Amish Bread Recipe for the Bread Machine

Welcome to Wednesday! :) Are you enjoying your week? Can you believe tomorrow's the last day of the month?? Weren't we just at the end of January? (I'm pre-posting this one, and I'm hyperventilating! Knowing this comes out two weeks before I have to be ready to leave for our family reunion AND Oregon - EEP!!! I'm not ready! :D)

Sorry. :D

Anyway! Today's recipe is Amish Bread Recipe for the Bread Machine from Mommysavers.com. :D

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, YES, PLEASE! It's the BEST ABM recipe I've ever tried. Super easy, this turned out beautifully. I mean, OH, MY.

Really. I'm tucking this one away for any time I want a fast something to throw in the machine. And I may decrease the sugar next time; it's just a touch on the sweet side. But it made the yeast rise beautifully!!!! It's not dry, it's got a good bite to it. I did coat the crust with butter as it came out, so it wouldn't get hard - the crust is almost always my least favorite, and I eat it first. Not this bread. Yummmmmm. I could eat the whole loaf by myself! :D

OK, I'm outta here! Have a WONDERFUL day, and I'll see you in MARCH! ;) Be blessed!

Homemade "Nutella"

Happy Monday! Did you have a good weekend? Did you try anything new???

Today's share is a happy share. :D One of my dear friends in college, who grew up in Germany, introduced me to Nutella about 25 years ago. (Holey mackerel, did I just admit that?!?) :D Lately, I've been trying to eat less processed food; the chemicals can't be good for me, and if I can put better things into my body, then maybe it will start behaving better. :)

So - since my mom and I love Nutella so much! - I decided to try this recipe for Homemade Nutella Spread from Leite's Culinaria.

This is a YES, PLEASE! rating. I didn't run it through a sieve at the end of the process, because I didn't want to make all that mess and lose too much of the chocolate. :D It's not very grainy, so I'm good with that.

If I can figure out a good chocolate to use, that will help; we used Hershey's bars, because I don't want the wax that goes into chips for helping to hold their shape. But that's kind of expensive! The hazelnuts were some our dear friends sent Mom for Christmas a year ago that have been in the freezer, waiting for a reason to be used. :D (We're going back to hazelnutland - Oregon grows something like 90% of the US's hazelnuts!)

Try it! Oh, I also used grapeseed oil for the oil requirement; if you want to make it even better for you, try coconut oil. You could also use xylitol for the sugar - watch for that post later on. :)

Update: After a day of being nice and spreadable, this solidified. My mom is loving it still; I'd prefer it to not tear up whatever I'm trying to spread it on. There are lots of recipes out there right now for homemade Nutella; I may see if they have anything in them that might be added to this to keep it softer. It's still good - I think it would make great truffles. Just sayin'. :D
 
OK, I'm outta here! Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED!!!

Lemon Icebox Cake

It's FRIDAY! Have you had a great week? I sure hope so! Congratulations to everyone who has a jar of Biscoff Spread coming your way! :)

I promised today would be a share and review of the cake I made for our Valentine's Day celebration; here it is! It's a Lemon Icebox Cake from Cookie Baker Lynn.

It was tasty. It was NOT worth the trouble it took to make!!!!! How do I score this? I'm giving it a personal NO, THANK YOU - but that's because it is a FUSSY frosting/lemon mousse. SERIOUSLY.

I made the angel food cake in two 8" square pans; I had a tube pan, but didn't use it once in the three years I had it, so I got rid of it. The cake was very good; angel food cakes are a bit fussy, but one usually goes into scratch-baking it knowing that fact.

The lemon mousse/frosting? THAT was kind of crazy. First, you make very sour lemon curd. Then you whip cream, add gelatin, and add it to the curd to make lemon cream. And FINALLY you add meringue to the whole thing, split the cake into 4 layers, and stack.

If you decide to make this, it's GOOD. It's a big cake, light and fluffy and lemony and a treat. But go into the process knowing it will take you a good two days to make sure everything is ready to go. And it's NOT cheap; between the cake and the mousse, it took about 16 eggs. For ONE ingredient in ONE recipe.

