together.
Slowly add flour and baking soda, mixing well.
Add chocolate chips.
Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes.
Scoop dough out in balls and then press caramel pieces into each piece of dough.

Bake at 325 for 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown, cookies should be soft in center.
Sprinkle with sea salt as soon as you remove them from the oven.

Cool on a wire rack.

  They are amazing!  Enjoy!    

Meal Planning Monday!

  This week's meal plan might as well be called the week of soup.  Blame it on 5 straight rainy, dreary days I guess.  Sometimes soup is just so good plus a lot of times when we make soup we will freeze half of it so we have a quick meal at some point down the road.     Monday: Baked Spaghetti Eric made homemade tomato sauce with ground beef yesterday so we will use this to make baked spaghetti.  We have a meeting today at 4:00 and  I have to be at work at 7:00 so it doesn't leave us a whole lot of time to get anything together.     Tuesday: Smoky Corn Chowder with Shrimp     Wednesday: Drunken Noodles We have a frozen drunken noodles meal from Schwans so we will just whip that up for dinner since it's another work night for me.      Thursday: Bowling Alley     Friday:  Charlottesville? I am hoping we can get down to Charlottesville to meet a bunch of my college friends for dinner.     Saturday: Zuppa Toscana I planned to make this a few week's ago and it didn't happen.  Once again we are getting potatoes and kale in our CSA portion so that's already most of the things I need.     Sunday:  Football Party We are having friends over for a football party for the Redskins game.  It's a 1:00 game but we will probably be eating in the afternoon and not eating dinner.  I know chili is on the menu, probably also chips & dip or maybe pumpkin dip.  I'll share the exact menu in my recap next week.
 

   
Last week's recap...  

Monday Plan: BLTs & chips
BLTs & dill pickle chips it was.  We used Schwan's pepper bacon.  It's really good!

 

Tuesday Plan: Chicken & Sweet Potatoes
We marinaded some chicken with a garlic & herb marinade and grilled it.  It was served alongside baked sweet potatoes.  I forgot to take a picture.


Wednesday Plan: Chicken Stir Fry
Eric made this chicken stir fry and I shared the recipe Thursday.

Thursday Plan: Bowling Alley
I ate at the bowling alley but Eric actually ate more of the leftover stir fry.


Friday Plan: Slow Cooker Beef Sliders with Pickled Peppers

Saturday Plan: Leftover Beef Sliders
We had the leftovers for lunch then went out to The Cattle Co., a local BBQ restaurant, with a big group of friends for dinner since we had friends visiting from Richmond.

Sunday Plan:  Taste of Culpeper
It was rainy and gross & we hadn't pre-purchased our tickets so instead we stayed home and did a lot of cooking.  We had hot ham & cheese sandwiches for lunch.  Then, Eric made homemade tomato sauce and  I made Sea Salt Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Then we made breaded & pan fried chicken breasts with potatoes & onions from our CSA portion for dinner.

And just for a bonus, I made these Peanut Butter Double Fudge Brownie Cookies on Sunday.

  

  We did pretty well at sticking to our plan for the week.  As always there were a few change ups for the weekend.  We ate a meal out when we had planned to eat at home but then we ate a meal at home when we had planned to eat out so it all balanced out.