Cissy's Mini White Bread

My little darling loves to cook and especially to bake bread, we have been trying lot's of different ways to make mini loaves and this recipe worked just perfectly for two tiny little loaves. I love baking with my girl, what a fun recipe.

Mini White Bread

Recipe from Taste of Home

Ingredients

• 1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/3 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
• 2-1/4 to 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons butter, melted
• Additional melted butter

Directions

• Combine yeast, sugar and water in a large bowl. Add 11/2 cups of flour, salt, milk and butter. Mix for 3 minutes on medium speed. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
• Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes.
• Punch dough down; shape into loaves. Place in two greased 5-3/4-in. x 3-in. x 2-in. pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
• Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Brush tops with melted butter. Yield: 2 loaves.

Jalapeno Popper Dip

So I am finally recovering from my epic Superbowl tragedy this year, at least enough to post this fantastic new recipe. My friend Renee shared this recipe with me and it is phenomenal! I realize big word to describe little a dip, but seriously I could have eaten the entire bowl and that's not the depression speaking because of my team loss this year, it's just that good...

2 pkg Cream Cheese, Softened
1 cup Mayonnaise
1can diced Green Chili's
1can Jalapenos, diced (I like 2 cans but it's too spicy for some peeps)
1 bag shredded Parmesan Cheese

Mix 1/2 bag of Parmesan with all other ingredients and fill a small casserole dish then sprinkle the remainder Parmesan on top. Bake at 375 degrees until bubbly and crisping on top. Serve with tortilla chips.

I bought a bag of homemade tortilla chips that you had to fry prior to using and the combo between fresh hot chips and this dip was delicious despite the horrible game. Enjoy!

Hot Wings Winger's Style

Here is a copycat recipe courtesy of Pinterest and it seriously is exactly like Wingers, YUMM-O and it is so easy...love it!

Ingredients:

1 cup Franks Red Hot Sauce (No substitutions, has to be Franks)
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 bag Tyson Frozen Chicken Wings
1/2 cup Ranch Dressing

Directions For Sauce:

1 cup Franks Red Hot Sauce
1 cup Brown Sugar

Using a sauce pan on low heat add brown sugar and hot sauce. Stir slowly and melt the brown sugar into Frank's Red Hot Sauce.  After a few minutes all the brown sugar should have dissolved into the sauce. If it needs thickening add more brown sugar or let stand.

Directions For Wings:

1 Bag Tyson Frozen Chicken Wings

Prepare anyway you like your wings, you could even use the sauce on breaded chicken strips to make sticky chicken fingers. But, you know us we LOVE to deep fry here so I just bought a bag of Tyson's chicken wings deep fried them for about fifteen minutes. Just until golden brown, threw them in a crock pot on low and then covered them with the sauce to keep them warm.

Directions For Dipping Sauce:

1/2 Cup Ranch Dressing

1/2 Cup Wing Sauce

I poured about half of the sauce over the wings in the crock pot and then used the rest to make the dipping sauce. To make the dipping sauce just mix wing sauce with ranch, seriously that's it. I used homemade ranch dressing and it was awesome.

The only way to make Winger's hot wings at home, Enjoy! 

Brussels Sprouts: 60 Seconds

So one of my favorite things about Bountiful Baskets is that we usually get some type of fruit or vegetable that I wouldn't normally buy at the store and sometimes that I have never even tried. So the fun part is cooking and eating slightly outside of my normal comfort zone. And on a few occasions I have had to call my Grandma Shirley and ask, "What is a persimmon? And how do we eat it.?" This week we got brussels sprouts and nobody at my house had ever tried them and after all they get such a bad rap I have never even thought of buying them. Anyway, after some Internet searching I finally found a technique that I thought would work best for what we normally would eat as a side dish, the result....pretty good. Not something I would want every week but, I am a huge fan of cooked cabbage and it is a very similar taste like a little mini cute cabbage. So I would definitely make them again but, would probably be a little picker with what I served them with since they are a pretty distinct taste.

