Strawberry Ripple Quick Bread

 

 This quick bread makes up really fast, especially if you make up the cake mix a head of time. I thought the orange zest in it made it yummy. I cut up the orange in what we call smiley’s, so it wouldn’t go to waste.

Strawberry Ripple Quick Bread

2 1/2 cups Quick Cake Mix*

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

1 tablespoon orange zest

1 teaspoon orange extract

1/2 strawberry jam, melted

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 8x8x2 inch loaf pan with Pam.

In a large bowl mix the cake mix, eggs, milk, orange zest and orange flavoring just until it comes together. Spread in prepared pan. Using the melted jam make 3 long rows of jam down the length of the pan. Using a knife swirl the jam into the batter.

Bake for 35-40 minutes.

 

Quick Cake Mix

4 cups flour

2 cups sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup cold butter cut into small cubes

In a large bowl whisk all the dry ingredients. Cut the butter in with a pastry blender. Pour into a large zip lock bag to store.

Southern Spoon Bread, Smores & Jose' Jalapeno on a Stick?

The kids wanted to make smores after lunch a few Sunday's ago. We used a candle, bamboo skewers and chocolate chips melted on graham crackers in the microwave! They were yummy!






This is one of my dad's favorite breakfast treats. You could also serve it with a dinner. It only takes 40 minutes to bake, and if you like cornbread, you'll love this version! I fixed this for breakfast along with sausages and eggs for Father's Day.

Southern Spoon Bread

3 cups milk
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter
3 eggs, separated
3 teaspoons baking powder

Set oven to 350 degrees. Heat milk, cornmeal, butter and salt until thick. In a small bowl whisk egg yolks, add a couples of spoonfuls of the cornmeal mixture, then stir whisk the egg mixture into the cornmeal mixture in the pan. Set aside. Whip egg whites until they form peaks. Whip in baking powder. Grease a 12 inch pie pan or a 8x8 square pan. Fold egg whites into cornmeal mixture and pour into prepared pan.

Bake for 40 minutes. Let set for 10 minutes, then cut and serve with butter, jam or honey. This is best served warm.




My kids got such a kick out of Jeff Dunham's comedy routine Jose' Jalapeno on a stick so much that they put their sausage on a stick and go through part of the comedy routine! We joke around a lot at our house!

James Beard’s American Cookery~Book Review

 

What a great cookbook this is, in fact I would call it a classic! It was first published in 1972 and it’s been call the Bible of American Cooking by The Kind of Gourmets by Time Magazine.

This cookbook is filled with all the basics recipes and with a little history behind them.

Here are a few that I tried~

 

These are a classic muffin. They are very similar to my favorite muffin recipe. I did add 1 cup of chocolate chips.

Simple Muffins

2 cups flour

1/4 cups sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 cup milk

1/4 cup butter, melted

Heat oven to 425. Spray a 12 cup muffin tin with Pam. Whisk all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the egg, butter and milk and mix well. Scoop into muffin tin with a 1/4 cup ice cream scoop. Bake for 20~25 minutes.

This is such an easy bread to make. I just used a wooden spoon and it turned out really well. I will use less salt next time, maybe 1 teaspoon instead of the 1 tablespoon.

Sweet Potato Batter Bread

2 tablespoons yeast

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup mashed sweet potato or yam

1/4 cup sugar

3 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon salt, I would use 1 teaspoon next time

2 eggs

3~3 1/2 cups flour

Proof the yeast in warm water, I added 1 teaspoon of the sugar. Add the mashed potato, sugar, butter, salt ,eggs and 1 1/2 cups of the flour and blend well. I used a wooden spoon. Beat in the rest of the flour to form a rather stiff dough. Cover and allow to rise in a warm spot until double.

Beat with a wooden spoon or spatula. Transfer to a well buttered loaf pan and smooth top. Allow to rise again until double. Bake at 375 degrees for 35-45 minutes or until nicely browned. Remove from oven, let cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool.

 

These are the best Snickerdoodles! They are light and crisp on the outside and just right on the inside. My regular recipe doesn’t have the milk in it. These are best eaten right away!

