Brown Sugar Chewies

Dave is out of town and I am bored.  So, what do I do?  Bake - and I don't want to go out for ingredients.  So, I am a little limited - that never stopped me before........

1/4 cup butter 
1 cup packed light brown sugar 
1 egg, beaten 
3/4 cup all-purpose flour 
1 teaspoon baking powder 
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract - I used 1 teaspoon
1/4 cup chopped pecans - no pecans in the house, so used toffee chips
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8-inch square pan with vegetable oil cooking spray.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Turn off the heat, add the brown sugar and stir until smooth. Stir in the egg. Stir together the flour and baking powder and stir into the brown sugar mixture. Stir in the vanilla and pecans. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes. When cool, dust the top with a sifting of confectioners' sugar.

Nancy's Take:  Not great, but I've eaten 3, so they must be good.  Super easy to make, but did take longer than 20 minutes to cook - more like 27.  Thankfully, I'll be giving them away this evening at dinner club.  Better on their hips than mine.

Orange-Apricot Pork Chops

6 pork chops                                                   
1 cup apricot preserves                                        
3 tablespoons brown sugar                                      
1 teaspoon salt                                                
1/2 teaspoon black pepper                                      
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon                                          
1/4 teaspoon ginger                                            
1/4 teaspoon cloves                                            
11 ounces mandarin orange segments - plus juice!               

Put pork chops into your crockpot. In a small bowl, combine jam, brown sugar, and spices. Spoon over pork chops. Add the entire can of mandarin oranges evenly over the top.

Cover and cook on low for about 8 hours, or on high for about 4.

Serve with rice to soak up the yummy juice.


Nancy's Take:  Okay - major problem here.  I made this dinner for my "dinner club".  It was so bad I had to throw it all away - yep - what a waste.  Who knew I could turn perfectly fine pork chops into hockey pucks.  TERRIBLE!!  But, I think it was me - not this lovely recipe.......

Buttermilk Pancakes

These are the best pancakes ever!!  The recipe is from Cooks Illustrated and there are a few twists that were different from any pancake recipe I'd ever made - which was probably off the back of a Bisquick box.  But, last year our pancake eating went up significantly and these became my specialty!  They are good with syrup - my girls prefer them with jam or preserves.  Sometimes to save time in the morning I would gather all my dry ingredients ahead of time so things were ready for a quick prep.

2 cups flour                                                    
2 tablespoons sugar                                            
1/2 teaspoon salt                                              
1 teaspoon baking powder                                       
1/2 teaspoon baking soda                                       
2 cups buttermilk                                              
1/4 cup sour cream                                             
2 larges eggs                                                  
3 tablespoons melted butter                                    
1-2 teaspoons oils                                             

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 200 degrees. Spray wire rack set inside baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray; place in oven.

Whisk flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together in medium bowl.

In second medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, sour cream, eggs, and melted butter.

Make well in center of dry ingredients and pour in wet ingredients; gently stir until just combined (batter should remain lumpy with few streaks of flour). Do not overmix.

Allow batter to sit 10 minutes before cooking.

Heat 1 teaspoon oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Using ¼ cup measure, portion batter into pan in 4 places. Cook until edges are set, first side is golden brown, and bubbles on surface are just beginning to break, 2 to 3 minutes. Using thin, wide spatula, flip pancakes and continue to cook until second side is golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Serve pancakes immediately, or transfer to wire rack in preheated oven. Repeat with remaining batter, using remaining oil as necessary.

Kool Aid Play Doh

Why make play doh when you can buy it?  Not sure.  But, the girls preschool teacher asked me to make it and here is the recipe.  I've actually made it twice and it was much easier and less sticky the second time.  So, I'll make sure to give you those tips...

2 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 cup salt
2 packages dry unsweetened Kool-Aid
2 cups boiling water
3 tablespoons oil

Mix the dry ingredients (minus kool-aid) together in a large bowl. 

Mix hot water and kool-aid together in a measuring cup.  Pour over the dry ingredients. 

Add oil.

Stir the mixture until it forms a ball (this may take a while - keep stirring). As the mixture cools, it will become less sticky. After the mixture has cooled, take it out of the bowl and knead it until it is smooth.  


I used a silicone spatula and the whole mixing process was simple and clean.


Nancy's Take:  Easy to make - probably cheaper than store-bought.


Erin & Evie's Take:  They love it!  They love the different colors!!

Leg of Lamb

Dave loves leg of lamb!  We don't have it often, but he loves it!  I wanted to make it, but had no idea how and did not have too much patience to try something fancy.  So, I went with the good old crock pot - having no idea what to expect.  I think this is a pricey cut of meat to use in a crock pot, so I hope it is good!

1 Leg of Lamb (fresh or frozen)

1/2 cup Water

Veggies of your choice - onions, potatoes, carrots, whatever............

Run hot water over the frozen lamb package, just so it thaws enough that you can cut open the package and peel it away from the meat

Plop it into your crockpot along with veggies of your choice.

Add a half cup of water

Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours.

you don't need to add any additional water as long as you keep the lid closed and don't futz with it.

*If you are using fresh leg of lamb with a dry rub, cover the meat with the 1/2 cup of water and cook on high for 4-6 hours.*

Dave's Take:  Again, he is out of town.  But, he LOVED it.  Ate it like he had not eaten in a LOOOOONG time.  Total and complete hit!

Nancy's Take:  I don't like leg of lamb too much, but this was yummy.  Super easy to cook and tasted really yummy.  I'd make it again - I am sure that would make Dave happy.