Applesauce Muffins

These were a hit with our preschool group, as well as at home in general.

Ingredients
Muffins
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butternut squash or carrot puree
1/2 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg

Topping
2/3 cup old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400. Coat muffin tin with spray or baking cups. To make topping, stir together the oats, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in the butter.

To make the batter, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl or bag and stir or shake to mix. In a second bowl, mix the applesauce with the milk, vegetable puree, sugar, oil, and egg with a wooden spoon. Add the flour mixture slowly, stirring until just moistened. Do not overmix - it will be lumpy.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle with the streusel topping. Bake until the topping is lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center. 18-20 minutes.

I would even press the topping into the batter a little bit. A lot of ours fell off. But if you get it stuck to the muffins, less falls off.

These were really yummy. We ate them in no time and the kids were getting some extra veggies without stressing about it!

Calzones

Here's a link to my post with pizza crust. This is just a slight variation on prep methods. But to be honest, my kids like this better than normal pizza. Don't know why, but they do!

So after making the dough, you separate it into small balls. I generally would make up to 8. When you get rolling them out, you'd be amazed at how big they can be. Although, I will sometimes only do 6. Splitting half the dough into 4, the other half into 2. So that way me and the hubs can eat bigger ones.

I try my best to flatten them into circles. Then I put the sauce, cheese, and fillings on one half of the circle. Making sure to leave space around the edge for sealing. About an inch or so. Once it's filled, fold the other half of your circle over, and use a fork to seal the edges. I like to brush the tops with oil and sprinkle with italian seasoning and garlic powder. Then I give it a few slashes with a knife to let steam out while it cooks. I cook it at about 450 for 10-12 minutes. Just keep an eye on them and see how your oven does with them. This pictures shows 2 of my best. They frequently explode. I've tried using oil or water on the edges when I seal them (brushing the edge of the circle dough with water or oil), but can't figure out if one works better than another. I'm notorious for over-filling things like this. My burritos and tacos are a joke. They're always humongous. So as long as you're modest in your fillings, they shouldn't overflow. Another adjustment I've made is instead of using salt for the dough, I'll substitute that with garlic salt, and even add italian seasoning (maybe a tsp or so) to do the dough so you have more flavor in each bite.

 

These are seriously the best. We took them to a football game last fall and it was so great. I might forever associate these with going to football games. It was such a great time!

Alfredo Pizza

We got this courtesy of Aaron's brother Jared.

Ingredients

1 loaf french or Artisan bread
1 can Alfredo sauce
1 lb. pork sausage
2 halves different colored sweet bell peppers, chopped
½ sweet onion, chopped
1 can fresh mushrooms, chopped
1 cups shredded cheese (yellow or white, whatever you like better)

Preheat oven to 350. Cook and drain sausage. Add peppers, onion and mushrooms to sausage. Sautee for a 3-5 minutes. (adjust time depending on how cooked you like your veggies) Add Alfredo sauce. Simmer 1 minute. Cut the bread lengthwise, then into desired chunks from there. (We generally make ours pretty big, but with kids, you might make some smaller) Lay cut side face up on baking sheet and cover bread with sauce. Cover sauce with cheese. Warm in oven to melt cheese and warm bread, 10-12 minutes.

You can see with this one, we used a white cheese, the sauce is more of a tannish color. Anyhow, we've used cheddar too and it works great too. Sometimes we like to sprinkle some parmesan ontop before baking too. It adds a nice flavor.

Breadsticks

This recipe is from my cooking class in college.  Basically everything in her cooking book is magic and I love it. (My fave alfredo sauce is from there.)

Ingredients

2 cups flour

2 T. sugar

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

2 T. olive oil (I just use vegetable)

2/3 cup milk

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1/2 t. garlic powder

1/2 t. dried parsley

1 t. sesame seeds

Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl. Add oil and milk and mix with a fork until dough clings together. Knead 10-12 times on floured surface. Roll into an 8" square. (I'm awful at this stuff, but just try and aim for this size, since that'll be the pan you bake them in.) Cut into strips. Place on greased baking sheet (Can use an 8x8 dish) and brush with melted butter. Combine parmesan cheese, garlic powder, parsley and sesame seeds in a bowl. Sprinkle breadsticks with cheese mixture and bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.

Yes, they're nummy.

