Apple Bread Pudding

Apple Bread Pudding

We have a lot of apples at our house, and bread that I need to get rid of. I'm trying to find some more creative ways to use them, and last week I found a recipe for apple bread pudding, that turned out all right for us. I'm not a huge fan of bread pudding, so I can't give a very good opinion, but my husband really enjoyed it (and ate most of it). You can find the recipe here. I of course add cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves instead of just the cinnamon. I also added a little more apple than the recipe called for, and it turned out fine. The sauce that goes with it separated for me, but the taste was good. I would probably opt for some vanilla ice cream as a topping if I make it again.

Baked Oatmeal

Baked oatmeal topped with a little cream

My dear friend Crystal over at Serving God and Family has been making this baked oatmeal for a while, and I've been drooling every time she talked about it. She finally posted the link to the recipe, and I was all too happy to try it. I'd never had baked oatmeal before, but it's really quite something. It's not mushy oatmeal, but crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. I think it's meant to be served with milk, more like a cereal. You can find the recipe here at All Recipes.

I modified the recipe a bit because I wanted to make honey almond baked oatmeal. I didn't have any eggs, so I used about 1/4 Cup homemade applesauce mixed with about 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil. I substituted about 1/8 Cup honey for some of the brown sugar (though I would increase it for more of a honey flavor next time). In addition to the cinnamon, I also added ginger, nutmeg and a pinch of cloves (I put these four spices in any sweet thing I can). To give it a nice crunch I added about 1/3 Cup chopped almonds (I think I would also increase this next time). I omitted the dried cranberries as well.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Chocolate Chip Muffins

This sweet treat comes from my friend Crystal at Serving God and Family. She has the best recipe for Chocolate Chip Muffins, and when I made them the entire process only took me 30 minutes- perfect if you're doing some last minute entertaining. The ingredients are simple, and I just used a bowl and spatula to mix everything, so no mixer clean up! They are great warm with a glass of milk. :)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar (regular sugar)
2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Salt
3/4 Cups Milk
1/4 Cups Oil
1 Egg
1/2 Cups Chocolate Chips (can use milk or semi-sweet)

Preheat oven to 400°F
Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl. Add wet ingredients and mix until blended. Add in chocolate chips. Pour into greased or lined cupcake tins, fill 3/4 of the way. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Makes 12 muffins.

Baked Acorn Squash

Baked Acorn Squash

Ken picked up a couple of acorn squash from the store the other day, and I needed to do something with them before they went bad. I decided to bake them with butter and brown sugar, which I always find delicious. Here is what I did:

2 Acorn Squash, halved and gutted
Score the flesh with a paring knife (this allows the buttery goodness to soak in and makes it easier to remove after it's cooked)
Spread 1-2 Tbsp room temperature butter on each half (the back of a spoon works well for this)
Pack 2-3 Tbsp brown sugar on each half over the butter
Place halves in a 9x13 baking dish and bake at 350F for 45min to 1 hour. Squash is done when the flesh is soft when a fork is inserted. To serve, I put a squash half in a bowl, run a knife around the outside to separate the flesh a little, and put a bit more brown sugar in the melted butter to make a nice sauce. Leftovers can be covered and refrigerated, then reheated in the microwave or oven.

Dill Potato Rolls

Dill Potato Rolls (knotted)

I have discovered an awesome recipe for potato rolls (by a lady here in Oregon!) on allrecipes.com: click here to see the recipe. The only difference in my recipe is that I add about 2Tbsp of dill to the dry ingredients. You can't really taste the dill; it just gives it more of an aromatic flavor, I think. They still have that potato-bread sweetness to them that I love! I also roll them or tied them into 32 knots instead of the 24 the recipe suggests. It makes slightly over-sized dinner rolls, or small sandwich rolls. I made them for my family's Thanksgiving, and they were a hit. I'll probably be making them more, since they don't take much work.