Honey Whole Wheat Bread

I have been on a mission for at least the last 12 months trying to find the perfect whole wheat bread recipe. I've found a few that are okay... but it seems to get a really good, moist and fluffy bread I always have to add at least some white flour. I can't tell you how frustrating it's been! I knew there was the perfect recipe out there somewhere.. I've bought 100% whole wheat bread from bakeries that has tasted fine- why couldn't I recreate it at home? I even researched the science of bread to try to understand what I was doing wrong.

Somewhere along my plight, my good friend Tina was probably chuckling to herself because all along she was in possession of such sought after recipe. It had been handed down from her mother who had always made homemade bread. Tina is the mother of eight and has carried on her mother's tradition of never buying store-bought "air bread". I've known for years that she always makes whole wheat bread and I've often wondered how in the heck she has time to make enough bread every week to satisfy her large family (and more importantly how she twisted their arms and forced them to eat such bread..) Well, finally Tina finished her chuckle fest and took pity on my plight. She gave me her recipe. I made this the other day and was delighted by how easy it was. I was practically jumping up and down in excitement when I sliced into it and it was not only good but delicious. Even my husband liked it!!

Honey Whole Wheat Bread


In a very large bowl, mix together:
5 1/2 cups warm water
5 cups whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp salt
2 1/2 Tbsp Saf-Instant yeast
2/3 cup oil
2/3 c. liquid honey*
Allow to rest 10-30 minutes until dough is bubbly and yeast has completely dissolved.
Add 8 more cups whole wheat flour and mix until thoroughly combined. Grease loaf pans. Form into 4 large loaves (or 6 small). Cover with a lightly damp breathable kitchen cloth and let rise 30-40 minutes or until doubled in size. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 30-35 minutes. (I baked mine for 33 minutes and it was perfect.)
 Allow loaves to cool before slicing.
You can freeze this with good results- even pre-assemble your kids' peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for school lunches like Tina does for easy grab and go on a busy morning. (Which I assume is every morning with eight kiddos!)
*If honey has crystalized simply microwave it until it is liquid again. (about 30 seconds)

P.S.- Some events may have been changed for the entertainment value of the audience. IE-Tina never purposely withheld her recipe. Thanks for sharing Tina!

Egg Biscuits

Easter dinner is so easy! Especially when you can pull just about everything from the freezer, stick it in the oven and come back 2-3 hours later to a complete meal. Unfortunately I realized too late that I'd forgotten the rolls. Lucky for me I have this recipe in my arsenal of easy goes-well-with-anything breads. To fun things up a bit, I even cut these out in cute Spring shapes like butterflies, flowers and bunnies!

Egg Biscuits
3 cups flour
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cup cold butter
3/4 c. milk
1 egg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Into a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and cream of tartar. With pastry blender or 2 knives (or you can just use your fingers like me!), cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a small bowl, beat milk and eggs. Add to flour mixture and stir until flour is moistened. Place on a lightly floured surface; knead once or twice and roll to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut. Bake on an ungreased baking sheet for 12-15 minutes.

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

I love baking this bread and then GIVING IT AWAY! It's just too good to be left around this house- I would eat it ALL. (It's been known to happen...) 

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

3 c flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 1/2 c. sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 c. milk

1 c. oil

1 1/2- 2 tsp poppy seeds

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 tsp almond extract

Zest of 1 lemon, finely grated

Glaze:

Juice of 1 lemon

3-4 Tbsp confectioners' sugar

Mix wet ingredients, then add dry. Pour into 3 greased loaf pans (or 2 large) and bake at 350 degrees F. for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Mix all glaze ingredients together and put on top of bread while still hot.

Yorkshire Pudding

Happy St. Patrick's Day Everybody!!!

 

Yorkshire Pudding

1 heaping cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

2 eggs

1-2 ounces melted fat (beef, duck, lard, butter, oil)

In a bowl combine flour, salt, and milk until well blended. Incorporate both eggs and blend together until you have a smooth liquid batter. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour.

To bake in a 9×13 ovenproof dish:

Preheat oven at 450°F. Place dish in oven and heat for 10 minutes. Place the fat into the dish and continue heating for 10 to 15 minutes. Pour the prepared batter into the dish and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately.

