Gingerbread Liege Waffles

I wanted to make gingerbread waffles to celebrate Christmas Eve, Ryan said he thought the overnight Liege waffle we make would be good- So we combined them!

Here's the changes we made:
Make a recipe of the waffle love liege waffles we have posted before.

mix dry ingredients as directed but substitute brown sugar for white sugar
then add:
1 Tbsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cloves

In the liquid ingredients, leave out the honey and add 1/4 cup molasses.

Cook as directed and serve with whipped cream or Vanilla-bean orange butter:

1 stick butter softened to room temp
1 vanilla bean
orange zest from 1 orange.

Cut vanilla bean in half and scrap seeds. Put the butter, seeds and orange zest in a bowl. Beat until smooth.

Cinnamon Pie

I made this for Thanksgiving - I'm not sure if I like it or not. It's best with a big scoop of whipped cream!

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
3 large eggs
1 can evaporated milk
1/4 cup all purpose flour
3 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon (skimpy quarter cup)
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pie crust - large!
Powdered sugar for dusting
Directions:


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Roll and fit a pie crust into a standard 9 inch pie dish. Crimp the edges and place the pie crust in the refrigerator.
Place the cream cheese and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat of high until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Scrape the bowl, then beat in the eggs. Scrape the bowl again, then set the mixer on low and mix in cream, flour, cinnamon, vanilla, salt and nutmeg until very smooth.
Pour the cinnamon filling into the prepared pie pan. Bake for 35 minutes, until the center seems set when jiggled. Bake another 5 minutes if needed. Cool completely.
When ready to serve, dust the top of the pie with powdered sugar. Cut and serve with whipped cream if desired.

Mary's Chocolate Chip Cookies

First off, you should know I do not like chocolate chip cookies! Growing up we always made what was supposedly the Mrs. Field's recipe. Everyone but me liked them. Well, my next door neighbor has brought us chocolate chip cookies a couple of time and hers are delicious! I finally asked her for the recipe. Mary sent me a picture of the recipe and it says "Neiman Marcus Cookies" as the title. They have ground oats in them - That's the big difference I noticed between the ones I usually make and the ones Mary makes. I also asked her what kind of chocolate chips she uses- maybe that's what makes a difference. I always buy the cheaper store brand chocolate chips and maybe I shouldn't. She uses Nestle semi-sweet chocolate chips or the Ghiradelli chocolate chips in the silver or gold bag. She says she usually halves the recipe. She doesn't add nuts.

2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
2 cups brown sugar (from the notes Mary had on the side of the recipe - I don't think she halves this?)
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
5 cups old-fashioned oats, ground to flour in a food processor or blender
2 (11.5 oz) packages semi-sweet chocolate chips
8 oz milk chocolate Hershey bar crushed or 1 (11.5 oz) package milk chocolate chips (Mary says she just uses semi-sweet - not sure if she adds semi-sweet in place of these or skips it all together.)
2 cups chopped nuts, optional

Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Mix in flour, salt, soda, baking powder and ground oats. Then gently stir in chocolate and nuts. Roll into balls with a cookie scoop (I don't even know what one is) and bake on a greased cookie sheet for 8 to 10 minutes at 375 degrees.

Update 4/10/2017 - I finally made these myself. We did a giant cookie for Myles to use to ask a girl to prom. I did half the entire recipe (including the brown sugar). I used 12 oz. of Semi-sweet Nestle Toll house chocolate chips and 4 oz of Kroger brand milk chocolate chips. To make the giant cookie, I pressed the dough into a quarter sheet cookie pan and baked at 350 for about 20 to 22 minutes.

Pumpkin Bread

I went to Kneaders last week for lunch with Mom, Grandma, Jessica and Olivia for Mom's birthday. We tried their pumpkin bread while we were there. It's delicious! I wanted to find a recipe to make it at home. I did find several that claimed to be the Kneader's recipe, but it had chocolate chips in it. The one we tried did have chocolate chips. Also they all had butter or oil in them with the pumpkin puree and I wondered why when you can use pumpkin instead of oil in recipes. So once again- I made up my own! The recipes I looked at had too much sugar, so I reduce it some. Some had baking powder, some didn't - I'm not sure why. I need to investigate that some more. I added it, but the main recipe I looked at didn't have any. Something to ponder for next time.  I think next time I need to add more spices too. I like spicy bread, and it wasn't very strong.

