Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Squares :)

I know, i know.. its Wednesday not Tuesday. I was so busy yesterday I apologize :( but I am here now! Update on the weight loss--- I have lost 10lbs!! :) So i have to lose 10 more in a month to win the competition.... kinda getting nervous! My husband has to lose 9lbs!! This might be a close race!!

I decided I would post a healthy baked treat today since I never post dessert like things!
I got this recipe from http://gingerbreadbagels.com/2011/03/22/peanut-butter-banana-oatmeal-squares/
and she uses this for a breakfast. I feel it can be a good breakfast or a good dessert.

Healthy Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Squares!! 

Sorry for the bad pics....

 

 

 

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups quick cooking oat
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (i just used sea salt)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 large mashed banana
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

Directions
Mix together the quick cooking oats, light brown sugar, baking powder, kosher salt and ground cinnamon.
Add in the vanilla extract, milk and egg. Mix the ingredients together.
Then add in the mashed banana and peanut butter. Combine all of the ingredients.
Pour the mixture into a lightly greased 8 by 8 inch metal baking pan. ( i did mine in a different pan i do not have an 8x8)
Bake at 350 F degrees for 20 minutes.
Cut into squares and enjoy!


As you can see this is a very easy quick thing to make!!


Her blog shows amazing pictures of every step! However the only thing in her picture that was different then how my turned out... is hers look thin and crispy like... however they puff up like brownies or cake. Mine did turn out kind of dry but you can spread a thin layer of peanut butter on the top and drink a glass of a milk with it and they are great!! Plus the bonus of knowing they are not horrible for you!!  ( i apologize for the bad pics)



Enjoy!!!

7Up Biscuits

When I want a fast, yummy bread-like side for a meal, I make these biscuits. They are so light and airy, a perfect combo with just about any meal. I love how yummy and versatile it is. You could leave out the Italian seasoning for some plain, fluffy biscuits. You could also sprinkle with some cinnamon sugar for a sweeter version. Oh, so good!

7Up Biscuits
Recipe from Your Homebased Mom
Yield: 9-10 good sized biscuits
Takes: 10 -15 minutes, plus baking time


2 C Bisquick
1/2 C sour cream
1/2 C 7-up
1/4 C melted butter
Italian Seasoning

Directions:
Add sour cream into Bisquick and mix together; add 7 Up.  The dough will be very soft. Sprinkle additional Bisquick onto the counter and pour dough onto it. Gently knead a little additional Bisquick into the dough and then pat the dough out to desired thickness (about 1 inch)  Use the bottom of a glass or a biscuit cutter to cut out biscuits. Place melted butter into 9 x 9 pan.  Dip each biscuit in the butter and then turn over and place into the pan {the dipped part should now be on top so it is topped wit butter as well as sitting in it}. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning. Bake in a 450 oven until golden brown, about 8-10 minutes.

Friday with Tierra!

Hey all!! I know I disappeared there for a long while! Im sure you were all just so worried... lol.. Well I am alive... I got so busy with work that I kept forgetting and the next thing you know a couple months has gone by! I sincerely apologize!
Sorry for letting you down Jessica but I am going to do my best to start back up on Tuesdays. Since we got smart phones I never get on the computer and currently our internet isnt wireless so I havent been getting on as much. Anyway i know excuses excuses!

Well today I am gonna share a recipe I got off of pinterest.com. It is such a simple fast, easy snack!

Pretzel Bites!
http://www.justgetoffyourbuttandbake.com/?p=932

Ingredients

5-10 thawed Rhodes Rolls (1 roll makes 4 bites)
1/2 cup melted butter
Cinnamon Sugar Mixture (1 cup sugar, 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon)
1/2 cup finely graded parmesan cheese

Directions

Once Rolls are thawed take a sharp knife and cut into four pieces like your cutting a pizza.
Get a medium sized sauce pan and bring water to a boil. Plop no more then 10 pieces into the boiling water for about 45 seconds. They will puff up. Use a slotted spoon to take them out and placed on a cookie sheet with a paper towel laid down to soak up the excess water. They might deflate a little but not to worry it will all work out!
Once you are all done with that place them on a greased cookie sheet and put in the oven to bake at 375 for 15 minutes or until golden brown. (Now i have a gas stove so the heat comes from the bottom and not the top. So they did not all get golden brown and you have to watch the bottoms so they dont burn. In my oven it only took about 10 minutes)
While that is baking melt the 1/2 cup of butter and put in a big ziploc baggy. Also put the Cinnamon Sugar mixture in another big ziploc baggy.
When bites are done first put them in the butter, seal the bag and shake!!! Then add into the Cinnamon Sugar, seal the bag, and shake!! Use tongs to take them out and place on a plate.
You can also do just plain ones with butter and sea salt!
You can also shake them in a bag with butter, Parmesan and garlic. Which I did but the Parmesan was not the right kind so didnt work but my husband liked them!

