Hippie Chow

I stole this super yummy recipe from this blog which I love.


I didn’t make it for kids, but my husband eats like a 6 year old and he loved it.

This recipe is really flexible, so I’ll tell you what I used last night and you can do your own thing.

HIPPIE CHOW

2c. water (or a rice cooker and whatever it requires)

1c. quinoa

Olive oil

3 smallish beets

2 carrots

1 regular brown potato

3 cloves garlic

1/8th of an onion

1 zucchini

1 yellow squash



1. Cook the quinoa. You can just put it in a rice cooker and cook it exactly the same way you would rice. If you don’t have a rice cooker, bring 2c. water to boil in a saucepan, add quinoa, bring back to a boil, cover, turn temp to medium-low and cook for 15-20 mins.

2. Heat oven to 400. Chop beets, carrots, and potatoes. Toss with olive oil and roast on cookie sheet until tender. (I threw some SeasonAll on as well since I was being lazy.) When they get close to being done, go to step 3.

3. Saute garlic & onion in olive oil. Meanwhile, chop zucchini and squash. Add zucchini and squash to onion/garlic and cook until tender (or just a couple minutes if you like them crunchy). Season w/ salt and pepper.

4. Throw some of everything in a bowl and top with a poached egg.

You can also put ketchup or hot sauce on it, but it tastes really good and doesn’t need extra flavoring; plus I hate ketchup.

Danish Puff

The holiday tradition in my family is that we eat Danish Puff for breakfast on Christmas morning. Here is our puff this year.



My mom makes them with the red and green marchino cherries for a bit of festive color but I am not a fan. Instead, I sprinkled mine with some holiday sprinkles.

Base layer
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 tablespoons water

Topping
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup water
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup flour
3 eggs

Creamy Vanilla Glaze
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 to 2 tablespoons warm water or milk

Chopped nuts

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Place 1 cup flour in medium bowl. Cut in 1/2 cup softened butter, using pastry blender or knives until there are coarse crumbs. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons water over mixture; toss with fork.

2. Shape into a ball and divide in half. Pat each half into 12x3-inch rectangle, about 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Mixture will be sticky. You can also make it into a wreath shape.

3. Filling layer- In a pan, heat 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup water to rolling boil; remove from heat. Quickly stir in almond extract and 1 cup flour. Stir vigorously over low heat about 1 minute or until mixture forms a ball; remove from heat. Add eggs; beat until smooth. It will seem like mixture won't take the eggs but keep stirring until it takes. Spread half of the topping over each rectangle.

4. Bake about 1 hour or until topping is crisp and brown; remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely.

5. In medium bowl, mix all glaze ingredients except nuts until smooth and spreadable. Spread over top of pastry; sprinkle with nuts.

Festive Pretzels

Here is a quick, fun, EASY holiday treat. We ended up making a TON of these and giving them away in cute little bags to our neighbors.

One bag of pretzels (squares or knots)
Two bags of kisses
Two bags of hugs
One bag M&M's

Directions:
Turn your oven on warm.
Place the pretzels on the cookie sheet.
Place the kisses and hugs on the pretzels.



Put in the oven for about 5-7 minutes (The kisses will look sort of watery).
Place an M&M in the middle of the kiss and press it gently down.
Allow to cool completely before removing from the cookie sheet.



Tips

You can use different combos of hugs and kisses- we used dark chocolate kisses (they took a little bit longer to melt).

We used candy cane kisses to get the red and white effect.

Hugs melt faster than the hugs do so if you are doing both, either do them at seperate times or do them on seperate pans.

Crock Pot Roast

Here is my crock pot Roast experience. I have tried several ways to make them and doing it this way creates the most tender, fall-apart pot roast you have ever had. You can buy any cut of meat too- even the cheap chuck roast and it will tenderize cooking it this way. I don't exactly have a recipe for it, but here's the method.

First, take about 1/4 C flour and season it- I used about 2 teaspoons garlic salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Mix it together and then rub it on the roast. I sauted 2 cloves of garlic in about 3 Tablespoons of oil. Then you fry the roast on each side for about 4-5 minutes until its nice and brown.

Quarter one large onion and place the quarters in the bottom of your crockpot. After you brown the roast, place it on top of the onions. Add about 1 cup of water. I also put about 8 carrots and 3 chopped potatoes on the top. Cut them into larger pieces so they talk longer to cook. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste over the top of the roast and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

Mmm.....

