White Bread

I stopped buying bread from the store. It can be so expensive when we go through a loaf a day for lunches. I have a really good wheat bread recipe that I have been making. I asked my husband how he liked it, he said it was good but so was store bought white bread. He really likes white bread but my kids and I all really like wheat bread. I made him a sandwich from this bread and he couldn't tell the difference. The best part is that it doesn't have all of the junk that they put in the store bought kind.

White Bread
1 1/8 C. Warm Water
2 tsp. Active Dry Yeast
2 Tbs. Sugar (you can use a little more sugar if you like your dough a little sweeter)
3 C. Flour
1 Tbs. Vital Wheat Gluten
1 tsp. Salt
2 Tbs. Nonfat Dry Milk1
½ Tbs. Canola Oil
¼ C. Potato Flakes
Add the ingredients in the order listed into a mixer bowl (like a kitchen-aid) with a dough hook attachment and mix on low for 10-12 minutes. Or mix it on the dough cycle in your bread machine. After all the mixing is complete, if the dough still seems too gooey and you are unable to handle it, add 1 Tbs. flour at a time, and mix after each addition until the dough is manageable with your hands. Let rise 45 minutes -1 hour, punch down and use to make bread, cinnamon rolls, cookie sheet pizza, rolls, or anything else you can think of! Let rise after you have made your creation and bake according to the direction of the recipe you are making.If you are making it into bread, form into a loaf at this time, place in a loaf pan, let rise in a warm place 45 min -1 hour and bake 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and sounds hollow when lightly tapped. If you are making this recipe in a bread machine. Follow your bread machine’s directions and add the ingredients in the order listed in their recommendations. (Only one loaf will fit in a bread maker)

*I found this recipe from food storage made easy.

Sneaky Oatmeal

I have discovered two great cookbooks - The Sneaky Chef and Deceptively Delicious. I was a little reluctant to try the recipes because when I look at the recipes they don't always sound appealing. BUT, I thought I need to to give them a try. So far everyone that we have tried have been good. Kids always need extra nutrients in their food. Here is one we tried and 4 out of 4 of my kids liked it.



Sneaky Oatmeal
INGREDIENTS FOR 2 SERVINGS:
1 C. Milk
¼ C. Packed Brown Sugar
¼ C. Canned Pumpkin
1 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract
¼ tsp. Cinnamon
1 C. Old Fashioned Oats
2 tsp. Natural Peanut Butter
Dried Fruit and Nuts
Pure Maple Syrup, For Servings
INSTRUCTIONS:
In a small saucepan, combine the milk, sugar, pumpkin, vanilla, and cinnamon. Bring to a gentle boil and stir in the oatmeal. Reduce the heat and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, until oatmeal is soft and creamy. Stir in peanut butter. Spoon the oatmeal into bowls, sprinkle with desired dried fruit and nuts and serve with warm maple syrup.
COMMENTS: We also poured additional milk over ours.

April Fools Fun

Breakfast: Magic Milk Bowl


Don't be fooled by this ordinary looking breakfast.
Squeeze several drops of liquid food coloring over the bottom of a bowl, then pour in dry cereal to conceal the droplets. When the person you are tricking sits down and pours their milk, they will not know what to think.

My lunch trick : snack switcheroo.


My kids had to be so excited to get chips in their lunch, but they were fooled.


I carefully opened the bag of chips and dumped them out into a bag for latter. I put a baggie of grapes inside with a little note. I sealed it back up using double sided tape.

What's for dinner this April Fools' Day? I wasn't out of tricks yet. How about cookie fish sticks and tart taffy peas. For dessert we had colorful cupcakes which were really mini meatloaves frosted with mashed potatoes.


Just ordinary mashed potatoes:

Turned into a colorful frosting:



Here's the recipe:
Meat Loaf
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
3 tablespoons ketchup
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Potato Frosting
3 cups mashed potatoes
Food coloring
Step 1 Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 12 muffin tin cups with foil bake cups. Step 2 In a large bowl, mix together all of the meat loaf ingredients until well combined. Divide the mixture evenly among the lined cups (the liners should be about three quarters full). Step 3 Place the filled muffin tins on cookie sheets and bake the cupcakes for about 15 minutes or until cooked through. Step 4 Divide the mashed potatoes among three small bowls and stir a few drops of food coloring into each batch to create blue, yellow, and pink pastel frosting. Spread a generous dollop on each cupcake. Makes 12 cupcakes.

The ingredients for the Faux Fish Sticks:



Cornflakes
Sugar wafer cookies
Peanut butter
Green taffy candy (I used green apple AirHeads)
Seedless strawberry jam
Step 1 For the fish sticks, place a couple of handfuls of cornflakes in a ziplock bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Cover 2 sugar wafer cookies with peanut butter, then toss them in the cornflake crumbs to coat.



Step 2 For the peas, tear off and roll small pieces of the taffy candy into balls.



If the taffy is too stiff to work with, microwave it for about 6 seconds.

Step 3 For the ketchup, use a fork to stir a few teaspoons of the jam until it's smooth.

My kids are going to have a hard time believing me. In fact this morning I was trying to get my son out of bed and I told him get up we are having breakfast ice cream (smoothies. He told me no we are not you are just doing another April Fools. I laughed. I think that they had a very fun day.They were so excited to tell their friends.

Try these recipes

These are some new recipes that I have tried from the Pioneer Woman. I love her site.

BBQ Meatballs - the ultimate comfort food:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/03/bbq-meatballs-comfort-food-to-the-max/

Parmesan Crusted Chicken:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/02/parmesan-crusted-chicken/

Creamy Mashed Potatoes:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/11/delicious_creamy_mashed_potatoes/

Old Fashioned Lemon Bread

This was a yummy bread. I took this bread with me to our park day. I came home with an empty container. Enjoy!

Old Fashioned Lemon Bread
1 ½ C. All-Purpose Flour
1 C. Granulated Sugar
1 tsp. Baking Powder
½ tsp. Salt
2 Large Eggs
2/3 C. (5 fl.-oz. can) Evaporated Milk
1/3 C. Olive or Canola Oil
1 ½ tsp. Grated Lemon Peel (about 1 lemon - reserve lemon for later use)
Lemon Syrup:
1/3 C. Sugar
¼ C. Lemon Juice
Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease and flour 8 x 4-inch baking pan.
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Beat eggs, evaporated milk, oil and lemon zest together in medium bowl. Pour egg mixture into flour mixture. Stir until just combined. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until wooden skewer inserted in center comes out clean. Using the skewer, poke numerous holes in the hot bread, piercing all the way to the bottom. Slowly drizzle the hot Lemon Syrup over the bread (Syrup will soak into the bread). Cool on wire rack for 15 minutes; run knife around edge of bread. Remove bread to wire rack to cool completely.
Lemon syrup:
Combine sugar and lemon (1 lemon) in small, heavy-duty saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes or until sugar is dissolved and a light syrup is formed.