Sugar Cookies

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups butter
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup white sugar for decoration (or as much as needed)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients until just blended. Roll the dough into walnut sized balls and roll the balls in remaining 1/4 cup of sugar. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets and flatten slightly.Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until lightly browned at the edges. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

~Lexi

Laura's Bread

(This recipe makes five loaves) I use an electric mixer.

2 Tbs. salt

1/2 cup oil

1 cup sugar (or 3/4 cup honey)

5 1/2 cups hot water (not boiling.)

5 cups whole wheat flour

2 heaping cups all-purpose flour

3 Tbs. yeast

mix together and let sponge for 25-30 minutes. Now is a good time to grease the bread pans and preheat the oven to 170 degrees Fahrenheit.

Add:

5 cups whole wheat flour

About 3 cups white flour

Knead for seven minutes.

Shape dough into five loaves. let rise in oven for 30 minutes.

Turn oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake for 30 minutes. When done, take bread immediately out of pans and let cool.

~Susan

Granola Bars

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
1 egg
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/2 cups oats
1 cup chocolate chips (optional) **

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9x13 pan. Cream butter, sugar, and honey until light and fluffy. Blend in egg, peanut butter, and vanilla. Mix in oats and chocolate chips. Press into pan. Bake 20-22 minutes or until light golden brown (do not over bake!) Cool completely before removing from pan. Enjoy!

**Instead of using chocolate chips, we like to spread chocolate frosting on top.

Yummy Fudge Frosting

4 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup cocoa
2/3 cup softened butter
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1/3 cup milk

Whisk well (electric beaters work best!)

~Susan

Chocolate Shakes

In the summer, our family enjoys many cold shakes on hot afternoons. But that's a lot of sugar, so we started trying other sweeteners. We've tried 1/2 cup rhapadura, which works really well, but it's a little too expensive. Then, we tried about 1/4 cup honey, but honey has a strong flavor and you can't sneak it in very inconspicuously. But we've found that about a 1/3 cup of agave, which doesn't have a very strong flavor, works really well. Those are the only sweeteners I've tried, but I'm sure there are more!

Here's the recipe for the chocolate shakes that we all enjoy!

1 cup milk
24 frozen milk cubes (or 'till shake is thick)
1 Tbs. vanilla (If you really like vanilla, add another Tbs. of it!)
1/2 cup sugar (or any of the above listed sweeteners)
1/4 cup cocoa (you can add more or less according to your taste)

Blend together, and enjoy!

~Susan

Peanut Butter Balls

4 cups powered sugar
2/3 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup peanut butter
3 Tbs. vanilla

Mix together, knead well with hands.

Roll into balls. For dipping in chocolate, put balls on wax paper, otherwise, refrigerate.

Yummy Fudge Frosting

4 cups powered sugar
2/3 cup cocoa
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 Tbs. vanilla
4 Tbs. milk (or until right consistency)

Mix together and beat until smooth. Roll balls in chocolate. Refrigerate. Enjoy!

Carob Mountain Balls

In a bowl:

3 c. Oats

6 T. Carob Powder (or cocoa)

1/2 c. Peanut Butter (or Almond Butter)

1 tsp. Vanilla (if you like a lot of vanilla, you can add two tsp!)

1/2 c. Coconut (If you don't like this, you can leave it out)

Mix and Boil for one minute:

1/2 honey (or juice sweetener)

1/4 Butter (can you oil)

1/4 Oil

Mix together, roll into balls, cool, enjoy!

Carob powder. It has a somewhat sweeter taste then cocoa, not quite so chocolaty. I prefer cocoa, though.

Honey, butter, and oil boiling on the stove. Be careful when pouring into dry ingredients! Do not mix with your hands! (I know from personal experience.=)

Ready to roll into balls. It's easiest to mix with a fork.

Ready to eat! Enjoy!

~Susan

Apple Pie

"What's the American man's favorite dessert? Most people would agree -it's pie. And heading the list is apple pie. Followed closely by cherry pie and peach pie and lemon meringue and a lot of others. It you care about pleasing a man -bake a pie. " From a Betty Crocker Cookbook.

This is one of my family's favorite pie recipes. In fact, we've made it so many times that we children have dubbed it "apple casserole". I actually don't have the recipe with me - it's long since been torn from the cookbook with much use. But I think I have it by memory.

12 c. peeled and sliced apples (We've always added a few more cups for all the eager "taste testers".)
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbp. butter

Mix together, take a few bites, then spread in pie pan. We've used both crust and a crumble, both of which are delicious! Ali posted a great pie crust recipe a while back that will work great with this recipe. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour. Let cool, and, to make it even better, serve with vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

~Susan