A couple of different sauces to use from that blog are: (I made the vanilla glaze one which was great but i did not do the cheese one. My friend who was with me made a glaze with just powdered sugar and orange juice!! It was my favorite!!)

VANILLA GLAZE

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract.

Combine sugar, milk, butter and vanilla and mix well.

CHEDDAR DIP

1 Tablespoon butter

1 Tablespoon all purpose flour

1 cup milk

1 1/2 to 2 cups of grated Cheddar Cheese.

Melt the butter in a med. size saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and stir until blended, and

butter has turned lightly golden brown. Slowly whisk in the milk and cook until thickened slightly. Remove from heat and stir in the Cheddar Cheese until smooth and all of the cheese has melted. Season with salt and pepper. Shake a few red pepper flakes into sauce for added zing!

If you go to her blog it shows really good pictures of step by step process. You will notice some differences between her steps and mine just find whatever works for you!!

A couple days later I went to pretzelmaker and got some pretzel bites! And to be honest I really enjoyed these ones wayyy better! I do plan to find a pretzel bite recipe making my own dough but this is such a nice easy fast way to make a snack!Sorry for the lame picture lol. We made these at night and the lighting in my house is horrible. So go check out the pics on the other blog! They are great~ (Going clockwise from the left are Cinnamon sugar, parm and garlic and butter and salt)
This was such a fun girls activity!


Enjoy!!

IHOP French Toast

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!

I am currently away and don't really have a great Independence Day recipe to share. Maybe next year. But this recipe works, says I. It is, after all, a recipe patterned after the french toast served at IHOP, which is a quintessential American restaurant. Right?

This french toast recipe has a special something that makes it taste really good. It's a simple ingredient but it's effective. We love this french toast around here. In fact we love it so much, it's the only kind we make! Yum yum!

IHOP French ToastRecipe from The Sisters Cafe

2 eggs
½ c. milk
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3 T. flour
6 slices of thick sliced French bread
Nutmeg

Directions:
First beat eggs, then add remaining ingredients with electric mixer. Mix well.
Dip both sides of bread slices in the egg mixture and place in hot buttered pan. Sprinkle the uncooked side with nutmeg. Flip over when browned.
Serve with any desired syrup, jam, sprinkled with powdered sugar, or with berries and whipped cream. Yum!



I hope you enjoy your festivities. May you have a wonderful day with family celebrating the glorious freedoms we enjoy.

Hootenany Pancakes

If you tried, you could probably find hundreds of German Pancake recipes around the internet. I don't even think you would have to look very hard to find them. It's because these pancakes are so delicious and soooo fun! I can guarantee you that any child would go crazy over these puffy pancakes. When I was growing up, we called them Hootenany Pancakes. My husband had never heard of such a thing and finally convinced me to make some German pancakes. Low and behold! They are the exact same thing! But since Hootenanny is a whole lot more fun to say than German, I'm sticking with the name I grew up with!

See all that yummy puffiness? Delicious!

Hootenanny Pancakes
Recipe from Bingham Family

1/4 cup butter
6 eggs, well beaten
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Melt 1/4 cup butter in a 9x13 in your warm oven.
While the butter is melting, mix all remaining ingredients together for one minute. When butter is melted, pour batter into the pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and puffy.

Brown Sugar Muffins

I am a muffin girl. I loooooovvee muffins. I could eat them for every meal. Sometimes I do. Especially if they are these muffins. I think these are quite possibly my most favorite muffins on this planet {that I've tasted anyway - I haven't tried each of them, after all}. In fact, that's all I can't think of to say about these. They are my favorite. You should try them. Maybe today. Like, right now. Heck, I think I'm going to go make them right now. Except that I'm not home. This here post, it was scheduled. Because I promised you a breakfast week, did I not? And since I'm gone today, the only way to keep that promise is to schedule my posts. Look at me being all organized. Everyone go look at the sky tonight. The moon is probably blue.

