It's Been Awhile

It certainly has been awhile since I have posted. I made this dish the other night but am just getting a chance to post. This is going to be our dinner for tonight as soon as Randy comes home from hunting. I am going to be in my kitchen tonight making something with the apples that my coworker Patrick got for me while apple picking in Mexico, NY. I have a whole bag of delicious McIntosh apples and am looking forward to all the tasty treats I am going to make. So everyone can look forward to some great posts to come.

Muffins For Breakfast

On Wednesday when I came home from work I decided to make some muffins to have for breakfast for the rest of the week. I am usually a breakfast eater but the first part of the week I was just having a glass of orange juice and calling it good. I was thinking of making some blueberry ones but I know that Randy has been saying he wants to make some blueberry pancake so I left the blueberries alone and used some cinnamon chips instead.

Cinnamon Chip Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 cup milk

1/2 cup cinnamon chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a muffin tin. I chose to use my mini muffin tin.

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, beat egg and milk until blended. Stir into flour mixture and add the cinnamon chips. Stir just until the mixture is moistened, the batter will be lumpy.

Spoon batter into the muffin cups. Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden and toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean. Immediately remove muffins from pan. Serve warm or let cool on a wire rack to enjoy later.

Four Years Ago Today....

I married my high school sweetheart and my best friend. Since I didn't do any cooking or baking today, I am going to share some photos from our wedding. The picture below is right after we had walked down the aisle after becoming husband and wife. As you can tell from the smiles on our faces what a wonderful moment this was for us both.

Randy and I as we were getting ready to cut our wedding cake. When it came time to feed each other a piece of cake, well let's just say I had a lot more cake on my face than in my mouth. That was quite the moment and had everyone laughing. Our cake was made by Cindy's Cake Shop.
The decorations and my flowers were done by Randy's cousin Stephanie.

One last picture of us enjoying our special day.

A Delicious Dinner

This delicious dinner just so happened to be what was served at our house this evening. Since it was my first day starting my new job, I wanted to have dinner somewhat started so I wouldn't have much to do when getting home from work. Last night before heading off to bed I made up the sauce for the ribs and had that chilling in the fridge overnight. This morning I put the ribs in the crockpot on low with the sauce I made. When I came home from work, I was greeted with such a wonderful smell. I did have to try a little piece to see how it tasted before dinner and only one word could describe the taste, YUMMY!

Country Style Boneless Pork Ribs

package of pork ribs
1 cup Kraft thick n' spicy honey barbeque sauce
1 cup Jack Daniel's honey smokehouse barbeque sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons liquid smoke

Mix the above ingredients together in a medium size bowl. I chose to chill overnight for use in the morning but if you plan on cooking right away there is no need to chill the sauce. Place the ribs in the crockpot and pour the sauce over top. Turn the crockpot to low. I started the ribs at 7:30 this morning so they were cooking for 8 hours, when I got home from work I turned them down to low for another two hours.

Take The Time To Remember

Today is a day that most of us will never forget. 8 years ago today so many innocent lives were lost. I still remember that September day, I had the day off and my sister Michelle called me and asked if I had the television on. I turned on the television and just couldn't believe what I was seeing. My thoughts go out to all the families and loved ones on this day and every September 11th.

A Good Morning Treat

This morning I was craving a fruit smoothie. Everyone knows when the craving hits for something you usually don't stop until you have satisfied it. I was in luck to have everything on hand to make a smoothie. As I sit typing this post I am enjoying the delicious glass that you see below. It sure is hitting the spot.

Banana Peach Smoothie

1 banana, sliced

1 can peaches

2 cups non fat vanilla ice cream

In a blender on high speed combine banana, peaches and ice cream until smooth. Serve immediately.

* Since I made so much I will have some more of this to enjoy tomorrow morning with my breakfast.

Caught Off Guard

Last week while Randy and I were driving around we came upon this field and just so happened to catch a doe with her two fawns. Randy stopped the Jeep and we were able to watch the deer for quite sometime and since I have decided to bring my camera along whenever I go anywhere I was able to capture this great photo.

There Is Nothing Like A Muffin

I have had my mind on making muffins the last few days and since I didn't really have anything in the house that sounded appealing to me for breakfast, today was a good day to make them. I love any kind of muffin, especially when they come right out of the oven. My choice of muffin this morning was to make ones using some applesauce that I had in the pantry. As I sit typing this post I am enjoying a muffin with a tall glass of cold milk.

Sugar-Topped Applesauce Muffins

2 cups biscuit/baking mix

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 egg

1/2 cup applesauce (I used country berry flavor applesauce)

1/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Topping:

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons butter, melted

In a bowl combine the baking mix, sugar and cinnamon. In another bowl, beat the egg, applesauce, milk and oil. Stir into dry ingredients until moistened Fill paper-lined muffin cups two thirds full. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. In a small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon. Dip muffin tops in melted butter then in cinnamon sugar.

Makes 12 muffins

*An update on yesterday's post, Randy came home from work late last night so he has yet to try the stuffed peppers. I did end up telling him that they were made with tofu and I said you really will like them, so I am hoping he does end up trying them.

It's All About The Stuff

I had bought some tofu awhile ago and have been trying to decide a recipe to use it in. I finally came up with something this morning as I was looking in the fridge. I had some bell peppers that I didn't want to go to waste and knew just the thing to make. Some stuffed peppers using the tofu. I have never tried tofu and never made anything with tofu so this was a new experience for me. As I was cooking I did try some of the tofu and was quite impressed with the taste. The peppers did turn out quite well and very tasty too, well this is just my opinion on this. I am wondering how Randy will feel when he has one of the peppers for dinner this evening. I will let everyone know tomorrow what Randy's thoughts were.

Tofu and Rice Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked rice

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 (12 ounce) package firm tofu, drained and diced

1/2 cup marinara sauce

salt and pepper to taste

1 red and 1 yellow pepper, top cut out and seeded

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook rice according to directions on the box. Set aside. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, stir in garlic and tofu. Cook for about 5 minutes. Mix in marinara sauce, season with salt and pepper. Continue to cook and stir until tofu is evenly brown. Add the cooked rice into the tofu and sauce. Stir until well blended well. Fill each pepper to the top with tofu and rice mixture. Place stuffed peppers in a glass baking dish. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

Just Breathtaking

Randy and I really enjoy taking walks and it just so happened that the last time we took one I decided to bring my camera. The walk that we go on takes us right along the beautiful St. Lawrence River. As we were walking down one of the hills, there was an opening in the trees and I was able to get a nice shot of the river. I probably could have spent quite sometime just standing at this spot enjoying the wonderful view and the slight breeze coming across the water.