Thanksgiving Menu

It's early morning on the day before Thanksgiving and I am in the kitchen! Since I am a list maker I have been planning my strategy for weeks. My cleaning is done (except for the floors) and I've already spilled at least 1/2 cup of flour on the floor. How does this happen anyway? The buns are rising, 4 pie crusts are chilling and I am looking forward to spending most of my morning in the kitchen. After the baking and cooking is done, my daughter has gifted me a wood floor cleaning (I'm blessed, I know). And just like Mom always says, "set the table the night before to avoid unnecessary stress tomorrow." 

I'll be posting my homemade pies recipes soon (the pies aren't done yet so I don't have any pretty pictures).

So here is what my 13 guests will be eating tomorrow. I pretty sure I'm more excited than the children!!

My Thanksgiving Menu:

Turkey (20 pounds)

Ham

Mashed Potatoes

Turkey Gravy Simply the Best Homemade Gravy (bottom of the post, replace chicken with turkey broth)

Stuffing

Sweet Potatoes

Sweet Corn

Sweet Homemade Buns Simply Sweet Homemade Buns

Cinnamon Butter - 1 cup butter, softened to room temperature, 1/4 cup honey, 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 2/3 cup powdered sugar. Mix all ingredients together and beat on low speed with mixer until everything is combined and smooth. Serve immediately on warm buns or refrigerate until needed. If you serve the buns warm, the butter will melt a little right into the buns. Yummy-licious!

Lettuce Salad and Dressing Simply Homemade Italian Dressing

Fresh Fruit Salad Simply Fruit Salad

Cranberry Sauce (no one likes it but it looks so pretty)

Homemade Pies - Pumpkin, Apple, Peach and Chocolate Cream Pie

Gluten-free Peach Cobbler Simply Dad's Homemade Peach Cobbler

Whipped Cream

Blessings from us to you for a Happy Thanksgiving and hearts filled with gratitude!

Love and peace,

~ Simply Tammi and Angie

Cleaning Your Microwave

Not sure if this ever happens to you but I open the microwave door to find a food explosion has occurred! Just sayin' that I always use a paper towel to cover my food in the microwave but some people in the house do not! A quick and simple way to clean your microwave without scrubbing your fingers to the bone is to use vinegar and water.

Here are the super simple steps:

1. Using a 4 cup glass measuring cup, add 1/2 c white vinegar and about 3 c water.
2. Place the cup in the microwave and turn on the microwave to high for about 4 minutes, I usually wait for the water to boil.
3. Let sit, without opening the door for about 5 minutes.
4. Using a wet rag, wipe out the inside of the microwave.
5. Enjoy your sparkling, clean microwave until the next food explosion occurs!

 

Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Lemon Curd Muffins

Yes, they are as wonderful as they look! We have some lemon lovin' people in our family, so I used my favorite muffin recipe, added some lemon curd to the middle and tops and they are now the favorites! I must admit I had to bend a homemade rule and bought the lemon curd in a jar. These only take a few minutes to put together but they will disappear rather quickly!
Ingredients:
2 c flour
3/4 c sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 c butter, melted (I let it cool for about 10 minutes)
3/4 c milk or half-n-half
1 tsp vanilla extract
fresh lemon juice from 1/2 lemon, squeezed
1/2 jar lemon curd
Directions:

• Whisk dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. 
• Add eggs, butter and milk. Stir with a spatula or I use a wooden spoon. 
• Add vanilla and lemon juice. You don't need to use an electric mixer so stir together with your wooden spoon.
• I use a muffin-cupcake baking pan and paper liners and fill them about 1/2 full (using a cookie dough scoop).
• Add about a teaspoon of lemon curd to each individual muffin in the middle of the batter.

• Using your cookie scoop, place another scoop of batter over the lemon curd. Your muffins will be about 3/4 full, fairly close to the top. This makes 12 muffins.

 

•  Place in preheated 350F oven and bake for about 22 minutes, depending on your oven it might be a couple of minutes longer or shorter time.
• When the muffins are baked, place them on a cooling rack for about 5 minutes.
• Melt about 1/4 c lemon curd in a glass measuring cup.
• Pour about 1/4 c sugar in a dish.
• Remove the muffins from the pan and dip the muffin top into the warm lemon curd then dip the top into the sugar for a light dusting.

Don't they look simply beautiful? Now, be prepared for them to disappear! Enjoy!

Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Roasted Chicken the Easy Way

Running out of ideas for a home cooked meal? Roasted chicken is a favorite at our house. There is only a little preparation time and if you're lucky enough to have left-overs, you can actually get a couple meals out of one chicken.
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
1 T rosemary
olive oil or butter
salt and pepper if you like
Directions:

• Rinse the chicken with water, inside and out (don't forget to take the inside parts out!)
• Preheat oven to 400F
• Pat chicken dry with paper towels
• Mix rosemary with as much olive oil or butter you want (I usually use about 1/4 cup) and rub the mixture over the chicken (use your hands or a pastry brush)
• Place the chicken, uncovered, in a roasting pan (mine has a rack), in the oven
• Bake for about 1-1/2 hours, depending on the size of the chicken
• I place a piece of foil to cover most of the chicken for the last 15 minutes
• Remove chicken from oven and let it rest for about 10 minutes
• Slice the chicken, I remove the legs and wings first then slice the breast into pieces

Serve with your favorite side dishes. Our favorites are mashed potatoes and veggies! Enjoy!
Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

French Toast

My family loves to eat breakfast together on the weekends and french toast is a favorite. This is a simply delicious french toast recipe that I have used for years. Today I actually measured the ingredients so you can make it just like me! You can use Texas bread if you like big slices, french bread, white bread, gluten free bread, pick your favorite bread or my favorite is to choose the bread that is the least fresh, rather than throwing it away.
Ingredients for 6 pieces of french toast:
2 eggs
1/2 c milk
6 slices of bread
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
a pinch of sugar
Directions:
I mix all of the ingredients on a dinner plate (because that's how Mom did it). With a fork, whisk the eggs until they look slightly scrambled, add the rest of the ingredients and whisk together.

I use my electric lefse griddle and heat it to 325F. Dip one side of the bread into the egg mixture, turn it over and coat the other side of the bread. Place it on the griddle for about 3-4 minutes per side. You'll know it's done when the bread looks like the picture on the top.
I heat my homemade syrup, Simply Homemade Maple Syrup and serve it on the side. This syrup is great and you will save so much money using it rather than buying real maple syrup. Not even the kids can tell the difference!
Enjoy your breakfast or make french toast for any meal - it's delicious!
Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Fall Table Centerpiece

Simply the easiest DIY project ever!! As I was cleaning out my kitchen cabinets, I found some outdated food items and had an idea to make a dining room table centerpiece.

I layered black beans, split green peas, garbanzo beans and topped it off with some yellow popcorn in a decorative glass bowl. I love bees wax candles so I placed one in the middle of the bowl. For those of you that never have time for projects or if you think you are lacking in the creativity department, you can absolutely tackle this little DIY project or have you can have your kids help!

 It's a nice fall look for the dining room table.

Love and peace,

~ Simply Tammi

DIY Fall Burlap Wreath

Every season I go wreath shopping and then decide I don't want to spend the money for something I could make myself. This year the fall wreath I liked was $170 (and that is a big no for me!) so my granddaughter and I decided to make our own wreaths. Even though I prefer soft, flowing materials I like the look of burlap for wreaths. We chose to make a few wreaths using burlap. You can make them different sizes and they are simply too cute!
Supplies:
Start with a 12, 14 or 16 inch metal wreath holder. (available at craft stores)
4 inch burlap, our came in a 9 ft roll. I used 4 rolls for a fluffy wreath and 3 for a thinner wreath.
Floral wire for hanger on back - optional
Bow or accessories of your choice - optional
Directions:
Choose the size of wreath you want to make. We used 16 inch metal wreath rings. We found the easiest way to start is to unroll the burlap. After you have in unrolled, hold the beginning of the burlap roll and place the end over the outside of the metal ring and under the next metal piece then over the top of the next piece toward the inside of the ring. The best way I can describe this is to weave the burlap end over the wire ring and pull or fluff it to make a loop. Once you reach the inside, start the same process, over, under and over working your way to the outside. Keep the burlap loops loose while you are doing this. During this process, after you have a few loops done, move them together with your fingers and fluff them. When you reach the end of the roll, you can tuck it under some of the previous loops. Start the new roll the same way you began the wreath. Continue looping the burlap until the entire metal ring is covered. When I reached the end, I used hot glue to secure it to the loop next to it. We added some wooden initials, burlap flowers, dried branches and a sparkly burlap bow. You can choose your own accessories or leave it plain. You can add a hanger by using floral wire and wrapping it around the outside of the metal wring and twisting the ends to form a loop. We didn't need a hanger, the metal wring fit over our wreath hanger. Happy crafting!

Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Apple Crisp

Happy fall everyone! I love this time of year when the temperatures are cooling down, the trees are so beautiful with all of their autumn colors, the apples and pumpkins are plentiful and the baking has begun!
I had some extra apples so I decided to make some apple crisp. I made it gluten-free today but you can use all-purpose flour for all of you gluten lovers - haha!! I wish I could send the smell of my kitchen through this post, it smells wonderfully fall-like and spicy!
Ingredients:
8-9 apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks (I used honey crisp apples)
1-2T lemon juice
1/2 c white or organic cane sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
Topping Ingredients
2/3 c flour (I used King Arthur gluten-free all purpose flour)
1/2 c brown sugar
2 T white or organic cane sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of cloves or allspice
Pinch of salt
1/2 c cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 c Old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats

Directions: 
Wash, peel, core, and cut apples into chunks or slices. Place in bowl with lemon juice, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 t cinnamon, mix together and let sit.

 

In another bowl, mix brown sugar, flour, salt, 2 T sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, pinch of nutmeg and cloves. Add butter chunks and using a pastry cutter mix together.  Add oats last and use the pastry cutter or your fingers to mix together.

Place apples in a baking dish (I used a 2 quart baking dish) and using your fingers, crumble the topping over the apples. Bake uncovered at 350F for about 1 hour.

 

Apple crisp is the best when you serve it warm. The taste testers added some ice cream but you could serve plain or with whipped cream. Enjoy your warm, fall dessert!

If you have more apples than you know what do with, try our homemade applesauce recipe, it's another favorite at our house, Simply Homemade Applesauce.

Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Thrift Store Bottles And Vases

So you know how the big blogs have guest posts on their blogs sometimes? Well, we sort of have that going on today and I'm so excited that we have another creative crafter in the family! My granddaughter, Shya, completed a project using bottles purchased at a thrift store to use on a fireplace mantle or sofa table. She purchased 5 glass jars of different sizes and decorated each one differently. The project was inexpensive and she used items that we already had for decorating the bottles.
Starting from left to the right, here is what she did:

1. Mix 1 drop of blue food coloring into 1/3 cup Mod Podge and simply paint the outside of the bottle using a small paint brush. Let dry at least 3 hours. She let the bottle dry overnight then wrapped a piece of burlap ribbon around the outside and used hot glue to secure it to the bottle.
2. Place a pearl strand (leftover from last year Christmas decorations) inside the bottle. You could use an old necklace or beads also.
3. Place a strip of burlap ribbon (leftover from the burlap wreath projects), Simply DIY Project For the Front Door and Simply Decorate An Autumn Mantle, around the outside of the bottom and with your fingers begin to fold or pleat the ribbon, then wrap a piece of satin ribbon around the burlap and tie a bow.
4. Place colored glass pieces (or you could use marbles) in the bottle.
5. Pour white acrylic paint into the bottle and rotate the bottle until all of the glass areas are covered. She used some leftover bling from my pumpkin project, Simply DIY Pumpkin Decorating Project, to decorate the outside of the bottle. For a final touch, she added a monogram letter in the middle.
6. Finally, to complete the look for a beautiful nighttime showing, she added battery operated candles (tea lights in the white and blue bottles and votive candles in the larger bottles). When they are all lit up, they look simply beautiful!

The entire project cost less than $10 and you could probably do it for less if you have old jars or bottles you don't use. It seems that I always have left over candles and ribbon around so that also helped keep the cost of the project down. Use your creative touches and create something beautiful!

Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

No Bake Chewy Granola Bars

No Bake Chewy Granola Bars

I wanted to repost this in case you missed it.  It's one of our most popular pins on Pinterest.

My kids especially like chewy granola bars but they seem to be one of those things that just keep going up in price and I'm not sure how healthy they actually are. I have tried a gazillion recipes and my daughter repeatedly gave the thumbs down....until this recipe! This one actually tastes better than the store bought kind. YAY!!  It took me under 10 minutes to make them-love that!  I adapted this recipe from Two Peas and Their Pods.

