Homemade Buns

Homemade Hamburger Buns (bread machine recipe)
(makes 12 large hamburger buns or 30 small dinner rolls)

1 1/ 4 c. milk slightly warmed
1 large beaten egg
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup white sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 3/4 cups breadflour
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1. Place all ingredients in pan of bread machine as per the order above according to manufacturer’s directions.
2. Select “Dough” setting.
3. When cycle is complete, turn out onto floured surface.
4. Cut dough in half and roll each half out to a 1″ thick circle.
5. Cut each half into six 3 1/2″ rounds with inverted glass as a cutter.
6. Place on greased baking sheet far apart and brush with melted butter.
7. Cover and let rise until doubled, about one hour.
8. Bake at 350° for 9 minutes.
9. Note: Oven temperatures vary so check after 9 minutes to see if done. Some reviewers baked these anywhere from 12 to 15 minutes.


For those of you who would like to knead the dough by hand -
1) mix the yeast granules and sugar into the cup of warm milk. Set aside for 5 minutes.
2) in a large mixing bowl, put in the dry ingredients.
3) make a hole in the centre and pour in the milk mixture together with the beaten egg.
4) knead until the dough is incorporated and lumped into a nice, smooth ball.
5) leave in a covered bowl in for 1 hour until the dough has risen.
6) remove dough from bowl, and continue with Step # 5 in the recipe given above. Remember to put some flour on the work surface.

Back to school...

My little baby girl , Alexandra or Alex as we like to call her is in the 1st grade . She is very much a RULE girl . She is super excited.

Parker is in 2nd grade .......He has lots of energy!!!!!!!!!
Can't you just see the excitement for the first day of school ? Easton or Rico as I call him is going into 8th grade yes ..... Top of the food chain at Sawtooth Middle.
For those of you who didn't know Kellan is a Senior this year, at Meridian High he is 6'5" and his 1966 Ford is his favorite thing.

Awesome Chicken Tacos/Burritos

Here is another Mock Cafe Rio Recipe this time it is for the Chicken they use in the Burritos, Salads etc. We had it with Corn and flour tortillas as a burrito using black beans. tomatoes lettuce, all the traditional toppings. Doug said it was definitely blog worthy. I will post a picture later...... Enjoy

Cafe Rio Chicken

1 small bottle Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing ( I used the mix and made it as per directions)
1 T chili powder
1 T cumin
3 cloves garlic—minced
5 lbs chicken breast

Cook all together in a crock pot for 4 hours, shred meat and cook 1 additional hour
This was a big hit with everyone.

Happy Birthday Mom !!!!!

We are all a little Quackers after the weekend!!!

Haven, I think Grandma will see you..........

Do we know where we are going?

Doree follow that car!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay...Just to clarify "These are NOT Green River Melons"!!

Look at the Girls ...........Don't they look so happy!!!!!!!!

Playing tourists in the Provo Mall check out Tonya's camera.

I think this is something about the greatest video ever??

We are so proud!!!! Stacy got her first real bra!!!!

Yes it's true ................This is the brunch of Champions.

The root of all deceit.(At least it got mom to the mall)

Look it's the 4 older girls....Dee, Stacy, Tonya and the Blonde(Doree)

Did you know Kerry opened up a shop in the South Towne Mall?

Tonya is holding out on us!!!!!!!!!!!

Grandma's advice for the day!!! Never honk at her car or you will get the

sign ....... not the finger the SIGN.

SISTERS GONE WILD!!!!!!!!!!! I'm pretty sure Sage wet her pants.

Haven was having an out of body experience............

Then she found some great bargains shopping today , I bought a straightner,she got a free style.....She talked us into buying things so she could get half off........Target's slogan is her Mantra. EXPECT MORE............PAY LESS!!!!!!! You buy one Haven gets 50% off

Oh look (Larry,Moe and Curly) Is it me or does Stacy look"uplifted"?

Stop it...Don't Look at me, you ------- little brats!!!!

It's a miracle!!!! No more itch........... I can't believe I waited so long.

Tonya was soooo excited about her new watch ,just look at her face!!

