30 Minute Rolls

I have been wanting a roll recipe that I didn't have to wait three hours for- because I often forget to get them started in time for dinner. I found this recipe at Real Mom Kitchen and they are really great. I was worried about them tasting "yeasty" due to so much yeast, but they were fine. If I am in pinch- these are quick and easy and I will definitely make them again.  1/8 cups plus 2 tsp. warm water
1 cup warm milk
1/3 cup butter
2 Tb yeast
1/4 cup sugar or honey
½ tsp. Salt
1 egg
3 ½ cups flour (I used 2 cups whole wheat flour)
Mix 1st 4 ingredients and let rest for 15 minutes. Add salt and eggs - gradually add flour. Shape into dinner rolls, or use in your favorite recipe that calls for dough. After shaped, let rest for 10 minutes. For rolls, Bake 10 minutes @400 degrees ‘till golden brown

Sara Lee Cheese cake

Sara Lee Cheesecake
Crust:
1½C fine graham cracker crumbs
¼C Granulated sugar
½C Butter (softened)

Filling:
1 pound Cream cheese
1C Sour cream
2T Cornstarch
1C Granulated sugar
2T Butter (softened)
1t Vanilla extract

Topping:
¾C Sour cream
¼C Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375 F. For crust combine crumbs, sugar and butter and mix well. Press firmly into 9” pie pan or spring form pan covering bottom only. Bake for 8 min., or until the edges are slightly brown. (I think the crust is a little thick so I sometimes do a little less)
Reduce oven temp to 350 F. For Filling, combine cheese, sour cream, cornstarch, and sugar in a bowl of mixer. Mix until sugar has dissolved. (because over mixing causes the cake to crack, I like to just barely stir it and then let it sit for a while to dissolve the sugar and then finish mixing it) Add the butter and vanilla and blend until smooth. Be careful not to overmix, or the filling will become to fluffy and will crack when cooling. Pour the filling over the crust. Bake for 30-35 min., or until knife inserted 1” vrom edge comes out clean. (for me this always takes 50 min regardless of the oven I use. Maybe elevation?) Cool 1 hr.
For topping, mix sour cream and powdered sugar. Spread mixture over top of cooled cheesecake. Chill or freeze until ready to eat. (I’ve replaced this topping with several others and love it. We’ve used Caramel Ice cream topping, Fudge ice cream topping, strawberries in Danish dessert mix, Crushed cookies, Toffee candy bars, butterfinger bars, etc. etc.)

Pumpkin Basil Soup

So, I had all these pumpkins lying around from our fun pumpkin patch adventure with the Whites and the Stones. I decided to do something different with one of them.
This is a knock off of a soup I love from a local lunch bistro. Theirs has green bell peppers (which aren't my favorite) so I omitted those entirely, but I think it might be good with sweet red peppers (sauteed beforehand). Sperry's not much of a veggie soup lover, but this worked for him. Enjoy! :)

1 cup carrots, thinly sliced
1 cup celery, roughly chopped
1/2 cup onion, diced small
4 cups chicken broth

-Boil veggies in broth until tender. Set aside.

1/4 cup butter
4 Tbsp flour
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup milk
1 tsp curry
1 tsp basil
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 large can pumpkin or the rough equivalent of cooked pumpkin
1 can diced tomatoes with Italian seasonings

-In Large pot, melt butter. Add flour and stir using a whisk, cooking for 2-3 minutes. Slowly add broth using whisk. Then add milk. Stir until thick and bubbling.
-Add all spices and canned pumpkin to creamy mixture. Heat through. If you are using chunky, cooked pumpkin, add pumpkin, then hand blend (or use your blender) to puree the base of soup. Using a strainer, add the liquid broth from the veggies that were set aside. Do this slowly while still blending to get a nice thick bisque.
-Then add veggies and canned pumpkin. Heat through. Add salt, if needed. Serve with a dollop of sour cream in center of bowl.

Buttermilk Cornbread

This was a great recipe. We all loved it.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8 inch square pan.
2.
Melt butter in large skillet. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended. Combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir into mixture in pan. Stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt until well blended and few lumps remain. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
3.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Potato Moussaka

This is a family favorite. I just typed up the recipe for a friend and since it was on the computer- I thought I would share it here. Moussaka is a Greek dish- usually made with eggplant. But moussaka means "layered dish", and thats what this is.
Potato Moussaka
7-8 medium  potatoes, thinly sliced- I like to use reds
Beef Layer
1 pound lean ground beef
1 medium onion-diced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 large tomatoes, chopped (I usually substitute 15 oz can of diced tomatoes)One 8oz can tomato sauce
½ tsp salt
¾ tsp dried dill
Cheese Sauce
½ cup butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups milk
2 large eggs, slightly beaten1 cup shredded Kasseri or Kefalotiri cheese ( I use cheddar)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Cook the ground beef, onion and garlic until the beef is browned. Spoon off excess fat. Stir in the tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt and dill. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low; cover and simmer 10 minutes to blend flavors, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, prepare the sauce: melt butter in a saucepan. Stir in the flour; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually stir in the milk. Reduce the heat to low; stir in the eggs. Cook until mixture is smooth and thickened, stirring constantly. Stir in ½ cup of the cheese, salt and pepper.
Preheat the oven to 350degrees. Into a 9X13 baking dish spoon one-third cheese sauce. Layer half of the sliced potatoes, half of the meat mixture, and one-third of the cheese sauce. Repeat with the remaining potatoes, meat and cheese sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining ½ cup grated cheese. Cover the baking dish with foil. Bake 40 minutes. Remove the foil and bake 15 minutes longer, or until the mixture is hot and bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Crispy and Creamy Conference Donuts

