The other day, I made gingersnaps for the first time. Here’s the recipe I used from an old cookbook. Of course, I didn’t follow the recipe exactly. 🙂

Ginger Snaps


2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened (you could use shortening if you wanted)
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 cup white sugar, for rolling cookies in

In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 cup flour with the remain ingredients, except for white sugar. Beat well. Stir in remaining flour.

Shape dougn into 1 inch balls. Roll balls in white sugar to coat. Place balls on ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake at 375* for 8-10 minutes or until edges are set and tops are crackled. Cool cookies on cookie sheet for 1 minute, then transfer to wire rack and let cool. Makes about 48 cookies. I actually only got 36 cookies, I must have made mine bigger.

See how good the cookies are? I arranged them on the plate,nice and pretty like. Then I went to get my camera. When I returned with said camera, this is what I found! Proof that the cookies are good! One of my kids, I still haven’t figured out who, couldn’t resist them. Now, to make a cup of tea to go with my ginger snaps!

Saturday – pizza night – Homemade Pizza (1-cheeseburger, 1- half onion, half cheese), homemade breadsticks, carrot sticks

Sunday – soup & sandwich day – Sandwiches- grilled cheese, egg and cheese

Monday – chicken – Baked Chicken, baked potatoes, green beans

Tuesday – beef – Dinner at church for the girls, leftovers for the guys

Wednesday – super simple – Baked Rigatoni, broccoli, carrot sticks

Thursday – chicken – Dirty Rice with hamburger, yellow squash

Friday – Friday Night Fire/Beef – Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green beans, challah bread

For more Menu Plan Monday ideas, visit I’m an Organizing Junkie.

When you get a lot of snow, what else is there to do but make snow ice cream and snow candy?

I remember making snow candy (and snow ice cream) when I was young in Massachusetts. I have never made it for my kids, though. So I did today!

Here’s what I did:

Snow Candy Recipe


1/2 cup pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons butter

Place both ingredients in a pan and bring to a boil. Boil for 5-7 minutes until mixtures reaches 225-230 degrees.

Place snow in pan or bowl, and drizzle hot syrup over snow. The snow cools the candy pretty quickly. As soon as the candy is cool enough to eat, it’s ready.

This candy is so yummy! It tastes like carmal! The recipe can be doubled, if you want to make a lot. I just made a small amount, in case my kids didn’t like it. Maple syrup is expensive, you know, and I didn’t want to waste it. They liked it, though, and wanted to know why I didn’t make more. lol

Saturday – pizza night – Pizza and breadsticks

Sunday – soup & sandwich day – Homemade Bean Soup with challah bread

Monday – chicken – Baked Chicken, baked potatoes, green beans

Tuesday – beef – Dinner at church for the girls, leftovers for the guys

Wednesday – super simple – Pasta with Red Sauce, carrot sticks

Thursday – chicken – Turkey a’ la Mama over rice

Friday – Friday Night Fire/Beef – Roast, potatoes & carrots in crockpot, challah bread

For more Menu Plan Monday ideas, visit I’m an Organizing Junkie.

I have made this for a couple of years now, and it’s so yummy!

Applesauce Gingerbread


1 cup melted butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2 large eggs
1 cup applesauce
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 3508. Grease and flour a 9×13 inch baking dish.
Combine melted butter, brown sugar and molasses in bowl. Add eggs, one at a time.
Stir in applesauce and beat well.
Sift the flour, baking soda, ginger and cinnamon into the batter. Mix thoroughly.
Pour into the prepared baking dish and bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Turn out out a wire rack and cool completely.

We serve this with whipped cream. It’s sooooooo good!

My notes:
I don’t sift the dry ingredients, I don’t own a sifter (gasp!). I usually leave the cake in the pan (double gasp!) and serve right from my glass baking pan.

Sorry, no picture today! 🙁 I had to cook for Ladies Bible Study tonight, I’ll make this soon, and get a picture up.

I printed this out a few years ago. I’m pretty sure I found it on another blog. In the notes on my print out, it has  Texas Cooking Online link to this recipe. I’m fairly certain I’ve never been to the Texas Cooking Online website before today. So I decided to go ahead and post the recipe and include the link. I’m not trying to steal their recipe. 🙂 So go see if there are any other Texas recipes you might like. 🙂

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Saturday – pizza night – Pizza and breadsticks

Sunday – soup & sandwich day – Homemade Macraoni & cheese, then Tator Tot Casserole for supper, my son picked this & made it! It was good, every one loved it, except me, I’m just not a tator tot fan.

Monday – chicken – Baked Chicken, Potato Latkes, applesauce, green beans

Tuesday – beef – Dinner at church for the girls, sandwiches for the guys (yeah, they won’t be happy lol)

Wednesday – super simple – Pasta with Red Sauce, carrot sticks

Thursday – chicken – Pork chops, rice, yellow squash , leftovers for the non pork eaters

Friday – Friday Night Fire/Beef – Steak, challah bread, brocolli

For more Menu Plan Monday ideas, visit I’m an Organizing Junkie.

I don’t normally buy cream soups, so this is perfect for me to keep on hand for cooking. I had some cubed steaks in the freezer from our 1/2 cow that we bought. I put them in the crockpot with the soup made from this mix. They were so good!

When we have deer meat, I also like to cook it in the crockpot with this cream soup. Sometimes deer meat will have a gamey taste, but cooking in milk takes the gamey taste away.

Cream of Whatever Soup

2 cups instant milk
3/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup instant chicken bouillon
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Combine these and store in an airtight container.

To use for soup, combine 1/3 C mix and 1-1/2 C water. Bring to a boil while stirring often. Add a vegetable for more flavor, such as diced celery, sliced mushrooms , or some diced broccoli.

This mix can be substituted in any recipe calling for canned cream soup. Mix 1/3 cup mix with 1 1/4 cups water. Boil for a few minutes, stirring well to prevent sticking.

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