Recipe Swap Thursday #43

Welcome to Prairie Story Recipe Swap Thursday!

The most popular recipe from Recipe Swap Thursday last week was Tequila Lime Chicken @ 21st Century Housewife! Definately added this one to my "to try" list!

This week I'm sharing my Great Grandma Sophie Pitura's Magic Hermits. I just love these old time cookie recipes!

How to swap:

1) Link directly to your recipe. Scroll down to "Click here to enter" button. You will be prompted to enter the URL (link directly to your post), Name of your recipe, and Email (not visible), and then select a Thumbnail to upload.

2) Visit the other recipe links!!

3) Please include a link back to Prairie Story so everyone can see all the delicious recipes. Feel free to grab the Prairie Story Recipe Swap Thursday badge, or Tweet/Facebook this swap to your friends and followers.

Thank you to all recipe swappers, blog hoppers, my loyal readers, Twitter and Facebook followers, fellow foodies, family and friends for your support. I'm so happy to be able to share my Prairie Story, and appreciate that you take a precious moment or two out of your busy day to visit my blog!

Magic Hermits

I pulled out the old recipe cards again. And by old, I mean from my Great Grandma Sophie Pitura's recipe box. I just LOVE these old time cookie recipes.

Hermits are spiced cookies and there is rumor they were named "Hermits" because they resemble a hermit or monk's brown robe when dropped on the baking sheet. Another explanation is that Moravians, who were known for spicy cookies, were called "herrnhutter" in German or Dutch, and "herrnhutter" might have sounded like "hermits" to an English-speaking cook. Regardless, they are an old time cookie with a fun name, and taste great!

1/2 cup butter (I used margarine)
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup chopped, pitted dates
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

- Cream together butter/margarine and brown sugar.
- Beat in eggs, milk, vanilla and nutmeg.
- Stir in raisins, walnuts and dates.
- Fold in remaining dry ingredients until completely combined.
- Dropped dough on cookie sheet, and slightly flatten.
- Bake @ 350 for 15 minutes.

Grandma's Peony Advice

My magenta peonies opened today, which reminded me of some peony tips that I thought I'd pass on to you!

I grew up on the same farm yard as my Grandma Agnes Pitura. She had a green thumb to say the least. She had apple trees, plum trees, strawberries, raspberries, rhubarb, two large vegetable gardens, shrubs and many, many flowers. So needless to say, when she gives me advice on planting and growing I take it! Peonies are pretty easy:

1. Plant them in sun.

2. Don't plant them too deep or else they won't bloom.

3. Don't cut them down in the fall. If you do you run the risk of moisture going down the stems into the heard of the root ball, freezing and damaging it. Just leave them until spring to clean up the dead leaves and stems.

Peony Flowers

My peonies have bloomed... aren't they beautiful! And if you've read My Peony Story from last summer, you'll understand and know how sentimental and meaningful these plants and flowers are to me!

I love how peonies look. I love how they smell. And I love that my son proudly picked one for me yesterday!

Milk-Bone PB Sandwich Treats

The kids and I made our Jersey some special treats for him to celebrate his 6th birthday! We simply made some peanut butter sandwiches for him out of Milk-Bone cookies. Jersey loved them. And of course we gave him a big bowl of milk afterwards (his favorite)! 

Happy Birthday Jersey. You will always be my first (fur) baby. Thank you for being so kind, patient, playful and protective of our entire little family! Love you LOTS.

Recipe Swap Thursday #42

Welcome to Prairie Story Recipe Swap Thursday! Happy Summer!

The most popular recipe from Recipe Swap Thursday last week was Key Lime Cupcakes @ The Country Cook (again) & Cakewalker! Perfectly refreshing for summer.

This week I'm sharing my Smores Snack Mix. Easy, kids love it, and not as messy as traditional campfire smores!

How to swap:

1) Link directly to your recipe. Scroll down to "Click here to enter" button. You will be prompted to enter the URL (link directly to your post), Name of your recipe, and Email (not visible), and then select a Thumbnail to upload.

2) Visit the other recipe links!!

3) Please include a link back to Prairie Story so everyone can see all the delicious recipes. Feel free to grab the Prairie Story Recipe Swap Thursday badge, or Tweet/Facebook this swap to your friends and followers.

Thank you to all recipe swappers, blog hoppers, my loyal readers, Twitter and Facebook followers, fellow foodies, family and friends for your support. I'm so happy to be able to share my Prairie Story, and appreciate that you take a precious moment or two out of your busy day to visit my blog!

