Eileen Bakes :-)

I don't have any good/meaningful/insightful/inspirational songs to show you all. When I need therapy, I bake things. Last night over a glass of mediocre red wine (it's hit or miss at TJ's), I made pumpkin-oatmeal-raisin-chocolate-chip cookies. Sounds delicious right? KIND OF! I accidentally added double the amount of pumpkin (thanks a lot, wine), and forgot one of the cups of sugar, so they're not the BEST things I've ever made, but they're also not the worst :).

I also made a big batch of mom's burritos and got homesick. It's a good thing I didn't make rice-mess as well, otherwise I would have been a complete basket case!

Burritos
4 diced onions
4 cloves garlic
4 cups diced canned tomatoes
3(ish) lbs. ground beef or turkey
4 (ish) cans of black beans, drained
1/4 cup (ish) taco seasoning (3 packets maybe?- season to taste)
2 jalepenos, finely diced
tortillas
sprinkle cheese

Brown the meat- as it begins to cook add onions and garlic to saute. Add salt & pepper to taste. Once meat is cooked through, toss in the tomatoes, black beans, taco seasoning and jalepenos. Simmer for about a half hour. Put a spoonful of filling into each tortilla with a sprinkle of cheese and roll up into little burritos. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!


Pumpkin-Oatmeal-Raisin-Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup raisins

Cream together the sugar/butter/egg/vanilla. Sift together the dry ingredients and slowly add to the wet ingredients. Mix in the pumpkin, raisins and chocolate chips. Drop in 2Tbs heaps onto cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10ish minutes.

The cookies WILL come out delicious if you obey and only put in ONE cup of pumpkin, and also don't forgot to put in 1 cup of brown sugar AND 1 cup of white sugar.

Happy Fall!