BOO!!!

Applesauce Bars

Hi everyone! Today I'm going to share a recipe that I got from my friend Bonnie. She had these yummy bars one time when she went to get her hair done. Boy I'm ever so glad that she got the recipe too! These are so moist and oh so good too!

Mix together your wet ingredients; eggs, applesauce and oil. Now add the dry ingredients; flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon baking soda and salt. Now the recipe does not call for vanilla but I do add some. I don't know if it is suppose to have it in or not but I do add some.

I mix this all together with my hand held mixer until everything is well incorporated. Pour into an ungreased 15" x 10" x 1" pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Pull out of the oven and set aside to cool.

After the bars have cooled...

Cream together your softened cream cheese, room temperature butter, and vanilla.

Add your powdered sugar gradually, mixing well.

Frost your cooled bars.

Now my husband and daughter like to eat these cold, I prefer them at room temperature because the frosting is soft and gooey. You decided how you like them, but I hope you do like them!!

Applesauce Bars

2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup chopped nuts, you can omit if you don't like nuts

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 beaten eggs

2 cups applesauce

1 cup oil

1 teaspoon vanilla, not written on the original recipe maybe a mistake??

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Stir in eggs, applesauce, oil and nuts, until well blended. Spread batter into an ungreased 15" x 10" x 1" baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool. Frost

Frosting

2 - 3 ounce packages cream cheese, softened (I just use the whole 8 ounces)

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1 pound box powdered sugar

Cream together cream cheese and butter; add vanilla, mix. Gradually add powdered sugar until all added and spreading consistency.

Well I hope you all will enjoy this recipe, it is so easy to make and so good too! Mary

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Crock-Pot Ham Bone Soup

Hi everyone!! It sure has gotten cool around here, how about where you live? Last week it was so cool that a big pot of soup or crock-pot full sounded so good. I went digging around in my freezer and found a ham bone, so I decided to make some Ham Bone Soup.

I found this recipe over on Allrecipes. Normally I just make it on the stove top but on the day that I made it, I had alot going on and so I put it in my crock-pot. I love using my crock-pot, it's so nice to come home to the meal done and the house smelling good too! As you can see from the picture you use a ham bone (honey baked is fine too), chicken stock, potatoes, onion, carrots, celery, green beans, garlic, tomatoes and kidney beans. Of course you peel and slice the carrots and celery, dice the onions, drain the green beans and drain and rinse the kidney beans. I use 1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic too. Now the original recipe calls for 4 cups of water and 6 chicken bouillon cubes but I just use 4 cups of chicken stock, I was in a hurry one day and that change worked really well with this recipe. Here is what it looks like in the crock-pot ready to be turned on. Cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours.

About 30 minutes to an hour before you are ready to eat, pull the ham bone out, my ham just came right off the bone and I had to fish out the meat. You can dice, slice or shred the meat, however you would like it. Put the meat back into the crock-pot and stir. Leave until you are ready to eat.

Here is what a bowl of the soup looks like and oh the wonderful smell, YUMMY!!! I serve it with cornbread. Hope you give it a try, you will not be disappointed!

Ham Bone Soup

1 ham bone with some meat

1 onion, diced (I use half)
1 - 14.5 ounce can peeled and diced tomatoes, with juice

1 - 15.25 ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

3 potatoes, cubed (you decided if you want to peel them)

1 green bell pepper, seeded and cubed (I omit this)

4 cups water

6 chicken bouillon cubes

Place the ham bone, onion, tomatoes, kidney beans, potatoes and green pepper (optional)  into a 3 quart or larger slow cooker. Dissolve the bouillon cubes in water and pour into the slow cooker. Cover and cook on High until warm. Reduce heat to Low and continue to cook for 5 to 6 hours.

Like I said earlier, I use 4 cups of chicken stock. I also add, celery, carrots and green beans. If you don't like kidney beans, use your favorite.

Thanks for stopping by. Mary

Linked to: Skip To My Lou Made by You Mondays

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Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes

Hi everyone, sorry to be missing for awhile but I've been very busy here of late. But I guess everyone is busy too, no excuse! Today I want to share with you my mashed potato recipe. You've probably have a recipe similar to this but these are just too good not to share with you!

First off I peel a five pound sack of potatoes, I usually use the white one but I think the red ones would work just fine too. Put them on and let them boil until you can stick a fork in them and the potato is tender. Oh, I dice mine so that they cook faster. After they are done, drain them. Than add milk, butter, cream cheese, sour cream, salt and pepper. I use my hand held mixer to mix everything together.

Here is what they look like with some yummy meat loaf and green beans....yummmmm!!

Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes

one- five pound sack of potatoes

4 ozs. cream cheese, cut into cubes

8 ozs. sour cream

1/2 stick butter, sliced

1/4 cup to 1/3 cup, depends on how you like the consistency of your mashed potato

salt and pepper to taste

Peel and dice potatoes and place in pot large enough to hold, fill with water to cover the potatoes. After the potatoes are cooked to the tender stage, drain. Return the drained, cooked potatoes to your cooking pot. Add salt, pepper, milk, cream cheese, sour cream and butter. Mix well either with a potato masher or mixer until well blended. Serves about 6 to 8.

You can put them into a greased 9 x 13 inch baking dish and put them in the refrigerator, covered with foil for a couple of days. When you need them, put them into a preheat 350 degree oven and bake for 1 hour. You can also put additional slices of butter on the top, if desired.

I have used this recipe at Thanksgiving and put the mashed potatoes in a sprayed Crock-pot,large enough to hold them, and put them on LOW to re-heat and serve, I think for about 4 hours.

I hope you enjoy these potatoes, we sure do, in fact my one daughter can make a meal off of these!

Thanks for stopping in to see me. Mary

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Cake Mix Cookies

Hi everyone!! Hope your day is going good. Today I'm going to share a super easy cookie recipe that I found three years ago on Skip To My Lou. It is so easy and they really are very good too. This is a good recipe to have when the kids yell at 10:00 at night, "hey Mom I need two dozen cookies for school tomorrow". Bet that hasn't ever happened to you right!? Okay, enough talking let's get started. In a large mixing bowl combine your eggs, cake mix and oil ( I used a 1/2 cup of oil when I make my cookies).Mix it all together until it looks like this, yes, it will look dry and be sticky and it may crumble just a bit but that is correct.Now take about two tablespoons of your dough and make into round balls. As you can see here I have a handy, dandy cookie scooper for when I make cookies, it holds two tablespoons. My mother got this one for me before I got married (clear back in 1979) and it makes making cookies sooo easy and fast too! I would recommend you get one for yourself too! Here they are all lined up to go into the oven. Now you can leave them rounded or you can squish them down some if you want, your preference.Here they are after baking.

Now after they have cooled, ice them with your canned icing or if you want, your favorite homemade icing. The ones I made today taste like little brownie bites to me.

You can use any flavor of cake mix you like, white cake mix taste like sugar cookies. I've had some made using the Funetti cake mix too. They are all good in my book! Hope you enjoyed this simple recipe to day, now go make some, hurry!! Mary
Cake Mix Cookies
1 Cake Mix, your favorite brand
2 eggs
1/3 to 1/2 cup oil (I used 1/2 cup for this tutorial)
Mix together cake mix, eggs and oil until well combined. Place balls onto a parchment lined cookie sheets (you will need two sheets). Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 13 minutes. Cookies will be soft. Ice cookies after they have cooled to the touch. Makes 20 cookies.

When I make this I get either 22 or 23 cookies, you could steal some dough from some and squeeze out 24 if you need 24 cookies.

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