But, since I'm visiting my mother-in-law and this recipe is originally hers, maybe I can get these muffins after all. :)



I know, it's not the greatest photo. I took this ages and ages ago. So please forgive me. Next time I make them, I'll try to remember to take a better photo. :)

 Brown Sugar Muffins
Recipe from Olive Harwood

2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400.
Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Make a hole in the middle of the mixture. Set aside.
In another medium bowl, combine all the wet ingredients. I generally find that it works best if I combine my egg and butter first, then the other things. It also works best if your egg and milk are at room temperature so the butter doesn't suddenly harden up when the cold ingredients hit it. But these always turn out fine without getting everything to room temperature, so honestly, I usually don't worry about it.
Pour wet ingredients into the hole you made in your dry ingredients. Mix just until moistened.
Drop into well oiled muffin pan about 2/3 full. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits

These other biscuits are also delicous. It's actually hard for me to decide which of the two are more delicious. Does a person have to choose something like that? I hope not because I'm choosing not to. :)


These biscuits take a bit more work but it really depends on what you are going for. These are flaky biscuits and they have a lovely, light texture. I love the honey as a sweetener. It adds a special something to these that is missing in a traditional biscuit. And the flaky-ness of them makes them even better! They are actually quite perfect and I kind of think that the only way you could mess them up would be to bake them too long until they turn black. Not that I would know from any kind of experience or anything. I'll just stop talking now.

Wait, no I won't! I have a recipe to share! {Yes, I'm a dork. Why would you ask?} I have a few things I'll be explaining along the way so be patient with me as we go. I promise they are worth it!

*Note: If you do not usually buy buttermilk {like me} you can "make" some really easily. Put a tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar into a one cup measuring cup. Fill the rest of the space with milk. Allow to sit for about five minutes. Now you have a nice equivalent to buttermilk that works beautifully in recipes.


Now, I know these biscuits don't look like much in the photo. It's really pathetic, actually. I didn't follow the recipe as well as I should have {notice all the notes throughout the recipe} and they didn't rise as they should have. Seriously, don't work this dough too much. You'll get sad biscuits like mine. Also be sure to take them out of the oven when the timer goes off. That usually makes for better biscuits, too.



Deliciously Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits
Recipe from The Sisters Cafe

2 cups all-purpose flour (9 ounces)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup fat-free buttermilk {see note above}
3 tablespoons honey

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°.
Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. {It is important to lightly measure your flour because it helps keep the biscuits light.} Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Chill 10 minutes.
Combine buttermilk and honey, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moist. Don't stir too much! You don't want those biscuits to get tough.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead lightly 4 times. {Only that many. I swear you'll be sorry if you do more. Remember the whole tough and sadly unrisen biscuit thing.} Roll dough into a (1/2-inch-thick) 9 x 5–inch rectangle; dust top of dough with flour. Fold dough crosswise into thirds (as if folding a piece of paper to fit into an envelope). Reroll dough into a (1/2-inch-thick) 9 x 5–inch rectangle; dust top of dough with flour. {Don't worry about making all the dough stick together as you continually roll it out. Leaving the layers creates the flakiness of the biscuit.} Fold dough crosswise into thirds; gently roll or pat to a 3/4-inch thickness. Cut dough with a 1 3/4-inch biscuit cutter to form 14 dough rounds. Place dough rounds, 1 inch apart, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or well greased. Bake at 400° for 12 minutes or until golden. Remove from pan; cool 2 minutes on wire racks. Serve warm.

Quick and Perfect Biscuits

If you know me by now, you know that I like easy. I don't see any reason why a delicious meal should have to take hours and hours in the kitchen. Particularly because it gets gobbled up quicker than you can say "jack rabbit" and then all those hours in the kitchen are sitting comfortably in the bellies of the people who just ate your food. And especially for breakfast, am I right? Of course, I don't love getting up early enough to fix anything besides a bowl of cold cereal, but I certainly don't want to have to get up super early to fix something really delicious. So I have something kind of quick for you. These biscuits are so super yummy. Plus they freeze well. So you could freeze up a whole bunch and have yummy, homemade biscuits for several meals. Ooh, I just don't know how you could beat that!