Red Lobster Cheese Biscuits

These are a recipe that I was super excited to realize I had. I went to Red Lobster for the first time and had their biscuits. They really are amazing. I was jazzed to see that I had their "recipe" in my Top Secret Restaurant Recipe book. We had them a few times the next week, and they are delicious!

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups Bisquisk baking mix (I didn't have this, so I substituted this and the following dry ingredients with my baking powder biscuit recipe)

4 tbsp cold butter (I also used the shortening from the baking powder biscuit recipe)

1 heaping cup grated cheese

3/4 cup cold whole milk

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Brush On Top

2 tbsp butter, melted

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp dried parsley flakes

pinch salt

Preheat your overn to 400 degrees. Combine bisquick with cold butter in a medium bowl using a pastry cutter or a large fork. (Or combine dry ingredients from baking powder biscuits with the shortening listed in that recipe.) You don't want to mix too thoroughly. There should be small chunk of butter in there that are about the size of peas. Add cheddar cheese, milk, and 1/4 tsp garlic. Mix by hand until combined, but don't over mix.

Drop approximately 1/4 cup portions of the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet using an ice cream scoop. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown. When you take the biscuits out of the oven, melt 2 tbsp butter in a small bowl in your microwave. Stir in 1/2 tsp garlic powder and the dried parsley flakes. Use a brush to spread this garlic butter over hte tops of all the biscuits. Use up all of the butter. (Really, use it all.)

I could see the flavor might be different using butter instead of shortening. I think I'll try it that way next time. (Still using my dry ingredients from my biscuits recipe. I don't keep bisquick on hand.) I've scooped them, and I've rolled them out and cut them like I would my biscuits. I don't know that it makes a difference. Whatever's easier.  I think it's really the garlic mix that you brush on top that makes the recipe. Absolutely delicious. A must try!

Italian Baking Powder Biscuits

This was a variation on baking powder biscuits, and wow! So amazing! You have to try these! They are seriously my new favorite.

Ingredients
1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour - I'm all out of cake flour, so I used all regular flour

1/3 cup cake flour
½ tsp garlic salt
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp italian seasoning
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
½ cup vegetable shortening
¾ cup milk

Preheat oven to 425. Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add milk all at once and stir just until dough forms a ball. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board and knead 12 times. Pat or roll ½ inch thick. Cut into rounds with 2 inch cutter. Bake on greased baking sheet for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown and flaky.

So good! Really. Delicious! I was extremely pleased with this change to the recipe. Definitely a keeper!

Orange Rolls

This is a Burnham Thanksgiving Classic. Although it's no longer on my mom's menu, we will all remember it and many of us make it on our own. This was my first time making them and I made a few small mistakes in rolling them out and cutting them, so they ended up being huge. They still tasted great, they just weren't as elegant looking.

Ingredients
2 packages yeast
½ cup sugar
½ cup butter
¼ cup water
4 ½ cups flour
2 tsp salt
1 cup orange juice at room temperature
3 eggs
Butter
Brown sugar optional
Cinnamon optional

Day 1: Dissolve yeast in ¼ cup water. Cream butter and sugar, add eggs. Add yeast and orange juice. Add salt. Gradually add flour. Kneed. Refrigerate over night.

Day 2: 4 hours before serving, roll out on a floured board. Spread surface with 1 cube butter (and brown sugar and cinnamon if desired for a dessert rather than a dinner roll.) Roll up like a jelly roll. Slice 1 ¼ inches wide. Dip in melted butter and place in muffin pans sprayed with Pam. Raise for 3 hours. Bake at 400 for 10 to 15 minutes. They can be frozen after placing in muffin pans. It takes 5 hours to rise if frozen.

I've never tried them as a dessert, but I bet they'd be really good. I also think they' do well from some orange zest added in. But even straight from the recipe, they're amazing and an easy A+ at Thanksgiving, or whenever. Just remember, they can take up to 2 days to make.

Spiced Pumpkin Butter

This is something I, again, found in a magazine and thought it sounded exotic and fun. It was super simple and I made it ahead of time. It was pretty darn good. As reference for the remaining Thanksgiving recipes, some were appetizers that we ate as we hung out and cooked turkey. Then there are the meal recipes that were for the actual dinner. This was an appetizer. (Unless you think this will be ravaged or you're having an extremely large group, I might half it.)