So here's what you need:  

• 1/4 c unsalted butter
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1/4 c honey
• 1/4 c creamy peanut butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups oats, I use old fashioned oats, but the recipe calls for quick oats
• 1/2 c crispy rice cereal

OPTIONAL: (3/4 c.) chopped pretzels, (1/4 c.) mini Reese's pieces, mini M&Ms, mini chocolate chips, ground flax seeds

Spray pan or put a square of parchment on the bottom of an 8x8 inch baking pan.
In a large sauce pan, add butter, brown sugar, honey and peanut butter. Heat over med-low heat, stirring occasionally until the mixture starts to bubble. Once it bubbles, cook for 2 minutes while stirring. Remove from heat, add vanilla extract.
Stir in oats, crispy rice, and if you used pretzels add those. Stir until coated, pour into pan and press evenly. Sprinkle with mini candies or choc. chips and gently press into mixture.( I only put the mini M&M's on some of them and they kept falling off, so the next batch I didn't add them, plus I felt like they were a little healthier without them)
Put in refrigerator and let cool at least 30 minutes, then cut into bars. I wrapped mine individually for easy, quick snacks to go. I cut them like granola bars and got 10 from this recipe. Enjoy!

***UPDATE: 2/19/13***
I took a suggestion from one of our comments and made the latest batch with Nutella. They got mixed reviews at my house. I thought they were delicious, and I'm not crazy about Nutella. My kids, who really like Nutella, didn't like the bars. I thought they tasted like chewy chocolate granola bars. I did miss the peanut butter, so I think next time I might try using Nutella and peanut butter. I followed the same recipe but substituted Nutella instead of the peanut butter and didn't add any additional candy pieces or pretzels. -Thanks Jodi for the suggestion! We love getting new ideas to try!

~Simply Angie

Front Door Fall Decor

Happy Saturday everyone! It has been one of those crazy, busy weeks so we must apologize for not having a minute to get a new post ready. Sometimes we have a few posts ready and sometimes we have a few posts started but not quite ready. So that's what happened....had a few posts started but not ready. Needless to say, I am ready for the weekend and I am grateful for a little down time!
This little DIY project is super simple and inexpensive.

• You can start with any dried flowers, weeds or grains (I used wheat), tie them together with floral wire. I also used an 8 inch piece of wire to wrap around the top, then made a loop with the hire so I would have a hanger on the back.
• I bought a wood letter for under a dollar and painted it.
• Made 2 bows from burlap ribbon using the directions from a previous post, Simply Make Your Own Bows, then I used floral wire to attach them to my wheat.
• You could also add some corn, sunflowers or anything you'd like to your Front Door Fall Decor.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and don't forget to take a minute or two for yourself!
Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Gluten-Free Pancakes

I've been experimenting with my gluten-free pancakes and this is my favorite pancake mix. I mix the dry ingredients and store them in a glass jar. It's perfect for camping or just to have on hand. These pancakes also freeze well if you want to make them ahead and put them in the freezer. This is a great recipe for people that have an intolerance to gluten also. We warm our homemade syrup to pour over, here are our top favorites syrup recipes:
Simply Apple Cider Syrup 
Simply Homemade Pancake Syrup
Pancake Mix
3 c white rice flour
1/3 c almond flour
1/3 c powdered milk
1/3 c organic cane sugar (or sugar of your choice)
1 tsp sea salt
1 T baking powder
Whisk all of the dry ingredients together and place in a glass jar to use at a later time or mix in a bowl to use immediately. When you are ready to mix your batter, combine in a medium bowl:
1 cup pancake mix
1 egg
3/4 c water (you  may need more or less depending how thick you like your batter)
1 T coconut oil, you can use butter or oil of your choice
Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula. Don't overmix, it's ok if it's a little lumpy. Heat an electric griddle to 325F or pan on the stove, and pour batter (or use 1/4 c) for each pancake. When the bubbles appear on the pancake, they are ready to be turned (about 1 minute).
This makes between 6-8 pancakes if you use 1 cup of dry pancake mix.
Enjoy!
Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Banana Bars

We are enjoying a cool, rainy day in the Midwest. It feels like the perfect day off to me. A day for crafts because I need to make a new fall wreath, baking because everyone is begging for treats and of course some cleaning. Today I am making two kinds of our favorite bars, Simply Homemade Pumpkin Bars and our mother-in-law's banana bars, they're the best!
Ingredients
1 1/2 c sugar
1/2 c butter, softened but not melted
1 1/2 c mashed bananas, about 3 bananas
2 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 c sour cream (I use plain Greek or thick homemade yogurt instead)
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
Directions

• Mix sugar, butter, bananas and sour cream (or yogurt), then add eggs and vanilla.
• Add dry ingredients and stir. 
• Pour batter into either a greased and floured or parchment lined 9x13 pan. Bake 350F for 25-35 minutes. Test using a toothpick, if it comes out clean, the bars are done. 
• Place on a cooling rack until they have cooled then frost them using the recipe below.

