Oatmeal Crispies

I am not going to lie.... it has been hard not having the kids here every night.  But I am starting to get use to it.  Cally and I have had a rough go of it for the first several days but we are ok now!  And I know she will be home to see me on Labor Day weekend so it is all good!!!!!

Here are some more pictures of Cally's dorm apartment.  Her apartment is really nice.  She has her own bedroom, which makes it nice since she has never had to share a room before.  The apartment has 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, living room and eat in kitchen.  Even though the school makes it mandatory to purchase a meal plan she can still cook in her kitchen if she feels like it.   The comforter and pillow sham is a Vera Bradley set.  Back in July I had blogged about Cally and I spending the day in Tipp City.  We were in a neat shop named Urban Ava's and this comforter set in twinXL was a give away to sign up for.  We signed up and I won it, needless to say Cally was ecstatic.  This is one of her favorite new patterns.

I guess I should get to telling you about these cookies.  The recipe is one from Pioneer Women.  They were the best oatmeal cookies I have ever had.  The had a crispy texture and a good oat taste.  I made them again on a half a sheet cake pan as bars but they were not as good.  When I did them as bars they seemed a little dry.  I did do a few things different with my cookies, I used butter flavored crisco, I balled mine and placed them on a cookie sheet with parchment paper and flattened them with a glass that I dipped in sugar.  So the tops had a nice sugar crunch to them after they were baked.  I love sugar sprinkled on cookies.


Oatmeal Crispies
Pioneer Woman

1 c Shortening (Crisco)
1 c Packed Brown Sugar
1 c Sugar
2 whole Eggs
1 t Vanilla
1-1/2 c All-purpose Flour
1 t Salt
1 t Baking Soda
3 c Quick Oats
1/2 c Finely Chopped Pecans

In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening with both sugars until well combined.

In a separate bowl, beat eggs together. Add vanilla and stir to combine. Add to the shortening/sugar mixture and mix well.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, salt and baking soda. Mix carefully into the egg/shortening mixture until well combined. Now add the quick oats and mix well again. Finally add the finely chopped pecans and mix well to combine.

Divide the dough in half and place each half of the dough onto a sheet of waxed paper. Roll the dough into a log and then wrap it tightly in the waxed paper. Now you can either chill or freeze the dough until later or you can go ahead and slice the dough evenly into cookie rounds.

When you are ready to bake them place them on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes until they are golden brown.

Grand Raspberry Trifle and Move in Day

It has been a rough week.  Billy moved out on Monday to Columbus and we moved Cally yesterday to Portsmouth.  Give us a little time and I am sure everyone will be ok.  I went to the store today without Cally and that was a little weird.  Cally and I were a team, we did everything together so it is going to take some getting use to that she has moved away for the school year.

Billy says he has move out for good.  He is renting a house year round in Columbus so he will not be coming home in the summer like Cally will.  We helped Billy move his things on Sunday morning and he just wanted us to take everything in and leave it because he had plans and then he finished setting everything up on Monday by himself.  I do not envy him, I would not want to live in town or in a house with 5 guys and 1 bathroom.  But they are young and love being right there on campus.

Cally is living in an apartment style dorm room.  In her apartment there are 4 bedrooms (each girl has their own bedroom) and 2 bathrooms (2 girls share a bathroom).  There is also a full eat in kitchen and living room area.  It is really nice.  We arrived in Portsmouth yesterday morning about 11:30 we stayed until 7:00pm and Bill and I arrived home about 10:00 last night.  It was a long day.  Cally's room is really cute.  I think she will have a good school year!

This Grand Raspberry Trifle was the raspberry dish that Cally made for the fair.  It ends up that it is the same  recipe as the raspberry dish that won 1st place except that the 1st place lady made homemade pound cake for her dish and Cally used a frozen pound cake.  I think you really could not tell the difference and Cally's trifle was amazing.  I really like the pound cake soaked in the lemon juice syrup !

