November’s Tasty Treats

November the kitchen was busy, busy, busy, and I had a blast doing all of the cooking and baking. I know I’ve said it a few times, but Thanksgiving was so much fun, it has me ready for Christmas already. I also can’t wait to do some holiday baking. But first things first here’s some of the tasty treats from November.

I made some homemade hot chocolate for me and the kiddos. It’s the perfect treat for a cool Autumn day.

I made a lot of Apple Pie filling for the freezer. I’m planning on making a Dutch Apple Pie for Christmas.

I also made a big batch of Cheesy Potato Soup, it was so tasty.

When my mom visited I made a batch of Brown Sugar Topped-Apple Oatmeal muffins to serve with coffee.

My garden buddy stopped by to till the north garden, so I made him some Cinnamon Rolls to say thanks.

When it was pizza night I made a tiny Pizza for Agnes. It is just cheese and pizza crust, but she loved it.

Those were for us. When I make Pizza I make four at a time so there is always plenty of leftovers for lunch.

When Thanksgiving finally rolled around I had my mind set on baking something for the big day. I was going to bake a few loaves of homemade bread, and then I thought homemade rolls, and decided on baking Croissants instead. I’m glad I decided to make the croissants, they were crazy good.

They take 3-4 days to make though…

Lots of rolling,

and lots of patience too.

Almost done.

I also made some Vanilla mints to snack on for Thanksgiving. These taste just like Icing, my family loves them.

I tried out a recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip, I liked it, but the kiddos didn’t care for it too much.

Chex mix is always good though, no complaints there.

I woke up extra early on Thanksgiving and started baking at 5:00 a.m. That gave me enough time to get the Pies made, and the Croissants finished before the Turkey needed to go into the oven.

The kitchen was smelling so good that day.

The 4 days of prep and rolling were all worth it,  the Croissants were awesome.

I think I’ll make another batch for Christmas.

Now it’s finally December, and I’ve got the kitchen stocked and ready to get to baking.

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November’s Tasty Treats Sneak Peek

November has been one tasty month.

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Freezer Cooking

Last night I got a phone call from a good friend, and she was asking if Dylan could come over to play for the afternoon. I said sure, he would be so excited to spend the day at a friend’s house. I know he will have a blast, and I knew that with a little extra time in the morning, I could knock out some cooking for the freezer.

Yesterday James came home with these…

One of his friends stopped by his workplace with a big bag of Apples for me. I was pretty pumped, and I knew exactly what to do with them. I’ll make up a big batch of freezer-friendly Apple Pie Filling, and be set for awhile. I’ll be baking a pie for his friend though, to say thanks.

Agnes wanted to “help”, but it was naptime, so no little gals in the kitchen.

I set in and got to work. I started the roux for the Potato Soup, and started the base for the Apple Pie Filling too. I also trashed the kitchen, but oh well.

I used the pre-cooked potatoes that I had on hand. I had Bacon Breakfast Potatoes, and Potatoes from the leftover weekend Pot Roast hanging out in the fridge. I threw in Milk, Cheese, Salt, Pepper, and Garlic Salt, and made one tasty soup.

Oh my goodness, it was really tasty.

It also made a gigantic pot of soup.

The Apple Pie Filling is simple. It’s Apple Juice, Sugar, Cinnamon, Corn Starch, and Apples. I just peeled, chopped, and dropped the Apples into the syrupy sweet cinnamon deliciousness. The kitchen smells amazing too.

I waited a bit for everything to cool. I got all of my freezer supplies together, and tidied up a bit of the dishes too.

I scooped the Apple Pie Filling into quart sized bags. I ended up with three quarts, and a little bit more. I’m going to mash, and add the leftover apples to Brown Sugar Topped Oatmeal Muffins, for the next time my mom comes to visit. Make sure and remove as much air from the bags that you can, and freeze the quart bags flat. It makes them easier to store (you can store them upright once they are frozen), and it helps them thaw a bit faster too.

When it was time to store the soup, I measured out 1 1/2 cup portions, and spooned them into a measuring cup. It was easy to portion the soup that way, and easy to pour into bags too. I can eat a ridiculous amount of homemade soup, it is just so stinking good.

I ended up with five generous portions. There would have been six servings, but I was hungry, and had to make sure and taste the batch before I froze it. Oh yeah, it was good! This soup reheats well, and is tasty alongside Crusty Bread Rolls.

What about you… Do you have any freezer favorites?

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October’s Tasty Treats

I’m pretty sure that I baked and cooked more than this, but I must have forgot my camera. I’m pretty bad about that.  We had a lot to celebrate in October, and lots of tasty dishes to go along with it. Here are some of my favorites from the month.

We visited the Fall Festival and Pumpkin Patch, and had an awesome Funnel Cake. I have got to try and make these at home. I think it would be a fun and tasty experiment.

Cakerdoodles! Yum.

Super-star Cherry Pie. One of our favorites, well James and my favorite. The kiddos just don’t like fruit pies.

Coffee! Not really a baked good, but a necessity in this house. Morning, afternoon, and night, I’m usually found with a double cup of coffee.

My take on Pumpkin Pasties. I had extra pumpkin pie filling and pie crust, so I decided to whip up this Harry Potter favorite. The kiddos (again) didn’t like them, but I thought they were cute and very tasty too. My kiddos are crazy, Pumpkin rocks!

Pumpkin Pie! Oh yeah! I love pumpkin pie, and I like to make a practice pie or two before the holidays. I do not want to have a pie failure on Thanksgiving or Christmas, and James doesn’t mind the extra treats too.

I didn’t bake these, but they were too cute not to share. We got our Halloween pumpkins from a local farmer, and I didn’t carve them. I just can’t cut into them, they are too cute.

I made two kinds of mints for Agnes’ birthday party. I made the traditional mint, and then I tried vanilla too. The vanilla ones tasted like Cinnamon Roll Frosting, they were amazingly good. I’ll definitely be making those again.

So here we are another month to bake, cook, and mess up the kitchen. I have a big menu planned for Thanksgiving with plenty of desserts too. I can’t wait to get started.

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