I'm glad I tried it. I'm glad I made it for my dad - he despises chocolate, so we can't serve any when we do a special event together. But I'm not saving the recipe.

OK, I'm outta here!! :) Let me know what you think of this one. I'd love to hear if you're planning on making it! Take pictures, and tell me your story! :)

Have a WONDERFUL weekend! It's another busy one for us - we're out of here SOON! BE BLESSED!

Almost time for the giveaway! :D

Not too long now until the Biscoff Giveaway ends! Have YOU entered? Go do it - on that post! Just click the link! Hurry! :D

I decided to share what our Valentine's Day table looked like today. My mom pulled it together - isn't it beautiful? We ate out on the sun porch; Kenn had to go shoot a basketball game, so we ate early. The flowers are ones Mom uses for Fourth of July centerpieces; the chargers were some we used for Christmas, as were the battery-operated candles.

It's a small table, but it was quite lovely!!! What do you think??

Friday, I'll share the cake I made for our dessert - that's the part I was in charge of. :) And if you've left a message on the Biscoff Giveaway, PLEASE either email me or leave another message with your address! :D

Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED!

Copycat Recipe: Olive Garden's Chicken & Gnocchi Soup

It's FRIDAY!!!! How's your week been? Do you have big plans for your weekend? If you're in middle Tennessee, come to Lamplighter's Theater Company and see LAST TRAIN TO NIBROC. You'll be out in an hour and a half, and it's a really sweet story - bring your sweetheart!

Anyway! This is a recipe for Olive Garden's Chicken & Gnocchi Soup from one of my favorite blogs, Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice. :D And I'll tell you now, it's a DEFINITE yes, PLEASE! for my whole family!!

I used organic, free-range chicken stock from Trader Joe's; I bought some around Christmas, and Kenn used it in his chicken soup when he had a horrendous toothache. I was impressed with how rich it was, so I bought four more quarts - and we used them all within 10 days. :D So there's an extra review for free! :D

This is a wonderfully healthy soup, really; with all the garlic and spinach, it's really good with vitamins. I didn't use half-and-half, because I didn't have any. :D I used 1% milk with a scant 1/2 cup heavy cream. But it was just wonderful; the longer it cooks, the thicker the broth gets. I used Cornish game hen meat we had in the freezer; cooking it again in the soup made it so tender. YUM. It's cool in this room while I'm writing this review, and it's making me wish I had a big bowl of it right here with me. :D The next time I make this, I'm going to do copycat bread sticks, too. Ooooooh......
:D

OK, I'm outta here. SO much to do this weekend!!! Don't forget to leave a comment to win on this blog post!!! (Read it for details!)

BE BLESSED!!!

GIVEAWAY!!!! Biscoff Spread

 

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!

Because those few of you who actually READ this blog  allow me to justify my passion for trying new stuff, I want to give away a jar of this Biscoff Spread to SIX of you! (That MIGHT be every single one of you!!! :D )

To be entered to win, simply leave me a comment on this post. Tell me what recipe or review you thought most interesting and why. It's that easy. :) (If you're long-distance, I will do my best to get this to you quickly!) We'll pick a winner on WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20. Please enter by NOON! :)

I won a 8-pack case of this from the company, so I'm sharing the love. :) We opened one, so I could let you know a bit about it. If you've seen Biscoff in the stores, you might have wondered about it. Or, you might have tried it - I first had a Biscoff cookie on an airplane. Biscoff cookies played a key role in this recipe I reviewed toward the end of the year. This spread tastes just like the cookies, except creamy! My mom said it tastes like gingerbread. :) It kind of does - the cookies are a type of spice cookie. The product is from Belgium. And the spread bills itself as "a delicious alternative to peanut butter" - but it's much sweeter, in my opinion. You have to try this stuff to understand how difficult it is to describe! LOL

Don't you want to try it? Don't you want to win? :D 

OK, I'm outta here. We're having a nice dinner with my parents tonight; I'm making dessert, which you KNOW means it'll get a review next week. :D Enjoy your day!!!!

Oreo Truffles

 Happy Wednesday! I hope you're having a great week, and have something a little fun planned for tomorrow.