Challah Bread using Bread Machine Dough Setting

Braided Challah Bread
· 3 cups bread flour
· 1/4 -1/3 cup sugar
· 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
· 1 egg
· 1/4 cup oil
· 1 1/4 cup warm water
· 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (or 1 package)
Preparation:
1. Place the ingredients into the bread machine. Set on dough cycle. 2. Divide dough in half for two loaves. Then divide each loaf into 3 or 4 strands and braid. 3. Cover the loaves with tea towels or non-terry cloth dish towels. Leave them to rise for at least one hour. I put my loaves in my oven with just the interior light on. 4. Remove loaves from oven. Brush with beaten egg. Bake at 325-350 degrees for 25 minutes for two loaves (slightly longer for one loaf). TIPS: To check that the challah is done baking, gently knock on the bottom of it. A hollow sound means the challah is ready.

Braiding Four-Strand Challah
1. Divide dough into 4 equal parts.
Knead each part into a smooth ball and roll each ball into a ropelike strand. Lay the strands side by side and pinch together at the top.
2. Grasp the leftmost strand and pass it to the right, under the two
strands adjacent to it, and then back toward the left, over one strand (the one closest to it now).
3. Grasp the rightmost strand and pass it to the left, under the two strands adjacent to it (which have already been braided), and then back to the right, over one strand.
4. Alternately repeat steps 2 and 3.5. When done braiding, pinch the ends of the strands together.

Lasagna

I got this recipe off The Pioneer Woman's Food Blog. It's really yummy.
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 lb hot breakfast sausage (I use mild italian sausage)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 14.5-ounce cans whole tomatoes
2 4-ounce cans tomato paste

2 TBS dried parsley
2 TBS dried basil
1 tsp salt
3 cups lowfat cottage cheese(I used half ricotta and half cottage cheese)
2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup grated (not shredded) parmesan cheese
2 TBS dried parsley
1 lb sliced mozzarella cheese (Shredded will work )
1 10-ounce package lasagna noodles
Bring large pot of water to boil.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet or saucepan, combine ground beef, sausage, and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat until browned. Drain half the fat; less if you're feeling naughty. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, 2 TBS parsley, basil and 1 tsp salt. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, mix cottage cheese, beaten eggs, grated parmesan, 2 more TBS parsley.Stir together well. Set aside. Cook lasagna noodles until "al dente" (not overly cooked).
TO ASSEMBLE:
Arrange 4 cooked lasagna noodles in the bottom of a baking pan, overlapping if necessary.
Spoon half of the cottage cheese mixture over the noodles. Spread evenly.
Cover cottage cheese with single layer of mozarella slices.(I added a layer of fresh coarsely chopped spinach here) spoon a little less than half the meat mixture over the top.
Repeat, ending with meat mixture. Sprinkle generously with cheese mozz./parm
Either freeze, refridgerate for up to 2 days, or bake immediately: 350-degree oven for 20 to 30 minutes, or until top is hot and bubbly. Eat. Enjoy. Faint. Smile

Brownie cookies

These are the cookies for when you need something dense, chocolatey, and brownie-licious — in cookie form. Keep a box of brownie mix on hand (my hands-down favorite mix, store brand or otherwise, is Wal-Mart’s Great Value or Albertson’s store brand . Really!), and when the craving for chewy, dense brownies strikes but you don’t want to wait for them to bake and then cool so you can cut them neatly from the pan, these will do the trick.
To serve, sprinkle with powdered sugar. Or top with sweetened cream cheese and fruit like fruit pizza
Brownie Cookies
1 (19.5 to 21.5-ounce size) box fudge brownie mix
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup oil
3 tablespoons water
2 eggs
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. line a baking sheet with parchment paper
2. Place all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Stir until all dry ingredients are incorporated, but do not overmix. Drop by rounded tablespoons (I use a medium cookie scoop) onto the parchment lined baking sheet. Leave at least 2 inches between cookies as these will spread.
3. Bake for 9 to 10 minutes (in my oven,) until cookies appear set and do not look “wet” in the middle. Let cookies sit on baking sheet for 3 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool.
*If desired, you can stir in 1 cup of white chocolate, semisweet chocolate, or peanut butter chips; 1 cup of chopped almonds or pecans; or 1 cup of M&MS or Reese’s Pieces before scooping and dropping onto cookie sheet.
Makes about 2 dozen cookies

You can chill batter for 30 minutes if you have problem with cookies spreading out. When I used a Dunkin Hines mix I had to chill the batter (it is about the same consistency as brownie dough) When I used a store brand mix I did not have to chill the batter. These are really good!!!!

