A new blog-reviewing recipes

I have so much to catch up on here at this blog but first I want to tell you some exciting news. My daughter Grace and I have decided to start a new blog together.  We both enjoy cooking and thought it would be fun to review our favorite cookbooks and individual recipes then post about them. We'll be sharing the recipes and also our opinion of how time consuming they are, expensive and of course tasty.
We're starting out the month of April by reviewing a cookbook by one of our favorite people, Ree Drummond.  We've chosen 30 recipes from The Pioneer Woman Cooks-Food from my frontier.  We're looking forward to this new endeavor and hope you'll join us.

English Muffin Recipe

I've always wanted to try to make English muffins but for some reason thought they'd be difficult.  I recently found this recipe (sorry I can't remember where) and tried it.  It could not have been easier!  I made a couple of batches, wrapped them individually and froze them (that is the ones we didn't eat warm from the pan).  They are more dense than store bought English muffins, but have such a delicious flavor and texture.

1 cup of milk
3 TBSP butter
3 TBSP honey
1 cup of warm water (105-110 degrees)
1/4 oz of yeast (about 1 TBSP)
2 TBSP of cornmeal
5 cups + extra for sprinkling all purpose flour
1 tsp salt

(to make gluten free, use a mix of rice flour instead of the all purpose flour, and use soy milk in place of whole milk)

Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water, mix lightly and set aside for ten minutes to foam.  In a small saucepan, heat the milk, butter and honey until the butter is melted.  Let cool slightly.

Combine the yeast mixture and milk mixtures gently.

In a large bowl, sift 3 cups of flour.  Pour in wet ingredients.  Stir until cohesive. Flour counter well and knead the dough for 3 minutes or until lightly elastic.  Let rest for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, cover 2 cookie sheets with parchment and lightly sprinkle with cornmeal.

Now roll dough out until it's a 1/2 inch thick.  Too thick is better than too thin.  Cut out circles (don't twirl your cutter, just cut).  Gently place on the cookie sheets, sprinkle the tops with cornmeal and cover with a dry, light cloth.  Let sit in a warm place for 45 minutes or until nearly doubled in size.

Heat a heavy bottomed skillet on medium low, don't grease it.  Gently place a muffin in your hand and shake lighly to remove some of the corn meal.  Gentleness is the key in all of the handling.  Place into the pan and repeat until the pan is full.  Don't let them touch each other.  Keep the heat on low.  Cook for 8 minutes on one side or until browned (mine didn't take that long), flip and cook on the opposite side.  Let cool on a wire rack.  Split, toast and top with butter!

The Pioneer Woman

Have you read her blog?  Maybe you've watched her show on Food Network.  Up until a month ago I had no idea who she was.  I was talking with a friend and she said, "Oh I need to go.  Pioneer Woman is coming on."  Who??  I flipped on the TV  (which I rarely do) and found the channel.  It was only a 30 minute program ( I think-it seemed really short anyway), but I enjoyed it.  Ree (Pioneer Woman) seemed very down to earth and made some yummy dishes.  Since then I've tried to watch her show every Saturday.  It's funny how when you don't really know some one you come up with your own idea of what she's like.  From watching Ree (who also home schools) I thought she was probably very conservative, came from an 'old fashion' kind of family, grew up cooking, sewing, etc.  You know the type person I'm describing.  Pretty much the perfect little wife.  Then I read her book.

I was surprised at how transparent she was!  She was actually a 'real' woman just like me.  LOL!  Her life was sprinkled with mistakes, mishaps, etc.  She wasn't at all the woman I had made her out to be in my mind.  She was someone who learned from the things she had done wrong, picked herself up and made herself a better person.  The love story between her and her husband is so sweet.  She does give lots of details of their dating life .  Some made me blush.  She's openly honest.  I found myself unable to put the book down.  I thoroughly enjoyed it!

