What Shall We Bake Today?

Food 1 Minute

In honor of Halloween, this month’s recipes have a Fall/Halloween theme! First off…Autumn Leaves!

Ingredients

2 cups butter, softened

1-1/2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

5-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Red, green, orange and yellow paste food coloring

1-1/3 cups confectioners’ sugar

5 to 7 teaspoons warm water

1 tablespoon meringue powder

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Directions

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Beat in eggs and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture.

Divide dough into 4 portions; tint 1 red, 1 green, 1 orange and 1 yellow. Shape each into a disk and wrap. Refrigerate 30 minutes or until firm enough to roll.

Preheat oven to 350°. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion of dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 3-in. leaf-shaped cookie cutter. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets.

Bake 14-17 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine confectioners’ sugar, water, meringue powder and almond extract; beat on low speed just until blended. Pipe or drizzle on cookies as desired. Sprinkle with coarse sugar. Let stand until set. Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

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Published by pat frederick

Published

65 thoughts on “What Shall We Bake Today?”

  1. Morning All!

    personally I could do without the added frosting outlining the cookies.

    And speaking of cookies–the jars/containers of colored sugars have ridiculously large holes for the sugar to come out of. I have several older, taller ones i have from years ago that have smaller holes. I use them for Christmas cookies. But I made cut outs for Mom and used all different colors (just not mixed colors–that usually looks terrible). Anyway with the large holes, you waste so much sugar!! All part of the marketing plan to get you to have to buy more all the time I guess.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Morning Filly!
        It’s one of my passions.
        I took cookies to Mom’s on Sunday –a small can which will stay fresh for a week (in the can). Anyway she was eating one when an aide came in and asked if she was really eating a Christmas cookie?
        Mom told me she said no…these are “everyday cookies” …lol
        Then she asked the aide if she wanted to try one, which she did. She loved them and asked who made them. Mom said I did–didn’t you see me in the kitchen earlier?
        (I get Mom was being funny, but…she’s in a memory care place)
        then she told her that I made the cookies and if she liked them, she’d ask me to make more when i come next time.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. LOL – good to see that her sense of humor is intact! Maybe you should start selling them as well, altho that would raise some possible legal issues…..if someone happened to get sick around the same time they ate a cookie…..that wouldn’t be cool!!!

          Liked by 1 person

          1. oh yeah…definitely not selling them.
            but yes, she has a wonderful sense of humor and is just like her old self…except for lack of memory about the events leading up to her health issue that started the whole thing.
            she is forgetting words–at 86 i think that’s normal. I let her try to remember the word (because sometimes I’m not sure what she’s getting at) but sometimes I say the word and hubby says i should let her figure it out. ???

            Liked by 1 person

            1. Hell, I forget words all the fricking time!!! And I’m only 72! As for helping or letting her figure it out – either/or, depending on how she takes it., ya’ know? If you help and she acts frustrated, then wait the next time.

              Liked by 1 person

  7. EXCERPT: “Evidence obtained by Congress in its quest to unravel the mysteries of Jan. 6 has led the panel leading the investigation to consider that the pipe bombs planted at both the Republican and Democratic National Committees may have been part of an undisclosed training exercise, Chairman Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., told Just the News. 

    Additionally, new documents raise questions about how valuable cellular phone location data from the days leading up to Jan. 6 — key data that investigators needed for their work — was purged from an AT&T and government system despite a preservation order from the FBI.  

    Chairman Loudermilk says the evidence from the FBI’s pipe bomb analysis, AT&T’s response to the data request, and a stunning coincidence are leading his panel to consider alternative theories about one of the enduring mysteries of that day. 

    The details do not add up

    Just the News reported on Monday that the pipe bomb analysis conducted by an FBI laboratory found the devices were filled with chemical building blocks of black powder, each was equipped with a 60-minute kitchen timer, and each had destructive potential. However, neither device exploded and they were discovered about 16 hours after the FBI claimed they were planted outside both major party headquarters.

    To Loudermilk, these details do not add up. “I’m not buying the story anymore that they were there on the fifth,” Loudermilk told the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show on Monday.  

    “I believe that they were put out on the sixth at this point. This is the theory that we’re going on, especially since the lady that found them said there were still 20 minutes left on the timer when they were placed there,” said Loudermilk.  

