Thursday, February 26, 2009

Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry Cornmeal Muffins
1 cup corn meal
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup evaporated milk or buttermilk (non fat/low fat)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup plain yogurt (non fat)
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1-2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Combine corn meal, flour, sugar, wheat germ and baking powder in large bowl.
Combine milk, vegetable oil, yogurt, egg and egg white in small bowl, stir until blended.
Add to corn meal mixture, stirring just until moistened.
Gently fold in blueberries.
Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling 3/4 full.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes for 12 muffins or about 25 minutes for 6 or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Cool in pan on wire rack for 5 minutes, remove to wire rack to cool slightly.


**** I made these yesterday and I LOVED them, but when everyone else in the house tried them, they weren't as thrilled. They liked them just not as much as I did. I think it was the texture. I used 1/2 white 1/2 wheat flour. from recipezaar.com

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Sixty Minute Rolls


2 pkgs. yeast
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. warm milk
1/3 c. soft butter
2 eggs
4 1/2 c. flour

Mix all ingredients except flour. Mix well, then add half flour. Mix well, add the rest of the flour. Knead; place in greased jellyroll pan. Shape dough into rolls. Raise for 10 minutes. Bake at 425 degrees for 10-12 minutes. yummy yummy!

Friday, February 20, 2009

Shepards Pie

1 Lb. Hamburger
1/2 Cup Onions (chopped)
1/4 tsp. Thyme
1 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1 Can Tomato Soup
1 Can Green Beans or Corn
2-4 Lrg. Potatoes (cooked and mashed)
1 1/2 Cups Grated Cheese

Brown hamburger and onions. Drain. Put hamburger, thyme, Worcestershire sauce, soup and veggies into a bowl. Mix and pour into a greased 9x13 dish. Mash potatoes and spread over the top. Cook for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Sprinkle cheese over potatoes. Put back in the oven for about 5 mins or until cheese is melted.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Fritatta

I'm a big fan of breakfast for dinner, we probably have it once a week. I was going to make omelets last night but the thought of making several was not appealing. Thus, the glorified omelet, or fritatta!

5 or 6 eggs
1 Cup Milk
1 Cup shredded Cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste
Whatever you'd normally put in an omelet. This is what I had on hand:
Diced ham as much as you like
1 Green onion stalk diced
1 small tomato diced and seeded
handful of spinach chopped
Butter

Whip eggs and milk in a large bowl, add half of the cheese and salt and pepper to taste. In large oven safe skillet melt butter (or just use cooking spray). Add ham and vegetables to skillet and saute until soft. Pour egg mixture over top. Let the eggs cook until mostly set, top will still be wet. Make sure to lift the edges and let the egg run under to cook. Once it's almost set sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top and put under broiler in oven for about 2 minutes to finish the cooking and to melt the cheese.
Cut into wedges and serve with hashbrown potatoes and fruit! It turned out really yummy, even my 2 year old was eating spinach!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Chili

Here is a recipe that I got from my aunt. It is really good.

1 lb. Ground beef
1 Tbs. Chili powder
1/8 tsp. Garlic powder
1 1/2 C. chopped onion
1 can Kidney beans
1 can Tomato soup
1 Tbs. Vinegar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 Lrg Garlic clove
1 Tbs. Brown sugar

Brown hamburger and onions, drain. Add remaining ingredients and simmer uncovered for about 15-20 minutes. Stir occasionally. This is enough for about 4-6 people. When I make this for my family I usually have to double or even triple the recipe because of how much everyone likes it.

I don't put the garlic clove in and if I am cooking for people that don't like onions I reduce how much I use and chopped the onion really small. Then they can't even tell it's in there. Also, if you want this to be more spicy add more chili powder.

Basic chili

Jade, this one's for you -- I don't like to have "stuff" in my chili, so when I make it, it's very basic and very simple.

You'll need:
Kidney (red) beans
Water
Ground beef
Tomato sauce
Chili seasoning
Cumin

That's it. Since Cory likes "stuff" in his, I sometimes cook some peppers and add those to his chili, along with some stewed tomatoes. Ick.

Cook the beans -- this can be done in a crockpot or on the stove. The last time I made chili, I cooked them in my crockpot for a few hours, turned it off, and let them sit in the water overnight while I was sleeping. The next day, I turned the crockpot back on high, browned the hamburger meat (and I always use garlic salt), dumped it into the crock pot, added a couple of cans of tomato sauce, and some chili powder. I had a little packet of chili seasoning left (you get it in the isle with all the other packets, like taco seasoning). I didn't think it was enough, so I added some chili powder (found in the spice isle), and some cumin seasoning. I let it cook a couple hours, until everything was heated through. It tasted pretty good, if I say so myself.

Easy, easy, easy. I know you can do it :)

Monday, February 9, 2009

Wanted: Chili Recipes

I’ve got a chili cook-off coming up and I’ve never made homemade chili before. Anyone have any good recipes? Particularly any where I can omit the tomatoes, onions and other icky stuff like that and it's still recognizable as chili? If so, would you post them for everyone to see?

Saturday, February 7, 2009

White Bread

White Bread

350 for 35 minutes

Combine 1 Tbsp. yeast in 1/4 cup warm water. Set Aside.

2 1/2 cups water

6 cups flour (doesn't matter what kind)

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup oil

1 Tbsp. salt

Mix water, 3 cups flour, honey, oil and salt. Add yeast mixture and

rest of flour (as little as possible).

Knead 10-15 minutes. Place in greased bowl, cover and rise till

doubled (appr. 30 minutes). Place in greased pan, cover and rise.

Bake.

Makes 3 small loaves.

Nauvoo Bread

Yum!

Nauvoo Bread

5 Cups Hot Water

½ Cup Potato Flakes

½ Cup sugar

1 Cup powdered milk

2 T. Salt

½ Cup oil or shortening

2 T. Yeast

10-14 Cups Flour

Combine hot water, shortening, potato flakes, powdered milk, and sugar. Stir to dissolve shortening. When temperature is tepid, add yeast. Mix in 5 cups of flour and the salt Stir to smooth sponge. Add flour to make a smooth and elastic dough. Let rise until double, about 45 minutes, punch down and let rise again. Shape into loaves, let rise. Bake in 375 degree oven for about 35 minutes.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Two Cake Awesomeness

So I don't know what it's really called. But I love this cake.

You'll need:
White cake mix (and all the stuff required to make it -- eggs, oil, water, whatever)
8 oz Cool Whip
8 oz cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
2 packages strawberry Danish Dessert (sold in the same aisle as the Jell-O products)

Prepare the cake batter as directed, and split the batter into two 9x13 pans. Bake for about half the time directed on the box. (I always check it a few minutes early because often I don't split it as evenly as I'd thought and one is done a lot sooner than the other.)

Let the cake cool. You can throw it in the fridge for about 30 minutes, or just leave out for a while. Depends on if you're in a hurry.

Mix the Cool Whip, cream cheese (softened, of course) and powdered sugar. Spread evenly over each cooled cake.

Stir both packages of Danish Dessert in 3 1/2 cups of water. Microwave on high for about 12 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes. Pour on top of the cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate immediately.

(You can add a layer of bananas or strawberries or something between the cream cheese and the Danish Dessert, but I like it just plain.)

It won't take long to set up, but I like to make the cake the night before just so I'm not rushed. The cake will stay fresh in your fridge for more than a week, but I promise you'll eat it all long before then. This is PERFECT for a church function or something where you have to feed lots of people because it makes two cakes.

I DARE you to not love this cake.