Soft Dinner Rolls

This is one of the best roll recipes I have found.

Rolls

1/2 c sugar

2 teaspoons salt

2 Tablespoons yeast

2 1/2 C flour

Combine in a bowl

2 c milk

1/2 c butter

Place in a microwave safe bowl and heat until melted and hot (about 2 minutes). Stir into the dry ingredients.

Add 2 beaten eggs and beat until smooth. Stir in about 4 more cups of flour, one at a time. Dough will be sticky.

Turn onto floured surface and knead for 5 minutes.

Cover loosely and let rise until doubled- about 1 hour.

Shape into balls (golf ball size) and drop onto a greased cookie sheet.

Let rise 1/2 to 1 hour.

Cook at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

*I used half whole wheat in this recipe and added an extra half teaspoon of salt and they turned out great.

Corn Chowder- Slow Cooker Recipe

Corn Chowder- Slow Cooker Style

Corn Chowder

5 medium potatoes, skin on and cubed

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 pint half and half

1/2 c milk

1/2 pkg bacon, cooked & crumbled

1 onion, chopped and sauted

2 cloves minced garlic

1 can creamed corn

1 c grated cheddar cheese

salt & pepper to taste

Throw it all in a crockpot. Cook on low for about 4 hours or high for about 2 hours just until potatoes are tender.

*Instead of the half and half, I used 2 cups milk and 3 T butter. The soup was a bit lighter.

Buttermilk Pancakes

I never think to take a picture of these but the flavor is awesome- these are beyond restaurant quality!

Buttermilk Pancakes
1 egg
1 c buttermilk
2 T salad oil
1 C flour
1 T sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 t salt

Sift dry ingredients. Beat the egg and add to the dry. Add oil and buttermilk. Cook in a frying pan or on a greased 350 degree griddle. This makes 10-12 medium sized pancakes.

Buttermilk Biscuits (w/ Sausage Gravy)

This is my absolute favorite breakfast right now. Buttermilk biscuits with sausage gravy!

Buttermilk Biscuits

2 C Flour

1 T baking powder

3/4 t salt

1/2 t baking soda

5 T solid shortening

1 c buttermilk

Sift together dry ingredients and cut shortening in. Add buttermilk and gently toss with a fork. Knead dough for 3 minutes. You can either drop by spoon fulls onto a pan or roll and cut out rounds. Bake at 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

For my sausage gravy, I brown my sausage and remove it from the pan. Add 2 C milk w/ 3 teaspoons of flour whisked in. (Dissolve the flour into the milk before you heat it with a fork). Bring to a boil over med-high heat. Let it boil until it reaches the desired thickness you want. If you get it too thick, you can whisk in more milk. Add sausage back in and add salt and pepper to taste.

My little twists- I've found you can't use substitute buttermilk with the biscuits or the flavor/texture is really off. I have replaced half of the flour with whole wheat flour and they work really well. For the gravy you can use any type of sausage- we generally use the lower fat/sodium mix. Depending on the saltiness of your sausage the amount of salt you add to the gravy can be quite different from batch to batch. I've also found that you can make the gravy in the time it takes to cook the biscuits in the oven- viola! Hot breakfast ready all at once.

Spaghizza

This recipe was one of my favorites when I was a kid. I remember asking for it for my birthday dinner. It is kid-friendly and you can vary it depending on what you like on your pizza. In this picture we had ham and pineapple on it. Basically it's a spaghetti crust with pizza toppings.

16 oz uncooked spaghetti
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
16 oz. shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic salt
32 oz (1 quart) thick spaghetti sauce
1 to 2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
4 oz sliced pepperoni or whatever toppings you like

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Break spaghetti up into 2 inch pieces before cooking. Cook and drain.

Beat eggs in large bowl. Add milk, half of the cheese and salts. Mix together. Add drained spaghetti. Mix.

Grease jelly roll or 9X13 in dish, depending on how thick you want it. Put spaghetti mixture in pan, pat evenly. Bake for 15 minutes.

Reduce heat to 350 degrees. Put sauce on spaghetti mixture and top with remaining cheese and pepperoni.

Bake 30 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before cutting.

