Cheese Sticks (aka Cheese Straws)

Happy Wednesday (night :D )!!! Have you had a good week? Sorry I am having trouble getting into the habit of blogging again; I'm staying really busy. Kenn has turned in his two-week notice, so we're doing lots of "What if..." planning, etc., right now. :)

ANYWAY. This is a "How To Make Cheese Sticks" from allrecipes.com - and I know them as Cheese Straws. :)

I wasn't really thrilled with this recipe, but it turned out pretty good. :) First of all, it says to do this as soon as the dough is thawed enough to unfold; I really think the toppings/ingredients would do better if it came further up to temperature for maybe 15 minutes.

These are really good the first day, and pretty good the second day, and then forget about it. :) Also, think of doing something else - like using a different cheese, or maybe doing a sweet one like cinnamon sugar with butter instead of oil. :D

So I'm saying this is a YES, PLEASE, even though I'd tweak things a bit. LOL - like you never hear that from me.... :D

OK, I'm outta here. :D Have a WONDERFUL evening/day! Be BLESSED, dear friend!

Amish Potato Rolls

HAPPY FRIDAY! :)

Welcome back! I know you came back JUST to see what I served with that Cabbage Roll Soup. :) Here they are, without any further words - Amish Potato Rolls by Baked by Rachel.

Oh, my. Heaven will have rolls like these. :) They're light, fluffy, a tiny bit sweet, and just about too good for words. I guess that makes them a YES, PLEASE! recipe. :D I have a little over half of the batch in the freezer, just waiting for another soup day... :D

The second rising didn't take nearly as long as the time says. I set the timer, but as you can see, they were about to overflow my pan! :D I also mashed up a large potato, didn't use instant - although you could. :)

Have a wonderful weekend, friend! MANY blessings!

School Lunchroom Cafeteria Rolls

Happy Friday!!! I hope you've had a wonderful week, and are looking forward to celebrating Christ's resurrection this weekend!!!

Today's recipe is for these School Lunchroom Cafeteria Rolls from allrecipes.com.

(That's funny. I got these off Pinterest, but it's the second allrecipes review in a row!)

These are a DEFINITE YES, PLEASE! It does make a LOT; I made them to take to a family who needed a meal, and I'd been wanting to try them. I mean, who doesn't remember with deep fondness those wonderful rolls?!?! :::::::::::::sigh::::::::::::::: :D

I made FIVE of these tins, and put three in the freezer. That was February 22. I pulled the last pan out of the freezer Wednesday! (And I'll be making another batch this coming week, for company and for the freezer!) Seriously. If you take a lot of meals to other people, or you have unexpected company, or you'd like to have fresh bread quickly on any given day, this is a great way to do it. To freeze it, I just formed the rolls, wrapped the pan, and put it in the freezer. On the day I want them, I pull them out and let them thaw on the sideboard, then cook them off according to directions.

OK, I'm outta here! HE IS RISEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! be BLESSED, friends!

"Outback" Black Bread: Copycat

Happy Wednesday! Are you having a good week? Are you staying WARM, people?!??! :D

Today's recipe would be a good recipe to try today - what's better when it's below freezing outside than a warm loaf of homemade bread?! It's "Outback" Black Bread: Copycat from Freida Loves Bread.

Now, first let me tell you: finding caramel coloring locally is nearly impossible. I put a bottle on my Amazon wish list and got it for Christmas. One bottle will last me a long, LONG time - it's huge! So you might want to consider splitting a bottle with a friend or five...

When I finally had all the ingredients in one place, I made this bread. It's a YES, PLEASE!

Mine made two whole loaves and one tiny one. I love having things like this in the freezer, for when someone I care about needs a meal delivered. So we cut into the tiny loaf, and then one of the big ones - and I put the other loaf in the freezer as soon as it cooled, because we really did love this bread! :) My mom is still mentioning how GOOD it was... :D

Now, I didn't use the cornmeal. I sprinkled oats on top of the loaf before it baked, instead. I have to be in the right mood for the grittiness of cornmeal. :) The oats were a nice textural contrast without being too much so.

OK, I'm outta here! :) Have a WONDERFUL day! Let me know if you try this recipe! :) Be BLESSED!!!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Caramel Icing

Welcome back - it's Wednesday! Are you trying anything new in your menus this week? Gotta tell you, there are SO many recipes out there, I could make something new every meal and not run out of ones I really want to try. :D

Today's recipe is from The Girl Who Ate Everything, for Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Caramel Icing.

