Beignets

Y'all, these are SO good and really easy. I was surprised at how easy they were to make. The longest part is waiting for them to rise in the fridge for an hour before I could fry them.

My husband and a few members of his family love board games and, when possible, we like to host at our home. It gives me an excuse to try new recipes on them and spoil them with yummy food. I enjoy having people in our home since we go days with just seeing each other. :)

Without further ado, here's the newest recipe in our collection. I will be making these again. I was able to roll them out and fry them up in under 30 minutes. Try them and enjoy!

Beignets- from Cook’s Country

Yield: 24 beignets, all different sizes

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp yeast

1 Tbsp sugar

1 cup warm water

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp sugar

¾ tsp salt

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 eggs

Instructions:

Mix first 3 ingredients in a small bowl. Let stand until bubbly, about 5 minutes.

Whisk next three ingredients in a large bowl.

Mix last 2 ingredients together, add to flour mixture. Add yeast mixture when ready.

Mix all together with a rubber spatula and cover with plastic wrap. (The dough will be very sticky)

Refrigerate 1 hour to rise.

In a dutch oven, add 2 quarts (8 cups) of vegetable oil. Heat to 350 degrees F.

Working with half of the dough roll out into 9x12 rectangle. (Use lots of flour to roll out dough because it’s very sticky)

Cut into 12 pieces.

Place cut pieces on well-floured cookie sheet.

Fry 4-6 beignets at a time. Let oil come back to 350 degrees F before adding each batch of beignets to fry. Fry 2-3 minutes or until brown, flip and fry until brown.

Place fried beignets on cookie sheet topped with cooling rack to let excess oil drain.

Coat well with powdered sugar.

Repeat with other half of dough.

Serve warm and add extra powdered sugar if desired.

*Note: If you don’t have a candy thermometer to test your oil temperature, start heating the oil at medium heat. Lower or raise heat as needed. I found that on my stove a little lower than medium heat was the desired temperature, otherwise the beignets browned too quickly and I felt like they looked a little too brown. And tasted it, too.

Strawberry Baking Day

Yesterday morning I spent close to 3 hours utilizing all the wonderful strawberries we picked Monday afternoon. Well, not all of them, but half of them.

I love freezer cooking and knew that most of the items I made were headed to the freezer. Since baby girl #3 is coming our way in less than 4 months, freezer cooking is always on my mind. I want yummy breakfasts, dinners and desserts at the ready for the first few months after I have her. It'll make life much easier and more calm caring for 2 "big" girls and a newborn.

Here's the list of what I made yesterday:
4 loaves of strawberry bread
2 strawberry cobblers (one with cream cheese)
2 strawberry pies
2 dozen strawberry muffins

I still have about half of the strawberries we picked leftover. Later this week or this weekend, I plan on making 1-2 batches of jam, chocolate covered strawberries for the girls Kid's Day Out teachers and whatever else I feel like we'll need in the coming months.

What are some of your favorite recipes containing strawberries?

Monkey Bread

It's been a long time since I posted a recipe so I thought I'd share this delicious breakfast recipe with you. It's got just 5 ingredients and easy to throw together. And it's always a hit wherever I take it! Enjoy.

Monkey Bread

Printer-Friendly Recipe

Ingredients:

4 (10 count) cans buttermilk biscuits

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp cinnamon

1 stick butter, melted

chopped nuts (optional) I like it without nuts :)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Spray bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray.

3. Cut up each biscuit into quarters.

4. Mix sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon into a bowl or pie plate.

5. Roll each biscuit quarter into the sugar mixture. Layer in the bundt pan. Between each layer pour some of the sugar mixture.

6. After you've rolled all biscuits in the sugar mixture pour rest of sugar mixture on top followed by the stick of melted butter.

7. At this point you can bake the monkey bread for 40-45 minutes OR cover and place in the fridge to bake in the morning. I really like to make this ahead and bake in the morning if I have time. The butter sits all night and makes a beautiful glaze on top of the monkey bread. But sometimes I only have time to warm up the bread the next day. And it's still awesome.