Rainbow Salad

Rachel on Signing Time tells a story about "Rainbow Salad, my favorite treat to eat," so we decided to give it a try. This isn't so much a recipe as a suggestion/idea. This is such a fresh and delicious treat. We love to make this fruit salad with whatever fruit we have on hand. What makes it fun is brainstorming what to use from every color of the rainbow. Here is the rundown of this particular salad (in case you can't see everything in the picture)

Red: raspberries, strawberries
Orange: cantaloupe
Yellow: bananas
Green: kiwi, apples
Blue: blueberries
Purple: "red" grapes, "black"berries

Emilie's Cheesecake

My sister-in-law gave me this recipe and it's so easy! It's the only cheesecake I make. It sets up so quickly. I've modified it a tiny bit, but I love it. My husband made it for Mother's Day and it turned out better than ever. Thanks for a winner Em!

No Bake Cheese Cake

2 (two) 8 oz packages of cream cheese

1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup lemon juice

Whip cream cheese in medium bowl till fluffy, add sweetened condensed milk, vanilla and lemon juice. Beat till smooth. (All of the above can also be done in a blender and you can make your own sw.cond.milk if you want). Pour into prepared graham cracker crust(s). Refrigerate. Top it with fresh berries! THATS IT!

Crust:

1 1/2 packages graham crackers (crushed)

1/2 cup butter (melted)

1/2 cup sugar

Combine crushed crackers, sugar and butter. Press into 1 springform pan,1 large pie pan, or 2 small 8" tins.

Chicken Pasta Pomodoro

Boil approximately half a pound of your favorite pasta al dente.

While pasta is cooking, cook the following in a large frying pan on medium heat:

1/2 c. chicken broth

1/4 c. olive oil

3 medium tomatoes diced - canned tomatoes also work

1 zucchini, diced

2 Tablespoons minced garlic

2 Tablespoons fresh basil (If using dried, use about 2 teaspoons)

Salt and Pepper to taste (I usually add quite a bit)

Add 2 or 3 cooked chicken tenderloins or 1 cooked chicken breast.*

Simmer until tomatoes are soft and zucchini is tender.

Pour over pasta and top with grated Parmesan or Romano cheese. Enjoy!

Serves 4-6.

*You can easily make it meatless by omitting the chicken or add shrimp or sausage for variety.

French Dip Sandwiches

Ingredients
French bread loaf (1 or 2)
1 roast
1/2 purple onion, sliced
provolone cheese, sliced (can work with swiss too)
mayo
season salt
Italian seasoning
paprika
au jus season packet

1. Place the roast in the crock pot. Add 2 cups of water and the au jus season packet. Cook on low for 8 hours.
2. Cut the french bread loaf in half lengthwise to open for sandwiches.
3. Mix together the mayo, season salt, Italian seasoning, and paprika to taste. Spread on both sides of the bread.
4. On one side of the bread, place the roast beef (in slices or shreds), cheese, slices of onion. Put both sides of bread on cookie sheet, face up.
5. Bake in 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes, until the cheese is melted and a little brown.
6. Cut into sandwich size. Ladel the juice from the crock pot to bowls to place on the table.
7. Enjoy!

PIZZA

Pizza Dough

1 cup hot water
2 TBS olive oil
1 TBS yeast
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
approximately 2 1/2-3 cups flour
Dissolve yeast & sugar in hot water. Let stand for 10 minutes. (Should get foamy) Add oil, salt, and gradually add flour. Knead into ball & cover with oil. Let rise in bowl until 2X size. (I stick mine in the microwave-to rise) Roll out on stone and bake at 350 until cooked through middle. 12-20 minutes, depends on your topping

Chicken Enchiladas to die for!!!

Chicken Enchiladas with Roasted Tomatillo Chile Salsa

Roasted Tomatillo Chile Salsa:
1 pd tomatillos, husked
1 white onion
4 garlic cloves
2 jalapenos
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
½ c chopped cilantro leaves
½ lime, juiced


Enchiladas:
Extra-virgin olive oil
½ medium onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 ½ tsp ground cumin
¼ c all purpose flour
2 c chicken stock, store bought
Chopped cilantro leaves
1 deli roasted chicken (about 3 pds) boned, meat shredded
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
10 large flour tortillas
2 c sour cream
Chopped tomatoes and cilantro leaves for garnish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

For the salsa: on a baking tray, roast tomatillos, onion, garlic and jalapenos for 12-15 minutes. Transfer the roasted vegetables and any juices on the bottom of a tray to a food processor. Add the cumin, salt, cilantro, and lime juice and pulse mixture until well combined but still chunky.

