I LOVE THE SMELL OF BREAD BAKING

Today I tried out a new recipe for bread and also made some rolls. I really liked this recipe and it was so easy.

I just love the way the house smells when there is fresh bread baking in the oven.

POTATOE BREAD RECIPE:

7 to 8 cups bread flour

1 cup mashed potatoe flakes

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons salt

2 pkg. active dry yeast

2 cups water

1 cup milk

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

Grease three 8x4 loaf pans for loaves of bread or if making the rolls grease baking sheet.

In large bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups bread flour, potatoe flakes, salt and yeast, blend well. In meadium saucepan, heat water, milk and margarine or butter until warm (120 to 130 F). Add warm liquid to flour mixture slowly. Blend at low speed until moistened, beat 3 minutes at medium speed. Stir in an additional 4 to 5 cups flour until dough pulls cleanly away from sides of bowl.

On floured surface, knead in 3/4 to 1 1/4 cups bread flour until dough is smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Place dough in greased bowl; cover loosely with plastic and cloth towel. let rise in warm place until doubles in size. About 1 hr.

Punch down dough several times to remove all air bubbles. Allow to rest on counter covered with inverted bowl for 15 minutes. Divide dough into 6 equal parts if making the three loafs of bread. Shape each part into 10 inch rope. Twist 2 ropes together; pinch ends firmly to seal. Repeat with remaining ropes. Place in prepared pans. Cover, let rise in warm place until dough fills pans about 30 minutes. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Bake 35 minutes or until loaves sound hollow when lightly tapped. Remove from pans immediately, brush with melted margarine or butter.

If making rolls shape in balls and place on greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise , about 10 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Brush with melted margarine or butter while still warm.

Enjoy! They are very tasty!

Hugs :)

Irma

I JUST LOVE SNOWBALLS!

Especially the ones you can eat. I made this for Valentine's and it was so delicious.




Found the recipe on the Food & Family Magazine.

Here's the recipe:

1 pkg devil's food cake mix
1 pkg. 8oz. cream cheese, softened
1 egg
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 pkg. 3.4 oz. vanilla flavor instant pudding
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 cup cold milk
2 cups thawed cool whip whipped topping
1 cup flake coconut

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cake mix as per instructions on box. Pour batter in a 2 1/2 quart ovenproof bowl.
Beat cream cheese, egg and granulated sugar until well blended, spoon into center of batter in bowl. Bake 1 hour and 5 min. or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in bowl 10 min. Invert onto cake plate and make sure it is completely cooled before icing.

ICING: While cake is baking, beat dry pudding mix, powdered sugar and milk in medium bowl with whisk 2 min Stir in cool whip. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Frost with pudding mixture. Cover with coconut.

Hope you try this, it is really like a great big snowball cupcake.

Irma :)

Refrigerator Bread

I have always wanted to make yeast rolls but could never find the right recipe. I think I found a great one. You make the dough and you don't even have to bake all of it at one time. You are able to keep the dough in your fridge for up to 4 days. Just bake the amount of rolls you want, this way you are able to have fresh baked rolls every morning.With this recipe you can also make it into 2 loaves of bread or cinnamon rolls. I haven't made it into loaves yet but I did make it into cinnamon rolls and everyone could not wait long enough for me to ice them.

Here's the recipe for Refrigerator Bread:

2 pkgs active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 cup lukewarm mashed potatoes

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup butter

2 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp. salt

7 to 71/2 cups bread flour ( I used 1 cup wheat flour and the rest in bread flour)

1 .Combine the yeast with all of the water and the remaining ingredients except the flour.

2. Mix in 3 1/2 of the bread flour ( this is where I mixed in the 1 cup wheat flour and 2 1/2 cups bread flour to start with). I put this all in my kitchen aid mixer with the dough hook.

3. Mix in additional flour until the dough starts pulling away from the bowl. I then placed the dough onto a floured board and started to knead and add the remaining flour. I kneaded for about 5 min. until the dough felt like a smooth dough ball. I then sprayed my bowl with Pam Spray and placed the dough ball inside bowl. Cover with plastic and place inside refrigerator. Punch down when doubled in size (about 30 min)

4. Keep dough refrigerated for up to 4 days, punching down if doubled in size.

5. About 2 hrs before baking, shape dough into your loaves and place in pans. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise about 1 hr. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 35 minutes.

6. If making cinnamon rolls, I just took out enough dough to roll out a rectangle and I made a spread of cinnamon, brown sugar and softened butter. I then spread this mixture on top of the dough rectangle and also sprinkle chopped pecans. I rolled it up like a jelly roll and sliced. I placed the sliced pieces on baking sheet sprayed with Pam Spray. Covered them with plastic wrap and let double in size about 1 hr.

