The Easiest Peanut Butter Cookies

How easy can it be?  Three ingredient easy…….

If you like peanut butter, these are easy and good.  They take a minimum of time to make and you have the rich taste of peanut butter.

2 cups creamy peanut butter (If you prefer crunchy, go with it.)

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all ingredients.

Mix them so they are one batter.

Roll balls in your hand or use cookie scoop and place on parchment paper on cookie sheet.

Bake for ten minutes.

I am going to make another batch with chocolate and take the photos.  Check back this evening to see the results.

In the meanwhile, if you want a snack, in a half an hour, you can have it.  Sorry, the picture below is not clear.  Hopefully, the next batch will come out to be better.

Vegetable Pie

I love to visit other blogs.  Who knows what we are going to find.  I usually come away with a good dinner recipe and a great dessert recipe.  When I was at Chocolaty Lifestyle, yesterday, I found last night’s dinner and Hubby and I were quite content with it, other than we may have eaten too much.

The following is my adapted recipe.  Check the blog for the original.

Vegetable Pie

For crust:
2 3/4 cups gluten free  flour mixture
1 cup margarine, cold
1 egg
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt

Beat egg and set aside.

Shred margarine, then add flour, salt, sugar and mix them.

Add egg, mix them all in dough and put it in a refrigerator for an hour.

Then roll the dough and put it in a baking form, fold the sides up.

For filling:
2 cups sauteed vegetables (carrot,, tomato,  cauliflower, green pepper), cut into pieces
1 1/2 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
11/2 tsp cumin
1/3 tsp red chili powder
1 cup Cheddar cheese, grated

Beat eggs, add sour cream, spices and mix well.
Put the sauteed vegetables into prepared crust, and pour the sour cream  mixture over.

Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes, until the pie is almost ready.

Then put shredded cheese over and bake for 10 more minutes, until the cheese is melted.  Serve warm.

My crust did not do too well.  It broke easily but as far as taste and crisp, it was just fine.  The combination of the cheddar cheese and sour

Quinoa Cakes

I have been looking for ways to make quinoa.  I have only one recipe that I tried and that was with vegetables. It was scrumptious.  This turned out to be great, also.  I liked this because Kosher Girl gave two ways to make it fried and baked.  I only posted it the baked.  I did fry one to see what it would be like and it looked like a latke.  These puffed up more and had more substance to them.

Quinoa Cakes (Original recipe found here.)  This has been adapted.   

•  1 cup Quinoa
• 1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped                                       
• ½ small onion, peeled and roughly chopped
• ¼ cup frozen spinach  
• ¼ cup canola oil

 

• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• ½ cup part Tofutti cream cheese (non dairy)
• pinch of freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup Rice flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder

Method

•  Prepare the quinoa according to the directions on the package (2 cups water for 1 cup quinoa).   Rinse several times before cooking it.
•  Add the  carrot, onion and spinach to the bowl of the food processor                                                                                                                                                    
• Pulse 20 times so that the vegetables are all evenly chopped and mixed together.
• You want them to be small but not pureed.                     
•  Place the sauté pan over a medium flame and add 1 tablespoon of canola oil.                                                                                                                       
•       Cook the   vegetable mixture and sauté for 5 minutes until the vegetables are no longer raw. You want them to soften.                                                            
• Add the cooked vegetables and quinoa to a large bowl and allow the mixture to cool completely.
•  In another bowl mix together the Tofutti cheese,  lemon juice and egg.
•  In small third bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper.
• Once the quinoa has cooled add the flour mixture and Tofutti mixture to the quinoa and stir thoroughly. At this point the mixture may be refrigerated for up to 1 day.
•   You can scoop the cake mixture onto an oiled baking sheet and place in a 400º oven for 20 minutes. Be sure to press down lightly on the cakes when you place them on the sheet. The cakes will only be crunchy on one side but they’ll still be tasty   

Applesauce Nut Minis

I was looking at the Better Homes and Gardens Recipes and came across this applesauce cupcake which looked delicious.  Knowing, hubby loves applesauce, I was pretty sure I would not go wrong with this recipe and I did not.  I made some changes to this recipe.  I do not use shortening unless, there is absolutely no option for a substitute.    I will make the changes on the recipe below and if you want the original recipe, please go here. 

These are gluten-free so you know that I substituted my gluten-free baking mix.    I double or triple this and store it in a cannister.  It goes quickly.  If you are making it, judge by your own usage, what you need.

