Doughnuts

We made these doughnuts quite awhile ago, but I just got the pictures off of the camera. WARNING: DO NOT EAT THE DOUGH WHILE MAKING THEM. It is super duper nasty and bitter, so wait until they are fried then eat them. We found this recipe in the KitchenAid Best-Loved Recipes Cookbook.

Old-Fashioned Cake Doughnuts
3 3/4 cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3 eggs
3/4 cups sugar
1 cup applesauce
2 Tablespoons melted butter
2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Canola Oil-use this kind it is the healthiest of the oils that doesn't have a flavor, and in some cases it is better than olive oil

Beat eggs in the mixer on high until it is frothy. Beat in the sugar until it is thick and pale yellow, about 4 minutes. Switch it to low; beat in the applesauce and butter. Beat in the dry ingredients, until well mixed. Divide the dough into two parts. Wrap them both up into plastic wrap and put in the fridge for 3 hours, personally we put it in the freezer for about 30 minutes to 1 hour.Make the glaze for the doughnuts mix the powder sugar, milk and vanilla until it is smooth. Roll out the dough to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut the dough with the top of a glass and a pill bottle to cut out the center. Keep the dough nut holes. Reroll the scraps, and repeat. Heat up the oil until it is 375. Personally I didn't check the temperature I just threw in a scrap to see if it started to boil and fry. Fry until it is golden brown, turn often-about 2 minutes. Drain on paper towels and spread with glaze. Eat.

Sweet Potato Puff

I got this recipe from the Kitchen Aid Best-Loved Recipes Cookbook. It is super yummy, even Phil liked it. I made a few switches like increasing the sweet potatoes so that it isn't as sweet. The original calls for only two, medium ones.

Sweet Potato Puff
3 sweet potatoes
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Topping
2 Tablespoons melted butter
3/4 cup cornflake cereal
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans
1/2 cup brown sugar
Mix them all the ingredients together.

Cook the sweet potatoes until soft. Mash the sweet potatoes in a mixture, add milk, sugar, eggs, butter, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Beat for 1 minute. Spread it into a greased pie plate. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until it doesn't jiggle. While it is baking make the topping, put on top and bake for 10 more minutes.

Requested...

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter/margarine/shortening, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I just squirt some in I don't measure)
1 package chocolate chips (any type is good, I have tried-white, regular and milk)
2/3 cup chopped nuts (optional) -I used walnuts

Cream butter and sugars in mixer. Beat in pumpkin (I actually don't measure and just use 1/2 can), egg, and vanilla. Mix in the dry ingredients slowly. Stir in the nuts and chips. Drop onto cookie sheets and bake at 350 for 11-14 minutes.

I love these cookies because they are always fluffy and I don't feel too bad about eating them because they have pumpkin in them. I use butter or margarine in this cookies (normally I use shortening) with regular cookies it (butter) makes them flat, but this recipe it doesn't matter, so I go for convenience on this one. Also today I tried it with about 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour added in because I ran out of white flour and didn't want to run down to the basement to grab another bag. They turned out so next time I might try adding more in. I got this recipe from the Nestle Classic Recipes cookbook that we got for a wedding gift. I use this cook book tons (probably not a good thing), but it changes the basic chocolate chip cookie into something more special and different.

excuse for not posting...

I haven't posted in awhile because I started a menu calendar and I have been using actual cookbooks not internet sites for cooking the last two months. I have found some real winners and I just need to spend some quality time with them outside of the kitchen and type up the ones that we really liked.

German Apple Cake

Ingredients
2 eggs
1 cup canola oil
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 cups apples-peeled cored and diced

How To:
Pre-heat oven to 350. Grease 9x 13 or I used a bunt cake pan, it didn't fill it all the way up but once it grew it was the perfect size. Beat oil and eggs until creamy with an electric mixer; add sugar and vanilla, beat well. Add in flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon, the original recipe said to do it in another bowl but it worked just fine this way and saved me from doing some dishes! The batter is super thick. Fold in the apples with a wooden spoon; pour into the pan. Bake for 45 minutes at 350. Put it on a cooling rack for a bit, they suggest powdered sugar or cream cheese frosting, personally it is just fine the way it is.