 1 (30 ounce) can pumpkin puree (or what ever is left after your hubby takes out 1/4 cup for a pumpkin pie protein shake)
4 eggs
2/3 cup water
2 cups white sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 TBSP pumpkin pie spice (I actually had it in the cupboard! or use a combo of ginger, cloves and nutmeg instead)

Mix the eggs, pumpkin and water until blended. Add the sugar, baking powder, salt, soda and spices. Stir in the flour until combined. Pour into greased and floured bread pans and bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 min for mini loaves and 55-60 min for regular loaves. Mine made 1 big loaf and 4 small loaves. The calories are a little hard to figure.... If it makes 30 servings they are about 120 calories each. or 100 calories for 36 servings.

Zucchini, Chive and Cheddar Cheese Bread

Today I am making salsa. YUM! For lunch I decided to eat salsa, but what to put it on? Yesterday I made this bread and thought I'd give that a try- a spoonful of salsa over the bread. Delicious!! Here is the bread recipe I found and made minimal changes. That blog has some other quick bread recipes that I think I should try sometime. But this one is a nice change from the usual sweet breads we make with zucchini.

4 cups flour
4 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 cup milk
2 egg
1/2 cup melted butter or 1/4 c greek yogurt
2 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
2 cup shredded zucchini, drained on a paper towel - use another paper towel on top to push out extra moisture

Put lemon juice in bottom of a 2 cup measure. Add enough milk to make 2 cups and set aside. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt. Add eggs to milk. Beat well. Slowly pour melted butter into the milk. Pour the milk mixture into the flour all at once and mix just until combined. Do not over mix. Stir in the chives, zucchini and cheese. Grease and flour 2 (5x9) bread pans. Pour batter evenly into pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes on a cooling rack. Then remove the bread from pans and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack before cutting. We couldn't wait that long. It was too yummy. I think next time I might skip the butter and see if that makes a difference. It will save on calories.

Homemade Salsa

I came up with this recipe last year, but I  never posted it. I took some pictures, but I'm feeling too lazy to add them so I will just do the recipe. This recipe is very easy and flexible. I vary the amount of onions and peppers every time I make it. The secret is roasting the tomatoes first. Today I roasted the peppers too. It is great! I did extra cilantro and only 2 large onions this time too. And a few hot peppers from our garden we grew this year called black Hungarian peppers.  I didn't have any limes so I just added an extra 1/4 c lime juice. The one thing you can't skimp on is the lime juice if you plan on bottling it. You have to make sure you have enough acid so that bacteria don't grow in the bottles on the shelves. You all know I like easy recipes so today I didn't even remove all the tomato skins - I didn't remove any of them the last time I made it and you can't tell the difference! Here's my recipe:

40 tomatoes 5-6 onions (2 and ½ pounds)
6 chili peppers 1 cup lime juice
4 limes 2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin 3 TBSP salt
½ TBSP pepper 1 bunch of cilantro
3-6 bell peppers – something I read said not to use green, that red or yellow taste better, but I’ve done both.

Cut the tomatoes in half and put on a baking sheet skin side up. Roast under the broiler in the oven until skins start to turn black. Remove the skins and puree or finely chop in a blender or food processor.  Roast the chili peppers until they start to blacken. Chop the onions and peppers, and add to the tomatoes.  Remove skins and seeds of chili peppers, puree and add. Finely chop cilantro add to tomatoes. Add all the spices and lime juice. Squeeze fresh limes into salsa too.This is best fresh, but it can be bottled too. Bring salsa to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. While cooking the salsa, heat sterilize the jars in 1 inch boiling water. Soften the lids in hot, but not boiling water. Hot Pack- Fill the hot jars with hot salsa to the bottom of the rim (about 1 inch from top). Clean the top of jar before placing the lid. Tighten a ring over the lid and then turn back ¼ turn (loosen them just a little). Put them in the hot water bath canner and make sure water covers the jars by 2 inches.  Bring to a rolling boil and allow to boil for 20-30 minutes. Remove from water bath and cool.  

Apple Bread

This recipe is SUPER EASY! I found a recipe for apple bread I wanted to try, but they made it too hard, so I simplified mine. It turned out great. We had it at our Halloween party too! I tried to get a couple of pictures before we ate it all!