Italian Bow Tie Bake

8 ounces uncooked pasta

1 jar (1 lb. 10 ounces) garlic and onion spaghetti sauce (Prego )

1 envelope Italian salad dressing mix (the secret ingredient)

2 cups (8 ounces) shredded mozzarella

Cook pasta according to package directions: drain. In a bowl, combine the spaghetti sauce and salad dressing mix; add pasta and toss to coat. Transfer to a greased shallow 2 qt baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 400 for 15-20 minutes or until heated through. 4 servings

Breakfast Casserole

If freezing this casserole prior to serving ,freeze the cheese in a separate bag. Then thaw both bags. Just before you are ready to put the egg mixture into the dish, dump the cheese in and mix it up in the zip lock, then put it all into the dish.

Freezer Hash Brown Casserole" from REALMOMKITCHEN.BLOGSPOT.COM"

8 eggs

4 C. hash brown potatoes

12 oz. evaporated milk

2 C. shredded cheddar cheese

1 tsp. salt

1 C. diced Onion

½ t pepper

1 ½ C. diced green Pepper (or red and green)

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 C. diced ham

Mix eggs and milk together in a bowl. Add eggs and the remaining of the above ingredients into a one gallon freezer zip lock bag and seal the bag, removing all excess air and freeze. (See tip about the cheese up top) To serve thaw completely in refrigerator and put into a greased 9 x 13 dish. Bake uncovered in 350 degree oven for 45-50 minutes or until a knife inserted comes clean.

Chocolate Chip Treasure Cookies

Chocolate Chip Treasure Cookies
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
½ cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
½ cup butter, at room temperature
1 1/3 cups shredded coconut
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, mix graham cracker crumbs, flour and baking powder. In a large bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk and butter until smooth. Add graham cracker mixture; mix well. Stir in coconut, chocolate chips and walnuts (if using). Drop by rounded tablespoons onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake 9-10 minutes or until lightly browned.

Pita Bread

Here we go again with another thing that is so much better homemade, I will probably never buy it from the store again. This was so simple to make and fairly quick, and the result was incredible. This blows store-bought pita bread out of the water. The pitas were amazingly soft and airy, and tasted fabulous. This is a recipe I will be making frequently.
I did have some issues with the dough being very sticky initially. I had to constantly flour my hands and the work surface, but eventually it came to the right consistency, and it was a breeze from that point on. The dough felt light and silky and made hand-kneading and shaping very enjoyable.
Pita Bread
Yield: 8 pitas

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar or honey
1 packet instant yeast
1 ¼ to 1 ½ water, roughly at room temperature
2 tbsp. olive oil, vegetable oil, butter or shortening

Directions:
Mix the yeast in with the flour, salt, and sugar. Add the olive oil and 1 ¼ cup water and stir together with a wooden spoon. All of the ingredients should form a ball. If some of the flour will not stick to the ball, add more water.

Once all of the ingredients form a ball, place the ball on a work surface, and knead the dough for approximately 10 minutes. If you are using an electric mixer, mix it at low speed for 10 minutes.

When you are done kneading the dough, place it in a bowl that has been lightly coated with oil. Form a ball out of the dough and place it into the bowl, rolling the dough around so that it has a light coat of oil on all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp towel and set aside to rise until it has doubled in size, approximately 90 minutes.

When it has doubled in size, punch the dough down to release some of the trapped gases and divide it into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, cover the balls with a damp kitchen towel, and let them rest for 20 minutes. This step allows the dough to relax so that it will be easier to shape.