IF you don't, I wanted to share this easy recipe with you! This one's from Just a Pinch, but it's floating around in a LOT of places. :)

Now, you'll notice that the recipe calls for coating these in melted chocolate chips. Personally, that's just too much deep chocolate for me to handle. So I coated some of them in leftover white coating from Christmas, and some I rolled completely in Valentine's sprinkles I picked up last year. My favorites, though, were the ones I simply rolled in confectioner's sugar!

I also used some Oreos that I'd never had before, called Ice Cream Berry Burst. They have pink centers, and I was hoping some of that pink might show up in the centers. Obviously, it didn't. :D But it gave them an interesting flavor. My mom said they had a "nice, mild" flavor; Kenn said they were "very sweet". :D I found them yummy! LOL! And since they were so easy, they're

 Stay tuned for a special post (hopefully tomorrow!) for a GIVEAWAY!

OK, I'm outta here. Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED!

Crockpot "Refried" Beans

Good Monday afternoon! :) I know it's a bit later than normal, but I wasn't home much this weekend. I'm house managing for Lamplighter's Theater Company, and between church and the show, there wasn't a lot of spare time to be found! :)

That doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about what to post. :D I made this recipe last week; it's from Pennies & Pancakes, for Crockpot "Refried" Beans.

Let me just say, from the start, this gets a YES, PLEASE! :) It's a great, inexpensive, adjustable recipe. The only thing I measured was the water, because I didn't want to have it be too soupy or too dry.

The flavor is GREAT on these! I found I didn't need all the cooking time listed; be sure your beans aren't crunchy, for sure, but mine were done about a half-hour after I turned my pot down to LOW. I cut the recipe in half; we don't eat a LOT of refried beans, and I didn't want them going to waste - even though they're so inexpensive to make!

I will recommend this to you, too: keep some of the liquid if you drain off some from your beans. I was worried when I mashed them that I hadn't gotten rid of enough liquid. But they really tightened up, and I now wish I'd left just a bit more. If you keep some of the liquid, you can add it when your beans start to cool. But I don't think I'll be using canned beans if I can do a little planning ahead; these really were tasty!!!!!!

I had these vegetarian beans and melted cheese with organic blue corn tortilla chips for dinner one night; I felt so virtuous! :D And I highly recommend that, if you like cilantro, you sprinkle a little on whatever you serve these beans with. It's one of the top 5 nutrient-dense foods on the PLANET, and it gives a great freshness to the taste. But whatever floats your boat! :)

OK, I'm outta here. Have a WONDERFUL week! Be BLESSED!!! (And be sure to come back Wednesday, for a Valentine's suggestion!)

Gingerbread

Happy Friday! I hope you've had a great week!

Here's another one of those recipes you really want to have on-hand; it's a Martha Stewart recipe for gingerbread.

These are the gingerbread men I made for the open house; I had a bit of a time with the icing being too runny, but it was mostly being glue for the mini M&Ms. :D

Don't omit the pepper in the recipe. I thought about it, but left this one as-is (except for the currants for the eyes!); it's a really GOOD gingerbread, not too crunchy but not super-soft, either. It rolls beautifully.

I really need to get a gingerbread GIRL cookie cutter....

This is one of two cookie recipes I'm going to use with my nieces and nephews - they want to decorate cookies, so that will be one of our craft projects. :)

Of course you don't have to go all out with these; just making a basic shape with no icing would be fine. I won't say it's BORING, but.... :D

OK, I'm outta here! It's another BUSY weekend! I hope YOU get a chance to rest, and try something new! :) Be BLESSED!

Cream Cheese Lemon Bars

Happy Wednesday! How's your week going? If you're in middle Tennessee, are you enjoying our spastic weather patterns?!?! Sheesh. Is it any wonder so many people are sick right now?!?

Anyway. :D

This recipe is for cream cheese lemon bars from a site called Recipetips.com.

 I'm afraid I'm rather ambivalent about this one. It wasn't really lemony, it wasn't really cream cheese-y. I'd gotten the lemon cake mix to keep in the closet, because several of my Pinned recipes call for one. So I decided to use the mix for this recipe.

