Happy Valentines Day!

Made pink fortune cookies for my family this morning!

They were yummy!

Easy recipie

2 egg white beaten until frothy and soft peaks

1/2 cup sifted flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp of almond extract

mix until smooth

2 Tbls water

red or pink food coloring

mix these in until thinned and pink

I use a small skillet 

on med heat

spoon a tablespoon or so onto the skillet

tilt around to make  thin layer  (like with crepes)

  you want it very thin about 4- 5 inches round

then you wait until it looks dry and starting to 

turn golden around the edges a bit

then you can flip it

the second side is only there for a second or two

then remove

I put on parchment and carefully place paper fortune inside

fold in half

and pressing middle on rim of a cup fold again

I then placed inside a muffin tin to aid keeping their shape until 

they fully crisp up.

If you cook too short they won't fully crisp up so be patient 

while they are cooking.  A few trial ones and you will have it down.

so much fun and supper yummy!!!

Mmmmm homemade donuts!

Lately making donuts is a driving force!  Perhaps because I am pregnant, LOL but it is.

I love them warm and slightly crisp form the pan and dreged in cinnamon and sugar.

I like them raised and glazed with a cup of milk.  Either way I make  them they are Yummy!

Here is a raised recipe glazed doughnuts

cheer up!

What do you do when you have 4 lbs of fresh strawberries and you are feeling blah?
You make Chocolate Crepes and whip up some cream.
I have to say crepes are always heavenly and these chocolate ones are divine.
I used a recipe from somewhere online (just google it)  it was yummy.
First I made a simple strawberry syrup (water sugar pureed strawberries, boiled)
spooned a generous amount onto the plate.
I filled the crepes with whip cream and strawberries, rolled them up putting them
onto the plate in the middle of the warm strawberry syrup and added more
cream and strawberries then drizzled dark chocolate syrup and sprinkled chocolate chips
on top!  very yummy!  Though my girls just ate the whip cream and left the rest.
That's okay pregnant mommy went a head and finished theirs for them.

Dinner Magnifique!

Dinner Magnifique!

Some nights we just eat.
But tonight I had all this cooking energetic bliss!

I butterflied and stuffed 2 pork tenderloins, one with cream cheese and spinach,
and the other with spinach and bacon.  The later I also wrapped in bacon.

Then after tying them up I browned them in a skillet and then baked them
in the oven in a pre-warmed dish of melted butter.

They were just Lovely to look at an heavenly to eat.
I made whipped Celery, Spinach, Potatoes to serve on the side,
garnished with bacon pieces.

YUMMY!

Spinach and Cream cheese stuffed Pork Tenderloin

filling  mix these together
1 bar of cream cheese
1 1/2 cups of spinach fresh
1/2 tsp salt

cut tenderloin in half but not all the way through
and from the middle cut again outward to edge but not all the way through
on each side.  Now your pork is about 1/2 inch thick.

Sprinkle on salt and pepper
garlic powder and dry basil to season meat
Then spread on cheese mixture

Roll up the meat and try with string/thread

melt some butter in a pan and brown the edges of the tenderloin

preheat a dish/Pyrex with 4 tables butter
 in oven at 425 and remove when melted and sizzling
place browned tenderloin in dish
replace in oven for 35 minutes
lower oven temp last 10 minutes at 375
or cook until your preferred done-ness.

Tasty Green Potatoes

Boil 2 cups of chopped celery
and 1 cup of spinach

Boil with potatoes
for 15 minutes

when easy to mash
remove and whip up with 5 Tbsp Butter
1 tsp salt
and 1/4 cup milk or cream

Super yummy believe me!

What's for dinner?

If youare like me I hate that question and I hate trying
to figure out what to put together with the things I have
on hand.  Especially when it is time to go to market to
fill the pantry and fridge.  I do find things sometimes.

I had on hand black beans, rice, flour tortillas and some beef.
Lucky me!
I decided to make my version of a Big City Burritio.
Which means a huge burrito filled with lots of yummy stuff.

Prepare rice
heat beans and season
cook meat (I had stew meat) and cut into tiny pieces
I added a seasoning package to the meat
some type of fajita or taco seasoning
heat your flour tortillas
On your tortilla
put 1/2 cup rice
1/4 cup beans
big spoon of meat
handful of cheese
here you could add sour cream, tomatoes, green onions, ect.
Roll up your burrito tucking the ends up and take a bite.

We all loved them even my kids.
I just had to convince a few to try the first bite then it was a winner!

Now you give it a try.

Homemade Granola

I don't know where I originally found my basic recipe.
It has the bones for your granola making, then you add your
special ingredients.
but here it is...