1 spice cake mix
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup milk
3 eggs
2 cups coarsely shredded, tart apples (2 medium) - Don't bother to peel them

Topping  ( I just used the same cinnamon sugar mix we have in the cupboard for toast)
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour bottoms only of two 8x4-inch loaf pans.
In large bowl, beat together the cake mix, oil, eggs and milk. Stir in apples. Divide batter evenly between pans.  Mix cinnamon and sugar. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar over batter in pans.
Bake 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pans to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

Baked Luncheon Pinwheels

Today we had our Halloween craft party at Olivia's house. Everyone had to bring finger food for lunch/snacks while we painted. I found a recipe on the internet (Where else? -- unless it was out of a mystery novel), and made some changes. Everyone liked it! Jess said they'd be great to serve at a shower. Olivia said Charlotte even liked them. They may not be healthy, but they are yummy!

1 tube crescent dough rolls
Deli sliced turkey (or ham)
Colby Jack Cheese (or Swiss) cut in slices (I used about 8-10 slices)
1/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 Tbsp. poppy seeds
2 Tbsp. yellow mustard (It might have just been 1 and 1/2 - how much do you like mustard?)
1 Tbsp. dried minced onion
½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce


Preheat oven to 350ºF and grease a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
Roll out your crescent dough into a large thin rectangle (Overlap the roll edges to make 1 large sheet of dough.) Top with ham and cheese slices.Starting on the long side, roll the dough up tightly. Pinch the ends together and place with the seam facing down. Cut into 12 pieces. Place the rolls in your baking dish, evenly spaced.
In a small bowl, combine the butter, poppy seeds, mustard, onion, and Worcestershire sauce. Spoon the sauce evenly over the rolls.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until lightly browned.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies And Pumpkin Pie Bars

Pierce LOVES pumpkin pie for every birthday instead of cake. We are having a party for him today, and we don't have quite enough pie. Both he and Ryan voted for extra dessert in the form of pumpkin brownies. After looking at LOTS of internet recipes, here's what we came up with:

Brownie Mix prepared according to package directions
8 Ounce Softened Cream Cheese
3/4 Cup Pumpkin
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
2 Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
1 Large Egg
4 Teaspoons Cinnamon
1/2 heaping Teaspoon Nutmeg
2 Tablespoon Flour

Preheat oven to 350. Make the brownies and put 3/4ths of the batter in a greased 9x13 pan. (or line the pan with tinfoil and spray that to make removal from the pan easier!) I should have put more brownie batter on the bottom of this one!

Mix  cream cheese, pumpkin and sugar until smooth. Mix in vanilla, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg, & flour.
Spread pumpkin evenly over brownie layer. Then put spoonfuls of the remaining brownie mix on top of the pumpkin. Use a knife to swirl the brownie through the pumpkin layer.
Bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cool completely.

Now what to do with all the left over pumpkin from the 29 oz can I just opened.....Another internet search and I discovered lots of similar recipes with varying amounts of pumpkin - I don't think it matters how much you put in! I have around 3 cups left so here is what I did:

1  package spice cake mix
5 Tbps butter, melted
1 egg
3 c pumpkin (or what ever is left in the can)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 can evaporated milk
3 eggs
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
3 Tbs butter, chilled
1/4 c brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch pan.

Set aside 1 cup of cake mix. Combine remaining cake mix with melted butter and 1 egg and mix until well blended; spread mixture in the bottom of the pan.
Mix together pumpkin, brown sugar, milk, 3 eggs and spices. Pour over cake mix in the pan.
In a small bowl mix the remaining 1 c of cake mix with 1/4 c brown sugar. Cut in the 3 Tbs butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over pumpkin mixture.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely and serve with whipped cream.

Hazelnut, Cranberry and Chocolate Biscotti

Our new favorite TV show is The Great British Baking Show. I love it! Even Ryan has gotten in to it. He made Kouign Amann and Pan au lait last week after watching them make it on the show. Both Yummy! This week, the show featured biscotti - so he made that too! I think I need to buy their cookbook. It's kind of an adventure in baking - you have to translate from British English to American English. Thank goodness we have Google. Fairy cakes are cupcakes, a cocktail stick is a tooth pick. They use castor sugar - somewhere between granulated and powdered on texture. Treacle is molasses. Some of the different kinds of ginger I have no idea where to find here. But it's fun. And EVERYTHING is done by weight - pull our your kitchen scale! Here's a variation of something Ryan found online and we all loved it! I think next time we should use white chocolate chips.

