Breakfast Cookies

Cookies for breakfast? Interesting concept, huh? The next time you are in the granola bar/snack aisle at your local grocery store, take a look at the breakfast cookies. Quaker makes oatmeal/chocolate chip ones, but I was surprised when I counted the number of ingredients on the side of the box.  Take a guess how many there were. Would you believe 43?!?!?! Good grief, I don't know about you, but I think that's quite a few.  I like the fact that I'm making my own from scratch, so I know EXACTLY what is going into them.  I gave a couple of these cookies to Dominic's bus driver Thursday morning and also took some in to his teachers in the afternoon. It's just a small token of my appreciation for all that they do for him on a regular basis!!  These cookies would also be great for dessert.  Just put a scoop of your favorite ice cream in between two cookies and press gently together. YUM!

Ingredients:

½ cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup margarine (softened)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup smooth peanut butter
2 large eggs (slightly beaten)
1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups old fashioned oatmeal
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups crushed cereal

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and lightly grease a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray.  Cream the white sugar, light brown sugar and margarine together (either by hand with a large spoon or with an electric mixer).  Add the salt, baking soda, vanilla extract, peanut butter, eggs, white flour and wheat flour.  Mix well either by hand or with mixer. Stir in oatmeal and chocolate chips and mix well with large spoon.  Measure out two cups of cereal, put in a sealed bag and then crush it with something heavy. It's okay if there are bigger pieces of cereal. It doesn't need to be finely crushed :) You can use one kind of cereal or any combinations of cereals that you want. This particular time, I used Honey Nut Cheerios. In the past, I have used Trix and Kix cereals when I have made these cookies. This recipe is a good way to use up a near empty box of cereal. Roll the batter into the size below (which is a little bigger than a golf ball) and flatten with the palms of your hands. You will probably only be able to get six to a sheet.

Bake about 18 minutes or until they are slightly brown. Let cool about 5-10 minutes and then remove to rack to continue cooling.  Makes two dozen large cookies.

Sour Cream Kuchen Muffins

At our house, my mother-in-law's sour cream kuchen is a big favorite.  I made it just a few days ago and it's already gone (Dominic ate the last piece this morning for breakfast)!!  Since I had a little bit of sour cream left over in the container and it wasn't enough to make a full recipe, I was curious if I cut all the ingredients in half, if it could be made into muffins. I was able to and the finished product I'm calling sour cream kuchen muffins.When I make my mother-in-law's kuchen, I use a 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan.  I put the batter, then the cinnamon topping, the batter and then end with the cinnamon topping.  I thought about trying to make four levels in the muffin tin, but if I filled them too full, it might spill out and land on the bottom of the oven.  I just recently cleaned my oven, so I didn't want to take a chance :)  These muffins are done in about 20 minutes and are super yummy and delicious!!!

Ingredients:

Batter:

1/2 cup margarine, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup white flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream

Topping:

1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.  In large bowl, put all the ingredients in the order shown for the batter and mix well with large spoon by hand until smooth.  Distribute batter evenly between the paper liners.   In a small bowl, put the light brown sugar, white sugar and cinnamon and mix well with small spoon. Sprinkle cinnamon mixture evenly between the 12 muffins.  Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.  Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes.  Transfer to wire rack to finish cooling. Makes 12 muffins.

Easy Homemade Graham Crackers

The next time you go to the grocery store, take a look in the snack aisle and see how much the name brand graham crackers cost. Let me put it this way, they aren't cheap! Lauren and Dominic LOVE graham crackers, but I don't buy them very often.  I have seen several recipes for homemade graham crackers, but they were either really complicated, involved a food processor or you needed a mixer with a dough "hook"or "paddle." Since I don't own a food processor or a mixer with attachments, that let out about 99% of the recipes I found! My husband who doesn't eat any kind of graham cracker, "sampled" one of mine.  He rated them "very good." Lauren told me they were a 10 out of 10. Be forewarned, these are super delicious and addictive.