The cake is actually the best at room temperature because it gets a nice crunchy crust to it. I got this recipe from allrecipes.com submitted by Barbara and changed it just a bit for my liking.

Kickin' Corn Chowder

I got this recipe in an email newsletter yesterday from Ball (the canning people). I needed a quick dinner so I tried it, Phil even liked it though it was a soup.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
1 small onion
1 bell pepper (green or red)
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup Mild Salsa
1 can chicken broth
1 can whole corn
1 can creamed corn
1 can diced green chilies-I used a banana pepper because it is all I had and it was a hot pepper
1/2 cup milk
1/2 shredded 4 blend Mexican cheese
crushed tortilla chips

How to:
Melt butter in medium saucepan and saute onion, and bell pepper; cook until clear. Add flour and cook for 1 minute. Add salsa, broth, corn, creamed corn, chilies, and milk. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in cheese in the last 5 minutes. Serve topped with the tortilla chips.

Eggplant Parmesan

We found some eggplant plants at wal-mart on clearance this spring and decided to give them a try, now that they are producing this is what we are eating and the eggplant isn't slimy or overpowering. The tomato sauce looks orange in the picture because we ended up with some yellow tomatoes in the mix from our garden.

INGREDIENTS:

eggplant
iodized salt-I use regular iodized because there is a reason the government required table salt to have iodine added in, because nasty diseases happen without it!
4 cups tomatoes or 28 oz can
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
Olive oil
pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup fine dry breadcrumbs
4 large eggs, beaten
mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese
fresh basil leaves-I use whatever I can cut off my plants without killing them

How To:

1 Cut eggplants lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices. Don't use the end pieces with all of the skin-it gets chewy and gross in the end. Lay out the slices on paper towel, sprinkle with salt and let sit for up to 2 hours but as long as you can, it makes it less soupy in the end.

2 While the eggplant is draining, prepare tomato sauce. Combine
tomatoes, garlic and 1/3 cup olive oil in a food processor. Season with
salt and pepper to tasted and set aside.

3 When eggplant has drained, press down on it to remove excess
water, wipe off the excess salt, and lay the slices out on paper towels
to remove all the moisture. In a wide, shallow bowl, combine flour and
breadcrumbs. Mix well. Pour beaten eggs into another wide shallow
bowl. Place a large, deep skillet over medium heat, and pour in enough oil to fry the slices in. When oil is hot, dredge the eggplant slices first in the flour mixture, then in the beaten egg (yes do it in this order, trust me). Working in batches, slide coated eggplant into hot oil and fry until golden brown on both sides, turning once. Drain on paper towels.

4 Preheat the oven to 350°F. In the bottom of a 9x9 inch glass
baking dish, spread 1 cup of tomato sauce. Top with one third of the
eggplant slices. Top eggplant with half of the mozzarella or enough to cover it.
Sprinkle with Parmesan (enough to cover it) and half of the basil leaves.

5 Make a second layer of eggplant slices, topped by 1 cup of sauce,
remaining mozzarella, some more Parmesan, and all of the basil.
Top with the rest of the sauce and cheeses.

6 Bake until cheese has melted and the top is slightly brown, 30 minutes. Allow to rest at room temperature for about 10 minutes.

I got this recipe from simply recipes online. I switched a nice bit of stuff from the original for one it called for 2 eggplants I only used one to make 2 servings and only 2 layers. The original had a third layer and bigger dish.

whole wheat pie crust

We went to the farmers market on Saturday with Phil's family and I decided to buy a pie pumpkin because I love pumpkin pie and I've never actually made one from a real pumpkin and not a can. Sunday afternoon I decided to make my pie and I wanted a whole wheat pie crust for my pie so I found one.

Whole Wheat Pie Crust
1/2 Cup Shortening
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
dash of salt
3 Tablespoons cold water

Blend together flour, shortening, and salt with pastry blender until it is the size of peas. Mix in the water a Tablespoon at a time. Roll out to 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.

It should make a 9 inch pie-crust for the bottom only. I don't know what the website was that I found this on, but you can find it after looking it up on bing.

