Snow day food....super fast and kid friendly.

I love cooking. We've enjoyed seasoned popcorn, homemade hot chocolate and blueberry pancakes for dinner during our snow days. I really like to get my kids in the kitchen too but I don't always find recipes that are quick, easy and fun for them. I did find a couple that we used this weekend that were a big hit. 

Yip and Yahoo devoured these breakfast cookies; only two ingredients and healthy! 

Banana Oatmeal Cookies. 

2 ripe bananas

1 cup oatmeal

Mash together. Spray a cookie sheet. Drop by rounded spoonfuls and bake at 350 for 15 minutes. 

Then we made a HUGE batch of snow ice cream. Yip ate so much of this he started shivering! I refused to let him have any more until he went and put a sweatshirt on. I figured we had an entire foot of snow so we should make up a large bowl full, store it in the freezer and enjoy it once the snow is all gone.

Snow Ice Cream

About 8 cups of snow

Roughly 1 cup of milk

Somewhere around 1/2 cup of sugar

Splash or so of vanilla. 

Mix together and serve. 

What's your favorite snack to indulge in on a cold snowy day? 

The Coolest Valentine Gift

Look what we got in the mail this week!! 

My mom is so awesome. For Valentines she sent my kids a bag of sugar cookies she baked along with frosting and sprinkles so they could decorate Valentine cookies! Since she couldn't be here when we made a mess I thought I'd post pics so she could check out their creations. 

Hhmmm, not really sure what Yahoo spent more time doing; decorating or eating the decorations. 

We got a bit wild with the sprinkles Grandma! 

A bag full of cookies traveling 900 miles is bound to hit some turbulence and most of the cookies didn't make it in one piece but that didn't deter the kids. They piled on the frosting on every crumb large enough to hold a sprinkle. 

This was a great Valentine Mom, thanks bunches! 

Foody Friday - Gooey Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie

I found this Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe and I don't think I'll ever make chocolate chip cookies again. I absolutely love cooking and baking that cuts down on doing dishes afterwards. And this...this cookie only dirties one skillet. Whoop! 

Gooey Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie

1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla 
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in an 8 inch cast iron skillet set over medium-low heat. Stir in sugars and vanilla and remove from heat. Let rest until pan is warm, but no longer very hot, about 5 minutes.

2. Crack an egg onto the butter and sugar mixture, and use a fork to whisk it well into the mixture. Place flour, baking soda, and salt on top, and very carefully stir into the mixture until smooth and well-mixed. Stir in chocolate chunks. Place in the oven for 15 minutes, or until starting to turn golden on the top and around the edges, but soft in the center. (I baked it for 20 minutes to get rid of some of the gooeyness.) Serve with vanilla ice cream. 

Or serve warm on the end of spoon, no ice cream required! 

Foody Friday - Peanut Butter Cookie Bars..and a Rabbit

I was in the mood for cookie bar cookies and found a very simple recipe and cooks.com. Yum, 9x9 inch pan of cookies came warm out of the oven and then frosted with peanut butter frosting!

I presented the yummy treat to my boys fully anticipating they would eat at least half the pan and I would probably get one or two and not feel guilty about eating too many.

Nope, they rejected them! What is wrong with my kids?

I ate the whole 9x9 pan of cookies in three days. And then I felt guilty for eating so much junk.

But they were goooood!

Peanut Butter Bar Cookies

1 c. flour

1 c. oatmeal

1/2 c. sugar

1 egg

1/2 c. brown sugar, packed

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 c. butter

Grease square 9 inch pan. Combine everything in a bowl and mix until crumbly. Press into pan. Bake 20-25 minutes at 350.

Peanut Butter Frosting

1/4 c. butter

 1 3/4 c. powdered sugar

2-3 T milk

1 t. vanilla

1/3 c. peanut butter

Cream soft butter and add, alternating, sugar and milk and vanilla. Then add peanut butter. Ice bar cookies.

Don't want to make frosting? I don't blame you. Buy some vanilla frosting at the store and mix in some crunchy peanut butter. Quick and easy.

Now, eat the whole pan so I don't feel quite so guilty.

As a snack for our play group this week we had peanut butter bunny sandwich with marshmallows for ears and ritz crackers for feet. A perfect snack for Sunday after church!

