Scrumptious Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies might sound strange, but they taste great!
Make them with with your kids this Thankgiving. Give a batch to grandma and grandpa.

What you need:
1) 1 cup of pumpkin
2) 2 cups of flour
3) 1 cup of brown sugar
4) 1/2 cup of real butter
5) 1 egg
6) 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
7) 1 1/2 tablespoons of vanilla extract
8) 2 teaspoons of baking powder
9) 1 teaspoon of baking soda
10) 1/2 teaspoon of salt
11) 1 1/2 teaspoons of milk
12) 2 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

What you need to do: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In mixing bowl put in pumpkin, sugar, egg and butter. Blend in electric mixer for best results. In a different bowl put flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Mix baking soda with milk in a tiny bowl and stir in. Pour one bowl into another and mix in mixer. Add vanilla, making sure it gets mixed in well! Add chocolate chips, making sure they get mixed in dough well, too. Using a spoon put cookie dough on greased cookie sheets. Bake for 11 minutes. Enjoy!

Candied Almond Recipe: Dessert to make with Teenager

Candied Almond Recipe for Parents/Grandparents to bake with a teenager. The ingredients get hot so this is a cooking project to do with your teen, NOT your young child. But younger siblings will like the end result.
Ingredients you will need:
2 cups of almonds
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons butter
1 and ½ tablespoons cinnamon

You will also need:
Saucepan
Big spoon
2 cookie sheets
Non-stick cooking spray or butter for cookie sheet
Metal spaghetti spoon (spoon with holes in it)
Metal spatula
Plate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Spread almonds out on cookie sheet.
Place in oven.
Bake for 15 minutes depending on your oven. Watch almonds so they don’t burn. Flip them over every so often so they roast on both sides.
In saucepan put honey and butter. Melt them on medium heat. When melted, reduce heat to medium-low. Let simmer for 2 ½ minutes. Stir occasionally.
Add roasted almonds to saucepan. Stir occasionally for 2 ½ minutes.
Spray other cookie sheet with cooking spray or rub butter on it.
With metal spaghetti spoon transfer almonds to sprayed or buttered cookie sheet.
Now add cinnamon and sugar to saucepan. Stir then carefully add almonds again to saucepan. Stir more.
After cinnamon and sugar is evenly coated on almonds place them back on oiled cookie sheet. Put in broiler for several seconds so sugar can caramelize.
With metal spatula take almonds off cookie sheet and put on plate. Let cool!
Do not let children under three have nuts. They can choke. Watch your older child (age three to five) eat the almonds to make sure they don’t choke on them.

Make Super Easy Homemade Fruit Ice Cream

Easy Homemade Fruit Ice Cream

This Fruit Ice Cream is so good you’ll ask for it in Heaven.
Serves four to five people.

What ingredients you will need to make this Fruit Ice Cream: 5 cups of frozen fruit (Peaches, Strawberries, Blueberries. All make tasty ice cream.); one teaspoon of vanilla; half a cup of Fructose (I got mine from Whole Foods grocery store) If you don’t have Fructose you can use regular sugar but end result won’t taste as heavenly; one and half cups of heavy whipping cream.

What you need to do:
1-Put all five cups of frozen fruit in your Cuisinart. It should fill half the bowl. If you don’t have a Cuisinart you can use your blender, but be careful not to over blend ice cream. Honestly, this ice cream tastes better if you can make it in a Cuisinart. I can say this because I did a tried and true test on it. Press Pulse on your Cuisinart a few times to crush fruit. (Or blend slowly in blender.)

2-Add Fructose or sugar and vanilla. Always do this before adding heavy whipping cream. Press Pulse again. (Or blend).

3-Add heavy whipping cream. Mix again. Taste. You might want to add more sugar or more cream depending on your taste. Serve fruit ice cream right away or place ice cream in bowls and put in freezer to serve when ready.

Ice Cream Pie Recipe

This ice cream pie recipe is as easy to make as 1, 2, 3, 4. Kids love this tasty dessert and they can help make it!
What you need: Small package of chocolate cookies with cream centers; ice cream of your choice; chocolate syrup; half a stick of real butter (1/2 a cup); can of whipped cream (or a bag of it with a roseate tip); pie pan; mixing bowl; two spoons; heavy duty freezer bag; rolling pin; toothpicks; cherries (optional); sprinkles (optional); and aluminum foil.

What to do:
1- Put cookies in heavy duty freezer bag. (You want to make enough crumbs to fill bottom of pie pan one inch thick.) Seal freezer bag. Roll over it with rolling pin again and again. Add butter. Mix together with spoon. Now fill bottom of pie pan with crumbs. Next place whole cookies straight up all around edge of pan. This is nice for serving purposes because each person can have a slice of pie as big as one or one and half cookie edges.

