Remembering

With the weather getting cooler I find myself baking more.

Banana Nut Bread.

Just a simple recipe from my 1963 McCall's Recipe Book.

But, oh so yummy.....

I love how my home warms with the delicious aromas.

My boys enjoy the fruits of my labor.....

just as I did when I was a young girl

and my mom would bake.

While I was baking my thoughts drifted to when I was young and I would come home to the smell of my mom's homemade cinnamon rolls. In the country where we lived...she was famous for them and her homemade bread. There would be bowls of dough rising on the stove, always covered with a cloth. Trays of cinnamon rolls cooling, waiting to be frosted with mom's delicious frosting. Once she rolled out the dough on our kitchen table, us kids would be allowed to help spread the melted butter, cinnamon and sugar. With her recipe she would make cinnamon rolls, bear claws and during the holidays she would twist the dough into candy cane shapes and make the stripes out of strawberry jelly and frosting........oh they were mouth watering delicious! We lived in the country and us kids attended a little two room country school. Whenever we had a class party, both teachers and all my classmates begged for me to bring my mother's homemade cinnamon rolls. She would always oblige. I remember one such occasion, I promised my class that my mom would make her cinnamon rolls, only I forgot to tell her until bedtime, which at that time was 9:00. Because she used yeast and the dough had to rise a couple of times, my mom stayed up all night making those cinnamon rolls for me and my classmates.......frosting them as she drove me to school........never once did she complain.

She has been gone 14 years next month...I miss her terribly.....and I cherish the memories of mom's famous cinnamon rolls.

Toni ♥

Yummy...Dreamy....Pie Recipe

Hi Ladies!! Just as I promised, I'm sharing the yummy, oh so delicious pie recipe that my sweet SIL made for dessert on Thanksgiving. She is such a sweetie that she made another one today and shared with me!! YUM!


Coconut Praline Dream Pie

1/2 cup chopped pecans, walnuts or almonds (your choice)
1/3 cup margarine or butter
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 9" baked pie shell, cooled
2 envelopes Dream Whip whipped topping mix
2 1/4 cups milk, divided
2 packages (4 serving size) Jello Instant Vanilla pudding
1 1/4 cups (3 1/2 ounces) coconut
1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:
Heat nuts, butter & brown sugar in small sauce pan until melted and mixture comes to a boil. Boil exactly 30 seconds. Spread mixture on bottom of pie shell and cool.

Beat Dream Whip topping mix with vanilla and 1 cup of milk in large bowl with electric mixer on high about 6 minutes or until topping thickens and forms peaks. Add remaining milk and pudding mixes, blend on low speed then beat on high speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. With spoon, stir in coconut. Spoon mixture into pie shell and chill for 4 hours or until set.

ENJOY !

Until later,
~Toni~

Grand Opening, Setting the Stage, Fall Cooking

WOW....what a couple of weeks it has been! First the Grand Opening of Sisters 'N Things went really well!!!! We sold a lot of items, which makes me very happy and excited!! The shop was only open 3 days that week and I was ready for a little rest, but I couldn't because I needed to sand, paint and get more items ready for the shop. Trust me I'm not complaining, I was happy that we sold a lot and needed to bring more to the shop! And we wanted to have Christmas items displayed also, so we have been setting the stage this last week. I'm so happy how the shop is looking, and have been having so much fun decorating for the holidays!! I'm even starting to bring out my Christmas decor for my home. I couldn't have ever imagined how much I would love having a shop and having an outlet for my creativity. It takes a lot of time and work, but I am loving it so much. So many of you made me feel like this was a good choice for me with all of your encouragement and well wishes. I want to say a big THANK YOU to all of you and say I so appreciate your support. Bloggy Buddies are the BEST!



Since I have been so busy lately with shop and even before our Grand Opening I decided to take today off and visit with my friends in blogland, work on redoing my bedroom and a little fall cooking. It has been tradition in my family, since my boys were little, to bake pumpkin pies on the day we turn the clocks back. Well, my youngest reminded me that I hadn't done that this year yet, so today I baked 2 pumpkin pies to celebrate Fall. Since we had snow this morning (which didn't stick) I thought today was perfect!





Don't they look yummy???

I hope my boys can wait until they are done cooling!






