Apple Bread

Today was snowday #3 this week. The natives are getting restless so I had to bake them some Apple Bread.

Here's the recipe:

Apple Bread
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups finely shredded apples

Sift first 4 ingredients into medium mixing bowl. Cream butter and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add flour mixture and apples 1/2 at a time, mixing well after each addition. Spoon into well-greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove to wire rack to cool completely.

The Best Guacamole EVER!

So one night, Joseph and Vicki cooked dinner for us. Somehow our love of Mexican food was expressed, and Joseph decided he would cook us an authentic Mexican meal. Joseph did most of the cooking while Vicki chopped away. An hour or so later, we were served Chicken Enchiladas with the BEST Guacamole EVER! I've had a lot of guacamole over the years, and I must admit this was the best I've ever had.

Exact measurements are a little sketchy, but here's the breakdown:

5 avocados, soft but still somewhat firm-ish
2 whole tomatoes, finely chopped
1/2 large onion, possibly even more
1 HUGE clove of elephant garlic (Papa Bear found this at Walmart)
1 whole jalapeno, seeds and all
2 T. cilantro, finely chopped
juice of 1 lime
salt and pepper

Have everything chopped and ready to go. Scoop out your avocado meat and place in a large bowl. Loosely chop with a fork. Add all other ingredients and loosely chop a little more with fork. Serve in your Grandmother's magic mixing bowl with tortilla chips.

Cucumber Sandwiches

Are there words worthy of describing how wonderful these are?  I think not.  Mamaw has been making these for years.  She has always made them for New Year's Eve or any bridal/baby shower that she had to contribute to.  Tonight she made them for Circle meeting at church.  Squirt and I love them -- so Mamaw made us our own stash of them.  They are so simple that I hesitate to even post a "recipe."  She takes "white" bread and trims the crust off and then cuts out circles.  She peels and slices her cucumbers.  Then she assembles these little darlings  with a thick layer of mayonnaise (it MUST be JFG), a little sprinkle of onion salt, and a healthy shake of cayenne pepper.  If you can resist them for about 30 minutes or so, they are even better.

Cucumber Sandwiches
white sandwich bread, crust trimmed and cut in circles
cucumbers
onion salt
cayenne pepper

Trust me -- these are SO GOOD! 

Roasted (Toasted?) Pumpkin Seeds

Mamaw has been carving and scooping pumpkins like crazy here lately. Well, not really carving them, but she has gotten several pumpkins from our neighbor down the road and has been cooking them and freezing the pulp. Is it pumpkin pulp? pumpkin guts? Whatever it is -- she is cooking it and freezing it for Thanksgiving pumpkin pies. So anyway, I decided it would be neat to roast (or is it toast?) pumpkin seeds. I had gotten a cookbook recently from my Aunt Barbara that had a recipe for pumpkin seeds. I mentioned it to Darling Husband and he got really excited. Apparently his mom used to roast (or toast - whatever it is?!) pumpkin seeds, and he said they were really really good. So here they are. Super easy to do . . . I think next time I want to try the spicy recipe I found. But for now, here's the simple, basic recipe:

Pumpkin seeds
2 tsp. butter, melted
pinch of salt

mix pumpkin seeds with butter and salt, spread in a single layer in a baking pan and bake for 45 minutes at 300.

That was easy enough!

Frozen Caramel Frappuccino

Oh. My. Gosh. This is so so SO good! Me and the kids LOVE Starbucks coffee drinks, but obviously can't afford to go and indulge very often. I found this recipe online about a year or so ago and decided to pull it out tonight and fix us all a treat. Every Sunday, DH fixes us a nice breakfast and we almost always have coffee. With it being summer and being so hot, we haven't drank much coffee, so we always have about half a pot left over. I've started freezing the coffee in an ice tray and making coffee cubes. Those came in really handy tonight for our coffee drinks. Here's the recipe if you are interested:

Frozen Frappuccino (makes 1 drink)

3 oz. coffee
2 T. sugar
1/2 c. milk
1 c. ice (I use my frozen coffee cubes)
3 T. caramel sundae topping (or chocolate syrup if you want a chocolate version)

Get out your Magic Bullet and . . . huh? You don't have a Magic Bullet? Well run out and get one NOW. I love my Magic Bullet. I make awesome salsa with that thing, but I'll save that for another post.

Back to the coffee drink -- mix all ingredients in your Magic Bullet (or whatever you have!). Top with whipped topping (Redi-Whip) and drizzle with caramel (or chocolate syrup for a chocolate drink). Honestly, this is as good or BETTER than that coffee chain place that charges like $5 for one of these. Try it, you'll love it!

Squirt and Scooby love the chocolate version -- even though it always gives Scooby a tummy ache. She thinks it's worth it. I personally have to have the caramel. It's to die for! And Squirt took a picture of them tonight, so look for them on his blog.