Chipolte Chicken Drumsticks/Drummettes

Not sure why blogger insists on rotating my picture.

My sweet 10 year old was flipping through some of my cookbooks and came across this recipe for chicken. All my boys like a little spice in their food and I think he thought this would be spicy. Chipolte Peppers are not spicy in the heat department but offer a wonderful smoky flavor. He was a little disappointed these didn't have much heat but enjoyed them overall. I'm not sure what was wrong with my reading skills because for some reason I thought it said drumsticks so that's what I bought. They still had a wonderful flavor, they probably just didn't have as much sauce pooling around them. We'll definitely be making these again.

Please ignore my applesauce that is in this pic, I did not put applesauce in the recipe...but it was a busy day in the kitchen!

Chipolte Chicken Drumsticks/Drummettes

2 (16 oz) pkg chicken wing drummettes (I used a large pack of drumsticks that had 14 in it)
3/4 cup chili sauce
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons chopped chipolte chiles in adobo sauce
1 teaspoon grated lime peel
2 garlic gloves, minced

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil. Arrange chicken in single layer on sheet.

In small microwave-safe bowl, combine all remaining ingredients; mix well. Microwave on HIGH for 1 minute or until sugar is dissolved, stirring once halfway through cooking. Pour sauce over drummettes to cover.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Turn chicken over; bake an additional 20-30 minutes or until chicken are glazed, fork tender and no longer pink next to bone.

Cauliflower Fritters

I had a head of cauliflower to use up and while I could have just chopped it and served it to my kids as is with some ranch, I decided to experiment and hit up my search engine. I found a recipe at this site.

I gotta say it was quite delicious!

Cauliflower Fritters

• 4 cups steamed cauliflower (roughly chopped)
  
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup Pecorino Romano
• 1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup hot water
  
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil

In a large bowl, combine cauliflower, flour, garlic, eggs, grated cheese, parsley, salt and pepper. Add water so that batter becomes slightly more dense than pancake batter.

On medium-low heat, add 1 tbsp of oil in a 10 inch skillet coating bottom of the pan. Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to form fritters. You can fit 4 fritters at a time. Cook until golden brown, turn and cook another few minutes. Add a little more oil to the pan, and repeat with the remaining batter.

Makes 24 fritters.


It would seem this was a weight watcher recipe but my kids aren't on weight watchers and they like dipping their food. We tried these fritters with different sauces and decided this one I just threw together was our favorite!

5 oz cream cheese
Ranch powder mix to taste
1 Tablespoon mayo
1 Tablespoon Cayenne Pepper (or however much you want according to how much heat you like).

Mix it all together!

Applesauce

To make applesauce - peel and wedge the apples (after rinsing). To make the softening part easier, you can chop even further. Cook the apples in about 1/2 inch of water in a sturdy pot on the stove. Once they are softened, you may want to get rid of the excess water (but that is personal preference, if you like thick applesauce, drain it, if you like thinner, keep the water). Whether you pour off excess water or not, you can either put the soft cooked apples through a sieve, or simply stir them vigorously in the pot to mush them up! A food mill or strainer helps a lot, but you can do it by hand through a colander, metal sieve or mash them up with a potato masher, a whisk or even a stand mixer or hand mixer. If you are doing a small batch, it's not hard. If you have bushels of apples then you might need the sieve or mixer of some type. You can also put them into the food processor or blender to whip them into a smooth puree! After it is mashed up to the consistency you like, you can season with cinnamon or use as is. Test your applesauce before adding sugar, you may not need to add additional sugar. If it isn't sweet enough for your taste, add sugar.

If you make a large amount of applesauce, you can freeze or can it. Otherwise it will be good in the fridge for up to two weeks.

Old Fashioned Soft Pumpkin Cookies

Old Fashioned Soft Pumpkin Cookies

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup pumpkin
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease baking sheets.
Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in medium bowl. Beat sugar and butter in large mixer bowl until well blended. Beat in pumpkin, egg and vanilla until smooth. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets.
Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until edges are firm. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Drizzle glaze over cookies.

Glaze:
combine 2 cups sifted powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla in small bowl until smooth.