60 Second Brussels Sprouts:

18 Brussels Sprouts
1 Tbs Olive Oil
1 Lemon
Salt & Pepper
4 Tbs Butter

1. Remove the core of the brussels spout by cutting it out in a triangle shape, like you would the core of a cabbage.
2.  Cut brussels sprouts into really thin slices. If any of the leaves fall off just roll them up and slice thin.
3. Put a Tbs of olive oil in a pan and heat it until it is smoking hot, the trick to cooking these is the high temperature so don't prematurely throw your sprouts in.
4.  When your pan is seriously hot, toss in your brussels sprouts and squeeze a half a lemon over the top and add salt and pepper to taste.
5.  Cook them for exactly 60 seconds on high heat, stirring constantly, and not over cooking.
6. Turn off heat and squeeze other half of lemon over the top and add butter, when butter is melted your ready to serve.

And the bonus, I think they are actually healthy! If you have any questions there are about a million you tube video's on this (seriously), Enjoy!

Mini Pizza

We just made these the other night and its not really something you need a recipe for once you've made them once and have the general idea. These were so fun because my kids made them for dinner and they had a blast cooking their own dinner, so it was fun watching them create their own pizza...and I swear I am going to start remembering to take pictures for the blog someday, pictures make everything better!

 

1 can (16.3 oz) Pillsbury Grands refrigerated biscuits

1 cup pizza sauce

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (8 oz)

1 package (3.5 oz) sliced pepperoni

 

Press each biscuit into 6-inch round. Place on greased cookie sheets. Top each round with pizza sauce, cheese and pepperoni.  Bake at 375°F 10 to 15 minutes or until bottoms are deep golden brown and cheese is bubbly.

 

Lion House Rolls

These rolls are to die for, if you click on the above picture it should link you to the webapge for this recipe where she has all sorts of pictures and videos. These are a new favorite of mine, I think possibly because they are totally drenched with butter, hot out of the oven they are DELICIOUS!

2 cups warm water
2/3 cup instant nonfat dry milk
2 Tbs dry yeast (2 pkg)
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
1/3 cup butter
1 egg
5-5 1/2 cups flour

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, combine the water and the milk powder and stir so the milk dissolves.

Add the yeast to this mixture while water and milk is still warm. I let the yeast proof (dissolve and start to react) for a couple of minutes then add the sugar, salt, butter, egg and 2 cups of the flour. Mix on low speed of mixer until ingredients are wet, then turn to medium speed and mix for 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and add 2 more cups of flour then mix on low speed until the ingredients are wet, then turn mixer on medium speed and mix for 2 minutes. The dough will be getting stiff and you may need to remove the bowl from the mixer and mix in the remaining flour by hand (mine is still wet here).

Add approximately 1/2 cup of flour and mix again. (This can be done by hand or mixer). The dough should be soft, not overly sticky, and not stiff. (It is not necessary to use the entire amount of flour). Scrape the dough off the sides of the bowl and pour approximately on tablespoon of vegetable oil all around the sides of the bowl. Turn the dough over in the bowl so it is covered with the oil. (This helps prevent the dough from drying out.) Cover with plastic and allow to rise in a warm place until double in size.

Sprinkle a cutting board or counter with flour and put the dough on the flour. You want to put enough flour on the dough so that it is workable and not sticky.

You can roll these into crescent rolls or do it the traditional Lion House way. Here is a video showing how to roll them the Lion House way. Roll into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick and brush with melted butter. You want to cut the rectangle into smaller rectangles that are 2"X4" (a little smaller than a dollar bill). If you make and "L" with your thumb and pointer finger that will show you how wide and tall to cut your rectangles.

Then you roll them (or flip them like in the video) and place them on a greased (or parchment lined) baking pans with the end of the roll resting on the pan.

Let rise in a warm place until the rolls are double in size (approx. 1-1 1/2 hours). Bake in a 375-degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until they are browned to your satisfaction. Brush with melted butter while hot. Yields 2 to 2 1/2 dozen rolls.

