Thursday, September 29 is National Coffee Day!

Enjoy a free cup of coffee at Krispy Kreme, and grab a doughnut too!

Free Pumpkin Cookbook by Gooseberry Patch!

Amazon is offering a free download of Pumpkin Cookbook   just in time for Fall!  This can be used with your Kindle or the Kindle app for your iPhone or iPad.

Moist Chocolate Cake

This is the ONLY chocolate cake recipe I ever use.  The semi sweet icing is what really makes the cake unique.  This recipe came from my very first cookbook, that my dad bought me, when I first got married.  I hope you and your loved ones enjoy this cake as much as my family has!  (This cake pictured above is 1/2 of the following recipe.)

Moist Chocolate Cake

In a bowl mix:
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
3 cups flour
2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt

Add:
2 tsp. vinegar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups water
1 cup cooking oil

Mix well, and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Be careful not to overbake.

Semi Sweet Icing

2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup cocoa
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup boiling water
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine dry ingredients.  Add butter to the boiling water, when butter is melted, blend with the dry mixture.  Add vanilla, then stir vigorously until smooth.  Ice the cooled cake.

Navajo Tacos

Navajo Tacos

16 oz. can of kidney beans
2 8 oz. cans tomato sauce
1 dash black pepper
1 dash Italian seasoning
1 lb. ground beef
3 TBS salsa
1/2 large onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1 tomato, diced
chopped lettuce
shredded cheese
sour cream
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup + 2 TBS cooking oil

1. Drain and rinse kidney beans. Place in saucepan with 2/3 can of tomato sauce (save remaining sauce for later), pepper and Italian seasonings. Cover and cook over low heat. Check and stir often.
2. Brown ground beef in a separate skillet and drain.
3. Return ground beef to skillet and add remaining 1 1/3 can of tomato sauce and salsa. Cook over low heat.
4. Dice onion, green pepper, red pepper and tomato, chop lettuce and set aside.
5. Mix together flour, baking powder and water to form a soft dough.
6. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.
7. While oil is heating, on a floured surface, shape dough into flat tortillas, about 6 inches in diameter (makes about 4 tortillas).
8. Cook tortillas in hot oil until brown on one side. Turn and brown on second side.
9. Layer tortillas with beans, meat, lettuce, tomatoes, red and green peppers, sour cream and grated cheese. Serve with salsa.

Since we didn't eat all the meat and beans, I saved it for later when I will make fresh tortillas, as these aren't as good when reheated.

We also tried the leftover tortillas with honey for dessert! Yummy!

UPDATE:
Next time, I will add a little salt to the tortilla dough, as it was a little blan. Also, I will add a little cilantro to the bean mixture, as well as adding some on top just before serving.

Just getting started

I have been through a lot of changes over the last few months:   After having worked outside the home for 11 years, I am now privileged to be able to be a stay at home wife and mom.  We have also moved 500 miles away from all of our family and friends to a place where I don’t know a single soul.  A few weeks after we got settled into our new home, our daughter started college, over 10 hours away, UGH.  I haven’t quite known what to do with myself since she left.  Our son ‘flew the coop’ a few years ago, immediately after high school, to join the military.  Although that was difficult for me, this seems to be a little harder, given all the other changes in my life at this time.  Needless to say, I feel a little lost.  My husband and I are now finding ourselves fitting into the  ”empty nester” category more so than any other.

It is because of this new phase of my life, that this blog was born.  I’d like to share some ideas that will hopefully be of interest to you:

• money saving tips
• simple, economical recipes
• helpful household hints

Let me know what you think!

Lena T  :-)