To bake in a large 6 muffin pan:

Preheat oven to 375°F. Place pan in oven and heat for 10 minutes. Place equal amounts of the fat into each muffin mold and continue heating in oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Pour equal amounts of prepared batter into each muffin mold and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately.

Strawberry Baked French Toast

Last week I bought an entire flat of strawberries from our Bountiful Basket site here. I came home with all these delicious ideas of what to do with them- By Sunday more than half of them had already been eaten! So I panicked! I hid them all ... and (I'm so embarrassed to even admit this..) I forgot about them.. yes I know. Shameful! So now I have slightly less than a half a flat of strawberries that need to be eaten or frozen today. Oh, no worries. Easy! To help, I actually served this for lunch today. The kiddos were thrilled at having French Toast for lunch!
For the bread, I used a bunch of leftover dinner rolls from last week as well as the heels of several loaves of bread cut into bite-sized pieces.

Strawberry Baked French Toast





For the toast:

• 1 (1 pound) loaf French bread, cut diagonally in 1 inch slices
• 8 eggs
• 2 1/4 cups milk
• 1 cup FF sour cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the topping:

• 2 cups diced fresh strawberries
• 1/4 cup agave*
• 8oz. Fat-free cream cheese, softened
• 1 egg

Directions:

1. Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange the slices of bread in the bottom. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, sour cream, vanilla and cinnamon. Pour over bread slices, cover, and refrigerate overnight.
2. The next morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine the strawberries and agave in a medium bowl. Mix well and set aside for about 5 minutes. Stir in the cream cheese and egg until well blended. Spread the strawberry cream cheese mixture onto egged bread pieces.
3. Bake in preheated oven, covered, for 40 minutes.

This is not overly sweet, which I love, but if you need to sweeten this up a bit, try serving it with some strawberry or real maple syrup. Also try serving with fresh strawberries and freshly whipped cream.

*You can use 1/4 cup sugar or honey instead of agave. I like to use agave on fruit because it adds sweetness, without a lot of extra calories or without altering the flavor very much. If you use sugar, let the strawberries sit for about 15 minutes before adding cream cheese and egg. 

Crusty 12-hour Bread

Answer: Easy. Cheap. Delicious.
Question: What are three words that best describe Crusty 12-Hour Bread?

This recipe is a modified version of this bread. This has been a staple in my house for the past year since my friend Becca introduced it to me. (thanks!) The only thing difficult about this bread is planning ahead, so... plan ahead and enjoy!

Crusty 12-hour Bread

6 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon yeast
3 1/2 cups warm water
2 Tbsp vinegar (I've used white, apple cider, and rice all with good results)

1. Mix dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Really, make sure it is a LARGE bowl. The first time I made this recipe, I didn't use a big enough bowl and ended up cleaning bread dough off of my counter after dough had risen. Add water and mix until blended. The dough will be wet, sticky and rough looking. Cover bowl with saran wrap and let it sit 8-10 hours or until dough surface is dotted with bubbles. During the Summer when my house is warmer (about 78 degrees) this only takes about 8 hours. In the Winter it usually takes closer to 10 hours.


2. Spray two large loaf pans (three medium, four small) with cooking spray then dust with cornmeal. (Important! I've never been able to get this bread out of the pan without ripping it when I've skipped the cornmeal. Plus, it just makes it tastier.) Spoon half of dough into each loaf pan. Re-cover with saran wrap and let rise for about 2 hours or until dough has doubled in size.

3. Preheat oven to 400. Bake loaves for 30 minutes. For best results, remove loaves from pans to a cooling rack to cool completely before slicing.

This bread is DELICIOUS as garlic toast, dipped into oil and balsamic vinegar, as an egg sandwich, or with spinach and artichoke dip.

Sue's Rolls

For Christmas dinner, I was in charge of bringing the rolls. Naturally, I made an enormous batch of dough and froze some for later enjoyment. For my basic one-hour bread recipe, I usually bake the bread/rolls before freezing because I've found that it just doesn't rise like it should after it's been frozen. The following recipe, however, is a gem! It comes from one of my mother-in-law's neighbors. There's a little more to it, but the taste is rewarding enough for the extra effort. And it freezes well uncooked.