Dutch Oven Recipes

All of the recipes that I used on the last post are from dutchovendude.com. It is an awesome site about everything dutch oven! I hope that you enjoy these and the rest of his recipes as well because that is where I plan on going from now on.

camping with a cook

It was vacation time for us this past week and so we decided to do the cheap thing and go camping. We drove down to Brown County Indiana and camped at the state park without electricity! We purchased a dutch oven set a few months ago while in the Smokies with some extra food storage money that came our way so we decided to only cook with that and boy did we eat!

Recipes:

Cowboy Stew Dutch Oven Recipe
Ingredients: 1 lb. ground beef
1 onion
2 potatoes
1 can peas
1 can green beans
1 can baked beans
1 can tomato soup
1 can corn
1 can diced tomatoes
Chili powder
Nutmeg
1 Bay leaf
Salt and pepper
Cut potatoes into 1 inch cubes.
Dice onion.
Preheat dutch oven to 325 degrees.
Brown ground beef and onion.
Add potatoes and all cans, undrained.
Cook until potatoes are soft.
Add chili powder, nutmeg, bay leaf, salt, and pepper as you
prefer and cook 30 minutes more.

Mountain Man Omelette Dutch Oven Recipe
Ingredients: 1 lb. country sausage
1 lb. bacon
1 large diced yellow onion
3 cloves minced garlic
1 chopped green bell pepper
1 chopped red bell pepper
2 cups chopped mushrooms
18 eggs
3/4 cup milk
3 cups grated Cheddar cheese
picante sauce
salt and pepper
Heat a 12inch Dutch Oven over coals until bottom is very hot.
Fry sausage until brown, then remove.
Cut bacon into 1 inch slices. Fry in D.O. until brown.
Remove excess grease from D.O.
Add sausage, onion, garlic, bell pepper, and mushrooms. Saute
until vegetables are tender.
Mix eggs and milk. Pour eggs into D.O.
Cover and bake at about 325 degrees, using 8 briquettes under
and 15 on top for 20 minutes, or until eggs are firm.
Spread cheese over eggs. Cover and let stand until cheese is
melted.
Serves: 8-10 using picante sauce as they choose.

Pizza Dutch Oven Recipe
Ingredients: 1 box Pizza dough mix
1 can pizza sauce
1/2lb mozzarella cheese
1/2lb pepperoni
1 aluminum pie tin
Prepare the pizza dough per mix directions.
Spread dough inside pie tin and up the sides.
Top with sauce, cheese, pepperoni.
Place 4 pebbles or wads of aluminum foil in d.o. to raise pie tin
off bottom.
Set pizza in d.o.
Put d.o. on top of 12 briquettes and cover d.o. with 14
briquettes.
Cook for 15-25 minutes.

Mountain Dew Chicken Dutch Oven Recipe
Ingredients: 1/2 lb. bacon
1 gallon zip-loc bag with 1 cup flour
5 chicken breasts
5 potatos
10 carrots
1 large onion
1 can Mountain Dew soda
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Preheat dutch oven by setting on bed of coals.
Chop bacon into 1-inch pieces.
Dice vegetables.
Cut chicken breasts in half lengthwise.
Fry bacon in dutch oven until crispy.
Remove bacon from d.o. but leave grease.
Shake chicken breasts in baggie of flour to coat.
Cook in bacon grease to brown, about 5 minutes, turning a
couple times.
Pour vegetables, bacon, and Mountain Dew on top of chicken.
Cover with lid and cook at 350° for 45 minutes with 3/4 of coals
on lid.

Fizzy Fruit Cobbler Dutch Oven Recipe

Apple pie filling
1 box yellow cake mix
1/2 can 7-Up
1 Tbsp. cinnamon

We used:

• Blueberry pie filling
• 1/2 can cream soda
• white cake mix

Any combination of flavors that sound good to you can be tried.
This example is apple, yellow cake, and cinnamon. Another
might be cherry filling, chocolate cake, and powdered sugar. Or,
blueberry filling, white cake, and grape soda.
Line the dutch oven with aluminum foil to make clean up easier
if you aren't adverse to doing that.
Pour the fruit filing into the bottom of the D.O.
Sprinkle the cake mix on top of the filing - do not stir it.
Pour the soda on top of the mix from a low height so it does not
splatter all over.
With a fork, mix the soda into the cake mix, being careful not to
mix it into the filling too much - a little is ok.
When the cake mix is stirred, sprinkle cinnamon on top.
Cook for 45 minutes at 325 degrees.