Homemade Wheat Tortillas

Have I mentioned how much I love SnoWhite's recipes over at Joy in my Kitchen? Okay, I thought so, but I wanted to tell you again! :)

Quite a few months ago I ran across her wheat tortilla recipe. I saved it on my "recipes to try" list for awhile, then printed it out and it sat in my recipe binder for quite some time, months in fact. About 6 weeks ago I finally tried them. Yes, it seemed overwhelming looking at the recipe, I mean they're homemade tortillas for goodness sakes. I can easily buy them right? Well not anymore! This recipe is too good to go out and buy some now. And they're surprisingly easy to put together. Don't be daunted because they're homemade. They're actually quite fun to roll out! And they freeze great to be used later. I actually pulled some out of the freezer just last week to use and they tasted just as good as if they were hot off the griddle. So that's win-win.

Homemade Wheat Tortillas-from SnoWhite

Printer-Friendly Recipe

Yield: about 10-12 tortillas

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup warm water

1/4 oil

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

In a bowl, stir together oil, water, salt and baking powder. Slowly stir in 3 cups flour.

When mixed, knead on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, 3-5 minutes.

Form into a ball and set aside for 10 minutes to rest.

Cut dough in half and divide each half into 5-6 balls. Form them into balls and set aside for another 10 minutes (resting makes them easier to work with).

Using your rolling pin roll out on a floured surface, in an 8-10 inch circle. It won't be a perfect circle, don't fret!

Preheat griddle to 350 F and place tortillas in a single layer on hot griddle. Cook on there 3-5 minutes, per side, until a little brown and bubbly.

Then use in any recipe you like. They're worth it, try them!

Bread rising tip

It's cold outside, basically in every state. It's been cold here in Tennessee, that's for sure. We usually have mild winters with a few days here and there or some pretty cold weather, you know 20's. That's cold for us down here in the South. :)

We keep the thermostat pretty low in the winter too, saving those dollars and energy. We keep it set at 68 degrees about 90% of the time. We'll turn it up first thing in the morning and at night when we're getting ready for bed, just to warm it up a bit.

My problem with the 68 degree temperature set, my bread doesn't rise well. I love baking bread too, especially in the winter. A nice, crusty french bread to accompany some soup... count me in!

So here's a tip on getting your bread to rise, even in the colder months.

Put in in the greased bowl as usual and cover with a towel. Place it in the oven. Turn the oven on to KEEP WARM and set the timer for 2 minutes. You don't have a "keep warm" setting? Then set your oven to 170 degrees F for 2 minutes. Don't forget that timer. Once the timer goes off, turn the oven off and leave the bread in, don't open that door and let that warm air out! No peeking!!! Let your bread rise as directed on your recipe. As soon as it's done, open your oven. Did it rise? Great! This has worked for me every time I do it. I even do it in the summer, so I know it will always rise!

Enjoy your bread!

Overnight Caramel French Toast

I made this a couple weeks ago and it was delicious!

I prepped it all the night before and refrigerated it until the next night. What a great dish to take to our Sunday School class for the next "1st Sunday breakfast." I'll pop it in the oven the morning of and cut it into smaller pieces to serve more people.

Overnight Caramel French Toast

Printer-Friendly Recipe

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

2 Tbsp light corn syrup

12 slices white or whole wheat bread (I used whole wheat, could also use your own homemade)

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon, divided

6 eggs, beaten

1-1/2 cups milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a small saucepan, bring the brown sugar, butter and corn syrup to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat.

2. Pour into a greased 13-in x 9-in. baking dish. Top with six slices of bread. Combine sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon; sprinkle half over the bread. Place remaining bread on top. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon-sugar, set aside.

3. In a large bowl, add the beaten eggs, milk, vanilla and remaining 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Pour over the bread. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight (I refrigerated mine for about 20 hours and it was fine).

4. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes (I baked mine about 30 minutes and that wasn't long enough, definitely needed 35+ minutes in my oven because the middle was a little mushy).

Yield: 6 servings

Enjoy!

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

This is an amazingly wonderful bread! I love a good cinnamon raisin bread and I've been looking for a recipe for awhile and of course my friend at Joy in my Kitchen had one!
I adjusted it a bit for my own personal tastes and its delicious.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread (for the bread maker)-modified from Joy in my Kitchen

Printer-Friendly Recipe

3 1/4 cups bread flour
2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp dry milk
2 Tbsp butter, cut up
3 1/2 Tbsp sugar
1 cup raisins
1 tsp cinnamon
10 1/2 oz water
1 1/2 tsp yeast

1. Place all ingredients in your bread maker as listed by your manufacturer; but add raisins right away. If you place the raisins in right away with all other ingredients, they'll get chopped up and dispersed all throughout the bread, which I like better.
2. Bake according to directions but don't use rapid cycle. My machine takes about 3.5 hours from start to finish. Believe me, it's worth the wait.
3. Allow to cool a bit before slicing.