Sue's Rolls
(by Sue Adams)

2 Tbsp yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup warm water
1 Tbsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 cup cold water
3/4 cup boiling water
2 eggs
2 Tbsp butter
6 cup flour

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 tsp sugar in warm water. In a pan, combine boiling water, butter, sugar and salt. Add cold water. Beat eggs into yeast mixture , add water-butter liquid and beat. Add flour to make a soft dough. Cover and let rise until double (about 45 minutes). Roll out on a floured surface and shape into rolls. Let rise and bake for 10-12 minutes at 400 degrees F. OR place on buttered cookie sheet. Cover well and freeze. Remove 4-5 hours before dinner, uncover and thaw and rise. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 400 degrees F.

Stroganoff Bread Braid

My friend recently sent me a recipe for a cheeseburger roll-up and raved about it so much that I wanted to try it for myself... unfortunately I didn't have all the ingredients so I created something similar. It turned out great so now I'll share it with all of you. Enjoy!

First, here is the original recipe for that Cheeseburger Roll Up (thanks Jason!)

Prep time 25 mins Cook time 20-25 minutes

ingredients:

1 lbs ground beef
4 slices of bacon
1/2 cup chopped onion
8 oz Velveeta Cheese
1 package of refrigerated pizza crust
1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook ground beef, bacon, and onion in a large skillet until beef is evenly browned, drain. Add Velveeta to skillet and stir until completely melted. Unroll pizza dough onto a greased cooking sheet. Press into a large rectangle. Top with meat mixture. Roll up dough, starting with one of the long sides and roll straight across. Tuck outside edges under and sprinkle with cheddar cheese.
Bake 20-25 mins untiltil crust is golden brown .

Now, here is what I did instead:

Stroganoff Bread Braid

1 recipe pizza crust, unbaked
1 lb hamburger
8 oz cream cheese
4-8 oz cheddar cheese
1 cup chopped onion (1 small onion)
8 oz mushrooms (you can sub. 2 small cans)
2 cups cooked green beans (you can substitute 1 15oz can)
1/2 cup sliced red peppers

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll pizza crust into a large rectangle on top of a lightly greased baking sheet. Cut dough into strips 1/3 of the way into rectangle on each side. Don't cut all the way across! Layer center section of dough with sliced cheddar cheese. Leave one strip of dough on each end uncovered. (Notice my dough extends past the edges of the pan- don't worry it will still fit once dough is "braided".)

2. Saute hamburger, onion, mushrooms and peppers until hamburger is well browned and vegetables are soft. Drain meat. Add cream cheese and green beans. Stir until cream cheese is completely melted.

3. Pile hamburger mixture onto center of the pizza crust on top of the cheese. Fold strips of bread across the top of the meat mixture until meat is totally covered. Fold end edges of bread in, making sure mixture is totally enclosed.

4. Bake in preheated oven 25 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Serve in slices while still hot.

**You can double this recipe and make one to eat & one to freeze. To freeze, cook according to directions above, allow to cool and then completely wrap in heavy duty aluminum foil. Label and freeze up to 3 months. To serve: Re-heat frozen and still wrapped Braid in 375 degree F oven for 1 hour. Unwrap, and bake an additional 10-15 minutes until crust crisps and is golden brown.

40 Minute Pizza Crust

40 Minute Pizza Crust


2 Tbsp melted butter
2 Tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp hot tap water
2 1/4 tsp Saf-Instant yeast
2 2/3 cup bread flour

Combine butter, sugar, hot water and yeast. Add 1 1/3 cup flour and salt. Stir until combined. Gradually add remaining flour 1/3 cup at a time until dough is no longer sticky. You may not end up using all of the flour. Turn dough out onto a clean surface and knead for 5 minutes. Roll dough into desired shape for pizza crust. Sprinkle corn meal onto pizza pan and then form dough into pan, curling up the edges for a nice crust. Cover with a dish towel and let rise about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F. Bake 12-15 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

*I like to at least quadruple this recipe and make several crusts at a time so I have them ready when I want a quick and easy dinner.
**To freeze: Allow baked crust to cool, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil. Label and freeze. When ready to make pizza, you can assemble pizza directly onto unwrapped and still frozen crust. Broil or bake until cheese is golden brown.

