Donuts and Donut Holes

Homemade Donuts


Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted
4 eggs, beaten
2/3 cup sugar
Vegetable oil for frying
Cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar for dusting

In a bowl combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg; set aside.

In another bowl combine milk and melted butter.

                                      

Using a mixer, beat eggs and sugar until thick (about 5 minutes).

                                      

Add milk mixture; stir with wooden spoon to combine.

                                      

Add flour mixture until you can no longer stir, then take and finish mixing it with your fingers.

                                      

Cover dough with plastic wrap; place in refrigerator for 2 hours.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface.

Roll dough to 1/2 inch thickness.

                                      

Cut dough with a floured doughnut cutter, or a 2 1/2" round cutter then a 1 1/4" round cutter.

                                      

Fry 2-3 doughnuts at a time in deep hot oil for about 2 minutes on each side or until brown. Keep an eye on them, though, because they can cook faster.

                                       

Using a slotted spoon, remove doughnuts and place onto paper towels to drain.

Repeat with remaining doughnuts and doughnut holes.

Coat still warm donuts in cinnamon sugar mixture 

                                      

or dust with powdered sugar.

                                       

Serve warm or reheat in a microwave 8-10 seconds each on high.

                                        

Moist Almond Cake

Moist Almond Cake


Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter
3 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 - 1 1/2 tsp almond extract (depends on how strong you want the almond flavor)
1 1/4 cups milk (i used Silk Pure Almond milk in Vanilla)

1. Grease and flour two 9 1/2"x1 1/2" or 8x1 1/2" round cake pans or grease one 13x9" pan; set aside.
In a bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a mixer, beat butter on medium for 30 seconds.
Gradually add sugar, beating until well combined, 2 minutes or so.
Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Beat in vanilla and almond extracts.

Alternately add flour and milk, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined.

Spread batter into prepared pan(s).

Bake for 20-25min for the 9" pans, 30-35min for 8" pans, 25-30min for 13x9" pan, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Cool layered cakes for 10 minutes in the pans on a wire rack then remove from pans and allow to cool completely on wire racks.
Or place 13x9 cake in pan on wire rack; cool throughly.
Frost or dust with powdered sugar.

It turned out so soft and moist!

Sausage Rolls

Sausage Rolls


My son wanted me to make these for him today so i thought i'd do a quick post about it.

These are so very simple.

Ingredients:
1 roll biscuits (any you like)
1 box Morningstar Sausage Links

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Microwave the sausage links.

Roll out biscuits into a long oval shape and put a sausage at one end of them.

At this point you can add cheese on top of the sausage link but my son has a cold so i didn't add any.

Roll up the sausage in the biscuit and place it on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Place in oven and bake about 15 minutes of until browned.

Serve with gravy and eggs!

Baked Egg Rolls

Baked Egg Rolls

For the original recipe for these it is at this blog: http://fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com/2009/04/baked-vegetable-egg-rolls.html
I made changes to it to fit our needs but your welcome to do it like she suggests:o)
I like that these are baked since i can't stand to fry anything.

You can make these vegetarian as well but i had left over baked chicken (we are normally vegetarian but sometimes i treat my hubby to chicken tacos which are his faves and i did for his birthday yesterday).

Ingredients:

1 Tbs olive oil
12oz bag broccoli slaw
1 cup bean sprouts (optional)
1 can water chestnuts (optional)
2 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs corn starch
1/4 cup water
14-20 egg roll wrappers (depends on how full you fill them)
Dipping sauces (i like sweet and sour my hubby likes spicy mustard)

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot add the slaw, sprouts, and chestnuts to the pan and cook, stirring frequently for 4-5 minutes, until the vegetables just begin to wilt but still remain a little bit crisp. 
This is also where you want to add in the meat, finely chopped, if you do put any in. Heres a pic of mine before i tossed it in. Its up to you how much you use. I think i ended up with 3/4 of a cup.

Add the corn starch to the water and mix thoroughly. 