Today's recipe is a little bit two-fold. I'm posting this biscuit recipe and then I'll post another biscuit recipe later. You lucky ducks, you! I'm posting both because I know I'll forget if I don't just do it right now and then this way, you can choose which one you want to make to go with the delicious gravy I'm going to post tomorrow! I know. I just made your week. You're welcome. ;)

This recipe could be considered the least healthy of the two recipes I'm going to share. However, I think this one is a tad quicker, so it kind of depends on how much time you have and what ingredients you have on hand.

Quick and Perfect Biscuits

Recipe from Grocery Cart Challenge

3 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg, beaten
1 1/4 cups milk (powdered milk works really well in this recipe)


Directions:
Combine dry ingredients in mixing bowl. Cut in shortening.
Add egg and milk until dough forms a ball.
Knead on lightly floured surface 10-12 times only. If you knead it too much, you'll get tough biscuits and no one likes tough biscuits.
Roll to 3/4 inch thick and cut with something round. I have used a drinking glass with a floured edge and it works just fine. You could also use other shapes if you so desired, it's just that a traditional biscuit is round.


You can see that I used a flute glass because it was perfectly round and just the right size. It works good for it's purpose!

 Bake on lightly greased baking sheet for 12-15 minutes at 475 degrees or until lightly brown. Mmm, delish!


This is about what your biscuits will look like before you bake them. They puff up so nicely, you'll practically forget they were puney little things before the heat touched them!



Crunchy Oven Baked French Toast

Just in case any of you noticed, Tierra hasn't posted a recipe today. Tierra recently graduated as an RN and took her state boards to become a certified registered nurse. She had been job hunting since May {right, Tierra? I'm not mixing up any details, am I?} and she finally got a job! Yay, Tierra! Congratulations from all of us! Well, this job could make things interesting. Today she worked from 6am to 7pm. I'm sure she was pooped! I know I would be. Anyway, she didn't get a chance today to post a recipe, so I'm taking her place. Of course, I'm not Tierra so I can't call this post a Tuesday with Tierra post, but I'll just have to do for now. {Perhaps we should teach Tierra how to schedule posts so you don't have to deal with me when you'd rather see her? ;) }

On to the recipe. This toast was so super yummy. It doesn't taste like any french toast I've ever had. It has a really nice flavor and the texture isn't gooey or soggy. My experience with all the oven baked french toast recipes I've ever made is that they are soggy and I just don't do soggy. Uh, uh, no way jose, absolutely not! So this crunchy, tasty, not-soggy recipe hits the spot right on for me. Oh, and in case you were wondering, this toast tastes supreme with Strawberry Sauce. Of course. :)

Just a little note: I'm not sure this would work really well for breakfast because you have to freeze it for a couple of hours before baking. You could try just freezing it over night but since I haven't tried that myself I can't guarantee how it would turn out. It seems to me that it would work fine, I'm just telling you I can't guarantee anything.

Curnchy Oven French Toast
Prep: 20 minutes | Total time: 2 hours, 40 minutes | Makes 4 servings {2 slices each}
Recipe from Pillsbury

3 eggs
1 cup half-and-half
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
3 cups corn flakes cereal, crushed to make 1 cup
8 {3/4 inch thick} diagonally cut slices of French Bread

Directions:
Grease a 10x15 baking pan {when I made this, I cut the recipe in half and used an 8x8 pan}. You probably don't want to use a glass pan. In a shallow bowl, combine eggs, half-and-half, sugar, vanilla and salt; beat well. {Note: You could do this step ahead of time and placed the mixture in a covered bowl in the refrigerator until you need it. Use within 24 hours.} Place crushed cereal in another shallow bowl. Dip each bread slice in egg mixture, making sure all egg mixture is absorbed. Coat each slice with crumbs. Place in greased pan; cover. Freeze 1-2 hours or until firm.
Heat oven to 425. Bake bread slices 15-20 minutes or until golden brown, turning once. Serve with fresh fruit, Strawberry Sauce, and, if desired, garnish with whipped topping and mint leaves. Yum!

Pita Bread

Before finding this recipe, I had never really had pita bread. But with this recipe, it is one of my favorite breads. Actually, lets be real. I love bread period. But this one is really yummy. Like really, really. It is also pretty easy. The biggest thing is just remembering far enough ahead and starting early enough because it does take time with rising and whatnot. This particular recipe is really great for creating pockets or if you want pita bread, just slice each "pocket" in half and then put whatever you want on it. Just a little note, the original recipe has directions for using your bread machine to make this. I don't have a bread machine so I'll give directions using what I do have. If you want to know how to make this with your bread machine, just follow the link for Budget Bites.

