Cowboy Cookies

Adapted from:
http://www.christmas-cookies.com/recipes/recipe524.laura-bushs-cowboy-cookies.html

Cream the following indgredrents in a large stand mixer (I use my trusty Bosch )
1 1/2 Cup butter (room temperature)
1 1/2 Cup sugar (granulated)
1 1/2 Cup brown sugar
4 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla

Add and mix well
3 Cups all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon Baking powder
1 Tablespoon Baking soda
1 Tablespoon ground cinnammon
1 teaspoon salt

Add
3 Cups chocolate chips
3 Cups oatmeal
2 Cups cocoanut
2 Cups chopped pecans

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 12 minutes. the cookies I make are about 2 inches in diameter when baked.

Story:Will and I are on a serious diet, I reluctantly agreed to NO baking for the first couple of weeks of the diet....One of my top 5 hobbies is baking, so it's been hard to start a sewing project to get me out of the kitchen..(Hurry guests come and visit so I can cook and bake again) I was looking for a recipe that would include indgredients my current customers (Will and Grandma) would like...and I found this 'Cowboy Cookie' recipe that makes a substantial amount of cookies and includes pecans, (Will) homemade (Grandma) and Chocolate (Me).......Plus this week of no baking resulted in Grandma getting store cookies for tea time. Yesterday she said  "I would have thought THEY would have homemade cookies one of these days"
So...I thought it was time again to bake some cookies that can go  into the freezer until Grandma's tea time.

Oreo Dessert

1 pkg of regular Oreos
1/2 c. of butter
1 lg box of instant chocolate pudding
2-8 oz cool whips
8 oz. of cream cheese, softened
1 c. powdered sugar

Notes/Story: Crush the whole package of cookies either with a food processor, or in a bag and a rolling pin. Save a 1/2 c. to sprinkle on top of dessert when it's done. Pour remaining crumbs in a 13x9 pan. Melt butter and pour into crumb mix. Stir it up good and press crumbs in bottom of pan to make a crust. Make chocolate pudding according to package directions and let it setup in the fridge. In a mixing bowl blend cream cheese until nice and smooth and then add powdered sugar, mix. Then fold in 1-8 oz thing of cool whip. Top oreo layer with cream cheese mix, then pudding, then your last 8 oz thing of cool whip, and then sprinkle remaining Oreo's on top. Cover and refridgerate until ready to serve.

I made this for our girls' weekend for Sunday after meeting. It was super!

Dorito Casserole

2 pounds ground beef- browned  (I usually used less, either 1 pound or 1 1/2 pound-whatever we had on hand)
1 medium onion
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of onion (or cream of mushroom soup)
1 can enchilada sauce (mild)
1 bag dorito chips
Shredded cheese
Ripe (black) olives

Directions and Story: Line a 9 X 12 inch pan with 1/2 of a bag of largely crunched Dorito chips.
Brown hamburger with onion and salt and pepper to taste.  Add soups. Add enchilada sauce.
Pour over chips, sprinkle with cheese, olvies and the remainder of Dorito chips
Bake 350 degrees for 25 minutes

I made this quick easy casserole often during the years the kids were busy with activities in high school.
We usually had all of the ingredients on hand and everyone liked how it tasted.

Monster Cookies

1 cup butter
3 cups peanut butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups white sugar
6 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp corn syrup
4 tsp baking soda
9 cups oatmeal
2 cups M&Ms
2 cups chocolate chips

Notes/Story: Mix all ingredients together. Bake at 350 for 6-8 min but depends on how monsterous you make them.

I think this was Kristin's recipe she made in high school a lot. Always a hit!

Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

Mix together in a large stand mixer
2 1/2 Cups brown sugar
1 1/2 Cups shortening  (I use 1/2 cup shortening and 1 cup butter)
3 eggs
Pinch of Salt

Add alternately and mix

1 1/2 Cup buttermilk and
2 teaspoons baking soda

2 1/2 Cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 Cups regular oatmeal

1 1/2 Cup raisins (Soak the raisins in boiling water
and drain before adding to indgredients)

Directions and Story:  Wash raisins and bring to a boil with water. Drain before
adding to the other ibgredients.  DO NOT ADD RAISIN JUICE.  Drop from teaspoon on
a greased baking sheet and bake one cookie for a test.
You most likely will need to add more flour.
Bake in a 350-375 degree oven (I use 375 degrees) until they are nicely browned,
About 12 minutes.

Story-Grandma Kay made these as one of her favorate cookies. The recipe came from the Ransom County Gazette in 1981 from a lady who lived and worked in McLoud ND. It makes a huge batch.

Low Sodium Vegetable Soup

Add the following to a medium size soup kettle and brown over medium heat
Olive oil
1 Onion
2 Stalks of celery
2 Carrots

Add
6 Cups of cut vegetables (I used potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower)
4 Cups of liquid ( used water)
1 (15 oz) can low sodium dices tomatoes
1 Tablespoon herbs such as basil

Let simmer until vegetables are tender.

Sunday Dinner-Pork roast

Since we agree that the biggest meal of the day should be called the dinner, the noon meal on Sunday is our biggest Sunday meal-thus our Sunday dinner. Sunday supper is waffles or pancakes......

Roast Pork-
Rice and Gravy

Hot vegetable - Broccoli/Cauliflower
      sprinkled with cheese
Spinach/leaf lettuce salad with
      carrot and celery slices
Home made rolls
Fudge Ice cream dessert



Directions: Fresh pork roast, season with salt and pepper and add about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of water to the bottom of the pan, bake covered in a 325 degree oven from about 9:30 until 12:00 (2 and1/2 hours). There is usually very little fat, so we make a flour based gravy with the drippings in the pan. 

Story:  We are looking for a Sunday dinner that is easy and quick and the dinner preparation can either be done the day before, or early in the morning before leaving for meeting.
This meal is a good 'winter meal', it's almost always good, and fairly inexpensive to make.
We start with a Fresh pork loin sirloin end roast. This is about $2.29 a pound and easily feeds 4-6 people. We plan on left overs for stir fry or pork sandwiches the next day.

This Sunday we

served Fudge Ice cream dessert