Swiss Miss or is it better?

I used up all of my hot chocolate mix from my can this morning and I was so sad because I hate buying because I mean really I have all of the basic ingredients in my cupboard! So I looked up a recipe to make it myself, it says it is Swiss Miss but really it tastes more like the stuff Mom makes on the stovetop.

Mom Style Swiss Miss

1 cup powdered milk

1/2 cup sugar

6 Tablespoons cocoa powder

Mix them altogether and then sift it together 3 times. This does matter I tried to avoid it but it wasn't mixed as well so just do it and it will be better in the end. Also make sure to put it in a tight-lidded container because the powdered milk can pick up the moisture from the wonderful humidity from this time of year.

I found this recipe on copykat.com, the original was doubled from this but this fits in my old can better than having it doubled.

Alfredo Sauce

Ingredients

1/2 butter

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups heavy cream-I use what I have but I have also made it with 1% milk and it is fine

1/4 teaspoon of pepper-fancy use white, cheap use black

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese-I use the stuff in the green bottle, the kind that used on pizza

3/4 cup mozzarella cheese

Directions

Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium/low heat. Add the garlic, cream/milk, pepper and simmer, stirring often. Add the Parmesan cheese and simmer sauce for 8-10 minutes or until thickened and smooth (I always have to do it longer because of the milk). When thickened add the Mozzarella cheese and stir until smooth. STIR FREQUENTLY. Now is the time to cook the noodles and get everything ready.

I found this recipe while searching a few weeks ago for what I wanted in the sauce. This comes from Better than Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce Recipe from the user Parkers Mom on RecipeZaar. Oh and scary thing about this website is that it gives you a nutritional analysis of the recipe-I wouldn't suggest looking...

Last Night's Dinner

To celebrate being home and having a refrigerator of food I decided it was time to make some pasta with Alfredo sauce with zucchini and mushrooms! I used the homemade fettuccini that was in the freezer from the first time making it and not knowing how much one batch made (p.s. it makes a lot!). I made some yummy homemade alfredo from the leftover cream from mousse I made for dessert last week and sautéed some mushrooms and zucchini with garlic in olive oil. Pretty much a wonderful dinner home with my hubby!

garden lasagna

Ingredients

2 cups sliced zucchini
2 cups sliced yellow squash
1 cup sliced carrot
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 medium onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
1 (14 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
1/2 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1/4 cup sliced fresh basil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cups small cottage cheese
1 large egg, lightly beaten
8 oven-ready, "no cook," lasagna noodles or somewhat boiled homemade lasagna noodles
12 slices mozzarella
some Parmesan cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella

Directions

Combine zucchini, squash, carrot, mushrooms, onion and peppers with water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat, and simmer about 10 minutes or until soft.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, basil, garlic, salt, and pepper in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes.

In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, cottage cheese, and eggs. Stir together. I used a spatula.

Spread 1/3 of the sauce evenly over bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking dish. Place 4 uncooked lasagna noodles on top of sauce. Do not overlap noodles. Spread 1/2 of cream cheese mixture over noodles. Cover cheese mixture with 1/2 the vegetable mixture, more sauce, and top evenly with 6 slices provolone cheese and 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers with 4 noodles, rest of the cream cheese mixture, vegetables, sauce, and remaining cheeses. Place in oven for 35 minutes or until lasagna is hot and bubbling

Let lasagna stand for 10 minutes before serving-yeah right who can wait that long for this?

I swiped this recipe from Paula Deen from the Foodnetwork website. I really loved this recipe. I think that it will be great even when I don't have all of those thing because I can use what is in season or what I froze from the previous season and leave out things like mushrooms if I don't have them.

zucchini pineapple bread

I decided on Friday to make some zucchini bread while I was in the middle of my 9 loads of laundry.  Heaven forbid I just use a regular recipe so here is what I found.

