Last night I baked some pumpkin spice cookies for Lauren and her friends/boyfriend to take back to school with them.

I just came on line to look for a recipe to make muffins from a cake mix. I bake very little these days, but have a hankering for something cakey but not too sweet. I have many from scratch muffin recipes, but need something less involved. Found a recipe that just takes a spice cake mix and a can of pumpkin. That is all. So I am going to try it.

Tomorrow I'm going to make lemon pound cake. It makes two loaves and I have bridge here Monday and Book Club here on Wed. That should cover both. Also will be making crustless quiche and some apple muffins for my gluten-free friends.

I just baked three loaves of the crust bread...a picture is on the "I'll show you mine..." post.

I have made bread today. I am probably going to make apple pie/slab either later tonight, or tomorrow.

lgmd_gaz, that recipe is very good. My aunt makes it quite often. She makes a cake, or cookies, or muffins with it. Very good.

Alisande, that sounds good! My grandmother used to take all the different kinds of apples in her orchard and cook them with the skins on. Then run it through her cone shaped ricer to get the skins out. It made wonderful pink applesauce, with the flavors of all the different kinds of apples. Thanks for the memory.

tami_ohio, within an hour of my above post, I was taste testing one of those muffins. I took the advice of some of the posters on the site where I got the recipe and added 2 beaten egg whites. On my own I also added a tablespoon of oil and a tablespoon of water. Then dressed up the batter with about 2/3 cup of cinnamon chips. I pronounce the muffins a success!

Great! My aunt doesn't do anything extra to it. It has become her favorite. I think it is actually a weight watcher's recipe.

Alisande, those apples look beautiful! They don't grow here.....well, there are a couple of varieties but it is nothing like in other climates.

I am making Zuppa Toscana....a copy cat Olive Garden recipe. It is my favorite soup....or, at least, one of them. Even though the weather is still very warm here, I love soup.

Tami, that's how I make applesauce too, except my ricer is something that works with my KitchenAid mixer. The skins end up on top of a strainer, and the applesauce falls down into the bowl. It works like a Foley Food Mill.

marilyn c I can't wait for it to turn cool as I love to make Tuscan One Pot Italian-style stew

I rarely bake anything, but do enjoy reading about everyone's efforts. Igmd, I had never heard of cinnamon chips! I'm going to have to work hard to get the thought of them out of my mind, lol.

Alisande, the Empire apples look wonderful! Freshly harvested McIntosh apples remain one of the few things I still miss from my childhood in central NYS. The fresh apples and cider made from them are something you can't get in the south.

Tami, that's exactly how my mother made applesauce, and subsequently so do I. I also like to add some chopped up raw apples to the sauce when I'm still sweetening and spicing it. Sigh, haven't made it in many years.

I do buy the apples from the store, but who knows how long from the orchard they are?

Marilyn, do you blend up everything for your husband? I put a little bit of an entire pot roast dinner (meat, potatoes, carrots, onions, and gravy) in a blender for my ex-husband who was on liquefied food for a few days after some oral surgery. He said it was the best thing, ever!

Marilyn...never hear of that soup...found the copy cat recipe....WOW! Gotta try it!

http://www.food.com/recipe/olive-garden-copycat-zuppa-toscana-38298

Note: I was wearing a hat/gloves/parka this morning, up in the mountains, now I'm back in town and it's 80! It's soup weather here!

I'm baking bran muffins from scratch. Haven't decided what else....yet...

rhizo, those cinnamon chips are Hersheys brand, like chocolate chips, but cinnamon flavored instead.

I made meatballs, using 10 pounds of ground meat--beef, turkey, and pork. We had spaghetti and meatballs last night, with a rerun tonight, and I put a dozen small packages in the freezer for my mother. She is having her knees replaced this week, so the frozen meatballs will be easy for her when she starts fixing her own meals again. I also sent a container of meatballs and spaghetti sauce home with my father, who has been repairing my barn this week.

Nicole, I think you will love it. I use all chicken broth and no water. It goes together fast...makes a lot too.

Marilyn,,,,I think it looks like a winner!

My muffins have a "too much baking soda" flavor to them. :0) I should have put molasses in them to mask the flavor. They look and crumble to perfection tho....

