I adapted this recipe from my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. I don’t like to use shortening in baking, but you can substitute shortening for half the butter if you want.


Chocolate Cookies

1 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa

sugar for the tops

In a mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugars, and baking soda together. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour and cocoa.

Drop by rounded teaspoons (I use a cookie scoop) onto ungreased cookie sheet. Using the back of a spoon dipped in sugar, flatten the cookies slightly. (Like peanut butter cookies, only with a spoon). I like to sprinkle a little extra sugar on top as well.

 

 

Bake at 375 for 8 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

 

 

You can stir in chocolate chips, or any other kind of chips to these cookies. You can also add nuts if you want.

These cookies freeze well. I never seem to have enough freezer containers, so I freeze cookies on a paper plate in a freezer bag.

 

 

 

Our Easter dinner was really good. And really unusual.

 

We had 3 Easter dinners! One daughter that lives out of state was coming into town on Saturday but didn’t want to miss dinner. So Easter dinner #1 was that night.

He had ham, mashed potatoes, roasted asparagus, green beans, corn, stuffed eggs (you probably know them as deviled eggs), and Resurrection Rolls. For dessert we had yellow cake with chocolate frosting and banana pudding. I baked the cake, but my daughter frosted it.

 

 

 

The best time for one of my sons and his fiancee to come to dinner was Sunday right after church. that would be dinner #2.

We had ham, mashed potatoes, roasted asparagus, corn, stuffed eggs, Resurrection Rolls, cake, and banana pudding.

 

 

My husband had made 10 pounds of mashed potatoes on Saturday but we were running low for dinner #3 on Sunday night. I cheated a little. shhhhh. There was a packet of instant mashed potatoes for one of my sons in the pantry. Instead of making more mashed potatoes from scratch I made those, then stirred in the leftover homemade mashed potatoes. shhhhh don’t tell anyone! We were running out of other food, too. So Easter dinner #3 was smaller than the others.

 

We had to have dinner #3 because my married son had been with his wife’s family before coming here, so he missed dinner #2. And my college daughter tries to fit in as many home cooked meals as she can when she’s home. lol

We had ham, mashed potatoes, corn, Resurrection rolls. And the same desserts.

And those Resurrection rolls? They are so good! It’s a good thing I only make them on Easter! . We went through 48 rolls! Adding up all the dinners, we feed 27 of us overall. So not too bad on the count, but that’s still a LOT of rolls! lol

 

I don’t think I’ll be doing that many dinners again. For any holiday. If they can’t make the main dinner, then they can get out the left overs themselves when they get here and warm some up in the microwave. It was all just too much work and too many dishes!

Here are 9 of my family’s favorite desserts just in time for your holiday meals! Cakes, pie, brownies, and lots of cookies. Most are easy, all are delicious!

 

I don’t know about your family, but my family thinks that they have to have multiple desserts. They don’t think it’s a holiday unless they have all of their favorites. That I don’t make all year long.

 

 

 

9 Desserts for Your Holiday Meals

 

Cinnamon Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

 

Chocolate Crown Cake

 

Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

 

Ginger Snap Pumpkin Pie

 

Brownies

 

Sugar Cookies

 

Ginger Snaps

 

Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Cookies

 

Chocolate Cookies

 

 

What’s your favorite holiday dessert to make? And eat!

 

 

I got this recipe from a tv show about 20 years ago. Seriously. This was back before tv shows had websites to put the recipes on. I wrote it down, by hand. lol I have used it numerous times over the years. It’s easy. And it’s good!

 

 

 

Easy One Pan Italian Chicken and Potatoes

2 -2 1/2 lbs chicken, boneless, skinless, cut into chunks
olive oil, amount will vary
2 white onions, thinly sliced
8 large potatoes, quartered
2 T oregano
1 c. parsley, finely chopped
salt & pepper to taste

 

Add all of the ingredients to a large pan or sheet pan. Mix well with your hands, be sure that everything is coated well with the oil. Arrange in a single layer.

 

 

 

Bake at 350 stirring often (every 15 minutes). Cook for 1 hour, until potatoes are nice & crisp.

 

 

My son doesn’t like a lot of  “green stuff” on his food, so I left the parsley large so he could easily pick it off. 