Basics for Granola
In a large bowl mix
4 Cup of Oats (I like old fashioned not quick)
1/4 Cup brown sugar dark or light
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
then here is where you have fun
1 Cup or so of an ingredient ~ sliced almonds, sun flower seeds,
wheat germ, toasted coconut, dried fruit (these can toss in
at the end if you want), walnuts, pretty much
what ever sound good and yummy to you.

In a small sauce pan
1/4 Cup Cano la Oil (this oil doesn't had any weird flavors)
1 Table spoon Water
1 tsp vanilla *optional
Then add a sweetener of your choice.
1/4 Cup , 1/2 Cup up to 3/4 Cup ~ Honey, Molasses (this one
is really strong use smaller amount), Maple Syrup, sugar, corn syrup...
Heat until warm and bubbly
Pour over oats mix
stir to coat evenly

Spread onto a baking sheet (I use my jelly roll pan)
bake at 300 degrees
stir every 10 minutes to brown evenly fora total of 40 min

Cool and toss in Crasins, dried cherries or raisins I add these
last to save them from drying out and getting tough to chew.

Enjoy!
For Honey Vanilla Almond
I used 1 cup slivered almonds in my oats
3/4 Cup of honey
and upped my vanilla to 1 Tablespoon

Granola

for gifts I made granola
and to make it more exciting I made many flavors
a sort of gourmet granola collection
I think my favorite was the Honey Vanilla Almond
but I heard that Walnut Molasses was a winner too.

Pink Strawberries, Red Raspberries and Chocolate!

I love to have Tea Parties!
Mostly I love having them with my sisters!
I am so inspired to have my party after
looking at these ladies have done!

This delicious box of chocolate cupcakes is from Annie's Eats
So adorable and yummy looking! I have a mini cupcake pan
and I plan to put this together for my party!

These Raspberry Macaroons look divine!
WhiskKid makes them look so beautiful.
I am more intimidated by this recipe but I
hope to give them a try, too!

I am so excited for my Tea Party!
Now to use this energy to go forth and create it!

cocoa 'n Sweet rolls

Instinctively I began to make Sweet rolls and cocoa when we got home from church today.

As I was rolling out the dough my mom called to tell us they were staying home to watch the Christmas Broadcast because of the snowy weather and didn't want us to feel left out when they had their hot cocoa and sweet rolls. But I was ready and I had my sweet rolls in process.

It was a small thing to remember the tradition. Today it was a natural act to do.
So, all six of us curled up on our bed and watched the Christmas Broadcast, listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing, and enjoying the Christmas messages given.
Then after we ate Sweet rolls, and drank hot cocoa.

Icy Raspberry Mousse
super yummy, requested and made by my 5 year old

Pumpkin!

I love Pumpkin
Pumpkin pancakes
pumpkin pie
pumpkin chocolate chip cookies
pumpkin waffles
pumpkin muffins
so of course I had to store me some pumpkin!

cutting up cubes of pumpkin

boiling the cubes to soft enough to smash or puree

puree in the blender

here is my huge bowl full of pumpkin puree

here are bags ready to freeze
I had 12 bags/cans worth of pumpkin puree
when all was said and done
thats 24 cups oh and one lonely cup
I used that night in a monster pumpkin pancake

Okay here it is! Doughnuts...

Doughnuts!
1 pkg. yeast
1/4 tsp Sugar
1/2 Cup warm water
Sprinkle Yeast and sugar over warm water, sit

5 Cups Flour
1/2 Cup Sugar (I like to have more sugar 1 Cup)
1 Tblsp spoon Salt
Sift these together in a large bowl.

2 Cups Milk
1/2 Cup butter
In microwave safe bowl (I use my Pyrex measuring cup)
warm milk to melt butter
coll slightly and beat in eggs.
3 eggs

Add milk a little bit at a time to flour. Add the dissolved Yeast. Knead (I use my Kitchen Aid with the dough hook) until smooth. Add remaining liquid knead until smooth. Add additional flour until it pulls away into a ball. On the counter knead in any additional flour to make it soft and elastic. Fold it over several times to allow air to enter dough.

Place dough in an oiled bowl to rise for 1 to 1 and 1/2 hours.
Let double in volume Punch down and let rise again
divide dough in half to roll out (it is more manageable this way, you can save the other half in the fridge until tomorrow too)
roll out with a rolling pin to 1/2 inch thickness on a floured surface
cut out doughnuts with circle cutter.
I place them on a sheet of wax paper to rest-rise for 10-15 minutes
You will have around 4 dozen

Pour enough oil into a heavy sauce pan to reach about 2 inches
I heat mine over Med-heat until a test piece when dropped in has little oil bubbles racing around it when it goes in and it floats back up quickly. If it just sits on the bottom with no bubbles it is too cool still.
Cook until light golden brown turn over once. They puff up and start smelling sooo good!
I drain on paper towels.
Then I either dip them into a powder sugar glaze (sugar with milk to thin into a glaze)
or drop them straight into sugar. The chocolate glaze has powder sugar, cocoa powder, 2 Tblsp softened butter and a little milk.
Good Luck! I want to see how your yummy doughnuts turn out!