Rather than make cupcakes, I made mini bundts which I think are a lot nicer.  I baked it longer of course and found I had to keep checking it until it was really done. 

*Gluten free baking mix

*3 c. rice flour   (Rice flour comes in white and brown.  We use brown but when I can’t get it, I substitute white so it would appear, they are inter-changeable.)
1 c. potato starch (NOT potato flour)
½ c. tapioca starch
Mix well.

For this recipe, I used two cups of this mixture.

Applesauce Cupcakes                  

 Makes 6 minis and some muffins with extra batter.

 

 Ingredients

• 1  cup granulated sugar                                                    
• 1/3 cups margarine
• 1-1/3  cups applesauce
• 2  cups gluten-free flour (recipe above)*
• 1-1/2  teaspoon baking powder
• 1  teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2  teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4  teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4  chopped walnuts 
• 1/2  cup packed brown sugar
• 2  cups sifted powdered sugar
• 1  tablespoons milk
• 1  teaspoon vanilla

 Directions

 Preheat the oven to 375 degree F.

Grease 6 mini bundt pans.  (I waited until these were filled before I knew how many muffins, I could make.  I was able to make 6 muffins.)

In a large bowl, beat granulated sugar and 1/3 cup margarine with an electric mixer on medium speed until well mixed. Beat in applesauce.  In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg. Beat into applesauce mixture. Stir in walnuts

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.* Bake in the preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups. Cool completely on wire rack.

Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lady and Sons Beef Vegetable Soup

This week the ladies cooking with My Girl Paula are making beef vegetable soup.  We are really cutting back on meat so I chose to make a vegetable soup without the meat.  With lots of vegetables, the soup is chock full and the lack of meat is not causing a lack of flavor.

 

The Lady and Sons Beefless Vegetable Soup      adapted from Paula Deen   You can find the original recipe here.

Ingredients             I scaled the recipe down

• 2 1/2 to 3 pounds beef short ribs or 2 1/2 to 3 pounds boneless chuck roast*   If you want to use meat, this is what was recommended.
• 2 quarts cold water  
• 1 (16-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1  cups chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon House Seasoning (below)
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon  Worcestershire sauce (the kind with no fish in it)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 cup thinly sliced carrots
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1/2 cup scallions (to use them up)                                
• 1 cup  black-eyed peas
• 1 cup  butter beans
• 1 cup corn kernels, frozen
• 1 cup diced potatoes
• 1/2 cup uncooked elbow macaroni  (have not put it in yet.   Hope I don’t forget.)

Directions:

In a crockpot, add the water, diced tomatoes, onions, chopped parsley,  dried Italian seasoning, House Seasoning,  Worcestershire sauce,  garlic powder,  and black pepper .

Cook on high for one hour.

Reduce the heat to medium or low.

Add the remaining vegetables and cook for two additional hours.

Add the macaroni, for the last half hour.

 Just before serving, season with salt and pepper and add fresh chopped parsley.

House Seasoning:

• 1 cup salt
• 1/4 cup black pepper
• 1/4 cup garlic powder

Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Basic 1-2-3-4 Cake – Paula Deen

In Have the Cake, this month, we baked a coconut cake.  I used Paula Deen’s basic cake (without coconut) for my base.  I only put coconut in the icing which unfortunately looked a disaster to me.  You can check it out there.  In fact, let me suggest that the bakers out there who are not looking for a tremendous commitment, stop by and see if this is for you.  We bake once a month and each month, there is a different baked good chosen.  If you look, at this months, you will see the variety, in the results.  We have a good time and we get something great to eat.

I transformed Paula’s cake into a gluten-free cake by using my brown rice flour, tapioca flour and potato starch mixture.  I also cut the recipe down to make 6 mini bundts.  The truth is this cake is open to any kind of frosting or additions.  Throw in some nuts, cranberries, chocolate, coconut, or whatever is to your liking.  Make a frosting to match or leave it plain.  It has a multitude of manifestations depending on your choices. 

Basic 1-2-3-4 Cake    Paula Deen 

Ingredients

• 1 cup oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 gluten-free flour mixture
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup Rice Dream
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease and flour 6 mini bundt cake pans.

Using an electric mixer, beat oil and sugar well.

Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add flour and Rice milk alternately to creamed mixture, beginning and ending with flour.

