WFMW re-run: Wonderful pumpkin bread

A WFMW re-run from 10/29/08. I'm going to make this bread today (since I'm home, again, for a snow day) and freeze an extra loaf, so I thought I'd share.


This recipe is absolutely wonderful, thus it works for me.

DownEast Maine Pumpkin Bread (from AllRecipes)

INGREDIENTS
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil (I used 1 cup applesauce)
2/3 cup water
3 cups white sugar (1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup white and 1 cup splenda)
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (I didn't have this, so I didnt add it)
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger (ditto)
1 tsp vanilla

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
3. Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
4. Poke holes in the top of the bread, drizzle a melted butter/cinnamon/sugar mixture of the top.

This bread is better when it sits overnight. I made 2 loaves and 6 muffins out of this recipe.

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WFMW: Christmas Cookies

I do alot of baking this time of the year. I bake quite a bit year round, (people at work have started calling me Betty Crocker!) but I love to give cookies and other goodies as gifts.
My Nannie found this recipe last year- and it ROCKS! Check it out- it's sure not to disappoint.

Andes Peppermint Crunch Cookies

INGREDIENTS:
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed (dark) brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1 lg egg
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup sweetened, grated coconut
1 1/4 cups chopped pecans (I've omitted these before and they are still good!)
1 1/2 cups Andes Peppermint Crunch baking chips (save the rest- you'll need 'em)

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Cream butter & sugars until fluffy. (at least 3 minutes- this is why a KitchenAid rocks!)
Beat in egg, vanilla, baking soda, salt & then flour on a low speed.
Mix completely. Stir in oats, coconut, pecans & baking chips.

Measure out 1 tbsp and round into a ball. Play on a lightly greased cookie sheet at least 1 1/2 inches apart. Press lightly and sprinkle remaining peppermint chips on top of each cookie.

Bake 12-15 minutes- Do not overbake! They'll be crunchy on the outside but still pretty soft inside.

This should make 50-60 cookies.

HINTS/TIPS:
*I found the Ande's Peppermint Baking Chips at Aldi's and at Super Target. They were $1.89/bag at the Tulsa Aldi's.
* Sprinkling the extra chips on top really does make a difference- don't skip this step!
* This recipe is on the back of the chips bag! :)

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WFMW: Speech & Language websites for kiddos

As you'all know, I'm a speech pathologist at a local elementary school. There are several websites that I love to use in my classroom and have my kiddos practice at home. I thought I'd share these sites so more kiddos could use 'em!

www.starfall.com for early readers and to highlight certain sounds.

http://www.quia.com/pages/worldowords.html for vocabulary games

http://www.quia.com/pages/havemorefun.html and http://www.quia.com/pages/speechersclass.html for specific sound/articulation games


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WFMW: Friendsgiving & Links

The Story of Friendsgiving

It all started last year when we wanted to have a Christmas party with our college friends. We started calling our friends trying to set a date in stone, and we discovered it was impossible to find an open weekend in all of December. We were pretty disappointed, but it wasn't worth having a Christmas party if only a few friends could attend.

I've always loved fall, and I was interning with Shannon at that time. Shannon and I exchanged recipes/life stories on a daily basis and I mentioned to her how much I love the Kindergarten's Thanksgiving feast & how we couldn't get a holiday party scheduled, etc. After talking it over with Shannon, we realized that almost everyone is home the weekend before Thanksgiving, no one really has plans for that weekend and OSU rarely has a home football game that weekend due to the Bedlam tradition (more on that later). Thus, Friendsgiving was born :)


We provide the tradition turkey and dressing, while all the sides are potluck. Everyone brings their favorite wine/beer/adult beverage to share and a good time is had by all!


Last year we had 8 people in attendance, including ourselves. We were still renting our townhouse so it was a tight fit and it was done on a tight budget- but here's a few photos from last years event:
This year we have about 14 people who have RSVP'ed! I've already purchased a 17 lb. turkey from Target, and have my table decorations piled up in the formal dinning room ready to go. This has quickly become a great tradition that our friends look forward to every year.

Check back here for photos of my table decorations, recipes, etc. from the 2008 Friendsgiving in about a week and a half.

Until then, here's a few links/ideas to check out if you are interested in hosting your own Friendsgiving or just hosting Thanksgiving in your home:

** http://www.home-ec101.com/ :Countdown to Turkey Day 2008

** http://http//www.bhg.com/holidays/thanksgiving/indoor-decorating/easy-centerpieces-for-thanksgiving/ for centerpiece/table decorating ideas

** Check out Old Time Pottery or a discount craft store in your area for simple glass dinner plates, I picked up 8 extra plates at a $1 each, and I'm going to alternate these glass plates w/ my china place settings.

** http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/Entertaining/EntertainingLandingPage.aspx for general recipe ideas

** I'm going to use this brinning recipe for my turkey this year: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe/index.html

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WFMW: Kitchen Organization

It's time for another WFMW! I haven't participated in a while, but this week's in themed so I thought I'd jump right in.

