Cup ‘O Tea and Old-Fashioned Molasses Cookies

So, because I did not have school today, my Mother, sister, Grandmother and I took the opportunity to go to tea at the local tea house. I had a turkey wrap, apricot white chocolate muffin and part of a ginger bread scone. My tea of choice was an exotic berry blend. The scone was light, fluffy and perfectly spicy; it wave me a crazy gingerbread craving. Thus, I came home and decided to make gingerbread cookies(which apparently are molasses cookies). But first I had to walk and get flour at the grocery across the street. And then I had to figure out how to make the cookies without a hand-held mixer(my arm now hurts). I just finished mixing them up five minutes ago and now have to wait two long hours while they chill in the refrigerator. For dinner tonight, I am making a cold rice-noodle and vegetable bowl. I will use red peppers, onions, broccoli, mushrooms, shrimp, noodles and possible some other vegetables. After dinner, I might get around to doing something with those egg whites…eventually.

~thechildcooks

Old-Fashioned Molasses Cookies from the Gold Medal Cookbook

Makes 6 Dozen Cookies

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup shortening

2 eggs

1/2 cups light or dark molasses

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup water

5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon salt

Mix sugar, shortening, eggs and molasses. Dissolve baking soda in the water; stir into molasses mixture. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate at least two hours.

Heat oven to 375F. Roll dough 1.4 inch thick on lightly floured cloth-covered board. Cut with floured 2 3/4 inch round cookie cutter or other favorite cutter. Place about 2 inches apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake until light brown, 8-10 minutes. Cool.

Note: Before baking, my family likes to sprinkle colored sugar on the tops of the cookies.

Lentil Soup

As it was the weekend, I had more time to do what I love:homework! No, just kidding, that should really be cooking. I made dinner for my family out of some common kitchen staples. After doing another thing I loved-searching food blogs- I came up with enough to make my own simple recipe for yummy and healthy lentil soup. Even though I scaled the recipes down, it still make an incredibly large amount of soup, some of which went to my grandmother and more of which is going to my neighbour. This soup goes very well with a slice(or two, or three, or well, nevermind)of home-made sourdough bread. Just a note, but you may want to add more spices to your soup, because my family is slightly bland.

~thechildcooks

Lentil Soup by Me

Serves 8-10

The Stock

3 quarts of water

2 large carrots,chopped

2 stalks of celery,cubed

1/2   of a medium onion,chopped

4 cloves of garlic,chopped

Salt and Pepper

The Soup

1 1/2 cups of lentils

2 large potatoes, cubed

2 carrots,cut thin

1 cup chopped spinach

15 ounce can of diced tomatoes, drained

Put the 3 quarts of water into a 4 quart pot and heat on medium heat. In a saucepan, sweat the onions and garlic until soft, 3-4 minutes. Add to the water. In the same pan, sweat the carrots and celery until soft, 4-5 minutes and add to the pot. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and pepper to your taste. Cover and let cook over medium heat for 20 minutes. Strain to remove all small particles and then return to pot.

To the vegetable stock, add the lentils and let cook for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare remaining ingredients. After 10 minutes, add the cubed potatoes and let cook for another 10 minutes. Add the carrots and continue to cook for 10 minutes. After the last 10 minutes has ended, add the spinach and tomatoes. Let cook for another 5-10 minutes or until potatoes and lentils are cooked. Serve hot with bread and a light salad.

Chili for 300

Chili for 300

My church does a program with other churches in our town called Community Dinners. It takes place every Sunday at a different church, providing a meal to the less fortunate. This week was our church’s week to host and we made chili. There was really no recipe, but let me tell you it looks good(we prepared it yesterday and are serving it today), so  thought I would give you a basic recipe.

Ground Lean Beef

Ground Venison

Red and Green Bell Peppers

Onion

Garlic

Pinto Beans

Cannelloni Beans

Chick Peas

Black Beans

Tomatoes

Tomato Juice

Tomato Puree

Cook beef and venison in large pot until browned. Drain off some to all fat and transfer to roasters. In frying pan combine peppers, onion and garlic and cook until they release some juices. Transfer to meat. Add all beans and tomatoes to meat and vegetable mixture. refrigerate until needed. $ hours before needed turn roasters on to heat chili mixture.