Grandma Barney's Taco Soup

1 lb. hamburger
1/2 onion
3 15oz cans of Mexican style chili beans (don't drain)
1 15oz can of corn (don't drain)
1 14oz can of diced tomatoes
1 can green chilies
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 pkg. ranch dressing mix
1 1/2 cup water

Cook hamburger with the onion. Mix everything together in a pot and simmer until heated through.
Serve with toppings: cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips/strips, avocado, olives, etc.

*Notes: I leave out the chilies when I make it for my kids and I blend the tomatoes because Steve doesn't like the chunks. I also only use 1 or 2 cans of beans when I make it just for my family because 3 is too much. I will also sometimes not put the entire pkgs of taco/ranch seasonings in. Do it to taste.

Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies

Yield: about 26 cookies

Total Time: 5 hours, 15 minutes (includes chilling & cooling)

Yes! You have to chill the dough for 4 hours so plan accordingly.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (230g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 2/3 cup (134g) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 cups + 2 Tablespoons (264g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)
• 1/2 cup (160g) raspberry jam²

Icing

• 1 cup (120g) confectioners' sugar
• 1-2 Tablespoons (15-30ml) cream or milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract (optional)

Directions:

This cookie dough requires at least 4 hours for chilling and cookies must cool before glazing. Don't forget to plan ahead!

1. Make the cookies: Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Switch mixer to medium speed and add the the sugar, vanilla, and almond extracts. Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl as needed. Turn the mixer off and pour the flour into the wet ingredients. Turn the mixer on low and slowly beat until a very soft dough is formed.  Press the dough down to compact it and tightly cover with plastic wrap to chill until firm, at least 4 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats (silicone mats preferred to reduce spreading). Shape the cookie dough into balls. Mine were about 1 Tablespoon of dough per ball. Make sure they're nice and smooth. If you find that the balls of dough are sticky and/or have gotten a little soft after rolling- place the balls of dough back into the refrigerator to firm up. You absolutely DO NOT want soft dough.³ Make an indentation with your thumb into each ball. The dough may crack slightly when you press your thumb into it. Simply smooth it out with your fingers if you can. Otherwise, it's perfectly fine to have a few cracks. Fill each with a scant 1/2 teaspoon of jam. (Or however much it can hold.)
3. Bake the shortbread thumbprint cookies for 14-15 minutes, or until very lightly browned on the edges. The cookies will puff up and spread slightly. Do not overbake.  In fact, I only baked mine for 13-14 minutes. I prefer them a little soft. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before glazing.
4. Make the glaze: Whisk the glaze ingredients together until smooth. Add more liquid to thin out or add more confectioners' sugar to thicken to your desired consistency. Drizzle over cooled cookies. Glaze will set within a couple hours.

Make ahead and storing: Store cookies covered at room temperature for 3 days or in the refrigerator for 6 days. Shortbread cookie dough can be frozen up to 2 months; baked cookies (without glaze) may be frozen up to 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

Recipe Notes:

1. 2 Tablespoons of flour added to the recipe. I make my cookies with only 2 cups of flour, however I suggest readers add 2 extra Tablespoons to prevent extra spreading.
2. Get creative with jam flavors! Any flavor you love works.
3. Make sure the cookie dough is cold and firm at all times. If it's not firm and cold, put back into the refrigerator to chill. When working in batches, keep the unused dough chilled in the refrigerator. You may roll, print, and fill batch #2 and stick in the fridge while batch #1 bakes.

Original Recipe here: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/12/12/raspberry-almond-thumbprint-cookies/

French Toast Roll-Ups

Ingredients

8 slices white sandwich bread

softened cream cheese, diced strawberries, or Nutella

2 eggs

3 tablespoons milk

⅓ cup granulated sugar

1 heaping teaspoon ground cinnamon

butter, for greasing the pan

Instructions

1. Cut the crust from each slice of bread and flatten it out with a rolling pin.
3. Place about 1-2 teaspoons of your chosen filling 1 inch from one end of the bread in a strip. Roll the bread up tightly and repeat with the remaining pieces of bread. I really like cream cheese with diced strawberries as one combination and Nutella with diced strawberries as another combination.
5. In a shallow bowl whisk the eggs and milk until well combined. (Hint: Next time I would put a little egg on a plate for rolling so when I rolled the bread, the ends don't get egg on them. The ends are harder to cook.) 
7. In a separate shallow bowl mix the sugar with the cinnamon.
9. Heat a skillet set over medium heat and melt a tablespoon of butter.
11. Dip each bread roll in the egg mixture coating well and then place them in the pan seam side down. Cook in batches until golden brown, turning them to cook and brown on all sides, about 2 minutes per side. Add butter to the pan as needed.
13. Add cooked rolls immediately from the pan to the cinnamon sugar and roll until completely covered in sugar. You can serve with syrup for dipping but I think they're perfectly good all by themselves.

Original recipe found here: http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2013/05/french-toast-roll-ups.html

Grandma Munk's Taffy

I love how Grandma Munk always finds ways to contribute to her community like pulling taffy with the 4th and 5th graders every year. So, when I was in charge of pulling taffy with some 8 and 9 year olds this week, I called Grandma for her expertise. This is her cold taffy recipe - you can pull it when it is cold (better for kids) and it comes out more like Laffy Taffy than salt water taffy. So if you are feeling like a good taffy pull, here is her recipe. Grandma warns Taffy is temperamental, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Good luck.