Zucchini Bread

It really is getting close to the end of gardening season. Usually this time of year people are trying to ditch their surplus garden produce left and right especially zucchini. I'm usually a taker though. I love, love, love the stuff. I eat it raw in salads, steamed with some basil for a quick and easy side dish, grilled, grated, diced, stuffed. MMmm! So for you who are a little less enthusiastic about your mounds of zucchini, I put together a few zucchini recipes- check the labels on the right, scroll down and enjoy!

Another one of those recipes that I've been working on to get the best tasting bread possible. Unfortunately this one was made when my camera was on the charger and it didn't last until the battery was full. Whoops! This bread is great for an afterschool snack, for breakfast or for dessert. Sometimes I add a thin sugar glaze on top when I really have a sweet tooth (which is often). I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Zucchini Bread

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup mashed banana or applesauce
1 cups white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts

Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl. Beat eggs, oil, applesauce/banana, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool. (If you try to slice this before it's completely cool it will fall apart. I know this from experience- I don't think I've ever been able to let it cool completely before diving in!)
 

Banana Bread and Banana Bread Bites

When my sister came to town a couple of weeks ago she brought with her about 3 lbs of overripe bananas knowing I could (and would) turn them into something yummy. Naturally we chose banana bread. This is a recipe from my mother-in-law that I've adapted over the past several years to my own taste and, in my opinion at least, it is hands-down the best banana bread ever!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup NF dry milk powder (If you like it sweeter, omit milk and use 3/4 cup sugar instead)
1/4 cup butter, softened
3 medium mashed bananas
1/2 cup LF plain yogurt
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a large bowl, beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add bananas, yogurt, eggs and dry milk and blend well. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt and stir into banana mixture until moistened. Fold in nuts and chocolate chips. Pour into a greased and floured loaf pan. Bake for 60 minutes. Cool 15 minutes in the pan; remove and cool completely.

Of course having 3 lbs of bananas allowed me to do a double double batch of this recipe. Nobody complained about having so much banana bread around, but to make things interesting I turned 2 loaves worth of the mix into some yummy Banana Bread Bites by using my mini-muffin tins.

Banana Bread Bites

Pre-heat oven to 350 F. Grease 1 mini muffin tin (should make at least 24 mini muffins). Use the above recipe for mixture. Add about 1 teaspoonful mixture into each mini muffin cup filling it about 2/3 full. Bake for 12 minutes. Allow to cool at least 5 minutes before removing from pan or they will fall apart!

Pizza Crust (made with zucchini of course)

I pack a lunch for my husband every day. He has a nifty little red cooler (I think it was meant for sodas, but a traditional lunch box is just too small for my 6'3" guy) that I fill to the brim with sandwiches and goodies every day. The only problem with our system is that we only have one ice pack and sometimes we forget to put it back in the freezer when he comes home from work. Then I get to rummage through our freezer the next day looking for something that will keep his lunch cold. Yesterday I chose a bag of frozen, shredded zucchini thinking I'd make zucchini bread with it that night. Meh, long story short my waist-line couldn't handle another treat so I added the zucchini into my pizza dough instead. Keep in mind, whenever I cook I always make a lot of food so I can have an easy day later on so this recipe makes a lot of dough. It was easily enough for me to make 5 large pizza crusts.

Green flecked Pizza Crust

3 tbsp Saf-instant yeast
1 Tbsp salt
6 cups whole wheat flour
6 cups Bread flour
2 cup hot water
1/2 cup honey
2 cups shredded zucchini (warm it up don't add it cold)
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup olive oil

Combine whole wheat flour, yeast, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add water, honey, zucchini, yogurt and olive oil. Mix thoroughly and allow to rest about 5 minutes. Stir in 4 cups of the remaining flour and mix until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. It will still be sticky. Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead in remaining 2 cups flour until dough is smooth and elastic. Be sure to knead about 8 minutes. Divide dough into 5 sections. Spray 5 pizza pans with oil and dust each with about 1/4 cup coarse corn meal. Roll each dough section a little larger than each pizza pan. Place dough onto pan and roll edges up slightly to form edge of crust. Cover and let rise 25 minutes. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 400 F for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Squash Cookies, Squash bread, Squash cake

Multi-purpose Squash batter

2 cups cooked and mashed butternut squash (or pumpkin puree)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup white sugar
¼ cup dry powdered milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
3/4 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon butter, melted
Optional:
1 cup chocolate chips
½ cup chopped walnuts

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, white sugar, salt and spices. In a medium bowl, thoroughly mix together milk, egg and butter. Stir in squash. Fold the squash mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened.