Snickerdoodles, Snipdoodles or Schneckenoodles

1 Cup butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk

3 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Topping

3 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons cinnamon

In a large bowl whisk the flour, salt, soda and cream of tartar.

In a mixer beat the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well. Alternately add the milk and the dry ingredients. Roll in tubes in wax paper and chill for 2 hours.

Heat oven to 375. Remove the rolls of dough and slice. Roll slices into balls and roll in cinnamon and sugar mixture and place on cookie sheets. Bake for 10 minutes and remove to wire racks to cool.

~I received a product sample in order to write my review. I received no monetary compensation. All opinions expressed are mine.

Hachapuri (Georgian Cheese Bread)

 

                   

Jennie made these for us when we were in Maine this summer and Chauncey and I just loved them. They are a Nigella Lawson recipe. They are wonderful hot and really good cold. They are simple to make and they don’t take to long.

Bread

5 1/2 cups flour

2 cups yogurt

2 eggs

4 tablespoons butter, softened

2 teaspoons soda

1 teaspoon salt

In a bowl whisk the flour, soda and salt.

In a bowl whip the yogurt, eggs and butter with a whisk until nice and smooth.  Add in the flour mixture a cup or so at a time. You may need to add more flour, mine worked out fine.

Knead the dough about 8 times and roll it into a ball and flatten a little. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Filling

7 oz Ricotta Cheese

7 oz Mozzarella, grated

1 lb Feta Cheese

1 egg

Herbs of choice, I used Italian Seasoning, Garlic Powder and Onion Powder

Black olives, chopped (I used 1 can)

In a large bowl whip the Ricotta cheese and the egg, mix in the Mozzarella and the Feta Cheese, seasonings and olives and mix well.

To Assemble

On a floured surface cut the dough into 6 or 8 wedges. Roll them out one at a time into a circle. Put a glob of the filling in the center and then just tuck all the edges up to the middle. I kind of pinched them all together, then I turned them upside down on a cookie sheet. bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Easy Sticky Buns

                    

A friend of mine sent me this recipe on Facebook and I couldn’t wait to try it! She is a great cook, so I knew these would be good. I love a recipe that doesn’t send me to the store! The family loved these, the caramel is sooo yummy!

Easy Sticky Buns

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup butter

1/2 cup corn syrup

3 cups flour

4 1/2  teaspoons baking powder

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup shortening

1 cup milk, I used 3/4 cup milk, 1/4 cup heavy cream

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 9x13 pan with Pam. In a large bowl whisk all the dry ingredients.

In a medium size saucepan heat the brown sugar, butter and corn syrup. Cook until bubbly, then pour it into the prepared pan.

In the flour mixture, cut in the shortening with a pastry blender until the shortening is the size of peas. Add the milk and mix until it just comes together. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead 4~5 times. Pat out to 3/4 inch thickness and cut with a round cutter. I overlapped mine in the pan so that they would all fit on top of the caramel. Bake 18-20 minutes.

Peach Bread

 

We have a peach tree this year so I’ve got load of peaches. I thought this would be a fun way to use some! It’s hard to tell from the picture, but their are pretty pieces of peaches in the bread. This is a nice moist bread that everyone loved!

Peach Bread

2 cups sugar

1 cup oil

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups peaches, peeled and chopped

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon soda

3 teaspoons cinnamon

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 8x4” bread pans with Pam.

In a bowl whisk the dry ingredients. In a mixer beat the oil and sugar for 2 minutes, beat in the eggs and vanilla.  Mix in the dry ingredients and the peaches. Pour into prepared pans. Bake 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Butter Dips

These are one of my sweet hubby’s favorite things to have with dinner. He loves the butter flavor that these have and I like that they’re really easy to make. I came across this recipe when we were first married!

Butter Dips

1 1/4 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons sugar

1/3 cup milk

1/4 cup butter

 

Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a 10x6 inch pan or an 8x8 put the 1/4 cup butter and place it in the oven while it is heating up, keep an eye on it! In a bowl whisk the dry ingredients.

