Fruit Plate

 

 

I started with a dinner plate and small bowl for the center.  I sliced up some cantaloupe, pineapple, and kiwi.  I layered the fruit around the bowl.  Then I added some strawberries for color and filled the bowl with blueberries.  Watermelon slices would be lovely, too.  This is a nice addition to the picnic table (or any pot luck).

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

It's fall. The temperature is a little more barable. The leaves are turning. One of my favorite things about autumn is cooking "fall food". I love cooking with pumpkin. It smells so amazing. This is a recipe that my friend Jen shared with me. It's a vegan recipe so it's great if your kids are allergic to eggs.

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 1/3 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons molasses
1 cup canned pumpkin, or cooked pureed pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon ground flax seeds*

Directions
Preheat oven to 350.

Mix together flour, oats, baking soda, salt and spices.

In a seperate bowl, mix together sugar, oil, molasses, pumpkin and vanilla (and flax seeds if using) until very well combined. Add dry ingredients to wet, folding to combine.

Drop onto greased cookie sheets about a tablespoon at a time. They don't spread very much so they can be placed only an inch apart. Flatten the tops of the cookies with a fork or with your fingers, to press into cookie shape. Bake for 16 minutes at 350. If you are using two sheets of cookies on 2 levels of your oven, rotate the sheets halfway through for even baking. Makes about four dozen.

Remove from oven and let set before serving.

*Ground flax seed will add a chewy texture to the cookie, but is optional. I found the ground flax seed on the "health food" aisle, but I've also seen it with the flour.

**Variation: Fold in 1 cup walnuts (finely chopped) and 1/2 cup raisins right before dropping batter onto cookie sheet.

German Chocolate Cake

It was my husband's birthday yesterday. So I decided to try this German Chocolate Cake recipe that my friend Jen recommended. I was a little nervous when the cake was finished baking because it wasn't as sweet as store bought cake mix, but after I added the icing the combination is delicious. It was my husband's 33rd birthday, but he didn't want that many candles on the cake so I thought that three candles was a nice compromise. One for my husband and one for each of the girls who wanted to blow out candles, too.

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare 2 9 inch cake pans by greasing and flouring lightly.

3c flour
2c sugar
2t baking soda
1t salt
1/2c cocoa
3/4c canola oil
1t vanilla
2T vinegar
2c water

Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together. Mix sugar, canola oil, vanilla, vinegar, and water together in another bowl. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Divide the mix evenly between your two pans and bake for about 30 minutes.

German Chocolate Icing

1c soy milk (I used regular milk because that's what I had in the fridge.)
1/3c coconut milk
1 1/4c sugar
1t vanilla
1/3c cornstarch mixed with 1/4c water until smooth
2 1/2c sweetened flaked coconut
1 1/2c chopped pecans

In a saucepan, mix the soymilk, coconut milk, sugar, and vanilla. Add the cornstarch mixture and cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils and thickens. Cook for 1 min after it boils. Remove from the heat and stir in the coconut and pecans. Allow this to cool 10 mins before spreading. The mixture should still be warm as you are icing the cake.

This makes for a 2 layer 9 inch cake.