For muffins:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a 12 cup muffin pan. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling cups about 1/2 full. Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove from muffin pan and cool on a wire rack.

For cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch cake pan and sprinkle the bottom of the pan with granulated sugar. Pour batter into pan. Bake 40-50 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Cool and frost with cream cheese or chocolate frosting.

For cookies:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Drop batter by tablespoon onto lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake 12 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on a wire rack.

For bread:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease 2 large bread pans and sprinkle bottoms of pans with granulated sugar. Pour batter into each pan until it is about ½ full. Bake 1 hour 15 minutes. Check for doneness at about 1 hour. A toothpick inserted into the center of the bread should come out clean when bread is done. Remove from pan and allow to cool completely before slicing.

Whole Grain Tortillas

Remember the multi-grain baking mix I made a few days ago? Well, I used that to make these multi-grain tortillas. My standard tortilla recipe is great for flour tortillas but I've found that when I use whole wheat instead of white flour for that recipe, the tortillas turn out a bit bland. This recipe solves the problem.

Whole Grain Tortillas
1 cup whole wheat flour, finely ground
1 cup multi-grain baking mix
1/2 cup water

In a medium sized bowl, combine 1/2 cups flour, baking mix and water. Add enough remaining flour to make a stiff dough. Sprinkle some flour on a clean surface and knead until dough is smooth and elastic. Return dough to bowl and let rest 30 minutes. After dough has rested, shape into 8 balls and roll out flat and thin (about 1/8 inch). Cook on hot griddle about 15 seconds, flip and cook 5-10 seconds more.

Multi-grain Baking Mix, Waffles and Bread

I mentioned that I made some multi-grain flour (white wheat, rye, oats) with my new wheat grinder last week. Here is what I did with it:
I turned about 7 cups of it into some delicious multi-grain bread. No white flour, no white sugar!

Multi-grain Bread

 7 cups multi-grain flour (or whole wheat)
2 Tbsp Saf-Instant Yeast
2 tsp salt
1/4 cup honey
2 cups warm milk
1 Tbsp vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil

Combine 3 cups flour, yeast and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add warm milk, honey, oil and vinegar and stir well. The mix will be about the consistency of cake batter. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes. Add 3 more cups flour and stir until incorporated. Dough should be pulling from sides of the bowl. Turn dough out onto clean, floured or oiled surface and knead, adding additional flour as necessary until dough is smooth and elastic. (I seldom, if ever, use the entire last cup.) Cover dough with a towel and allow to rest 5-10 minutes. Knead an additional 5 minutes then return dough to greased bowl. Let rise until doubled in size - about 45 minutes. Grease two loaf pans and sprinkle with coursely ground cornmeal. Shape dough into two loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

Multi-grain Baking Mix

4 cups multi-grain flour

2 Tbsp baking powder

 1 1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup nonfat dry milkd powder

1/3 cup olive oil

In a large bowl combine dry ingredients. Drizzle oil over dry mixture; cut in with pastry blender, electric mixer or your fingers until it resembles coarse cornmeal. Store in covered container in refrigerator.

Multi-grain Waffles

2 cups Mg Baking mix

1 cup water

2 egg whites*

2 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp oil

Combine dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.

Push dry ingredients to the sides of the bowl, making a well in the center.

In a 2 cup measuring cup add wet ingredients except egg whites and mix thoroughly. Pour into the well and stir until moistened.

 In a small bowl whisk egg whites briskly until soft peaks form. Carefully fold egg whites into waffle batter. Bake in a pre-heated waffle.

