Cream-Filled Cupcakes

serves: about 2 dozen

Ingredients

1 1/4 c Flour
1 c Sugar
1/3 c Cocoa
3/4 tsp Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 c Sour milk
1/3 c Oil
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla

Filling:

1 pkg Cream cheese (8 oz)
1/4 c Sugar
1 Egg
1/2 c Mini chocolate chips

Directions

1. In a bowl, mix cocoa and oil until smooth.
2. Add egg and mix.
3. Add sour milk and vanilla; mix.
4. Combine dry ingredients, add to mixture, and stir. Batter should be thin.
5. In a separate bowl, mix together cream cheese, egg, and sugar until smooth.
6. Add chocolate chips to the second bowl.
7. Put about 1/4 inch batter in bottom of cupcake liner in pan. Add 1 teaspoon of filling in the center and cover with more batter.
8. Bake at 350 until done.

Gingerbread Pudding

Another new crockpot dessert recipe! We had all the ingredients for this except the molasses, so I had Ryan pick up some molasses at the store so we could try this recipe. It's pretty good! I don't know why it's called 'pudding' though because it was more like a cake. Oh well. It's still really tasty! I think it would taste really good with a little vanilla ice cream and some caramel syrup drizzled on top. :)



Ingredients:
1/2 C. molasses
1 C. water
1/4 C. butter, softened
1/4 C. sugar
1 egg, well-beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 C. all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 C. brown sugar
3/4 C. hot water
2/3 C. butter, melted

Directions:
Combine molasses and 1 C. water. In separate bowl, cream butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla; add to molasses mixture. Line a 6-quart oval slow-cooker with waxed paper; pour batter into slow-cooker. Mix brown sugar, hot water, and melted butter; pour over batter but do not stir. Cook on high 2 to 2 1/2 hours or until pudding is set.

Instead of using waxed paper, we just used a crockpot liner (which is pretty much the same thing, right?). I have no idea why it wasn't really 'pudding' for us, but it was still good! I recommend this dessert for anyone who loves gingerbread cookies! Tastes just the same, except in the form of a cake/pudding (we did have a tiny bit of pudding stuff on the very bottom, but it was mostly just cake).

This recipe can be found in the Slow-Cooker recipe book below!

Pot of Gold

I got this recipe from my parents. I thought it would taste weird after seeing the list of ingredients, but then I made it and it was actually pretty good! This is a good recipe to use if you have the canned ingredients and noodles in your food storage. It's pretty cheap to make and really easy, too!


Ingredients
1 lb. ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion (or dried minced onion)
1 can cream style corn
1 cup mild cheese (grated)
1 can tomato soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
6 oz. noodles (I used half of a 12 oz. bag of noodles, but you could use more or less...whatever you want)

Directions
Brown meat and onion, cook noodles. Put meat and onion in casserole dish. Add noodles and remaining ingredients. Bake at 350 degrees 1 hour.


The second time we made this, we put a little extra cheese on top right after it came out of the oven. Yum!

Gingerbread Waffles

This is why I love to cook--so I can eat yummy food like this! I got this recipe from a friend, Katie.


Ingredients:
4 eggs
1/3 c. sugar
1 c. molasses
1 c. buttermilk
3 c. flour
2 tsp. ginger
1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cloves
3/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. butter--melted

Directions:
Beat the eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar, molasses, and buttermilk and mix til blended. Sift together flour, spices, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until smooth. Stir in the butter. Refrigerate overnight or cook immediately in a waffle iron. Makes 14 waffles.


I think we ended up making 16 waffles. Ryan and I ate the first two so we could try them, and that's why there are only 14 waffles in the first picture. They are delicious! These would be a great after-Thanksgiving breakfast so that you can use any whipped cream left over from pies. They also taste good with maple syrup, and I'm sure they'd be delicious with fruit! This would make a wonderful breakfast for Christmas morning...or any morning! I think I'll be making these again soon! :)

Apple Turnovers

Here is a recipe for the holidays ... perfect for a large family gathering, or dinner for two paired with some apple cider!  We served these on Sunday when my family came over, and everyone enjoyed them!  I got this recipe from John's mom, and I think she got it from her sister.