My dad had to help me get the crust ingredients all mixed; I don't know if I've mentioned, but I have trouble with my wrists and my family sometimes helps me out when I'm cooking. :D It was an interesting crust, kind of crumbly (as a dough) like a shortbread, except it had an egg in it.

You mix up the lemon juice and zest and cream cheese with the powdered sugar, then divide that in half. Part is for the middle layer, and the rest acts as the icing. It was really lemony, but it wasn't enough to really brighten the whole thing, in my opinion.

Normally, I'll add lemon extract as well, but I wanted to make this one as straight as *I* could. :D I didn't tweak anything.

So I think I'll move it to my "A good recipe to have" board, but not plan to use it unless I'm a little desperate. :D I think my sentiment was echoed through the house - but it's almost all gone, anyway. :D

OK, I'm outta here! Make your week great!!! Be BLESSED! :)

Tex-Mex Chicken and Tortilla Stack

Good Monday midday! :D I've been busy this weekend, and not in the mood to really blog today, but here I am anyway! :D

Dad was gone last week, but Kenn also had a really bad infection in his tooth. So I wasn't sure I was going to get to make this - but I did. On Tuesday night, I tried this Tex-Mex Chicken and Tortilla Stack from Recipe.com.

First of all, I will admit: I took the METHOD of this recipe more than the recipe itself. Every place I looked for jicama, it was sold out. So we didn't have jicama in ours.

And I don't like precooked chicken, unless it's in a can (and I still don't LOVE it, then!); it almost always gives me heartburn, and I don't care for the chemicals they use. So, I used two boneless, skinless chicken breasts and poached them in water with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and dried minced onion. When they were done, I shredded the chicken and let it cool.

I wasn't sure I was going to like this recipe; it's served cold, and I tend to like COOKED Mexican food. :D You know, HOT and a little spicy. :D But we really did like it! It got a YES, PLEASE! from both of us! And of course, I personalized it. :D

For instance, I made our guacamole. Doing it myself saved at least a dollar - and it's not a CHEAP recipe, although it's not too bad. Part of the cost for US, though, is that I need to use low-carb tortillas. To cut down on the whopping cost of my favorite white flour LC tortillas, I alternated them with whole wheat ones. (I tend to not like those at all because of texture and flavor. It's a personal thing! :D) I would say this, by itself, serves 4 - it makes 8 pieces, if you cut it like a cake. :D but we didn't have anything WITH it.

I also didn't put red peppers in it - again, they don't like me. I also added cilantro to the cheese layers - did you know it's one of the top 5 nutrient-dense foods on the planet?!? - because Kenn LOVES it, and I like it. My mom says its flavor is too "loud" - it overpowers everything else. :D

I used fat free regular refried beans. Kenn doesn't tend to like things too spicy, so no jalapeno, either. And his system is sometimes intolerant of the colors they use in cheeses, so I used Velveeta queso blanco shredded cheese. I also added tomato to the top!

I guess what I'm trying to express is this: don't be afraid to play! :D I wouldn't have tried a "stack" if I hadn't found this recipe. I'd have loved to have had the jicama for the recipe, but oh, well. :D I know what we like, and if I can get things that are good for us into a recipe, I'm gonna! :D

OK, I'm outta here. LOTS to do! :D Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED!!!!

Cheryl's Chocolate Chip Blonde Brownies

Good Friday Morning! I hope you've had a great week, and are looking forward to your weekend. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Michael and Haley, our groom and bride tomorrow. :)

Anyway. Today's another share that I learned to only make around Christmas, because I absolutely LOVE these. They're fantastic, soft and chewy. They're from BettyCrocker.com, and are called Cheryl's Chocolate Chip Blonde Brownies.

Well, I'll admit it: part of my reasoning for posting these is so I have the link to the recipe while we're in Oregon. :D They're SO simple to make, but would be wonderful to have on-hand for weekend guests.... :D

I don't tweak these at all. I accidentally added too much brown sugar one time, and don't recommend doing that if you can help it. :D These kind of taste like chocolate chip cookies, but a little different, and a lot easier. :D

I can't think of anything else to tell you about them, except you won't regret making them! :D

Have a WONDERFUL weekend!!! Be BLESSED - and try something new!