2- Put ice cream in mixing bowl and let ice cream soften. (Do NOT mix by using a regular mixing bowl because the consistency will not come out right.) Keep hitting middle of ice cream in bowl with a hard wooden spoon to soften it. The edges will melt. Do not use this liquid. Put it in a cup and place in freezer or let your child drink it. When ice cream is soft enough put in pie pan and smooth over nicely. Your child can make funny designs in ice cream with a toothpick. Or they can sprinkle candy sprinkles on pie.

Or
3- Using the whipped cream make small quick dots all around edge of pie. Make one dot in direct middle of pie. If you know how to use a bag of whipped cream create small rosettes all around pie pan. Place one rose in middle.

4- In the dot/rose in the middle of pie place a cherry (ones with stems are nice). Drizzle chocolate syrup in an overlapping O pattern, from mid cherry to edge of whipped cream dots. Go all around pie. When done place cherries in each and every whipped cream dot/rosette. To keep ice cream pie nice looking until you eat it, put toothpicks in pie and cover with aluminum foil. Toothpicks make sure foil does not mess up ice cream pie. Place ice cream pie in freezer until ready to eat. Enjoy!

Fast Apple Dessert

Simple, fast Apple Dessert. Cut apples in halves. Put halves, skins facing downward, on broiler pan. Put in broiler. When lightly brown on the outside and soft on the inside take out. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Let cool before serving. You can also do the same with pears. Some people like to sprinkle their pear with a touch of fresh lemon as well as using sugar and cinnamon.

St. Pat's Day's Recipe: My Big Sister's Grasshopper Pie

Grasshopper Pie
(And no, it doesn't really have grasshoppers in it)

First buy or make 8-9 inch pie crust.

Ingredients you need for pie filling:
25 large marshmallows
1 cup of whipped cream
½ a cup of milk
3 tablespoons of Crème de Menthe (this is liquor)
2 tablespoons of Crème de Cacao (this is liquor)
3 drops of green food coloring

Pour milk into mixing bowl. Melt marshmallows (in another container). Once melted add marshmallows to milk. Stir in Crème de Menthe and Crème de Cacao. Add drops of food coloring to mixture. Fold in whipped cream. Pour in pie crust. Freeze pie overnight. Serve frozen.

A Simple, Tastey Recipe for Kids

Coconut Orange Delight.
This is a food activity kids can do with supervision.
What you need: One orange per person. Tiny marshmallows. Shredded coconut/coconut flakes. White chocolate.
I have had orange delight with and without chocolate. Trust me it tastes better with the white chocolate. It gives it an added flavor.

Cut orange in ½ inch slices. Put in bowl.
Add a scoop of marshmallows.
Sprinkle in shredded coconut or coconut flakes. Mix with spoon.
Lastly, with a cheese grater grate white chocolate on top. Enjoy.

Awesome Tasting Peppermint Cookie Recipe

Santa's Secret Peppermint Cookies. My all time favorite holiday cookie!

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees
In one bowl- Sift… 1 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of ginger

In another bowl- Cream together… 2/3 cup of butter with
½ cup of firmly packed brown sugar
In this second bowl- Blend in... 1 unbeaten egg and
2 tablespoons of molasses. Beat well

Add... 1/2 cup of crushed peppermint stick candy (put candy in zip lock bags and roll over and over with rolling pin) with dry ingredients. Mix all ingredients together well.

Using teaspoon put cookie dough onto slightly greased cookie sheets.
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes
Should make around 3 1/2 dozen cookies

Frost cookies after they have cooled somewhat or the frosting will melt too much. If desired, your child can sprinkle holiday sprinkles onto frosting before it hardens.

PEPPERMINT FROSTING:
Combine 2 cups of powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of a top quality vanilla, 2 teaspoons of crushed peppermint candy,
2 tablespoons of soft butter and three drops of
red food coloring. Blend in 1 to 3 tablespoons
of whole milk until you have consistency you like.

Don't have Ginger Bread Handy? Then Create a Graham Cracker House

Holiday Arts and Craft Project. This Christmas make a Graham Cracker House.

Needed items:
1) A box of Graham crackers.
2) White canned frosting or make your own. The frosting will be used in this project as glue and as snow.
3) Gum drops. This makes a colorful fence.
4) Red licorice. For door and window frames.
5) Hard candy. Makes a stone wall.
6) Tiny marshmallows. For Snowman. Roof tiles.
7) M&M's or Skittles. To decorate sides and for roof tiles.
8) Starburst Candy. This can be used to make a chimney stack. Or use on sides as fence. Can be roof tiles. Or create a walkway to house with them.
9) Snack size candy bar. For a chimney.
10) Cake sprinkles.
11) Other candy you think you can use for something on the house. Have your child use their imagination.
12) Stiff paper plate.

