Amish Country Bread

I made the most delightful bread last week while I had family in town. It's called Amish Country Bread. I did everything the same as in the recipe, except that I used instant yeast. And right before I baked it, I sprinkled it with Bread dipping seasonings. This bread was so yummy! It went very fast. And I loved how quick it was so make for a yeast bread. Very simple and the dough was beautiful.

Because it was so yummy, I never got a picture of mine before it was snatched off the table.

Go to this website, (One More Moore) for the recipe and a beautiful photo! Then go make it!! So yummy!!

http://morganmoore.typepad.com/one_more_moore/2007/03/amish_country_b.html

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

These were very yummy. My husband and kids ate them up very quickly!

The dough is extremely sticky and hard to work with, I found that sticking the bowl in the fridge in between cooking batches, helps to form the balls. The sugar dusting made it possible for the cookies to be made into balls (globs). But it also make the cookies have a flakier exterior. I think I'd prefer to use a spoon next time to make globs onto the cookie sheet and let them look a little irregular but have softer textures. They were very soft though inside, and still yummy days later -saved in a ziploc bag. With those new ideas, I will for sure make these again! Also I couldn't find "pumpkin flavored" kisses so I just used regular. Very yummy still.

I doubled the recipe, because in my book, every cookie recipe should be at least doubled! :)

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

1 box Spice Cake mix

15 oz can canned Pumpkin

1/4 T. pumpkin pie spice

1 bag of unwrapped Pumpkin Spice Kisses

cinnamon-sugar

Or, to be like me:

2 boxes Spice Cake mix

29 oz. can canned pumpkin

etc.

Heat oven to 350. Mix the cake mix, pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice together in a bowl. Spoon balls of dough into cinnamon-sugar and roll around creating round balls. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 12-14 min. (I put about 20 balls on each sheet)

Remove cookies from the oven and quickly place on rolled out aluminum foil spread over your counter. (Be sure to remove from the pan quickly, to avoid sticky tar mess I had to deal with on one batch.) Place a kiss into each cookie middle. You can also hurry and put them into the fridge right after if the kisses are melting down, to avoid melting them!

Orange Pork Roast

Yum!

This was a fabulous crock pot recipe. A tender roast, simple ingredients, and not much work involved!

Try it out!

Orange Pork Roast

3 1/2 lb pork shoulder roast

1 onion, chopped

6 oz. can frozen orange juice concentrate

1/4 c. brown sugar

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

2 T. flour

2 T. cold water

Trim fat from roast. Spread onions over the bottom of your crock pot. Lay the roast on top of the onion layer. Sprinkle salt and pepper over one side of roast, then flip to the other side and sprinkle again with salt and pepper.

In a bowl combine the orange juice concentrate, brown sugar, salt and pepper and pour over the top of your roast. Cover crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours, until cooked and falling apart.

When finished cooking, remove the roast and onions from the crock pot, cover in a bowl or dish to keep warm. Skim the fat off the juices in the crock pot. Pour the juices into a saucepan, whisk in flour and water. Whisk until thickened like a gravy.

Place roast back into crock pot and serve with the gravy and onions.

Enjoy! :)

Pineapple Berry Buckle

This is a delicious and fun recipe to make. Super quick, only a few ingredients, and options. What could be better! It tastes fabulous as well! This photo is of Pineapple Blueberry, but I've also made Pineapple Cherry, both are yummy!

Pineapple Berry Buckle

1 can fruit pie filling: can be cherry, raspberry, blueberry, peach)

1 can crushed pineapple

1 box white cake mix

2 squares butter

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 baking dish. Mix the pie filling and pineapple together and spread on the bottom of your dish. ext pour the dry cake mix over the top of fruit. Cut the butter into chunks and place over the top of the cake mix. Bake for 25 min. or until it's golden brown on top. Serve it warm with ice cream over the top, or whipped cream. Yum!

Swedish Pancakes

This is a family favorite recipe. My mother made these every time we had company in town. We usually ate them for dinner, but often had them as a breakfast. They are very similar to crepes, but they are a bit softer. This is one of those wonderful foods that my Mom is known for making!

For my little family, I triple this recipe and we have enough for dinner and a few left for breakfast. You can place them in a ziplock bag or cover with plastic to save for later. My kids and husband go crazy over these! They eat a ton of them, so there aren't many leftovers usually.

Mix:

4 eggs

1 1/2 c. milk

Add:

1 c. flour

1/4 c. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 T. oil

Mix well. Batter will be very thin. Pour 2 at a time onto a hot griddle.

Enjoy!

We always eat them with butter, powdered sugar and homemade freezer jam. But you can serve with other crepe-like fillings too: berries, whip cream, pudding, bananas, etc.

Yum!

Freezer Jam!

Strawberry Pineapple Freezer Jam

2 c. strawberries (mashed to the chunky/smoothness you like)

1/2 c. canned crushed pineapple with syrup

2 T. lemon juice

5 c. sugar

3/4 c. water

1 box powered sugar

1 box fruit pectin

Mix together your mashed strawberries, the crushed pineapple and lemon juice.

Thoroughly mix sugar and fruit and set aside.

Mix water and fruit pectin in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir into the fruit mixture.

Continue stirring about 3 minutes, although a few sugar crystals will remain. Quickly pour into jars using a funnel on top of the jar. Cover the jars right away with clean tight lids. Leave the jars on the counter until set, 24 hours.

Store in freezer. If jam will be used with 2-3 weeks then you can place in the fridge.

Makes about 7 pint size jars.

*This was a fun twist on regular Strawberry Freezer Jam, which we also love. It just has a slight pineapple taste to it, depending on how crushed your pineapple is.

Try this one out and let me know what you think!

Homemade Bagels

Homemade Bagels

4 c. bread flour

1 T. sugar

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 T. vegetable oil

2 tsp. SAF instant yeast

1 1/2 c. warm water

Mix everything into a bowl. Dough should be stiff. Add a bit more water if it's really stiff, add or the flour is not all the way mixed in.

Plop dough onto the counter, and knead for 10 minutes or until uniform and smooth.

Cut the dough into 8 sections and round them into balls. Let rest 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425.

Take each ball of dough and poke a hole thru the middle with your finger. Gently swirl it around your finger making the hole wider and wider. (Don't be afraid to stretch it good, as it expands and raises, the hole will get smaller.)

Let bagels rest on the counter covered by a towel for 20 minutes. Bring a pot of water to boil, and grease a baking sheet with pam.

After 20 min, your bagels should look puffy. It's time to boil them in water. Add 3-4 bagels to your pot. Don't do too many that they are crowded. Boil each bagel for 1 minute, then flip them over and boil one more minute.

Take bagels out and let them dry on a wire rack for 1 minute. Then set them on the oiled pan.

Place pan in the oven and bake for 10 minutes on each side. Let them cool for 20 minutes.

You can add any toppings you'd like. After taking them out of the boiling water sprinkle them with seeds, cheese, etc. Place them topping side up top bake first.

*These bagels are oh so yummy! They have a slightly crisp outside, and a chewy yummy inside. I plan to make a strawberry version. Mashing up some fresh berries and adding it to the mix at the beginning.

My family goes through bagels like you wouldn't believe. They are wonderful fresh out of the oven, or freeze in separate bags for school lunches! Enjoy.

If you make them, let me know how it goes for you!