Happy Birthday Jesus

After singing “Happy Birthday Dear Jesus” we had a fun time of opening our gifts to each other. I hope each of you have a wonderful day together with your family and friends.

Merry Christmas!

For Ginger

In response to my Breakfast for Dinner post, Ginger asked:

It seems like last year our Costco had some pumpkin based thing put out by Krusteaz and there were several recipes on the side of the box for cookies/muffins, etc. They were fabulous!
Do you have any ideas or suggestions. Krusteaz’s website offered no help.
Thanks!

First, let me apologize for taking so long to respond. I’ve had several posts on my mind but no time to sit down and type ‘em out.  Now I’m afraid it’s “too late” for some, but maybe not. Folks might have turkey again for Christmas, so perhaps I’ll still post about the wonderful turkey soup I made from the carcas and leftovers. Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

What I have is the Krusteaz Pumpkin Spice Quick Bread Mix. As far as muffins go, just use the basic quick bread instructions and spoon the batter into muffin tins instead of a bread pan. I made some for a meeting tonight and they turned out well. To make them more of a treat I added a half bag of white chocolate chips I had. On the side of the box is the following recipe for:

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

• 1 pouch Quick Bread Mix
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 taspoon nutmeg
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1/2 cup raisins, optional
• sugar, optional

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place quick bread mix and butter in medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Add egg, oats, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and water. Continue to mix on medium speed until dough forms. Stir in raisins, if desired. Using rounded tablespoon dough for each cookie, form balls and roll in sugar, if desired. Place 2 inches apart onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 11-13 minutes. Makes 2 dozen cookies.

On the box are also recipes for Pumpkin Swirl Snack Cake and Caramel Pumpkin Cake. I’d be happy to post or email those if anyone is looking for them. This box came with three pouches. I used one for 2 separate batches of pumpkin pancakes – which were very good. I used the second one tonight for muffins. I have only one left. I’m certain I will find good use for it before the year is out.

Absolutely Awesome Birthday Cake

It was my husband’s birthday. I needed to make a cake, but didn’t have alot of time to make it. He’d been asking for banana bread, as we had some bananas that were beyond eating. So, I surfed around for banana bread/cake recipes. Since we recently moved, I don’t have alot of baking ingredients on hand – so lacked much of what I needed. My son was sick, so making a run to the store was out. What to do?

Oh, I still have a couple of boxes of Tastefully Simple mixes in the pantry from my friend in VA. They have recipes for their products on their website. So, I checked on the two products I had and found a banana cake recipe. Ingredients: Absolutely Almond Pound Cake mix, Water, mashed bananas. Mix, bake, cool, frost with cream cheese frosting, which I did manage to acquire. Ta Da! An absolutely awesome banana cake! That was Wednesday. My husband ate the last piece at lunch today.

Needless to say, I have been pleased with Tastefully Simple products on more than one occasion. I had a friend in Virginia that was a distributor. When you’re in a pinch and need to bake something in a flash, or whip up a quick dinner, it really comes in handy to have a few of their items on hand. They’re quick gourmet – not necessarily healthy or whole foods. Some of their soup mixes, for example, contain partially hydrogenated oils, so do read the ingredients. But if someone invites you to a party, it’s well worth it to attend. And, as they say, go hungry!