You will build the house on the paper plate. Start with walls of the house as if you were building a house of cards. The Graham crackers will be the walls. You might need to hold the crackers steady as your child glues them together with frosting. Frost three edges of each cracker. Place bottom of frosted cracker upright on plate. Let dry a bit. Then build an A frame roof (at an angle place two sides of Graham crackers together). Frost wall tops and ends of roof together to keep frame up. Hold and let dry. Now at this point make a decision. Will you be frosting the whole house or just the roof? If you want to do the whole house I suggest you do it all at the beginning.

If you are going to do the whole house start with the sides. Gently frost it with a rubber spatula. When done, do roof. When done, outline a doorway using the string licorice. Do the same for windows. Place M&M's and/or Skittles all over wall siding or make a design on wall. Decorate the roof using M&M's, Skittles, and tiny marshmallows. Sprinkle cake sprinkles on roof for festive look. Your child can stack up five Starbursts for a chimney. Or they can use the snack size candy bar for this. Once house is decorated to your child's satisfaction they can do the yard. Spread frosting around house on the plate. Stack up three marshmallows to make a snowman. Use a dab of frosting in-between marshmallows to keep snowman up. Using finger put a teeny dab of frosting on the side of the top marshmallow. Using sprinkles make a face. Place in two eyes, nose and mouth on marshmallow. You can make a walkway to front door using Starbursts. Place gum drop all around house or just in front as a fence. For a stone wall stack hard candy, using frosting as cement to keep them in place.

My Mom's Secret Pumpkin Pie Recipe

The Secret is out, at least for my readers. This is a great tasting pumpkin pie recipe which my mom told me she got from her mom.

Mom's Amazing Pumpkin Pie Recipe

1 1/2 cups of cooked pumpkin (strain it) or buy canned pumpkin
1 cup of brown sugar
3 eggs
1 cup of evaporated milk
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/4 or 1/2 (depending on your taste) teaspoon of ginger
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of molasses
1/4 teaspoon of cloves
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
1 unbaked pie shell, 9 inches round

Break eggs into large bowl and beat.
Add all ingredients BUT milk and molasses. Blend well.
Now add milk and molasses. Blend again.
Put into pie shell.
Bake in oven at 400 F (degrees) for 40 to 45 minutes.

For Halloween: A Spooky Breakfast

Tomorrow or Halloween morning cook up some pancakes. When ready cut pancakes into ghost shapes. You can use a knife or a pizza cutter to cut the shapes. If you have ghost and/or witch cookie cutters use them on pancakes. For the ghost use chocolate chips or raisins for eyes and a Cheerio for the mouth.

Halloween Drink

I realize my audience is expanding to other countries, but since I'm from the States this week I'm focusing on Halloween.
Dracula punch. Great for a Halloween party. Make a large bowl of red punch. Put in gummy eyeballs and gummy worms. Boys especially like this drink. Serve punch with a large ladle to make sure kids get eyeballs and worms in their plastic cup.

Don't miss My Mom's Homemade Pumpkin Pie recipe which will be posted the week before Thanksgiving. It's a recipe people really like.

Uses for a melon scooper; plus make cookies with a surprise inside.

If your child is like my nephew they'll find it fun (for awhile at least) to scoop melon balls out of melons with a melon scooper. Scoop a variety of balls from cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew… and put in bowls. Add sliced nectarines and/or strawberries. Top it off with whip cream for a cool, fresh dessert.
The melon scooper is also the perfect size for scooping cookie dough onto cookie sheets.
Wet scooper in bowl of water every other time so cookie dough won't stick to it.
For a cookie surprise put a couple of gummy candies in each cookie before baking. Or bake some cookies with gummies and some without. Then have your child look for the gummies. Children find this fun.

Hot weather treat

Hot weather treat. Put store bought juice pouches over night in freezer. The next afternoon take them out. Let them thaw for about fifteen minutes until they are slushy. If there is a straw hole in pouch your child can use it. Otherwise cut the top off pouch. Your child can scoop out the slushy like juice with a spoon and eat it.

Deviled Eggs: Simple kitchen activity to do with your child.

Recipe for Deviled Eggs- Simple kitchen activity to do with your child.

Boil six eggs. Once eggs are hard boiled I find shells are easier to peel if I put them under cold water first. Cut eggs in half. Scoop out yokes. Put yokes in a mixing bowl. Add three drops of Worcestershire sauce to yokes. Stir. Taste. Add more Worcestershire sauce to your liking. Don't over do it. Mix in mustard and mayonnaise to your liking. Stir. Put yoke mixture in egg whites.

Check out the experiment for Science Day Thursday evening.