Fall Harvest Trifle

Gingerbread cookies
Pumpkin Roll
Cardamom cake
Heath pieces sprinkled over first layer

Filling: (Pumpkin Mousse)
Take one small box (not instant) vanilla pudding
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups milk
1/4 tsp. ginger
Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.
Mix in 1 cup pumpkin.
Allow to cool and set.

Topping:
Heavy whipping cream, whipped
I like to add 1 tsp. vanilla and 1/3 cup sugar once it starts to stiffen.

From the bottom up:
Layer: 1 inch pieces of pumpkin cake, cardamom cake and thumb size pieces of gingerbread cookie,
Sprinkle Heath Chips over this layer
Add a dollop of pumpkin mousse
Layer cake again: pumpkin cake, cardamom cake, and gingerbread cookies.
Top with cream

I make all these in advance and freeze until the day of the party. That way, all I have to do is assemble and whip my cream, and make my mousse. You could probably buy all of this at the store as well, or get something close, if you wanted to make it really easy.

Pumpkin Muffins

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 ripe banana
1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar
4 eggs lightly beaten
1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 cups (16oz.) pumpkin
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
 3 and a 1/2 cups white flour
1/2 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pans with paper liners. Bake 20 minutes.

In a medium bowl, mix together butter, pumpkin sugars, yogurt, sour cream, and eggs until well combined. Add spices: salt, soda, and baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Add flours last, mixing well.
 Stir in chocolate chips.

Divide batter evenly between cups. Bake until tops spring back and a toothpick comes out clean.

Transfer to a wire rack and cool.

Yield: 30 muffins

There is a beautiful pumpkin cupcake recipe out there, called Pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes.  They turned out gorgeous. But, with a whole cup of butter, I just felt like it was too much.  My challenge was, could I cut the butter in half and come up with a decent muffin.  I think I did.  If you don't care about calories try hers, but if you do, try these.  Yes, they do have a lot of ingredients but when you are trying to reduce fat, you gotta make up for it somewhere, and it is mainly just spices that require some sprinkling, so it's not that bad.  
Just made these again and they are so incredibly moist. I'm thrilled with the finished product.

Want to make them even more moist? Add 2 heaping cups pumpkin.
 I've tinkered with it so long, I think it's perfect. Made them without the banana and it made a huge difference. Please use your banana.

Zucchini - Banana - Pumpkin bread

Cream:
4 cups sugar
1 cup plain yogurt
3/4 cup pumpkin
1/3 cup sour cream
1 ripe banana

Add:
2 tsp. salt
6 eggs
2 Tablespoons vanilla
4 teaspoons soda
2 Tablespoons baking powder
2 Tablespoons cinnamon

Mix and Add:

4 cups shredded zucchini

6 cups flour

1 bag if chocolate chips.
Try not to overmix flour.

Bake in 4 loaf pans at 325 degrees for 45-55 minutes. (Toothpick test will tell you if it's done.)

This was what was in the fridge and needed to go.  You could cut this in half and make two loaves, but why? When  you have zucchini, you are trying to get rid of it, yes? Make some and give it to your neighbors.
I think the last time I made this, I was too horrified to put in 4 cups of sugar. I reduced it to three and added a heaping cup of pumpkin instead of 3/4.

Modified Neiman Marcus Cookies

Cream in a standing mixer 3 minutes with wisps:
2 cups soft butter (room temperature)
2 cups sugar
2 cups brown sugar
1/8 cup peanut butter


Add 4 beaten eggs and cream for
another minute.
Add:
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
Cream for another 30 seconds and change to
dough hooks.


Add:
5 cups blended oatmeal. (This turns out to be 3 and 1/2 cups once you've run it through the blender.)
1 cup old fashioned oats (I add the 3 and 1/2 cups of blended oatmeal and then 1 cup old fashioned oats.)
4 cups flour
1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 giant grated Symphony or Hershey's chocolate bar
1 bag chocolate chips


Mix until just blended.

Bake for 375 degrees for 8 minutes.
Let cool for several minutes on the cookie sheet.

Yield: 100 cookies

We all know that this story about the woman being charged $250.00 is an urban legend right? But, what an ingenious way to get your recipe spread around the world. I even saw a South African version. Gives new meaning to the term, "smart cookies!" After years of being truly unhappy with these dry cookies, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I've come up with modified version that is much moister and I think better all around. These are the cookies to make when you have a sick neighbor, a bake sale and a dessert needed for school, as they make so many.

I recently added a handful of Heath chips to jazz it up even more.  It turned out just a bit dry, so if you do go with these try 5 eggs for moisture.