Bake at 375 degrees 12-15 minutes. Let cool and glaze. I made the glaze with powdered sugar, vanilla 1 tsp. and about 1-2 tablespoons of milk.

I really liked this recipe and will be making these for our Thanksgiving dinner this year.

Hugs :)

Irma

I Love Birthday Cake!!!

I just love to eat birthday cake! Especially when its Big Red Cake! I'm also glad my sister quit counting her birthdays at 22years. That means I can stop at 42 years. You see...my little sister and I have the same birthday...July 5th....and I'm 20 years older than she is. My Dad, Mom, sister and Aunt came over this weekend to celebrate our birthday. We had so much fun. We drank Pina Coladas and Appletinis and watched several movies.

This is my youngest son Mark and our middle son David with myself and DH (Our oldest son could not be here). I guess we were staring at the other photographer as we sure weren't looking into this camera...and looks like our sons thought they would get their heads chopped off by the way they are bending down. My Mom must have been taking the picture, she usually cuts the tops of our heads.LOL

Here I am with my sister, my Mom and Aunt. I guess I was the only one looking at the correct camera. I always have so much fun when they come over as we try to go to all the thrift stores we can find.

The Big Red Cake is a real simple recipe:

1 box white cake mix. Bake as per directions.

1 16 oz. frozen strawberries at room temperature

1 small box strawberry jello

1 Big Red soda can or strawberry soda

1 large tub of cool whip

Mix strawberries with jello and Big red. Stir until well blended. With wooden spoon handle poke holes in cake. Pour strawberry mixture on top of cake. Frost with cool whip. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight.

(As this was the Fourth of July Weekend we decorated the cake to resemble a flag. We sprinkled with fresh blueberries to be the stars and sliced fresh strawberries to be the stripes on the flag).

Hugs :)

Irma
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~~Project Friday~~Micaela's Capirotada (Bread Pudding)

Today is Project Friday and I am sharing my Mom's recipe for Capirotada which is Bread Pudding. Every Easter I remember my Mom making this for us to eat on Friday during Lent. My brothers and I were always so anxious to eat this as soon as it came out of the oven and in order for us not to burn our mouth my Mom would put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. I did not do this today as now I can wait until it cools down a bit before we eat it. lol. Please go and visit Rosemarie at Sugar Plum Cottage http://sugarplumcottage.blogspot.com/ to see all who are participating this Project Friday.

The ingredients:

1 loaf of white bread

1 quart of water

2 cups brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 tsp. cloves

1 Tblsp. cinnamon

1 stick butter

1 cup raisins

8 oz grated yellow cheese

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup milk

Put water, sugars, cloves, cinnamon and raisins in pot and boil. About 20 min.

Toast the bread and butter the slices. Grate your cheese.

Butter 9 x 13 pan, and start layering the toasted bread. Sprinkle the grated cheese and pecans. Then spoon some of the liquid with raisins over the cheese and toast. Continue layering and pouring liquid with raisin until finished using the bread.

Pour any remaining liquid and raisins on top of the toast and cheese .

Now get one cup milk and pour over the toasted bread. With a spoon cut in the bread to make sure the milk gets down into the layers. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

If you can't wait for it to cool, try putting a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top or eat it just plain without the ice cream.

Enjoy. Now go visit everyone at Project Friday.

Hugs :)

Irma

Let Them Eat Coffee Cake!

Today was baking day. I made our favorite coffee cake. It asks for Smucker's Cherry Preserves but I have not been able to find it at our local supermarket so I substituted Smucker's Raspberry Seedless Preserves. I'm sure you could use any other type of preserves and it would taste just a good. Cherry Swirl Coffee Cake

1 1/4 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup Crisco All Vegetable Shortening
1 package (1/4 ounce active dry yeast
3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cu Smucker's Cherry Preserves
1 cup powdered sugar
Milk
1/3 cup sliced almonds ( I used chopped pecans)

Heat 1/14 cups milk, salt, granulated sugar, and shortening in small saucepan just to boiling; cool to lukewarm. Stir in yeast; transfer mixture to medium bowl. Add one cup of the flour to milk mixture; beat well. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Stir in enough remaining flour to make a thick batter; beat until smooth. Let rise, covered, in warm place, free from drafts, until doubled in bulk, about one hour. Stir batter down. Pour batter into two greased 9" round cake pans; let rise in warm place until doubled in bulk, about one hour. Make a swirl design on top of batter with a floured spoon; fill grooves with preserves, using 1/4 cup for each coffee cake. Heat oven to 375F. Bake coffee cakes until golden, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from pans. cool on wire racks. Fill grooves with remaining preserves. Mix powdered sugar, with enough milk to make thin glaze consistency; drizzle over warm coffee cakes. Sprinkle with almonds.