3 large eggs
375 gm granulated sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp mace
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp ginger
150 gm chopped hazelnuts
112 gm cried cranberries (we didn't have quite enough so we used some raisins too)
112 gm semi-sweet chocolate chips
375 gm flour (FYI- this is about 3 cups)
Slivered almonds to sprinkle on top

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat the eggs and sugar on medium speed for 10 minutes. Fold in the spices. Add hazelnuts, cranberries, and chocolate chips. Mix in flour - the mixture is very thick and sticky. Dust counter top with flour. Turn dough out to coat. Divide into 3 sections. Dust each with flour and roll into a log 25 cm by 5 cm. (Yup, I had to use a ruler!) Place on a baking sheet lined with a nonstick mat. (I think next time we should use parchment paper to make moving them eaiser) Sprinkle with almonds and bake for 30 mins or until a tooth pick comes out clean. Transfer the loaves onto a cutting board and slice on a diagonal into 1cm thick slices. Lay the slices onto baking sheet and bake an additional 7-10 minutes until crisp. Let cool on the baking sheet.

Key Lime Pie

Here's the recipe for you Olivia! Thanks for coming over and eating pie and biscotti with us.

I found a bunch of key limes turning brown in the produce drawer of the refrigerator yesterday and decided it was time to do something with them. Key lime pie sounded great. I found the most highly reviewed recipe on allrecipes.com,but I didn't have the sour cream it called for. I did have Greek yogurt though. So some more internet searching and I found this recipe that was pretty much the same but with Greek yogurt. I combined the two and the pie is fabulous. Olivia suggested adding coconut- I will have to try that next time.  The crust came from Sally's Baking Addiction - another fabulous recipe blog!

Graham Cracker Crust
10 full sheet graham crackers (about 1 and 1/2 cups crumbs)
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup sugar

Put the cracker in a food processor or blender and blend until fine crumbs. Add the sugar and mix. Add the butter and mix until it resembles course crumbs, Pour into a 9 inch pie plate and press firmly around the edges to make the crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 min. Remove from oven and cool while making the filling.

Key Lime Filling
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
3/4 cup key lime juice
1 tablespoon grated lime zest

The key limes are PAIN! they are so tiny. I think I used about 15 of them and still had to use a couple of regular limes to get enough juice. I used some of each to get  the zest as well. - Its easier to zest first and then squeeze. That part takes forever. Once you get the juice, the rest is easy. Pour the sweetened condensed milk into a bowl, add the yogurt and mix. Then add the zest and juice and mix well. Pour into the cooled crust and bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. (The recipe said not to brown it, but just until tiny pinhole bubbles burst on the surface - I had a few of those - not many.)  Chill the pie completely (We did overnight). Serve with whipped cream. You could add some lime slices or sprinkle with coconut - thanks for the suggestions Olivia!

Peasant Bread

Yesterday we made peasant bread. We were looking for something we could take to a neighbor that just had surgery and Adria remembered we made this awhile ago and suggested it again. It's really easy and the kids all love it. Probably because it's white bread! And we never buy white bread. We ate it warm with butter, honey and cheese. Adria called it "junk food dinner" but it is so yummy! We made 2 loaves and took one to our neighbor (with some peach cobbler).

The original recipe is VERY wordy, so I reposted it, with a few minor changes.

4 cups warm water
1 heaping Tbsp sugar
1 heaping Tbsp yeast
8 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt

In a large bowl, mix the water, sugar and yeast. Let sit for  about 10 mins until foamy and bubbly. Add salt and flour. Mix well. The dough will still be VERY wet and not like typical bread dough.  Cover with plastic wrap sprayed with non-stick spray and let raise in a warm place until double - about an hour.

Use butter to grease two (2 quart or 2.5 liter) Pyrex bowls. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Using 2 forks or spoons, pull the dough away from sides of bowl to punch down. Divide dough in half with a spoon or fork and scoop each half into a bowl. I used a spoon in each hand and tried to pick up half the dough and quickly put it into the bowl. I didn't get it all on the first try. Allow the bread to rise 20 to 30 minutes until it is just over the top of the bowl.

Bake for 15 min at 425 degrees, then turn the oven down to 375 degrees and back for another 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Dump the bread out of bowl onto a cooking rack. If they looks a little pale when they are turned out, you can put them back into the oven without the bowl, bottom side up for another few minutes. I've never done that part - mine always looked ok. Serve warm with your favorite butter, jam, honey or cheese.