Add the corn starch mixture and soy sauce to the pan. Cook for an additional 1-2 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Remove from heat and let cool.

Place two tablespoons of the cooled mixture on the center of the egg roll wrap. Fold the bottom up over the filling. Next, fold the two sides over, making it look like an envelope, then roll it up like a burrito.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place the rolled up egg rolls on a baking sheet. Once you have rolled them all, spray the top of each egg roll with cooking spray.

Place in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes then turn them over. Bake for an additional 5-7 minutes or until crispy and golden brown.

Canned Pasta Sauce

Canned Homemade Pasta Sauce
I'm doubling my sauce today so the pictures will show double everything but the recipe is for a single batch.

Get all of your canning items together (3-4 sterilized pint jars, lids, rings, 2 large pots, sauce pan for lids, etc.).

Get a large processing pot on the stove with water heating to boil.

Open 6 cans of Petite Diced/cut tomatoes (i had to use some regular diced tomatoes since the store ran out of the petite then i took a potato masher and mashed them up some) and drain.

Put in a large cooking pot. Add 1/4 cup sugar and Mrs. Wages Pasta Sauce seasons and i like to add a cap full of hickory smoke season but you don't have to. Turn the eye to med high but watch closely! Bring to a light boil then reduce heat.

Simmer for 25 minutes stirring occasionally.

Place your lids in hot water.

Get your jars out of the oven and place a funnel in one.

Fill jars with pasta sauce to 1/2" from the top. Put a lid on it and then a ring.

Place in a hot water bath thats at a boil and process 40 minutes. Water needs to be about 1/2" over the tops of the jars.

Remove and let cool. Store for up to a year!

Apple Crumb Squares

Apple Crumb Squares
This was very easy to make even though there were a lot of steps.
What i love most, is that i almost always have all of these ingredients on hand, so i can
throw one together whenever i need to:o) Oh, maybe thats not a good thing...well,
at least not for my waistline:o/ ;o)


Ingredients:
Cake
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
3/4 teaspoon almond extract (you can use vanilla is you don't have almond)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 apples (granny smith are good but i used Fuji, my faves), peeled, cored, halved, and thinly sliced
1/2 cup apricot preserves, melted

Crumb Topping
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup light brown sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted
2 tablespoons powdered sugar (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 15x10x1 inch pan with spray oil (my son was using my pan this size for an indoor sandbox:o/ so i had to use a 13x9 which worked fine).
Cake: Beat together the butter and sugar until smooth, about 2 min.
Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each.
Beat in almond extract.
On low speed, beat in salt and flour until just blended.
Spread evenly in pan.

Fan apples over the top...

then pour/brush with melted preserves.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Crumb Topping: Blend together the flour, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice and salt.
Stir in the butter until mixture is moistened and clumps together.
Sprinkle evenly over cake.

Bake for an additional 35 minutes.
Remove pan to wire rack; cool completely.

It was all bubbly around the edges and smelled SO good! It was hard not to just tear in to it, but its for Church tomorrow, so i must wait...

Vegetarian Sausage & Gravy

Vegetarian Sausage & Gravy


2 pkgs Biscuits
2 pkgs Pioneer Brand Biscuit Gravy (the best gravy mix ever;o)
1 Box Morningstar Sausage Patties

Bake biscuits.
While those are going, make the gravy according to the package directions (super easy, all it takes is water).

Keep the gravy in the pan on low and add a dash of salt and pepper.
Place the 6 sausage patties on a plate in the microwave and cook for 1min.
Pull apart patties or you can cut them up so long as its small.

Put the sausage in the gravy and mix together.

Split the biscuits in half and top with gravy.

I served these tonight with tater tots (a great combo:o)!

It was SO good!

Mac & Cheese

Mac & Cheese


This is SO easy and totally yum!

Ingredients:
1 lb pasta (any shape)
1 stick butter
1/4 cup milk (almond, soy, or rice work too)
2 cups shredded cheese
plain bread crumbs

Cook the pasta and drain.
Toss pasta with butter.
Add milk and toss to coat.
Add cheese and toss until coated.
Top with enough bread crumbs to lightly cover the top.
Broil until crumbs are browned and enjoy hot and gooey right out of the oven!