After reading her blog I found out she has also written children's books-based on their family dog.  I have them on hold at the library.  Next on my list...to try some of her recipes.  :)

By the way...this is not a paid review.  I just read the book on my own, enjoyed it and thought I'd share it with you.

My Annual Ornament Party

December is such a busy month for us every year but one thing we refuse to give up is our annual ornament exchange.  The girls and I love buying ornaments, planning our menu and preparing the invitations.  This year we had 22 people come.

  My great aunt loves to play games and so does my youngest daughter.  We start the morning off with a few games.  After that it's time for lunch.  Our menu this time was a vegetable and fruit tray, hamburger soup with oyster crackers and Southern Living's winning white cake.

After our tummies are full we move to the living room and begin the exchange.  It's always amazing to me that we never have 2 of the same ornaments.  I love seeing all the beautiful ornaments unwrapped and figuring out who brought them.  There's  lots of laughter and smiles all around.  In the midst of this busy month, this is one day that's pure enjoyment!

Party favors-dishcloths that I crocheted

All ready for everyone to arrive

All of the adults eating lunch (children and teens had to eat in the kitchen-this table just wasn't big enough!)

l-r my cousin, my mom, another cousin and my great aunt

Having fun exchanging ornaments!

All of the family members-4 generations

fruit Christmas tree* 

Vegetable Christmas tree*

*I forgot to take pics of our vege and fruit trees.  These pics are from pinterest.

Cream of "something" soup recipe

I haven't even caught up on all my Christmas posts, but I must stop and share this with you.  I just found this recipe this morning at One Orange Giraffe.

Cream of "something" soup recipe

1 cup non-fat dried milk

3/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup bouillon (if you have cubes you have to smash them up)
  You can use whatever kind you like (ie, beef, veggie)

4 Tablespoons freeze dried minced onions (I used the minced onions from Sam's Club)

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried thyme (I couldn't find the thyme so I used dried parsley instead)

1 teaspoon pepper

(For the equivalent of one can of condensed cream soup, mix 1/3 cup dry mix with 1 1/4 cup water. Cook until thick)

Isn't it wonderful?  I always feel guilty about using cream soups because of all the sodium, etc.  This seems like a wonderful alternative.  I can't wait to try it.  Go check out all the other wonderful things at One Orange Giraffe.

Chicken Cakes Recipe

This is one of my favorite recipes from one of my favorite blogs.  Melissa and I graduated from high school together.  I never knew she had a love of cooking, but boy is she talented!  I check her blog regularly and print off the recipes.  My family has enjoyed all the new meals we've been having.  Here's one we have quite often:

(this happens to be Melissa's picture too.  I promise I have made them-several times.  )

Chicken Cakes with Marinara Sauce

3Tbsp butter
2Tbsp celery, finely chopped
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp each of salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and basil
2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese, shredded
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
2 Tbsp mayo
2 cups cooked chicken, finely chopped
Olive oil

Marinara sauce

In a large skillet, saute celery and onion in the butter for 5 minutes.  Add parsley and garlic,  Saute 2-3 minutes more then remove from heat.  In a large bowl, combine seasonings, Parmesan cheese, eggs, bread crumbs, mayo and chicken.  Mix well then add the cooked veggies to the chicken mixture.  Stir well and make into patties.  This recipe makes 4-5 nice size patties.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.  In a cast iron or non-stick skillet heat 4-5 Tbsp of olive oil and cook patties 4-5 minutes on each side or until golden brown.  Heat marinara sauce and ladle out onto each plate then place chicken cake on top.  Top with fresh grated Parmesan cheese.  Delicious!

Energy Bites-No Bake Recipe

Today I was fortunate enough to stumble across this amazing recipe from this amazing blog. Not only is it healthy and delicious but it's No-Bake too!

No-Bake Energy Bites

(makes 18-20 bites)

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)

1/3 cup honey

1 cup coconut flakes

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla

Mix everything above in a medium bowl until thoroughly incorporated. Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour. Once chilled, roll into balls and enjoy! Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week.

