Brittany's Pumpkin Muffins

One of my favorite things about going home to my parents' house is the smell of breakfast. My mom cooked breakfast all of the time while we were growing up. These muffins became a regular favorite in the morning when I would come home on the weekends from college. The original recipe is from a sweet girl in Bear Lake that I grew up with named Brittany. Despite her special needs, she still recognizes me and remembers my name from 15 years ago. I usually see her every couple of years and she always hugs me or holds my hand and sincerely asks me how I am doing. When I make these muffins, I can't help but think of her beaming smile and twinkling eyes.

Ingredients:

1 16 ounce can pumpkin puree

2 1/2 cups sugar

4 eggs

2/3 cup butter (original recipe uses margarine)

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon cloves

3 1/2 cups flour

2/3 cup water

1 8 ounce package chocolate chips

Directions:

Cream together pumpkin, sugar, eggs, and butter in mixer. Add soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and cloves. Mix well. Add flour and water and mix just until combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Scoop into greased or lined muffin tins or loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 18 minutes for mini muffins and 25 minutes for regular sized muffins. Makes 24 mini muffins plus 16 regular muffins. For loaves, cooking time varies depending on size. When toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, it is done.

Rosemary Bread

Yesterday I went out onto the back patio and did a spring assessment on my potted herb garden. I think it all finally died. My rosemary plant lasted all the way up until the snow week last month. I guess I should have brought it in and given it the special treatment it deserved. After all it is my most favorite herb. I love the way it smells and tastes when I cook with it. This rosemary bread is a delicious, flavorful bread to make. It tastes great served with soup or salad. I make the dough in my bread maker and then cook it in my oven and it turns out perfect every time. Of course, you can always make it by hand or in a mixer. Just thinking about it now makes me want to run down to the nursery and get some new little herb starts to plant right away.

Ingredients:

1 cup water

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary, or 3/4 tablespoon dried rosemary

2 3/4 cup to 3 cups bread flour

1/3 cup dry milk powder

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

egg yolk

coarse sea salt

Directions:

Place ingredients in the bread machine pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select white bread cycle; press Start. Stop machine and take dough out before the baking cycle begins. Or use your mixer or mix it by hand. Cover dough in bowl and let rise until double. Punch down dough and shape into a round loaf; set on a greased cookie sheet sprinkled with corn meal. Cut three slits across the top of the loaf with a sharp knife. Cover with a tea towel and let raise for 30 minutes. Carefully brush with egg yolk and 1 teaspoon water whisked together. Sprinkle lightly with coarse sea salt and more rosemary. Bake in 360 degree oven for 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Mix olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping.

So and So's Sausage Dip

This is one of those recipes that I don't want to make, but it's so good I just can't help it. I got the original recipe from a sister-in-law before she left the family. And I can't help but thinking, "This is so and so's recipe" each time I make it and I can just see her chopping tomatoes and peppers in my mom's kitchen chit chatting and laughing with the rest of us. And then I think of how simple life was way back then before my siblings and I grew up and had to really start figuring out what life was about and how to get through it all. Oh, well. Things happen for reasons. On the bright side, I have to thank her for sharing a few good recipes and a couple of darn good boys with the family.

Ingredients:

2 pounds sausage

1 large onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

3 large tomatoes, chopped

1 4 ounce can diced green chilies

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

8 ounces sour cream

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

10 dashes hot sauce (I use Cholula)

3/4 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon crushed cilantro

tortilla chips

Directions:

Brown sausage; drain and put in crock pot. Saute green pepper and onion in remaining sausage grease. Add to crock pot with all remaining ingredients. Mix and cook on low until heated through. Serve with tortilla chips.

St. Patrick's Day Mini Cakes

I make this green cake every single year during the month of March in celebration of St. Patrick's Day. Yes, we celebrate St. Patrick's Day here. And we may or may not have green milk, green pancakes, green eggs, and green toilet water in our house. Ya know, the toilet water doesn't really fit in with the green food, does it? No, but it is green none the less. On to the green cake. This is my mother-in-law's recipe for a super moist almond flavored pistachio pudding bundt cake. It's very easy to make. Throw in all of the ingredients, turn on the mixer for four minutes, and then while you have your food coloring out, go do your business in the toilets. Nothing like multitasking to keep the holiday stress low.

Ingredients:

1 package yellow cake mix

1 small package pistachio instant pudding

1/4 cup oil

7 drops green food coloring

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/4 cup flour

Directions:

Add all ingredients to mixing bowl. Beat for four minutes on medium speed. Pour into a greased and floured mini bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Do not under bake. Cool in pan for 10 minutes and carefully remove. Cool on wire rack and dust with powdered sugar.

*To make in a large bundt pan: Pour batter in greased and floured pan. Bake at 350 degrees on center rack in oven for 50 to 55 minutes. Cool in pan for 15 minutes and invert onto wire rack. Cool and dust with powdered sugar.