Hope your give it a try.

Hugs :)

Irma

SOUP'S ON

Here is a quick and easy soup to make when you really don't have a lot of time.


TACO SOUP & SWEET CORN BREAD
Taco Soup Ingredients:

1 lb ground meat
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 can pinto beans
1 can kidney beans
1 small can tomato sauce
1 pkg. taco seasoning
(If you want to make it a little spicy, add 1 can Rotell tomatoes w/ chilies)
Sour Cream
Shredded yellow sharp cheddar cheese

Brown ground meat. When cooked, drain grease if any. Add taco seasoning, tomato sauce, beans and corn. Stir, and let simmer for about 20 minutes.

Serve and garnish with shredded cheese and a dollop of sour cream.

Sweet Corn Bread Ingredients:

1 Cup Flour

1 Cup Corn Meal

1 Tablespoon Baking powder

4 Tablespoons Sugar

1/4 cup oil

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup milk

1 egg
1 can whole kernel corn, drained

Mix all ingredients and pour into greased pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 min.

Now serve yourself a bowl of taco soup and a square of sweet corn bread. Yummy! Yummy! Good for your tummy! Enjoy!

Now I'm off to finish my project for "Project Friday". Come back on Friday to see what I'm making.

Hugs :)

Irma

GREAT VALENTINE'S WEEKEND

We had a great Valentine's Day weekend. My Dad, Mom, Sister and Aunt came in from San Antonio and stayed to celebrate. We made Quiche Muffins for breakfast that came out very tasty. We had hash browns and a fresh fruit salad to go with it. It was all so delicious. My sister is such a great cook and baker. She makes the most beautiful and tasty cakes. We went to a cake shop to buy edible glitter, cookie cutters and cake pans. She bought a cake pan in the shape of Texas. She wants to bake a Texas cake for one of my brothers birthday.


Quiche Muffins

4 Medium Eggs
1 cup milk
2/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
3 cups biscuit mix
2 1/4 cups diced ham
2 cups shredded zucchini
2 cups fresh spinach leafs
3/4 cup chopped green onions (with green tops)
3/4 cup grated Cheddar cheese
3/4 cup grated Swiss cheese
3/4 cup grated Provolone cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil muffin cups. Stir eggs, milk, butter and biscuit mix in a bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients, blending thoroughly (batter may be refrigerated overnight in an air-tight container). Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake 15-18 minutes.


This is the chocolate cake she baked for us to celebrate Valentine's Day. Chocolate and strawberries, yum, yum! Soooo, good together, and a little champagne doesn't hurt.

My Mom and Dad wanted a picture taken before the cake was sliced and eaten.

My Dad had been looking for an owl and could not find one in San Antonio, so I surprised him for Valentine's Day with one. We named him Hedwig Jr. as I have Hedwig in my garden (now that's another story about my poor neglected garden. I will have to do a separate post on that soon). My Dad was not feeling to well when this picture was taken, but he did manage to put a big smile when I snapped the picture. He went back home with a terrible cough. He actually lost his voice. Spoke to my Mom today and he is doing much better as he ended up going to the doctor for medication.

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Weekend.

Hugs :)

Irma

2 PART POST: PART 1- I'M NO RACHAEL RAY and PART 2-DID YOU SAY BLACKBIRDS?

PART ONE OF POST:

Today I tried a new recipe (using that expensive spice "cardamon" I previously mentioned). I made Chicken Shawarma with Grilled Vegetable Couscous Salad.
I saw this recipe made on Rachael Ray on the Food Network show. On TV the recipe really looks soooo good and hey, it only took her 30 minutes to complete the main dish with a side. Now that sounds great because I don't want to be in the kitchen for over 30 minutes cooking. Right? Well, I will never be a Rachael Ray. I started preparing this dish and side dish at 4:00 PM.
Slathering the paste like spice mixture as called for on the recipe onto the chicken breasts. I then put the chicken on the grill.

While the chicken is grilling, I started to saute the onions and bell pepper with lemon juice and garlic.

I then grilled the eggplant and zucchini which was brushed with EVOO (as Rachael would say) salt and pepper.

I also cooked the couscous, which this is the first time I tried it. Sorry how the pic looks as I took it at night time and the light was not that great. I did not finish cooking until 6:00PM, yes, it took me 2 hrs to complete Rachael's 30 min meal. Needless to say, I will not be making this again. The chicken is then sliced and put into the pita pockets with the grilled onions and peppers and a dollop of greek yogurt, but I used sour cream with lemon juice instead. The grilled veggies were put on top of the couscous.