Applesauce Cookies

I have an FRG bake sale today. I wanted to take something different but delicious. Yesterday I spent a good part of the morning making homemade applesauce so I went in search of recipes using applesauce and came across this one. I've already made them this morning and they are AWESOME! (I feel very accomplished by the way, it's only 6:43 a.m. here and I've already baked cookies!) As you will be able to see I did not edit the pictures in any way so they are dark and poor quality...that's the reality of point and shoot digital camera!

Applesauce Cookies
(recipe found online here)

This cookies recipe calls for a combination of all-purpose and whole wheat flour for a more wholesome cookie but you can use all all-purpose or all whole wheat if you prefer. To make these extra special, spread the tops of them with the brown butter icing recipe provided.

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup applesauce (I used some of my homemade applesauce...it's the little things that make me happy)

1. Preheat your oven to 375F degrees. Use an ungreased cookie sheet to bake your cookies.
2. In a medium size bowl whisk the flours, spices, baking soda, and salt until well blended and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until well blended.
4. Beat in the egg and applesauce then stir in the flour mixture until just combined.
5. Drop cookie dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake until no indentation remains when touched and light golden brown around the edges, about 10 to 12 minutes.
6. Remove from the oven and immediately transfer cookies to a wire rack with a spatula.
7. Ice cookies if desired. (I did not ice cookies today because I am putting the cookies in plastic baggies for the bake sale. Icing + baggie = big mess!)
   

Recipe source: Betty Crocker's Cookie Book (1985)

Icing for Applesauce Cookies

In a small saucepan heat 1/4 cup butter over medium heat until the butter turns a light golden brown. Remove from the heat and stir in 2 cups confectioners sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk until smooth and desired consistency is achieved. Ice cool applesauce cookies.

Banana Bread Cookies

Last year sometime I found myself with an abundance of over-ripe bananas. I didn't want to throw them away and while I will freeze many things I do not like freezing over-ripe bananas...I'm just weird that way. So I did what I always do and went on a search for banana recipes. I came across this recipe and it has been a hit ever since! My family loves these cookies (when I share, which I will not be doing today since these are headed to a bake sale!)

Banana Bread Cookies
(Recipe originally found here)
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees

* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 1/2 cup brown sugar
* 1 cup butter, softened
* 2 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (if you are really cool, I'll use my Mexican vanilla but this is just for a bake sale so extract it is!)
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 3 ripe bananas, mashed
* 2 cups rolled oats
* 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I really just use whatever chocolate chips I have, which happened to be milk chocolate yesterday)

(Don't those bananas look gross? But when they look like that, they make the best banana bread and the best banana bread cookies! Some people freeze them when they look like this until they are ready to use them but black bananas in my freezer gross me out!)

In the bowl of your mixer cream together the butter and sugars until creamy.

Beat in the eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl stir together the flour, baking soda, and cinnamon. (Random fact: Growing up, I always wanted stainless steel bowls like I saw on the cooking shows. I always thought that to be a real cook/baker you had to have stainless steel bowls, so one of the first things I bought when I got married was a set of stainless steel bowls. I don't feel like I'm really baking if I'm not mixing it up in the steel bowls!)

Add to the creamed mixture and mix well.
Mix in the mashed bananas, oats, and chocolate chips until well incorporated. Drop by rounded spoonful onto a greased cookie sheet and bake 10 to 12 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack.

Easy Pickles

This is a simple recipe for making your own pickles out of pickling cucumbers. I suggest trying out a small recipe to make sure you like the flavors and then increasing the recipe. Our family really enjoys these. If you have ever had Claussen pickles then you will like these pickles.
4 cucumbers -pickling cucumbers really work best (soaking them in ice water for about 2 hours will help them to be crisp)

Brine

3 cups water
1 cup white vinegar
2 Tbsp + 2 tsp pickling salt
Peppercorns - to taste
Red pepper flakes - to taste depending on how much heat you want.
2 garlic cloves (I like to mince mine but you can leave them whole)
2-3 dill sprigs (dry dill weed works too)
Bring the brine to a boil at the same time that you are boiling the jars.
Wash the jars and lids with soap and hot water. Boil the jars for 10 minutes.
Cut the cucumbers in spears and place in the boiled jars. Pour the brine over the top, covering by an inch or so. Add 2 garlic cloves and 2-3 dill sprigs per jar. Put on lids, tighten and boil for another 15 minutes. (The water should still be boiling from the previous step)