As the saying goes, "a picture is worth a thousand words." But I wish there were a way for me to let you all taste these waffles! Most people who don't like whole grain foods cite the density as their turnoff. These waffles, on the other hand, are so soft and light, moist and delicious. The trick is beating the egg whites seperately and folding it into the batter. Yum!

*You can substitute one whole egg, seperated. Add the yolk to the wet ingredients and beat the white as previously stated.

Honey Granola

Honey Granola

10 cups rolled oats

3/4 cup dry milk*

1/2 cup flax seed or wheat germ

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 Tbsp. vanilla

1 cup honey

2 cup raisins, Craisins, or other dried fruit

Pre-heat oven to 350 F. Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add oil, honey, and vanilla and mix with beaters or your fingers until moist ingredients are incorporated.

Divide 1/2 the mixture into 2 9x13 in. pans. Bake 10 minutes. Remove from oven, stir and bake 5 minutes more.

Granola will crisp as it cools. Allow to cool completely and add dried fruit.

*I like to add dry milk for extra protein. It gives the granola a creamy-type flavor. If you are trying to avoid dairy, simply leave this ingredient out or substitute with oat, rice or soy flour. I love this granola served with Rice Milk!

Cinnamon Rolls, Blueberry Muffins, Stuffed Hot Dogs

Here are just a few recipes that I've made over the past week that I've not included in other posts. Starting with the cinnamon rolls... YUM!

Cinnamon Rolls

1/4 recipe One Hour Bread

1 cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1/4 cup butter, softened

Icing:

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

4 cups powdered sugar

Roll dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness in a large rectangle. (For an example, see Cinnamon-Rhubarb Bread recipe.) Spread 1/4 cup softened butter all over rolled out dough. Combine cinnamon and brown sugar and sprinkle over butter. Starting from the small side of the rectangle, roll the dough up jelly-roll style. Pinch ends and seams together to seal. Use a sharp knife, long peice of thread or dental floss to cut into individual rolls. Place about 1 inch apart in a 13x9 inch greased pan. Cover with a cloth. Allow to rise until double in size- about thirty minutes. Meanwhile, pre-heat oven to 350 F aBake 15 minutes in preheated oven. While rolls are baking, combine cream cheese and remaining butter in a large mixing bowl. Add milk and vanilla and 2 cups powdered sugar. Cream. Add remaining powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time until you reach your desired consistency. Frost rolls while they are still warm from the oven. Serve immediately. Refrigerate any leftovers (if there are any). Re-heat 15-30 seconds in the microwave. Makes 12 rolls.

Blueberry Breakfast Muffins

This is simply a variation of the Breakfast Puffs I made a while back. Make puff recipe, filling greased mini-muffin tin 1/3 full. Then add to it:

1 cup frozen blueberries, thawed

1/4 cup blueberry preserves (or any that you like- I used cherry)

and top with Rolled Oats.

Bake at 400 F for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

This is a lunch I made last week for the kiddos. It's a great way to dress up leftover hotdogs... even I will eat them this way! This is something my dad used to make a lot when I was a kid, so I must admit there's some childhood nastalgia involved here when I say that they really are good!

Stuffed Hot Dogs

1 package hot dogs

2 cups leftover mashed potatoes

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Slice hotdogs in half lengthwise without completely cutting through. Fold them out flat and fill each dog with a couple heaping spoonfuls of mashed potatoes. Top with grated cheese. Bake in 400 F oven for 10-12 minutes.

Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas, Green Chili Salsa, Corn Tortillas

This was dinner a couple nights ago. I'm getting a little behind on my 'blogging'. Turns out I only have time to do one maybe two things per day besides my regular dairly chores. So, a few days ago I went to my friend Stephanie's house and helped her make some Spinache Noodles which she used to make Lasagna. While I was there we also put together a batch of Green Chili Salsa. Here's how we made it:

Green Chili Salsa

1 bunch cilantro

5 cloves minced garlic (2 Tbsp)

6 tomatillos

1 large onion

1 green bell pepper

2 roasted jalepenos (double if you like it spicy)

2 cans diced green chilis

1 Tbsp ground cumin

1 Tbsp oregano

4 cubes chicken bouillon

2 cups hot water

Remove papery shell of tomatillos, wash and cut in half. Place, cut-side down onto baking sheet along with unpeeled cloves of garlic. Put under hot broiler for 5-10 minutes depending how hot your broiler gets. (Ours was perfect at 8 minutes). The skins of the tomatillos will brown and blister. Meanwhile, rinse and chop remaining vegetables. Remove tomatillos and garlic from oven. Peel garlic. Dissolve bouillon cubes in hot water. Add everything to a 2 qt. blender. Puree. Pour into medium saucepan and simmer 10-15 minutes to thicken.