    “The other thing is, were there enough…was there enough explosives in the devices to actually cause a massive explosion? That’s one of the things we’re looking at in these reports, which kind of leads us to believe maybe there wasn’t, but there definitely were explosives,” he added. 

    Witness statements don’t fit FBI’s account

    The documents included statements from Karlin Younger, the witness who discovered the pipe bomb, and told the FBI she was certain the bomb appeared in the alleyway near her apartment during a 40-minute period just after noon on Jan. 6. This conflicts with the FBI’s account, which estimates that the bombs were both planted at about 8:16 PM on the previous night. 

    Loudermilk said that the current fact pattern, and contradictions between the witness statements and the FBI’s timeline, all lead congressional investigators to consider alternative theories about the purpose of those pipe bombs.

    One of those theories is that the pipe bomb was part of a law enforcement training exercise on the same day as the Capitol riot. “Now follow me on this, this series of logic here. When would you build a bomb that’s not designed to go off, but every element of it is to make you think it will, or make a bomb sniffing dog think that it is a live bomb?” Loudermilk asked. “That’s a training exercise. So, that also opens the door to that: was this possibly part of a training exercise?” 

    “Were they put there just to be a diversion, to draw resources away from the Capitol?” Loudermilk asked. 

    Since the pipe bombs were first discovered on Jan. 6, another part of the mystery has remained unanswered: Who put them there? The identity of the individual who planted the bombs would go a long way towards solving the motive or reasoning behind the act……”

    https://justthenews.com/government/security/were-pipe-bombs-training-exercise-evidence-spurs-jan-6-subcommittee-look-new

    Liked by 1 person

    1. they were gonna shut down the Capitol by hook or by crook. If they couldn’t get the crowd to riot, then they would “find the bombs” and evacuate the Capitol. it was their backup plan imo.

      Liked by 1 person

  8. NF: I expect a lot of people are gonna be gun-shy for a while….

    Just The News: “A bomb squad on Tuesday detonated a “suspicious device” that was discovered at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, hours before Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA was scheduled to hold an event.

    Kirk was assassinated at a different college in Utah, Utah Valley University, earlier this month. His organization decided to continue its campus tour as planned in honor of its founder. 

    The suspicious device was located near the exterior of the Old Main building on campus. The device was deemed to be “non-explosive,” but it was detonated by a bomb squad anyway as a safety precaution, according to Fox News.

    “A suspicious device was found near the exterior of Old Main,” the school said in a statement. “University and local law enforcement were dispatched to the scene. A device was located and deemed to be a non-explosive device. Out of an abundance of caution, the bomb squad detonated the suspicious device. Old Main building is now clear and safe. All scheduled events may resume as normal.”

    The building was not the same one that was scheduled to host the Turning Point USA event, and the campus is undertaking security precautions for the event. The precautions include banning bags larger than 6.5 by 4.5 inches, and banning people from reentering the event or bringing in outside signs.

    The incident occurred shortly before the first Turning Point event in Utah since Kirk’s assassination.”

    Like

  9. IMO, Constitutional rights should never be afforded to non-citizens, period!

    Just The News: “A federal judge on Tuesday fumed over President Donald Trump’s efforts to deport academics who have expressed support for the Palestinian cause.

    The Trump administration has attempted to curb what it calls “antisemitism” on college campuses in response to the pro-Palestinian demonstrations that erupted nationwide in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas raid on Israel in 2023. The effort has earned criticism from the left and right alike over its potential encroachments on free speech. Among the most high-profile incidents was the administration’s move to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and non-citizen who helped to organize pro-Palestinian activities.

    The case in question saw a number of advocacy groups sue Rubio and Noem in their official capacities, alleging coordination to curb certain speech, in violation of the First Amendment.

    “This case -– perhaps the most important ever to fall within the jurisdiction of this district court –- squarely presents the issue whether non-citizens lawfully present here in United States actually have the same free speech rights as the rest of us,” wrote Judge William Young. “The Court answers this Constitutional question unequivocally ‘yes, they do.’ 

    ““No law’ means ‘no law.’ The First Amendment does not draw President Trump’s invidious distinction and it is not to be found in our history or jurisprudence,” he added.