Pizza Bagels

Pizza Bagels

These are SO super easy. You can make your own bagels with the recipe in my last post or you can go even easier and buy them!








Ingredients:
8-12 PLAIN Bagels
pasta or pizza sauce (i used my homemade canned jars i made yesterday, i will post up that recipe later)
Toppings (i used olives)
Cheese (i used sliced smoked provolone, sliced aged white cheddar and grated parmesan, all of which can be found at Walmart and Kroger at affordable prices)

Cut bagels in half and lay them on an ungreased baking sheet. Top with tomato sauce of your choice, them toppings then cheese.
Broil in oven for 5-8 minutes. You should keep a very close eye on them, though, because sometimes they bake faster.

I just made these for dinner and my husband barely waited until they were out of the oven before piling them up on his plate. They got rave reviews from everyone:o)

Homemade Bagels

I was dying to make pizza bagels but didn't have any bagels, so i decided my little boy and i were gonna make some.

Now i have made some in the past and they were such a chore, so i was a little apprehensive about it, but i decided to give it a go anyway.

So here is the recipe i found with my own pictures added.

I didn't start taking pictures until i already had the dough done, sorry! I will do better next time, i promise!

Ingredients:

4 cups bread flour

1 Tbls sugar

1 1/2 tsps salt

1 Tbls vegetable oil

2 tsps instant yeast

1-1/4- 1-1/2 cups of warm water

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. You don't have to worry about soaking the yeast when you use instant yeast (most yeast sold these days is instant yeast). The dough should feel stiff, but add the extra water if it's really stiff, or you can't get all the dry flour incorporated.

Plop the dough down onto the counter, and knead for about ten minutes, or until the dough is uniform and smooth.

Cut the dough into 8 equal sized balls, and let rest for 10-20 minutes.

Now, take each of the dough balls and using two hands, roll it into a little snake on the counter. When the snake is longer than the width of your two hands, wrap it around your dominant roiling hand. 

The dough rope should be wrapped so the overlapping ends are together at your palm, near the start of your fingers. Now take the two overlapping ends, and use your palm to squish/roll these two ends together. 

Once the dough is fused, you should have a perfectly circular bagel-to-be! 

This is the only part of the process that can take a little practice before your bagels will look really professional. Don't get discouraged if they don't look perfect, it just takes practice!

Let your bagels rest on the counter for about 20 minutes, and meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil, and grease a large baking tray lightly. You can just rub a splash of vegetable oil and rub it around.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

After the 20 minute wait, your bagels will start to look puffy, and it's time to get them boiling! Add them as many at a time as you can to your boiling water without crowding them. Boil for about a minute, turn them over, and boil for another minute. 

Take them out and let dry for a minute and then place them on your oiled baking tray. Repeat until all the bagels are boiled.

At this point you can add any toppings you like to these. To make sesame, onion, popps seed, caraway, etc bagels, just have a dry plate ready with the seed or spice topping spread out on it. After the bagels have come out of the boiling water, place them face down onto the topping and then place them topping side up onto the baking tray. Bake and flip as for plain bagels.

I did plain ones because i intend to turn them into pizzas for dinner;o)

As you can see, i boiled 2 of them just a little too long and they got too puffy and began to separate. After half are boiled, either reduce the heat or reduce the time on each side. The final 2 i only did for 45sec on one side and 30sec on the other.

At this time you can do and egg white wash (1 egg white mixed with 1/4 cup water and whipped up) over the bagels to give them that glossy look, but its not necessary. 

Add the tray to the oven, and after 10 minutes, flip the bagels over, bake for another ten minutes; and they're done! 

Let them cool for at least 20 minutes.

And there ya go! Beautiful homemade bagels! I love these if only because i know exactly what went into them, and thats important to me. Its my job to make sure my men eat as healthy as possible;o)