When the going gets tough.....

What do you do when the going gets tough?  I've got several bad habits (eating bad for you foods, spending money I really don't have, pity parties) that I always seem to steer towards first.  Some not as bad like baking, crafting, cranking the music up really loud or taking a dip into the hot tub. As I'm getting older I find that I am turning more quickly to the Lord... I only have day long pity parties instead of week (or month, or year) long ones. My ultimate goal is to seek Him first and foremost and I am forever thankful that God is patient with me.

I had Bible study today in which we wrapped up the book of Ecclesiastes. An excellent study and it was not anything that I had anticipated it would be.  The first time I read Ecclesiastes I saw it as being depressing but now I see it as one of the best Bible books on hope!  For me there is just nothing more reassuring to know that there is nothing new under the sun.  What I've struggled with are basically the same struggles everyone has dealt with since sin entered the world.  It stinks to know that others are hurting, but there is also that comfort in knowing that I'm not alone.

Right now I'm going through a rough patch.  The kids are all going through various struggles, hubby is stressed out over his job, my own health issues... blah. It is just hard feeling for me to get over the funk this time.  When we were kids we often used the term "Indian Giver" when ever someone took back something that they had given you.  I'm very much like that with God.  I'm an "Indian Giver."  I give God my struggles and then take them right back (because I want to control things.... yeah people, I'm a control freak) Trust is a hard to have when His ways aren't always the ways that my eyes see best.  I know the truth.  His ways are not are ways and sometimes its just best for me if the answer is No or wait.  I don't think there are certain things that I can do and yes, I am bold enough to tell God that! I can think of several areas in my life, past and present, where I can say that I was not the right person for the job God gave me.  There was something I read in this week's study:
God doesn't want our ability He wants our availability.
It is when I struggle, feel at my weakest and uncertain that I cling to God. The situations I'm going through cause me to cling (eventually!) to God. He isn't looking for me to know all the answers, He knows the right answers.  It doesn't matter if I don't know what I'm doing as He knows what He's doing.  He just wants me to be available to Him.

There is no quick fix or witty wording that I give that will tell you how to conquer this issue.  I will continue to Trust in God (even if it takes me time to get there) and continue to move forward.  What do you do when the going gets tough? Is there a favorite comfort food you seek out? A hobby you dive in to? Song or artist you listen to?  I would love to hear about it.

As I mentioned, I find baking very comforting and its a blessing to be able to turn around and give the baked items away to someone.  Here is a recipe I like to whip up when I'm feeling down:

I no longer remember where I got this recipe from. It has been in my MasterCook program for... well, ever since MC came out! This is one of my favorite cookies as they remind me of brownie bites. I've seen other recipes for Mud Puddle Cookies, but they are not the same as these cookies. I'm guessing that the creator of these cookies named them mud puddles because of their soft center.

It took me several attempts at these cookies before realizing that the centers, of the cookie, were designed to be soft, with a fudge brownie type consistency. At first I thought that they were not being cooked long enough but getting the centers to be less soft caused the outer edges to be well over done. The texture in the center is so different from the outer edges that it isn't uncommon for me to have to explain that these cookies are not under-cooked  They are quite addictive and once people get used to the texture, it is hard to keep them away from them.

Mud Puddle Cookies

1/4 cup butter
2 cups milk chocolate chips
14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
4 teaspoons milk

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Melt butter and chocolate chips in a 2-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth. Remove from heat.

Add condensed milk and stir until smooth. Add flour and mix well. The dough will be soft like brownie batter would be.

Shape rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into 1-inch balls. Place dough 1-inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. I like to use my silicon baking sheets to prevent sticking. Bake for 8 minutes. 

Cool completely

Meanwhile combine powered sugar and vanilla in small bowl. Gradually stir in enough milk for desired glazing consistency. Drizzle over cookies

This recipe yields 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

adventures in all things food: Flax seed bread

I'm so sorry.... This was supposed to have been posted yesterday and it never went up. I feel awful... No blog deserves to feel orphaned. Please forgive me!
For this months Secret Recipe Club assignment I had the privilege of having Adventures in All Things food. She has an excellent blog and mad cake decorating skills. There were so many things I wanted to try but I ended up choosing the Flax seed bread. While my picture does not do it justice, my hubby and mom said it was good. I'm still not able to eat breads so I have to take their word on it. She made it in her bread machine and I used my Kitchen-aid. I also added a bit of wheat germ to the bread, just because I had some and like to throw it in baked goods.

