Hot Cross Buns

We will be traveling on Good Friday (the traditional day to make these) so my girls and I had our first adventure with yeast rolls today.

There were quite a few steps to this recipe, so we started early enough to still be in pajamas.

There was measuring.
And kneading.
Lots of kneading.
Voila! Hot Cross Buns.

Thanks to Family Fun for this idea!

Apple Puff Pancake

I posted on facebook the other day that I needed some new breakfast ideas. Lots of yummy suggestions came in, and here's one recipe that my old friend/coworker Jamie came up with. She was always good with supplying the break room with treats, so I'm excited to try this one.

From the Gooseberry Patch Farmhouse Christmas cookbook~

6 eggs 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups milk 1 stick butter, melted (can definitely use less!)
1 C flour 3 Granny smith apples (golden delicious are great too), peeled and sliced
3 Tbl sugar 2-3 Tbl brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla powdered sugar (optional)
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In blender, mix eggs, milk, flour, sugar, vanilla, salt and cinnamon until blended; set aside. Pour butter into a 9X13 pan and add apple slices evenly into the dish. Return to the oven until butter sizzles. Do not let the apples brown. Pour the batter over apples. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake on the middle oven rack at 425 for 20 minutes or until puffed and brown. Dust with powdered sugar to taste. Serve immediately. Makes 6-8 servings.

Gigi's pound cake

I've made this several times, but it turned out best this time (no chunks came out when I removed it from the pan). And I didn't even capture it on camera. But here's Gigi's delicious pound cake recipe:

3 cups sugar
2 sticks butter softened
4 eggs
3 cups four
1/3 tsp. baking soda
pinch salt
1 cup buttermilk (I used the powdered kind- Saco brand- a white and yellow container with a red top-- more practical if you hardly use buttermilk)
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp lemon juice


Beat all ingredients together as you add them until well blended. Grease and flour pan well. Bake at 350 for 55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean (I baked it more like 75 minutes because our oven takes longer).

I used this glaze recipe to drizzle over the top.

Angela's Awesome enchiladas

I first had these at my parents' and knew I wanted the recipe. Looks like a lot of ingredients, but they were pretty easy-- Angela's Awesome Enchiladas.

They're great with salsa on them too. Served with rice, fruit, chips and salsa and corn. Yum.

creamy corn-potato-ham chowder

Seems like we've been having a lot of chowders lately, but they're good when it's cold- and extremely easy when you can just throw a bunch of ingredients into the crock pot in the morning and dish it up at dinnertime. I tried this one last weekend since we needed to use up some ham that had been taken out of the freezer that we didn't eat all of a few nights prior. It turned out alright, but I think they could have cooked for a couple more hours. The carrots and potatoes were a little too firm still. Mike added some cream of mushroom soup later in the week and said that improved it some- that the veggies had softened a bit.
Nevertheless, I'm ready for some lighter foods. After being sick and sluggish for almost a week, my stomach has shrunk, and most foods seem too heavy or something. Maybe it's the warmer weather too. I'm excited about starting to cook with spring produce.

Kielbasa skillet

This was very good, very flavorful. Served with rice and mixed greens salad.

From 03/02/2010 (by Eye-Fi)

Greek Layer Dip

You know that typical taco dip that roughly half of the United States consumed last month? I think we've found one to top it. In this month's issue of the local magazine "Food for Thought" this dip was featured. My handy husband whipped up a version of it for our Superbowl Party. The kids and I finished it off at lunch the day after and Brinnly said that her imaginary friends would like it for their birthday party instead of cake. It's that good.

Here are the details:

2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 cup chopped cucumber
3 TBSP snipped flat leaf parsley
4 tsp fresh mint
2 TBSP lemon juice
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 1/2 cup hummus
2 cups finely chopped fresh spinach
1 1/2 cups olive tapenade (Trader Joe's does this well--but that's true for everything)
1 cup. crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cups green onions
1/4 cups olives
Fresh mint for garnish.

In a medium bowl, combine tomatoes, cucumber, parsley, mint, lemon juice, salt, & pepper. Set aside.

Spread hummus on a 12-inch serving platter. Arrange spinach atop spread, leaving a 1-inch border of hummus showing. Spoon tapenade over spinach, leaving a 1-inch border of spinach showing.

Drain and discard liquid from tomato mixture. Spoon mixture over tapendae layer, leaving a 1 inch border of tapenade showing. Sprinkle feta over tomato mixture, and top with additional ingredients.

15 healthy muffin recipes

While we're snowed in here, I feel like baking- muffins, in particular. I found this site for healthy muffin recipes, of which we'll probably try a couple of in the next days. I really like the sounds of the yamberry muffins, but we don't have cranberries right now. They all sound yummy, though.

snickerdoodles

I made a ton of these last night-- for a wedding Mike and I are going to today- and a bunch for ourselves. I've always liked them.

The recipe for just one batch--

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tsps vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups flour
2 tsps cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp gran. sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400. Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, eggs, vanilla. Blend flour, cream of tartar, soda, and salt. Shape dough into balls. Mix 2 tbsp sug. and cinn. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 8-10 min. or until set, but not too hard. Remove immediately from sheets to cool.

crock pot chicken jumbalaya

6 boneless, skinless chicken breats, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 lb kielbasa
1 can tomatoes, undrained (I added two)
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cajun seasoning- I made my own with cayenne pepper, oregano, salt, pepper and paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery (I used 3)

Put everything in crock pot and turn on low for 7 hours.

We served this tasty dish with short grain brown rice, bread and spinach salad. I was afraid the jumbalaya might be too spicy for the kids, but they all liked it (we had some friends over).