Chewy JUMBO Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are absolutely, by far the very best chocolate chip cookies you will ever bake!!! This is not your basic, original "nestles toll house" chocolate chip cookie recipe! I considered keeping it to myself but I decided to share - you will be sooooo glad that I did!!!





CHEWY JUMBO CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Bake up a batch of these buttery rich giant cookies as a sweet surprise.

Preparation time: 30 min Baking time: 10 min
Yield: 26 jumbo cookies

4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups LAND O LAKES Unsalted Stick Butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 (12-ounce) package (2 cups) real semi-sweet chocolate chunks or chocolate chips


Heat oven to 375°F. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl; set aside. Combine butter, sugar and brown sugar in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla. Continue beating, scraping bowl often, until well mixed. Reduce speed to low. Beat, gradually adding flour mixture, until well mixed. Stir in chocolate chunks.


Drop dough by 1/4 cupfuls, 2 inches apart, onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 to 14 minutes or until light golden brown. (DO NOT OVERBAKE.) Let stand 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire cooling rack.


For 2 1/2-inch cookies, drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. 4 dozen cookies.

Butternut Squash

This was my first time to grow Butternut Squash. I always wanted to try "Butternut Squash Soup" and I thought this would be a good opportunity if I had it growing in my back yard! I didn't really know anything about it so I did a little research (something I love to do) and this is what I found...

Facts about Butternut Squash

1) member of the gourd family
2) grows to 8 - 12 inches
3) weighs about 2 -3 lbs
4) has a nutty, sweet taste kind of like sweet potato or pumpkin
5) has an approx. shelf life of 3 months because of it's thick skin
6) has vitamins, minerals & fiber

Some of the things you can do with it - soups, casseroles, pies, custards, pancakes, breads and muffins.

Here is my basket of Butternut Squash fresh from my back yard garden!

Wouldn't you just know it - even though I wanted to try the soup - I couldn't resist the pie recipe! I have already baked (6) pies! We only kept (2) for our cookout on the 4th and I gave the others away.

This is a great pie and so easy to make. If you like pumpkin pie and/or sweet potato pie you will love this! It was a big hit at my house! Served it up with a huge spoon of cool whip!!

I found the recipe at cooks.com. but I revised it a little!

Easy Butternut Squash Pie

2 unbaked pie crusts

3/4 cups sugar

1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp salt

2 butternut squash (cooked & mashed)

1 1/2 cups evaporated milk = 1 can

2 eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 425. Peel squash (I found it to be easier with a vegetable peeler) slice in half, take out seeds, chop in chunks, boil until tender (about 15 - 20 minutes) then drain and mash. Let cool slightly. Then add sugar, pumpkin pie spice, salt, milk and beaten eggs. mix well and pour into pie pans.

Bake 15 minutes at 425 then reduce oven temp to 350 and bake for 40 minutes longer.

Serve with cool whip. Yummy! Store any leftovers in refrigerator.

**I did make the plum butter. It was easy to make but it took a long, long time. It smelled so good while I was cooking it and turned out okay but I didn't like it as much as the plum jelly.

Homemade Plum Jelly

A friend of mine brought me a bag of plums from her back yard along with 10 lbs of sugar. I've never seen any plums like this before. I think she said they are called small pickling plums?? I wanted to see if I could make something out of them and decided on jelly. I just don't like to let anything go to waste.



So here goes...

Layed out all my supplies - Jars, plums, sugar, lemon juice, fruit pectin and my large pot.

Washed, pitted, chopped and cooked them - strained - added sugar - cooked some more - added pectin - cooked some more - let sit awhile - skimmed off foam and then poured in hot sterilized jars - processed in boiling water 5 minutes. Done!!

Here is the finished product. That big bowl full made (12) half pints!

Don't they look so pretty? It taste pretty good too! I think it taste a little like apricot jelly, maybe? I've tried it on toast & on chicken and it's Yum! Yum!

She just sent me a few more! I think I'm going to make plum butter!!

Zucchini Recipes

Here are the recipes that I promised. First , I want to share a recipe for zucchini bread. I think people are a little turned off by that but it's actually very good! If you like banana bread and/or pumpkin bread you will love it!

Zucchini Bread

1 c oil
3 eggs - beaten
2 c sugar
2 c raw, grated, unpeeled zucchini
2 tsp vanilla
3 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 tsp cinnamon
1 c chopped nuts (optional)

Combine oil, eggs, sugar, zucchini and vanilla in large bowl. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir all ingredients together. Pour into (2) greased loaf pans. bake at 325* for 1 1/2 hours.





There are quite a few things you can do with zucchini squash. I know most people love yellow squash but have either never tried zucchini or just don't know what to do with it.





Well, you can fry it by the skillet full like I do my yellow squash...slice it kind of thin - 2 or 3 squash will do. It makes alot because of the batter. Add chopped onion, salt & pepper, egg & flour. Mix together. Add to skillet - don't over crowd in the pan & wait until it starts to brown before you turn it over. Doesn't take too long to cook - just cook on medium heat until it is browned & crunchy.




or batter fry slices, make casseroles and fritters.

To batter fry zucchini - slice it in about 1/4 inch slices - salt & pepper then dip in flour, beaten egg and then in flour again - fry in small amount of oil until golden brown on both sides- drain on paper towels and enjoy! Yummy!





To make zucchini fritters - take a med to large zucchini or 2 small - shred it on your cheese grater - put in bowl - add egg, salt & pepper, thinly diced onion and about 1 cup of self rising flour to bind it together - mix well - drop by spoonfuls into small amount of oil - fry until golden brown on both sides. Yummy again!!

And last of all...

Zucchini Casserole

1 - 2 zucchini (sliced)
onion (finely chopped)
1 box stove top stuffing
1 stick butter
1 cream of chicken soup
1 small carton sour cream
1 pkg shredded cheese
salt/pepper to taste

Boil sliced zucchini and onion for about 5 minutes. Drain - add cream of chicken & sour cream to the zucchini & onion. Melt butter in saucepan then lightly toss in stove top croutons. Put half of the stove top mixture in bottom of a casserole dish. Spread evenly. Add zucchini mixture - then rest of stove top. Let cook for about 25 minutes @ 350*- sprinkle cheese on top - cook for about another 5 - 10 minutes until cheese is melted. Triple Yummy!!!

Let me know what you think!!

So Far Behind

Wow...I am so far behind on my blogging! I am (almost) tempted to play catch up but then if I tried to do that I know that I would absolutely never post again because I would look at that task as impossible! I had big plans for this blog BUT life happens and I got very behind! I created it to blog mostly about family, family happenings, my crafts, my life, and such. Already I have missed Christmas, Easter, Birthdays, Dairy Day, Graduations and lots, lots more! So, today I think I will just start where I am - the last thing that I planned to blog about was my garden so, I'll post some pics and maybe some yummy recipes!

We have two gardens - one big one behind the house with sweet corn, potatoes, and peas and a smaller one in my back yard. I love the little one in the back yard! I love to sit out there - watch my birds and enjoy my little country garden! I have yellow squash, zuchinni squash and butternut squash, eggplants, cucumbers, canteloupes, celebrity tomatoes & roma tomatoes, peppers and pumpkins. It's my first try at growing pumpkins. They are called "sugar pie" and grow to about 6 or 7 lbs. We are also thinking about planting some larger ones in the field. If we do I'll post pics but for now enjoy these!

I think I'll wait to share recipes on my next post! Thanks for stopping by!