blueberry corn muffins

Blueberry Corn Muffins
1 C yellow (or white) cornmeal
1 C flour
3 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 C milk
1/4 C vegetable oil
 1 C blueberries

1. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the center.
2. In a separate bowl, mix egg, milk, and oil. Add to the well in the dry ingredients and stir until just moistened.
3. Fold in blueberries (rinsed and drained, or you can use frozen), being careful not to mash the berries.
4. Lightly grease a muffin pan and fill each cup 2/3 full. Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Brush tops with melted butter if desired.

sugar cookie bars

I made these sugar cookie bars (more about why they are bars in a minute) for my cheer girls for Valentine's Day. They are sugar cookie bars and not sugar cookies because I needed 60+ of them to hand out, and I did not have the time to make and frost individual cookies! (Our teams have gotten so big!)

They were super easy to make, and turned out delicious!

Sugar Cookie Squares

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 egg white

1 Tbsp sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 recipe vanilla frosting, recipe follows

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 13″ x 9″ baking dish, set aside. In a mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy about 3-4 minutes. Stir in egg and egg white. Add sour cream and vanilla and mix until blended. Slowly add dry mixture and stir until well combine. With buttered hands, gently press (so gently almost patting) mixture into buttered baking dish. Bake 16 – 19 minutes until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and edges are lightly golden. Cool completely, then frost and cut into squares.

Vanilla Frosting

Ingredients:

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

2-3 Tbsp half and half

1 tsp vanilla

Pinch of salt

Several drop food coloring (optional)

In a mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, whip together butter and powdered sugar and half and half until fluffy. Stir in vanilla and salt. Add in optional food coloring and mix until well blended.

You can find the original recipe at: http://www.makeaheadmealsforbusymoms.com/sugar-cookie-squares/

orange sourdough rolls

I have a sourdough starter that my mom has used for as long as I can remember, and I use it to make bread, cinnamon rolls, and pancakes, all from her recipes.

Although I love regular cinnamon rolls, I decided to try orange rolls. Alex likes orange rolls from the store, so we gave it a shot.

Normally, to make the cinnamon rolls, I prepare the dough normally, roll it out flat, cover it in butter, cinnamon, and sugar, and then roll it up and cut it.

This time, I used butter, less cinnamon and sugar, and orange zest. (I also mixed a little bit of orange juice with the butter.) They turned out pretty good! Not the prettiest pan of orange rolls, but they tasted good!

christmas goodies

This year for Christmas, I made a bunch of cookies and goodies to include with everyone's Christmas present.

I spent a whole weekend baking and made:

-Mint Chocolate Chip cookies
-Peanut Butter cookies
-Funfettii cookies
-Salted Caramels
-Peppermint Bark
-Honey Oatmeal Sourdough bread

cooking a whole turkey

For $13.78 we bought a whole turkey, baked it up on a Saturday, and my awesome husband carved it.

Our 14lb turkey, before cooking:

Right out of the oven:

After being carved, packaged into smaller quantities, and ready for freezing:

The smaller packages will make it easy to pull out of the freezer and add it to recipes!