Julie's Peach Cobbler

Last Sunday, our friend Julie invited us over for dessert. She made homemade peach cobbler. It was fabulous! Julie is one of the best cooks I know. I asked her for the recipe and this is what she sent me. I tried making it today. Mine seemed to cook much faster. As I recall, I think she sprinkled the cinnamon sugar mix over it during the baking and not before it baked- I wonder if that made a difference?  I didn't double the cinnamon sugar mixture and I still had a lot left over! As I typed this, I realized I put in too much lemon juice. I read "tsp" as "Tbsp," but it was still good.

Here's her notes:
I slice enough peaches to give me a good base (between double and triple the recipe). Because the peaches were so sweet, I kept the sugar the same but doubled the other items, and I doubled the topping recipe. (She cooked it in a large 9x13 dish.)

Here's her recipe, Serves 4:

8 large peaches, peeled and thinly sliced
1/4 c sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
3 tsp cornstarch


1 c flour
1/4 c sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbsp butter, unsalted, chilled and cut into pieces
1/4 c boiling water

Mix together 3 Tbsp sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon

1. preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Combine peaches, sugars, spices, juice and cornstarch. Toss to coat evenly. Pour into a 2 qt baking dish. Bake for 10 min.
3. Combine flour, other sugars, baking powder and salt. Blend in butter with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in water until just combined.
4. Remove peaches from oven, drop spoonfuls of topping over them. Sprinkle entire cobbler with cinnamon and sugar. Bake until topping is golden. About 30 minutes.

Fast and Easy Gluten-Free Blender Muffins

We needed a quick breakfast this morning before 8 a.m. church. I found a recipe that looked easy last night and thought I'd give it a try. However, it does not take 20 minutes like it says, or else I got started later than I thought. They did finish cooking before church and I pulled them out of the oven as we walked out the door. :-( No one got one because they were too hot to eat. So we had them for lunch- Maybe that's why they were SOOO good. We had all missed breakfast.

2 ripe bananas - we used frozen ones I thawed in the microwave for 30-60 seconds
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
2 Tablespoons honey
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon - I like cinnamon, so I used a heaping one.
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups old fashioned oats

Toppings: chocolate chips - the only one the kids really wanted, shredded coconut, blueberries, raspberries, or nuts (no one wants nuts!)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray muffin pan with cooking spray Mix everything but the toppings in blender. Put the liquids (yogurt, applesauce, egg, etc) in blender first. Don't make the mistake I did of putting the oats in first - It doesn't blend well and you have to stir it around. Blend until well mixed. Fill greased muffin tins 3/4 full. top with desired topping. Bake for 15 min, until toothpick comes out clean. Makes 12 muffins - around 105 calories each without toppings.

Four Cheese Pesto Chicken Pizza

We decided to make pizza with our pesto. Yummy!  And I must write it down so I don't forget it. Genna and Adria ate 3 or more pieces and that's saying a lot! 

 

Cracker pizza crust - prepared according to directions to make 2 pizzas.

1 cup pesto

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

3 oz feta cheese - crumbled

4 oz fresh mozzarella, broken into pieces ( we used the sliced fresh mozzarella from Costco)

sun dried tomatoes (we used 6)

artichoke heart sections (we used about 16-18 small ones)

After cooking the crusts, spread half the pesto onto each one. A spatula works great for this. 

Top with the cheeses, artichoke heart sections cut in half and the sun dried tomatoes cut into small pieces.

Finish baking according to crust directions. We cut our pizzas into 12 slices and each slice is about 185 calories. 

Pesto

We have basil that needs to be used, so I made pesto - first time ever. Usually it's too garlicy and oily, but I found a recipe that I modified and I think we will either have it on pizza or pasta tonight. Ryan said it is good!

2 cups basil, leaves and smaller stems - take out the larger hard ones.
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup olive oil

In a food processor pulse basil, garlic, and Parmesan cheese until smooth. Scrap down the sides of the bowl and make sure everything is uniformly smooth. Slowly add the olive oil while food processor is running, stop once to scrap down the sides.

