Friday, February 25, 2011

It's Quiet Now


But tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. it will be a different story.

Don't forget the Henderson Home Show Tomorrow
February 26, 2011
Heartland Community Schools
9 a.m. -2 p.m.

Chamber Pancake Feed
7-9 a.m. - School Cafeteria

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Cheap Date

Last Saturday night Mike and I decided to go on a cheap date in Viborg SD.  We took the high school youth to Swan Lake Christian Camp for the weekend and thought it would be fun to go to a movie, since we had Saturday night free.  Despite the "small town atmosphere" it was a great experience with the movie costing $5 per person and an additional $5 for popcorn, skittles and pop, we had a fun $15 date.  

We saw True Grit. I did not expect that I would enjoy it, but I did.   However I did not enjoy the part that the horses always have to die (when did I become a horse lover?).  After the movie Mike informed me that the horses did not actually die when they filmed the movie which made me feel better.  

I will also mention that our trip to SLCC and back was much smoother then last years adventure even though we had to leave early due to icy roads and a potential rain/snow mix that was threatening.  

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Mennonite Monday - Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Mennonite Monday started because I wanted to make recipes from the Bethesda Mennonite Church Cookbooks (both the yellow and the white cookbook for those of you who own them). I also wanted to take pictures of each recipe that I made, so I would know for future reference what the recipe should look like. I am by no means a great cook, but I think it will be fun to try new and different recipes each week. Not all of these recipes are for ethnic Mennonite food, but the women from Henderson know how to cook, so I can safely say that these recipes will be good. Check back each Monday for a new recipe and feel free to leave a comment if you have a favorite recipe from these cookbooks, or if you have some tips on what I should make and how I should make it.
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This week for Mennonite Monday  Tuesday, I decided to make Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies (pg 27 Y).  I was needing some snacks to take several places and they seemed to be a nice change-up from normal chocolate chip cookies.  

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies
Preheat oven to 375*
Sift together:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
1 1/4 teaspoon soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream: 
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup peanut butter

Blend in: 
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg

Stir in flour mixture alternately with 1/2 cup milk.  Fold in 1 cup (6 oz.) Hershey's Semi-Sweet Dainties.  Drop by spoonfuls on cookie sheet.  Bake for 12 minutes.  Yields about three dozen cookies.  

 All of ingredients creamed together.  I was not sure what Hershey's Semi-Sweet Dainties were, so I just used semi-sweet chocolate chips, which seemed to work just fine. 

 Usually I like to refrigerate my cookie dough so the cookies don't go flat, but I didn't have time for that, so I dropped them on the pan as soon as they were done mixing, which turned out fine. 

 I like soft cookies so I would recommend only baking the cookies for 10 minutes unless the dough is cold.  


The recipe was very close to 3 dozen cookies, which is a good size.  

Monday, February 7, 2011

Mennonite Monday - Salted Peanut Chews

Mennonite Monday started because I wanted to make recipes from the Bethesda Mennonite Church Cookbooks (both the yellow and the white cookbook for those of you who own them). I also wanted to take pictures of each recipe that I made, so I would know for future reference what the recipe should look like. I am by no means a great cook, but I think it will be fun to try new and different recipes each week. Not all of these recipes are for ethnic Mennonite food, but the women from Henderson know how to cook, so I can safely say that these recipes will be good. Check back each Monday for a new recipe and feel free to leave a comment if you have a favorite recipe from these cookbooks, or if you have some tips on what I should make and how I should make it.
~
This week decided to make the Salted Peanut Chews (pg 85W).  I need to give a little explanation about my experience before I encourage you to make this recipe.  For me, this recipe was a flop, however there where a few changes I made, which could have created the way they turned out.  With that said, I will also mention that I have had these bars before and they tasted very good, so I would still encourage you to make this recipe if you note the mistakes I made, which will be outlined in the narrative below. 
Salted Peanut Chews
1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp soda
1/2 cup margarine
1 tsp vanilla
2 egg yolks
3 sups mini marshmallows

Topping:
2/3 cup corn syrup
1/4 cup margarine
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups peanut butter chips
2 cups rice cereal
2 cups salted peanuts

Heat oven to 350*.  Combine all crust ingredients except marshmallows until crumb mixture forms.  Press in bottom of ungreased 9x13".  Bake 12-15 minutes.  Immediately sprinkle with marshmallows.  Bake 1-2 minutes until marshmallows puff.  Cool.  Prepare topping.  In large sauce pan heat corn syrup, margarine, vanilla and peanut butter chips until smooth and melted.  Remove from heat, stir in cereal and nuts.  Immediately spoon over marshmallow crust, chill, cut into bars, 36 bars.  

 All of the crust ingredients ready to mix. 

 The crumbly crust mixture. 

 The crust pressed in the bottom of the 9x13 pan. 

 Adding the marshmallows.  I would used a whole bag of marshmallows next time, not just 3 cups.  

 After the marshmallows have puffed up.  Here was my first mistake, I did not let the marshmallows cool before I put on the topping, which made the marshmallow layer almost nonexistent between the other two layers.  

 The ingredients that need to be melted for the topping.  I made two mistakes for this.  1) I didn't have any corn syrup, so I used a substitution of 2/3 cup sugar and 3 Tbl water.  Taste wise I think the substitution worked fine, but the texture lacked.  2) I heated the mixture too fast and the peanut butter chips didn't not want to melt correctly. 

 The heated topping mixture. 

 Pouring the mixture over the rice cereal and peanuts.  

 Everything mixed together. 

 Adding the mixed topping.  

The finished product.  As a said earlier, this did not turn out very well for me, but I have had these bars before and they are very good, so it may have been due to the changes and substitutions I made.  

Be sure to vote for next weeks recipe in the tool bar to the right.