Glaze (optional):
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp milk

Drizzle over top of cooling bread. And enjoy!

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread-from Joy in my Kitchen

Printer-Friendly Recipe

1/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup water
1 3/4 cup applesauce (oil works fine here too, but applesauce makes it better for you; and you might not need as much oil)
1 cup flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cup oats (I used Old Fashioned)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 nutmeg
1-2 Tbsp brown sugar (for sprinkling on top)

1. Cream butter and sugar together.
2. Add applesauce.
3. Add oats, flours, cinnamon, salt, baking powder and nutmeg.
4. Pour in greased bundt pant (or 2 loaf pans).
5. Sprinkle top with brown sugar.
6. Bake for 45-60 minutes, at 350 degrees F.
7. Cool 5 minutes in the pan, remove to wire rack and cool completely.
8. Place on serving plate a little warm and serve. I sprinkled mine with a little bit of powdered sugar to glam it up.

Enjoy!

This post is linked to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.

French Bread

I love bread! But who doesn't?

My friend SnoWhite, over at Joy in my Kitchen has a wonderful french bread recipe that I make a bunch. It's easy and delicious and everywhere I take it gets rave reviews! She has a wheat version coming soon and I can't wait to try it!

No more talking and more writing on the bread recipe! So here it is...

French Bread (for the bread machine)-from SnoWhite

Printer-Friendly Recipe

Makes 1 1/2 lb loaf (enough for a family of 4)

1 cup + 1 Tbsp warm water (about 80 degrees F)

3 cups bread flour

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp butter, cut into pieces

2 tsp active dry yeast OR 1 1/2 tsp bread machine/fast rise yeast

Depending on the order ingredients go into your bread machine... place ingredients in the machine. I combined mine the following way:

1. Place warm water in the bread maker

2. Butter, cut into chunks

3. Salt

4. 3 cups bread flour

5. Sugar

6. Yeast

Then set the bread machine on the dough setting and allow dough to knead. My setting takes about an hour and a half.

After dough cycle ends, remove dough and place on floured surface. Cover and allow dough to sit for 15 minutes.

Knead dough just a bit and shape into a loaf.

Cover, and let dough rise for 30 minutes. Rising a bit longer won't hurt it.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Lightly spray a cookie sheet and bake for 15-25 minutes or until slightly browned on top. Mine usually takes 20-22 minutes.

Let cool a bit before cutting into. And enjoy!

Simple Pull-Apart Rolls

I love these rolls. It makes a ton from just one batch. And they have a little bit of sweet taste which makes them even better. I made about 27 pans of these for Christmas gifts in 2009; they were a hit! I also paired a small jar of homemade peach jam that my mom and I made this summer. Everyone had rave reviews about both. I don't think I'll be able to do all the pans for Christmas 2010 with a baby, but I'll figure something out. If I had a bigger freezer I could make a batch or two a day and freeze them and then give them out just like usual. We'll see how it goes.

Simple Pull-Apart Rolls-from Cooking During Stolen Moments

Printer-Friendly Recipe

3/4 cup butter; room temperature (1 1/2 sticks)

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup boiling water

1 Tbsp + 1 tsp yeast (or 2 packets)

1 cup warm water

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking sodaa

7-8 flour (I used 1/2 white flour and 1/2 whole wheat flour from time to time)

1. In large mixing bowl, beat butter with the sugar until creamy. Add the boiling water and mix to combine. Cool to room temperature.

2. While that cools, dissolve yeast in 1 cup warm water. Add to mixing bowl along with the eggs. Mix well. Stir in salt, baking powder, baking soda and 5 1/2 cups flour, until combined.

3. Working with 1/2 cup at a time, add remaining flour until dough comes together. It's okay if the dough is a little sticky. Knead on a floured surface for 8 minutes.

4. Roll the dough into evenly shaped balls, about the size of a golf ball and place into 3 round pans (8 or 9 inch). Cover and let rise until doubled, 1 to 2 hours.

5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.

And enjoy!

To freeze: Cool completely. Wrap in plastic wrap or foil and freeze.

Homemade Bagels

I conquered my fear of bread making!

I have tried before and failed miserably, this was about a year ago. I was trying to make a regular white bread and it was so dense and horribly disgusting. So I have been wanting to try again making homemade breads, bagels, etc. Before I didn't feel I had a great, easy-to-follow recipe for the bread items I wanted to make so I just bought regular bread from the grocery store. Boy have I been missing out!

