A Moment of Peace and Quiet!

Ah, the beauty of silence! Isaac feel asleep really early for his nap and has been sleeping for 3 hours!!!! Those of you who have heard my tales of sleeping woes with this little boy can appreciate what a miracle that is! And not only do I have a break, but I have been wonderfully productive. I got to play around with all my new stamping ink that I will be using to make all of my cards. Then I decided to be responsible and I did all the picking up required after being out of town (unloaded and loaded the dishwasher), went through all the mail, and did some picking up! Then I made chocolate and white chocolate chip cookies!!! YUM YUM!!! And Isaac is still sleeping!!!! Ah, God is good to me! He just knew I needed a break and to fill relaxed yet productive!

So tell me what do you do when you get a moment to yourself? Do you use it to be productive (cleaning, laundry, etc) or do you treat yourself to a moment of relaxation and read, scrapbook, watch TV, etc???? It seems to be a constant battle between knowing that I only have a few moments to get things done without a "helper" and knowing that I need a few moments for myself to recharge! I cannot wait to here from you and while you are at it, tell me what your favorite type of cookies are.........and for those of you who are feeling extra generous- share your favorite cookie recipe with us!!!

This is my current favorite recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies:

2 sticks of butter

3/4 c sugar

3/4 c brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teas vanilla

Cream together and then add the following dry ingredients-

2 3/4 c flour

1 teas salt

1 heaping teas baking soda

Add a bag of your favorite chips- chocolate, white chocolate, butterscotch, etc!!!

Bake at 375 degrees for 11 minutes and enjoy!

Today, I double the recipe and did half chocolate chips and half white chocolate chips!!! YUM!

Recipe of the Week- Another Yummy Fall Treat!

I am very proud of myself, because I actually got inspired to cook using butternut squash which is something I have never done before! It is actually not to hard! It just takes a little time to bake the squash. I recommend baking the squash, scooping out the flesh, and putting it in the fridge the day before you are going to bake. This recipe is really sweet, depending on your taste you may want to cut the sugar in half. Also, as far as the topping goes you can be creative. The recipe calls for vanilla wafers but I used honey brunches of oats cereal. You could also use graham crackers. Let me know if you try it! Enjoy!

***I got this recipe off of AllRecipes.com!!!!

Butternut Squash Casserole

INGREDIENTS
3 cups of butternut squash
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 eggs
1/4 cup margarine, melted
TOPPING
1/2 (16 ounce) package vanilla wafers, crushed
1/2 cup margarine, melted
1 cup brown sugar

DIRECTIONS

Cut squash in half longways and bake facedown on a cookie sheet at 450 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. Scoop out the flesh!

In a 9x13 inch casserole dish combine 3 cups mashed butternut squash, white sugar, milk, vanilla extract, salt, flour, eggs and 1/4 cup melted margarine.
Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until set.
In a medium bowl combine crushed vanilla wafers, 1/2 cup melted margarine and brown sugar. Crumble over top of cooked casserole and return to oven to brown.

New Recipes are Fun!

So I have decided that once a week, I will post a new recipe to share with all of you out in bloggerland! If you like recipes, you will love this giveaway for a free cookbook and a year subscription to your choice of magazine (mostly food magazines!). Check it out!
http://molly-coddled.com/2007/10/22/time-for-a-giveaway/#comment-1174

In honor of fall, today's recipe is for Pumpkin Bread! It is to die for!!!!!! It make 3-4 loaves and it freezes great! I love having a loaf to pull out of the freezer when we have overnight company! Let me know if you try it and how it turn out! Also, if you are looking for a certain type of recipe (main dish, a snack for a holiday openhouse, dessert, side dish, etc) let me know! I'm not giving any guarantees but I will try to help you out!

Pumpkin Bread

31/2 c. flour

3 c. sugar

1 c. Oil ( can substitute applesauce for 1/2 the oil)

2 c. pumpkin

2/3 c. water

1 c. chopped pecans

4 eggs

2 t. baking soda

2 t. sal

2 t. cinnamon

2 t. nutmeg

1/2 t. cloves

1/2 t. allspice

Mix all ingredients together. Pour into 3 or 4 loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. You may want to start checking the bread after 45 minutes of baking, it doesn't always take the full time.