Easy Pie Crust

1/3 cup plus 1 Tablespoon cold butter
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
3 Tablespoons Ice cold water

Using a food processor, cut butter (sliced into Tablespoons), flour and salt until mixture resembles fine crumbs.

Start mixing, then gradually begin adding the water a tablespoon at a time until the dough starts to come together as a ball. I usually use all 3 tablespoons of the water.

Take a piece of wax paper and place on table. Place dough on paper and put another piece over the top of the wax paper. Roll out to desired shape. Place in fridge until needed.
If you need to bake this: 8-10 minutes at 375.

I use mine for quiche and never bake it.

This makes one single pie crust.

Turns out beautifully every time. Here's what I do. If you make your wax paper long enough, you can hang it over the counter and hold it with your stomach. Not a very attractive picture, I know, but it works so you can use both your hands to roll out your dough.

Denise's chicken (Sweet and Sour Chicken)

In a small bowl combine
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cornstarch

In another small bowl mix 3 beaten eggs

Use 4-6 thawed, chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch squares.
Dip chicken in flour mixture then in beaten egg.
Brown in skillet.
Place in a 9x13 inch glass baking dish.

Sauce:
In a large mixing bowl:
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup white vinegar
2 1/2 cups ketchup
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
Stir with wire wisp to combine.

 Pour sauce over chicken.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

If you are making ahead of time, keep sauce separate from chicken until you are ready to cook, to avoid sogginess.
My kids beg me to make this.  I doubled the sauce for you, because that is my kids' favorite part. If you are just making this dish for a small group of four, you probably don't need to double the sauce. This is my sister-in-law's (Denise) recipe and she deserves all the credit.

Taco soup (spicy version)

1/2  cup diced onion
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced carrots
1 can cream of potato soup
1 can kidney beans
1 can corn (drained)
1 can chilli
1 can diced green chillies
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 pkt. taco seasoning
If you are using a loose mix, I measured this, it was around 1/4 cup.


Simmer in a crockpot 4-6 hours.

Serve with Fritos corn chips.
I also serve this with my low-fat corn bread muffins, coming next week.

You may add sour cream and shredded cheese if you want to jazz this up.

Chicken Pot Pie

Filling:

1/3 butter
1/3 cup flour
2 Tablespoons dried onion
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2/3 cup milk
1 3/4 cup chicken broth
1 (12oz.) package frozen peas and carrots
2 cups cooked, diced chicken

In skillet, melt butter over low heat. Blend in flour, onion and seasonings. (You are making a roux, so it will be dry and crumbly at this point.) Stir in chicken broth and milk. With a wire wisk stir out all lumps and bumps. Cook over low heat until mixture is bubbly. Boil and stir for one minute. Remove from heat and gently stir in chicken and frozen vegetables.

Prepare pastry.

Celery Seed Pastry:
3 cups flour
1 Tablespoon celery seed
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup plus 3 Tablespoons shortening (I use butter flavored Crisco)
6-8 Tablespoons cold water

Measure flour, celery seed and salt into a bowl. Cut in shortening thoroughly. Sprinkle in water, 1 Tablespoon at a time, mixing until flour is moistened and dough begins to clear side of bowl. Gather dough into ball. I use cookie paddles of a Bosch mixer to make this quick.

Use two pieces of wax paper to roll out dough into a rectangle. Line bottom of 9x13 inch pan with 2/3 of dough.

Place chicken mixture inside of 9x13 inch pan.
Bake at 425 degrees with foil then 15-20 without foil, to brown the crust.

Instead of trying to cover this with another sheet of dough, I cut out rectangular strips and line the top of the dish with them.

This dish is one of those old fashioned recipes. I think it was originally from Gold Medal flour.

This is my 16-year-old boy's absolute favorite dish. 
 I'm sure no one cooks like this anymore, but if you are looking for a nice fattening, winter dish that is satisfying, this is it.
Yes, I should be ashamed to put such a picture on here. My lattice strips are terrible.  But, I did it anyway, because this dish will disappear so fast, it just doesn't matter if it's picture perfect.
I have been making the pastry, then placing the thawed chicken on the bottom of the pan instead of mixing it with the roux. Turns out either way.

Seed Bread

1/2 cup bulgar
1/2 cup hot water
In a small bowl, mix hot water and bulgar, set aside.

In Bosch mixer, place the following ingredients.
1/2 cup warm water
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 Tablespoons yeast
Let yeast soften and bubble then add:
1/2 cup honey
3 Tablespoons canola oil
2 squirts of liquid lecithin (size of a quarter)
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup warm milk

Give everything a good stir and add the following:
Your bulgar mixture from the small bowl
2 Tablespoons flax seed
2 Tablespoons sesame seeds
1/2 cup potato flakes
1/2 old fashioned oats
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups white flour
Knead for 5-8 minutes.
Place in 4 bread pans and let rise until double in bulk. (30 minutes)
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

This is a very hearty bread.  This is Aunt Dorothy's recipe with a few changes.  The original had pumpkin seeds but I took those out as they made the bread too chewy.  If you want a denser, heavier bread, delete the lecithin.  I added it and it turned 3 loaves into 4 and lightened the bread quite a bit.  This is very tasty, healthy bread. It is fun to look and see just how many ingredients are in there.  And they are all good for you.