But today I tried bagels and I just got done making my first batch. They aren't the best looking bagels, but they are awesome! I know the more I make them the better they'll look. The recipe I used is from The Happy Housewife, titled "Bagel Tips." I didn't have the 1 tbsp of gluten, but I went ahead and made them anyways and they turned out just fine. I didn't feel there were too many steps, she explained everything easily and had great pictures so I could make sure I was on track. I did half all-purpose flour and half whole wheat for the flour needs. And I didn't do the egg wash step, I just didn't feel it was needed. So easy! I don't know why I've been so afraid to make bagels.

These bagels are a little crunchy on the outside (which I love) and chewy on the inside. So yummy! I got 15 from my batch. I like my bagels a little smaller because I can't seem to finish one of those giant ones. These are so much better than store bought! I don't think I'll ever buy from the store again. Conquer your fear of bread making and jump in!

Next bread fear to conquer are english muffins! I found a recipe that looks pretty simple as well. These will be great for breakfast as well as for english muffin pizzas which we like to eat. You can find the recipe for the english muffins here from The Happy Housewife again. It's close to the bottom of the page of her "Baking Day" blog.

Check back at a later date for how the english muffin trials went.

Old bread to bread crumbs

I've started making my own loaves of bread for Hubby and me and wanted to get rid of the bread from the bread store (and it was getting old as well). I like to buy bread crumbs from Aldi but they can get expensive if I end up buying a bunch and that's not what I want to spend my $40 a week on. So I decided to make my own bread crumbs. I was a first timer for this bread crumb thing. I've been reading about it at other blogs and thought it sounded pretty simple so I'd give it a go. Turns out it was easy!

I left my bread out overnight to let it get a little stale.

Then I cut it into smaller pieces to make it easier on my food processor.

I put the cut-up pieces in the food processor and let it go to work. It took no more than 10 seconds to make the bread into crumbs.

And here's the crumbs. I'm storing them in an airtight container and I'll put them in the freezer since we won't be going through them very quickly so they'll keep for awhile.

What have you tried lately that you didn't think you could do?

Pizza Bread

I tried this last Friday and it was wonderful. Because Hubby is sick I'm making it again tonight since he loved it so much. And it's comfort food to him as well. Anything to get him feeling better!

I found this recipe from Cooking During Stolen Moments. It's a great blog with wonderful recipes, check it out!

Pizza Bread:

Printer-Friendly Recipe

*6-7 c white flour (I did about 6 1/2 c. I also think I'll try and do half whole wheat flour, half white flour next time)

*1 Tbsp yeast

*2 c milk

*1/2 c water

*1/4 c butter or margarine (I always use real butter, there's just something wonderful about it)

*1/4 c sugar

*1/2 tsp salt

*2 tsp Italian seasoning

*3/4 c pizza sauce (find my EASY homemade pizza sauce Here)

*20-25 slices pepperoni, cut into small pieces (I quartered them)

*2 c shredded Mozzarella cheese (I used 1 c shredded cheddar cheese and 1 c mozzarella cheese... next time I'll use probably another 1/2 c to 1 c more of cheese mixture)

*1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese (we don't keep this in the house usually so I didn't put any of this in/on it)

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 1/2 c flour with 1 Tbsp yeast and set aside.

2. Add milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to a small saucepan. Heat over medium until warm. Pour into large bowl with the flour and yeast. Stir or beat until well combined. Slowly work in remaining flour and Italian seasoning. Knead (by hand or with and electric mixer) until dough is smooth and elastic, about 8-10 minutes (I didn't do this but 1-2 minutes and it worked out just great). Cover and let dough rise for 1 hour in a lightly greased bowl.

3. Divide dough into 2-3 portions (I cut it into 3 as this made a whole lot and put in separate gallon size bags to freeze), depending on how big you want your loaves to be. Roll each ball of dough into a rectangle.

4. Spread about 1/4 c pizza sauce on each section of dough (if you want to make all 3 at once, I do 1) (and I use more than 1/4 c on each section, b/c 1/4 c isn't enough).

5. Sprinkle the diced pepperoni and cheeses on top of the pizza sauce.

6. Roll dough tightly, jelly-roll style, and pinch the seams shut.

7. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

8. Cut into 8-10 pieces, serve and enjoy!

So delicious!