Christmas is Coming....

Time to bake!

Saturday evening I was supposed to go to a Christmas decorating party at a friend's house, so I made some mini cheesecakes. They have Oreo cookie crusts and I mixed Oreo bits into some of the cheesecakes. Some also got topped with toffee and chocolate bits right out of the oven. I topped the rest with cherry or raspberry filling. Unfortunately the party was cancelled due to bad road conditions. So, I gave the cheesecakes to my Dad and Mom when I went to visit Sunday.

Out of the oven

Help, I'm falling!

Ready to serve

Sunday evening I made banana chocolate chunk and pumpkin mini-muffins for my co-workers for Christmas.

A sea of mini-muffins

Come for dessert too Ame!

Since you're coming for soup, I made some cinnamon applesauce for dessert too ;)

Dear New Jersey

Dear New Jersey,

Why is your road signage so bad? Do you enjoy getting non-New Jersey people lost? I think you do.

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After a long weekend away from home it was a good day today to make some soup....



....and talk to my niece on the phone. Isn't she sweet?

Something Different: Roasted Beets

There seems to be so much turmoil in the world right now with the presidential election, the economy and so on. So, for a change of pace I'm going to write about something peaceful and comforting...cooking! I like to cook, especially for other people, I find cooking calming and it makes me happy to offer something pleasing to other people. So lets think happy thoughts!

I like to cook seasonal foods, so in the Fall I like to cook things like soup, or anything with pumpkin or apples, or roasted vegetables. Yesterday I bought some fresh beets because I wanted to try roasting them. So tonight, I cut off the greens:

I threw the greens away like the Yankee I am (sorry Jonathan!), and washed and trimmed the beets. Then I tossed them with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper and roasted them at 350 for about an hour and 15 minutes, or until they were fork tender.

They were good, but I think they would be better if I cooked them at a higher temperature.

What are your favorite Fall recipes?

Just For Fun

If you enjoy cooking check out The Pioneer Woman Cooks!