Oreo Cake

For Rylan's birthday this year he wanted an Oreo cake so I started the hunt for a good recipe, and I ended up finding this fantastic recipe on Pinterest. Honestly this is the best frosting ever....ever! I am a huge Oreo fan and seriously I could make this frosting and skip the cake, it's so good. When I try it again I may try it on cupcakes or just a plain white or even a chocolate cake.  The Oreo cake is good but, combined with the frosting it is really rich. Oreo frosting....I may have to go and make it now.

Oreo Cake:

1 box white cake mix

15 Oreos, crushed 

Cake: Prepare cake according to package directions, stirring in the crushed Oreos to the batter before dividing between prepared pans. Bake as directed on box. Remove cake layers from oven and allow to cool completely on cooling rack.

Oreo Frosting:                                                                                                                                                    

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 (16 oz) box powdered sugar
1 (8 oz) container Cool whip, room temperature
15 Oreos, crushed
¼ tsp. vanilla extract

Frosting: In mixer, cream the cream cheese and sugar. Add vanilla, mix well, and stir in Cool whip. Mix well. Fold in crushed Oreos until well blended & frost cooled cake. Refrigerate cake until ready to serve and refrigerate any leftovers.

Turkey Tetrazzini

So I am always looking for a recipe to use up leftover turkey after Thanksgiving, and I have tried tetrazzini almost every year and just never quite like it...which is odd because everything in the recipe is fabulous.  This year though I have finally figured out my issue with all the tetrazzini recipes out there. We are a "sauce" family meaning we like our sauce creamy, rich, thick, and lots of it. All the tetrazzini recipes I have tried require you to bake it like a casserole which I think dries it out. So this is my version, of an amazing sauce served over spaghetti noodles no baking required and a great way to use up leftover turkey.

Turkey Tetrazzini

1-1/2 pound Thin Spaghetti, cooked

4 Tablespoons Butter

4 cloves Garlic, Minced

1 Onion, Chopped

1 pound White Mushrooms, Quartered

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1 cup White Wine

1/3 cup Flour

4 cups Chicken Broth

1 block (8 Oz.) Cream Cheese

3 cups Cooked (leftover) Turkey, Shredded Or Diced

1 cup Grated Monterey Jack Cheese

1 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

Salt And Pepper, to taste

Extra Broth For Thinning

Add butter, chopped garlic, and onion to a pot over medium heat and saute for a minute. Then add in the mushrooms, stir around the mushrooms and let them cook. Add a little salt and pepper to taste. Pour in white wine and cook until the liquid is reduced by half. When the liquid is reduced sprinkle in about a third a cup of flour. Stir it together it gets very pasty and then stir in a few cups of broth. Add softened cream cheese, if sauce is too thick thin with additional broth until desired consistency. Then add in turkey and grated cheese.  Your sauce should be thick creamy and full of flavor. Serve over cooked spaghetti noodles. Enjoy!

French Onion Dip

So this is so easy and it only has two ingredients and by all rights it shouldn't require a recipe but, I am a scatterbrain and I will forget about it and then many moons later Mike will be like, "Hey, do you remember how to make my Grandma Mary's onion dip?" and as I sneak to my iPad and quickly look up my blog I will be like, "Sure thing honey!"

French Onion Dip

1 (16 oz.) Sour Cream

1 packet Onion Soup Mix

Mix soup packet into sour cream and refrigerate overnight to allow flavors to blend.

Okay, I know I really should remember how to make this but, just in case! This is so quick and easy perfect with potato chips and a night of family game playing. Enjoy!

Karen's Homemade Oreos

2 Boxes Devils Food Cake Mix

1 cup oil

4 eggs

1 Tub Rich and Creamy Cream Cheese Frosting

That's it!

Mix first 3 ingredients. Drop 1 inch balls on ungreased cookie sheet and flatten slightly. After cookies cool put frosting between two halves.

Bake at 350 for 8-10 min.