    Young also found that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio “deliberately and with purposeful aforethought, did so concert their actions and those of their two departments intentionally to chill the rights to freedom of speech and peacefully to assemble of the non-citizen plaintiff members of the plaintiff associations.”

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Yeah! Progress!!!

    “Planned Parenthood Closes Mammoth Houston Abortion Facility”

    The Federalist, By: Catherine Gripp, October 01, 2025

    A large, layered building with blue windows, labeled Planned Parenthood.

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “Amid efforts from pro-life advocates and conservatives to defund the baby-killing giant, Planned Parenthood’s “Prevention Park,” the 78,000-sqare-foot, stair-step tower once known as the largest Planned Parenthood facility in the Western Hemisphere, permanently closed its doors Wednesday. 

    “Prevention Park” was situated near the University of Houston and Texas Southern University. Another Houston facility also ceased operations on Oct. 1, leaving four locations in the Houston area. 

    While abortion is illegal after six weeks gestation in Texas, Susan B. Anthony Pro-life America reports that Planned Parenthoods in the Lone Star State still refer abortion-minded women for out of state abortions and direct them to resources that will pay for their travel.

    Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast controlled the operation of the abortion giant’s Houston-area facilities and those in Louisiana. But after these Texas closures, and the shuttering of both Louisiana facilities also slated for the end of September, Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas will take over operation of the remaining four in the Houston area, according to Planned Parenthood’s website.

    Footage from the Center for Medical Progress released in 2015 allegedly showed leadership from Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast in a flippant discussion on harvesting and selling body parts of aborted babies, and the brutal measures employed to avoid partial-birth abortions in an attempt to skirt federal law. One video references “Prevention Park” as a site for the sale of aborted baby’s body parts for experiments.

    The One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by Congress on July 3 stripped Planned Parenthood of approximately $500 million in federal, taxpayer-supplied funds by restricting the use of Medicaid payments at nonprofits that offer abortions, with limited exceptions.

    Enforcement of that provision was initially blocked by a federal judge after Planned Parenthood sued the Trump administration. However, an appeals court lifted the injunctions staying enforcement of the provision defunding Planned Parenthood earlier this month. Planned Parenthood announced that approximately two-thirds of its facilities risk closure without these funds.

    Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser described the measures depriving Planned Parenthood of approximately $500 million “the greatest national pro-life victory since the Dobbs decision.”

    Planned Parenthood boasted performing 402,230 abortions, in 2022-2023, a 23 percent increase since 2013. At least 41 of the abortion mill’s facilities have reportedly announced closure this year.”

    Liked by 1 person

    1. i do not understand the conscience of anyone performing an abortion.

      I understand the necessity for some for the morning after pill if you’ve been raped (that did not change my mind though), but to wait months and then choose to abort? just don’t get that.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I’ve been there – sometimes, you find yourself in a total no-win situation…..I draw the line at 8-10 weeks – that is the average timeframe for a heartbeat. IMO, that is the true “spark” of life – it is the universal identifier in all species all over the world. Speaking from a purely physiological POV…..

        Liked by 1 person

  11. Freedom Ring

    October 1, 2025 9:39 am

    A short wish list of the Zohran, from cheap hookers to empty jails.

    Zohran Mamdani on why he wants to empty jails: “VioIence is an artificial construct”

    Zohran Mamdani: “We will slowly buy up the housing on the private market and convert properties into communes”

    Zohran admits he’s in support of decriminalizing prostitution throughout NYC.

    Zohran Mamdani admits that his “free bus” program will cost taxpayers $700 million per year.

    Besides costing a fortune, the buses would become completely unridable after being taken over by vagrants and the homeless.

    Zohran Mamdani says he will “root out bigotry” across NYC with an “800% increase in funding for hate crime prevention programs.” Unless it is someone he hates. Zohran Mamdani: “My mom made all the white actors in her movie play waiters”

    Mayor Mamdani would be a threat to America, because he wants to subordinate the United States to foreign courts.
    Here he says New York should uphold ICC warrants even though the US isn’t even a member of the court.

    Mamdani: “I don’t think that we should have billionaires”

    Zohran Mamdani: “We’re going to provide $65 million of funding for gender-affirming care.”

    https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2025/09/30/zohran-of-mamdani-has-big-plans-when-he-receives-his-kingdom-n3807345

    Like

  14. “It Turns Out The Military’s Biden-Era Recruitment Crisis Was A Leadership Problem After All — For first time in a long time, service members have leaders who actually give a damn about the mission and their well-being.”