Pita Bread

Recipe from Budget Bites 

Ingredients:

1-1/4 cup milk, warmed in microwave for 1 minute
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1-1/2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups bread flour**
1 teaspoon rapid rise yeast**

Directions:
Add ingredients, in the order listed, to a large bowl or the bowl of a large mixer. 

If hand kneading this dough, knead it for 5-8 minutes. If using a large mixer with a dough hook, let it mix for about one minute, then stop it to scrape the edge of the bowl and then turn it back on to finish mixing for a couple more minutes.

Dough should be soft and almost spongy. Remove dough from bowl and put on a well floured surface, cover with a kitchen towel. Let rest for 10 minutes {this helps make it easier to shape the dough}.

On a lightly floured surface divide dough into 8-12 balls {the number of balls you make depends on the size of pitas you want- more balls = smaller pitas} and roll each ball into a flat disk about 1/4" thick. Cover dough and let rise until slightly puffed, about 30 minutes.

Place 1/2 of pita rounds on a greased baking sheet {I used an upside down cookie sheet} and bake in the bottom of a 450 F oven for 4-5 minutes, or until bread is puffed {the dough doesn't brown, so don't wait for browned pitas or they'll be burnt}. Just watch them and be sure to remove them when they are looking really puffed, but no longer than 5 minutes. Remove from oven and repeat with remaining dough. When cooled, cut a slit in the side of each pita, fill with your favorite filling and enjoy!


** Note: Bread flour and rapid rise yeast are essential to making homemade bread. These two ingredients help ensure a fluffier product than if you used regular all-purpose flour and a different type of yeast. You can use other flour and yeast, however, you're bread will turn out more dense.

Holiday Crescent Rolls

I found this recipe at one of my favorite cooking blogs, Jamie Cooks it Up! Jamie is so fresh and honest - you can really tell she is herself. And her recipes are fabulous! I have two recipes I'm sharing in this little mini-series from her and you'll love them both, I promise! Now, this recipe is purely from Jamie, however, in this post I'm going to share with you exactly how I made them. I cut the recipe in half because I didn't need 48 rolls so I'll just tell you how I did it. These are quite possibly some of the best rolls I've ever had so you won't regret making these . . . except for the not-good-for-your-hips part {but hey, that's what the holidays are all about, right? Right??........okay, maybe not}!

Holiday Crescent Rolls
Recipe from: Jamie Cooks it Up!
Time: 3 hours
Makes: 24 rolls

Ingredients:

1 cup scalded milk {put it in a bowl and microwave for 2 minutes}
1 Tbsp. yeast + pinch of sugar
1/2 Tbsp. salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup {1/2 stick} butter, softened
1 1/2 eggs {I use egg beaters or other type of egg substitute, so you would use 1/4 + 1/8 cup}
5-6 cups flour
1/4 cup {1/2 stick} butter, melted {for shaping the dough}

Directions:

Place the warm water, yeast and dash of sugar in the bottom of your mixer. Stir it around and let it proof {get all bubbly} for 5 minutes.

Add 3 cups of the flour and mix for 30 seconds. You want to add this much flour, before you add the scalded milk and eggs because the hot temperature of the milk would be too much for the yeast, and you don't want to "cook" your eggs.

At this point, drop your sugar container on the floor and spill all the sugar. 

And yes, that really is my beautiful kitchen floor.

Okay, I kid! I kid! This was just my clumsy self making a huge mess. . . .

Add the scalded milk, sugar, salt, softened butter (not the melted butter) and the eggs. Mix for 1 minute.

When you turn on your mixer, be careful not to turn it on too high. I'm just sayin'. Your kitchen could end up looking like this. Not that I would really know anything about that . . . 

The stuff was all over my floor too . . . but you saw enough of that already {besides the fact that you couldn't really see it because everything just blends into the lovely design}

Add the flour 1 C at a time, until the dough scrapes the side of your mixer clean.

Mix on high for 8 minutes. This much mixing really improves the texture and elasticity of the dough. I have also noticed, if I don't mix it long enough the dough doesn't rise as nicely.

Let the dough rise, in the mixer for about 45 minutes, or until doubled in size.