As a reward for my help Stephanie sent me home with 1 1/2 cups of our delicious concoction. So the next day I thought I'd get ambitious and attempt corn tortillas for my enchiladas.. I perused the online websites and found this simple recipe:

Corn Tortillas

1 3/4 cups Masa Harina

1 1/8 cup water

In a medium bowl, mix together masa harina and hot water until thoroughly combined. Turn dough onto a clean surface and knead until pliable and smooth. If dough is too sticky, add more masa harina; if it begins to dry out, sprinkle with water. Cover dough tightly with plastic wrap and allow to stand for 30 minutes. Preheat a cast iron skillet or griddle to medium-high. Divide dough into 15 equal-size balls. Using a tortilla press, a rolling pin, or your hands, press each ball of dough flat between two sheets of plastic wrap. Immediately place tortilla in preheated pan and allow to cook for approximately 30 seconds, or until browned and slightly puffy. Turn tortilla over to brown on second side for approximately 30 seconds more, then transfer to a plate. Repeat process with each ball of dough. Keep tortillas covered with a towel to stay warm and moist until ready to serve.

Hmmm... problem was that I didn't have any masa so I tried adjusting the recipe as follows.

1 cup corn flour (I ground popcorn- that's what I had)

1 cup white flour

1 cup water

2 Tbsp Lime juice

1 Tbsp red chili powder

1 tsp salt

Well... They turned out pretty tasty, but they weren't exactly enchilada worthy as they kept falling apart when I tried to roll them. I ended up using them for an enchilada casserole which I gave to a neighbor. Lucky for my family I made a backup batch of regular flour tortillas which is what I used for our enchiladas. Now as for the enchiladas:

Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

1 cup onion, chopped (I used green onions from the garden)

1 cup green pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup butter
2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
1 1/2 cups green chili salsa, divided
1/4 cup flour
1 Tbsp ground cumin
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (I used Mozzarella and it turned out fine)
12- 6 inch tortillas.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large saucepan, cook onion and green pepper in 2 T of the butter until tender. Combine onion mixture in a bowl with chicken and 3/4 cup green chile salsa. Set aside. For the sauce, in the same sauce pan melt remaining butter. Stir in flour and cumin. Cook for 1-2 minutes, whisking constantly (this will ensure your sauce doesn't have a weird flour-y taste). Whisk in chicken broth and cook until thickened and boiling. Whisk in sour cream, rest of salsa and half of the cheese. Stir until melted. Stir 1/2 cup of sauce into chicken mixture. Place about 1 cup of the sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Fill tortillas with chicken, roll up, and place seam side down in dish. Pour remaining sauce over, sprinkle with remaining cheese, bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

You can simplify the sauce by using white sauce mix in lieu of the butter and flour. That's what I did and yes, of course, I made my own mix. I will post the recipe for the mix as well as several ways to use it in a later post.

1 Hour Bread, Calzones, Cinnamon Rhubarb Breakfast Bread

This is a simple, tasty recipe that I love to use when I'm pressed for time. I made this last night while my dinner was baking and had it risen and ready to go by the time my oven was free. I put together one large calzone, 2 loaves for sandwiches and a loaf of Cinnamon Rhubarb Bread all within 30 minutes. Now my dinner for tonight is taken care of and we ate the Rhubarb bread (most of it) with breakfast this morning. Yum!

1 Hour Basic Bread

11 cups bread flour
1/4 cup Nonfat, plain yogurt
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp Instant Yeast
1 Tbsp salt
1/4 cup oil (olive or vegetable)
3 3/4 cup hot water

Mix dry ingredients. Add oil, yogurt, water. Mix until blended. Knead about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. Shape into loaves and place into greased loaf pans. Let rise about 30 minutes. Bake at 350 F for 25 minutes. Makes 4 medium sized loaves.

