Oatmeal Waffles and Cinnamon Syrup

These are the best waffles EVER. I made them for breakfast today, and thought, "The world deserves this recipe." So here I am, posting it. I grew up with these things, and we make them quite often. They're more filling than normal waffles, and oh so tasty, especially with the cinnamon syrup.

Oatmeal Waffles

1 1/2 c. flour
1 c. quick cooking oats
1 T. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
2 T. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. milk
6 T. margerine, melted

Mix and cook on lightly greased waffle iron.

Cinnamon Syrup

1 c. sugar
1/2 c. water
1/2 c. corn syrup
3/4 tsp. cinnamon

Mix and boil 2 minutes, cool, add 1/2 c. evaporated milk.

Quiche

This is the recipe I got from my mom for quiche. I have ALWAYS loved this quiche! Super yummy.

Quiche

4 eggs
1 can condensed soup (I use cream of chicken, but you could also use cr. of mushroom or cheddar)
1/2 cup light cream (or evaporated milk works, too)
1 cup cheese, shredded (any variety- cheddar, swiss, mozzarella, etc.)
meat (bacon or ham are best. I used about six strips of cooked bacon. Bacon has the most flavor, so it's my favorite.)
1/2 cup vegetable (you can use whatever you want. I use broccoli. It's just classic.)
1 single crust pastry shell
ground nutmeg

Mix eggs, condensed soup and cream. Put the cheese, meat and vegetables in the pie shell. Pour the soup mixture over it, and sprinkle with nutmeg. Bake 50 minutes at 350 (or until the center is set). Let stand 10 minutes before serving

Turkey Pot Pie

I got this recipe off of allrecipes.com, and it turned out REALLY good. I pretty much followed the recipe, but I did cook the bottom crust for about 5 minutes before filling it, just to be sure it didn't end up soggy. I also eliminated the celery (we didn't have any), used only two potatoes (three sounded like a ton), and added some corn (we had a little left in the freezer I needed to use up). I'm sure it'd be great with whatever veggies you felt like throwing in there. I liked the recipe because it's completely homemade, no canned veggies or soup or anything. I also made homemade pie crust, which recipe I'll include at the end of this post. So here it is:

Ingredients

• 1 recipe pastry for a (10 inch) double crust pie
• 4 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1 small onion, minced
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 carrots, diced
• 3 tablespoons dried parsley
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cubes chicken bouillon
• 2 cups water
• 3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 1/2 cups cubed cooked turkey
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Roll out bottom pie crust, press into a 10 inch pie pan, and set aside.
2. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat; add the onion, celery, carrots, parsley, oregano, and salt and pepper. Cook and stir until the vegetables are soft. Stir in the bouillon and water. Bring mixture to a boil. Stir in the potatoes, and cook until tender but still firm.
3. In a medium saucepan, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Stir in the turkey and flour. Add the milk, and heat through. Stir the turkey mixture into the vegetable mixture, and cook until thickened. Cool slightly, then pour mixture into the unbaked pie shell. Roll out the top crust, and place on top of filling. Flute edges, and make 4 slits in the top crust to let out steam.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and continue baking for 20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

And here's the pie crust recipe. It's just the basic recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, but it's always turned out exceptionally well for me. I think the key is to not mix it more than you have to:

Pastry for Double-Crust Pie
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. salt
2/3 cup shortening
8 to 10 T. cold water

In a medium bowl stir together flour and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening until pieces are pea-size.
Sprinkle 1 T. of the water over part of flour mixture; gently toss with a fork. Push moistened dough to side of bowl. Repeat, using 1 tablespoon water at a time, until all the flour mixture is moistened. Divide in half; form each half into a ball.
On a lightly floured surface, use your hands to slightly flatten 1 dough ball. Roll dough from center to edges into a circle 12 inches in diameter.
To transfer pastry, wrap it around the rolling pin; unroll into a 9-inch pie plate. Ease pastry into pie plate without stretching it. Trim pastry even with the rim of the pie plate.
Roll remaining dough ball into a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Cut slits to allow steam to escape. Place pastry on filling; trim to 1/2 cinch beyond edge of plate. Fold top pastry under bottom pastry. Crimp edge as desired. Bake as directed in individual recipes.