Ingredients:

2 cups white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature (cut into small cubes)
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup honey

In large bowl, put white flour, wheat flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon.  Add the butter and "cut" in using two knives or a pastry blender until it resembles coarse crumbs.  Add the light brown sugar, white sugar and honey.  Using a large spoon or your hands, mix until the batter is smooth.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Take a 11 inch x 17 inch jelly roll pan and cover with aluminum foil. Spray the foil with non-stick cooking spray and then press batter evenly into pan with the palms of your hands or fingertips.  Prick entire batter with a fork and bake for 20 minutes, turning pan around after 10 minutes.  Remove from oven.  Let cool completely and then cut into rectangles or squares.

Vegetarian Chili

This chili has five different vegetables and two kinds of beans. I like to make white rice and put it in the bowl first and then put the chili on top.  To round out the meal, make a tossed green salad and some cornbread.   You can have this on the dinner table, ready to eat in less than an hour. You can make the chili as hot or as mild as you want, based on the "heat" level you choose for the chili seasoning mix. When I made this last Friday, I used one that was 30% less sodium and was a milder flavor.  My hubby likes a hotter flavor, so the next time I make this, I'll use a seasoning mix that is "hot." Cathy's Kitchen aims to please!!  

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons canola oil
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup green pepper, chopped (membrane and seeds removed)
1 cup orange pepper, chopped (membrane and seeds removed)
2 cups zucchini squash, peeled and chopped
2 cups water
15.5 ounce can Great Northern white beans, drained and rinsed
15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
14.5 ounce can sliced and stewed tomatoes, undrained
1.25 ounce package chili seasoning mix, any brand

In bottom of large stockpot, put the canola oil, onion, green pepper and orange pepper.  Cook on low-medium heat until vegetables are just starting to get tender (about 10 minutes).  Add zucchini squash, water, white beans, black beans, stewed tomatoes and chili seasoning mix.  Stir well with large spoon.  Cover and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Serves four.

Tomato Soup Cupcakes

 

Using a can of tomato soup to make cupcakes?? Sounds a little unusual, doesn't it?? Since I was little, I had heard it was possible, but I had never been brave enough to attempt it until this morning. Looking through my collection of cookbooks, I found a recipe for tomato soup cake in a Campbell's cookbook from 1975.  I made some adaptions here and there when I was making these (one being making them into cupcakes). When they had cooled off, I frosted them with vanilla frosting, though buttercream or cream cheese frosting would be also be great.  When you bite into one of these cupcakes, it's really hard to believe that they were made with a can of tomato soup.  I was my own "taste tester" today.  They were so yummy, I had two!

Ingredients:

2 cups white flour
1 1/4 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
2 large eggs, beaten
1/4 cup water
1 can condensed tomato soup (10 3/4 ounces)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place paper liners into two 12-cup muffin tins. Set aside.  In large bowl, put all ingredients in the order above.  Beat on medium speed for two minutes with electric mixer or by hand with large spoon until smooth.  Distribute batter evenly between paper liners.  Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.  Remove from oven and let cool five minutes.  Transfer to wire rack to continue cooling.  Frost with vanilla, buttercream or cream cheese frosting.  Makes 24 cupcakes.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Believe it or not, these are made with only three ingredients - peanut butter, white sugar and an egg!! You can have a dozen cookies ready for the kids (and some of their friends) as an after school snack in about a half hour.  Dominic, my "taste tester" for the day, requested that I sprinkle some of the cookies with blue sugar. Cathy's Kitchen always accepts special requests from her regular "customers!"

Ingredients:

1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 1/4 cup white sugar
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix the peanut butter, 1 cup of the white sugar (put the other 1/4 cup of the white sugar in a small bowl) and the large egg together with large spoon until well combined. Roll into 1-inch balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Using a small fork,  first dip in the 1/4 cup white sugar and then crisscross the dough.

Bake for 12 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes on the cookie sheet and then transfer to wire rack to finish cooling. Makes three dozen.