Foody Friday - Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

A new cookie recipe! To me heaven is full of cookies and I'll eat as many  as I want without getting fat...ha ha!

I love this recipe I found off of Two Peas and Their Pod.

I love it because you only use one mixing bowl, hence fewer dirty dishes and these are bars which means I'm not taking extra time to put individual cookies on a sheet. I didn't have peanut butter chips like the original recipe called for so I just doubled the peanut butter and it came out great.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Bars

1 c. butter, at room temperature

1 cup peanut butter

1 1/2 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 t. vanilla

2 c. flour

1/2 c. cocoa powder

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

Preheat oven to 325.

Cream butter, peanut butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt and mix until just combined.

Fold in peanut butter chips. Spread dough in a 9x13 baking dish sprayed with non-stick spray.

Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes. If bars are not done (due to using a different sized dish), bake for 5 minute increments. Let cool completely before slicing.

Foody Friday - Butterless Peanut Butter Cookies

I love to make cookies, but all too often I'll set out to mix up a batch only to realize I'm out of butter. I LOVE this cookie recipe! No butter!

Butterless Peanut Butter Cookies

1c. crunchy peanut butter

2 eggs

1 t vanilla

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 c. flour

2 t. baking powder

1/2 bag of butterscotch chips

Mix together peanut butter, eggs, vanilla and sugars.

Mix in flour and baking powder. Stir in chips.

Drop by spoonful onto baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees.

Enjoy!

Foody Friday - Jumbles

Have you ever heard of a Jumble? Me neither...but it's those things right up there. I would describe them as a cross between a donut, a cake and a cookie without the grease. They are light and easy to make with kids. Yip kept bugging me this week to make donuts. I hate the deep frying part of donut making. Not because of the unhealthiness, just because it's too much mess to clean up and I always get burnt by hot oil. I found this recipe in my cookbook, A Prairie Kitchen.

This is also where I found the recipe for Graham Bread.

Jumbles, July 19, 1886 (modified by me just a bit)

3/4 c. sugar

3/4 c. butter

3 eggs

1 t. baking soda

1 t. cinnamon (I added this)

1/2 t. nutmeg

1/2 c. applesauce (I added this)

3 or 4 (or more) cups of flour

Preheat oven to 350. Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and beat well. Stir in the baking soda, spices and flour. You want dough that is not sticky, but that can still be molded. Knead dough briefly and then form the cookies into the traditional doughnut shape. Take a small ball of dough and make it into a long pencil-like length. Bring the two ends together and seal them. Dip the top of the cookie into some sugar and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake until the cookies are just beginning to brown, about 10 minutes.

(We rolled the dough into a ball, slightly larger than a golf ball, flattened it between our hands, then poked a hole with our finger to shape the doughnuts. I also baked them for 12 minutes or more.)

Good luck and enjoy!

Foody Friday - Nutty Cookies for a bunch of GED Nuts

Last night was my last GED class. Usually, I'm happy to get the semester over with but not so this time. This group of students I had were really fun to work with. They wanted to be there, truly wanted to succeed and were always asking for extra worksheets in addition to their assigned homework. No matter what age of students, these are traits that make it enjoyable to be a teacher. 

To celebrate the last class session before they take the GED test I brought in some cookies. I'm calling these Nutty Cookies and I adapted the recipe from Pioneer Woman's Oatmeal Crispies.

Nutty Cookies

1 c. chopped peanuts

1 c. butter

1 c. brown sugar

1 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 t. vanilla

1 c. all purpose flour

1/2 c. whole wheat flour

1 heaping t. cinnamon

1 t. baking soda

3 c. quick oats

Toss peanuts in a freezer bag and smash with the flat side of a meat tenderizer hammer, set aside. Mix butter and sugars till creamy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients and add to creamy mix. Last add the peanuts and oats and stir till combined. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. I mix up  large batches and freeze in a log shape wrapped in wax paper and cut off in slices to bake. When I bake frozen cookies I usually add a minute or two to the baking time.

These cookies are crunchy and very peanut buttery without using peanut butter. I added cinnamon because I just think everything tastes better with cinnamon. Yum, yum! They were a big hit!