Smores Snack Mix

We got away to the cabin this past weekend, and I brought along one of our favorite snacks - Smores Snack Mix! It's easy and the kids love it, and exponentially not as messy and sticky as traditional campfire smores.

No measuring necessary, simply combine as much as you like of:

Golden Grahams Cereal

Mini Marshmallows

Milk Chocolate Chips

Don't make ahead of time too far in advance because the golden grahams will start to loose their crunch and the marshmallows will start to dry and harden.

Happy Summer!

Recipe Swap Thursday #41

Welcome to Prairie Story Recipe Swap Thursday!

The most popular recipe from Recipe Swap Thursday last week was The 3-Minute Cookie @ The Country Cook. I've made variations of these and you really can't go wrong with salty sweet combo!

This week I'm sharing my Chocolate Peanut Butter Reese's Pieces Cookies. These are sooooooo good and with only 5 ingredients, under 5 minutes to mix and 8 minutes to bake, you should be making these right now!

How to swap:

1) Link directly to your recipe. Scroll down to "Click here to enter" button. You will be prompted to enter the URL (link directly to your post), Name of your recipe, and Email (not visible), and then select a Thumbnail to upload.

2) Visit the other recipe links!!

3) Please include a link back to Prairie Story so everyone can see all the delicious recipes. Feel free to grab the Prairie Story Recipe Swap Thursday badge, or Tweet/Facebook this swap to your friends and followers.

Thank you to all recipe swappers, blog hoppers, my loyal readers, Twitter and Facebook followers, fellow foodies, family and friends for your support. I'm so happy to be able to share my Prairie Story, and appreciate that you take a precious moment or two out of your busy day to visit my blog!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Reese's Pieces Cookies

My obsession with cake mix cookies continues.... These are so good! As soon as I make these they seem to vanish!

1 Betty Crocker SuperMoist Devil's Food Cake Mix

1/2 cup peanut butter, softened

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup Reese's Pieces (2 boxes)

 

- In mixing bowl, combine cake mix, peanut butter, oil, eggs, and Reese's Pieces.

- Drop 1 inch balls onto cookie sheet, then slightly flatten with bottom of glass.

- Bake @ 350° for 8 minutes. Allow to cool on baking sheet.

- Makes 36 cookies.

Drawer Liners

I really like lining my kitchen drawers and some shelves with liners. It protects the drawers, but also helps keep items in place, and as crazy as it sounds makes the drawers less noisy!

Walmart carries these EasyLiner in rolls and comes in many colors. You simply cut it to fit your drawer or shelf! And voila:

Oh yeah...and my husband even uses  EasyLiners to line his tool chest drawers in the garage.

Hosta La Vista :)

I don't know why I have a bad attitude towards Hostas. I've have even caught myself subconsciously trying to kill my Hostas by tilling over them, ignoring them, letting my dog pee on them and welcoming deer, rabbits and other critters to come nibble on them for a snack. But, I must say, my Hostas are big and beautiful this year! I may be turning a new leaf in my relationship with my Hostas.

This is one of my many Hostas and I believe it is a Diamond Tiara which features dainty spikes of purple bell-shaped flowers rising above the foliage in mid summer. It's attractive textured heart-shaped leaves remain green in colour with distinctive white edges throughout the season. They grow to be a dense perennial with tall flower stalks held atop a low mound of foliage. Clearly it is a low maintenance perennial, if it's survived the abuse I've put mine through!

Recipe Swap Thursday #40

Welcome to Prairie Story Recipe Swap Thursday! I can't beleive another week has flown by and we are in June!

The most popular recipe from Recipe Swap Thursday last week was Homemade Apple Dumplings @ Cooking With K.

This week I'm sharing my Spinach & Cheese Stuffed Pasta Shells. My family loves to gobble these up!

How to swap:

1) Link directly to your recipe. Scroll down to "Click here to enter" button. You will be prompted to enter the URL (link directly to your post), Name of your recipe, and Email (not visible), and then select a Thumbnail to upload.

2) Visit the other recipe links!!

3) Please include a link back to Prairie Story so everyone can see all the delicious recipes. Feel free to grab the Prairie Story Recipe Swap Thursday badge, or Tweet/Facebook this swap to your friends and followers.