Zucchini pineapple bread

3 eggs 

1 cup oil (olive or canola)

2 cups sugar 

2 teaspoons vanilla 

2 cups coarsely grated zucchini (I used fresh but frozen would work too)

1 cup pineapple (fresh) or 1 can crushed pineapple

3 cups flour 

2 teaspoons baking soda 

1 teaspoon salt 

1/2 teaspoon baking powder 

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 

3/4 teaspoon nutmeg 

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional-because I didn't have any)

1 cup raisins 

In bowl beat eggs and add oil, sugar, and vanilla; keep beating until thick and foamy. Stir in the zucchini and pineapple. 

 In a another bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg. A third at a time, add this mixture into the pineapple egg mixture and stir after each third. Add the walnuts and raisins, blend. 

Divide the batter into 2 greased and flour-dusted loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in to the center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Turn out onto 

wire racks to cool thoroughly. Be Careful when removing from the pans, the center of one of mine fell out and made a mess everywhere!

I took this to a class I had on Sunday night and everyone loved it.  I know Phil enjoyed it.  Personally I don't think I am a fan of cooked pineapple right now.  I just seems too sweet to me.  I got this recipe from simply recipes and they got it from a Sunset magazine from 1974.

popped wheat

So I went to a Relief Society thing about wheat the other day they lured me in with promise of learning how to make popped wheat.  Well it didn't happen and I was quite sad because I had made the other items before but the popped wheat sounded intriguing.  So I did it today!

Popped Wheat

Boil wheat berries for 45 minutes,  (1 hour is what one recipe said but I got tired of waiting after 45 mins)

scoop out a ladle of berries dry on paper towel to dry some

Heat oil in a frying pan

pour berries in and watch them go

I let them go until it 

a) got scary with the berries bursting open or 

b) the amount of berries looked like hardly anything and stopped going crazy with bubbles

(Normally b was the case)

It doesn't look or taste like popcorn it makes me think of corn nuts so I consider the popped wheat a misnomer and should be renamed wheat nuts-but it doesn't sound quite as yummy.

This is combined from a couple different recipes, I didn't totally like any of the so I made up my own version from about 2 google pages worth of results.  I did find one that said to just put regular berries in a hot pan with the lid on, but I had already started cooking the wheat by then so I haven't tried it yet, maybe next time.

cherry pineapple pie

I decided to make Phil one of his favorites foods last week and made pie.  We have a pie cherry tree in the backyard so I got up there and picked just enough cherries for a pie.  I also had pineapple so I put them together to make a pie.  Phil really enjoyed it but I didn't eat any of it.  I am just not a big pie fan.  I got this recipe from allrecipes.com from Carolyn Bartley.

Cherry Pineapple Pie

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup flour

 1/8 teaspoon salt

2  (14.5 oz) cans pitted cherries 

2 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple drained

3 drops almond extract

1 pastry for double crust pie

2 TBS butter

1 TBS milk

additional sugar for crust

Combine the sugar, flour and salt.  Stir in cherries, pineapple, and extract.  Line a 9 inch pie pan with the crust.  Fill with fruit mixture top with the butter.  Top with lattice crust.  Brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake at 375 for 50-60 minutes or until bubbly and golden.

Celebration

So to celebrate Phil's homecoming I decided to make his favorite food, Beef Stew!  I already had the meat in the freezer and I found a packet of mix in the basement so it wasn't really that hard.  The worst part was chopping the carrots that decided to go flying across the cutting board after a freed them from the main part of the carrot stick.  I think that it turned out pretty good.  Though I did cheat and ended up forgetting to put in the onion. Oh well no one could tell.

Tomato Taco Soup

This was last night's yummy dinner.  It all started out on Saturday when I wanted nachos for lunch and had leftover beans, corn, and tomatoes.  

Tomato Taco Soup

1 can tomato soup with the water added

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can corn

1/2 tube of sausage (spicy or regular) 

1/2 can of mixed veggies (optional)

dash of chili powder

very little bit of red pepper 

dash of garlic salt

Put it all in a pot and cook until it boils.  Serve with Tortilla chips and cheese.

