Corn Flake cookies

I'm sure you've all had these before, but to me they're extra special. My maternal grandmother doesn't like to cook or bake (she's obviously NOT from West Virginia). But she always wanted us to have a sweet treat so she would make us these cookies. My mom just made a batch with Emma and so it brought up all those happy memories.

1 cup of sugar
1 cup of white Karo
1/2 cup of peanut butter
2 tsp. vanilla
4 cups Corn Flakes

Bring sugar and Karo to a boil. Remove from heat. Add in the peanut butter and stir. Add in the vanilla and stir. Add in the corn flakes, stir and then drop by tablespoon on to wax paper.

* I like to add in mini M&M's too ... but grandma doesn't know that. You can also melt a little chocolate and drizzle over them.

Crockpot Chicken Soft Tacos

This is so simple! We use it as a filling for soft tacos with a little cheese sprinkled on top. You could also use it for enchiladas.

4-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup medium or hot salsa
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 cup sour cream

Spray your Crockpot with nonstick cooking spray. Add in chicken. Add remaining ingredients and stir. Cook on low for 6-7 hours. Add sour cream during the last 30 minutes and stir. Shred chicken, serve as you please and ENJOY!

Maryland Steamed Shrimp with Homemade Cocktail Sauce

I made this for both Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve this year. My mom always made it on special occasions growing up, especially after we left the east coast and moved to Illinois. There is no other way to eat shrimp, in my opinion!

*2 lbs uncooked, deveined shrimp (works well with or without shells)
*2 tbsp Old Bay seasoning (no substitutes!)
*1 cup beer
*1 cup apple cider vinegar
*1 tsp salt

In a large pan or soup pot, combine Old Bay, beer, vinegar and salt. Bring to a boil. Add shrimp. Cover and turn off heat. Wait until there all of the shrimp turns pink. (If your shrimp is too cold, you may need to turn the heat back on and return to a boil for a couple seconds.) Drain. Serve immediately or chill for several hours and serve cold. I prefer it cold.

For the cocktail sauce:
*Ketchup
*Pure Horseradish
*Lemon Juice
*Worchershire sauce

Combine all ingredients to taste. I like mine spicy, so I add lots of horseradish.

You could buy prepared cocktail sauce, but as a seafood snob, that goes against my beliefs. It tastes so much better when you make it yourself.

Use the directions for shrimp to make Maryland Shrimp Salad. Chill the shrimp, chop it into chunks, add mayo, chopped celery, a little lemon juice, pepper and more Old Bay to taste. Serve on wheat toast with lettuce and tomato. My favorite sandwich ever!

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

I almost jumped for joy today when I spotted the return of Libby's 100% pure pumpkin puree in the baking aisle at Giant Eagle. I frantically jammed can after can in my cart and rushed home to make a big batch of muffins. Ah, fall is here. My favorite baking time of year.

- 3 cups all-purpose flour

- 2 cups sugar

- 2 tsp baking soda

- 1/2 tsp baking powder

- 2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

- 2 tsp ground nutmeg

- 1/2 tsp ground ginger

- 1/2 tsp ground cloves

- 1/2 tsp allspice

- 1 tsp salt

- 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree

- 1 tsp vanilla

- 3 eggs

- 2/3 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350. Beat together pumpkin, vanilla, eggs and vegetable oil until smooth. In a seperate bowl, combine dry ingredients. (You could sift but I just use a small wire whisk until there are no clumps.) In batches, add flour mixture to pumpkin and stir until just combined. Add to muffin cups; bake for 18-20 minutes.

Makes 24 muffins. I did 1 dozen plain, then added raisins to the rest. Threw 6 of each in the freezer for quick breakfasts.

Apricot Curry Chicken

This is simmering away in the crockpot right now. :o)

- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

- 1/2 medium onion, chopped

- 1 (12 oz) jar apricot jam

- 1/4 cup chicken stock

- 1 1/2 tsp curry powder

- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

- 1/4 tsp ground ginger

- 1/4 tsp salt

Place chicken breasts in crockpot. Mix together onion, jam, stock, curry powder, cayenne pepper, ground ginger & salt until well blended and pour over chicken. Cook on low 6-8 hours.

A trick if your sauce is too thin - after chicken is done cooking, remove chicken from crockpot. Turn heat to high. Mix 1 tbsp (or more, depending on how much you want to thicken it up) of cornstarch with 1 tbsp of water together until smooth and add to the sauce. Leave the top off for a few minutes until it's thickened. A bit quicker, but messier - remove cooked chicken and pour sauce into a saucepan. Add cornstarch/water mixture and heat on high (uncovered) until thickened. Add chicken back in and serve.

You could also add chopped, dried apricots to this dish for a little texture. I couldn't find any that are peanut-free, so skipped it.

Serve chicken over rice. Yummy with stir-fried veggies on the side!

Lemon Raspberry Bars

Found this recipe on PW's Tasty Kitchen site and made them for my mother-in-law's birthday last night. She is a lemon/raspberry fanatic. Even though I believe all desserts should include SOME element of chocolate, I must admit these were pretty good. Below is a modified version of how I will make it next time. I followed directions to the letter and the crust was a little tough, and I didn't use the full amount of lemon juice and it was VERY lemony. Here's the original recipe if you want to compare.

Crust

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 stick of butter, melted
• zest of one lemon

Filling

• Juice of 2 lemons (about 1/3 cup)
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 pkg fresh raspberries

To make the crust, combine all ingredients and press into the bottom and sides of an 8x8 pan. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Allow to cool to room temp.

For the filling, whisk together egg yolks and sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Add lemon juice and zest and whisk until thick. Gently fold in raspberries. Pour over crust and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Chill for at least two hours before serving.

Fresh Strawberry Cake

I made this to celebrate Ellie's birthday with family tonight.

1 box white cake mix
1 (3oz) box strawberry Jell-O
2 cups fresh (or thawed frozen) strawberries
4 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tbsp all-purpose flour

Beat together cake mix, Jell-O mix, strawberries, flour & eggs, on medium speed for about 3 minutes. Add vegetable oil and beat an additional minute. Bake in a bundt pan at 350 for 35-45 minutes.

You could ice this, but it's such a pretty pink that I am going to just dust some powdered sugar on top.