Whole Wheat Rolls

These rolls are 100% whole wheat and delicious!

⅓ cup sunflower seeds
½ cup lukewarm water
1 teaspoon honey
2½ tablespoons active dry yeast
1½ cups water
½ cup honey
¼ cup unsalted butter
2 teaspoons salt
1¼ cup whole wheat pastry flour or spelt flour

PLUS
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or spelt flour

PLUS
2½ cups whole wheat flour or 3 to 3½ cups spelt flour
1 tablespoon oil

Cover sunflower seeds with water and let soak for a couple of hours. Dissolve yeast with 1 teaspoon honey and ½ cup lukewarm water (110-115 degrees); let stand for 5 to 10 minutes until the yeast forms bubbles. Heat 1½ cups water, ½ cup honey, ¼ cup unsalted butter, and 2 teaspoons salt in a saucepan until the butter melts. Pour yeast mixture and butter mixture into a mixing bowl with 1¼ cup whole wheat pastry flour or spelt flour; stir enough to incorporate, then beat vigorously for 3 minutes.

Mix and knead in sunflower seeds and remaining flours as needed to prevent sticking while kneading until smooth and elastic. Place dough in an oiled bowl, lightly oil the top, cover with a towel, and let rise until double. Gently punch down and knead lightly. Divide dough in half. Shape each piece into 12 rolls, placing in greased pans with a little space between them.

Cover and let rise in a warm place 15-20 minutes. Bake in a preheated 400° oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Brush rolls immediately after baking with soft or melted butter.

Crockpot Mac and Cheese

I had a request for this recipe and thought I'd throw it out on the blog to share. I got this recipe from my sister a few years ago and it has become a Sunday-after-church-lunch standby. We throw it in the crockpot while we're cleaning up breakfast and it's ready to eat when we get home.

Crockpot Mac and Cheese

1 pkg. (16oz) elbow mac
1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine, melted
2 eggs, beaten (I have found these to be optional)
1 can (12oz) evaporated milk
1 can cheddar cheese soup, undiluted
1 cup milk
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Cook macaroni noodles, do not over cook. While the noodles are cooking toss the margarine in the crockpot to melt (or you could microwave it). When it's soft/melted add milk, soup, evap. milk, cheese, and eggs (if you're adding them). Add cooked noodles to cheese mixture and stir to combine. Cover and cook on low for about 4 hours. If you're around give it a stir a few times while cooking.

*Optional: Reserve one cup of cheese and sprinkle it on top the last 15 minutes of cooking.
*If you like really creamy mac and cheese (like KFC), omit the eggs and cook just until heated through.

Heart Scones

Happy Valentine's Day! We had a quiet day at home. Not that we ever do anything too exciting on V-day anyway, but it was extra quiet. We didn't even leave the house once. The boys have runny noses and terrible coughs so we didn't even go to church.
We don't usually go all out for holidays, but we do like to do a few fun things to celebrate. I made some delicious heart shaped scones for breakfast. I followed this recipe, except I substituted white chocolate chips for the almonds. The boys weren't too crazy about them but my hubby and I really enjoyed them. It's hard to tell from the photo but each heart has a center of strawberry preserves.

A Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peak into some of our Christmas decorations, I didn't go all out this year. We are leaving shortly after Christmas and want to get things put away before we go. So missing from my usual decorations are the "kid's tree" in the basement, my little Christmas village, most of my snowmen, and almost all of my kitchen decorations. Okay, enough about what I didn't get out! Here's what I did!!
I have had this wreath for several years. It was a hand-me-down from my mom. Speaking of my mom, this wreath looks much better this year than it did last year thanks to her. She bought some new balls for it and and gave it a mini-makeover for me. Thanks Mom! It looks great!
Below the wreath and above the fireplace are the stockings I was frantically sewing last year at this time. They are one of my new favorite decorations.
Right as you come in the front door, on the front hall closet door, I have a ribbon hanging where I pin all the Christmas cards we receive. I've added quite a few cards since I took this photo. How do you display your Christmas cards? What do you do with them when Christmas is over. I put the photos and letters into a Christmas "binder" to keep them. If I scrapbooked I would do something a bit fancier but this works nicely for me. It's fun to go back and look at how much everyone's kids have grown.
Here's our Jesse Tree. Only 4 ornaments left to hang! Hard to believe. If the tree looks a little lopsided that's because it's been knocked off the small table I have it on in the kitchen a few times. I did take time to laminate the ornaments this year hoping that will help them last a bit longer. I have new Jesse Tree ornaments on my "to do" list but I haven't decided if I want to cross stitch them or make salt dough or something else.
A few years ago I got rid of almost all of our Santa related decorations. I want our Christmas decorations to reflect more of what we are celebrating, that's is why I like decorations like this table runner. My mom found it for me and I put it as the centerpiece on the kitchen table with the advent wreath. The kids request that we light the candles more often, but flames, hot wax, and little boys don't mix real well, in my opinion, so we've only lit it a few times.
This little pillow sits on the wooden bench by the front door year round. Almost each month, but sometimes just seasonally, I change the slip cover. I sewed all the various holiday fabric covers several years ago. I have two covers for Christmas that I alternate. This year it is the Nativity fabric. The other fabric is more of a "country" Christmas with various decorated trees.
I made this wreath (sorry this photo is so dark) with a dollar store wreath and an ornament I got on clearance. After gluing the ornament in place I just added a few cinnamon sticks, buttons, and tied fabric scraps to finish it off.
These little light jars have been around for a long time. They make a great gift! I keep one in each of my bathrooms during the Christmas season. They are great little night lights and the potpourri smells so nice.
Here is this years Christmas tree. My oldest helped put it up when she was home from college a few weeks ago. The boys helped so the ornaments are all over the place. Some of the ornaments that should be in the back of the tree (you have those type of ornaments too, don't you?) are in the front this year. I swear the ornaments get moved around daily by all my little helpers, so this is what the tree looked like today. No promises this is what it will look like tomorrow, but at least it's still standing and for that I am truly thankful.

Just for fun I thought I'd share a "Christmas" cookie recipe. I don't know why I only make them at Christmas time. They are so easy to make, I should really make them more often!

No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
1 stick margarine
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
6 T. cocoa powder
2/3 cup chunky peanut butter
3 cups oats
1 t. vanilla

Melt margarine in a large pot. Add sugar, milk, and cocoa then bring to a boil.
Boil for 3 full minutes, stirring frequently. Take off heat and
add peanut butter, oats, and vanilla. Mix well.
Spoon "cookies" onto wax paper.
Let set and enjoy!

Did you write a post about your Christmas decorations? I'd love to see it if you did! (Leave me a link.)

Merry Christmas!!

Breakfast Recipes

This is what we had for breakfast this weekend:
Saturday-Egg & Sausage on Biscuits

No recipe for these really. Just cook up some sausage patties and eggs. Stack them on homemade biscuits with a slice of cheddar cheese. I cook the eggs kind of omelet style then cut them into round shapes with the biscuit cutter. If you want a great biscuit recipe here's the one I use:

Light and Flaky Biscuits

2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 T. baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter or margarine
3/4 cup milk (+ 1 or 2 T. more)

Mix flour, salt, and baking powder. Cut in butter. Add milk and stir with a fork until ball forms. Knead lightly into a ball but don't knead long. Pat out on a floured surface and cut with biscuit cutter. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 400 until golden brown (about 10-12 minutes).

Sunday-Continental Breakfast Potluck at Church (I brought Poppy Seed bread)

If you need something yummy to serve at a Christmas brunch or even a quick baked gift? Try this. I got this recipe several years ago from a friend I went to nursing school with. I hadn't made it in a long time and revived it a few weeks ago. My whole family loves this bread. In fact, my hubby got after me because I've "had this recipe for 15 years and only made it a few times?". What's wrong with me! It is really easy to make too, so I don't have a good excuse.

Poppy Seed Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons butter flavored extract
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
2 1/4 cups white sugar

Mix all of the above well. Put into two greased 9 inch loaf pans. Bake at 350 for about an hour (until golden and tests done). Cool a few minutes in the pan then poke holes in the top and pour on the glaze (below).

Glaze

1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 teaspoon butter flavored extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 (approx.) cups confectioners' sugar

To make glaze: Mix liquids and then add enough confectioners' sugar to make glaze.

