Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies (revised)

A couple years ago (can't believe I've been blogging that long!!) I posted a recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies I love them, they didn't need any improvement.
But, I'm really trying to get away from shortening as an ingrediant. I actually don't have any in my house right now and I didn't have a can of pumpkin but I had pumpkin puree that I made myself. So I had to modify the recipe.

For some reason the color is not as orange as when I used the canned pumpkin. Not sure what that is about. I added more flour than the original recipe because my pumpkin puree was quite moist.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 c. pumpkin puree
1 c. butter
2 c. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
3 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
2 c. whole wheat flour
3 c. white flour.
Mix together
Stir in 1 to 2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips (1/2 to whole package).
Drop by teaspoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake @ 350 for 11-14 minutes... till bottoms are barely golden - do not over bake

Honey Sweetened Apple Pie

This is adapted from my regular apple pie recipe.
You don't taste honey at all, this pie has a very natural sweet flavor and is really good. I'm working my way towards not using sugar in our every day diet, so I loved the way this came out. I've used honey in a couple things and just tasted such a strong honey flavor I am apprehensive to use it in alot of things, but one of my friends strongly recommended I make an apple pie with honey- Thanks for the kick in the pants Becky! :-)

Honey Sweetened Apple Pie

Pie Crust:
For 1 two-crusted pie (9") or 2 one-crust pie (9")

2 c. flour
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
~
1/2 c. cold water
1/2 c. oil
Mix the water and oil with a fork until "creamy" looking, then pour it into the flour, sugar & salt mixture. Stir until moistened and the dough is in one ball. Separate into 2 equal portions. I roll it out in between 2 layers of wax paper or large plastic wrap, then peel off the top layer of wax paper, slip your hand under the bottom layer, under the rolled out dough, "flip" it onto the pie pan, press it into the corners of the pie pan and then peel that paper off.
Save the other portion of dough of the top of the pie.

Apple Pie Filling:
4 large sized Golden Delicious apples, cored, peeled and sliced. (This time I used mackintosh apples)
1/4 c. honey
1/2 c. flour
Mix the honey and flour into the apples. Spread the apple mixture into the unbaked pie shell.
Roll out the top pie crust, cut some slits in it for steam to escape, lay onto the top of the apples, remove wax paper and press the edges of the top and bottom crusts together. Here are some good directions to make a decorative edge or you can just press them with your fingers or a fork.
Bake at 425˚ for 50-60 minutes. The pie will be a golden brown on top.

Chocolate Cake

Stephen's birthday. He wanted a Chocobo on his cake, so he looked up this picture. He drew it out on the cake with a tooth pick and I went over it with the frosting. Didn't he do such a good job?!


Chocolate Man of the House Cake
2 1/3 c. flour
1 TB baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. oil
2 eggs
1 c. milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c. high quality unsweetened baking cocoa

Mix everything thoroughly, pour into a 9" x 13" baking dish, greased. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

I'll be honest, I haven't perfected this chocolate cake yet. It's good- it's just the chocolate that I want. I've tried sweeten cocoa and unsweetened, and it does taste better with the unsweetened. But I would like it more chocolate. A friend of mine suggested a package of chocolate pudding, and I probably will try that.

Crockpot Apple Butter

With our abundance of apples we made apple butter in the crockpot-- super easy!
I think my crockpot is a 4 qt.


Crockpot Apple Butter
Cored, peeled and cut apples to fill crockpot
Add:
2-3 c. sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves

Cook on low for 12-16 hours.
I just put mine in jars, put seal lids on, tipped them upside down for 5 minutes and then turned them rightside up again. I have some really good sealing jars though, if I were using a typicall canning jar, lid and rings I would give them a 10 minute "water bath".

This did come out quite sweet with 2 1/2 c. sugar, so next batch I am going to cut that down some more.
I have an apple corer, peeler, slicer similar to this one. The first time I did it I left the apples pretty much the way they came off the peeler, corer, slicer and it made about 2 pints, the 2nd time I did it I broke the apples into smaller pieces so I fit alot more in and just packed it down. I got about 4 or 5 pints.

With being in the crockpot for so long the apple butter does have a darker color, but it tastes just as good as traditional apple butter!


Our process:

Kitchen Crazyness

I have a huge amount of apples. A friend of a friend has a tree and so we picked alot. I'll have to post a picture... only we are working on the entrance to the kitchen and the wall the computers are normally on, so 2 computers are dissconnected and too far from the cable to bother with hooking up. I'm using Luke computer, which is a little on the slow side, but I can check email and what not. Just have to be more patient.
I have made a batch of crockpot apple butter, 4 pies (one of them made with honey instead of sugar- wonderful!) and apple cinnamon rolls. Made from this recipe, only I put in some apple chunks instead of raisins.
So I have some recipes to post and pictures to download and post, so maybe I'll be able to do that later this week. But we have to put up sheetrock, texture and then prime and paint the wall. After that I'll put the computers back. :-)

Yet Another Blog

So I started a new blog. It's my money making attempt.

In order to make money I do have to have an original blog post between each advertising post, so I will be writing things and posting pictures. I also need to have it going for 30 days before I start posting the ads.
I didn't want to do it on my cooking or family blog, just felt that it cheapens them a little- so I started a new one.
If you visit- Thanks!

Life in This Busy House

Breakfast Veggies

Brian was wanting to increase his fruits and veggies and I had just read an article about blending leafy greens as a cheaper alternative to juicing them- takes alot more to juice, so with a large family blending seemed like a great option. We tried it and actually liked it. The spinach isn't too strong, we actually taste the orange juice and strawberries more than spinach.

Now every morning with breakfast we have glasses of green juice. Naomi used to wake up and ask for milk and now she asks for juice. She loves it!

I just eyeball it every day, so I took a picture of the blender so you could have more of an idea of what I use.

I pack in 2 or 3 handfuls of spinach, 3-5 frozen strawberries and pour orange juice over that until it hits around the 2 cup mark on the blender. Then my blender makes it really easy because it has a "drink" button and goes through several different speeds for about a minute.

I've stuck in apples, bananas, peaches, apricots, etc and they are all tasty.

Just so you know, Naomi won't eat spinach any other way so I love it when she drinks a big glass of juice.