Bagels and Banana Bars with Brown Butter Frosting

We had a great time spending a week in Missoula! Kellie introduced me to a couple of new and delicious recipes! Neither of them are originals, but I am posting them here so I don't loose them. The night before we left, we made bagels for dinner and banana brownies the brown butter frosting for dessert. We added in a trip to the Big Dipper for ice cream too. We had so much good food on our trip- Chicken Osaka from Noodles Express and lunch at 5 on Black. Wish we had those restaurants here! I gained 4 pounds! Now its back to counting calories for me!

Homemade Bagels

This recipe is from Laura in the Kitchen.

Changes we made:
We doubled it, and then split the dough in half to make two flavors. We made 10 bagels out of each recipe instead of 8.

In half the dough, we added about 1/2 cup sharp white cheddar and 1/2 cup chopped roasted green chilies that Kellie had from New Mexico that she had frozen. We had to add extra flour to these because the chilies had a lot of moisture in them. Then we put more chilies in the middle of some of the bagels before we cooked them and then covered them with more cheese half way through the baking time. They were good - but the ones with extra chilies on them were a little spicy for the kids.

In the other half, we did plain ones topped with a mix a kosher salt, sesame seeds, and poppy seeds.

We wanted to try cinnamon raisin too - Next time!

Ingredients:
Skimpy 1 Tbsp Yeast
1-1/2 cups of Warm Water
2 Tbsp of Granulated Sugar plus 1 teaspoon
3-1/2 cups of Bread Flour - Yes you need bread flour  - Kellie uses it for everything!
2 tsp of Salt

For the water bath:
12 cups of Water
1/3 cup of Honey

1 Eggwhite beaten with a splash of water to make an egg wash

Process,

Mix together the warm water, 1 teaspoon of sugar and yeast, set aside for a few minutes to allow the yeast to activate. Add the flour, salt, and remaining sugar to yeast and water mixture. Add extra flour to make a soft, slightly tacky dough.Mix in mixer with a dough hook for about 8 minutes on medium-low speed until your dough is smooth. Place the dough in an oiled bowl and (flip it over to coat the whole thing with a bit of the oil) cover and allow it to rest for about an hour and a half.

Once the dough has risen (won’t be doubled in size but will be pretty risen by then).  Deflate dough gently and then divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. (We did 10.)

Form each piece into a ball by rolling it between the palm of your hand and your work surface. Try not to leave any cracks or joins in the dough - we had a hard time with this! Using one finger poke a hole (go all the way through) in the center of each ball and using both pointer fingers, poke them through the center hole and rotate your fingers to about a 2” hole (check out video for better and more clear instructions on this).

Place the bagels on a parchment paper lined baking sheet cover with a damp, lint free towel (we just sprayed ours with cooking spray- no covering with a towel) and allow to rest for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 425 degrees and place one of your oven racks on the top 2/3 of the oven. We put ours too high for our first batch. In a large, wide pot (I used my dutch oven for this) add your water and honey and bring to a gentle boil, reduce the heat to simmer, add 4 bagels at a time and cook them for 1 minute on each side and then transfer them on the same baking sheet (make sure you flip them back to top-side-up) repeat with all the bagels.

7) Brush the tops and sides of each one with the beaten egg white wash and bake them for about 20 minutes or until deeply golden brown all around (rotate your pan halfway through).

8) Allow them to cool for a few minutes on your baking sheet before moving them to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.

Banana Bars with Brown Butter Frosting

I have heard about how delicious brown butter is, but I have never tried it until now. YUM! Who knew cooking butter would make such a difference in the flavor. These were so good. I had one for breakfast the day we left and Kellie sent a plate of them home. We put them in the freezer when we got home. Ryan likes them better frozen. The recipe we used comes from The Girl Who Ate Everything, but Kellie says it's posted all over the internet on different blogs. Genna helped us make these too.

Banana Bread Bars:
1 ½ cups sugar
1 cup sour cream
½ cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 ¾ cups (3 or 4) ripe bananas, mashed ( Kellie just used 4 frozen ones and squeezes them out of the peel into the mixer)
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
½ cup chopped walnuts (optional) -  we skipped them

Browned Butter Frosting: ( I don't think Kellie measures this - just eye balled it!)
½ cup butter
3¾ cups powdered sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
about 3 tablespoons milk or half and half

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour 10x15 jelly roll pan or line with parchment paper (for thicker bars use a 9x13 pan and bake for 10 minutes longer than directed). Beat first four ingredients until creamy. Blend in bananas and vanilla for one minute. Add dry ingredients and blend for one minute. Stir in nuts and spread in pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown. Cool slighty until warm but not hot and frost with Browned Butter Frosting.

