Apple Dumplings

Ingredients

• 2 whole Granny Smith Apples
• 2 cans (8 Oz. Cans) Crescent Rolls
• 2 sticks Butter
• 1-½ cup Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• Cinnamon, To Taste
• 1 can (12 Oz.) Mountain Dew Soda

Preparation Instructions

Peel and core apples. Cut each apple into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 9 x 13 buttered pan.

Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir, and pour entire mixture over apples. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve with ice cream, and spoon some of the sweet sauces from the pan over the top.

Saw this on Pioneer Woman Cooks, tried it and it is SOOO yummy!

Theme for the next two weeks is.....Your favorite Christmas candy!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

I got this recipe from the mykitchencafe blog. And they are tasty! I used Luke's pre-school class as the testers and all 12 kids and 4 adults raved about them. As far as muffins go they are a little more time consuming but oh so yummy...more like a cupcake. If you want to see pictures here is the link http://mykitchencafe.blogspot.com/2009/11/pumpkin-cream-cheese-muffins.html

For the muffins:

• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups pumpkin puree

For the filling:

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar

For the streusel topping:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 4 Tbsp cold butter, cubed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar and whip until smooth. Form into a log on plastic wrap or greased foil, making sure that the diameter is small enough to fit into the well of a muffin pan. Wrap the log tightly and freeze until slightly hardened, 1-2 hours. ( I had mine in the freezer about 2 hours, but it could have gone a little longer)

To make the muffin, combine the flour, spices, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl. Mix well and set aside. In another large bowl combine the eggs, vegetable oil, sugar and pumpkin puree. Mix until well combined. Add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

To make the streusel topping, combine all the ingredients in a small bowl. Mix together with a pastry blender or two forks until crumbly.

Preheat the oven to 350. Line two muffin pans with paper liners. To assemble the muffins, fill each muffin well 1/3 of the way with batter. Remove the cream cheese log from the freeze and slice into 24 equal slices. Place a slice on top of the batter in each muffin well and gently press (don't press all the way to the bottom but just slightly into the batter). Divide the remaining muffin batter evenly among the muffin cups on top of the cream cheese. Sprinkle the streusel topping over the top of the batter. Bake the muffins for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the top of the muffin (about 1/2 of the way down) comes out with moist crumbs. Let cool completely on a wire rack before serving.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are so good and actually good for you!

1 spice cake mix
1 small can of pumpkin
1/2 bag of semi sweet chocolate chips

Mix the first 2 things together till well blended. Add the chips and fold them
in. Drop by spoonful on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes
and enjoy!

Pumpkin Dinner Rolls

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup warm water
2 cup warm milk
¼ cup butter, softened or melted
2 cup mashed cooked pumpkin (I usually use one can of pumpkin.)
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup wheat germ (can omit and use flour instead)
10-12 cup all-purpose flour (I usually use a mixture of whole-wheat and white flours. I'd recommend going about 1/3 whole-wheat to 2/3 white flour.)
7 teaspoons dry yeast

In large mixing bowl, combine sugar, water, milk, butter, pumpkin, and salt. Mix well. Add wheat germ, 7-8 cups of the flour, and yeast. Mix, and then continue adding flour and kneading until dough is elastic and not sticky.
Place dough in greased bowl; grease top of dough, cover with a towel, and set in a warm place until doubled (about 1 hour). Punch dough down and divide into thirds. Divide each third into 16 pieces and shape into balls.
Place on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise until almost doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes, until tops are golden. Brush with melted butter as soon as they come out of the oven. (Note: These rolls usually look somewhat dry when first coming out of the oven. Wait about 15 minutes and they will look and taste beautifully. Don't ask me why, but that's how it always works for me!)

Yield: 4 dozen rolls (If you're not expecting a large crowd for Thanksgiving, I'd recommend halving the recipe. I often do this for smaller groups and it works great!)

recipe from Money Saving Mom and is DELICIOUS....but it makes ALOT even halved.

The Theme...

We have a wonderful theme this week, ANYTHING with pumpkin!

Can't wait to see and try some of your pumpkin recipes!

Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake

This is one of our family's favorites!

I especially love it because not only is it good,

but it is SO quick and easy!

*It is a Campbell's recipe, but I modified it slightly because I thought the rice was a little too soupy when I followed the recipe exactly. My modifications are in parentheses.

5-6 boneless skinless chicken tenders, or 3 breasts cut into strips

1 can (10.5 oz) Cream of Chicken soup

1 1/3 cup water (I use 1 1/4)

3/4 cup uncooked rice (I use 1 cup)

1 cup Mozzarella cheese

pepper

onion powder

Italian seasoning

In a casserole dish, mix soup and water. Add the rice and seasonings to taste. Top with chicken and sprinkle with more seasonings. Top with cheese. Bake at 375* for 45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Serves 4-5.