Aunt Kristie's Pizza

This is the pizza recipe that my mom has always used. It is super delicious, and I think it's a recipe everyone should have. I also use the same dough recipe for scones when we want Navajo Tacos. It's a quick and easy recipe, and tastes great, too! (for scones, just roll out the dough, cut into squares the size you desire, and cook in hot oil on both sides)
The recipe makes about 4 large pizzas, so we usually half the recipe and make either two pizzas or one pizza and scones the next day. 

The Pizza Dough:
3 1/2 c. hot water
3 T. yeast
3T. sugar
1/4 c. powder milk
1/4 c. oil
2 1/2 tsp. salt
about 9 c. flour

Dissolve the yeast in the hot water, add the sugar. Next mix in the powder milk, oil, and salt. Add flour, about a cup at a time, as you mix. Add enough flour to be able to handle the dough, but remember that the less flour you put, the lighter the crust will be.

The Sauce:
12 oz. can tomato paste
1 can tomato pure
2 tsp oregano leaves
1 tsp. onion salt
1 tsp. seasoned pepper

If you half the crust recipe, remember to reduce the sauce recipe as well. I usually just use a small can of tomato paste and a small can of tomato sauce, then season to taste with the listed seasonings.

So yeah. Then just top with all the good stuff, and plenty of cheese. Bake at 450 degrees for about 12 minutes.
Enjoy!

Morning Glory Muffins

My mother-in-law gave me this recipe, and it is FANTASTIC. I love muffins, and these are among the best I've had. I made them this morning and they turned out great!

Morning Glory Muffins
4 c. flour
2 1/2 c. sugar
4 tsp. soda
4 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp salt
4 c. grated carrots
1 c. raisins
1 c. pecans
1 c. coconut
2 apples peeled and grated
6 lg. eggs
2 c. oil
4 tsp. vanilla

Mix all together and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Use liners in the muffin tins.

This recipe makes about 3 dozen. For our family, halving the recipe is more than enough.

Butterfly Cake and Flower Cupcakes

For Audrey's birthday I wanted to make a cake that was super girly. I found this video online, and followed it exactly(that's how creative I am) to make the butterfly cake! It turned out awesome, and was really pretty easy. Here's a link to the video on bettycrocker.com:

http://www.bettycrocker.com/how-to/how-to-videos/Butterfly-video.htm

I used a cake mix, but added a small package of instant pudding. I think it tastes a lot better that way. Since we had a lot of people, and the butterfly cake is made with only one 9-inch round pan, we made a dozen cupcakes to go with it, using the other half of the batter.
I used pink marshmallows to make the flower pettals, and I dipped the sticky side of the marshmallow slices into purple-colored sugar. I decided to use just a plain mini marshmallow for the center of the flower. I couldn't be more pleased with the result! Cute and yummy. I just love birthdays!

Eggnog Cake

I tried making homemade eggnog two weeks ago, and it did NOT work out too well. It was a very humbling experience, and I don't know that I'll ever try it again. So I ended up with a whole bunch of fine-tasting but terribly-textured eggnog. I didn't want to just throw it out! So I looked for recipes. I found this recipe for eggnog cake, which looked (and was) very easy! It was a great looking cake, and it tasted delicious! It's a layered round cake with a filling and a topping. So if you somehow end up with extra eggnog this year, go ahead and give it a try! I got this recipe off of allrecipes.com. I tweaked it a little, as noted.

 EGGNOG CAKE

Cake:
1 yellow cake mix
2 eggs
2 cups eggnog
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. rum flavored extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour two 8" round cake pans.
Mix all cake ingredients together and divide evenly between the two pans. Bake until toothpick comes out clean, about 30 minutes. (I'd check it before then. Mine were a little overdone.) Carefully dump out of pans and cool on wire rack.

Filling:
1 small package instant vanilla pudding
2 cups eggnog
1/2 tsp. rum flavored extract

Mix together, cover with plastic and refrigerate until firm. Spread on the bottom cake layer and top with the other cake layer.

Topping:
1 T. unflavored gelatin
2 T. cold water
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp. rum flavored extract

In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over cold water and let sit for five minutes. Stir until completely dissolved. In a large bowl, whip cream until it forms soft peaks. Mix in the gelatin, sugar, salt, and rum extract and whip until stiff peaks form. Refrigerate until ready to use. Spread on top and sides of cake.
(this is where I short-cutted. Instead of doing all of this stuff for the topping, I just used Cool Whip and mixed in the rum extract. It might be even better if you follow the recipe, but we really liked it the way we did it.)

Store leftover cake in the refrigerator.