This is a simple twist on an old family favorite.
Category Archives: Vanilla Extract
Peaches and Cream Cups
This cool desert is easy to assemble. A cookie at the bottom makes a simple but tasty crust.
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Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
From Julie L.
We grew up eating these delicious oatmeal cookies! Now I prefer to skip the shortening and use beans instead –it makes me feel like I’m eating health food! I usually double the batch and freeze the extras for cookies on demand. It makes the texture less crunchy and more chewy. So good! –Mellyn
Sweet Honey Granola
I’m a HUGE fan of cold cereal, but over the last couple of years I’ve been working on reducing the junk in our diet. I’ve been playing around with granola for awhile now –trying to find a recipe that fills the void I feel when we have no cold cereal in the house. This one is my current favorite…subject to change next week when I make a new batch! –Mellyn
Raisin Cashew Drops
This combination of salty and sweet sure pleases a crowd.
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Pumpkin Pecan Muffins
Pecan Crisps
As close to shortbread as you can get without the butter! Of course if I have butter on hand I do indulge myself once in a while and use butter instead of shortening.
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Creamy Rice Pudding
From Grace F.
A budding cook at the age of 10, Grace makes the best rice pudding I’ve ever tasted! She generously agreed to share her recipe. Thanks, Grace! We love this. –Mellyn
Homemade Hot Fudge
Smooth, creamy and rich, this hot fudge is a life saver! I made up this recipe one Sunday afternoon when we were craving hot fudge for our ice cream, but didn’t have the right ingredients on hand for any of the recipes I found. It’s smooth, creamy and rich — guaranteed to satisfy your chocolate craving! –Mellyn 
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Carrot Cake
Adapted from a recipe by Julie L.
This is by far the best carrot cake in the world! It also bakes up beautifully as muffins and tastes delicious frosted…or not! –Mellyn
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Frog Eye Salad
This is a Thanksgiving “must have” in our family. My brother-in-law is famous for eating this salad by the bowlful.
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Chewy Granola Bars
From Sharon C.
Sharon makes these delicious granola bars with applesauce instead of oil — making them a healthy and delicious snack. She says she may try adding some peanut butter in the future, as well! The options are endless! –Mellyn 
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Glazed Twists
Hot chocolate and a sweet bread are among my favorite “treats” for breakfast. These pretty little twists bake up quickly in the morning because you can put the dough in the refrigerator overnight! –Mellyn
Oatmeal Bars
Chewy and sweet and easy to assemble. They are great for long trips or short car rides. I make up 2 or 3 batches at a time. I like to wrap them individually to make them more portable, but honestly about 1/2 of a batch is usually gobbled up too fast to wrap.
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Simple Strawberry Smoothies
Strawberry smoothies are one of life’s simple pleasures! Easy to make and always a delicious treat, my kids are always clamoring for smoothies. This week we opted to try them with freeze-dried strawberries…and I have to say, I think we’ll stick with our frozen berries. I’ve included our recipe for freeze-dried berry smoothies, in case you’d like to try it, but this is one place, where I wouldn’t recommend freeze-dried fruit. –Mellyn
Vanilla Cookies with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting
I love sugar cookies, but I don’t always have the time to make them or the inclination to clean up the kitchen afterwards. These pretty, little cookies solve both problems — they’re fast to make and since they’re scooped, not rolled, they make less mess! –Mellyn
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Chocolate-Strawberry Cake
Dessert really can’t get much better than this! Fancy enough for any occasion, this rich cake is perfect anytime of year! –Mellyn
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Continue reading Fruit Cocktail Cake
So easy and fast to prepare, this makes a wonderful last minute dessert for unexpected company.
Original recipe from the kitchen of Karen.
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Fruit Cocktail Squares
No BUTTER or BEANS! These little babies cook up moist without them. The secret? The fruit cocktail. It does all the moist fluffing we need.
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Silly Salad
What makes this salad silly? The fact that is has basically some of the simplest, therefore silliest, instructions you can have.
Recipe by Karen
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