Easy Christmas Potpourri Recipe

This will make your house smell like Christmas and it's super easy! Let me know what you think if you give it a try...

One orange, cut up
1-2 cinnamon sticks
2 bay leaves
2 tsp. whole cloves
water
If you have a potpourri simmering pot just put the above in it with water to cover. If you don't have a potpourri pot you can
just put it in a small pot (with about 2-3 cups of water)
on the stove burner set to low.
Keep an eye one it and refill the water as needed.

Snow Cocoa

If you are doing any holiday entertaining I highly recommend this very easy but very delicious beverage! I always bring it to our annual Mother's of Multiples Christmas party. I think I might get kicked out of the club if I didn't bring it. It has become a tradition! It's a white hot chocolate...

Snow Cocoa
2 cups whipping cream
6 cups milk (I use 2%)
1 teaspoon vanilla
12 oz. white chocolate chips

Put in crockpot and heat on low for 2 hours. Stir well to blend.
Garnish with marshmallows if desired.

The hardest part about making it is getting it to the party. Carrying a crockpot full of hot liquid is always an adventure but this year at least I won't be walking over any ice! The high Thursday is supposed to be a balmy 34 degrees!

Apple Pie Muffins

Here is another recipe. I made these for our Thursday morning "muffin day" breakfast. Most of the boys each ate two and asked for a third. One of the boys said they were "horrible" but then ate his anyway. I think he just wanted to say "horrible". The original recipe called for some other type of topping but I didn't like how it looked so I used my own crumb topping recipe which is actually for pies but is also good on muffins or quick breads. This makes a double batch (24) but they freeze well. I froze some to save for our next muffin breakfast day but they didn't last... we already got them back out of the freezer and now they are gone.

Apple Pie Muffins

1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 1/2 t. vanilla
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups diced peeled firm tart apples (Granny smith)

Topping:
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup oats
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
3 T. butter or margarine

Make topping first by putting the first five topping ingredients in a small bowl and cutting in the butter. Set that aside until you need it. In large bowl whisk together brown sugar, oil, egg, and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, soda, and salt. Stir oil mix into flour mix alternately with buttermilk. Fold in apples, mixing just until combined. Spoon into greased muffin cups. Sprinkle topping over each muffin evenly. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 24 muffins.

*If you don't have buttermilk put 1 T. lemon juice or vinegar in a measuring cup. Add milk to the 1 cup line and let sit for several minutes. Then use as you would buttermilk.

Fresh Butter

We tried this simple "recipe" for our Thanksgiving meal and it was such a hit we'll be adding it to our annual traditions! But you don't need a special occasion to give it a try. Try it sometime with your kids just for fun or save it for a special Christmas dinner.

Fresh Butter

1-2 cups heavy cream

dash of salt

Place cream and salt into a jar with lid. Screw lid on tight! Shake jar until butter forms. Takes about 25 minutes or so.

We were about ready to give up when the butter suddenly formed. It will be a lump of soft butter in a cup or so of buttermilk. Be sure to save the buttermilk and make pancakes or biscuits!

Happy Birthday Barn Cake

My fourth son just had his fourth birthday last week! I just had to share the cute little cake I made for him. I got the idea from Betty Crocker's website. It turned out even cuter than I expected and it wasn't hard at all!

The main cake is a barn and the leftover batter is used for cupcakes in the shape of a chicks, pigs, and sheep!

Homemade Whole Wheat Pretzels

Friday the boys helped to make pretzels. We made them with fresh ground whole wheat flour. The boys enjoyed kneading the dough and sprinkling on the salt. We found out one of the boys has a knack for twisting the dough into the pretzel shape. We made some in letter shapes too.

Here are the boys with the pretzels just before we stuck them in the oven. After they were done baking they ate them for a snack.

Here is the recipe if you want to give them a try:

1 T. yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 t. honey
1 t. salt
1 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
(you can use white flour too)
1 beaten egg
coarse salt

Dissolve yeast and honey in warm water. Mix in flour and salt. Knead for 5 minutes. Divide into eight pieces and shape as desired. Brush with egg and sprinkle with salt. Bake on cookie sheet at 450 for 10-15 minutes. (Other option: skip salt and put sugar & cinnamon on warm pretzels when they come out of the oven instead.)