Crispy and Creamy Donuts

INGREDIENTS

2 (.25 ounce) envelopes active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)

1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk

1/2 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1/3 cup shortening

5 cups all-purpose flour

1 quart vegetable oil for frying
Glaze

1/3 cup butter

2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

4 tablespoons hot water or as needed

DIRECTIONS

Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water, and let stand for 5 minutes, or until foamy.In a large bowl, mix together the yeast mixture, milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening, and 2 cups of the flour. Mix for a few minutes at low speed, or stirring with a wooden spoon. Beat in remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl. Knead for about 5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Place the dough into a greased bowl, and cover. Set in a warm place to rise until double. Dough is ready if you touch it, and the indention remains.Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and gently roll out to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with a floured doughnut cutter. Let doughnuts sit out to rise again until double. Cover loosely with a cloth.Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in confectioners' sugar and vanilla until smooth. Remove from heat, and stir in hot water one tablespoon at a time until the icing is somewhat thin, but not watery. Set aside.Heat oil in a deep-fryer or large heavy skillet to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Slide doughnuts into the hot oil using a wide spatula. Turn doughnuts over as they rise to the surface. Fry doughnuts on each side until golden brown. Remove from hot oil, to drain on a wire rack. Dip doughnuts into the glaze while still hot, and set onto wire racks to drain off excess. Keep a cookie sheet or tray under racks for easier clean up.

Great and Easy Pie Crust

I finally tried out this pie crust that a lady in my ward showed us. It's her grandma's recipe and she swears by it. It's totally different than any other recipe I've seen out there. It works great AND it's made with oil, so it's healthier (somewhat!) and it's flakier. No cutting butter, no waiting 2 hours for the dough to cool. I'm not a pie crust-making kind of gal (Pilsbury's my friend), but this one is worth it and really not much trouble. :) Plus, I froze half the recipe in 2 baggies and just used one last night for a quiche. It thawed just fine and tasted great!

Mary Blanchard's Pie Crust

1 cup Oil (I used canola)
1/2 cup Water
3 cups Flour
1 1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Powder

Mix dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. In a medium-size pan, bring to bubble (NOT BOIL) the oil and water. Take the pan off the heat, add the flour mixture and mix well, until ball of dough forms.

Roll out 1/4 of the dough between two sheets of wax or parchment paper (this is essential!). About an 11 in. circle will make a 9 in. pie crust. The cooler that the dough is, the less sticky it is, but it is a little harder to roll out. Take the top layer of wax paper off. Then flip over the pie crust into your pie pan (carefully). You can mold it into place using the wax paper, then remove the wax paper. Trim off the edge abd decorate as you want.

If baking the pie crust without filling, poke holes in the crust and place a tin pie pan on top to prevent large bubbles. Bake crust at 325 degrees for 10-15 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.

For filled pies, bake as directed (usually 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes). Makes 4 pie crusts (2 tops and 2 bottoms).

Caramel Popcorn

So on Sunday for our General Conference treat, we decided to do a taste test of different Caramel popcorn. We had three recipes but only the ingredients for two so we did these two and will do the others another time. The first one was the winner but only by one vote and I believe that was slightly influenced by some older siblings. Anyway, there both great!

Caramel Popcorn

1C Margarine (I use butter)
2C packed brown sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1C light corn syrup
-melt butter in large saucepan
-add sugar and syrup, bring to a boil
-add milk, boil and stir for 3 minutes
-pour over abt 8 cups of popcorn
notes- we have done this with both microwave and air popped. It's great both ways. It is, of course, best to dump the popcorn out and remove all the "old maids" before you pour on the caramel.

Marshmallow popcorn

2 bags microwave popcorn (we use air popped)
3C mini marshmallows (sometimes we do sometimes we don't)
3C Cinnamon bears cut in halfish (sometimes we do sometimes we don't but definitely like it better with

In a pan melt
1C butter
1 1/3C sugar
1/2C Karo Syrup
boil 3 minutes then add
1t vanilla
pour over popcorn and stir till all is coated

Salmon Marinade

We love salmon and we really liked this marinade.
1 Tbl butter
1 Tbl honey
1Tbl brown sugar
2 Tbl soy sauce
2 Tbl dijon mustard
1 T olive oil
1 tsp minced garlic
Bring all ingredients to a boil in a small pan, just until combined. Pour over salmon- marinade for 15 minutes to 1 hour. Grill.

Strawberry Vinaigrette

Brigham and I ate dinner at this delicious gourmet restaurant in West Yellowstone. We had a salad with an amazing strawberry vinaigrette on it. I came home and searched online for a good replica. Our whole family thought this was delish. This makes quite a bit. I cut it in half, which was a good amount for our family.

Strawberry Vinaigrette
1 pkg strawberries (160z)
6 Tbl lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbl. balsamic vinegar
2 Tbl olive oil
1/8 tsp poppy seeds

Put it all in your blender and blend. :)