Pinkalicious Chocolate Chip Cookies

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and I saw this recipe for Pretty in Pink Cookies on Pinterest and knew that I would have to give it a try. Right now my darling Cissy is totally in to the Pinkalicious books and I knew she would love these. So what better way to spend a Saturday then baking pink cookies with my little Pinkalicious.  I modified this recipe slightly, for instance I mixed the whole recipe in my Kitchen Aid and my dough was smooth, I used pink food coloring, I also used real milk chocolate chips, and the cookies turned out fantastic.  The are super pink, super sweet, and perfect princess cookies.  The color is really bright, I think that they would be awesome any color maybe red and green for Christmas, you could also use white chocolate chips or Lindsey suggested peppermint chips to make them super festive for the holidays. Lot's of possibilities! I posted the original link at the bottom so you could see the original recipe as well without any of my modifications.

Pinkalicious Cookies

Ingredients:

2 sticks (1 cup) butter (softened)

pink food coloring gel

1 pouch Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix

2 cups powdered sugar

1 bag milk chocolate chips

Directions:

Soften butter in microwave, just until slightly soft. With mixer, beat the butter just until smooth. Add the food color gel, until the desired pink color is achieved. Add the dry cookie mix (do NOT add the other ingredients called for on the cookie mix package). Add the powdered sugar. Mix in chocolate chips. Drop dough by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a preheated 325° F oven for 12-14 minutes. Remove from oven when cookies are slightly brown around the edges and soft but not squishy in the center. Cool cookies 1 - 2 minutes on the cookie sheet before removing to a cooling rack. These aren't typical chocolate chip cookies. They aren't cakey -- instead, they are super sweet, slightly crunchy and a bit chewy.

Click on this link below to see the orginal recipe and instructions for Pretty in Pink cookies.

http://quick-dish.tablespoon.com/2011/10/09/pretty-in-pink/

Baby Shower Lucky Duck Punch

Ingredients

• 1 packet blue, unsweetened Kool-Aid
• 1 (2 liter) bottle Ginger Ale
• 1 (64 oz) bottle White Grape Juice
• 1 cup sugar
• 8 scoops pineapple sherbet
• 2-3 Rubber Duckies
• maraschino cherries (optional for garnish)
• orange slices (optional for garnish)

Instructions

1. Chill ginger ale and grape juice over night
2. Remove sherbet from freezer about 1/2 hour before serving punch to soften
3. In a large bowl, combine Kool-Aid packet, sugar and chilled juice. Stir to blend.
4. Slowly add chilled ginger ale.
5. Float 8 scoops of softened sherbet on top
6. Add Rubber Duckies (don’t forget to wash before using)
7. garnish cups with cherries and orange slices

Baby Shower Ideas

So I found this recipe on Pinterest a few weeks ago and it looked so cute I just had to give it a try today for the baby shower, everybody loved it and it also tasted great! This recipe is definitely a keeper and would work great for birthday parties for kids as well, lot's of different ways you could be creative with the punch, enjoy!

Pumpkin Fluff Dip

Best Pumpkin Fluff Dip

1 (16 oz.) Whip Cream
1 Small Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix
1 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 (15 oz.) Pumpkin, Cleaned Out

Mix together whip cream, pudding, and pumpkin pie spice. Place mixture in pumpkin to serve & serve with Cinnamon graham crackers or vanilla wafers. 

We made this for Lindsey's baby shower today and it was so good, super easy to make and so good, everyone really enjoyed it, I know I ate way too much of it! 

Pumpkin Seeds

So for years every Halloween we have tried different methods to make pumpkin seeds and I think we finally got it this year. So here is to writing it down in order to remember for next year. Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Seeds
1 Stick Butter
Season Salt

Wash seeds thoroughly in colander and rinse off pumpkin goo. Melt butter in saucepan and place seeds in, add season salt to taste and simmer in butter for about 5 to 10 minutes not to long but long enough to soak in butter. Place on greased cookie sheet in 300 degree oven for 45 minutes. They should come out nice and crispy!