Soup and Bread

We try to have a soup dinner once a week in the winter and a salad dinner once a week in the summer. My daugher likes creamy soups and this is one of her favorites. Everyone likes the biscuits! Served with a side salad this makes great weeknight meal.

Potato Chowder
2 T. oil
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1 T. flour
1 t. salt
dash pepper
1 cup water
6 potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup cheese, grated

Boil potatoes until tender. Mash half and leave half as cubes. Saute onion in oil until yellow. Blend in flour, salt, and pepper. Add water. Boil 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add mashed potatoes (approx. 1 cup), milk, cheese, and cubed potatoes. Do NOT return to boiling after adding milk. Heat through. Garnish if desired.

Cheesy Garlic Bicuits
(just like Red Lobster's Cheddar Bay Biscuits!)
2 cups Baking Mix* (like Bisquick)
2/3 cup Milk
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup margarine or butter, melted
1/4 tsp. garlic powder

Mix baking mix, milk and cheese until soft dough forms. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Mix margarine and garlic powder; drizzle over warm biscuits before removing from cookie sheet. Serve warm. Makes 10 to 12 biscuits.

[*To save money make your own baking mix. There are tons of recipes for homemade mixes online. Personally, I don't like Bisquick...I just use my regular biscuit recipe and add a bit more milk and then the cheese.]

Homemade Kettle Corn

If you like kettle corn or popcorn...you HAVE to try this! Today! Right now!

1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup sugar
scant 1/2 cup popcorn kernels
one large sauce pan (I used a 3 qt.) with a lid (very important!)
one large bowl

On the stove top, in a large sauce pan with a lid, heat oil over medium until hot. Add sugar and popcorn and stir. Cover just before you think it's going to start popping. Keep the pan moving on the burner until the popping slows. Dump the popped corn into a bowl and eat!

Tip: If there is any residue in the pan get it soaking ASAP or it will harden.

Ham and Cheese Braid

Last night I made a family favorite for dinner. We call it Ham & Cheese Braid and you'll see why. As I was putting it together I told my daughter to grab the camera and take a few shots for you. I don't really have a recipe to type out. Just make your favorite bread dough (by hand, in the bread machine on the dough cycle, or in your mixer). I made mine using half whole wheat flour and half white flour in my Bosch mixer. I made four loaves worth of dough so I could make two braids plus some cinnamon swirl bread for breakfast.

This is my wheat grinder. It's a K-tec Kitchen Mill (actually they renamed it a couple years ago and it's now called the Blend Tec Kitchen Mill). I love mine and highly recommend it! I buy wheat in large bags from a little country store up by my mom's. I used to get it from a food co-op but, sadly, the company went out of business. I store my wheat in five gallon buckets that I got from the bakery. A fifty pound bag lasts me a long time since I don't make bread as often as I should (according to my husband anyway). If you have never tried 100% whole wheat bread from fresh ground wheat you are missing out!

Once the dough is made, roll it out into a large rectangle, I didn't measure but this is about the size of a cookie sheet. And put diced (or sliced) ham down the center. I like diced better so the whole slice doesn't slide out when you bite into it. Top the ham with a cheese of your choice. I used mild cheddar, but swiss would be good too!

Then slice the sides into little strips and start braiding. I fold the end in first so I can cover it up as I go.

One all braided. And then two, ready to go into the oven. You don't have to let them rise, they'll puff up just fine in the oven. I bake them at 350 degrees. They come out about 45 minutes later golden brown. Trust me on this...let them cook until they are really golden. Check the bottom to make sure it's done before you take it out. If it's not done put them back in on the bottom rack for a few minutes. If you don't cook it long enough the center will be doughy. The gooey cheese doesn't help with that!

Now it took me about twice as long to type up this post as it did to actually make the braids so don't be discouraged. It really is very easy. I promise your family will love you!

Crockpot Lasagna

I threw this together yesterday for dinner and it turned out great! This recipe is super fast to assemble if you have frozen browned ground beef on hand. I have been buying ground beef in 3 to 5 pound packages. I brown all the meat at once in a large skillet with a chopped onion. Once cooked, I package each "pound" in a ziploc bag, make sure it's nice and flat, and toss it in the freezer.

