Persimmon Cookies

These are such good cookies!  A soft muffin-y cookie with a mild but delicious spice flavor!  A recipe that Mandi ran across and shared with me:)

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/desserts/it-must-be-thanksgiving-persimmon-cookies-2/
Ingredients


•½ cups Butter, Room Temperature

•1 cup Granulated Sugar

•1 whole Egg Beaten

•1 teaspoon Vanilla

•1 cup Persimmon Pulp

•½ teaspoons Lemon Juice

•2 cups Flour

•1 teaspoon Baking Powder

•1 teaspoon Baking Soda

•1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

•½ teaspoons Ground Cloves

•½ teaspoons Ground Nutmeg

•1 cup Chopped Walnuts

•1 cup Raisins Or Chopped Dates

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F. Cream butter and sugar together. Add egg and vanilla. Mix persimmon pulp with lemon juice and add to mixture. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices, mixing well. Add dates and nuts and stir together. Drop onto a cookie sheet by heaping teaspoonfuls. Bake for 10- 15 minutes. Cover unbaked batter in the bowl with waxed paper so that it does not turn dark.

Menu Monday

I'm posting it early just because it was fairly easy this time to get together:)  We fried five turkeys and have frozen most of it now so the main ingredient this week is not surprising...this starts after we've had our fill of regular leftovers and the sides are all gone....I love Thanksgiving!

Monday: Turkey vegetable soup w/ fresh made bread
Tuesday: Turkey spaghetti, green beans and fruit salad
Wednesday: Turkey enchiladas and beans
Thursday: Turkey bacon sandwiches w/ corn on the cob
Friday: Turkey pot pie
Saturday: Chinese turkey over rice
Sunday: Beef tips with rice

Other things to cook this week:
Pumpkin muffins
Persimmon cookies

Nanaimo bars

I made these for Thanksgiving.  The custard got soft really fast after coming out of the refrigerator and this time I used a chocolate mint cookie in the crust because I thought I was out of graham cracker crumbs(but wasn't...).  I much prefer the regular because the chocolate mint made them SO rich!  Good but rich.

http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/recipes/nanaimo-bars-89644.aspx

6 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, divided 3/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp. butter, softened, divided 1 egg 1 tsp. vanilla 2 cups HONEY MAID Graham Crumbs 1 cup flaked coconut 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 2 Tbsp. BIRD'S Custard Powder 3 Tbsp. milk 2 cups icing sugar Make It!


MELT 2 chocolate squares as directed on package; pour into medium bowl. Add 1/2 cup butter; stir until melted. Blend in egg and vanilla. Stir in graham crumbs, coconut and nuts. Press onto bottom of 9-inch square pan. Refrigerate until ready to use.



MIX custard powder and milk with whisk in separate medium bowl. Add 1/4 cup of the remaining butter; beat until well blended. Gradually add sugar, beating well after each addition. Spread onto crust. Refrigerate 15 min.



MICROWAVE remaining chocolate and butter in microwaveable bowl on MEDIUM 2 to 3 min. or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Spread over custard layer. Refrigerate several hours or until chilled before cutting into bars.

Meatless Monday

This was really good!  If you're not used to vegetarian meals or don't like them then I wouldn't try this but if you pay the price for vegetarian premade meals this is really good!  I didn't measure spices and am sure I added more of everything it called for and recommend doing the same.  I realize it looks like cat food but meatloaf never looks beautiful...I put ketchup on top for the fam and the boys even went back for seconds!

This came from Rhonda -frugal mommies group- on cafemom.


REALLY GOOD VEGETARIAN "MEAT"LOAF

2 cups water (I needed more than this)

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup lentils

1 small onion, diced

1 cup quick-cooking oats

3/4 cup grated cheese (cheddar, swiss, jack or american)

1 egg, beaten

4 1/2 ounces barbecue sauce or tomato sauce

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 tablespoon dried parsley

1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Add salt to water and boil in a saucepan. Add lentils and simmer covered 25-30 minutes, until lentils are soft and most of water is evaporated. Remove from heat. Drain and partially mash lentils. Scrape into mixing bowl and allow to cool slightly. Stir in onion, oats and cheese until mixed. Add egg, tomato sauce, garlic, basil, parsley, seasoning salt and pepper. Mix well. Spoon into loaf pan that has been generously sprayed with Pam (non-stick cooking spray) or well-greased. Smooth top with back of spoon. Bake at 350 degrees for 30- 45 minutes until top of loaf is dry, firm and golden brown. Cool in pan on rack for about 10 minutes. Run a sharp knife around edges of pan then turn out loaf onto serving platter.