First, I hate to tell you, but I didn't do the caramel icing. Sorry. It was one more step in a too-busy day, so I used some regular buttercream I had left from some cookies. :) It LOOKED good, the icing recipe, but I was DONE. LOL! I made these for a hostess stamping club brunch get-together.

Everyone seemed to LOVE them! :)There was a taste I couldn't identify that I would work on discovering and "fixing" if I make these again - but they were VERY tender, and you could tell they were pumpkin - the dough was soft and pumpkin-colored. :D The recipe made EXACTLY a dozen rolls.

I think I'll give them a YES, PLEASE! With that being said, I'm not sure I'll make this particular recipe again. Maybe. Again, there are SO many recipes for pumpkin cinnamon rolls...!

OK, I'm outta here! :D Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!!!

Artichoke Bread

Happy Friday! Have you had a good week?? Got big plans for the weekend? We're out of town, hopefully getting some rest. :) (As I'm writing this, we're leaving in the morning, and I'm really excited! :D)

Today's review is this Artichoke Bread from Closet Cooking.

I won't make you wait. This is a YES, PLEASE! Ohhhhh, is it good. Like artichoke dip? You will enjoy this. So cheesy, and on bread - yum. We didn't have French bread, we had a baguette. But oh, MY. I took out the middle part of the bread, like the recipe says, to give the spread a place to live. If I hadn't been so hungry, I probably would have let this bake just a little longer, so the cheese would get a bit more browned and bubbly. Oh, I'm making myself hungry. LOL!

This would be wonderful for serving on game day. It is rich, so you don't need to cut huge pieces. I don't know how well it would heat up... Just sayin'. :D

Have a wonderful weekend!! Be BLESSED! And try something new - then tell me about it! :D

Bread Machine Challah

Happy Wednesday! :) This is GOOD stuff, people - I'm telling you already it's a YES, PLEASE!!! You want to go make this now. Mom was sad Dad had gone gluten-free, because it would have made incredible French toast. :)

I didn't do anything differently to this. Be sure your yeast isn't too old, and you'll get a great rise out of it! I did butter the top when it came out of the oven, but that's all I did differently from the recipe from Dine & Dish.

OK, I'm outta here - I have SO much to do! :D The show may be over at the beginning of October, but the procrastinating from the last eight weeks is starting to catch up with me, and there's LOTS to do!! Christmas will be here soon! Ho, ho, ho! :D

Baked Egg Boats

Happy Wednesday! :) I hope you're enjoying your "short work week" - although, if you work at or from home, you KNOW there's no such thing! :D

Today's recipe is for Baked Egg Boats from Spoon Fork Bacon.

This was a surprise for me! It definitely gets a YES, PLEASE! - although I didn't have QUITE what I needed as far as bread goes. I used a PIECE of a baguette, and hollowed it out. I spilled some of the egg, so I should have added another to the mix. I used ham cubes and Monterrey Jack cheese. (I don't really like gruyere.) The texture of the bread changed into this light, crispy, delicious little puff every time I took a bite. :) If you have company for breakfast or brunch, these are easy to whip up and serve; they don't take too much time in the oven at all.

Let me know what you think! Two breakfast recipes down, one more to share with you - THIS week, anyway. :D Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!!!

Honey Oat Quick Bread

Happy Wednesday! :) Two days in a row - HURRAY! :D

Today's recipe is Honey Oat Quick Bread from Cooking.com.

OK. I did NOTHING to this bread recipe except follow it. :D Just so you know!

It's OK. It's nothing to drool over; it's a basic bread, and would be good with a stew or soup in the fall, if you need another basic bread recipe. It's pretty, too. :) But as someone who loves bread and shouldn't eat it, I won't have a difficult time passing this one up. :D (And my mom liked it, but they're on a gluten-free diet, and ANY bread is - well, like manna to her. :D )

It's got a great texture to it, don't get me wrong. But it needs some jazzing up - and there are so many bread recipes out there to try, I'm not gonna spend any time on this one. :D But if you try it, let me know what YOU think!

Outta here! Busy, busy - and rehearsals start Sunday for ROGERS & HAMMERSTEIN'S CINDERELLA! But I WILL be here Friday - I'm going to go set it up now. :D

Have a wonderful day! Try something new, and BE BLESSED!!!

EASY Homemade French Bread

Good Monday Afternoon! :) Did you have a good weekend?

This recipe is for easy homemade French bread from Deals to Meals.

This one lives up to its name. I'm not sure it's accurate about only costing 25 cents a loaf anymore, but it's definitely inexpensive - and easily customizable. :D

I used garlic salt in place of the regular salt, and about a tablespoon extra of garlic powder in the dough. It made two HUGE loaves! The garlic flavor was much more subtle, which was part of what I wanted - it was for a meal for family members before a funeral service, and I didn't want them to feel like they needed a breath mint while talking to people!