Mango Papaya Salsa

1 mango
1 papaya
1 large red bell pepper
1 avocado (optional-we didn't use)
1/2 sweet onion
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons lime juice or balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

1. Peel, seed and dice all fruits and veggies. Snip cilantro.
2. In bowl, mix everything together. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerator at least 30 minutes to let flavors mingle.

Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes

I decided that oatmeal didn't really sound very good for breakfast today so I made pancakes instead.

Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes

1 cup Milk

3/4 wheat (not flour, but the whole kernel)

1/4 cup oil

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

2 mashed bananas

Put the milk and wheat in a blender on high for about 4 minutes, add the other ingredients into the blender, mix on low and cook on griddle.

Asparagus Portobello Pasta

So this was dinner last night for us.  I didn't actually cook dinner on Tuesday because it was free pancake day at IHOP, which we didn't get because the line was out the door and Phil had to get to work.  I went grocery shopping on Tuesday and I found some really cheap portobello mushrooms so I thought I would try them.  Well this is what I found and Phil seemed to like it at least.

Asparagus Portobello Pasta

2 cans asparagus ( I used 1 small ziplock baggy from the freezer)

1 can sliced black olives (didn't use these because I didn't have a can)

1 Tablespoon olive oil

3 (2) portobello mushrooms

1 can peas, drained

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

1 can tomato paste

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1.  Cook the pasta according to directions

2.  Heat oil in a large skillet, Saute mushrooms, peas, and seasoning.

3.  In food processor or blender,puree asparagus, olives, tomato paste and parmesan.  Move to a small sauce pan and warm up.  Put on top of pasta, then add the mushroom and pea mixture on top of that.

potato pancakes, and pitas

So on Tuesday I decided that I would make some porcupine balls, pitas and potato pancakes. The pitas were probably my favorite part of the dinner though we didn't actually eat them with dinner.  The potato pancakes were also quite yummy, since I grated actual potatoes, not the frozen kind(insert oohs and aahhs).  I plan on putting the recipe on here sometime soon but I have to get the recipe from home and get to it while online, because our internet is no longer working sadly enough.

Pizza and bread in a bag.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

1 1/4 cup flour

1 package or 2 1/4 teaspoons of Active dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup warm water

2 tablespoons olive oil (or veggie)

1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour

Preheat oven to 400 F.  In mixing bowl combine flour, yeast, salt, water and oil.  With wooden spoon stir in the whole wheat flour.  (if it doesn't all stir in, it will be kneaded in) Knead dough to make a moderately stiff and elastic (6-8 min)  Divide dough in half, cover. Let rest for 10 min.  Layer pizza pan with cornmeal, it doesn't stick either way though I just like having an excuse to use my cornmeal.  Poke holes in the dough after it is spread out so it doesn't get air bubbles in it, I've tried it without doing this and it looks really goofy.  Bake crust for 10 min on 400 without toppings once toppings are added bake for another 10 min.  

Bread in a Bag

3-3 1/2 cups flour

1 package rapid rise or regular yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups very warm water (125-130 F)

2 tablespoons margarine, softened

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

cooking spray

In ziploc plastic bag, mix:

1 1/2 cup flour

1 package yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

Add to bag:

1 1/2 cups very warm water

2 tablespoons margarine, softened

Close bag. Knead and work the bag wih fingers to blend the ingredients.

Add to bag:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

Close bag and work dough until flour is well blended.

Add to bag:

1 cup flour to make a soft dough

Close bag and work dough until flour is well blended.

Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface.  Knead until smooth and elastic, about 8-10 min.  Spray dough with cooking spray; cover with bag; let rest 10 minutes.  Punch dough down.  Divide into two equal pieces.  roll eat to 11 by 7 inch rectangle.  Roll up tightly from the short end; pinch seam and ends to seal.  Place, seam side down in two bread loaf pans coated with cooking spray.  Cover; let rise in warm, draft free place until double in size, about 1 hour.  Bake 375 degrees F for 25-30 min or until done.  Remove from pans; cool on wire racks.

I thought the whole idea of making it in a bag sounded really fun, but I didn't want to use a big bag on it when I already had a mixing bowl out with some dough residue on it.  It worked well in that too.  I got this recipe from our ward emergency preparedness fair this summer and it is from the Utah State University Extension.  I thought that it would be useful for working with kids because it is a bit more contained than a normal bread recipe.  