Flax seed honey wheat bread

1 1/2 c. Water, room temp.
3 Tbsp. Olive Oil (or Canola for milder flavor)
1/4 c. Honey
2 1/3c. Bread flour
1 2/3 c. Whole wheat flour
1/3 c. nonfat Dry Milk powder
3 Tbsp. Flax Seed
2 tablespoons wheat germ
1 1/4 Tbsp. Vital Wheat Gluten
1 1/2 tsp. Salt
2 1/4 tsp. SAF yeast

In a mixing bowl, combine the water, yeast and wheat gluten.  Once it starts getting all foamy, add the oil, honey, salt, dry milk powder; mix together to combine.  Gradually add the wheat germ, flax seed and flours.  Using the dough hook, mix on medium speed for about seven minutes.  Allow bread dough to rise until doubled, about an hour, punch down and knead for about thirty second then put into a greased bread pan.  Allow bread to rise for about thirty minutes.  Bake at 425 degrees for about 40-45 minutes.

Chocolate Cottage Cheese Cookies

While recovering from the surgery, I used some of the time to go through all my old cookbooks.  I have three cookbooks from our church.... we ladies do like to cook!  It is fun to see how cooking styles have changed over the years.  One recipe I came across was for Cottage Cheese Cookies and I thought it would be a great one to try out for the Walden house.  I thought there was too much sugar in the recipe and so I cut the sugar down and I added in cocoa powder.  The result was a a nice cake like cookies (reminded me of snackwells... remember those?) and it was not overly sweet.  I think if I was going to make them for kids I would keep the sugar at the normal amount and not reduce.  Pushing the cottage cheese through a strainer first would also eliminate the little chunks of cottage cheese I had in them.  Personally, I didn't mind the cottage cheese pieces, but it may look like chunks of baking powder or soda in it to some people.  Overall, we thought it was a keeper recipe.

Chocolate Cottage Cheese Cookies

Mountain viewcookbook;  Adey Altmeyer

Made june 4

2 cups margarine

2 cups sugar

1 ½ cups brown sugar

4 teaspoons vanilla

4eggs

2 cups cottage cheese

5 ½ cups flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoons salt

1 cup cocoa

1 cup chopped nuts

Cream together, margarine, sugars, vanilla, eggs and cottage cheese.  Mix together, flour baking powder, soda, salt and cocoa.  Add to creamed mixture; add nuts and blend.  Mix well and chill for several hours.  Roll walnut size balls in powdered sugar.  Bake at 350° on greased cookie sheet for 12 to 15 minutes.  Keep dough in fridge between sheets to keep chilled

Yields 7 dozen cake cookies

Notes Reduced brown sugar to 1 cup and granulated sugar to 1 ¾ cup

Chocolate Sponge Cake

 Having to depend on people for driving and even walking has been a bit of a bummer. During the week I was able to increase my activity but still couldn't go out and do things on my own.  Makes for some very dull days around the house.  I miss my grandsweetie something fierce!  I can't do any lifting for four weeks, thus my mom is watching her at my daughter's home.  On Thursday I was able to get a lift to Bible study so at least I had that, but upon returning home I was left with everyone being out of the house and the sky gray and dreary.... seemed to me like a good day for chocolate, eh!!!!  Ok, so I can't eat it, but I can smell it and bake with it.  Baking is one of the things that truly does lift my spirits.  Listening to loud music and singing along is another thing..... but trust me, you do not want to actually hear me!

My husband grew up with a delicious sponge cake his mother made for him.  When I saw a recipe for a chocolate sponge cake I had one of those "Well, DUH!" moments.  I mean, why didn't I think of that?  Genius... pure genius.

Chocolate Sponge Cake with Chocolate Icing
adapted from bon appetit

1/4 cup Hershey's dark chocolate cocoa powder
1/4 cup cake flour
4 large eggs, room temperature - separate the yolks and whites from two of the eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 6 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Chocolate Icing:
1/2 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line 2, 8-inch round cake pans with parchment paper.  Lightly spray the bottom and sides (yes I do mean to spray the paper!) with cooking spray and dust with a bit of cocoa powder.  