Add vanilla and continue to beat until just mixed.

Divide batter equally among prepared pans. 

Bake for 25 minutes or until done.

Cool in pans 5 to 10 minutes. I

Invert cakes onto cooling racks.

Cool completely.

Frost if desired.

**** The -1-2-3-4 ingredients****

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

3 cups sifted self-rising flour

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 

                                                                                                                                                                                              

Tomato Stuffed Peppers CEiMB Ellie An Award

This week at CEiMB, Craving Ellie in My Belly, we are choosing, something for Thanksgiving.  Since, I have shared pumpkin, apple and cranberry recipes, I thought I would choose a salad.  The cheese is my addition  and, I would not add cheese for a Thanksgiving dinner.   Without the cheese, I would love to see it on the table, even if it clashes with the orange pumpkin dishes.  I guess you could use orange or yellow peppers instead of the red.

Tomato Stuffed Peppers                        Ellie Krieger

 2 servings

 Ingredients                                                                                                                                                                      

• Cooking spray
• 2 large red peppers
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon chopped olives
• 4 medium tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2/4 cup shredded cheese (Mozzarella or if you are a Cheddar fan, that would be good, also.)
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a large, shallow baking dish with cooking spray.                      

Cut the peppers in half lengthwise, removing the seeds but leaving the stem. Although the stem is not edible it looks good in this dish and helps the pepper retain its shape. Place the peppers cut side up in the baking dish.

Divide the sliced onion and the olives evenly among the peppers. Cut each tomato into 8 wedges and put 4 wedges into each pepper half. Drizzle each stuffed pepper with a little oil and season with a few grinds of pepper.

Add shredded cheese as a topping.  It should be lightly browned, when you remove it from the oven.  Cover it, in the middle, if you see that it is browning too quickly.  There is no cheese in the original recipe.

Roast the peppers for about 50 minutes or until they are tender and beginning to brown around the edges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Palidor from Crazy Asian Girl for this award.  Palidor is a special person.  Note how she welcomes new members to her blog.  She has great recipes also and if I were you, I would hurry over and get some goodies to make, perhaps even for your Thanksgiving table.  Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. 

 With this award comes a list of bits and pieces about me.  Ready.

1. I love chocolate, much too much. 
2. I have the best children and grandchildren in the world.  No prejudice here.
3. I can be the biggest procastinator and the most organized person, at the same time.
4. My hubby is a tremendous helper.  He does more than his share.  He also bought me a watch, yesterday.  Good guy to have around.
5. I I bake more for my class than for my family.
6. I want Palidor to tell me what J-pop is.
7. I love to cook and can’t stand my kitchen.  This is an area that I am never satisfied.
8. My guilty pleasure is reading everything and anything.
9. I just discovered blogging (June) and I love it.
10. I don’t have a favorite color.  Is that normal?

I am passing on this award to these bloggers who I respect to the utmost.  I thank each of you for inspiring me.

Amy from Simply Sugar & Gluten Free

Kim of Stirring the Pot

Reeni at Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice - the first person to reach out to me and help a new blogger

Libby at Cooking with Libby

Joanne at Eats Well With Others

Girliechef who I owe so much to

Rebecca at Chow and Chatter 

Joy of Joy of Desserts - yummy

Emily at Marvelous Recipes

Brandy of Nutmeg Nanny 

 

This was not easy to do and I know I left out some important blogs.  Hopefully, I can honor you, in some way, in the future.  I thank all of  you have touched my life and made it better.

Spiced Pumpkin Bread

I had, close to a cup , of pumpkin, in the fridge, from a previous recipe.  I can’t count the times, I planned to use this in wonderful recipes and just did not get to it.  I wanted to use it before it went bad.  Along comes this warm and cozy bread and bye-bye pumpkin.  Alas, I did not have quite enough for the recipe.  In the fridge, was also, a delicious butternut squash/sweet potato soup, again less than a cup.  Add the two together and I had a wonderful mix of creamy smooth pumpkin/ butternut squash, sweet potato mix.  They enhanced this bread because it is the richest pumpkin bread, I have made.

This recipe did not call for nuts but hubby loves nut breads so I tend to turn most quick breads into nut breads.  At the very last-minute, I dropped, on top of the bread, a hefty handful of chopped walnuts and mixed them in.  If you are not a nut lover, leave them out, and you will still have a great autumn bread.