Pizza and Bread night

Since we started dating Sunday night means pizza is for dinner.  I think it a carry over from my family but we make it fresh not a frozen one.  I also end up making the bread for the week (I cheat and use the bread machine)  But not tonight and made it for real, but it was an easy recipe where you make it in a ziploc baggy.  I used a bowl so I didn't waste a valuable baggy but it was really easy for wheat bread.  Well I will have to put the recipes up later.  I have some not so yummy cleaning up to do...

Spinach Night!

Okay the reason for the spinach is that we had two bags sitting in our fridge and they were really bugging Phil and he told me to go ahead and make a spinach salad for dinner.  Ha!  I don't think so, make something someone told me too, I think not!  So I decided to do a bit of research and found this scrumptious little morsel online this evening, I call it spinach latkes and tomatoes (it was easy for Phil to remember).  I have also been in the mood for chocolate (but when aren't I?)  so I decided I wanted to try to make some brownies too, and since I was in the spinach mindset, why not?

Spinach Latkes

2 cans of either diced or plum tomatoes

1 egg

1 can of potatoes or a few boiled potatoes

2 handfuls of fresh spinach or really a can would probably work (but I think it is nasty looking)

1/4 cup flour

bread crumbs

salt and pepper

mozzarella cheese

Parmesan cheese

olive oil

canola oil

1 squirt of lemon juice or 1/4 teaspoon zest

Preheat oven to 450

1.   Coat a baking dish with olive oil and place the tomatoes inside.  "Roast" the tomatoes in the oven until the skin in blistered or until you are ready for them (if you do this then just before they are finished turn off the heat and just let them sit in the oven to stay hot)

2.   Place all of the spinach in a food processor and grind to a paste.  If you don't have one just chop it as finely as possible.

3.  Mash the potatoes and once finished add in spinach, egg, some parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.  Stir.  Mix in bread crumbs until the mixture holds together.  

4.  Make into patties and coat with flour.

5.  Fry in a large skillet until lightly browned or for 3-5 minutes on each side.

Serve on the tomatoes and grate mozzarella cheese on top.

warning:  These latkes will be very green, but tasty!

Brainy Brownies from the sneaky chef's website

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup Purple Puree

1/4 cup plus 2 teaspoons Flour Blend

1/4 cup rolled oats, ground in a food processor

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

cooking spray

optional extra boost:  1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Spray the bottom of a 13 by 9 or 9 by 9 inch baking pan

Melt the butter and chocolate chips together in double boiler or in the microwave (checking often) Remove from heat and let cool.  Meanwhile in another bowl, stir together the eggs, vanilla, sugar, Purple Puree.  Combine the purple egg mixture with the cooled chocolate mixture.

In a mixing bowl, stir together Flour Blend, cocoa powder, oats and salt.  Add this to the chocolate mixture and blend thoroughly.  Mix in the chopped nuts, and pour the entire thing in the baking dish.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.  Allow to cool completely in pan before cutting or eating.  

Purple Puree

1 1/2 cups raw spinach

3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (NO syrup or sugar added)

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

1-2 tablespoons of water

Put in at food processor or blender and smash it together until it is as smooth as possible.

Makes just enough for the brownies.

Flour Blend

1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon flour

1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon wheat flour

1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon wheat germ

Mix together and makes just enough for the brownies.

I really loved these brownies and Phil didn't know that all of that stuff was in there until I told him and then he didn't really believe me.  This recipe can be found at www.thesneakychef.com under the free recipes.  I haven't tried the others but going off of this one the others are probably wonderful too.  The brownies were fudgy and had little different texture but I think that it was the chocolate chips because mine got too hard before I baked it and they were all lumped together.  

it begins...

So I am creating this blog because I often make dinner using random recipes that I find online and save on my computer or in either a 1950's cookbook with bookmarks to my favorites.  The problem is that I often like to go to other people's kitchens and cook them dinner and I don't have my favorite recipes with me!  So I am now solving this problem by putting all of my favorite recipes online so I can look them up on any computer!  Feel free to use them, I normally change quite a few things from what the original said (I haven't decided which I will write down though).  I hope you enjoy!