Sift together the cake flour and cocoa powder, two times; set aside.  

In a large bowl, combine two of the whole eggs and two egg yolks, salt, 1/2 cup sugar and extracts; mix until it becomes thick and pale in color (about three minutes on medium speed).

In a second bowl, combine the two egg whites with one teaspoon sugar.   Whip egg whites to soft peaks then gradually add the remaining 5 teaspoons on sugar.  You aren't looking for stiff peaks, but for the egg whites to become thick and glossy.

Take half the egg white mixture and gently fold into the egg yolks.  Next, add half the flour/cocoa powder by sifting it, again, over the cake mix.  Repeat with the remaining egg whites and flour/cocoa powder mixtures.

 

This made just shy of four cups of cake batter.  I divided the batter between the two pans and baked for 15 minutes.  I almost over cooked it.... It went from being gooey in the center at 14 minutes to pulling from the sides at fifteen!  

Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes before removing from pans.  

In a microwave safe bowl, heat the heavy cream  to just the point of boiling.  Remove from the microwave and add the chocolate chips and stir gently just to coat with the cream.  Cover with plastic wrap and let the heat of the cream melt the chocolate chips. It generally takes me close to five minutes for the mixture to smoothly blend.  9 out of 10 times this method works.  If the chocolate mixture isn't fully melted and smooth you may have to put it back in the microwave for a few more seconds.  Put a bit of the icing between the layers than pour the remaining over the top layer allowing it to just drip around the sides... it gives the cake some character :-)

Banana chocolate chip cookies

So if a cookie has bananas, wheat flour, wheat germ, and walnuts can I say I'm eating a well balanced diet?  Sigh... I didn't think so.  While my diet has been slightly altered over the past few months, I still have had to make cookies for the Walden House patients and staff.  These cookies are quite yummy and I added in a few other items to up the nutritional value.  I kept a few of the cookies on hand for my grand sweetie and wanted to feel semi guilt free for letting her eat cookies :-)  The texture is soft, but still very much cookie.  Give them a try, I know you'll like them!

Banana-Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies

adapted from Martha Stewart

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup mashed ripe banana

1 cup old fashioned rolled oats

1 tablespoon crushed flax seed

1 tablespoon wheat germ

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped in 1/4-inch chunks

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla; mix well.  Blend in banana.

Combine the flours, salt, soda in a separate bowl and whisk together to combine.  Slowly add the dry mixture to the banana mixture and blend just to combine.  By hand, stir in oats, flax seed, wheat germ , chopped chocolate and walnuts.  

Drop dough by  tablespoons onto baking sheets line with parchmant paper or a silpat, two inches apart.

Bake until just golden brown, about 12 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool five minutes on baking sheets before transferring to a a cooling rack.

Yields about 3 dozen cookies

Cheddar Yeast Rolls

They say that you are never supposed to try out new recipes on special occasions or for guests... I think that's half the fun!  I get Paula Deen's weekly e-mail newsletter and this week was a recipe for Smoked Cheddar Rolls.  I was intrigued enough to give the recipe a try for Thanksgiving, although I couldn't get my hands on any smoked cheddar.  I substituted sharp cheddar for the smoked cheddar and it was pretty.  I went for the clover look and won't likely do that again- bah, too much work!  I would make them into my basic roll shape( Round balls nestled together in a 9x13-inch pan) so that it would have more soft areas and not so much crust.


Cheddar Yeast Rolls
Makes 18 rolls
recipe from Paula Deen

2 (1/4-ounce) packages active dry yeast
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup warm water (105° to 115°)
2 cups whole buttermilk
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 large egg
2 teaspoons salt
6 to 7 cups bread flour, divided
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
Melted butter (optional)

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in 1/2 cup warm water; let stand for 5 minutes. In a large bowl, beat buttermilk, melted butter, egg, and salt at medium-low speed with a mixer until combined. Add yeast mixture, beating until combined. Gradually add 4 cups bread flour and shredded cheese, beating until smooth. Beat in enough remaining bread flour to make a soft dough.

On a lightly floured surface, turn out dough. Knead dough for 6 to 8 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover, and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, for 1 hour or until dough is doubled in size.


