Artisan Bread Bowls

Brad and I love soup and love it even more in bread bowls. This recipe was really good. The bowls weren't quite as large as I would have liked. I made 5 bowls out of this recipe, and next time I will probably only do 4.

3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup nonfat dry milk

2 teaspoons yeast

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons oil

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water, enough to make a smooth, soft dough

Let yeast dissolve in warm water until creamy, about 5 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients—by hand, mixer or bread machine— and knead till you've created a smooth dough.Allow the dough to rise, covered, for 45 minutes; it should become puffy. Divide the dough into 5-6 pieces, depending on how large you want your bread bowl to be. Roll each piece into a ball. Place on a lightly greased or parchment covered baking sheet.Cover the bread bowls with greased plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 4 hours (or up to 24 hours); this step will give the bread bowls extra flavor, and a delightfully crisp-chewy texture. Two or more hours before serving, remove the bread bowls from the refrigerator. Uncover, and let them sit for about one hour while you preheat the oven to 425°F. Just before baking, slash the top surface of the bowls several times with a sharp razor/knife to allow them to expand. Bake for 22 to 28 minutes, until the bowls are deep brown, and sound hollow when thumped on the bottom. Remove from the oven, and cool on a rack.

Chicken Taco Soup

1 can tomato soup

1 can chicken broth

3 cups water

1 package taco seasoning

1 can corn

1 can green beans

4 ounce can chopped green chilies

4 cooked chicken breasts, shredded

Combine all ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes

Top with tortilla chips, cheese, sour cream, and avocado

Frosted Ginger Cookies

These cookies are YUMMY!! They also make your home smell so good!

1 cup granulated sugar, plus more for rolling cookies

3/4 cup butter, at room temperature

1 egg

3 Tbsp molasses

2 cups flour, sifted

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp each salt, ground cloves and ground nutmeg

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream 1 cup granulated sugar with butter until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in egg and molasses.

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and spices. Add to the butter mixture and blend well.

Fill a shallow bowl with granulated sugar. Break off walnut-size pieces of dough and roll into balls; roll balls in sugar. Arrange on greased cookie sheets and bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Transfer to cooling racks.

Meanwhile, make glaze: Combine powdered sugar with 1 Tbsp water and stir until smooth, then stir in lemon juice. Drizzle glaze over cookies

Makes 40 c00kies

Pumpkin Apple Dip

1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Apple slices

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese, brown sugar and pumpkin with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add cinnamon, and beat until smooth. Cover and chill for 1 hr. Serve with apple slices.

Baked Apples with Cranberries

1 bag of cranberries (about 2 cups)

3-4 firm apples, peeled and chopped (about 3 cups). I used two Granny Smith's and two Braeburns

2 Tbsp flour

1 cup sugar

2 pkgs Instant Cinnamon & Spice Oatmeal (I did not want to buy this so I just put in about 1 - 1 1/2 cups Oatmeal and sprinkled in cinnamon and a little extra sugar)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1 stick melted butter

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl mix the cranberries and apples together with 2 Tbsp flour. In a second bowl mix sugar, oatmeal, brown sugar, and flour together. Combine fruit mixture with dry mixture. Put in a 9X13 baking dish. Pour melted butter over the top. Sprinkle nuts on top. Bake 30-40 minutes or until apples are tender. Top with whipping cream or ice cream.

Pumpkin Apple Spice Muffins

I LOVE anything with pumpkin in it. So I was really excited to try these muffins and they were fabulous!!

1 2/3 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice**

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and finely chopped
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice**3 tablespoons sugar

Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture. Combine pumpkin, butter, and eggs in another bowl and add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Fold in chopped apple and spoon into greased muffin pans, filling two-thirds full. Combine 3 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice; sprinkle evenly over muffins. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from pans immediately, and cool on wire racks.
**Tip: if you don't have pumpkin pie spice, use the following combination: 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ginger and 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/8 teaspoon cloves. Mix together and woila! - you have the equivalent of 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (and it is much cheaper than buying it premade).

Chef Jack's Corn Chowder

I got this recipe off of Paula Deen's website - so it is in no way lowfat. I did try to cut a few calories and it was still really good.

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 small onion, diced
1 small celery stalk, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups white corn kernels, fresh or frozen
3 cups chicken stock
2 cups half-and-half
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

**I only used 1 stick of butter, instead of the two. I also just used skim milk instead of the half-and-half. I also added 2 finely cut potatoes.

Melt 1 stick of butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic, and saute for 2 minutes. Add the flour and stir to make a roux. Cook until the roux is lightly browned, set aside to cool to room temperature. Meanwhile, combine the corn (and potatoes) and chicken stock in another saucepan, and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Pour the boiling stock with the corn (a little at a time) into a saucepan with the roux, whisking briskly so it doesn't lump. Return the skillet to the heat and bring to a boil. The mixture should become very thick.
In a small saucepan, gently heat the half-and-half (or skim milk), stir it into the thick corn mixture. Add the nutmeg and salt and pepper, to taste. Just before serving, cut the reamining stick of butter into large chunks. Add it to enrich the soup, stirring until the butter melts (I left this out).