Homemade Bread

I have been making bread for years because I am a bread snob.  I hate the cheap store bought bread and I am too cheap to buy the expensive stuff.  I have been experimenting with different recipes and this is my current favorite.  

Multi-Grain Bread

Adapted from: Favorite Family Recipes Book (a great recipe book!)

Ingredients:

3 cups warm water

1 1/2 Tbsp. yeast 

1/4 cup shortening

1/4 cup honey

1 Tbsp. salt

2 Tbsp. vital wheat gluten

1/2 cup ground flax seed

2 Tbsp. flax seed

2 Tbsp. chia seeds

1 Tbsp. wheat germ 

About 5 1/2 cups of flour (I use 1/2 white and 1/2 wheat flour)

Now this seems like a LOT of ingredients but you don't have to have the wheat gluten, flax seed, and chia seeds.  They are just an extra bonus of healthiness.   

Proof the yeast by adding it to the warm water.  When the yeast is bubbly add the rest of the ingredients and start mixing.  I use a stand up mixer but you can do this in a bread machine on the dough setting or by hand.  You will need to add a little bit of flour at the end to get the right consistency.  Add it cup by cup until perfect.  Knead for about 10 minutes.  Then put in a oiled bowl and let rise for an hour.  I never use a clean bowl.  I just add a little vegetable oil and put it back in the same bowl I mixed it in.  True confession.

When the dough as doubled in size.  Cut it into three equal pieces.  Then roll each piece out a pit to the size of a piece of paper and roll into a log.  Then place each one in three greased bread pans. Let rise again for another hour.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  If you desire brush some butter on the tops of each loaf in the last 5 minutes of baking.  

Cool on wire racks.  And enjoy!  I make this in batches and freeze what we aren't going to eat immediately.  

Caramel Apples

My kids love caramel apples.  As soon as there is a hint of fall in the air they beg for them.  

The most important rule for caramel apples is preparation.  You need the apples room temperatures, washed, dried, and Popsicle sticks inserted BEFORE you make the caramel.

 Caramel Apples
Adapted from Carnival Caramel Apples

 Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
a dash of salt
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
10-12 Popsicle sticks
10-12 medium tart apples, prepped (I love Granny Smiths!)

Decorations like gummy worms, gummy bears, sprinkles, candy corn, peanuts, chocolate, etc (optional)

Prep your apples by washing and drying them, and inserting Popsicle sticks.  Make sure they are at room temperature or the caramel will not stick!

Mix the first four ingredients in a small saucepan.  Stir constantly on medium heat for about 10 minutes.  Stir in sweetened condensed milk and cook until it reaches 248 degrees or firm ball stage. Remove from heat and add the vanilla.   

 Now dip the apples one by one and swirl to cover them.

 Set to dry on a Silpat or on wax paper.  Now let your kids add decorations!

Enjoy!

Salsa from my Garden

We had a rough gardening year.  The place I usually do my garden was unavailable so we did a garden with our friends who had never planted one before.  It went great until the deer at everything but the zucchini.  But the good news is a friend asked me to babysit her garden for a few weeks while she was gone!  Huzzah!  Produce!

So with my excess of tomatoes and peppers I decided to make salsa.  I love fresh salsa!  I usually make a salsa from The Pioneer Woman Cookbook.  Its amazing, but she uses canned tomatoes.

Fresh Garden Salsa

Ingredients:

6 ish tomatoes or one 28 oz. can of whole tomatoes

3 peppers or 2 10 ounce cans Rotel Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilies

1/2 onion

1 jalapeno

1 Tbsp. minced garlic

1/2 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. Kosher salt

1/4 tsp. cumin

juice of one lime

1/2 cup cilantro

First prep your veggies.  Core the tomatoes and scoop out the seeds.  Some are fine.  

Cut the peppers and jalapeno in 1/2 and remove seeds and the fleshy stuff inside.  

I doubled this recipe so not all of the ingredients fit in my blender at one time so I blended the tomatoes first and then the rest of the ingredients.

And ended up with wonderful fresh salsa which is our favorite condiment other than Ranch, but that is just my kids.

Mint Brownies

There was a woman from church when my husband and I got engaged who made these killer mint brownies.  My husband (fiance at the time) begged me to get the recipe from her.  Here it is.