Until this summer, we have had a TINY kitchen with very limited drawer space. I had to come up with clever ways to keep my measuring cups, measuring spoons and little cooking nick knacks organized. This is what I came up with: Open baskets with a slightly higher back than front.

(They were $4 @ Wal-Mart)

Now that we own a house with a large kitchen, I keep the baskets on my lazy Susan and in my pantry. Whenever I'm baking, I just pull the entire basket out from the lazy Susan, place it on the counter top and I have immediate access to my measuring cups/spoons.

I also love the little white metal shelf the basket is sitting on in my pantry. They are actually in the closet organization area at Target, and they run about $5 each. Check out how much more I can store in my pantry with the shelving:

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WFMW: Reusable grocery bags

It's another WFMW! Check out more tips @ www.rocksinmydryer.typepad.com

This is a repeat for my normal readers......

Now, we all know I don't really like Wal-Mart. However- I found this pretty sweet deal on their website.......check it out:
1 Million Reusable Bag Giveaway on April 19

As part of Earth Month 2008, Wal-Mart and Kellogg’s will be partnering to give away one million custom-made reusable shopping bags on Saturday, April 19th at 8AM local time*. Plastic bags can take as long as 1,000 years to degrade. Wal-Mart sells reusable shopping bags every day made from recycled materials you can use instead, for just $1.
*While supplies last.

We are trying to be more green, so I went to Wal-Mart tonight and purchased 5 of these bags with my free $5 gc I earned a few months back for taking a survey.
While checking out, the cashier told me that in 2009, Wal-Mart will either not have plastic bags or they will charge a small fee per bag. (like IKEA does now)

WFMW: Target

It's WFMW!
A few weeks ago I covered Target's store coupons. Now, Target has 'coupons'/catalina's that print out with your receipt after some purchases.
So many times I see people just toss these away without reading them. These catalinas work the same as coupons and some are even better than the coupons online!

I received a $5 off any $25 grocery purchase catalina this week! It was at a new Target store, but the moral of the story is- keep your eyes open :)

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WFMW: frugal tips

It's a backwards additon of WFMW! So my question is, besides couponing, what are other ways that you are frugal?

We are wanting to buy a house late this year, and any extra $ we can save, the better off we'll be.
To check out more questions- go to www.rocksinmydryer.typepad.com

WFMW: measuring

It's WFMW!

Since I started taking my Wilton cake class, I have needed to measure ALOT of crisco/shortening.
I learned a simple trick from our class instructor:

When measuring Crisco- tear off some plastic wrap, and smush it down into your measuring cup. Then measure out your Crisco.
When level, pull @ the plastic wrap, and it comes straight out.
Also, you don't have any greasy mess to clean up!I've used this trick with other sticky/messy ingredients too, and it works like a charm.

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WFMW: HCW and scrapbook online shopping

It's another WFMW! And it'ss themed- our favorite web shopping sites.

My most favorite site to visit while online is http://www.hotcouponworld.com/ . I don't actually shop from this site, but I get all my information about my weekly shopping trips from it- so I think that counts. I look up Target, Walgreens, Wal-Mart, and my local grocery store, Homeland to match my coupons to their weekly sales. I love it! Check out other parts of my blog to get more couponing info if you are interested.

My favorite online scrapbooking store is http://www.customcrops.com/ . I don't order much from the internet, but they have the best prices on the Cricut cartridges that I am interested in. They have very speedy shipping and I just love their customer service!




What are you favorite online stores?


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WFMW: Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's already another WFMW! I decided to stray a little from my couponing tips, and share a baking tip.

Ever since I started using the Betty Crocker Bridal Edition Cookbook- my cookies have turned out perfectly, and it's all because of the butter.
This cookbook is amazing because it shows you what 'just soft enough' butter looks like. I can't get my scanner to work, but I thought I'd share w/ you'all.

Perfectly softened butter:
The butter still looks just like the stick you set out 30 minutes ago, until you press your finger on the top. It is just right when you are able to easily leave a finger imprint. It's too melty when you begin to see butter run off @ the base of the stick.

When you cookies come out flat, it's due to the butter being too melted.

Here's the recipe for the Choc. chip cookies I posted on Monday: http://onefrugalchick.blogspot.com/2008/01/photo-28.html
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter or stick margarine softened
1 tsp. vanilla
1 lg. egg
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 bag choc. chips

Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Beat sugars, butter, vanilla and egg with mixer on medium speed (I use speed 2 on my KA).
Mix in flour, baking soda and salt. (The dough will be very stiff)
Stir in choc. chips.
Drop dough by rounded tbsp's about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes until light brown but the center is still soft. Cool 1-2 minutes, remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack.
(1 cookie- 135 calories, 8g fat and 1g fiber.) Makes about 4 dozen

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