Jambalaya Bake

I love this recipe! We typically eat this during the cold months since you simply dump it in a 9x14 pan and bake it. Simple. I tossed around the option of substituting cauliflower rice but decided to stick with the real stuff since the recipe is over all on the lighter side. Rice sticks to your bones and we need the stuffing to warm us up for the winter weather! I hope you try this out i promise it doesn’t disappoint. This would be an easy yummy dish for a potluck, too. 

Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies

The weekend called for a big snow storm so I was prepared to bake. Thank goodness the storm didn’t come because I had plans I didn’t want to cancel. My gal pal and I went on our first hometown tour of 2019. We have set out to visit small towns nearby to shop local and experience revitilzationnefforts similar to Gallipolis and Point Pleasant WV. Our first adventure took us to a nearby sister river town of Pomeroy. Along the way we stopped in Middleport and for lunch hopped across the river to Mason WV.

Check out the cute and bustling new coffee shop in Pomeroy and the best little candy shop in Middleport we patronized. Go! You won’t regret it. We will definitely be going back for breakfast and stock up on treats!

Now onto the baking. I made it home after a day of friendship and fun to quiet night with Kash. I had checked the pantry for forgotten ingredients and had my eyes set on the chocolate hazelnut spread. Thanks to Pinterest I was able to put the ingredient to good use. I ate these cookies right out of the oven. Yummy! These were tasty and and guiltless. 

Grandma Dowler’s Sugar Cookies

My paternal great grandmother lived to be 99 years old. Her name was Laura Dowler. I am her namesake. She loved that and so do I. I actually have a lot of memeories of her. I especially hold the relationship between her and my dad near to my heart. He was so sweet with her. She had many great attributes and gifts she gave to the world. Today I am baking her sugar cookies. She always had sugar cookies to send home or waiting when you visited. I can see them now with her signature raisin on top of each cookie. Sometimes I picked it off and sometimes I did not. I will make sure to have raisins handy when baking her recipe because I can’t imagine her cookies without them. I hope you enjoy this recipe. I can’t wait to share these cookies and her memory. I have them boxed up to share with BK my first kitchen connection for 2019 and if I had to think real hard on it I’d venture to say he was the first to introduce me to the kitchen. More stories of my dad and his recipes to come I’m sure.

2019 Year of Intention and Connection. Oh - and Baking, Again!

 If you know me then you know that I love New Year’s eve. I love the excitement and enthusiasm for the upcoming year. I love making as many resolutions as possible. I know some people feel like I’m setting myself up for failure. However, I never let that hold me back. I equate the feeling I get when thinking  of reaching all of my goals to  how I pretend spend my lottery winnings the night before a big jackpot. I am hopeful I will reach all of my goals but even if I only reach one I am happy. The thought of taking a whole year to improve myself and have a for filling life is what New Year’s Eve is all about for me. One thing that was short-lived for a past resolution was this blog. So for 2019 I am picking it back up. I intend to try out family recipes, those from Pinterest, and any recipes that find their way to my home. I hope to share these recipes with as many people as possible and make connections.  2019 is the year of intention and connections for me and I’m excited to share my journey through this blog. 

Happy Baking and Warm Wishes for a happy, healthy 2019!,

Atty Mae 

Vegan Brownies for my Secret Pal

Another treat for my secret pal who happens to be vegan. This one I won't encourage you to try. ;-)

http://thebigmansworld.com/2015/10/05/healthy-3-ingredient-flourless-brownies/

Ingredients

1. 3 medium, overripe bananas (approximately 1 cup or so)
2. 1/2 cup smooth almond butter (can sub for any smooth nut butter)
3. 2 T - 1/4 cup cocoa powder (more = richer taste)

Instructions

Preheat the oven the 350 degrees, grease a small cake pan or loaf pan and set aside.

In a small microwave-safe bowl or stovetop, melt your nut butter. 

In a large mixing bowl, add the banana, nut butter and cocoa powder and mix very well.

Pour the mixture into the greased pan and bake for around 20 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before slicing into pieces.

My secret pal kept these in the fridge which was a suggestion from the original recipe post. She also ate them with "milk" kind of like cereal and LOVED them!

Happy Health&HappyBaking,

AttyMae

Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies for my Secret Pal

I found this great recipe on Pinterest for vegan peanut butter cookies for my Secret Pal at work. They were delicious and I will make them again!

Link for original recipe: http://mywholefoodlife.com/2015/03/24/3-ingredient-peanut-butter-cookies/

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted natural peanut butter

¼ cup + 1 T maple syrup

1 tsp sea salt (I was going for a sweet/salty flavor. If you just want sweet, use ½ the amount of salt.)

Preheat oven to 350.

In a food processor, combine all three ingredients

Using a cookie scoop, drop cookies onto a lined baking sheet.

Use a fork to flatten then and make the cross pattern.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Let cookies cool completely before removing from the baking sheet.

My VEGAN secret pal LOVED these! So do I! Please do yourself a favor and make these sometime. You won't regret it.

&HappyBaking,

AttyMae

Non-Baking KitchenAid Adventure -- Ice Cream!

I was so excited to try making ice cream for the first time and no better excuse than Mudder&Santa brought me the Kitchen Aid ice cream attachment. So I turned to Pinterest for a recipe and this is the one I used:

http://ellisandpage.com/2014/12/delicious-ice-cream-recipe.html

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

2/3 cup sugar

6 large egg yolks

1 vanilla bean

1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Combine 2 cups heavy cream & 1 cup whole milk in a saucepan. Add vanilla seeds & pod (use knife to make a slit- then the flat side to scrape out the seeds). Bring the mixture to a simmer.

2. Whisk together 2/3 cup sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt & 6 egg yolks in the a mixer.

3. Once the cream / milk mixture is simmering, SLOWLY pour the mixture into the eggs. If you do not do this slowly, the eggs will cook- yuck! Drizzle it in very slowly.

4. Once combine, return to saucepan and heat over medium heat until the mixture reaches about 170 degrees (six to 8 minutes).

5. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, remove the vanilla pod &  pour mixture into a metal bowl & place the bowl into an ice bath. Let cool.

6. Refrigerate until ready to churn. Follow instructions on ice cream maker. Mixture can be made ahead up to 2 days.

After churning, we put ours into the tupperware and into the freezer. The tupperware was wide enough to make it easy to scoop. Putting it in the freezer also helped for the perfect consistency!

Then ENJOY!

This is not backing&Iknowthat but it does require use of my kitchenaidmixer&Pinterest so it is a win win in my book.

HappyBaking&EatingIceCream,

AttyMae