Ginger Crinkle Cookies

You want to taste the best thing about fall?  Try making these deliciously chewy Ginger Crinkles!

It is impossible to eat just one of these.

I made a batch of them and just ate close to 10.

They are dangerously delicious.

Here is the recipe for your enjoyment!


Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves (I add a little extra, cloves are just too yummy!)
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg
1/4 cup raw sugar


Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and cloves.

Add the coconut oil, butter and the brown and granulated sugars to the bowl of a standing mixer. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Slip in the molasses and egg and beat until well incorporated. Add the flour mixture by scoopfuls and beat until combined.

Add the raw sugar to a small plate or bowl. Roll the dough into balls that are 1 inch in diameter (1/2 ounce in weight), then roll in the sugar. Place 12 balls on a baking sheet 2 inches apart. Bake the cookies 9 to 11 minutes.  Cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes, then continue cooling on wire racks.

It's a close call between this cookie recipe and my apple pie, but the cookies come out on top right now.

What is your favorite Holiday recipe?

Still Filling The Jars

My apple tree is happy.  Don't you just love those colors?!

I keep thinking I have done the last of the harvesting this season.  Not so.  I gathered enough apples to bottle another four quarts of applesauce and two quarts of apple juice.  There are still a bunch of apples in the tree that I just can't reach.  I'm hoping they fall before they rot out.

We are emptying the grape juice and applesauce bottles much faster than I would like, so it was nice not to put empty bottles on my storage shelves.

I've been adding the purple grape juice to my green smoothies, it makes them so delicious!  It also makes them purplish/brown smoothies instead of green.  That part is not cool.  But they taste amazing.

What do you put in your green smoothies?

What's for dinner?

So, I was on my way to Costco this afternoon, and it wasn't until I was on the freeway that I remembered that we already used up the "Grocery" budget for September.  It was probably the hardest thing I did all day, but I got off the freeway at the very next exit.  (It's rare that I exercise this amount of discipline)  I went home and found something we already had on hand to make for dinner...

It ended up being super delicious, almost everything was from the garden!  We had grilled cheese sandwiches with homemade tomato soup, butternut squash with apples, and pan seared zucchini.  I love fresh zucchini seared in a little olive oil.  Yum!

Tomato soup.  This was a first for me, and Oh. My. Gosh.  You guys, this is the best thing I have ever made!  I have always loved canned tomato soup, but I wanted to try making my own since I had a big bowl full of tomatoes from the garden.  I roasted them in the broiler, puree'd them, and made me some soup!

A little touch of fresh picked basil made it just perfect!  Seriously, SO delicious!

My cute son brought me a bowl of basil with a little marigold in it.  Already bringing me flowers...this boy knows how to melt his mamma's heart.

Butternut squash with apples was my favorite part!  No, my second favorite.  The soup definitely won the taste battle.  It was all so delicious!

What did you have for dinner?

A little Introduction...

Hi, my name is Stephanie.  My family moved last summer to our current home and this is where I know we belong.  It is here that I have started to become the woman I want to be.  I have a long way to go yet, but I am getting closer.  

Our new (to us) home came with a 2000 square foot garden, 4 fruit trees, a walnut tree, and an enormous amount of grapes.  This gave me something to focus on as we were remodeling our house last summer.  I hid out in the kitchen and brushed up on my bottling skills while my husband was working on the basement.  I bottled over 70 quarts of grape juice, and about 30 quarts of pears, and this summer I got to test out that garden!  

This blog is something I have wanted to do for a long, long time.  I'm excited to finally get started!  My hope is that I can inspire you, my readers, to develop and/or increase your desire to plant, harvest, and preserve!  

I have been gardening for 10 years now.  I have learned a lot along the way, but of course there is so much I still don't know.  I hope to learn from you as we all share our knowledge here.  I want to inspire.  I want to be inspired.  I want you to feel comfortable here and learn new things!

Keep an eye out for my first (real) post coming soon!