Cool days just seem to be perfect for baking and cooking. The house fills up with delicious aromas and feels so cozy. One of my favorite Sunday dinners is to bake a whole chicken in a baking bag (no mess) rubbed with butter and seasoned with lemon pepper. I usually serve a tossed green salad and broccoli bake with it. My boys really love this comforting meal. I'll share my broccoli bake recipe with you:

Broccoli Bake
2 boxes frozen chopped broccoli
1 cup lite mayonnaise
1 can of cream of celery soup
8 oz grated mild cheddar cheese (about 2 cups)
2 eggs
2 tbsp. chopped onion

Topping
1 stack of Ritz crackers
1 cube of margarine or butter

Cook broccoli according to package directions, drain and place in large mixing bowl. Stir in mayonnaise, soup, cheese, eggs and onions. Place mixture in ungreased 9x9 glass baking dish. For topping, crumbled Ritz crackers in a mixing bowl, melt butter and pour evenly over crushed Ritz crackers, stir to moisten crackers. Evenly top broccoli mixture with cracker mixture. Bake in preheated oven @ 350 for 30 - 40 minutes. Dish is done when you see the corners starting to brown.

Enjoy!

Until Later,
~Toni~

There's a reason they call them Vanishing

Today I decided to put my best Betty Crocker foot forward and do a little Suzie Homemaking. And if anyone knows me, they know I'm anything but Betty Crocker. I didn't bake from scratch until I was 36..........!! I know....my poor kids had to eat boxed cakes and cookies from the Pillsbury Dough Boy, you know the kind,the ones that come in a tube and all you have to do is slice them, place on cookie sheet and bake! But, I have a good excuse, actually a great excuse. My older sister, Dena, started baking at the age of 7 and cooking when she was barely four. At four, she would make me (I'm three years younger) oatmeal cereal & toast for breakfast. At 7 she took up baking. Our dad bought her a dessert cookbook for her 7th birthday. And she is a great cook! So, through the years, anytime I wanted cookies, cakes, etc. she was only too happy to oblige me. Did I mention that I'm the baby of the family :)

Well, after I had my boys, she informed me that she thought I should learn to bake, from scratch, for them, thus creating wonderful memories for my children. I can tell you, I wasn't so sure that idea was for me! I couldn't bake, but I can cook a meal that is not only appealing, nutritious, but also tasty to the pallat. It's just that, up to that point, I never had to bake....my sister did that for me. I knew she was right, so after I tried a couple of recipes (which I will share) I found that I wasn't too bad at baking. At least no one was harmed!! (If you don't count the incident with the cat and his "reaction" to tasting one of my first batches of cookies)

My boys have two favorites, vanishing oatmeal / chocolate chip cookies and sour cream cookies. Today I made the oatmeal / chocolate chip cookies. The recipe is on the lid of the Quaker Oats box. It calls for raisins, but we like Nestle's Tollhouse Chocolate Chips.


Vanishing Oatmeal Cookies
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt (optional)
3 1/2 cups Quaker Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 cup raisins (we substitute Nestle's Tollhouse chocolate chips)

Heat oven to 350. Beat together butter (margarine) & sugars until creamy. Add eggs & vanilla; beat well. In separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon & salt. Add to butter / sugar mixture, mixing well. Stir in oats, raisins (chocolate chips) mix well. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet, remove to wire rack. This recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies.

I would have had pictures...but my boys ate them as fast as I could get them out of the oven!! They are so delish that they really do vanish!

This next recipe, I grew up with my maternal grandmother making these delicious treats for us kids. These are my all time favorites.

Sour Cream Cookies
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup softened butter or margarine
3 eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. vanilla
4-1/4 cups flour
Pecan halves

Heat oven to 350. Cream together sugar and butter (margarine). Stir in eggs, vanilla and mix well. Add sour cream and thoroughly mix well. In separate bowl, sift flour & baking soda. Then in small amounts and mixing well, add flour to sugar & butter mixture. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a cookie sheet that has been lightly sprayed with Pam or other cooking spray. Press one pecan half lightly onto each cookie before baking. Bake for 8 - 12 minutes. Cookies are done when you can touch it and it doesn't leave a dent. This is a drop cookie with a cake like texture. Very YUMMY!!

Until Later,
~Toni~