Punch the dough down (I just turn the mixer on for about 5 seconds) and divide it into 6 equal parts. Shape each part into a nice round ball and let them rest on the counter top. I always spread a little of the melted butter on the counter top, before I set the dough on it. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes. Letting dough rest for just a bit before it's shaped makes a HUGE difference when you are trying to shape it. Let's just say it cooperates better.

With a rolling pin, roll each ball into a nice round circle. You want the dough to be about 1/2-3/4 of an inch thick after rolling it out. Pour a bit of butter in the center....I said it was no dieters delight...you see now what I mean.

With a pizza cutter, cut the circle into 8 equal triangles. Start from the fat end and roll each triangle up. Place on a large, sprayed cookie sheet.

It works best to place them in 3 rows, 8 rolls deep. They like to be about this close together.

Place them in a warm 170 degree oven, and let them rise for about 20 minutes. Don't let them get too tall. Once they start to touch each other, they have risen enough. I have a convection oven, so I can cook both pans at the same time. If yours is a conventional oven (this means it does not have a fan in the back), you will definitely want to cook one pan at a time. Just set one pan on the counter to rise. It will rise more slowly than the pan in the oven, but it will be just the right amount of time to get the other pan cooked and your oven empty and ready for the second pan.

Turn your oven up to 350. Leave the rolls in while the oven increases in temperature. (I have had people tell me who own gas ovens that they are better off taking the pans out of the oven while the temp. rises) Bake for about 15 minutes. After about 7 minutes (or when the top pan has gotten a bit golden on the top) I switch the bottom pan to the top, and the top to the bottom.

When the rolls are still hot, I brush them all over with more of the melted butter. Delightful!

Swedish Pancakes

My grandmother is from Sweden and this is one of the most famed recipes she makes from there. We all love it - I could eat them waay too often! It's one of the few foods I don't really tire of having. These pancakes are really similar to crepes, but they are still different. They aren't quite as thin as crepes and I tend to like the flavor of these better {yes, I have had both}. Perhaps I'm biased, but who can tell? ;) Regardless, I don't think you'll be sorry if you make these!

Swedish Pancakes
Helga Hardy
Makes approx. enough for about 3 people if served with something else {hubby and I can eat the whole batch if we don't have anything else with it}

3 eggs
1 (+1/8-1/4) cup milk
1Tbsp. sugar
Sprinkle of salt
1-1/2 cups flour
½ cube of butter

Directions:
Melt butter in frying pan you will use to make the pancakes. Mix all other ingredients together. Add the melted butter to the mixture {batter should be thin but not too thin - if you're familiar with the consistency of crepe batter, it won't be that thin, but it should be thinner than a typical pancake batter}. Pour small amount of batter into pan and spread so thin {I do this by rotating the pan around in a circle - you'll be able to tell if the batter is thin enough if it spreads itself out}. It should look about like this:

Let cook until browned on one side. Flip over.
Serve with powdered or white sugar, any pancake or sandwich topping you prefer, fresh or canned fruit or any other desired ingredient {my grandmother tells me these are really good with veggies but I have yet to try it - I really love the powdered sugar on mine, which, yes, is more like a dessert but I don't care too much about that ... if you can't tell from the photo!}.

Tip: If you wrap the pancakes in a towel they will stay warm while you finish cooking all the pancakes. Simply place one half of a towel on the plate you will use to the put the pancakes and then cover with the other half {my mom started doing this because she couldn't make them fast enough to keep up with how quickly we'd eat them so she started wrapping them in a towel and making everyone wait until she was all finished cooking them - a pretty good idea on her part}.

White Bread

This is our favorite bread recipe to date {I have no idea why it's called "Amish White Bread" ... maybe it's a favorite in Amish communities, I don't know}. It’s so simple – which I absolutely love – and it has a fantastic flavor. I will include my thoughts throughout the recipe instructions and then for convenience sake {and those of you who don’t want my detailed instructions} I’ll include the recipe once more at the bottom of this post.
If you’re scared of making homemade bread, don’t be. Really, it’s not as bad as instructions may make it seem and pretty much anyone can do it. Really, all it takes is practice to get to where you feel like the bread you make is at your level of perfection. So keep trying! I’m positive you’ll enjoy the final product if you just give it a go, plus you’ll save money by not buying bread!
If you want to practice but don’t want to make two loaves in case it doesn’t turn out the way you want, just make one. I’m including the modified version of the ingredients list to make just one loaf {all directions will be the same, excepting the dividing of the dough into two loaves – just form one loaf instead}.
Enjoy!