Jalapeno Cheesy Cornbread

Just found this recipe on Pinterest today, made it tonight and then made some modifications to the original recipe. Very light, not spicy, and a quick way to change up cornbread I think it would be fabulous served with beer cheese soup. Enjoy!

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 cups milk
• 3 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
• 8 ounces aged extra-sharp Cheddar, grated
• 1/3 cup chopped green onions
• 3 tablespoons seeded and minced fresh jalapeno peppers

Combine the flour cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, eggs, and butter. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until most of the lumps are dissolved. Don't over mix! Mix in the grated cheddar, the green onions and jalapenos, and allow the mixture to sit at room temperature for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 13 by 2-inch baking pan. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool and cut into large squares. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Strawberry Daiquiri Cake

I just found this recipe online, I was looking for something to spice up a strawberry cake mix since I already had one in cupboard. This was really easy, I actually made it in two round pans instead of a 13x9 and it is a little too ooey gooey with all the frosting and strawberries on it.  I think fresh strawberries would be fantastic in this recipe. And doesn't sweetened condensed milk make everything taste better? I know I am a fan.

Strawberry Daiquiri Cake

1 box strawberry cake mix
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (8 oz.) container of Cool Whip
1 can frozen strawberry daiquiri mix, thawed
1 small container of frozen strawberries, thawed

Bake cake according to the box. Let cool 10 minutes. Turn cake out onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely.

Split cake in half with dental floss. Place the strawberries on bottom half then place top cake over the strawberries.

Stir the sweetened condensed milk and daiquiri mix together and then fold in the Cool Whip. A drop of red food coloring may be added, if desired.

Spread cool whip frosting on and refrigerate.

Garnish with additional strawberries.

Happy Birthday Grandma Shirley, hope you enjoy your cake!

Homemade Soft Pretzels

Brent just posted this recipe that he tried from the Food Network and said "Oh ya awesome, Pretzlemaker who?" I have been looking for a good pretzel recipe too, can't wait to give it a try!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
• 1 tablespoon sugar 
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 package active dry yeast 
• 22 ounces flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
• 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
• Vegetable oil, for pan
• 10 cups water
• 2/3 cup baking soda
• 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
• Pretzel salt

Directions

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside. Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart sauce pan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan. Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rackfor at least 5 minutes before serving.

Spicy Cheesy Meatloaf

So I was told if I don't start blogging I will be disowned..Here I go.

2 Pounds Ground Beef

2 Pounds :) Grated Cheese

1 1/2 Cup Italian Bread Crumbs

2 Eggs

1 Medium Onion Diced

About 1/4 Cup Jalapeños More or Less Depending on how tough you are :)

1 Can Tomato Paste

Preheat oven to 350

Tomato Basil Pesto Panini

Ingredients

Bread
Basil Pesto
Fresh Mozzarella Cheese
Tomatoes
Pasta Sauce (optional)

Spread a thin layer of Basil Pesto on one side of the bread. Layer a thickly cut tomato with mozzarella cheese. Add pasta sauce to the other piece of bread if you want (I didn't have pasta sauce so I just put on another slab of pesto). Cook in a Panini Maker/ George Forman or cook like a grilled cheese. It's super easy and Delish!

Slow Cooker Barbecue Beef Sandwiches

3	pounds beef boneless chuck roast
1	cup barbecue sauce
1/2	cup peach or apricot preserves
1/3	cup chopped green bell pepper
1	tablespoon Dijon mustard
2	teaspoons packed brown sugar
1	small onion, sliced
12	kaiser or hamburger buns, split

1. Trim excess fat from beef. Cut beef into 4 pieces. Place beef in 4- to 5-quart slow cooker.
2. Mix remaining ingredients except buns; pour over beef. Cover and cook on low heat setting 7 to 8 hours or until beef is tender.
3. Remove beef to cutting board. Cut into thin slices; return to cooker.
4. Cover and cook on low heat setting 20 to 30 minutes longer or until beef is hot. Fill buns with beef mixture.
   
   New Betty Crocker summertime favorite!