The garlic is the only way I changed this recipe. It was easy, and the hot water in the oven worked a CHARM. This is definitely a YES, PLEASE! recipe - I think the next time I make it, I'll form four baguettes instead of the large loaves. And freeze half for future use, especially for taking meals to other people.

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

English Muffin Bread

It's MONDAY! Time for another week. :) Did you have a good weekend?

Today's recipe is for English Muffin Bread from Foodie With Family. :)

Yes, this is a YES, PLEASE! It's SOOOOOOOOOO easy, y'all! No kneading at ALL. I did the half-recipe, and it made two large loaves and one smaller. I gave two of the loaves away; I should have frozen half the one I kept, because where we keep our bread is rather moist and warm. I couldn't eat it fast enough, because of course I have to be careful with bread. It got moldy. :/

BUT it was wonderful! It toasted up so nicely. I didn't particularly care for the messy cornmeal I had to deal with when it came out of the loaf pans, but that's cleaned up quickly. :D And of course it needed homemade strawberry jam on it. :D

Seriously. Make some of this this coming weekend; stash some in your freezer, and use the rest to make it SO easy to get something comforting and yummy for breakfast QUICKLY.

Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED!

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!

Basic Biscuits

Good Monday Morning! Did you have a good weekend? Did you try anything new? :D

Today, I'm sharing with you a basic biscuit recipe from Old Fashioned Living.

I have to tell you: this is a BASIC recipe. I needed something to make for our show a few weeks ago - biscuits played a starring role in the first five minutes! - and thought these would be great. I mean, the name of the website kind of said to me, "There's nothing like homemade, old-fashioned!" Right? :D

If you need a basic, easy biscuit recipe, then this is it. But it's not a big batch by any stretch of the imagination - I like my biscuit a little higher than these turned out to be. But it's not a BAD recipe, either! If you're looking for something to be a vehicle for something else - honey, homemade jam - then this works just fine.

I didn't change a thing. :) Just so you know! I'm not going to make this recipe again; this is one that is no different than anything I've tried already. I'm looking for SPECIAL. :D

Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!!

Soft Pretzel Bites

Good Wednesday afternoon! :) Are you having a good week? Enjoying this first full week of January? It's amazing to me how quickly time flies. We'll be leaving for our family reunion and Oregon before I can blink! :D

Today's recipe review is of Soft Pretzel Bites from Two Peas& Their Pod.

Now, a little history about me and soft pretzels: when I was a little girl, my mom and I would walk to the mall together. One of the things that always happened was that we would get a treat - either ice cream or a soft pretzel. And yellow mustard is a must with a soft pretzel.

So, I didn't make the cheese sauce that is also posted on their blog with these as a dip. I knew I'd want mustard.

These are a YES, PLEASE. They're time-consuming, but very yummy. I put more salt on them than I liked, but that's because I couldn't see the salt on the egg wash too easily. Next time, I'll know better.

And there will be a next time, because I only cooked off HALF of this dough! I put the bites onto two pizza pans to bake; they need to not touch. And that made a LOT of pretzel bites!

I also adjusted the baking time on my second sheet.The first came out a bit crunchy on the bottoms. It's unusual, because our oven usually bakes a little cooler than most recipes call for. So know you might want to keep an eye on them a bit earlier than the recipe says. Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly! I bet the sweet version would be good, too - and I THINK I might substitute a teaspoon of the water with a teaspoon or so of vanilla extract if I was going to do them. :D

OK, I'm outta here! Have a WONDERFUL day, my friend. BE BLESSED!

ABM Whole Wheat Bread

Good Monday Morning! Did you have a good weekend? GOODNESS, mine was BUSY. And today's been busy, too! Crazy, man! :D

ANYWAY. Today, I'm bringing you one of those recipes that this time of year just begs for: bread. And my favorite kind: bread that can be made in my bread machine! :D This recipe comes to us from Food.com, for whole wheat bread.

This is a pretty healthy recipe! It doesn't use sugar; it uses honey. So, as far as a healthy bread recipe (as a diabetic, that's a bit of an oxymoron, but still... :D), this is a YES, PLEASE. But I would suggest upping the salt just a tiny bit.

It baked up really nice for being whole wheat; I do add vital wheat gluten to my bread machine recipes, tho, so that always helps. This had a nice crust on it - I did let it bake in the machine, just so I didn't have to mess with the oven. It was substantial enough when you bit into it to have a nice chew to it, too.