Amish White Bread
Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

• o – for this, I usually just turn the tap on to hot and let it run until it is warm enough that I can hold my hand under it for a couple of seconds since I don’t have a thermometer. It is imperative that your water is neither too hot nor cold because if it is, the yeast will not activate the way it needs to make the bread rise

• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1-1/2 Tbsp. active dry yeast
• 1-1/2 tsp. salt
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• o – I’ve been using canola oil and it’s worked perfectly every time.
• 6 cups bread flour

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam.

This is called “proofing yeast”, which basically means that you put the necessary ingredients into the bowl, mix them as best you can and then wait 5-10 minutes while the yeast activates. You will know that the yeast is good {or also that your water wasn’t too hot} if within 5 minutes the mixture is nice and foamy. If it’s not, you can always try again to make sure the water wasn’t too hot/cold to begin with. I always just wait 5 minutes as that is usually the perfect amount of time.

2. Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time.
3. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth.

This is what you have to start doing once the dough gets too hard to stir in the bowl anymore. I use my kitchen aid to do all the kneading for me but hand kneading is really not difficult. Just make sure that the table/surface and your hands are both well floured. I’m not a huge fan of the term “lightly floured” when referring to bread, especially if it’s still in the very sticky stages. You don’t have to worry about using too much flour as long as you use flour that would be measured into the bread anyway {for example, you need six cups – say you’ve put in four and want to begin hand kneading. Pour half a cup of flour onto the table and spread it around just a little, and then the other half cup can go directly into the dough. All the flour that is on the table {and will end up in the dough} is flour that is supposed to be there anyway}. Once your surface and hands are well floured, turn the dough onto the surface and, using the heel of your hand, begin pressing the dough into the flour, turning the dough over and around every couple of times you “knead” it with your hands. You’ll get the hang of it {sorry I don’t have any pictures of this process – as I said, I always use my kitchen aid and I would have liked to have picture directions for you but it’s really hard to take pictures and knead dough at the same time … if you still need help figuring out how to do this process, let me know}. You’ll know the dough is ready because it gets really nice and smooth. It may be just barely sticky still and that’s okay.

4. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat.

This is a very important step. If you choose not to oil your bowl, the dough will stick to the bowl while rising and it will really be a pain to get out again. Just trust me: oil the bowl and make sure all the dough is lightly coated with the oil.

5. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Usually what I do is put the bowl with my dough on the stove top with the oven on. The heat from the oven helps the dough to rise really well, and in some cases, even quicker than the recommended amount of time. Of course, this does make your house really warm in the summer, but in these cold, winter months upon us, it’s really quite perfect for heating the place up without turning the heat on!

6. Punch dough down. {Yes really – just punch the dough down. This gets rid of all the air bubbles that accumulate in the dough while rising, which is good or you could end up with air pockets in your final product}.
7. Knead for a few minutes in a bit of oil {this eliminates the need to add extra flour, which you don’t really want to do}, and divide in half.

This kneading process is very important – if you don’t knead your bread enough it will be really crumbly and possibly create holes in the middle of the loaf when it’s finished. Honestly, I can’t tell you how to know that the dough has been kneaded enough. It’s really just a trial and error kind of thing. I usually knead the whole batch for about 3 minutes and then each loaf for another couple minutes afterward.

8. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans.

I’m sure you can use cooking spray to grease the loaf pans but I always just use oil – I already have it out because that’s what I’m using the keep the bread from sticking to the table and my hands anyway. And the oil is a genius idea – it really works well.

9. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.

For me, this can be anywhere from 30-40 minutes. I like my loaves to be nice and high when I cook them.

10. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

Here’s a secret: if the bread is still doughy inside but certainly done on the outside, your oven was heated too high. The next time you do it, turn the temperature down about 25 degrees and it should help with that problem.

Another secret: if you like crusty bread, remove the loaves from the pans as soon possible {you really should let them sit for about 5 minutes and then make sure to run a butter knife around the edges before removing} and place on cooling racks. If you like the crust to be a little softer, you can leave the loaves in the pans a little longer {though you don’t want to leave them too long or they’ll be soggy – ich, soggy bread!} and brush the tops with butter. I don’t know why but melted butter softens the crust of the bread.

And there you have it: homemade bread! Congrats!