    The Federalist, By: Shawn Fleetwood, October 01, 2025

    Trump, Vance, and Hegseth at Arlington National Cemetery.

    EXCERPT: “America’s propaganda press have wound up with egg on their faces a few many times over the past several years. And that could not be truer than when it comes to the military recruitment crisis that helped define Joe Biden’s failed presidency.

    On Monday, the Associated Press published a report revealing that the U.S. Marine Corps has reached its recruiting targets for the 2025 fiscal year. The achievement follows in the footsteps of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, all of which hit their FY2025 goals months ahead of schedule.

    Naturally, the AP’s Konstantin Toropin seemingly did everything he could to downplay the Trump administration’s turnaround of the Biden-era recruiting crisis, pinning blame for the disaster on “complications from the COVID-19 pandemic, tight job markets and a growing generation of young Americans struggling to meet fitness and academic standards.”

    While noting how “the uptick [in recruitment] began well before President Donald Trump won office again in November,” he also “conveniently” omitted the fact that several of the branches axed traditional standards recruits were expected to meet to qualify for service under Biden.

    It’s not hard to see why the AP and other media outlets are so eager to make excuses for the befuddled ex-president and his team’s failure to bring in qualified talent to the military. To do so would force them to admit that U.S. leadership does, in fact, matter to those seeking to serve their nation in uniform.

    For four years under Biden, lethality and efficiency were traded in for so-called “diversity” and “inclusion.” Left-wing military leadership directed their sights on targeting what they made out to be “extremism” in the force (aka mainstream conservative beliefs), while America’s real adversaries were allowed to expand their geopolitical footprints virtually unchallenged.

    From the very beginning, the Biden Pentagon’s message to patriotic Americans was clear: You’re not welcome here…..”

    https://thefederalist.com/2025/10/01/it-turns-out-the-militarys-biden-era-recruitment-crisis-was-a-leadership-problem-after-all/

    Liked by 1 person

  17. NF: Well-thought out and balanced, IMO.

    EXCERPT: “Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced last week that he will shut down the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS). In March, he announced sex-neutral standards for combat arms positions. Hegseth is shifting the priorities of our military away from feminist ideals to refocus on deterring and defeating our adversaries. This will benefit both our military and our nation.

    DACOWITS was founded in 1951 “to advise on strategies to improve the recruitment of women into the U.S. military during the Korean War.” This focus has continued. And, as Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson explained in a refreshingly frank statement, “The Committee is focused on advancing a divisive feminist agenda that hurts combat readiness.”

    In May, three female Democratic senators critical of Hegseth justified keeping the committee because of its role to “reduce barriers to the recruitment and retention of women.” This criticism assumes that recruitment and retention of women should be a special priority of the military. I disagree. For decades, increasing the percentage of women relative to men, expanding women’s roles in military career fields, and positioning women to break glass ceilings have been the driving forces behind “women in the military” policies. This needs to end. Here’s why.

    Increasing the number of women in the military is not mission-critical. The reality: Recruiting and retaining women in our military does not increase the number of sleepless nights for our foes.

    Prioritizing attention to women comes at the expense of recruiting and retaining men. Men are the backbone of our military. It is senseless, even bizarre, for a military to focus special attention (for decades, no less) on recruiting and retaining women with no parallel attention to recruiting and retaining men, while even disadvantaging men in promotion so that it can produce upward arrows on graphs about women in the ranks of the military. Men are stronger. Men have greater physical endurance. Because men do not get pregnant, their period of peak physical vitality, and their availability to be away from home, will not be interrupted……”

    https://thefederalist.com/2025/10/01/hegseth-is-right-we-need-to-rethink-womens-role-in-the-military/

    Liked by 1 person

  22. Wall Street Apes
    @WallStreetApes
    The truth came out

    DC Lobbyist Desirée Townsend spoke with Congress Reps. The REAL REASON Democrats are fighting for illegal’s healthcare is because states like California have so many illegals their entire healthcare system runs on the taxpayer money for illegals

    “Let’s take California, for example.
    California has a high demographic of individuals that are not here legally, and prior to the expansion of healthcare for them, the hospitals were inundated with people they could not handle. And so, when that expansion happened and immigrants who are here, undocumented immigrants that are here were able to get insurance, all of a sudden, you then had this new kind of revenue stream that came in not only to the hospitals but now to all these doctors and providers in California.