Thank you to all recipe swappers, blog hoppers, my loyal readers, Twitter and Facebook followers, fellow foodies, family and friends for your support. I'm so happy to be able to share my Prairie Story, and appreciate that you take a precious moment or two out of your busy day to visit my blog!

Spinach & Cheese Stuffed Pasta Shells

This is a hands down family favorite! It is easy to make ahead of time and also sneaks some spinach into my family's diet.

24 jumbo pasta shells

500g cottage cheese

300g frozen, chopped spinach, thawed

1 cup cheese shredded

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
pepper
olive oil
1 cup pasta sauce

- Boil noodles as directed on package.
- In bowl combine cheeses, spinach and seasonings to make filling.
NOTE: Strain the cottage cheese and spinach to remove excess liquid. I even will squeeze the thawed spinach with my hands a bit.
- Drizzle bottom of baking dish with olive oil so shells do not stick.
- Stuff each shell with a heaping spoonfull of filling and place in baking dish.
- Dollop each stuffed shell with your favorite pasta sauce.
- Warm either in microwave (5 minutes) or in oven 10 minutes @ 350.
- Makes 24 shells.

Recipe Swap Thursday #39

Welcome to Prairie Story Recipe Swap Thursday! As always, thanks for stopping by! Please be sure to share a recipe and let us all know what you're having for {Dinner 2Night} !

What are you having for {Dinner 2Night}?
All my Facebook & Twitter followerers are invited to join in on Prairie Story's new {Dinner 2Night} conversation. Simply share what you are having for dinner by using the Twitter hash tag #Dinner2Night or find the most recent Prairie Story {Dinner 2Night} wall post on Facebook and add your Comment! This is real life meals - homemade, frozen, bought, take out, gourment or restaurant...whatever you are serving up, please share!!

The most popular recipe from Recipe Swap Thursday last week was 10 Canning Projects @ Creating Nirvana. These are all great gift ideas too!

This week I'm sharing my 2-Bite Bran Muffins, an old recipe tested to perfection from my Grandma Pattimore!

How to swap:

1) Link directly to your recipe. Scroll down to "Click here to enter" button. You will be prompted to enter the URL (link directly to your post), Name of your recipe, and Email (not visible), and then select a Thumbnail to upload.

2) Visit the other recipe links!!

3) Please include a link back to Prairie Story so everyone can see all the delicious recipes. Feel free to grab the Prairie Story Recipe Swap Thursday badge, or Tweet/Facebook this swap to your friends and followers.

Thank you to all recipe swappers, blog hoppers, my loyal readers, Twitter and Facebook followers, fellow foodies, family and friends for your support. I'm so happy to be able to share my Prairie Story, and appreciate that you take a precious moment or two out of your busy day to visit my blog!

2-Bite Bran Muffins

I found this old Bran Muffin recipe that my Grandma Pattimore had marked up, obviously tested to perfection. I did adjust the baking time to make bite size muffins, but these are truly the BEST bran muffins I've ever had! They are dark, and rich with molasses, but are still moist and light.

1 cup buttermilk or sour milk

1 cup oat bran

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup molasses

1 egg

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins

- Combine milk with bran. Set aside and let stand for 5 minutes.
- In another bowl combine oil, molasses, egg, sugar and vanilla, then add in milk/bran mixture.
- Stir in remaining ingredients in order.
- Fill greased mini muffin tins about 3/4 full.
- Bake @ 375 for 12 minutes.
- Makes 36 mini muffins.
Note: To make sour milk add 1 tablespoon vinegar and 1 tablespoon lemon juice to 1 cup milk.

Ninebarks

Ninebarks are a perfect prairie shrub because they are cold-hardy, drought-resistant, tolerant of a wide range of soil conditions and are low maintenance. I also really like the variety of colors they come in!

Darts Gold Ninebark
I just planted these three Darts Gold Ninebarks in my front bed. They really pop with their golden yellow foliage which will turn chartreuse. They will also have little white flowers in early summer.

Diabolo Ninebark

I planted these Diabolo Ninebarks last year in a bed at the corner of my house and they are doing quite well! It's foliage starts off purple-red in spring, then purple-green in summer, and reddish purple in fall. They will have a very soft pinky white flowers in early summer.

Oh yeah...Ninebarks get their name from its peeling bark on older stems that reveal contrasting inner barks in shades of red to tan in winter...some say nine different color barks! So if you have a sunny spot that is begging for a nice shrub, try a Ninebark!