For the Browned Butter Frosting: Heat butter in saucepan over medium heat past the melting point until it is boiling and a delicate brown. Remove from the heat and immediately add the remaining ingredients. This should be thicker than a glaze and thinner than frosting. You can add milk to get it to the correct consistency. Using a spatula smooth over the top of the Monkey Squares immediately. The frosting will be easier to spread once it's on the warm bread.

Stromboli -OR- Filled Bread

A couple of weeks ago, we had cousin Ty spend the week with us. When he's been to our house before, he has complained about the amount of fruits and veggies we eat (more than he would like). So I was worried about what kind of food we could feed him. I had some frozen bread dough in the freezer, so I made Stromboli - They turned out great. These recipes are from www.rhodesbread.com, but I'm re-posting them with the changes I made to them.

Braided Athenian Bread

1 Loaf frozen bead, thawed to room temperature
1 Tbsp fresh minced garlic - THIS IS WAY TOO MUCH! I did 3 cloves, but should have done 1!
6 ounce can whole black olives, halved
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 tablespoons pimentos (original recipe is capers but I didn't have any)
1/3 to 1/2 cup green olives cut in half (mine were stuffed with capers)
1/4 cup sliced sun-dried tomatoes
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg, beaten
poppy seeds

Roll loaf into a 10x16-inch rectangle. Let rest 10-15 minutes.

In a bowl, combine garlic, olives, parsley, pimentos, tomatoes, yogurt and pepper.

Spread filling lengthwise in a 4-inch strip down center of dough. Sprinkle filling with Parmesan cheese.
Make cuts 1 1/2-inches apart on long sides of dough to within 1/2-inch of filling. Begin braid by folding top and bottom strips toward filling. Then braid strips left over right, right over left. Finish by pulling last strip over and tucking under braid.

Lift braid with both hands and place on a large, sprayed baking sheet. Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Cover with sprayed plastic wrap and let rise 30 minutes.

Remove wrap and bake at 350°F 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly and slice to serve.


This is the Athenian bread and the BBQ chicken before they were baked:

BBQ Chicken Stromboli

1 Loaf frozen bead, thawed to room temperature
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken ( I just used a can of chicken)
1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup chopped red onion (I used a regular onion)
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon smoked paprika (didn't have any so I skipped it)
1/2 cup BBQ sauce

Roll bread dough into a 10x13-inch rectangle. Combine chicken, cheese, onion, cilantro and paprika and mix well. Brush dough evenly with BBQ sauce to within 1/2 inch of edge. Spread chicken mixture evenly over BBQ sauce.

Starting with a long side, roll up jelly roll style. Pinch seam to seal. Place, seam side down, on a sprayed baking sheet. Turn ends under slightly. We brushed ours with egg and sprinkled with dried onion. Bake at 350°F 30-35 minutes. This one did take longer to cook than the other 2 did. I think I cooked it an extra 5 to 10 mins more to make sure the bread dough rolled in the center was cooked.



Deli Stromboli

This one was the kids favorite! I didn't even get a chance for a picture of the cooked one. They were a little flatter than I would have liked before I cooked them, but they tasted great!


1 loaf frozen bread dough, thawed to room temperature
1/4 cup chopped green onions
2-3 tablespoons dijon mustard
6 slices deli ham
6 slices deli turkey
4 slices provolone cheese (didn't have it so I used some colby jack)
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

 Roll dough into a 12x15-inch rectangle. The original recipe has you saute until tender 1/4 c red onion, 1/4 c chopped green or red pepper and 1/4 c mushrooms in 2 Tbsp olive oil while the dough rests. But I didn't do that. I just used fresh green onion instead.

Spread the dough with mustard, avoiding 1-inch around all edges. Layer middle third of dough, vertically, with ham, turkey and provolone cheese. Top with vegetables and mozzarella cheese. Fold one third of dough over fillings. Repeat with remaining side.

Place seam side down on a large sprayed baking sheet. Tuck ends under and cut some vents in the top using a sharp knife. Brush with egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Let rise 30 minutes. Remove wrap and bake at 350°F 25-30 minutes.

Broccoli and Cauliflower Pizza Crust

 We made these today for lunch after church. First time we tried it, and they turned our really well! The kids all ate it. Ryan and I pretty much followed the recipe on Gimme Delicious to make these crusts.