    — California will be a catastrophe because you’ll have all of these individuals now that are not documented with no health insurance. So, all of the providers that were making money off of this kind of, like, new economics in California are- are now not gonna be making any money.

    And instead, these individuals that are undocumented are gonna have to go to the hospital for treatment, and that’s going to, instead of make the hospital money because they’re covered by Medicaid, it’s going to create a situation where now the hospitals are losing millions of dollars.

    So, that is what I believe the sticking point is with Medicaid with Democrats. It has to do with a situation in states like California where you have millions and millions of undocumented individuals, um, and if they lose insurance, not only will the providers now not make money and the hospitals are not making money”

    Liked by 1 person

  23. Liked by 1 person

  27. Goodness, I’ve gotten a lot done this morning! IDK what hit me but I’ve vacuumed the LR, DR, kitchen and hallway; took the vacuum apart and cleaned/washed the parts; removed/replaced the metal cover and vacuumed the screen on the furnace cold air intake vent; did 2 loads of laundry; & put fresh sheets & quilt on the bed in the back for my Sis. The bed’s big enough that both dogs can sleep with her! LOL

    Liked by 1 person

  29. “The Assyrian Mastiff, 6th Century BC.
The era of the neo-Assyrian Empire. This dog was often used as a livestock guardian against predators and they were bred by the Assyrians.”

    “Beautiful library in Munich Bavaria”

    Liked by 1 person

  32. “Don’t think I’d stand on that.”

    “Pull the cord, pull the cord!!”

    “Steph Davis taping up”

    “Two climbers on the summit ridge of Weissmies.”

    Liked by 1 person

  33. selling false nursing credentials!

    FTA

    For Immediate Release

    U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida

    MIAMI – In the latest development of Operation Nightingale—a scheme that created an illegal licensing and employment shortcut for aspiring nurses—fraud-related charges have been filed against 12 defendants for their roles in selling fraudulent nursing diplomas and transcripts.  

    In Phase I of Operation Nightingale, 30 defendants were charged and convicted by plea or at trial in 2023.

    According to court records, the defendants conspired to sell false nursing credentials—diplomas and transcripts fraudulently obtained from Florida-based nursing schools—to aspiring Registered Nurse (RN) and Licensed Nurse Practioner/Vocational Nurse (LPN/VN) candidates. Purchasers of the bogus documents used them to qualify for the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX), commonly known as the nursing board exam. Candidates who passed the exam became eligible for licensure in various states, and once licensed, obtained employment as nurses across the United States.

    The defendants, which include nursing school owners and employees, are charged with  conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Their conduct involved multiple for-profit nursing schools in Florida, all of which have since closed. At one time, these schools were authorized to issue diplomas and transcripts to individuals pursuing RN and LPN/VN licensure. In total, the fraudulent schemes generated approximately 7,300 fake diplomas.

    The charges highlight the purpose of a professional nursing licensure: protecting the public from harm by ensuring that only qualified and competent practitioners provide nursing care. Because nursing is a profession that, if practiced by unprepared or unqualified individuals, poses a serious risk to public health and safety, state boards of nursing establish standards for education, regulate licensure, and oversee compliance with training requirements.

    The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), requires candidates seeking RN or LPN/VN licensure to graduate from a board-approved pre-licensure program and pass the NCLEX. The Nurse Licensure Compact—adopted by 43 states, including Florida—further ensures that nurses meet consistent standards for safe practice. 

    In Florida, the Board of Nursing regulates pre-licensure programs and enforces curriculum requirements under the Nurse Practice Act. To protect patients and ensure safe nursing care, the Board requires that all applicants for licensure as an RN or LPN/VN graduate from an approved program, or its equivalent, and provide official transcripts or equivalent documentation before being permitted to sit for the licensure examination.

    Florida’s nursing programs must devote at least fifty percent of their curriculum to hands-on clinical training, in addition to academic coursework, for a practical nursing education program, an associate degree professional nursing program, or a professional diploma nursing education program.

    https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/fraud-charges-filed-against-12-defendants-phase-ii-operation-nightingale

    Like

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