SECOND PART OF TODAYS POST:

Yesterday was DH 61st birthday. If you are ever in Houston you need to stop by the "Flying Saucer Pie Company". They have the most fabulous pies. During the Thanksgiving Holidays there usually is a line out the door. My MIL and SIL called and said they were coming over and when they arrived they had two pie boxes with them. Goody! Goody!

The first pie box held a cheese cake pie with strawberries on top and whipped cream. Wow! we are hitting this first.

Ok, now this is where it gets interesting. We open the second pie box and what do we see?

My first thought was that nursery rhyme something about "four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie, when the pie was opened the birds began to sing". I could just picture the birds singing and flying out of the pie. Well, what really happened is that it takes about 1 hr. from my MIL's house in Houston to our house here in Orchard. They got hungry and wanted to taste the blackberry pie and since they were given spoons with the pie, well, I guess you know what happened next.

Well, we had a good laugh after we saw the pie and then we ate some of the Banana Split Cake I made for his birthday and of course tasted the pies my MIL and SIL brought. This cake is so addicting and it seems to taste even better the next day (if there is any left, ha! ha!).

BANANA SPLIT CAKE

2 cups Cinnamon graham cracker crumbs

1 stick butter

2 8oz. pkg. cream cheese, room temperature

1 box powdered sugar

5 medium bananas

1 cup chopped pecans

1 can crushed pineapple, drained

1 large container cool whip

chocolate syrup

1 jar cherries

Melt butter and combine with the Cinnamon graham crumbs in 9 x 13 pan. Pat down for crust. In a medium bowl using hand mixer, combine cream cheese and powdered sugar. Then pour on top of graham crust. Slice bananas on top. Then spread the crushed pineapple on top of the bananas. Then spread the cool whip covering the bananas. Place cherries on top, drizzle chocolate syrup all over and sprinkle with pecans. Best if refrigerated overnight.

Hope you try this out, its really good.

Hugs :)

Irma

Lesson Learned

Look at all the vegetables I picked in one day! I am so amazed that we have been able to grow all of these veggies. See how the tomatoes to the left of picture are beginning to ripen. Wish you all lived close by, I would share. I had to pick the tomatoes before the squirrels and birds decided to make a meal of them.



I had to scold Hedwig the other day...not a pretty site. I was watering the garden and had layed the water hose down in the first row while I harvested some of the veggies and who do I see... just one row away....Mr. Birdie, taking his morning bath, flapping his little wings and dunking his little feathered head in the water as to say...Look at me, your Hedwig does not scare me nor do you! Well, I walked myself over to that first row and HE STILL DID NOT MOVE! Not only was he thumbing his little beak at Hedwig, but he was thumbing his little beak at me...YES, AT ME! Well, this did not set well with me nor with Hedwig, as I started to move even closer, I guess he decided he was not as brave as he thought. He flew away, hopefully never to return. I hope Hedwig learned his lesson not to sleep on the job.



DH decided he wanted to grill chicken, (they still don't trust me on grilling since the Easter incident).

I sliced one yellow and one green squash and brushed both sides with olive oil, salt and peppered it and put them on the grill.

See how good it looks, as Rachel Ray would say Yum oh!

Breakfast, Lunch or Supper

I am participating at Peanut Butter Etouffee 2nd Annual Pullet Surprise on March 26th, http://pbetouffee.blogspot.com. We are to enter a recipe where one of the main ingredients is eggs. So here is my recipe. It is called "Migas", I guess you would consider this a Tex -Mex dish and its means "crumbs" in English. It is bits of corn tortilla with egg and several other ingredients. My grandmother would make this dish as well as my Mom when we were younger. This dish can be made for breakfast, lunch or dinner depending on the ingredients used. This version is the one I use for breakfast. If you want to cook for lunch or dinner you can also add, green chiles, cooked chicken and garnish with slices of avocado, salsa and chopped cilantro.

Migas

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

8 corn tortillas

5 large eggs

3 Tblsp. canola oil

1/4 c. milk

1/3 c. chopped onions

1/2 cup grated cheddar

1/2 cup grated Monterrey Jack

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

Salt & Pepper to taste

Sour Cream

In a small bowl lightly beat the eggs, add the garlic powder, salt, pepper and milk and beat again and set aside. Stack and cut corn tortillas into small squares. Heat skillet pan with the oil and add the tortilla pieces and cook until slightly crispy. Add chopped onion and cook for 1 minute. Add beaten egg mixture to the tortillas and cook as you would scrambled eggs, stirring the mixture to mix with the tortillas until egg mixture is cooked. Sprinkle the shredded cheese and mix so that it slightly melts. Serve with a dallop of sour cream.

And enjoy.

I also took pictures of the dishes used that I bought at a garage sale, a serving set for 4, however, the cup saucers were missing but it was a bargain for $5.00. I love roses, aren't they cute?