1 small head of broccoli (about 2-3 cups finely chopped)

2 eggs

¼ cup parmesan cheese

¼ cup mozzarella cheese

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

½ teaspoon Italian seasoning 

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a pizza pan with parchment paper. Our pans are about 14 inches wide. 

Pulse broccoli in a food processor until finely chopped (the same consistency as rice.) 

Place broccoli in a large bowl, cover and microwave for 1-2 minutes.  Pour onto a stack of paper towels and cover with paper towels and press out as much liquid as possible.  

In a large bowl, eggs, cheeses, and seasoning, then add broccoli. Mix until fully combined. Pour mixture into the pan and shape into a pizza crust. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until crust is lightly browned. Remove from the oven and add the pizza sauce, cheese and other toppings. Bake for an additional 10-12 minutes or until the cheese is fully melted. Cool for at least 5 minutes before cutting.

We did the same thing for the cauliflower pizza - But one head of cauliflower made about 4 cups of finely chopped cauliflower. So we increased the cheeses to 1/3 c each and used 3 eggs instead. 

Easy Baked Blueberry Banana Oatmeal

I have wanted to try baked oatmeal for awhile. I can across a recipe for some I wanted to try, but it required baking in 2 steps and I didn't want to do that. So I looked around for some other recipes and took all the EASIEST parts of the recipes and combined them. Here it is! And the best part is, my kids ate it!!! The boys particularly hate oatmeal, and they even said it was fine.

• 2 cups oats
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 bananas cut into slices
• 2 cups fresh blueberries (1 pint container)
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup agave (or honey or sugar- I had agave I needed to use)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup pecans, broken into pieces

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9x13 dish. Mix the oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder and salt. Add the banana slices and half of the blueberries and stir gently to coat.  Pour into prepared dish. Mix the egg, milk, agave, and vanilla. Pour over oats and stir around to make sure its uniformly distributed in the pan. Sprinkle with the other half of the blueberries and the the pecans. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes.

Blueberry Yogurt Crepe filling

We made crepes for breakfast today. We have a TON of blueberries from bountiful basket so we had to use those for filling. I found 2 recipes we used to make the filling. Here's what we came up with.

The yogurt filling is from Food and Wine. They use raspberries though - that sounds delicious too!

1 1/2 cups plain Greek-style yogurt
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Mix together and spread in crepes. Fold in half or roll and top with fresh blueberries and blueberry syrup. The syrup if from Laura Fuentes Better than IHOP blueberry syrup.


2 Tablespoons water
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
2 cups fresh blueberries
½ cup sugar
1 cup water

Mix 2 Tbsp water and cornstarch, set aside. In a pot, mix blueberries, sugar and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add cornstarch mixture. The sauce will thicken as it cools.

YUMMY! Of course we also did the standard Nutella, bananas and pecans too.

Myles' Strawberry Yogurt Birthday Cake

Myles is 17 this year! WOW! Where does the time go. He asked for "something fruity" for his birthday cake. I was surprised- I thought he'd ask for chocolate. We used chocolate ice cream instead. I found a flavor called Brownies on the moon - I'd never heard of it before, but Jessica said it was Brad's favorite and Ashlee loved it too! I found a recipe online for Strawberry Yogurt cake and decided to try that. I found the same recipe posted a couple of places but I think the original is from A Spicy Perspective. I'm re posting it here with the minor changes I made - mostly adding more lemon flavor and berries. Myles and everyone else really liked it!

1 cup 2 sticks butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces plain or vanilla, Greek yogurt
16 ounces fresh strawberries, chopped into small pieces
1/4 cup flour

Mix flour, soda and salt. In a separate bowl cream the butter, add sugar. Cream well. Add eggs and lemon juice. (I think I used 2 Tbsp, the original recipe only had 1, but I think I added extra.) Add about half the yogurt, mix in, then add half the flour mixture and mix in. Then repeat with the other half of the yogurt and flour mixing after each addition. Toss the berries with the 1/4 c flour. Gently stir into the batter. The batter seemed thicker to me than most cake batters. Pour into a well greased and floured Bundt pan. Bake at 325 for 60-70 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 min. (original recipe said 20 min) then dump onto a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, glaze the cake.

1 1/2 c powdered sugar
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon

Mix together and drizzle over the top of the cake.