While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 450°. If you have a baking stone, put it in the oven to preheat as well. If you do not have a baking stone, turn a cookie sheet upside down and place it on the middle rack of the oven while it is preheating. This will be the surface on which you bake your pitas.

After the dough has relaxed for 20 minutes, spread a light coating of flour on a work surface and place one of the balls of dough there. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the dough and use a rolling pin or your hands to stretch and flatten the dough. You should be able to roll it out to between ¼ - 1/8” thick – 6 inches in diameter. If the dough does not stretch sufficiently, you can cover it with the damp towel and let it rest 5-10 minutes before trying again.

Place discs on a lightly greased baking sheet or parchment paper and let rise, uncovered, until barely doubled in thickness, about 30-45 minutes.

Open the oven and place as many pitas as you can fit on the hot baking surface. They should be baked through and puffy after 3 minutes. If you want your pitas to be crispy and brown you can bake them for an additional 3 to 5 minutes, but it isn’t necessary.

Chocolate Cake............ Yummy!!

(Printable Version)

1 pkg. devils food cake/or dark chocolate cake mix
1 pkg. instant chocolate pudding
1 c. sour cream
4 large eggs
1/2 c. water
1/2 c. oil
1 1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
Powdered sugar(for dusting)
Mix first 6 ingredients together with a beater. Add chocolate chips. Pour into a greased and lightly dusted with flour bunt cake pan. Cook in oven at 350* for 45-50 mins. Remove from oven. Let cool for 20 mins. Remove from pan. Dust with powdered sugar. Enjoy warm with ice cream. Mmmm-mmmm...yummy!!

I used a giant cupcake pan and made chocolate cream cheese icing.

Pigs in the blanket

Pigs in a Blanket (bread recipe adapted from Ultimate Bread, by Eric Treuille and Ursula Feriggno)This is enough bread dough for 10 hot dogs. If your package only has 8, you can make dinner rolls out of the remaining dough.

This dough is the perfect taste and texture for the pigs in a blanket.

Bread dough:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

¾ cup milk

1½ tablespoons sugar

2 eggs

3 cups unbleached flour

1½ teaspoons instant yeast

1½ teaspoons salt

10 hot dogs,use good hotdogs (Nathan's beef franks work well )

2 tablespoons milk

1. Heat butter in small saucepan over medium heat until just melted. Add ¾ cup milk and sugar. If butter re-solidifies, heat until it’s completely melted. Remove from the heat and beat in the eggs.
2. Mix flour, salt, and yeast in bowl of standing mixer fitted with dough hook. Turn machine to low and slowly add milk mixture. When dough comes together, increase speed to medium (setting number 4 on a KitchenAid mixer)or second setting on Bosch, and mix until dough is smooth, shiny, and elastic, stopping machine two or three times to scrape dough from hook if necessary, about 8 minutes. Knead in extra flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, if the dough is too sticky. The dough should be not be dry, but soft. Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface; knead to form smooth, round ball, about 15 seconds. (Alternatively, you can knead by hand for 10 minutes.)
2. Place dough in very lightly oiled bowl, rubbing dough around bowl to lightly coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; place in warm, draft-free spot until dough doubles in size, about 1-1½ hours.
3. Divide the dough into 10 pieces. Shape each piece into a smooth ball. Let rest 10 minutes. Line baking pan with silicon baking mat or parchment paper.
4. Flatten each piece into a rough rectangle using the tips of your fingers. Roll in one direction until dough is ¼-inch thick. Roll in opposite direction (across shorter width) a few times, then fold in long edges to make perfect rectangle. Roll in long direction until dough is 1/8-inch thick. Place 1 hot dog near a short end, then tightly roll, keeping the tips of the hot dog exposed. Place seam side down on prepared baking pan. Repeat with remaining dough and hot dogs.
5. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until dough is slightly inflated, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, heat oven to 375 degrees.
6. Brush the dough with milk. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden. Let cool 15 minutes before serving.

I also experimented with the dough setting on my bread machine. It works just as well as the mixer.