I made a banana coffeecake and just picked up some beef to make a sauerbraten! It's getting cold (and dark) here, so it's cooking and baking time!

Alisande, I may have to buy a new gadget! I didn't know they made the ricer for the KA. I haven't made applesauce since the kids were tiny. Oh, the memories! We would go to grandma's and she would get a container of applesauce, and one of cookies, out of the freezer for us. I still make that kind of cookies, but have turned them into a Christmas tradition, because I can't stay out of them! I don't like store bought applesauce. Grandma spoiled me!

Rhizo, do you have an orchard near by that you can get apples from, or just the grocery store? We have an orchard practically in our back yard. You can smell the blossoms in the spring. The one we usually go to is farther away, but my cousin works there. We don't get a discount, but we do get hugs!

I will be making apple slab tomorrow. It is too late now to start it. I had planned on doing it about 6 tonight, but got my mind changed. We have been trying to get a house ready to rent, and have been having an off and on garage sale over the summer. There was a big 2 section lighted hutch/china cabinet that DD's in-laws bought. They managed to get a truck and DSIL was available to help tonight, so that is what we did. That's ok, I was baked out for the day! I am now sitting here with a bowl of popcorn, and reading here, emails, and another forum I like.

Alisande-I love your apple trees pic-I still use the cone shaped ricer to do applesauce-

Today,I didnt bake sweets,but did manage a couple of lasagnes.

Tami, I looked for my strainer, hoping to link to one, but I can't find anything that looks like it on Amazon or eBay. KitchenAid offers a food mill/strainer attachment, but it's nothing like what I have. I wonder if they don't make it any longer. I've had mine a long time.

Yup, like many of you I got the yen for some cold weather food. Earlier this week I made chicken soup and beef stew. Today I roasted some peppers from the garden and baked some apples. I am impressed with the cooking and baking you all do. so yummy

Rhizo, yes, I have to puree all of my husband's foods and I carry it up to him 3 times a day when he is home. Lately he has been going to his business some days, but he does not have to go up and down stairs. He is wobbly.

All of everyone's foods sound really good.

Sue

I'm in the baking/cooking mood today (a rarity for me and mostly my poor DH) and I'm going to make a few recipes from my George Stella low carb cookbook. I love his recipes because they are simple and always good. I'm going to make beef stroganoff and ricotta cheesecake. I'm going to start the cheesecake soon, as soon as I finish my coffee.

Sunday morning is my cooking day. Steel oats with add ins for the week, 2 coffee cakes for facilities office at work, 2 pans of brownies for dinner at a friends and lunches, bbq drumsticks and potato salad for lunch, hummus for snack.

I've had the urge for an Apple Crostata, and Empires and Cortlands are my favourite apples. Boy I wish I lived closer to you Alsisande, your apples look wonderful. I'm in apple country, but they're still pricey. I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get some regardless.

Nicole, I always put molasses in my bran muffins. It also calls for buttermilk, and I combine yogurt and milk to make buttermilk. It works perfectly, as we always have yogurt in the frig.

I didn't do any baking this weekend, I made bread last weekend and we still have some. But I have chicken thighs that were marinated in lemon juice, garlic and lemon zest. They're in the oven over rice, baking now.

It's a bit cooler and overcast here today so I simmered chicken soup for hours and made the house smell heavenly. I took a hint from the Barefoot Contessa and let the chicken simmer for about an hour before pulling it, removing the breast meat and returning it to the pot for a few more hours.

It lets me have cooked but not mushy white meat chicken.

I let the soup cool down and refrigerate overnight. Tomorrow, it gets defatted and we finally enjoy a bowl. I think I'm going to shred the meat, add chopped carrots and make Farina dumplings to add in.

lgmd, I looked them up as soon as I read your post, lol. I think that they would be good in homemade sugar cookies. I don't do much baking, but those sound so good.

Tami, there are orchards around here, but McIntosh cannot be grown in the south. Plus, the apples aren't grown organically and that's important to me with something I'm going to cook with the skins on, like apples.

I made 2 loaves of zucchini bread with chocolate chips yesterday. I hurt my knee on Monday and I still am having trouble with it so I haven't been doing much after I get off of work.

Bengardening, I hope your knee heals very quickly!

Sue