Ingredients
4 cups Pumpkin Puree, or two 15 oz. cans pumpkin
1 1/4 cups pure maple syrup
1/2 cup apple juice
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
Chopped hazelnuts (optional) (I went through tons of trouble to find these darn things and then forgot to take them to the event.)

In 5 quart dutch oven combine all ingredients except nuts. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cook, uncovered, over medium heat, stirring frequently., 25 minutes or until thick. (It was pretty much thick the whole time to me, so I just did 25 minutes.) If mixture spatters, reduce heat to medium-low. (Okay, this is like tomato sauce, it spatters no matter what, so just keep a rag handy and mop it up as you go along.) Remove from heat; cool. Ladle into jars or freezer containers, leaving1/2-inch headspace. Cover; store in refrigerator up to 1 week or freezer up to 6 months. To serve, top with chopped nuts.

Can serve on pancakes, muffins, or toasted bread. Can top with favorite cheese. We just had it plain on cut french bread. I would definitely toast the bread. Just a simple, tasty spread.

Pie Crust

This is the recipe I used with the Grape & Pear Pie. It's slightly different from my mom's (my preferred pie crust), but it was fine. If I make a pie during the Christmas season, I'll use the other crust recipe and post it as well. This one uses shortening and my mom's uses oil. I think the shortening crust is supposed to be flakier, but I prefer the flavor of the oil crust personally. But pie crust is a very personal thing, so do what floats your boat.

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup shortening
8-10 tbsp cold water

In medium bowl stir together flour and salt. Using pastry blender, cut in 2/3 cup shortening until pieces are pea-size. Sprinkle 1 tbsp cold water over part of flour mixture; gently toss with fork. Push moistened dough to side of bowl. Repeat, using 1 tbsp water at a time, until all the flour mixture is moistened (8 to 10 tablespoons total). Divide dough in half. Form each half into ball.

On lightly floured surface, slightly flatten 1 ball of pastry. Roll dough from center to edges into 12-inch circle. Wrap pastry around rolling pin; unrollinto 9-inch pie plate. Ease pastry into pie plate, being careful not to stretch. Trim even with rim of pie plate. Pour filling into pastry. Roll remaining dough into a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Cut slits in pastry to allow steam to escape. Place pastry on filling; trim to 1/2 inch beyond edge of pie plate. Fold top pastry edge under bottom pastry. Crimp edge as desired.

I didn't follow the directions specifically with the water, mainly because it's tedious the way it's described. But it came out fine. Otherwise I did follow the recipe. I didn't do a plain pie topper though, as you can tell from the pie post. If you want lessons on making a weave top, I'll gladly teach how I did it.

Waffled Pizza Dippers

This was fun. I did it more for a child-food experiment. Joseph ate them pretty easily, although he didn't really dip them, which for me is the whole point. Anyway, it was a success and they were pretty good.

Ingredients
7 oz. (1 ¾ cups) shredded mozzarella cheese
¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese (1 oz.)
½ tsp dried basil leaves
½ tsp dried oregano leaves
2 cans crescent dinner rolls
1 jar pizza sauce
32 small slices pepperoni

Heat waffle maker on medium-high setting. In medium bowl, mix both cheese, basil and oregano; set aside. In 1 ½ quart saucepan, heat pizza sauce over low heat, stirring occasionally, until hot. Place in small serving bowl. Unroll both cans of dough onto work surface. Separate each crosswise, making 4 rectangles; firmly press perforations to seal. Place 1 dough rectangle on bottom surface of heated waffle maker, being careful not to open up perforations. Quickly sprinkle 1 cup cheese mixture evenly on top of dough. Place 16 slices of pepperoni evenly over cheese mixture. Top with another dough rectangle; close waffle maker. Bake 2 to 3 minutes or until sandwich is golden brown. With pancake turner, remove from waffle maker; cool before cutting. Serve with warm sauce.

I didn't get the amount of cheese or pepperoni listed in the recipe, but used it all more or less. It definitely needs the sauce. At least for me, being used to pizza. Joseph ate it without, which I didn't find as good. But for a version of pizza, it is very easy to eat hands on and I'm sure kids would enjoy the fun waffle-ness of it. And for "homemade pizza" it is pretty easy. I'm sure you could easily alter the ingredients a touch to add other toppings, like canadian bacon, mushrooms or olives.