Ingredients

2 Croissant Roll Cans (must say "50% bigger")
2-3 Granny Smith Apples, cut into small slices
Cinnamon
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1 cup Butter
1 tsp. Vanilla


Directions

Unroll the croissants, and set a few apple slices on the wide end.  Sprinkle with cinnamon, roll tightly, and place on a baking sheet.  In a medium saucepan, cook sugar, butter, and vanilla until liquid becomes clear (or almost clear).  Pour liquid on apple-filled croissants.  Secret ingredient: after pouring the liquid, pour a 1/2 cup of original Mountain Dew over the top.  This is purely optional, and the turnovers would probably taste just as good without if you want to exclude it.  Sprinkle sugar on top of all the croissants, and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

* Let me know how they turn out! *

Crock Pot Tamale Pie

I came across this Fit Marriage website a couple of weeks ago and noticed the nutrition tab, so I clicked on it to see what recipes they had posted. One recipe that caught my eye was this crock pot tamale pie. And guess what? The crock pot that is shown in the video is exactly like the one we have! Haha! We had all of the ingredients except the cornmeal, so I had Ryan pick some up so we could try this the next Sunday. We also didn't have any fire roasted diced tomatoes with chilies, so we just used a can of diced tomatoes without chilies.


Filling ingredients:
1 lb. cooked ground beef (I just used 1/2 a lb.)
1 15 oz. can black beans drained & rinsed
1 15 oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes with chilies
1 15 oz. can corn drained
1 Tbsp. chili powder or taco seasoning
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 cup diced onions
1 cup cheddar cheese

Cornbread topping ingredients:
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 1/4 cup flour or gluten-free baking mix
1 tsp. baking powder – omit if using gluten-free mix that has baking powder
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg

Directions:
Spray stoneware with cooking spray.

Combine all filling ingredients from above in crock pot. Stir ingredients together until thoroughly mixed as you will not be able to mix again. (I combined all ingredients in a bowl, stirred them together, and then put the mixture in the crock pot.)

In a large bowl, mix all topping ingredients from above. Stir to a smooth texture, then pour topping onto filling in crock pot.

Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours.


I think the recipe originally said 6-8 hours, and that's what the lady says in the video. Funny thing is, since the crock pot is exactly like ours, when I read/heard the 6-8 hours, I said out loud to Ryan "I bet it will be done in about 5 hours!" And then watching the video, they said it was done in 4 1/2 hours. Ha ha! I knew it! Every crock pot recipe I have ever tried has always been done a lot sooner than what the time on the recipe says. It is a good crock pot! :)

This recipe was perfect to make on Sunday--with 3 hours of church and then about an hour of choir practice, that's 4 hours. I set the timer for 4 1/2 hours and started it about 15 minutes before we left to go to church, so it only had about 15 minutes left by the time we got home! Right as we walked in the door, we immediately smelled the tamale pie and it smelled sooooo good!

I remember when I was younger, my mom occasionally bought canned tamales from the store. I used to eat them. Then I got sick of them after a while. When I tasted this crock pot tamale pie, it reminded me of when I used to eat canned tamales...only it was a LOT better!

So healthy! So delicious! So easy! You should try this! :)

One suggestion, though... even if you use a crock pot liner, you might still want to spray it with cooking spray. We didn't and the topping got stuck to it. Oops!

Raisin Pudding!

This is a recipe that came from my Grandma Higginson. My dad said that he had it a lot when he was a child, and my family made it quite often when I was growing up. It is so good! My parents made it and brought it with them when Ryan and I had most of my family over to our place on Halloween, so I was able to get a picture of it. I don't have a cool 'raisin pudding pan' like the one that my parents have. I don't really have any pan that would be good to make it in, so I haven't ever made it at my house. I'll have to get a cool pan sometime! :)


Ingredients:
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1 cup raisins
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt

Mix ingredients and place in the center of a pan.

Mix in a pot on the stove:
2 1/2 cups brown sugar
Stick of butter or margarine
4 cups boiling water

Pour over or around dough. Bake at 375 degrees for about 50 minutes.


It is pretty sweet, so we like to eat it either with evaporated milk or regular milk poured on top. Enjoy!!