Simple Chicken Stew

Soup Base:
4 cups water
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1/3 cup Shirley J Universal Sauce
2 Tablespoons Shirley J chicken bullion,
1 Tablespoon Shirley J Pizza Spice
Sprinkling of fresh ground pepper

Wisk this together then add vegetables:
Potatoes
Carrots
Celery
Onion, diced
2 cups cooked canned chicken

Place in a crock pot on high until you see bubbling then turn down to low for the rest of the day.

I use canned chicken just because it is easier to throw in. I usually put it in at the end so it doesn't become too soft while cooking. You could also use raw, but I would brown it first. Raw chicken would need to be in your slow cooker all day with the rest of your soup. This is a mild but tasty soup that young kids will enjoy.  I love Shirley J products but I'm sure you could use what you have on hand.

Shirley J products can be found in a number of stores.  Click here to see the Shirley J store directory.

Candy Cane Trifle

Base layer:
Pound cake, cut into 1-inch pieces

Mint grasshopper cookies, broken up into pieces
Brownies, cut into 1-inch pieces

Mousse layer:

1 small package white chocolate instant pudding
Make according to package directions and then add:
3 oz. softened cream cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
4 oz. white chocolate (melted)
Seeds of 1 vanilla pod

Assembly:
Place a couple pieces of Pound cake, mint grasshopper cookies and a couple pieces of Brownies in cup.
Spoon a heaping tablespoon or so of Mousse layer into the cup.
Repeat with base layer: brownies, pound cake, mint cookies
Top with fresh whipped cream.

Sprinkle Andes mint pieces on top.






Made this for a Relief Society party.  I think it turned out well. In the picture you can see mint Oreo's instead of grasshopper cookies.  I'm changing it because the Oreo's didn't stay firm the next day and I think the cookie will.

The white mousse turned out fine, it was tasty, but I'm not sure it was much  of a contrast from the cream.  I'm seriously thinking of trying a chocolate mousse for the next round.
I think people enjoyed it and it was a fun holiday dessert, dramatic and tasty.

Pumpkin Ice Cream Roll

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup pumpkin
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
3/4 cup flour

Beat eggs in a Bosch mixer for 5 minutes on high. (Speed 3)
Gradually add sugar, pumpkin, and lemon juice.
Add spices and baking powder.
Add flour last, mixing as little as possible.
Pour into well greased and floured jelly pan, 15" by 10".
Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.

Sprinkle granulated sugar on a terry cloth dish towel. Plop hot cake onto towel, roll and let cool inside towel.

Unroll Pumpkin Roll carefully and spread on Ice cream.
Reroll, wrap and freeze.

Filling:
Softened (not melted) pumpkin pie ice cream.,

Just before serving, drizzle with Mrs. Richardson's butterscotch caramel.

This can be wrapped in saran wrap, then foil. 
Freeze for at least 3 to 4  hours so you can cut this easily. Makes a festive fall dessert. This may be made a day in advance.

Banana/Zucchini Bread

2/3 cup soft butter
2/3 cup butter flavored crisco
3 cups sugar
Cream very well.

Add
4 eggs
3 very ripe bananas
1 heaping cup shredded zucchini
1/2 cup of milk soured with 1 Tablespoon vinegar,
or use 1/2 cup of buttermilk
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. vanilla
Mix well

Add
4 cups flour
Mix flour until white streaks are gone, being careful not to over mix.

Bake in four loaf pans at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.


I had both bananas and zucchini and was looking for a way to use both. Tyler suggested it should be called Zubana bread or Alexa suggested Bazini bread.

Banana Bread

1/3 cup soft butter
1/3 cup crisco (butter flavor)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup bananas (3 very ripe bananas.)
1/4 cup milk, soured with 1 Tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour

Cream butter, crisco, and sugar very well. Add eggs, bananas, sour milk and mix again. Add vanilla, baking powder, and soda. Add flour last, mixing flour as little as possible.
Pour into three loaf pans and bake for at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Mini-loaf banana bread will take around 25 minutes.

You must grease and flour pans or it will stick.

For years, I've heard people say this is the best banana bread they have tasted. I thought it was perfected. Had the idea this year to try both butter and crisco. It was so much better, I was shocked. Now, I really can say it is perfect.