Doughnut tradition

Yumm. I think I will grab one!

I always cut the recipe in half and still have about 4 dozen doughnuts!

They are the best warm and soft right after they get glazed!
Yummy yummy in our tummy!

Creamy Broccoli Spinach soup

Creamy Broccoli Spinach soup
Delicious had to share!!!

Ingredients with directions~ I tend to modify all my recipes depending on what I have on hand this one turned out really well so here is my modification - recipe
1-2 Large heads of fresh broccoli chopped to bite size pieces (or two bags of frozen)
2 cups baby spinach
1/2 Cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup diced onion
3 cups water
- In your favorite soup sauce pan, boil/steam broccoli and chopped onion in 3 cups water for about 10mins or until broccoli starts to soften. For the last 4 minutes toss in spinach and mushrooms to wilt down and soften.
- Take 1 cup of steamed broccoli set a side in a soup bowl (I reserve the flowers and not the stem pieces)
-take remaining broccoli water mixture, pour into blender and mix until broccoli is smooth. Blend it with 1 cup water the water in the pot usually has evaporated. set a side

2tblsp butter
2tblsp flour
- in the bottom of currently empty pot, melt butter... then add the flour. Stir constantly until bubbly and light brown.

2 cups chicken broth
- While waiting for the butter to melt, put 2 cups broth together and warm in microwave.
- Add broth to to butter/flour rue. Bring to a boil for about 5 mins. Return blended broccoli to pot and reserved whole broccoli pieces

1 tsp seasoning salt
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp Nutmeg
1 tblsp Salt
& Pepper to taste
1 Cup whole milk or heavy cream
- Add nutmeg, seasoning salt, salt, pepper and heavy cream to broccoli. Stir it up until green and creamy!
- Let simmer with a lid for a few hours until thickened.
Make sure you taste it to check for seasoning Perfection I even added a 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper which enhanced the flavor!
Crumble crispy bacon on top and eat it with your family!

My children loved it!!!

Swedish Pancakes!

Yummy! This recipe has whole wheat flour in it.
Last night was a backwards night with breakfast for dinner!
My girls love that!

They filled them and rolled them up for themselves, messy but fun.

Our favorite fillings are applesauce and pear sauce.
This time we also tried out Loganberry jam.

Hear is a bite just for you!

Swedish Pancakes with Whole Wheat flour

In a medium bowl whisk together 3 eggs and 1 cup of Milk
In another bowl sift together 1 1/2 cups white flour with 1 cup of Whole wheat flour
add 1 Tblsp of Sugar and 1/2 tsp of Salt
add to the eggs and milk whisking well (no lumps)
add 1 1/2 Cups Milk and 2 Tblsp of melted Butter (real butter is key to this) & Whisk

Pre-Heat your pan on Medium heat and melt butter or spray to prevent sticking
your pan needs to be hot before you pour the batter

You want the pancake to have a golden brown appearance.
pour in 1/3 cup batter into your pan rotate it around to make a thin layer (these are similar to crepes in that they need to be thin)
Cook for a 1 1/2 minutes or so until you see that the top is not shiny or liquid and the pancake pulls away from the pan easily. I like to go around the edge of the cake while its cooking with my spatula to loosen the edge which is the place it likes to stick the most.

Then you start stacking them up and cooking the rest.
Good luck
My girls like them right out of the pan so I don't really get a stack.
In fact I cut them in half and that way the one kiddo isn't eating in front of the other causing tears.

Yummy breakfast Baked pancakes!

Yummy puffy Pancake!
sorta like the ones LJ and her family eat!

butter a pie pan
wash or rinse/drain fruit
we used a can of cherries in their own juice (family cannery)
place them in the bottom of the pie pan
In you blender place
1/4 C. sugar
3 eggs
1 C. milk
3/4 C. flour
1 tsp Vanilla
cover and blend on low
Pour over fruit in pie pan
bake in a 400 degree oven
for 30 min
Cool for 10 minutes and serve.
Yummy yummy
I like to add syrup but it is pretty sweet alone too!