Spray 18 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.
Shape dough into 54 (1 1/2-inch) balls. Place 3 balls in each muffin cup. Cover, and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 350°.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Brush hot rolls with melted butter, if desired. Let cool in pans for 5 minutes. Serve warm.

Puffernutters

One of my favorite parts of The Food Network magazine is near the last page.  they don't include it every month, but often enough they will provide the reader with a recipe and asks for help in providing the recipe with a name.  I have never had one of my names chosen (and winning names win a prize) but I will persevere... who knows if I could be a winner!
We keep lots of Kix cereal in our house.  My grand sweetie calls it her "crunchy" when she asks for it. She even helped me pour in the ingredients!  I'm told that I was just about her age when I started baking with my mom so maybe she will follow in her grandma's footsteps!  (I just love being called grandma!!!!) Take my advice though, if baking with a two year old you must have much patience!  Everything has to be sampled :-) Trust me when I say that it is my son's worst OCD nightmare!  I never bake with her when I know my son will be eating the food.

Puffernutters
adapted from foodnetwork.com
Ingredients
1 cup chopped peanuts
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups puffed corn cereal (such as Kix)
1 cup chocolate chips (milk, dark or semisweet)

Directions
Position 2 racks in the middle of the oven; preheat to 325 degrees F. Spread the almonds on a baking sheet and bake until lightly toasted, about 5 minutes; transfer to a bowl. Wipe the baking sheet clean.
Beat the unsalted butter, almond butter, honey, granulated sugar and brown sugar in a bowl with a mixer on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Beat in the egg. Add the baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and vanilla and almond extracts and beat until combined, about 1 minute.
Add the cereal, chocolate chips and half of the almonds to the dough and mix with a wooden spoon.

a sticky but yummy mess!

Form tablespoonfuls of dough into 2-inch balls and arrange on 2 ungreased baking sheets, about 3 inches apart. (Do not line the baking sheets with parchment paper-the cookies may stick to the paper.) Top each with some of the remaining almondsBake until the cookies spread out and turn brown, about 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through. Let the cookies cool 5 minutes on the baking sheets, then carefully remove to a rack to cool completely. (If you have difficulty removing the cookies from the baking sheets, return them to the oven for 1 to 2 minutes to soften.) The cookies will crisp as they cool.

.

Chocolate Fudge Butterfingers Cookies

Butterfinger candy bars are absolutely wonderful!  I know that there are people out there that disagree and we are all entitled to our opinions :-)  Someday I would like to try and recreate the candy bar itself, but for right now I am not that ambitious.
Blog hopping, I came across a recipe for Butterfinger cookies and I just knew that I had to give the recipe a go.  I went to the store and bought three candy bars.... the recipe called for two but I had to make sure that they were a quality product, didn't I? I even ate the candy bar in the parking lot. I had to be sure that I was getting the best available!
Once home I set about following the recipe and was pleased with the ooey, gooey, chewy outcome.  I'll be looking for Halloween candy clearance sales to see if I can get a deal on more candy bars.... this is a keeper recipe!
I found the recipe for Chocolate Fudge Butterfingers at barbarabakes.com .  She posted this recipe as part of a twelve weeks of Christmas Cookies Blog Hop.  I spent a bit of time browsing through her blog.  She is also a daring kitchen baker so she and I have that in common.  I fully credit this to her (which she adapted from the Picky Palate) and she would be thrilled if you made it and thanked her for the recipe (here)!  I did change the recipe slightly and you can see my changes written in the italics.

Chocolate Fudge Butterfinger Cookies

slightly adapted from Picky Palate

1 3/4 cups flour1 1/4 cups cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special dark  cocoa)

2 tsps. baking soda1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar    (I reduced sugar to 3/4 cup)

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs1 tsp. vanilla

2 Full size Butterfinger Bars, crushed

1 1/2 Cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and line cookie sheets with parchment or silpat liners.In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside.In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and mix until well combined

Stir in flour mixture until just combined. I did the dry mixture in three additions just so I wouldn't have a floury mess with my stand mixture.  Then stir in crushed Butterfinger and chocolate chips.