Homemade Pancakes

This is my mom's wonderful recipe. I adore her homemade pancakes. This said, I altered the recipe (sly grin) with a few of my own special changes. The pancakes were still good. Not as great as hers, but considering the changes, I think they came out great. The flavor wasn't the same, which was the main difference, but it was still good.  I'll give you the original recipe first, then my changes.

Ingredients
3 eggs
3 cups milk
3 cups flour
½ cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/3 tbsp baking powder
3 tbsp butter, melted

Combine eggs and milk. Add dry ingredients, mix well. Add butter and mix. Bake on griddle sprayed with Pam.

Now, the root of my changes was in the sugar. I did some research on brown vs. white sugar out of curiosity. What I was able to find said that white sugar is just brown sugar that's been processed more. I believe the most raw and natural form is the dark sugar. It has a few different names. You can find them on Wikipedia pretty easily. Anyway, I was curious about substitution. I read one source which said you could substitute 1 for 1, making sure to pack the brown sugar. Someone else said it would alter the moisture because brown sugar naturally has more moisture. So I started out with 1 for 1, then ended up adding more flour. If I could do it again, I would limit the milk and go about it that way, instead of adding more flour in the end. This was the way it turned out for me:

Ingredients
3 eggs
3 cups milk
*4 cups flour
*½ cup brown sugar packed
1 tsp salt
1 1/3 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp flax seed
3 tbsp butter, melted

Yup, I added flax seed. You might even be able to get away with 2 tbsp without altering the flavor. Anyway, this is the edited, hopefully slightly healthier version. If doing it again, like I said, I would start with 2 cups milk and slowly add until it was the right texture. Easier than adding flour after. But I would still use 3 eggs. I don't Mom, what do you think?

Anyway, the original recipe is great, the altered one was pretty darn good as well.

Pumpkin Muffins

I got this recipe from my Visiting Teacher. I've been doing muffins quite a bit lately, so thought this would be nice for the fall season. They came out great. However, if left out, they'll get pretty dry. I would also recommend not using muffin cups. Just grease your pans good. They totally stuck to the inside of the muffin cups. I was able to peel one out without losing much, but you have to have expert peeling from muffin cup skills. For the kids, it didn't work well. Anyway, great recipe. Here it is:

Ingredients
1 1/8 cup flour
6 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup pumpkin
1/4 milk
1 egg
2 tbsp applesauce

Sift together the dry ingredients and set aside. Combine the wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Mix wet and dry ingredients and beat until smooth. Grease muffin pan and bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

It would probably be really good with some type of white frosting and sprinkled nuts or cinnamon sugar, if you wanted to make it more desserty.

Cinnamon Crescents aka Cinnamon Rolls

These are amazing. They have all the goodness of cinnamon rolls and crescent rolls in one tasty treat. I've tried to make modifications to make them a bit bigger, or do a double batch, but so far my efforts have been thwarted. However, I haven't given up and will get it right one day. For now, here's the basic recipe.

Ingredients
2 can crescent rolls
½ cup butter, softened
8 tsp granulated sugar
4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp milk or apple juice

Heat oven to 375. Separate dough into 4 rectangles ( 2 long rectangles per can). Firmly press perforations to seal. Spread 2 tbsp butter evenly over each dough rectangle. In small bowl, mix granulated sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle evenly over rectangles. (I don't do this. I simply sprinkle generously with my cinnamon and sugar sprinkler, from the "cinnamon sugar tip".) Starting with short side of each rectangle, roll up. With serrated knife, cut each roll into 3 slices. Place slices in ungreased 8 or 9 inch square pan. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Drizzle icing over rolls. Serve warm.

I originally intended to make these on Halloween, but forgot. Nonetheless, in honor of Halloween being the night before, I made these orange. Sort of like little cinnamon and sugar jack o'lanterns.

 
So easy and yummy. Definitely worth it.

Blueberry muffins

I ended up making both my lemon zest recipes. These came out great. Straight from my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. Thanks Mom and Diane. Awesome wedding present!

