I thought we were done with snow until the fall, but this morning we had a few inches. My 4-year-old was excited. He’d been craving one of his favorite treats – snow ice cream. This super-simple recipe is a favorite around here – it was breakfast this morning.

Snow Ice Cream

Fresh Snow

Vanilla

Sugar

Place the snow in a bowl and pour in a dash of vanilla and a sprinkle of sugar. Pour in a little milk and stir. Add more milk until you reach the desired consistency. Taste and add more sugar or vanilla if needed

Though they won’t make any list of healthy snacks, these fruity pebble treats are super-easy to make and so good! If you know how to make Rice Krispy treats, you don’t even need a recipe!

Fruity Pebble Treats

1/4 C. Butter

1 Package Regular Size Marshmallows

5 C. Fruity Pebbles (or the generic version!) Cereal

Melt butter in a 3 quart pan. Add marshmallows and cook until melted, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, add cereal and stir until well-coated. Spread warm mixture into a buttered 9 x 13 pan. Use wax paper to press firmly into an even layer. Cool (if you can wait that long to try a bite!) and cut into squares.

Buying a pie crust is easy, but this making this crust is easy too (okay, not as easy as opening a bag, but not too much more difficult) and it doesn’t contain all of the extra ingredients that the store-bought varieties do. This crust is flaky and so good. It makes 3 crusts and freezes well.

Fool Proof Pie Crust

3 C. All-Purpose Flour

1 and 1/2 C. Shortening (I use this non-hydrogenated kind)

1 egg, beaten

5 Tbs. Cold Water

1 Tbs. White Vinegar

1 tsp. Salt

Mix the flour and shortening until it’s combined and resembles cornmeal. I start blending by using a pastry blender, then I finish incorporating the ingredients with my hands. Add the beaten egg, water, vinegar and salt. Mix and separate into 3 balls. Place in a zippered plastic bag smash down a bit until it lays flat. Keep in the freezer.

If you want to use a crust right away, still freeze for about for about 15 or 20 minutes to make it easier to roll out. Be sure to roll out on a floured surface. (Don’t judge the pie crust by my poor edging skills – I need some lessons )

This works well with Dutch Apple Pie!

This apple pie is part of almost all of our family holiday dinners. It has a crumble topping instead of a top crust. The recipe was passed on to my grandma and mom from a life-long friend and neighbor Kitty. I’m excited to share it with you, but for some crazy reason I didn’t get a picture of the baked pie, just the pie pre-baked (above) so the crust does brown when you bake it! This works well with my easy, fool-proof pie crust!

Dutch Apple Pie

2 C. Chopped Granny Smith Apples

2 Tbs. Flour

1 Egg, Beaten

These brownies were a staple at cattle roundups, brandings and fence building days when I was growing up. They were at almost all of the potlucks we went to too. These cake-type brownie and are just plain good. I only wish my husband liked chocolate, so I could share with him.

Classic Cake Brownies

2 Sticks of Butter

2 C. Sugar

4 Eggs at Room Temperature (I forget about the room temp thing sometimes)

3/4 C. Cocoa

2 Tbs. Shortening

1 and 1/2 C. Flour

1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

1/2 tsp. Salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ingredients well. Bake for about 20-25 minutes.