Chicken Artichoke Calzones

3 cups chunky marinara sauce
1 can diced artichoke hearts, drained
1 lb cooked chicken, chopped
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 prepared bread dough recipe (or 1/4 of the previous recipe)

On a clean and floured surface, roll dough to about 1/4 inch thickness. You can then cut the dough into small-medium rectangles for individual calzones or leave it uncut to make one large calzone. In a medium mixing bowl combine marinara sauce, artichoke hearts and chicken. Spread all over 1/2 of the rolled dough making sure to leave 1 inch space from the edges of the dough. Sprinkle cheese over the top. Fold dough in 1/2 over the top of filling. Roll  sides of the dough up and pinch the edges to seal. Carefully move to a large greased baking sheet. With a sharp knife, poke small holes in the top dough layer only for steam to vent as it cooks. Allow to rise for 20-30 minutes. Cook at 400 F for 25 minutes. Serve with additional marinara sauce for dipping if desired. 

Sadly, the power went out while my calzone was cooking... that's why it is still ridiculously white in the center since it didn't fully cook. I'm hoping and praying that it got cooked enough at least that when I re-heat it tonight it will still taste ok. We'll see how it goes...

 **Edit** Lucky for us the calzone turned out terrific. The bottom was just a tiny bit soggy, but overall tasted great and nobody minded it.

Cinnamon Rhubarb Breakfast Bread

1 loaf bread dough (or 1/4 recipe 1 Hour Bread)

1/2 cup sugar

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1 1/2 cup diced rhubarb

1/4 cup butter, softened

Roll bread dough to about 1/4 inch thickness. Spread butter all over top of bread dough. Mix cinnamon and sugar together and then sprinkle all over butter. Evenly spread rhubarb over dough. From the small end of the dough, roll dough up like a jelly roll. Seal edges and place on a greased baking pan seam-side down. Allow to rise 30 minutes then bake 25 minutes in 350 F oven.

Spinache Noodles/Raviolis, Marinara Sauce

Yesterday I was working in the garden until 6 o'clock without even thinking about dinner. When it finally dawned on me that my family might be getting hungry I hurried inside & cooked up the spinache raviolis that I made last week. (They've been in the freezer.) It made for a quick dinner- on the table in less than 30 minutes which is good since we were starting so late. So as promised, here's how I made the spinache noodles:

If you're lucky enough to have lots of spinache in the garden, pick & wash about 1 lb. If not, I think Costco has the best buy when you want lots of spinache. I used enough to fill my 5 qt pot . Add about 1 cup water to your spinache and allow to cook until spinache is limp & tender. Drain spinache and add to blender along with 2 eggs, 1 tsp salt. Blend until smooth then pour into a large bowl. Add enough flour to make a stiff dough. I used about 4 cups- this will vary depending on how dry you were able to get your spinache.

Allow dough to rest (in a covered bowl) for about 30 minutes. Sprinkle flour over a clean surface and roll the dough thin (about 1/8 in.). You may need to roll 1/2 at a time. Cut into desired shapes.Add to boiling water & cook for 7 minutes or lay flat on a cookie sheet to freeze for later. If you're making raviolis, Cut nice wide rectangular noodles. Fill half the noodle with cheese and your choice of vegetables and/or meat. I used spinache and mozzarella cheese with some fresh basil from the garden. Dip your finger in a cup of water & rub the edges of the noodle before closing. Press edges together with a fork to seal completely. Of course, if you are lucky enough to have a ravioli press.. just follow those instructions. One of these days I'll get one. Along with a full-sized rolling pin... But for now I make do!

Easy Marinara Sauce

32 oz plain tomato sauce

1 (15oz) can diced tomatoes, plain or Italian style

*1 cup diced zucchini (optional)

1/4 cup diced onions

2 cloves minced garlic

2 Tbsp Italian seasoning.

Combine tomatoes, onions, zucchini and sauce in medium saucepan. Heat to boiling and then simmer at least 10 minutes to thicken. Add garlic and seasonings. Cook another 5 minutes. Serve over hot noodles or Chicken Parmesan. *you can also add diced carrots, mushrooms and/or peppers.