Ingredients
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 beaten egg
¾ cup milk
¼ cup cooking oil
¾ cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1 tsp finely shredded lemon peel

Grease muffin pan or insert paper bake cups.
In a medium bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center of flour mixture; set aside. In another bowl combine egg, milk, and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened. Add blueberries and lemon peel to batter.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake at 400 for 18-20 minutes or until golden and a wooden toothpick comes out clean. Cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 5 minutes.

French Toast

My mom's famous french toast.

Ingredients (6 slices)

3 eggs (use 1 egg for every 2 slices of bread)
1tbsp milk
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp vanilla

Dip each piece of bread in the egg mixture, thoroughly covering both sides. Place on a warm grill or skillet. Cook thoroughly on both sides until golden brown or desired doneness.

For ours, I cut up one slice of bread into four pieces so they were like french toast sticks. I realized afterwards that I could've just cut up a piece of already cooked french toast in this manner, but it did help in soaking up the last of the egg mixture, because the pieces are small, versus trying to soak up the last bit with a full slice. This was of course served with our delicious homemade syrup.

Corn bread!

To go along with our chili, we always make corn bread. I take no special ownership of this recipe. It comes straight off the container of corn meal.

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup Corn Meal
¼ cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt (optional)
1 cup skim milk
¼ cup vegetable oil
2 egg whites or 1 egg, beaten

Heat oven to 400. Grease 8 or 9 inch pan. Combine dry ingredients. Stir in milk, oil and egg, mixing just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until light golden brown and wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

I generally eat mine with butter. The boys like to put butter and syrup. (Something I'd never heard of, but Aaron loves to do. Joseph enjoys it as well! That's what makes it so kid friendly.)

Biscuit Variations

As a sidenote to the biscuits, you can also make them with buttermilk. I tend to do this when I have two recipes. Neither one uses the full pint of buttermilk (the smallest container you can buy) but they often use the whole pint together. So I just make those two recipes within the same week. (I used the buttermilk in the Junior Wellingtons as well.)  Here are the variations:

Buttermilk Biscuits
Substitute buttermilk or sour milk for the milk. Reduce baking powder to 1 1/2 tsp and add 1/2 tsp baking soda.

Cheese Biscuits
Add 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese to the dry ingredients and bake as directed.

Buttermilk Biscuits

Best Biscuits Ever!

I love these biscuits. I got the recipe in my cooking classes at the Y. We would seriously make these with any meal type dish we were making in lab because they're easy and absolutely delicious! Anyone who took that class is addicted to these biscuits. They are called Baking Powder Biscuits.

Ingredients

1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cake flour
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp sugar
½ cup vegetable shortening
¾ cup milk

Preheat oven to 425. Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add milk all at once and stir just until dough forms a ball. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board and knead 12 times. Pat or roll ½ inch thick. Cut into rounds with 2 inch cutter. Bake on greased baking sheet for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and flaky. (You can substitute all regular flour. I use cake flour because who wants to mess with a good recipe, right? But using all all-purpose flour works as well.)

I would only cook mine for 12-13 minutes. It all depends on your oven. I don't like them to get too golden brown. Just slightly golden. Although I'm sure if you were cooking on a good sheet vs. the stuff I have, it might cook a bit different. I tend to get around 10-12 biscuits from this. I just use a glass cup to cut mine out. With this recipe I used a plastic kiddie cup, so they're a bit smaller than usual. These were cooked about two minutes longer than I'd recommed, so you can get an idea for the coloring.  Add some butter and jam. Mmmm.

 

Pizza #2

So we did pizza again last night. It came out awesome! When I made the crust last time, I made 2. I precooked the second one and then froze it. (Like the directions say, without adding the toppings for the second bake) It worked out great. I also made sure to add some flax seed to my sauce for added fiber! The sauce was also leftover from last time. The recipe I shared makes 2 pizza's worth.  On this pizza we had pepperoni, mozzarella, sauteed green pepper, onion and garlic. We also had a few chicken tenders in BBQ sauce that we put in the pan too. I thought it might be weird having pizza sauce with BBQ chicken, but it was great. Oh yeah, we also had a few strips of bacon chopped up as well. Add some canned olives and mushrooms, and we had a monster pizza! It was really good!

Cheesy Garlic Bread

Butter your bread, sprinkle with garlic salt and Italian Seasoning. Sprinkle with grated mozzarella or sliced string cheese. Put under the broiler for 3-5 minutes.

For last minute creations, these came out pretty darn good!