Wednesday's edition of Cooking with Cassie

I should really name these posts Cooking with Copy Cat Cassie since zero of these recipes are my own ;)

I had a PTA board meeting to attend today (I am in charge of the media relations again this year. Fancy name but all that it really means is that I design flyers for PTA events and meetings and such, which reminds me, that's what I really should be doing right now!) Anyhow, I wanted to bring some cookies and found these and they were a hit!

Aunt Hazel's Apple Oatmeal Cookies
(I love the name Hazel. Someday, I'm going to somehow bribe my children to name at least one of my grand babies Hazel.)

Here's how copy cat Cassie made them her own:

• added cranberries
• did not peel the apple (pure laziness- AND my neighbor has my vegetable peeler)
• chopped the apple, rather than shredding it
• added Pampered Chef's cinnamon plus in place of plain cinnamon (just because I'm out of cinnamon!)
• added lots of freshly ground nutmeg
• sprinkled the cinnamon plus on top of the icing

They were very good! I only added walnuts to 1/2 of them, but should have added them to the whole batch because you can't really taste the walnuts (and I really don't care for walnuts, the name alone is yucky, it reminds me of the people who wear sweats and wife beaters to Wal Mart at 11:00 at night) but they combine so well with all of the other flavors and make the whole cookie taste much more rich. (or richer, which is it?) They are very cake like and not sweet at all. Very hearty and I felt somewhat healthy eating it with all of the goodness that's in them. Now my house smells like Fall...that's really the best part!

For dinner, I put a pork roast in the crock pot and thought that I would share my "technique" for that. I actually stole this idea from a past neighbor (you're shocked, right!?). The roast that I used was about 2 1/2 pounds, but this idea works with any size roast. I put the roast in the bottom of the crock pot. Place potatoes (cut into about 2 inch squares), onions (in wedges) and carrots (cut into the size of a baby carrot, or baby carrots will work also. I personally don't like baby carrots because of the slimy film on them). Season with a teeny tiny bit of salt and a lot of fresh ground black pepper. Pour 2 cans of cream of _____soup over it. Today I used Healthy Choice cream of mushroom and Healthy Choice cream of celery- any will do. Except maybe cream of shrimp, I saw that at the store yesterday and don't get me wrong, I love shrimp, but creamed shrimp, no thanks! Oh, I also added sliced mushrooms to the crock pot today. I cook it on low for 5-6 hours and the creamy soups liquefy nicely into a perfect gravy! It's SO easy, no browning or seasoning.

Somebody please stop me. I don't even like to cook or bake....