Amish White Bread
SUBMITTED BY: Peg
PREP TIME 20 Min
COOK TIME 40 Min
READY IN 2 Hrs 30 Min
Original recipe yield 2 - 9x5 inch loaves
NGREDIENTS
• 2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1-1/2 Tbsp. active dry yeast
• 1-1/2 tsp. salt
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 6 cups bread flour

DIRECTIONS
1. In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam.
2. Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
3. Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

Cut in Half:
Makes 1 loaf:
1. 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2. 1/3 cup white sugar
3. 2-1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
4. 3/4 teaspoon salt
5. 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
6. 3 cups bread flour

Swirled Dill Rolls

This is the recipe I typically make to go along with the Chicken Piccata. I love these rolls. They are so simple and yummy – and you could easily substitute the canned crescent rolls for a homemade variety if you wanted!

Swirled Dill Rolls
Taste of Home’s Quick Cooking
Prep/total time: 20 min.
Makes: 8 rolls

Ingredients:
1 tube (8oz) refrigerated crescent rolls
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
¼ tsp. onion powder
¼ tsp. snipped fresh dill {I used dried dill – I start with about a ¼ tsp and add more depending on what I’m after for flavor}

Directions:
Do not unroll crescent dough; cut into eight equal slices. Place cut side down on an un-greased baking sheet. Bake at 375oF for 11-13 minutes or until golden brown. Meanwhile in a small bowl, combine the butter, onion powder and dill. Spread over warm rolls.

Pita Pockets

I found this recipe at Budget Bites by Tari {which is an amazing resource! everyone go look - you won't be disappointed, I promise!} and I love it! I have pretty much resolved to never buy a pita pocket again because it can't possibly be as good as this was! I had to revise the instructions a little because I don't have a bread machine to mix the dough. I think it worked out fine {though I can't compare to see which is better - sorry}. I'm going to write my instructions for making it without a bread machine {though some will still be the original instructions from Tari} - and because I really want you to go check out this blog, I'm gonna say that if you do have a bread machine, visit the link below and read Tari's instructions for making it. Again, I promise you won't be sorry if you spend even just a few minutes over there!

Pita Bread

Ingredients:
1-1/4 cup milk, warmed in microwave for 1 minute
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1-1/2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups bread flour**
1 teaspoon rapid rise yeast**

Directions:
Add ingredients, in the order listed, to your bowl.

Stir the ingredients together thoroughly, about one minute. {This is where it gets interesting!} After about a minute of stirring, take the dough out of the bowl and begin kneading by pulling the in your hands back and forth, as though working with clay {trust me, you do not want to try kneading this like bread on your table - it will be a big mess!}. The dough will be very sticky but you do not want to add extra flour! Just work with it in your hands until it becomes soft and spongy. It takes about 7-8 minutes of pulling and working with your hands; you will be able to tell that the dough is about ready because it will become less sticky. Remember, the dough should be soft and almost spongy. This is about what it will look like:

When finished kneading, place back into mixing bowl {you might want to clean it out just a little first}, cover with a kitchen towel, and let rest for 10 minutes (this helps the dough shape easier).

On a very lightly floured surface divide dough into 8-12 balls {more balls = smaller pitas - I made 11 and they were just about too small for us}

Roll each ball into a flat disk about 1/4" thick - if you flour the rolling pin before then they won't stick to it {the flatter they are, the less they will "puff" when they rise}.

Cover the dough and let rise until slightly puffed, about 30 minutes {I discovered that the pitas puffed better if I let them rise on the pan I was going to cook them on - I tried both that method and letting them rise on the table and then transferring them, and they stay nice and fluffy if you let them rise on the pan}.

Place 1/2 of pita rounds on a greased baking sheet {I used an upside down cookie sheet} and bake in the bottom of a 450 F oven for 4-5 minutes, or until bread is puffed {mine were done in about 3-1/2 minutes - you really have to watch them because the dough doesn't really brown, so don't wait for browned pitas- they will burn}. Remove from oven and repeat with remaining dough. When cooled, cut a slit in the side of each pita, fill with your favorite filling and enjoy!

{** Note - Important Note from Tari's instructions: Bread flour and rapid rise yeast are essential to making homemade bread, especially when you are using the bread machine for part of all of the process. These two ingredients help ensure a fluffier product than if you used regular all-purpose flour and a different type of yeast. You can use other flour and yeast, however, you're bread will turn out more dense.}