Add the milk to the dry ingredients and mix just until it comes together. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead about 4 times. Pat out to about 1/2 inch or so, just eyeball it. Cut with a pizza cutter in strips, then cut the strips in half. Dip into the butter in the pan and then turn it over so the buttered side is up, repeat with all the strips. Bake for 10-12 minutes or just until they start to brown.

Angel Biscuits

                           

I love these biscuits! Oh my gosh, I’ve been searching for a biscuit like these and now I have a great recipe! These biscuits are pretty easy to make but they do have to raise for 45 minutes because of the yeast, but it’s so worth it! They make a nice big batch and they still taste good the next day! We had them for breakfast the next morning with bacon eggs and cheese as a biscuit sandwich. We also had them for lunch with leftover meatballs on them!

 

Old Fashioned Angel Biscuits

1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
2 cups buttermilk, I used 1 tablespoon vinegar in milk
5 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup lard or shortening, chilled, I used lard
1 tablespoon melted butter

Have all ingredients at room temperature.

In choosing lard or shortening, be sure to use non-hydrogenated products. Butter may be substituted.

Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water with a pinch of sugar. Set aside for 5 minutes. Stir in the buttermilk, making sure it has first been warmed to room temperature so as not to shock the yeast.

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir all ingredients together to mix well.

Using your fingers, two knives or a pastry blender, work 1/2 the chilled shortening into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Work in the remaining shortening until it resembles large peas.

Stir buttermilk and yeast mixture into the dry ingredients until just blended; do not over mix.

On a clean surface dusted lightly with flour, turn out dough and knead 6 to 8 times, patting together lightly into a flattened circle.

Roll circle out 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick and cut using a floured glass or a 3 inch biscuit cutter. Dip in flour between each cut.

Arrange biscuits on a lightly greased baking sheet; leave 1/3 inch between for softer sided biscuits or 1 inch for more crisp sided biscuits.

Cover with a damp towel or lightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in bulk, or about 45 minutes.

Bake in a preheated 450°F oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Brush with melted butter before serving.

This dough can be refrigerated for 3-5 days, or frozen for up to a month.

French Crepes for Breakfast!

Chauncey asked for crepes the other morning, so I came up with this recipe. I thought I was going to have leftover batter, but they all gobbled them up. I just filled them with strawberry jam and sprinkled them with powdered sugar. They really don't take long to make and are a fun treat!

French Crepes

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

2 cups milk

2 tablespoons butter, melted

In a griddle.

In a bowl whisk the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and whisk well.

With a small ladle, ladle onto a hot griddle sprayed with Pam. Cook like pancakes. Spread with

jam and roll up. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Cinnamon Butter Dips

My kids really like carby things that they can just grab and eat before they head off to swim team at 6:15am every morning. And, if you know me at all by know, you know that I love to bake all these carby sweet things! So, this is a variation of my butter dip recipe that my family has always loved!

Cinnamon Butter Dips

1 1/4 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons sugar

1/3 cup milk

Dip

1/4 cup butter

3 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a 10x6 inch pan or an 8x8 put the 1/4 cup butter and place it in the oven while it is heating up, keep an eye on it! In a bowl whisk the dry ingredients.

Add the milk to the dry ingredients and mix just until it comes together. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead about 4 times. Pat out to about 1/2 inch or so, just eyeball it. Cut with a pizza cutter in strips, then cut the strips in half. Dip into the butter in the pan and then turn it over so the buttered side is up, repeat with all the strips.

Mix the cinnamon and sugar mixture and sprinkle over the butter dips. Bake for 10-12 minutes or just until they start to brown.

Chauncey's Tortilla's and Quesadillas

Chauncey wanted to make quesadillas the other day but we didn't have any tortillas, so I showed him how to make tortillas. He thought they were pretty fun to make! He just added some cheese between two and browned them on both sides. He put salsa on the top and he ate most of the whole batch!

