Stitching My Story

Back To School Ranger Cookies...

Yippee! We are headed back to school this week. Three of us in college means a wide array of classes and books and fees and supplies and snack-needs. When it comes to classes, one or another of us will be taking the following:

Raster illustration, vector illustration, history of graphic design, creative writing, poly sci: contemporary issues, intro to astronomy, statistics, medical anthropology, and an english class that's focused entirely on anthropology. Sheesh!

When it comes to snacks, the following will do nicely:

Mix Dry: 2c. flour, 2c. oatmeal, 2c. coconut, 2c. cornflakes, 1t. salt, 1t. baking soda, 2t. baking powder 

Mix Wet: 1/2c. butter, 1/2c. shortening, 1c sugar, 1c brown sugar, 2 eggs, 1t. vanilla

Mix wet and dry together.

Drop by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 for 9-10 minutes.

My New Recipe Blog...

Happiness Looks Like This...

Pumpkin Cookies

(grandbaby Oliver at the pumpkin patch)

Mix dry ingredients:

1.5 cups unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 t EACH, baking powder, baking soda, salt
2-3 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice

Mix wet ingredients:

1/2 cup soft butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 egg
1 t vanilla

Add dry ingredients to wet and mix them together.

Drop dough by the spoonful onto a greased cookie sheet.

Bake 13-15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Cool, then frost with cream cheese frosting. 


Cream Cheese Frosting: Blend together 1 package of softened light cream cheese, 1/4 cup of soft butter, 1 cup of powdered sugar and 1 t. vanilla.

Crock-pot and Knitting Weather has Arrived!

On the knitting front, I have a pair of smittens I started last year that are almost ready for THIS winter. Smittens, for those of you who haven't discovered them yet, are mittens for hand holding! Each person gets their own OUTSIDE-hand mitten, and then shares a mitten for the INSIDE-hands... you know? So you can hold hands? Here's the free pattern I'm using.

I'm also working on socks for holiday gifting. The BASIC SOCK CHART is the only pattern I ever use for socks anymore. It always works out perfectly.

As for my crock-pot, here's a new favorite that I pulled together:

Baked Chicken Enchiladas....

Into the crock-pot:

2 cans ROT-EL mild, 1 lg. can diced green chilies, 1 diced onion, 1 cup frozen corn, 1 can cream of mushroom soup followed by a can of water, 2 chicken bullion cubes, chili powder and/or cumin to taste, and 2-3 chicken breasts. Cook for a few hours, until chicken is tender. Pull the chicken apart with two forks.

(dear family: this is on my amazon wish list)

In a 13 by 9" baking dish, layer: corn tortillas (we love the Trader Joe brand), crock-pot chicken mixture, and shredded cheese. Repeat the layers three times. Cover with foil and bake at 350 until bubbly hot... 45-55 minutes. Serve with blue chips, salsa and fat free sour cream.... and a really cold beer!