Enchiladas: meanwhile heat a 2 count of olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft and caramelized-this should take 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic and cumin then cook for a further minute. Sprinkle on the flour and stir to ensure the flour doesn’t burn then gradually add the chicken stock to make a veloute. Continue stirring over a low simmer until the flour cooks and the liquid thickens. Turn off the heat, add half of the roasted tomatillo Chile salsa, some additional fresh cilantro and fold in the shredded chicken meat. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Change the temperature of the oven to 350 degrees and begin assembling the dish. Take a large baking dish and smear the bottom with some of the reserved tomatillo salsa. Now take the tortillas and briefly flash them over the stove-top flame (or put them briefly under the broiler if using an electric stove) Using a shallow bowl, coat each tortilla lightly with the reserved salsa mix. Put a scoop of the chicken-enchilada mix on top of the tortilla followed by a sprinkle of the shredded cheese. Fold the tortilla over the filling and roll like a cigar to enclose it. Using a spatula place the tortillas in the baking dish and continue to do the same with all the tortillas. Finally pour over some more of the salsa and top with remaining shredded cheese. Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes until bubbly and cracked on top. Garnish with cilantro and tomato.

Hard Boil Eggs

Since more people hard boil eggs for decorating and eating around Easter I thought I'd share this little tip. These always turn out well for me. There are probably lots of ways to do it without the shell breaking, but I don't like the yolk dark yellow or greenish. What other ways do you do it?

Perfect Eggs

For foolproof hard-cooked eggs, place eggs in a single layer in saucepan; add cold water to cover by 1 in. Cover saucepan and bring water to a boil. Remove from heat. Let eggs stand, covered, in the hot water for 10 minutes for large eggs. Rinse in cold water and place eggs in ice water until completely cooled.

Whole Wheat Tortillas

I wanted to make good homemade tortillas, just for fun. I've tried several recipes and they were total flops. This one was the best one with whole wheat that I tried. I got it from The Sisters' Cafe blog. The tortillas are really good and fairly simple and have few ingredients. Try them for the sweet potato bean burritos I posted recently. They taste great baked!



Whole Wheat Tortillas

from The Sisters' Cafe

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup hot water
1/3 cup oil

Mix all ingredients thoroughly in mixer. Remove from mixing bowl and knead on countertop until smooth (add a little white flour if the dough is too sticky). Divide the dough into 12 balls, and let rest (covered) for about 15 minutes. Dough should still be really soft, but pliable. (It helps to have a cold rolling pin or a nonstick mat). Roll each ball into a very thin circle. Heat a heavy skillet or griddle(ungreased) to medium high heat. Cook tortillas until brown flecks appear, about 20-30 seconds then flip over and repeat for about 20 seconds more. Don't overcook. Make sure to watch them carefully. If they are overdone they will be crispy. Use immediately, or wrap in plastic or place in an airtight container to refrigerate or freeze. To warm, wrap in damp paper towels and microwave 15-20 seconds.

French Bread

Warning: you will never buy store French bread again!




French Bread
1/2 c warm water
4 1/2 teaspoons yeast
2 c hot water
3 T sugar
6 full cups flour, divided
1 T salt
1/3 c oil

Dissolve yeast in warm water.

Combine 3 cups of flour with hot water, sugar, salt, and oil. Add yeast and remaining flour. Allow dough to rest for 10 minutes and then stir down. Repeat the rest and stir down 4 times.

Turn onto a floured surface and divide into 2-3 parts. Roll into a "9x12" triangle and roll up like a jelly roll. Arrange the seam side down on a greased cookie sheet. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes. Slash diagonally 3-4 times then brush with beaten egg.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes (closer to 20). Makes 2-3 loaves.

Crepes

Breakfast Crepes

4 eggs

4 T melted butter

2 2/3 cup milk

2 c flour

1 t salt

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Pour a small amount onto a greased, hot griddle (325 to 350 degrees) and spread until thin. Turn halfway. You can also pour into a frying pan and use the pan to spread the batter until thin. This makes about 18 8" crepes. Top with fruit and whip creme, powdered sugar, etc. I have tried these with whole wheat but they do not work as good. The best mix I have found is to do 3/4 c wheat and 1 1/4 c white flour. I haven't tried using a finer grade wheat flour yet.