Chauncey's Tortillas and Quesadillas

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon shortening
• 1/2 cup water
• 
  
• In a large mixing bowl, combine together flour, salt and baking powder. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.
• 
  
• Add the water and mix until the dough can be gathered together. If necessary, add more water (1 teaspoon at a time) until the dough comes together. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let rest for 15 minutes.
• 
  
• Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and roll into rounds. On a lightly floured surface, use a rolling pin to flatten and stretch each round into a circle 7 inches across.
• 
  
• Cook on an ungreased skillet over medium high heat until brown spots begin to appear on the tortillas. Keep covered with a clean, dry towel until ready to serve.

Cinnamon Twists

I came up with this recipe the other morning and everyone loved it. These are super simple to make and taste like you went to a lot of work.

Cinnamon Twists

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon soda
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 - 1/3 cup water

Glaze

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

milk

Heat oven to 450 degrees.

In a large bowl whisk the dry ingredients. Stir in the sour cream and enough water to make a nice dough. Put on a floured counter top and knead 3 to 4 times. Pat out to about 1/4 inch thick. Spread with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Fold in half and cut into strips. Pick up each strip and give it a couple of twists as you put it on a baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown. Glaze.

Glaze

Mix powdered sugar, melted butter, vanilla and enough milk to make a glaze. I like to use a whisk to mix it well. Drizzle over cinnamon twists.

Spoon Bread An Old Family Favorite

This is an old family recipe that my grandmother would make a lot. My dad just loves this stuff. It is so good with butter and honey or butter and jam. It's great to make for breakfast and I love that I always have all the ingredients. We usually have eggs and bacon with it, but it's good on it's own.

Spoon Bread

3 cups milk

3 tablespoons butter

3/4 cup cornmeal

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 eggs, separated

3 teaspoons baking powder

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a large pie pan with Pam.

In a large pot cook the milk, butter and cornmeal until thick and bubbly. While you're doing this you can clean out the fridge between stirrings (I actually like to use a whisk), that's what I did. lol! When it's thick and bubbly, take your bowl with the yolks and add a few spoonfuls of the cornmeal mixture and stir. Then stir it into the pot of cornmeal and stir well, remove from heat.

In a bowl whip the egg whites and baking powder, I like to use my hand mixer. Fold the whipped egg whites into the cornmeal mixture, be gentle. Pour it into prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes, it will deflate a little, but that's ok. Serve with butter and honey or jam.

Introducing My New Friend and Monkey Bread

I was recently contacted by Sabrina of Riyah~Li Designs to review one of her unique items and do a giveaway! Sabrina has a great Etsy Shop with so many unique hand crafted items!

I love this Spring Meadow Fascinator! Wouldn't it be fun to wear and it just screams spring!

I love this cute little silver bird art piece. I think I'll have to get one of these, you know how I like little birds and they are so fun to decorate with!

Sabrina sent me my package priority mail so I could get it right away!

It's so cute, it's black and white argyle! Can you tell what it is?

Notice I'm holding him up by his feet like a doctor holds a newborn....


Now I want to introduce you to Sock Monkey! Sabrina picked out a pair of socks just for me and fashioned this adorable little guy, then she flew him off to Maine (I'm still visiting my daughter) so he could have some adventures! Here is his first one! I think he's going to need a name. Does anyone have any ideas?

Don't forget my Giveaway for the U Printing Rolled Canvas Print! You can find all the details HERE! It closes tonight, then tomorrow I'll start the giveaway from Sabrina's Etsy Shop!


I came across this recipe over at PW's blog and I knew that Sock Monkey and I would have to make it in his honor! This is a super easy recipe to make and it's so easy a Sock Monkey could make it! This recipe calls for the non-flaky biscuits, but I grabbed the regular which worked fine, but you only need two tubes of them.


Monkey Bread

3 cans Buttermilk Biscuits (the Non-flaky Ones)
1 cup Sugar
2 teaspoons (to 3 teaspoons) Cinnamon
1 cup Butter
1/2 cup Brown Sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Open up all three cans of biscuits and cut each biscuit into quarters.

Combine the white sugar with 2-3 teaspoons of cinnamon. (3 teaspoons of cinnamon gives it a fairly strong cinnamon flavor. If you’re not a big cinnamon fan, cut it back to 2 teaspoons.) Put the biscuits into a 1 gallon zip bag and shake to mix evenly.