Menu Monday

Monday: Vegetarian "meatloaf", mashed potatoes, string beans
Tuesday: Quesadillas w/ taco meat
Wednesday: Tuna Casserole
Thursday: Frenc onion soup
Friday: Meatball subs
Saturday: leftovers
Sunday: Beans and cornbread

Pancake Saturday

Since the kids started back to school I've made warm pancakes(or waffles) every Saturday morning.  These are the best so far...shoulda known to trust Ree:)  Still not IHOP(my ultimate goal is to never pay those insane prices to get my fix again) but light and fluffy and yummy!

Light and fluffy enough that 7 month old Willow got a whole one herself and Justin ate three!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/05/perfect-pancakes/
Ingredients


3 cups Plus 2 Tablespoons Cake Flour

½ teaspoons Salt

3 Tablespoons Baking Powder

2 Tablespoons Sugar

2 cups Milk

2 whole Large Eggs

3 teaspoons Vanilla

4 Tablespoons Butter

Extra Butter

Maple Or Pancake Syrup(Mrs. Butterworths here...nothing like all those chemicals to wake up!!)

Preparation Instructions

Mix together dry ingredients in large bowl. Mix together milk, eggs, and vanilla in a separate bowl. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, stirring very gently until just combined. Melt butter and add it to the batter, stirring gently to combine.

Cook on a greased skillet over medium-low heat until golden brown. Serve with an obscene amount of butter and warm syrup.

Velveeta Tex-Mex Beef and Potatoes

I was looking for something different to make on my last menu and Tee sent this a few months ago.  It was really good and different!  There weren't any complaints from the kids(Justin did scoot all his red bell pepper pieces to the side).

VELVEETA Tex-Mex Beef and Potatoes


Prep Time:

10 min

Total Time:

45 min

Makes:

6 servings, about 1-1/3 cups each

What You Need!

1 lb. ground beef

1 red pepper, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 pkg. (1-1/4 oz.) TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Taco Seasoning Mix

1/2 cup water

4 cups frozen Southern-style hash browns (cubed not shredded variety)

1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen corn

1/2 lb. (8 oz.) VELVEETA Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Make It!

HEAT oven to 350°F.

BROWN meat with peppers and onions in large skillet; drain. Return to skillet.

STIR in taco mix and water. Add potatoes, corn and VELVEETA; mix well. Spoon into 13x9-inch baking dish; cover.

BAKE 20 min.; stir. Bake, uncovered, 15 min. or until heated through.

TACO BELL® and HOME ORIGINALS® are trademarks owned and licensed by Taco Bell Corp.

Kraft Kitchens Tips

Use Your Stove

Brown meat with peppers and onions in large skillet; drain and return to skillet. Stir in taco mix, water, potatoes and corn; cover. Cook 5 to 7 min. or until potatoes are tender. Stir in VELVEETA; cook, uncovered, until VELVEETA is melted and mixture is well blended, stirring occasionally.

Persimmon bundt cake

This is the first thing I've baked with persimmon pulp this year--straight off recipezaar.com   With mom having such a bumper crop(501 on ONE tree!) I am happy to say all persimmons are off my counters now and this winter will be full of persimmon baking!

I did not use raisins because I didn't have any on hand but this cake still turned out great.  Very good spice cake!!

Persimmon Bundt Cake Recipe #86897


Got a lot of persimmons you don't know what to do with? Or have you always wanted to make something using this little-known fruit. Here's your chance to make a wonderful, flavourful Bundt cake that not only has luscious persimmons in it, but warm spices that make it extra-special.

by evelyn/athens

1¼ hours
20 min prep



SERVES 10



4 large ripe persimmons

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 3/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

3 extra large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

3/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

3/4 cup dried currant

confectioners' sugar

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F.

Butter and flour Bundt pan.

Peel persimmons.

Press pulp through coarse sieve into medium bowl.

Measure 1 1/3 cups persimmon puree into small bowl.

Mix baking soda into puree and set aside.

Beat sugar and butter in large bowl until blended (mixture will be grainy).

Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

Mix in vanilla.

Sift flour, cinnamon, salt, allspice and cloves into butter mixture; blend well using rubber spatula.

Mix in persimmon mixture, walnuts and currants.

Transfer batter to prepared pan.

Bake cake until tester comes out clean, about 55 minutes.

Cook cake in pan on rack 5 minutes.

Turn out cake onto rack; cool completely.

Sift confectioners’ sugar over cake.

Mom's chili

Made this for the 1st time this week and it was a huge hit.  Will be a staple meal...served it over rice but crackers were really good too.

1 pound ground beef
1 onion, chopped
Gephart's chili powder
2 cans Ranch style beans, partly smashed with potato masher

Cook beef with onion, drain, add a little water and half bottle of chili powder.  Cook until meat has gotten the flavor color throughout.  Add beans and water(to your liking/thickness).  You can heat through and serve or let simmer as long as you'd like.

Menu Monday

The pantry is overflowing so I've made a list and am trying to use it up. I have managed to use up everything in the deep freeze, defrost it, clean it and put it back to use:)

Our menu for this week.