Individual Meat Loaf Cups

This was my April Fool's Dinner this year. I plan to make them again but without the food coloring in the potatoes!


You can find the original recipe here.

Meat Loaf
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
3 tablespoons ketchup
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Potato Frosting
3 cups mashed potatoes
Food coloring

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 12 muffin tin cups with foil bake cups.

2. In a large bowl, mix together all of the meat loaf ingredients until well combined. Divide the mixture evenly among the lined cups (the liners should be about three quarters full).

3. Place the filled muffin tins on cookie sheets and bake the cupcakes for about 15 minutes or until cooked through.

4. Divide the mashed potatoes among three small bowls and stir a few drops of food coloring into each batch to create blue, yellow, and pink pastel frostings. Spread a generous dollop on each cupcake.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Addictive Sweet Potato and Bean Burritos

These sound unusual, but meatless main dishes can be very fulfilling and at our house we all love sweet potatoes or yams or whatever you call them. This recipe came from allrecipes and for some reason we always use black beans instead of kidney and I added the spices to the onion and garlic and sauteed a little bit before I added the beans to bring out the flavors, but the rest was basically the same. For our little family, I usually do half the recipe. And you may be tempted to skip the baking step for the sake of time, but don't do it. They are so much better baked.

photo from allrecipes.com

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups cooked black beans (original recipe says kidney, but black is so good)
2 cups water
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
4 teaspoons prepared mustard
1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
3 tablespoons soy sauce
4 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes (baking them the slow way in the oven really makes them sweet and yummy)
12 whole wheat tortillas (these are the best whole wheat ones I've made)
1 cup shredded cheese (use whatever kind you have)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Heat oil in a medium skillet, and saute onion and garlic until soft. Stir in beans, and mash. Gradually stir in water, and heat until warm. Remove from heat, and stir in the chili powder, cumin, mustard, cayenne pepper and soy sauce.
3. Divide bean mixture and mashed sweet potatoes evenly between the warm flour tortillas. Top with cheese. Fold up tortillas burrito style, and place on a baking sheet.
4. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven, and serve.

Monkey Bread

My boys LOVE to help make this easy Monkey Bread and then of course to devour it ALL!



3 (12 ounce) packages refrigerated biscuit dough (lights ones work well, too)
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup margarine or butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Grease a bundt cake pan. Mix white sugar and cinnamon together. Cut refrigerated dough in half, roll into balls, roll in cinnamon sugar mixture, and then place in pan. (This is the part my boys love to do!) If you add nuts or raisins (I don't), layer them in between the dough.

In a small saucepan, melt the margarine with the brown sugar over medium heat. Boil for 1 minute. Pour over the biscuits.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.
Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a plate. Mmmmm!

Chicken Salsa Burritos

1-2 large chicken breasts
2 c. thick and chunky salsa
1 frozen box of spinach (9oz.)
1 ½ c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 pkg of flour tortillas

Boil and shred chicken breast. Defrost spinach in microwave and then drain. Combine all the ingredients in a pot on the stove and heat until cheese is melted and mixture is warm. Fill tortillas with filling and serve warm. I have also added a can of black beans washed and drained along with some corn to make it go farther.

Angel Hair Pasta with Shrimp Scampi

This is so good and relatively fast to make because both shrimp and angel hair cook quickly. Make it even quicker by buying already cooked shrimp. The end result isn't very saucy, but it's very flavorful.
You could use spaghetti or linguini instead if you have those, but I love angel hair. And you can find fish sauce in the asian/thai section of most grocery stores. I'll post another recipe or two that uses it later!


1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 pound medium (16-20) shrimp peeled, deveined, and split in ½ lengthwise 1 C seasoned flour, seasoned with
½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
8 ounces (1/2 pkg) angel hair - cook/drain at the last minute
2 Tablespoons fresh herbs; basil, rosemary, marjoram, or parsley combined OR 1 tsp. dried of each
¼ cup clam juice or fish sauce (I used fish sauce)
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup heavy cream (I used evaporated milk)
¼ cup romano cheese

Toss shrimp in seasoned flour. Shake off excess flour. Meanwhile, in medium skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add shrimp to the hot skillet, cook until lightly browned then turn over. Add garlic to the middle of the pan, when garlic begins to turn golden, pour lemon juice over garlic. Sprinkle in fresh herbs, then add clam juice and reduce by half. Add Worcestershire sauce, heavy cream, and cheeses. Heat through. Toss with Angel Hair and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Makes 3-4 servings
Prep time: 20 minutes