This is a HUGE time saver. There are so many recipes that call for browned ground beef and the hardest part for me was always the thawing and browning. Now it's all done ahead of time. I just pop the frozen meat in the microwave for a couple minutes and I'm good to go for anyone of a billion ground beef recipes. Plus, as an added bonus, it saves space in the freezer...we really need a bigger freezer!

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Crockpot Lasagna
8 uncooked(!) lasagna noodles
1 lb. ground beef or Italian sausage
1 tsp. Italian Seasoning
28 oz. jar spaghetti sauce
1/3 cup water
15 oz. ricotta or 24 oz. cottage cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Break noodles to fit and place half in bottom of greased slow cooker. Brown and drain ground beef. Stir in Italian seasoning. Spread half of meat over noodles in slow cooker. Layer half of sauce and water, half of ricotta and half of mozzarella cheese over beef. Repeat layer. Cover. Cook on low for 5 hours.

*********

I was a little worried about the whole not cooking the noodles thing but they were perfect! I actually forgot to grease the crockpot too but lucky for me it didn't stick at all. I hate cleaning out a messy crockpot! I used ground beef but I think it would be really good with Italian sausage and I used cottage cheese because that's what I had. I am really fond of ricotta but I couldn't even taste the difference using the cottage cheese. This was just enough to feed our family with a leftover portion for my husband's lunch. Serve this with bread and a salad...YUM!

Sweet Treat

Here's a cute, and super easy, fall treat for you! Take your favorite cut-out sugar cookie dough and add a little orange (or red/yellow mix) food coloring. Roll it out like you would normally, but instead of using cookie cutters... cut out triangles. Once the cookies are cooled dip one end in a glaze colored yellow and the other in regular white glaze to make them look like little candy corn. Using the "looser" glaze and dipping the cookies makes the decorating go a lot faster than spreading regular frosting on with a knife.

I brought these as a snack to a family event this weekend and they were a big hit! Both because they were yummy and because they were cute! A friend gave me a suggestion that will help save me a little time the next time I make them: use a pizza cutter to cut the dough. I used a dough scraper, it worked great, but the pizza cutter is an even better idea!

Recipe: Stuffed Crust Pizza

Tonight, I made the usual homemade pizza with a twist. First, I turned about 15 pounds of garden tomatoes into multi-purpose marinara sauce this morning. I used that as our pizza sauce. I plan on using some for future pizzas and the rest on pasta. It was a long process (picking, peeling, cooking, packaging) but worth it... it was very tasty!

Then when the crust rolled out a little bigger than my pan I got the bright idea to stretch it out a bit more and turn it into a stuffed crust pizza. Yum! I just laid some mozzarella there and rolled the crust edge right over it. To make it pretty (and extra tasty) I sprayed on a bit of cooking spray and sprinkled some garlic salt. It worked great!

I will definitely be making the pizza this way again. The toppings, in case you were wondering, are half pepperoni with fresh from the garden onion (for me) and half pepperoni, ground beef, and homemade pickled jalapenos (for my hubby). I would have put black olives on my side but we didn't have any. The kids didn't have the stuffed crust on their half cheese, half pepperoni pizza. They never eat the crust. Although they might have if I would have stuffed it!

Recipe: Chicken Pot Pie

We tried a great new recipe this week! This chicken pot pie is perfect dinner in chilly fall weather. We all really enjoyed it. I made it with a homemade pie crust, which was deliciously flaky and golden, if I may say so myself. If you aren't a homemade kind of pie crust person you could use store bought. I'm not including the crust portion of the recipe since I just used the basic pie crust recipe from my Betty Crocker Cookbook.

Chicken Pot Pie

1 small onion, chopped
2 T. butter
1 cup carrots, cut up
3-4 potatoes, peeled and diced
2 cups cooked chicken, diced
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 chicken bouillon cubes

Saute the onion in butter. Add carrots, potatoes, and just enough water to nearly cover them. Simmer 15 minutes or until carrots & potatoes are nearly done. Drain all but a half cup or so of the water. Add remaining ingredients and heat thoroughly. Pour into large pie pan lined with crust and top with additional crust. Cut some slits in the top. Bake at 350 for about an hour or until the crust is golden. Let sit a few minutes before cutting to allow the sauce to thicken.