Thursday, November 25, 2010

Feast!

Here’s a view of what we enjoyed today
It was just Josh and I so we have a lot of leftovers!

I had to start with dessert…Homemade pumpkin pie topped with homemade whipped topping! On the side there is some Orange Jello Fruit Salad. We almost forgot about it in the fridge with all the other food (sad!) so it made it’s way on to my dessert plate…

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Homemade Rolls :)

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Turkey that we roasted (the white meat)

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Most of the spread…

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Stuffing (from a box-the only place I cheated)…But I did add a little secret ingredients and bake it up in the oven

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Cornbread Pudding. I should have taken a picture when you scoop into it-it’s full of yummy corn!

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Baked Yams (we had candied yams over the weekend so these were great)

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Mashed (Idaho) Potatoes and Homemade turkey gravy (from the drippings!)

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More of our turkey (the dark meat)

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And another cute pic of the rolls. (I love bread…can you tell?)

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Phew, no wonder I’m worn out!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

One Hour Dinner Rolls

Ok, so I didn’t manage to crank these out in an hour, but they were super fast for homemade rolls! This was also the first time I’ve used whole wheat flour and I have really enjoyed these rolls. I plan to make more very soon. I’m going to also try to make some and freeze the dough (maybe after the second rise?) so they are ready to bake (like the ones you can get from the store-that you just pop in the oven frozen). I’ll have to experiment with that…

60 Minute Rolls

4-5 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp yeast
1 cup milk (re-hydrated powdered milk works great here)
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup butter or margarine

Mix 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar and yeast. Heat milk, water, and butter until very warm (120-130°).   Add warm liquid to dry ingredients and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. (If you don’t have a mixer you can use a whisk or fork. Add 1/4 cup flour and 1 tsp salt. Mix for two more minutes. Continue adding the rest of the flour until stiff dough forms. Knead on a lightly floured surface or in your mixer for 2-3 minutes. Place in greased bowl and let rise for 15 minutes (remember you can do this in the oven if you want….if you live in a cold drafty house you may want to do this to ensure your dough rising). Punch down and form dough into 20-24 small dough balls and place on baking sheet. Let rise 15 minutes. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes.

I got this recipe from www.themotherhuddle.com
image {Click the picture to go to the recipe}

I used my handy dandy kitchen aide to do all the work for me. It made it super fast and I could multi task while it mixed for a couple of minutes. I used quick acting yeast and ended up using two of those little packages for the recipe. I also used about 1/2 of the wheat flour and 1/2 white. I loved how they turned out with the wheat flour. I let them rise in the oven-I preheated it to 200 degrees and turned it off, then let them rise in there. ENJOY!

Broccoli Soup

This was my first cream soup I’ve made homemade. It turned out good and I think I will be making it again.

Broccoli Soup

1 1/2 – 2 lbs broccoli, Fresh or frozen, chopped finely
1 small to medium onion, finely diced
3 regular size carrots, extra finely diced
6-8 cups water
4-6 tsp or chicken bullion
1/4 tsp pepper
dash of salt
1 cup cream or evaporated milk
1-1 1/2 cups instant potatoes
1-2 cups shredded cheese

Put chopped, onion, carrot and broccoli in a large pot. Add water until water is about 1/2 inch above veggies. Add about 1/2 tsp bullion per cup of water you used to cover the veggies. Add dash of regular salt and 1/4 tsp ground black pepper. Boil until veggies are tender. Once veggies are tender add cream or evaporated milk, and instant potatoes. Stir until flakes are all dissolved. Add more potatoes until soup is desired thickness. Remove from heat and add cheese. When the cheese is melted  soup is ready to serve. So easy.

I got this recipe from www.themotherhuddle.com
image{Click the picture to go to the recipe}

I used fresh broccoli-one large head. I used most of the large stems since it was soup. I had a big medium white onion, and three regular carrots. I took turns processing everything in my food processor until it was nice and small. It was perfect for the soup and so easy and fast. I used evaporated milk as well.

I made the One Hour Dinner Rolls to go with this soup-they are probably my best batch of rolls yet!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Sausage Meatballs

I found this recipe online somewhere the other night…oops I lost where.

I loved how these turned out. I wanted to do something with our newly purchased pig that we’d just had processed, and wasn’t sure what I could make with the sausage-because that was easiest to defrost at the time hehe.

I’ve always hated making meatballs-and therefore never do-because they never turn out that great. These ones are worthy to write about though-I was very happy with them-and so was Josh!

They went well with our spaghetti but would also make a good appetizer-as the recipe was originally intended for.

SAUSAGE MEATBALLS

1 lb pork sausage (any flavor)
1 1/4 cups Bisquick
6 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup onion, very finely chopped
1/4 cup celery, very finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1. Combine all ingredients and form into 3/4 inch to 1 inch balls; you can use a melon ball scooper.
2. Place meatballs in a greased 13 x 9 casserole dish or on a greased cookie sheet.
3. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.
4. Serve with toothpicks.

MY CHANGES:
I rarely have celery on hand-I just don’t care for it. I used chopped green pepper and it was great. I also seasoned it with just a tiny bit of salt and some fresh ground pepper with the garlic powder.