The Best Cookies Ever?

My mom purchased a "Paula Deen Magazine" back in March. I've thumbed through it several times, and so has she, but neither of us had tried any of the recipes. Last Sunday I asked if I could borrow it, and of course her reply was YES, but you have to try out a recipe and let me have a taste.

Well today was the day!!! On Wednesdays, my 2 year old and I go to eat with my mother-in-law. So I baked "Praline Cookies" from the "Paula Deen Magazine". I was in such a rush I didn't even have a chance to taste the finished product before I left for her house. We ate dinner, and then broke out the cookies, a friend who was joining us took 2 bites and announced that these were the best cookies he had ever tasted!! I gave him a funny look (yea right the BEST, they may be good but honestly). My mother-in-law gave them a try, and to my surprise she agreed!!!

Now I don't know if I would say they are the BEST COOKIES EVER, but they are pretty good!!!
and really easy!!! So I thought I would pass the recipe along to my Blogger Friends.

Praline Cookies

(From Cooking With Paula Deen, March/April 2007)

1/2 C butter, softened

1 1/2 C firmly packed brown sugar

1 L egg

1t vanilla

1 1/2 C all purpose flour

1 1/2 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

1/2 C pecans, coarsely chopped

icing:

1 C firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 C heavy whipping cream

1 C confectioners sugar

beat butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed, until creamy. Add egg and vanilla; beat well. Gradually add dry ingredients (except pecans) to the mixture. Beat well. Cover and chill, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350, and lightly grease cookie sheets.

Form dough into 1 inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Flatten cookies slightly with fingers. Sprinkle with chopped pecans. Bake 10 minutes, and cool on wire racks.

To make the icing, combine brown sugar and whipping cream in sauce pan. Bring to boil over medium heat until sugar dissolves, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; beat in confectioners sugar until smooth. Drizzle over cookies.

Best Ever Cookies? I don't know. You be the judge.

Oh, and don't worry I haven't forgotten my mom. We'll be delivering hers after school!!!

Fancy that, a treasure trove of recipes going unused for all of these months!!! I'd better get cooking!!!

DeeLight

What's For Dinner

School is back in full swing which means Girl Scouts, Piano Lessons, Soccer... So what's a mom to do about dinner?

PULL OUT THE CROCK POT!!!

I found a version of this recipe online, and made a few changes to simplify it, and make it more to the tastes of my family. It was sooooo easy and sooooo good!!!! I'm not just saying this, it really was good!

Crock Pot Tortellini

Brown:

1/2 lb ground beef

and

1/2 lb bulk sausage

(drain)

spray the inside of a crock pot with cooking spray

pour 2, 24 ounce jars of Marinara Sauce into crock pot

(I used Bertolli's 5 Cheese Sauce)

add the meat and cook on low for 6-8 hrs

(you could cook it for less time if you needed to)

15 minutes before serving add:

refrigerated tortellini

(I used one regular sized pkg and one small pkg of cheese tortellini)

1-2 cups grated mozzarella cheese

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

If the sauce seams to thick you can add chicken broth or water

Let cook for the remaining 15 minutes and serve!!!

Yummy Stuff!!!!

Fancy That, something yummy from the crock pot on a busy school night!!!

Dee Light

Letter Lessons

This week my daughter and I started something new with the littlest member of our family, Letter Lessons. She and I are going to start introducing him to a new letter each week. We chose to start with the letter L as it is the first letter of his name

My daughter is 10 and had such a great time looking online for activities (she's already come up with ideas for next week). My original plan was to use activities from when I was teaching, but I could tell she really wanted to do the planning!!! What a great learning experience for her as well.

Keep in mind my son is 2, so we kept it simple, and our only expectation was that he would be introduced to the letter and have fun at the same time!!!

Activity 1: Play dough "LETTERS"

(we all played with play dough and cut out various letter shapes)

Activity2: Little Lamb

(we traced my sons hand onto black paper, cut it out, and then let him cover the palm

with white cotton balls, my daughter drew hooves and a face on the fingers)

Sing Mary Had A Little Lamb

Activity 3: Leo The Lion

( Of course we sang Leo The Lion. We then found a small pater plate, used a glue

stick to cover the outside edge with glue. My son then helped to place the paper

strips around for the main, and glued on the eyes and nose.)

Activity 4: Lips starts with L

( I drew an L Shape onto a piece of paper, put lipstick on my son and let him kiss the paper leaving his "lip print".)

Activity 5: Lamb, Leaf, and L cookies

Rolled Sugar Cookies

(from The Southern Living Cookbook)

3 C flour

2 t baking powder

3/4 t baking soda

1 C shortening (I used butter(

1 egg, beaten

1 1/4 C sugar

2 T milk

1 t vanilla

Combine flour, baking powder, and soda, cut in shortening (or butter) with a pastry blender until it resembles course meal. Combine egg, sugar, milk, and vanilla. Stir until well blended pour into the the dry mixture. Stir with fork until well blended. pat dough into ball and chill 2 hours (we usually can't wait that long). Role dough 1/8 in thick and cut with cookie cutter.

Bake at 375 for 6 minutes.

Fancy That, a week of fun Letter L activities!!!

Dee Light