What's Cookin' Wednesday: Lemon Cookies and crockpot dinners

Last week for "What's Cookin' Wednesday we had a blast one rainy night making lemon cookies! They were delicious and pretty easy! Then my brilliant and thoughtful, Callie suggested we deliver our cookies to our new next door neighbors for "Thoughtful Thursday". I love that girl and her sweet heart! On to the cookies!

Here is the original recipe...Of course we changed it up a little!

For the cookie you need:

1 box of lemon cake mix

1/2 cup of oil

2 eggs

1 lemon, juiced OR we used 3 tablespoons of lemon juice

1/2 tsp of lemon extract

1 cup of powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350.

Mix up all of the ingredients for the cookie until everything is smooth. We used a good old fashioned spoon this time!

After the cookies were mixed we measured them onto an oiled pan using this handy dandy cookie scooper...

Best thing ever for scooping perfect size and shaped cookies! Thanks Pamper Chef!

Pop the cookies in the oven for 12-15 minutes. These measurements made 20 large cookies. The cookies by themselves are super sweet, but of course they need some frosting! 

You need:

1 8 oz package of cream cheese, room temperature (we used 1/3 fat)

2-3 cups of powdered sugar (the original called for 1 1/2 cups, but it was not sweet or thick enough for us)

1 lemon, juiced or 3 tablespoons of lemon juice

1/2 tsp of lemon extract

First whip up the cream cheese, we did this in the mixer. Then gradually add in the powdered sugar until it reaches the consistency and sweetness that you like. Next add in the lemon juice and extract. Once everything is combined, scoop the frosting into a ziplock bag, cut off the corner and pipe onto the cooled cookies

This was our finished product and it was YUMMY! We of course ate a few before sending them to the neighbors! They are great summer flavored cookie!

For dinners this summer I have vowed to use the crockpot at least once a week. I rarely use it during the school year because most recipes call for cooking on low for 8 hours and we are at work and school for almost 10, so we have had many a burnt dinners this year! Last week it was the epic whole chicken episode. This week it was another yummy dish! Crockpot sausage, potatoes and green beans. 

Here is the recipe http://recipesthatcrock.com/crock-pot-sausage-green-beans-and-potatoes/#_a5y_p=3702007

My crockpot runs a little hot so I reduced the cook time to about 4 hours on low. It was too easy to throw together on a busy night and everyone really liked it, which is rare at the Wood House!