So, if you're looking for an easy, healthy bread machine recipe, go for this one. :)

Let me know if you try it, what YOU think!

OK, outta here. So much to do, so little time.... :D Have a WONDERFUL day! Be blessed!

S'mores Muffins

Good Monday Morning! And HAPPY OCTOBER!

How was your weekend? Did it go quickly? I swear! As photographers, our weekends are booked so often; they're much more full than I usually enjoy. :D And this one was no exception - but what would I give up?!? Nothin'. :D

Today's review is of another recipe from Taste of Home, for "I Want S'more Muffins". (Yes, I still roll my eyes at that name....)

If you saw my Facebook status last week, you already know my reaction to these. It's not just a YES, PLEASE! It's a OH, MY! YES, PLEASE! :D

The recipe only makes six muffins. And in my case, that's probably an EXCELLENT thing. :D My biggest recommendation is to eat them while they're still at least slightly warm - although they're still wonderful cold.

And if you drop one while trying to tip them out of the pan, it WILL explode on the floor. All over the floor.

Ask me how I know. :D

I think the homemade marshmallow fluff did, indeed, make a difference for me. It's not all hard the next day, and it didn't all melt away. As you can see, it's definitely a s'more. Although I didn't have milk chocolate chips, so I used semisweet. :)

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

Pear Bread

Happy Wednesday! Are you having a good week?

My friend has lots of pears, and pneumonia. So I was gifted a big pail of pears. :D My sister asked that we bring some quick breads for the kids' breakfasts, so we decided to try pear bread!

This is a Taste of Home recipe. And it gets a MEH from me.

Now, don't get me wrong: as quick breads go, it's easy, makes two loaves, and has pretty common ingredients. But I have yet to find a pear bread recipe that tastes like pears. This one only tastes like pears when you bite into a piece of pear.

My dad liked it - I think its texture is more of a muffin than a bread. It will definitely do the job, and I've added even more fruit to the following batches, to give more pear to bite into. :) I'm sure it will be a hit with the lids! If I get gifted with pears again, I might try pureeing some pears to use in it, too, and see if that helps or changes the texture too much.

Let me know what you think - or if you have a pear quick bread recipe you like!

Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!!!!!

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

 Happy Wednesday! :) How's your week going? Can you BELIEVE we're so close to the end of the month already? We're on the downhill roll to Christmas, ladies and gentlemen! :D

Today's recipe is brought to you by Foodie With Family. I really enjoy her blog! This recipe's for Cinnamon Swirl Bread.

Her story of her recipe development is fun. :D Picky eaters are the reason about 75% of new recipes are created, I think. :D

I have to admit: when I made the bread, I was a little dubious about the dough. It was, on hindsight, a sturdier dough than I'm used to using. part of it came from the fact that I didn't have any potato flakes (I HATE starting a recipe and finding out one of my ingredients is GONE! AUGH!!!). And probably, also, because I haven't made bread by HAND in forever. But I continued, even though the dough felt heavy in my hand.

Then there was the filling; I ended up doubling the amount of raisins in it.

But this gets a YES, PLEASE! from my family! It's cinnamony - have you picked up on the fact I love cinnamon? :D - and the filling is baked well into the bread.

Now, because I'm used to making cinnamon ROLLS when I'm rolling dough, I ended up rolling the dough too thin. My loaf isn't as big as it should have been. But I used the extra length to make some cinnamon rolls. They turned out fantastically; they're not as light as the normal dough I make, but they're good.

I'm going to use this filling again, definitely; I'll probably make the dough I normally make in my bread machine. I can't wait to try it out! I'll need to have a special occasion, though - that many raisins on top of bread? Well, shoot me to the moon! :) But it WILL happen.

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

Texas Roadhouse Rolls

My goodness, the day's passing me by! Sorry I'm a bit later than usual. :)

Today's review is of these rolls at Eat Cake For Dinner. :D Now, the first thing I need to tell you is Mom made them. That's right. That means she followed the recipe to the letter. My dad formed the rolls, because Mom says she doesn't do it right. :D We also baked them together, because I don't like crusty bread. I know. I'm strange. But there you go. :D

These were for my birthday celebration on Friday night. They rate a YES, PLEASE!

If you're not going to use them all - it makes a HUGE batch! - then I'd either form and freeze the dough, or give rolls away. But do it quickly; these rolls didn't like being saved for very long. They were beautiful; my parents did a wonderful job on them! :)

Be sure and let me know if you try them - or anything else I've reviewed! :) Have a WONDERFUL day! Eat something GOOD! :) Be blessed....