Meatballs and Sauce

This one is a good variation from the regular Ragu or Prego or whatever. The grape jelly makes it a little darker than traditional sauce and the mixture has a somewhat sweet, rich flavor varied by the spaghetti sauce you choose.
1 26 oz jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
6 oz V8 juice
1 pkg dry onion soup mix
1/2 c grape jelly
1 15 oz can stewed or diced tomatoes
Approx. 1 lb. precooked, frozen meatballs (turkey or beef) *See recipe below*
photo from wholefoods.com

Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker or large pan on stove. Cook on medium to medium-low heat until meatballs are hot. Turn down heat and simmer until ready to serve. Serve over noodles, rice, or on a toasted roll with provolone, mozzarella or your favorite cheese. Serves 4-6.

Easy Oven Meatballs
1 lb ground beef, 1 egg, 1/2 cup bread crumbs, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp Worchestershire sauce, 1/4 tsp. pepper and 1/2 cup milk. Mix it all together and make 1 1/2 inch balls. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 375.

German Pancakes

One of our favorite breakfast recipes is German Pancakes! There are many different variations on this recipe, but this is the one we like best!



German Pancakes
6 eggs
2 T Sugar
1 t salt
1 C flour
1 C milk
4 T butter

Melt the butter in a 9x13 pan (You can also use 2 9" round cake pans). Mix remaining ingredients until well blended and there are no flour clumps- I usually make this one in my blender. Pour into prepared pan and bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes or until edges are brown and bubbling up. Serve with syrup or powdered sugar.

Vanishing Lemon Cake

Vanishing Lemon Cake

Cake
1 box lemon cake mix
1 box lemon jello (3 oz)
1 c boiling water
3/4 c oil
4 eggs

Icing
2 C pwd sugar
3-5 Tablespoons lemon juice

Directions
Dissolve jello in boiling water. Blend oil into jello mix and add cake mix. Add eggs and mix well. Bake in a 9x13 pan at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Mix lemon juice and powdered sugar. Add just enough lemon juice until the mix is pourable. Poke holes w/ a fork into hot cake- the more holes, the better. Pour icing over while hot.

This cake is always gone in a day at our house! Enjoy!

Granola Bars

Here are some simple granola bars! Mmm... my kids devour them in less than a day. They are great for a breakfast or a snack. I found the original recipe at All Recipes but altered it a little bit. :)

These are my pictures! :)

Granola Bars

2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup all-purpose flour or whole wheat flour
3/4 cup raisins, chocolate chips, or nuts (optional)
1/2 c coconut

3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup honey
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil (or 1/4 c oil and 1/4 c applesauce- this is what I used and the bars are stay moist for longer)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Generously grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, raisins and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in the honey, egg, oil and vanilla. Mix well using your hands. Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.

3. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes just until the bars begin to brown at the edges. Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars while still warm. Do not allow the bars to cool completely before cutting, or they will be too hard to cut.

Whole Wheat Bread

This recipe comes from this website. I have to say I've only made this recipe in my bread machine (the dough only, baked in the oven) and it's turned out great. It just goes faster that way and I can do more while it's mixing/rising. I am on a search to find a quick whole wheat bread recipe but they are hard to come by. I've learned you can't cheat wheat when it comes to making bread. You have to let it rise! I skipped the first step of dissolving the yeast when using the bread machine, but if I was doing it by hand I wouldn't skip it. I like to know the yeast is going to rise and give it a head start.

2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast or 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water*
1/2 cup lukewarm milk
1/2 cup orange juice
5 tablespoons melted butter (or oil)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons sugar (honey is my preference)
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk (in addition to the other milk)
3/4 cup instant mashed potato flakes
3 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

* *Use 2 tablespoons less water in summer (or in a humid environment), 2 tablespoons more in winter (or in a dry climate).

1) Dissolve the yeast in the warm water with a pinch of sugar. Allow it to rest for 15 minutes, till it becomes puffy. If you're using instant yeast, you can skip this step.

2) Combine the yeast/water with the remaining ingredients, and mix and knead—by hand, mixer, or bread machine—until you've made a cohesive dough. If you're using a stand mixer, knead at low speed for about 7 minutes. Note that 100% whole wheat dough will never become smooth and supple like dough made with all-purpose flour; it'll feel more like clay under your hands, and may appear a bit rough.

3) Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl, and allow it to rise till it's expanded and looks somewhat puffy, about 60 to 90 minutes. Note that dough kneaded in a bread machine will rise faster and higher than bread kneaded in a mixer, which in turn will rise faster and higher than one kneaded by hand. So if you're kneading by hand, you may want to let the dough rise longer than 90 minutes.

4) Lightly grease a 9" x 5" loaf pan. (Some pans are actually 8"X4" so the loaf would be huge in those) Gently shape the dough into a smooth log, and settle it into the pan, smooth side up.

5) Tent the pan with lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow the loaf to rise till it's crowned over the rim of the pan by about 3/4", about 75 minutes. Don't let it rise too high; it'll continue to rise as it bakes. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.

6) Bake the bread for 10 minutes. Lightly tent it with aluminum foil, (this step really helps it from overbrowning) and bake for an additional 30 to 35 minutes, or until the center registers 190°F on an instant-read thermometer or it sounds hollow when lightly tapped. Remove it from the oven, and turn it out of the pan onto a rack.

7) Run a stick of butter over the top of the hot loaf, if desired, for a softer crust. Allow the bread to cool completely before slicing.

Quick Donuts

Quick Donuts

Ingredients:
5 teaspoons yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
3 tablespoons sugar
1 egg, well beaten
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour (more if dough is sticky)
oil for frying

Maple Glaze:2 tablespoons butter, softened2 tablespoons maple syrup or maple extractpowdered sugar (enough to make it the consistency you prefer)

Mix yeast, water and sugar. Wait until bubbles form in mixture. Add egg, butter, cinnamon, vanilla, salt and flour. Mix to form dough. Knead dough for 1 minute. Roll out dough and cut donuts using donut cutter or large drinking glass. Allow to rise for 30 minutes on floured surface. Fry in oil until golden brown. Oil should be approximately 350°. Coat with maple glaze or any topping of your choice (chocolate, cinnamon sugar, etc.).

These are a great Sunday afternoon treat! Mmmmm!!!

Soft Pretzels

Soft Pretzels Ingredients
1 1/4 cups water
1 tablespoon yeast
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 + cups flour

Dipping Solution
1/4 cup baking soda
1 1/2 cups hot water

melted butter

Directions
Dissolve yeast into warm water. Add sugar, then flour & mix well---do not knead as this toughens the dough. Mix just until combined well. Let rise until doubled, at least 20 minutes. Roll into long ropes. Twist into pretzel shapes, then dip into prepared dipping solution (baking soda dissolved in hot water). Place on well-greased cookie sheet and bake at 500°F for 4-6 minutes until golden brown. Dip face of pretzel into melted butter and sprinkle with kosher salt.

Our family LOVES these pretzels- they are as good as the soft pretzels you get at Sam's Club. Sorry, no pic right now but next time I make them I will post one! Also, you can subsititue whole wheat- I did about half and half and they were excellent. They did need a bit more time to rise but worked very well.

Shrimp Enchiladas

Shrimp Enchiladas



Shrimp Enchiladas
1/2 cup sweet red pepper, chopped
1/2 cup onion, minced
1/2 cup green pepper, chopped
1/4 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup whipping cream (evaporated milk)
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3 cups Monterey Jack cheese, divided (you can use half pepper-jack cheese for great results)
1/2 cup sour cream (plain yogurt)
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 cup onion, chopped2 cups ripe tomatoes, chopped (1 can tomatoes, drained)
8 (9-inch) flour tortillas

Saute red pepper, onion and green pepper in 1/4 cup butter until crisp-tender. Add oregano, salt, garlic powder, pepper, cayenne pepper, cream and flour; blend well. Continue cooking for 3 minutes or until slightly thickened. Add 1 1/2 cups cheese; stir until melted. Add sour cream, stir to blend. Set aside.

In another skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Saute shrimp and 1/2 cup onion until shrimp are pink. Remove shrimp and chop; return to butter and onion. Add chopped tomatoes and 1/2 of the cheese sauce. Spoon 1/3 cup shrimp mixture into each tortilla. Sprinkle cheese on top of shrimp mixture. Roll up tightly. Arrange seam side down in a 9X13-inch glass baking dish. Spoon remaining cheese sauce over tortillas and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes.

Taken from My Kitchen Cafe.

Thanks for the first recipe, Shannon! :)