Carrot Cake Recipe

This delicious cake was on the cover of Southern Lady magazine recently. I decided to give it a try. It was absolutely delicious!

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

2 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

6 large eggs, separated

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

2 cups shredded carrot

1 1/2 cups finely chopped pecans

1 (8 1/2 ounce) can crushed pineapple, well drained

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour 3 (9-inch) cake pans.

2. In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar and vanilla. Beat at medium speed until fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

3. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

4. In a large bowl, beat egg whites at high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold beaten egg whites into butter mixture until well combined. Gently stir in carrots, pecans, and pineapple. Spoon batter into prepared pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans, cool completely on wire racks.

5. Spread Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting evenly between layers and on top and sides of cake.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

12 ounces cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

8 cups confectioners' sugar

1. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, butter, vanilla and cinnamon at medium speed with a mixer until creamy. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until smooth.

Ginger Pineapple Slush

Looking for something refreshing...and healthy? This is my all time favorite drink. It's super easy to make too. Get out your blender, slice up a pineapple, grate some fresh ginger (1/4 tsp-but I add much more), add ice and blend. If you have any left over pour it into Popsicle molds. My 7 yr old loves these!

Perfect anytime. Enjoy!

Cake decorating

The girls and I have been doing lots of cooking lately. One of my goals this summer was to finally try all of those recipes I'd been saving. Another thing I've always been curious about is cake decorating. Fortunately for us, we have a dear friend who is an expert at decorating cakes. She came over for a visit one day and surprised us with tiny cakes of our own to decorate. She was so patient instructing us on all the different techniques. Cake Boss makes it look so easy but it's really not! LOL! This is definitely an art!

I don't see us going into the business anytime soon, but we certainly had an enjoyable day. Only one problem...after all that hard work none of us wanted to eat our cakes!

Russian Cooking Class

One of the things I love about traveling to different countries, besides meeting the people, is trying a variety of local foods. I love to eat! Recently Emma and I got to try some Russian food right here at home. Our friend who is from Belarus gave us a class in preparing what is one of her favorite foods.

Pelmeni is basically a dumpling that can be filled with several different foods. We put a mixture of ground beef and pork (with onions and seasoning) in ours. Here's the recipe for the dough:

Flour-700 g

Warm water-300g

butter-1 1/2 Tbsp

Combine ingredients and knead well until smooth. Roll out and cut circles (about 3inches in diameter). Place about a Tbsp of the raw meat mixture in the middle. Fold the dough over the meat and seal edges completely with fingers. To make it really pretty you can pinch the 2 ends together to make what I think looks like a tiny bonnet.

Place in boiling water that has been salted for about 8 minutes. Once the pelmeni is removed from the pot you can top with a generous amount of butter. :)

I was surprised at just how delicious this simple recipe is. Add a salad and you've got a very filling meal.

More projects

I love it when I finally get things finished. Here are two things I've been meaning to do and finally I did them:

First of all my snips catchit and pin cushion bag. Isn't it cute? This one is for a friend, but I'm going to make one for myself. So fast and easy and so useful.The other thing is homemade, all natural hand sanitizer. Here's the recipe:

2Tbsp + 1tsp plain aloe vera or lemon witch hazel

1/8 tsp tea tree oil

24 drops of essential oil (I used lavender but you could use any combination of your favorites)

4 drops grapefruit seed extract

Mix all the ingredients in a 1 ounce spray bottle. Shake well before using. Spray 2-3 times on hands and rub together. It has an indefinite shelf life.

Pumpkin Bread

We are fortunate to go to an incredible church that just happens to have a lot of really good cooks! In between first and second service a couple of very talented sisters share their love of cooking with all of us. Everything they make is so wonderful. Emma loved the pumpkin bread last Sunday (in fact, Lisa gave her a bag full of it to take home). Michelle was sweet enough to share the recipe with me. I made it today and Emma said it was just as good as Ms. Michelle's! ( I doubt that!)