This is a Libby’s recipe which is adapted to the ingredients, on hand.
 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups gluten-free flour mixture
• 2  teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup LIBBY’S® 100% Pure Pumpkin  (3/4 cup pumpkin with 1/4 cup sweet potato/butternut squash soup)
• 1 cup packed brown sugar 
  

  Pumpkin Nut Bread

• 1/2 cup apple juice
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

PREHEAT oven to 350° F.

SIFT flour, allspice, baking powder, baking soda and salt into medium bowl. Combine pumpkin, sugar, apple juice, eggs, oil and vanilla extract in large bowl; stir well. Stir in flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon into greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

Pour nuts on batter and gently mix.  I did it, at this step, because it was a last-minute thought.  If you do use nuts, mix them in, after all other ingredients are blended together.

This turned out to be a good recipe which I would make again with the soup that saved the day.  Perhaps, it was that extra sweet potato flavor that changed this recipe into an even better one.

Baked Manicotti

Check on Friday for all the recipes at Deb from Kahakai Kiitchen, who you may know better as Deb from Souper Sundays (you can send her a soup recipe as well as a pasta recipe, this week.)  Thanks for hosting, despite your busy blogging and life schedules, Deb.

Each time I visit Amanda’s blog, Amanda’s Cookin’. I find a few recipes to make.  This afternoon, I was fortunate enough to find tonight’s dinner, Baked Manicotti.  I have never seen gluten-free manicotti but this recipes uses lasagne noodles, rolled up and voila, we have manicotti.  There was a major change to be made to make this recipe kosher but eliminating the meat solved the problem.

This is my contribution to Tuesdays at the Table.

Baked Manicotti                                                                  

1 box gluten-free lasagne

1 (28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes (in juice)
1 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
1/4  teaspoon hot red pepper flakes                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons dried basil
1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
2 ounces grated parmesan cheese (about 1 cup)
4 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese (about 1 cups)
1 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves                                                                                                                                                                                                         
2 tablespoons dried basil                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
1 package lasagna noodles

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Sauce:
In a large saucepan, heat the oil, onion, and pepper flakes in large saucepan over medium heat until onion is just barely starting to brown (1-2 minutes). Add tomatoes and salt; cook until sauce thickens slightly (about 15 minutes). Add basil and salt.

Filling: Combine ricotta, 1/2 cup parmesan, mozzarella, eggs, salt, pepper, and herbs. Set aside.

Assembly: Cook noodles until just pliable.

Place in single layer on clean kitchen towels.                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Pour about 1 1/2 cups of sauce in the bottom of 9″ x 13″ baking dish; spread evenly. 

 Spread 1/4 cup cheese mixture on to the bottom 3/4 of each noodle on top of noodle, leaving top 1/4 of noodle uncovered.                          

Starting from the end with cheese, roll into the noodle into a tube shape and arrange in baking dish seam side down.

Top evenly with remaining sauce, covering each noodle completely. 

Cover the dish with aluminum foil. Bake on the middle rack until the sauce bubbles (about 40 minutes).

Remove manicotti from the oven and adjust the oven rack to the highest position. 

It should be about 6 inches from the heating element. Sprinkle remaining 1 cup parmesan cheese evenly over the manicotti.                                

Do not replace the foil.

Broil until cheese starts to brown. Cool 15-20 minutes before serving to allow manicotti to set.

Eat and enjoy.

Applesauce Filbert-Walnut Bread

Once again, we ran out of our gluten-free bread and sandwiches had to be made so I decided to bake two loaves of quick bread.  This is one and the other is a pumpkin bread.   This was very wet.  As a result, I took close to a cup of filbert, ground to a meal, and threw it in the mixing bowl

Applesauce Filbert-Walnut Bread   

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3 egg whites
• 3 tablespoons Rice Dream
• 2 cups gluten – free flour mixture (not store-bought mix) 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 cup chopped  walnuts
• 3/4 cup filbert crumbs

Method:

1. In a large mixing bowl combine sugar, applesauce, oil, egg whites, and milk; mix until well blended.
2. Into another bowl, sift flour, soda, baking powder, salt, and spices.
3. Stir into the first mixture until well blended; stir in chopped pecans or walnuts.
4. Spread batter in a greased and floured 9×5x3-inch loaf pan.
5. Bake at 350° for 60 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.