In this picture you see the judge getting into Cally's trifle to taste it for judging.  And right beside Cally's is the other trifle that took 1st place.  Cally's dish was very pretty as well as very good!

Grand Raspberry Trifle

Ingredients

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 cup seedless raspberry jam

4 cups raspberries

2 cups heavy cream

1 1/2 pounds favorite pound cake

Directions

In a small saucepan, bring 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup water, and lemon juice to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar, 1 to 2 minutes. Let cool.

In a small bowl, combine jam with 3 cups raspberries, mashing slightly.

 In a large bowl, whip cream and 2 tablespoons sugar to stiff peaks.

Slice pound cake 3/4 inch thick; brush both sides of slices with lemon syrup.

Fit 1/2 of slices snugly in the bottom of a 4-quart trifle dish or other glass bowl, trimming edges if necessary. Gently spread top of layer with 1/2 of raspberry mixture, and then 1/2 of whipped cream. Repeat to make one more layer; garnish with remaining cup raspberries. Refrigerate until ready to serve, up to 24 hours.

Root Beer Float Cheesecake ---- 2nd Place Desserts 2012 Clark County Fair

Root Beer Float Cheesecake

1 1/2 Cups shortbread cookie crumbs
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
4  8 oz packages cream cheese, softened
1 Cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons root beer extract
1 1/2 Cups whipping cream
1/2 Cups plus 2 Tablespoons powder sugar

Combine cookie crumbs and butter, press into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan.  Beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla for 2 minutes in a large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until well blended.

Add eggs, beat until blended.  Transfer 1 1/4 cups of batter to a small bowl.  Add root beer extract and stir. Spoon half of the cream cheese mixture into crust.

Spoon half of the root beer mixture over the cream cheese mixture.  Repeat layers.  Swirl with a knife to create marbled effect.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until center is almost set.  Loosen cake from rim of pan, cool completely.  Remove rim of pan.  Chill.  Beat whipping cream in a large bowl with electric mixer at high speed until thickened.  Add powdered sugar.  Beat at high speed until stiff peaks form.  Spread over cheesecake.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Peach BBQ Pork Tenderloin----Blue Ribbon Winner

This was my Blue Ribbon Winner at the fair this year.  I usually use this rub and bbq sauce on my ribs.  I actually set out to the store to buy ribs to enter in the pork dish of the day contest.  After seeing the price of baby back ribs I decided to try this recipe on a pork tenderloin.  Oh that was a great decision to make.  After putting the rub on the meat the night before and letting it sit in the fridge overnight the tenderloin smelled awesome the next morning.

I fixed mine for the fair in the crock pot.  It was tender and really moist.  I fixed it again yesterday but this time baked it in the oven instead and it was still just as tender and moist.  It did make the house smell good when it was in the crock pot all day...yummy

Peach BBQ Pork Tenderloin

Pork Tenderloin

The night before mix together the pork rub.  Trim off any fat on the tenderloin.  Rub the tenderloin with the pork rub.  Wrap in foil and place in the refrigerator overnight. (I used about half of the rub but use as much as you desire, my left over rub I sprinkled on pork chops after I placed them on the grill and they were really tender and had a good flavor to them)

Pork Rub


3T brown sugar
1 1/2 T smoked paprika
1T hickory smoked salt
1 1/2T black pepper
1t garlic powder
2T herbs of Provence

Mix all together and rub on tenderloin.  Wrap in foil and put in refrigerator overnight

Next day, Place tenderloin in crock pot and cover with half of the Peach BBQ Sauce.  Cook on low for about 5 hours. Or bake in 350 degree oven for 45 to 60 minutes.

Peach BBQ Sauce

4  3.5 oz Peach Baby food
1/3 C ketchup
1/3 C red wine vinegar
2T soy sauce
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 t garlic powder
2 t ground ginger
1 t cinnamon
1 t salt
1 to 2 t liquid smoke

Mix all together

If desired before serving may be grilled out on the grill for a more smokey taste.