PUMPKIN BREAD w/ORANGE SAUCE

1 cup oil
3 cups sugar
4 eggs (slightly beaten)
2 cups pumpkin
2/3 cups water
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. each salt, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, & cloves
3 ½ cups flour
½ cups chopped nuts (optional)

Mix oil, sugar and eggs. Add pumpkin, water, soda and spices. Mix well then gradually add flour. Fold in nuts. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans and bake ( preheat oven to 350 degrees) for 1 hour.


ORANGE SAUCE

Juice of 1 orange
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 cup water
½ cup sugar
3 tbsp. cornstarch
grated rind of orange
1 egg (slightly beaten)
1 tsp. butter

Combine juices and water. Add sugar and cornstarch. Stir in rind, egg and butter. Microwave 5 min. and stir well. Keep in fridge.

Sharing

I love to give to others. I especially love to sew gifts. Cooking is another story. It's not that I don't enjoy it, because I do immensely. It's just that I'm not confident in my skills. Lately I've been trying to branch out a bit. I've cooked a couple of meals for those who really needed it and today Emma and I baked. This apple oat bran muffin recipe is new to us (we found it just this month) but it's already one of our favorites. I decided today to bake and give-not just food but love and prayers. Hopefully the recipients can feel God's love through just this simple gift.

Dwell on the fine, good things in others. Think about all you can praise God for...

~Phil 4:8

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I never thought I would have any desire to make my own laundry detergent. That is until I read this book by Renee Loux. I've now started making my own cleaners, hand sanitizer and air freshener. I have to admit that I've had the most fun making the laundry detergent. I use this recipe with Ivory soap. I really love the nice fresh smell-no sweet perfume. Plus it only costs pennies a load. Did I mention that it cleans just as well as the other detergents? I'm definitely sold!

Baked Parmesan Chicken

Here's another great recipe -Baked Parmesan Chicken. I came across this one day while blog surfing. The whole family thought it was delicious. No left overs with this one!

Potatoes + Dumplings = PEROGIES!!

I promised a post on perogies and here it is!

While staying at the Rupa's we ate dozens of perogies (and other tasty treats that I don't even know how to spell! LOL!). They are soooo delicious. I honestly could have eaten them 3 meals a day.

What is a perogy? I got this definition from Wikipedia:

Pierogi (also perogi, perogy, pirohi, piroghi, pirogi, pirogen, piroshke or pyrohy), from the Proto-Slavic "pir" (festivity) is the name most commonly used in English speaking areas to refer to a variety of Slavic semicircular (or, in some cuisines, square) stuffed dumplings of unleavened dough and varying ingredients. Their specific origins are unknown; though they have strong ties to Slavic culture, similar foods occur in many cultures across Europe and Asia.

I have to admit that before we went to Canada this last time, I tried my hand at making perogies on my own. They looked pretty good, but taste was a whole different story! I think I'm too used to making chicken and DUMPLINGS. They turned out way too thick and even rather dry. We ate them anyway since that was all there was for dinner! LOL! It didn't take many to fill us up.

This visit, Cheryl gave me step-by-step instructions using HER recipe. She made it look so easy. Of course it was fun making them with her because she's able to find humor in just about anything! The guys came up with their own little addition to the recipe. We'd had boiled shrimp the night before. They decided we should add the shrimp in with the potato filling for a South Alabama twist on the traditional perogy. We all thought they were fantastic!

Shortly after arriving back home, I decided I had to try to make them again (before I forgot how Cheryl did it!). Voila! They turned out almost as good as hers. At least this time we could eat and ENJOY them! The girls were very excited. I forgot to mention Emma is now known as the Perogy Princess (one day she ate a total of 8 perogies!). For Mark, the idea I can now make decent perogies is bittersweet-he just started a New Year's diet! Potatoes and dough don't happen to be on his menu list!

Okay Cheryl, next time I want to make the crepes with the cottage cheese filling. YUMMMM!!