 

NOTE: If you want to use pieces of chicken, i.e. the breast, thighs, and/or legs, boil the chicken for 30 minutes before proceeding with the recipe.

 

I got this Easy Taco Soup recipe from my cousin. It’s really easy, and really tasty. I took it to church for a dinner, and everyone that I talked to, that had some, said it was really good. My family loved it!

 

I love that the majority of the ingredients are from the pantry. I like to cook several pounds of hamburger at one time, and package in meal size bags for the freezer. If you have cooked hamburger already, this is a super easy dump recipe!

 

 

Easy Taco Soup Recipe

 

1 lb hamburger fried and drained

2 16 ounce jars of mild salsa

32 ounces beef broth,

1 can whole corn drained

Tortilla chips

Mexican Cheese

 

Mix together and simmer 20 minutes.

Serve topped with lightly crushed tortilla chips or nacho chips and Mexican cheese.

 

 

Recipe can easily be doubled or tripled. Like beans in your taco soup? Add a can of your favorite beans, drained.

 

 

I’ve been making this Chocolate Marble Loaf recipe longer than I’ve had kids.

And I’ve have kids forever. Ok, I’ve had kids for 31 years, and some days, that’s forever! lol

Anyway, this makes an excellent cake. Very moist and flavorful. No frosting needed.

 

 

 Chocolate Marble Loaf Recipe

 

1 3/4 all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2/3 cups milk
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons hot water

Preheat oven to 350* Grease and lightly flour a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Combine flour, baking powder and salt.

In another bowl, beat butter for 30 seconds. Add sugar and vanilla and bit until fluffy.

Add dry ingredients and milk alternately to butter – sugar mixture. Beating well after each addition.

In another bowl, combine the cocoa, oil, baking soda and 2 tablespoons hot water. Stir in 1/3 of the batter.

 

 

Spoon light and dark batters alternately into loaf pan.

 

 

Zig Zag spatula through batter.

 

 

Bake for 45- 50 minutes or until done. Cool 15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.

 

 

This will make 12 slices, of course that depends on how thick you slice it. This is delicious served warm.

 

 

This cake is awesome by it self. Every slice looks different. For a fancier, and even more delicious desert, drizzle with homemade chocolate sauce and top with whipped cream. Too bad I didn’t have either of those on hand today. We just ate it plain, and no one complained. They all wanted seconds.

 

 

 

This recipe makes one loaf. Today, I doubled the recipe, which is why there are two in the pictures. I wrapped one for the freezer.

 

 

Now when someone comes over, I can pull out a delicious cake. Just defrost for a few minutes, slice and serve.

 

Dinners my first week back to work went pretty well. I used the slow cooker a lot. We did get pizza one night over the weekend, though.

Working 12:30 to 9 pm makes getting dinner for the family challenging. I do as much as I can ahead of time. Like today, I made the rice this morning when I put the rest of the meal in the slow cooker. The slow cooker has always been my friend, but now we are tight. BFF’s. lol

 

 

 

I was off Saturday night, so I made a Bacon Wrapped Venison tenderloin, alfredo noodles, and broccoli. Yum! The family was happy.

 

 

While I was in the kitchen making that, I did a mini- freezer session. I made one meal of sweet & sour chicken (which I used tonight lol) one pack of Ranch chicken breasts, one pack of plain chicken breasts, and one pack of sliced onions & green peppers.

 

 

I need to plan & allot the time this weekend to get some more meals in the freezer.

 

I’m still open to easy dinner ideas that my family will love! Share with me, please!

 

 

 

In the Kitchen with Linda & Dinner Menu

 

Now…. to answer the question that I get asked about a hundred times a day……….What’s For Dinner?

 

 

Monday – chicken or turkey – Slow cooker Sweet and Sour Chicken, rice, green beans

Tuesday – pizza/pasta – Spaghetti with venison meat sauce

Wednesday – Taco Night- Venison fajitas in the slow cooker

Thursday – pork or venison – Sausage Pasta Skillet Dinner, Broccoli

Friday – venison  – Roast with potatoes and carrots in the slow cooker

Saturday – quick & easy- Cookout – hamburgers, potato salad, carrots, celery, chips

Sunday – Leftovers, sandwiches, or make your own