Drop all of the biscuit quarters into the cinnamon-sugar mix. Then seal it and give it a good shaking. The pieces will all get unstuck from one another and coated with cinnamon-sugar. Spread out evenly in the bundt pan.

In a saucepan cook the 1 cup butter and the 1/2 cup brown sugar until the two become one, stirring often. Pour this mixture over the biscuits.




Bake for about 30-40 minutes until the crust is a deep dark brown on top. When its finished cooking, remove it from the oven. Allow it to cook for about 15-30 minutes before turning it over onto a plate.

Come back tomorrow and see what sock monkey has been up too and check out my new giveaway!

The Hair Covering Store Review and Cinnamon Toast

Today I'm linking up for We Are That Family for Work For Me Wednesday.

Do you ever get nasty little hang nails? I hate how they can hurt so much! Well, I always seem to have a lip balm in my pocket, so I just use a little on my hang nails. It really helps moisturize them and heal them faster!


Have you heard of The Hair Coverings Store? It's a great place to buy all kinds of hair accessories. They contacted me recently and asked me if I'd like to do a review for them. They sent me this really cute multi~colored scarf headband. It's a great way to perk up an outfit.


It is more comfortable than a plastic headband (sometimes I have to take them off for a while). The Hair Covering Store has lots of other great hair accessories too, like~








I love these headbands, they are such an easy way to make your hair look great!




I think this leather band with the pick is a really fun way to hold your hair back!






I'm going to have to get one of these berets, I think they are super cute! Be sure to stop by The Hair Coverings Store and see all their cute things!

Right now if you use the Promo Code Spring, you can get 10% off your order!




The other day PW did a post on cinnamon toast. It was really funny because she told how NOT to make it, which was the way I always made it. Hey, it's not my fault, it's the way my mom taught me. I always made the toast, buttered it and then sprinkled on a cinnamon sugar mixture. Well, you know me, I had to try her way! Oh, my gosh, there is no going back now! Try it, it's yummy!

Cinnamon Toast

16 slices Bread (whole Wheat Is Great!)
2 sticks Salted Butter, Softened
1 cup Sugar (more To Taste)
3 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract (more To Taste)
⅛ teaspoons Ground Nutmeg (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Smush softened butter with a fork. Dump in sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg, if using. Stir to completely combine.

Spread on slices of bread, completely covering the surface all the way to the edges.

Place toast on a cookie sheet. Place cookies sheet into the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Turn on the broiler and broil until golden brown and bubbling. Watch so it won’t burn!

Remove from oven and cut slices into halves diagonally.

Works-For-Me-Wednesday and Abelskiver-Danish

Since it's Wednesday I'm hooking up with We Are That Family for Works-For-Me-Wednesday.

I keep my collection of running shoes on this rack on the inside of our downstairs bathroom. Sometimes my trail shoes can get a little stinky. Yup, really bad if I've been through a creek or mud. So I give them a little spray of Lysol inside and toss in a couple of these cedar balls. I found them on the aisle with the laundry bags and stuff at Walmart. They really help control the odor. Just don't forget to take them out of your shoes before you put them on, yup, I've been sleepy and shoved my foot right in! lol

Kind of cute too, and your kids or grandkids will want to play with them.






Chauncey has been asking me to make Abelskivers again so I had him help me. I found this recipe in an old cookbook, and these were the best Abelskivers! You need a special Abelskiver pan to make these. They are super easy to make, and taste like little fluffy pancake balls. Chauncey likes jam in his and Sloan likes chocolate chips in hers.

Abelskiver-Danish

2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 3/4 cup milk
4 eggs, separated
jam
powdered sugar
Chocolate chips or jam or both, for centers

Heat a Abelskiver pan and spray with Pam.

In a bowl whisk the dry ingredients.

Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Beat the milk, egg yolks and butter with a fork.

Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until just mixed. Gently fold in the egg whites.



Scoop about 2 tablespoons batter into each cup in the pan. Put 1 teaspoon of jam in the center and top with a teaspoon of batter.


Cook until golden. Flip with a fork and cook until golden. Remove to a plate and sprinkle with powdered sugar.