The Best Frosting
Melt 1/4 cup butter in a medium pan over medium heat on the stove until delicate brown in color. Remove from heat. Stir in 2 cups powdered sugar. Beat in 1 tsp vanilla and about 3 T. milk until frosting is smooth. You can mix this with a spatula or wooden spoon.

* You can also use a jelly roll pan rather than a 9x13 pan. You will need to adjust the frosting to 1/2 cup butter and 4 c powdered sugar. You may also need to add more milk.

Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Mantle Decorating for Fall

Simply try a new decorating idea for an autumn mantle, use what you have around the house or make some of your own pumpkins. I'll be posting a tutorial for the DIY Autumn Burlap Wreath next week so keep checking back if you need a new DIY project! For the shabby pumpkins check the previous post Simply DIY Pumpkin Decorating Project.
Have a great weekend!

Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

One More Recipe for Refrigerator Dill Pickles

I picked the last of my cucumbers today from my garden and decided to make some refrigerator dill pickles. Angie had posted our grandma's pickles Simply Grandma's Refrigerator Pickles for sweet pickles, so I thought I would try some refrigerator dill pickles. I found a recipe on growveg.com so I decided to try it. It worked great! Even though canned pickles are my favorite, we liked these and they worked great on sandwiches!

Refrigerator dill pickles: 

4-5 washed, sliced cucumbers
1 cup white vinegar
1/4 c water
1/4 c sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2-3 cloves peeled garlic

1. Place sliced cucumbers in glass gallon jar. 
2. Heat the brine mixture in small pan just enough for the sugar to dissolve. 
3. Pour over the sliced cucumbers.
4. Add 1 teaspoon dill or about a handful of seeds, leaves or flower heads.
5. Add 2-3 cloves peeled garlic.
6. Shake gently. 
7. The liquid will not cover your cucumbers, that's ok. They will settle down in the jar as they sit in the refrigerator.
8. I didn't open mine for a three days. If they are still too sour, wait a couple more days.

Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Roasted Tomato Sandwich

Truly a favorite sandwich at our house! This is the fancy sandwich that I wrote about in the post, Simply Roasted Tomatoes. We ate these sandwiches for a couple of our camping meals, the kids thought it was very cool (and yummy)! The basic ingredients are roasted tomatoes, cheese and bread but here are some of the variations I use for this sandwich.
Fancy Sandwich:

• Toasted bread:  Start with your bread, here are some great ideas, English muffins, English muffin bread, ciabatta, French, Italian, white bread, buns, gluten-free, etc., you get the picture right? Any bread you like. For ours, I used ciabatta rolls and toasted them in the toaster.
• Mayonnaise: I mixed about a teaspoon of Italian seasoning in about 1/4 cup mayo. (I made 5 sandwiches). Spread mayo on your toasted bread.
• Cheese: I almost always use fresh mozzarella but I have on occasion used provolone. Place a slice or slices of cheese over the mayo.
• Place roasted tomatoes over the cheese. I like to heat my tomatoes slightly before I do this.
• The kids like another layer of cheese over the tomatoes but I will leave that one up to you!
• Place a layer of spinach (I don't always do this) on the top.
• Cover the sandwich with the toasted top of the bun or bread, whichever you used.
• Wrap the sandwich and heat them for about 2 minutes on the grill if you're camping or microwave them if you want, just enough to melt the cheese.

Enjoy your fancy sandwich!

Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Oven Roasted Tomatoes

Finally a few minutes alone with my computer! It is a beautiful fall day in the Midwest and I am still feeling blessed to have fresh produce from my garden! I am still harvesting peppers and tomatoes. Today my plan to can some salsa but I have been busy roasting tomatoes. This is a great plan if you are short on time or you don't own any canning equipment. When we were camping a couple of weeks ago, I brought some roasted tomatoes and we had the fanciest sandwiches ever, well the children thought so! I'll share our fancy sandwich recipe in a few days.
I absolutely love to freeze the roasted tomatoes to make sauces at a later date or use them during our cold winter months for pasta sauce, chili, soup, tomato sauce, pizza sauce, ketchup and tomato soup. I like to season mine slightly but you don't have to. The key is to roast them on a low heat in the oven.
Steps to roast tomatoes:

1. Wash and rinse tomatoes (as many or as few as you like).
2. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper and brush olive oil over the top of the paper.
3. Preheat oven to 275F.
4. Cut the tomatoes in half or chunks. I use different varieties and sizes of tomatoes.
5. Place tomatoes on the baking sheet.
6. Sprinkle some of your favorite seasonings or herbs over the tomatoes. I use Italian Seasoning or fresh thyme, fresh basil, rosemary, kosher salt and pepper.
7. Using a Misto, I spray olive oil over the seasoned tomatoes or just drizzle the oil over the top.
8. Bake 1 hour at 275F then turn tomatoes with a spoon or spatula.
9. Return to the oven and bake another hour.
10. Remove from oven and place pan on cooling rack for about 30 minutes or until cool.
11. If you are freezing the tomatoes, place them in a Ball jar or freezer baggies.

I hope you try this process and like it as much as I do, it's also the least messy!
 
Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Re-Purposing an Old Cabinet

This old cabinet has been passed around our family for YEARS! Everyone has had it, grandparents, parents, my sister, even my niece. We all used it for different things and then when one of us was tired of it, or didn't have room, someone else would take it. So I now have it and have finally decided to give it a new look. I use it for my canning and preserves cupboard. It took my 3 coats of paint and a whole day but I got it done! It's amazing what a coat...or 3 of paint and a little sandpaper can do!

Before

After

         
~Simply Angie

Pecan Muffins

If you are looking for a tasty little treat, or an easy little breakfast idea, you will love these little muffins! They are super quick to make and you probably have the ingredients already. I got this recipe from my mom, who hardly every watches the food network, but saw this on Trisha's Southern Kitchen show. They are like mini pecan pies but in the form of a muffin.
Here's what you need:

• 1/3 c butter, softened and set aside
• 2 eggs, beat into the butter
• 1/2 c flour
• 1 c brown sugar
• 1 c chopped pecans

This recipe makes about 9 muffins depending on how big you make them, but I'm going to warn you, you might want to double it because they are going to be GONE fast!
Mix the 2 eggs with the softened butter then add the dry mixture of flour, brown sugar, and pecans, stir together.
Grease your muffin pan, papers, really well...they are sticky little buggers.
Bake 350 degrees about 22 minutes.
They don't really rise much so don't be alarmed. (I panicked and called my mom) They are goey in the middle and a little sticky and chewy on the outside.
Enjoy!
~Simply Angie

Organizing the Pantry

Before..shocking, I know!

After

Happy Labor Day Everyone! I hope you are all getting some time to relax and enjoy your family. I am still in the process of getting unpacked and organized from our move to Washington from Minnesota. One of the first things I had to do when I moved was get my kitchen functional, which means getting the pantry organized. In our MN house, I didn't really have a pantry, it was more like a deep cupboard. Now I have an actual walk in Pantry. If you have a cupboard pantry, check out our other posts on  Organizing the kitchen.  So on to... different pantry, different challenges. I wanted to use my pantry for food and things I don't need to use on a daily basis. (roasting pan, canner, crockpot etc.) I set it up in sections, baking, cooking, snacks, breakfast foods, things I don't use everyday but need to get to. So decide what you use a lot and put it in sections that are easy to get to. If you keep things together that you use together then you don't have to be searching all over when you need them...pasta is with the sauces,  etc. I always use plastic shoe bins, cardboard boxes, baskets, etc. I have a couple little turntables for spices and all those small containers. I hung my baskets on the wall for easy access...and also to remind me that there is in fact a sloping wall(that I have hid my head on several times already!) I "decorate" the pantry like it's another room in the house. I also put a couple plastic mail bins right inside the door. One is for papers to file(or forms from school to sign) and the other is for bills to pay. Then we don't have papers laying all over the counter getting shuffled around and lost. I found a cheap little rack with hooks and hung up my strainers and colanders. Use wall space if you have it. Put things you use most in an accessible place so you aren't knocking things over or digging in the back. Donate things you don't need, or have duplicates of...be realistic..if you don't use a coffee press, don't keep it, if you have 3 bundt pans, you can probably get rid of 2...or at least 1 of them. Organize your pantry how you use things, and for your lifestyle. Not everything works for everyone..and remember, it's a process not an hour long episode!
~Simply Angie