Using a medium cookie scoop, drop by rounded spoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 9-11 minutes, should still be soft in center. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yields 3 dozen cookies

Chocolate Pudding Bars

I just returned from a fabulous weekend getaway with my husband.  We visited around the Portland, Oregon area then went up to visit our son in Seattle, Washington.  There was a garlic festival in North Plains, Oregon (not far from Portland) and we tried some interesting things such as garlic ice cream and garlic chocolate truffles.

The trip was great and was much needed.  I found some great books at the Borders Book stores we visited.  Sad that they are closing their stores but I was quite happy with the bargains I found on cookbooks.  One of the books I picked up was "Sandra Lee Bake Sale Favorites." I'm not a huge fan of using all the convenience foods she uses but the recipes seemed like good ones that I could easily adapt with home made products (instead of cake mixes or cookies mixes, etc.). One recipe really called out to me... Chocolate Pudding Bars.  I pretty much followed the recipe using the cake mix and pudding mix. I was feeling lazy from our trip but seriously craving chocolate! Her recipe calls for  using a butter recipe chocolate cake mix and I substituted for what I had on hand with a vanilla cake mix.  Those of us that ate it agreed that using the vanilla cake mix made the other chocolate ingredients really pop out in flavor. I think using a chocolate cake mix would have been a bit much, but feel free to use which ever one you like!

Chocolate Pudding Bars

adapted from Sandra Lee Bake Sale Favorites

12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup heavy cream

1 package (18.25 ounces) vanilla cake mix

2 eggs

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 cups chocolate milk

1 package (5.9 ounces) instant chocolate pudding mix

Directions

Place chocolate chips in a medium bowl: set aside.  In a small sauce pan, heat cream until just about boiling. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate chips and let set for three minutes before stirring.  Mix until smooth; set aside to cool and thicken

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Spray a 9x13-inch baking pan with cook-86

75.ing spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, and melted butter; stir until mixed.  Batter will be thick. Spread in prepared baking pan.

Bake about 15 or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few sticky crumbs on it.  Cool in pan on wire rack.  

In a large bowl, combine chocolate milk and pudding mix; whisk together until slightly thickened. Spread pudding mixture evenly over the cooked cake.  

Top the pudding layer with an even layer of the thickened chocolate mixture.  Chill about 2 hours or until top sets.  Cut into bars and serve chilled or at room temperature.

Yields 16 servings.

Oreo Sugar Cookies

 The Mixing Bowl is one of my favorite sites to visit.  It sort of takes me back to the first days of the Internet where you joined groups and chatted (via email)  amongst your friends through them.  My favorite groups to join were the ones that shared recipes.
     A recent recipe intrigued me... could it be that two of my favorite cookies (Oreos and sugar cookies) would make an awesome creation?  Here's the original post.

Oreo Sugar Cookies
Adapted by Vivian

Ingredients:
• 1 ½ cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 5 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp almond extract (I would omit next time)
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup crushed Oreo cookies (I would increase amount by half a cup)

       Directions:
 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla and almond extract. Mix until fully incorporated.
n a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking powder.  Whisk together until combined. .
Slowly pour in to butter and sugar mixture. Mix until fully combined.
Fold in crushed Oreo’s

Scoop by the tablespoonful onto a lined baking/cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.  Remove from cookie sheet and let cool.

Sunny Day Rhubarb Crunch

A have the three most awesome children (biased, I know) and love them to death.  Our youngest is the only one left at home now and so I end up making a lot of his favorite foods.  I took a peek out our window this morning and saw that our rhubarb plant is starting to come up.  Seeing as I still had some bags of rhubarb in the freezer to use up, I thought I would put together one of my son's favorite desserts;
Grandma Helen's Rhubarb Crunch

for topping:
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
filling:
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups rhubarb, cut in 1" pieces (4 cups fresh,
but I like to use 6 cups if rhubarb is frozen)
1 pint fresh strawberries, sliced

Directions 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Crumb together topping ingredients and set aside.
If using frozen rhubarb, thaw and drain liquid and place into a 9-in x13-in baking pan;
 top with sliced strawberries.

 On stove, in medium sauce pan combine sugar, water and cornstarch. Cook until thick and clear. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Pour sauce over rhubarb and sprinkle crumb mixture over rhubarb.

Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until golden brown and juice is bubbling.

If It's all bubbly and golden brown then its down.... MMMM. smells so yummy!