Mint Brownies

Ingredients for Brownies

1 1/2 cup butter (melted)

3 cups sugar

3 tsp. vanilla 

6 eggs

3/4 cup cocoa

2 1/4 cup flour

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Ingredients for the mint frosting:

3 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup butter (softened)

1/2 tsp. peppermint extract

5 drops green food coloring

Ingredients for the Fudge Frosting:

1/2 cup butter

3 1/2 Tbsp. cocoa powder

1/3 cup milk

1 lb. powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2/3 cups chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Melt margarine in a microwave safe bowl, a big one so you don't have to wash another dish.  Stir in the cocoa and the sugar.  When its cool enough add the eggs one at a time.  Stir in vanilla, flour, nuts.  Mix well.  Spread in a greased jelly roll pan and bake for 30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.  

Cool for 1/2 hour and then frost with the mint frosting.  For the mint frosting mix the butter until fluffy and then add all the other ingredients. Beat well.

For the fudge frosting melt the butter, cocoa, and milk on a low heat.  If you heat it up too fast everything does not combine well and bad things happen.  I know, I've done it.  Bring just to a boil.  Take it off the heat and add the powdered sugar and vanilla.  Spread this carefully over the mint frosting so you have two layers.  Add nuts if you want.  Cool and enjoy!

Grasshopper Pie

Grasshopper Pie

Ingredients

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened

1/3 cups sugar

1 cup heavy whipping cream (whipped)

1 cup Grasshopper cookies (chopped)

3 drops green food coloring

For crust:

1/3 cup melted butter

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 cup chocolate or plain graham crackers (crushed)

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter then press into a pie pan.  Bake for 5 minutes.  Allow this to cool.

Mix the cream cheese and sugar until fluffy.  Then add the whipping cream and food coloring.  Once it is a smooth consistency add the cookies.  Mix by hand and add to the pie shell.  Refrigerate for three hours or over night.  

My Favorite Granola Recipe

Granola

I got this recipe from my sister years ago and have never tried another recipe since.  It makes a ton, but we go through it fast.

Erin's Granola

Ingredients

2/3 cup water
3 cups brown sugar

2 cups vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract (optional)

9 cups rolled oats (I don't like quick oats)
3 cups puffed rice cereal
2 tsp. salt
1 cup slivered almonds or sunflower seeds

You can also add additional things like dried fruit, chocolate chips, coconut, or anything really!

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.  First mix the oats, puffed rice, salt, and almonds or seeds in a giant bowl.  Set aside.

Stir the water and brown sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Boil for two minutes stirring to dissolve the brown sugar.

Add the vegetable oil and chosen extracts.

Add this liquid to the dry ingredients in the bowl.  Stir and make sure to get the bottom mixed in.

Pour into two large cookie sheets like jelly roll pans.

Bake for an hour stirring throughout at least twice.

Once the granola is nice and crunchy pull out of the oven and cool on parchment or wax paper.  I just spread it out on my kitchen table.  Then I put it in a big container like an old ice cream bucket.

We eat it on yogurt, in milk like normal cereal, and plain.  My daughter likes to mix in things and call her creations "trail mix".

Chicken, Kale, Quinoa Soup

One day we had people coming over I had completely forgotten about.  It was a Sunday and I don't go to the store on Sunday so I had to come up with something I already had.  We had chicken, kale, carrots from our garden, and some home made chicken broth.  I looked around and found a recipe with a of the things I had and we created magic.

Chicken, Kale, Quinoa Soup

Adapted from here

1 chicken breast (cooked any way you want but shredded or cut up small)
4 carrots (diced)
1 medium chopped onion
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
3 Tbsp. crushed garlic
6 cups chicken broth
2 bay leaves
2/3 cup quinoa (uncooked and rinsed)
1 tsp. thyme
a bunch of kale cut up small (about a cup)

    First cook the chicken breast then shred it or cut it up small.  Then in a saucepan heat up a couple of tbsp of olive oil.  When hot, add carrots and onions.  Season with salt and pepper.  When they are almost done add the garlic and cook for one more minute.  Place all of this in a large pot.  Add the chicken broth, bay leaves, and quinoa.  Bring to a boil.  Cover and cook for 15 minutes on medium or medium low.  Add the kale and the thyme and cook for 5 more minutes.  Add the chicken to the pot.  Discard the bay leaves or make it a game to find them.  We always thought we got a wish if we found one.

     We ate our soup with fresh, hot rolls.  I also think that Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top could be amazing.