Cold Taffy: 

2 1/2 C sugar

2 1/2 C Karo Syrup

1/2 C Whipping cream

2 tsp Coconut Oil

3/4 tsp Unflavored Gelatin

2 Tbls Cold Water

2 Tbls Hot Water

1 tsp Kool-Aid  I used fruit punch Kool-Aid thinking it would be a good universal kid flavor. It was fine but personal preference would have chosen a different flavor. You can also try red hots or experiment with your own flavors.

parchment or freezer paper

more coconut oil for pulling

Mix Gelatin with cold water to soften then add hot water to dissolve. Set aside.

Mix sugar, Karo syrup and whipping cream in a large sauce pot. Bring to a boil that you can't stir down. Say Prayer.  Add coconut oil, gelatin, Kool-Aid and stir to mix. Don't stir again! Cook until 242 degrees** (soft ball stage) Remove from heat. Let cool.

If you don't have a candy thermometer, google soft ball stage and you can see some videos of how to determine when the candy is done using a cold water test.

**Altitude will change the boiling point for water thus changing what temp soft ball stage is. It boils at 212 at sea level and goes down a degree for every 500 feet in elevation. I adjusted the 242 temp down to 232 for Idaho but in the end needed to cook it closer to 242 to make it hard enough to pull so you might need to just experiment).

You can pull this taffy when it is cold. Put a little coconut oil on your hands as needed. If it is too sticky, put a tiny pit of water in pan and heat it up again to soft ball stage and then let cool again. If it is too hard, place it in a 300 degree oven for 2-5 minutes to soften.

Pull taffy until it is light in color. Roll into a log, cut with scissors and wrap in parchment or freezer paper (it will stick to wax paper). 

Taffy can be stored in a cool place for several weeks, pulled or not pulled. 

Kale Chips

This is delicious recipie from Oh She Glows: Read more: http://ohsheglows.com/2014/03/12/6-tips-for-flawless-kale-chips-all-dressed-kale-chips-recipe/#ixzz45SDpRCbJ  We can down a whole head of kale with no problem.

Ingredients:
PER BAKING SHEET:

• approx. 1/2 bunch kale leaves

• 1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil or melted coconut oil

• 1.5 tablespoons nutritional yeast

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 3/4 teaspoon chili powder

• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder

• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

• 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt or pink Himalayan sea salt

• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional, but do it)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

1. Remove leaves from the stems of the kale and roughly tear it up into large pieces. Compost the stems (or freeze for smoothies). Wash and spin the leaves until thoroughly dry.

1. Add kale leaves into a large bowl. Massage in the oil until all the nooks and crannies are coated in oil. Now sprinkle on the spices/seasonings and toss to combine.

1. Spread out the kale onto the prepared baking sheet into a single layer, being sure not to overcrowd the kale.

1. Bake for 10 minutes, rotate the pan, and bake for another 12-15 minutes more until the kale begins to firm up. The kale will look shrunken, but this is normal. I bake for 25 mins. total in my oven.

1. Cool the kale on the sheet for 3 minutes before digging in! This really makes all the difference! Enjoy immediately as they lose their crispiness with time.

1. Repeat this process for the other half of the bunch.

Great Veggie and Fruit dips!

Vegetable Dip

1 cup sour cream

1 cup mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon parsley
1 teaspoon dill weed
1 teaspoon Bon Appetit (Use Celery salt same measure as a replacement if you can't get Bon Appetit)
1 Tablespoon minced onion

Mix and chill.

Fruit Dip

8 ounce package cream cheese, softened

½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup powdered sugar
½ pint sour cream
1 Tablespoon vanilla

Combine all ingredients and beat at high speed until creamy.

Rosemary Olive Oil Bread

This was pretty easy to make which is saying a lot since yeast and I are not usually friends. It was delicious dipped in a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup warm water (100-110 F)
1 Tbsp. organic cane sugar
2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped (or 2 tsp. dried)
1/4 tsp. Italian seasoning (or pinch of each ground garlic, dried oregano, and dried basil)
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup bread flour + extra for kneading
1 egg, whisked + 1 Tbsp. water, for egg wash
dried rosemary, for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, combine the warm water, sugar, and yeast. Let sit 10 minutes to proof.
2. Stir in the salt, rosemary, seasonings, olive oil, and whole wheat flour. Add the bread flour and stir until the dough forms a ball. Knead on a lightly floured surface for about 5 minutes, adding more flour as necessary to prevent sticking, until smooth.
3. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl; cover; and let rise until doubled in size, about1 hour.
4. Punch down the dough and form it into a round loaf. Place it on a cornmeal dusted pizza peel or parchment paper; cover; and let rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, preheat oven (and pizza stone) to 400 F. Once the dough has risen, gently brush the top with egg wash and sprinkle with dried rosemary.
6. Bake on preheated stone for 20-25 minutes until the top is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped.
Makes 1 round loaf.


Original recipe here