Recipe inspired by a kids book called: Puffy Popovers and Other Get-Out-of-Bed Breakfasts

Peanut butter chocolate chip scones

3 Tbsp smooth Peanut butter
1/2 cup Sour cream
mix these together in a large mixing bowl
Add
1 1/4 cup of Bisquik
1/4 cup of Chocolate chips
and Stir together
spray with oil your cake pan or cookie sheet
preheat oven to 375
flour your hand and shape dough in to cake pan or 1 inch thick circle on your cookie sheet
Sprinkle the top with sugar (optional)
Bake for 20 min
Cool and cut into wedges

You will be surprised at how flaky these scones are!
I haven't tried a different style but I think you could substitute different flavors and make a yummy version of this.
I got this recipe from a kids book called: Puffy Popovers and Other Get-Out-of-Bed Breakfasts
M made breakfast from this book all by herself. I will post another yummy recipe we loved later.

Cabbage Burgers

Recipe for yummy burgers with cabbage, sometimes called Kraut burgers or Runza Burgers.
I loved these as a kid and I still love them.


First you put some oil in a skillet
Saute a 1/2 of an Onion that you have minced
Then brown 1 lb. ground beef (I use 1 can of Ground beef 14 oz.)
Shred a head of cabbage (I use my Kitchen Aid attachment)
-I use over half of that or split it for 2 meals
Add the shredded cabbage to the skillet. It will be a rounded heap but it will cook down!
Salt 1 1/2 tsp Pepper to taste
I add a tsp of Garlic Powder
Then add 1 Cup of Water
cover and steam the cabbage will become clear and wilted down
Let that simmer 10 minutes and 10 minutes uncovered until all the water has evaporated

Start the dough~
2 1/2 tsp of yeast
2 tsp of Sugar
1 Cup of flour
Mixed in a medium bowl

In a microwave safe bowl combine (I use a large pyrex measuring cup)
1/2 Cup of warm water
3/4 Cup of Milk (good place to use your stored powdered milk)
1Tbsp. butter or shortening some times I use olive oil
Heat in microwave for 1 or 2 minutes until the milk is scalded

Pour onto Flour and Yeast mixture
Add 1 Cup of flour with 1 tsp of salt swirled in it.
and combine to form a dough
Add additional flour until it forms a ball.
divide in half until you have 8 equal balls
Roll out a ball with your rolling pin to a 5 inch shape
place a heaping spoonful of hamburger/cabbage mixture in the middle
(I like to divide the mixture in my skillet into 8 pizza type sections so I have enough for each burger and I don't run out or have one that is too full and one that is skimpy!)
fold up the dough edges and pinch shut. Make sure there aren't any holes that will leak the yummy-ness out.
Bake for 20-30min. at 375 degrees
Enjoy with your kids or surprize your friends.
I did and I was asked to supply the recipe!

Gingerbread cookies

Here is the Recipe! Enjoy!

3 ½ cups flour
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ cup shortening
½ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
½ cup molasses

Put shortening and sugar together in a bowl. Mix together. Add eggs and molasses. Stir, mixture will not be smooth.
Combine flour, ginger, soda, and cinnamon in a bowl.
Add 1/3 of flour mixture to molasses mixture. Stir. Add half of the remaining flour mixture and stir. Add remaining and stir. If dough is too stiff to stir use your hands to mix.
Shape into a ball wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for 2 hours.
Roll out with rolling pin ¼ inch thick and cut out men with cookie cutters.
Bake at 325 for 10-12 minutes depending on size of your men.
You can decorate with raisins, fruit, and nuts before baking or with frosting and candies after baking.

Domestic Dish!

When you take time to peel and cut up bite sized potato pieces, I believe it should be considered a special event!

Here we have beautiful bowl of Corn & Cheese Chowder.
Garnished with bacon crumbles and chives.

Here we are stirring in the final ingredients.

We enjoyed this on a cold October night!
It is so yummy you must have the recipe!

Corn & Cheese Chowder
In a large pot pour a couple tablespoons Olive Oil
Fry bacon at least 6 strips
remove and set aside for later
1 cup of chopped onion into bacon juice and oil
glaze to a clear color add
2 chopped/ smashed cloves of garlic
when everything has cooked down to a clear bits add
2 tbls of Flour with
1tsp of Salt
stir in until absorbed add pepper to liking add
4 cups of chicken broth add
3 or 4 large cubed potatoes
bring to a boil add
1 1/2 cups of whole milk (1 can of evaporated milk)
2 cups of shredded medium cheddar cheese
simmer till potatoes are tender add
2 cups corn or 2 cans (corn with peppers is good)
taste and add salt and pepper if desired
serve with sprinkled bacon on top and chives
Enjoy
serves at least 6 - 8 people