Forty Minutes to Supper

I love trying new recipes, especially bread recipes.  Back in December, I decided that I was paying too much for bread and decided to completely stop buying bread.  It's been a journey, and I'm still not completely making my own, but I do only end up buying about 2 loaves a month which is a lot less than in 2009 when I first became interested in pursuing this.  I first began with several recipes using my bread machines (I have two - both of which were given to me).  I just wasn't satisfied with the results because the bread just didn't rise enough.  So, then I began using the bread machines to make the dough and cooking it in the oven.  That has worked out great.  My sister recently gave me a wonderful recipe for Batter Brown Bread from the Bread Book  and so far, I like it the best for sandwiches.  But I still needed a recipe that would work for hamburger buns.  Again, I found it on the same website as the recipe from my last post.  It's called 40 Minute Whole Wheat Rolls .  I've used it several times already and these rolls are so yummy.  I did change it up by only making eight instead of 12 due to the size.  

Tonight, the kids wanted pizza.  I did not have time today to make pizza dough.  So, I got this recipe out and decided to make a pizza roll with it.  Instead of dividing the bread I spread it out into a rectangle shape, added pizza sauce, cooked sausage, and mozzarella.  Then, I rolled it up and placed it on a cookie sheet.  The nice thing about this bread is that it only has to bake for 8-10 minutes.  

The bread turned out beautiful, but the real test was whether the kids would like it.  They loved it and asked me to make it again.  The next time, I'm going to make it into a deep dish pizza. 









Kitchen Adventures

I'm always trying out new recipes and most of the time they turn out great.  But, I rarely follow a recipe completely.  There are several blogs that I read that have some really yummy recipes, and when I see one that sounds like something my family will eat whole-heartily, we try it.  Most of the time, I then post a note about the recipe on that person's blog.  My latest recipe came from http://www.lynnskitchenadventures.com/. So, the following story just goes to show that not following a recipe is not always a good idea. 

Here's my review of the Chicken Queso Soup, which I posted on her blog:

I must say that making this soup was quite an adventure! My youngest son dislikes tomatoes unless they are pureed. So, since this recipe calls for a lot of tomatoes, I decided to puree the tomatoes and add it to the soup. The soup was going along just beautifully until I added the cream cheese, which for some reason, would not melt. I then got the “brilliant” idea of putting the soup in the blender so that the cream cheese would blend. Not so brilliant! The mixture was already runny and even with holding the lid on, it exploded and burned my thumb. I then thought that maybe I’d put too much in the blender and tried it again with a smaller amount. The mixture again burst out of the blender and burned my arm. My husband took over at that point and we finally got dinner on the table. The end result was the creamiest, most delicious soup that I’ve tasted in a long time. I just wanted to share my adventure with this recipe. Thank you for posting it, I will be using it again – but without the blender next time!

By the way, I just realized yesterday that there are still remnants of the soup splatter on my cabinets! 

The moral of this story is: 

Never puree Hot liquid in a blender. 

Heart Shaped Cake Memories

This past Saturday, my family surprised me, and I mean REALLY surprised me with a birthday party.  Some of my very close friends and family were there.  My oldest daughter planned the whole thing and did a great job of it.  It was a lovely evening. 

Along with it came a beautiful heart-shaped chocolate cake with chocolate frosting complete with chocolate covered strawberries.  When I saw the cake, I nearly burst into tears.  You see, my biological mother died almost 20 years ago, and my step-mom had no idea that the cake she baked for me brought back some of my favorite birthday memories.   When we were children, we got to pick what kind of birthday cake we wanted, and I always chose a heart-shaped chocolate cake.  I haven't had a heart-shaped cake since I was probably sixteen. 

Thank you Mom for a beautiful cake and birthday present.  Although you didn't know that baking a birthday cake would totally make my day, it did.  And it was scrumptious!

Winter Break in February

I was wishing for snow again after February 2010's breaking record for snowfall here.  Here it is February 2011 and we're getting snow again!  No - it's not the 12+ inches we got last year (you northerner's please don't laugh - 12 inches is a huge deal down here)  The public schools have been out for four days this week and that, according to one of the teachers, has never happened since she started teaching 16 years ago.  I would love to get at least a week of snow every year.  Do I love cold weather?  No, I like to stay warm, but there is something very relaxing and therapeutic about watching the snow fall. 



Holiday Baking Update

My last post was concerning my holiday cooking (before Christmas) and I never bothered to show pictures or comment on the outcome of them.

• Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake - Absolutely scrumptious - every morsel eaten

• Spice Mocha Fudge  - My favorite coffee flavored dessert. 

• Homemade Marshmallows  - I was disappointed in the outcome of these.  I personally like the bought ones better. I should have taken pictures, but threw them out before I thought about it. 
• M&M Cookies - These were gobbled up too fast so there are no pictures. 
• Brown Batter Bread - I haven't made this one yet.  I really need too though because my sister says it's wonderful.
• Red Hot Apple Cider - We were going to have this on Christmas Day (evening), but we were so stuffed from Christmas dinner that we didn't.  But, I think this might be a good drink for this week.  We're supposed to get some nasty frigid weather and this will be the perfect drink for one evening.