Suzanne McDaniel
MelissaFiled under: Thrify Thursday
And oh MY are they GOOD!!!
So, first gather your ingredients. This recipe didn’t make very many so I ended up doubling the recipe. This COULD have been because the kids lost my rolling pin and I didn’t realize that until I started making them.. so I had to MUSH the dough with my hands.. which led to it being quite a bit thicker than otherwise I’m guessing.
Recipe
For Pie Crust
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter, softened
3 tbsp. cold water
For Filling
Jam (your choice) (I ended up using just the strawberry and it’s yummy)
For Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
milk to thin
Sprinkles
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Combine flour and salt in a large bowl. Add shortening and butter and blend with a fork, pastry cutter, or your hands. Blend until mixture is fairly coarse. Add water, 1 tbsp. at a time, gently mixing dough after each addiction until dough forms a ball.
2. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and roll into a square/rectangle. To about 1/8 thickness. Cut out long strips about 2 inches wide and 3 inches long. Repeat until dough runs out.
3. Take one pie crust rectangle and lace 1 tsp. of jam on top. Cover with another piece of pie crust and crimp all four edges. Repeat with the rest of dough. Place Pop-tarts on a baking sheet with parchment paper, and bake for 7-8 minutes. (mine took much longer to cook.. I just kept resetting the timer and checking them until they started to lightly brown)
4. While pop-tarts are baking, make glaze. Place powdered sugar in a bowl. Pour milk slowing until it has a consistancy of really thick syrup. 1/2 a tbsp. to 1 tbsp. might be enough.
5. Once pop-tarts are done and cooled, top with glaze. Sprinkle and decorate with colorful sprinkle
and enjoy! Yum!
Filed under: Friday Favorites
My new favorite Hamburger Bun recipe. This makes PERFECT hamburger buns. SO good and quite easy as well.
Ingredients
- 2 cups warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 2 (.25 ounce) packages instant yeast (I used two tablespoons regular yeast)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 6 cups all-purpose flour, or as needed
Directions
- In a large bowl, stir together the milk, margarine, warm water, sugar and yeast. Let stand for about 5 minutes.
- Mix in the salt, and gradually stir in the flour until you have a soft dough. Divide into 25 pieces, and form into balls. Place on baking sheets so they are 2 to 3 inches apart. Let rise for 20 minutes. (or just let them rise longe rif you use regular yeast like me)
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Bake the rolls for 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool slightly, then split them in half horizontally to fill with your favorite burgers.
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 tablespoon minced onion
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder (okay to be honest I probably used 1 tablespoon)
- 1.5 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
- 3/4 cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar brown sugar (I probably used 3)
- salt to taste
- ground black pepper to taste
Directions
- In a medium skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef with minced onion, then drain off liquids
- Stir in the garlic powder, mustard, ketchup, and brown sugar; mix thoroughly. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
It was delicious!
Filed under: Friday Favorites
We eat oatmeal almost every morning for breakfast. The quick easy flavored packets kind. I have an electric kettle so that’s a breakfast that takes about 2 min’s to complete and we all like it really well. In an effort to find a cheaper option I’m looking through baked oatmeal recipes. This was the first one and it’s super yummy! Made more than enough for us all to have breakfast for several days (I doubled the recipe) This does need to sit overnight so plan accordingly.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup butter
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg or cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 3 cups oatmeal (regular or quick)
Directions
-
Melt butter.
-
Grease 1 1/2 quart baking dish and drop in eggs and beat well.
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Add brown sugar, baking powder, vanilla, nutmeg or cinnamon, and salt. Mix well, no lumps.
-
Whisk in butter and both measures of milk, then add oats.
-
Stir well, and refrigerate overnight.
-
Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 35-45 min, or until set in the middle.
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Serve hot with warm milk poured over.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Make these now.. thank me later
These are the best meatballs EVER. Seriously.. I crave them sometimes and after I make them I’ll sneak one out of the fridge and eat it cold after midnight (I of course would NOT be doing that now with the one’s we had leftover from dinner.. nope.. not me)
This is a HUGE recipe.. it fills up 2 9×13 casserole dishes so it makes a great meal for company, potlucks, or planned leftovers. 
I like them served with mashed potatoes and they are really good cold on a sandwich the next day for lunch.
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3 lbs ground meat
1 13 oz. can evaporated milk
2 cups oatmeal
2 eggs
a healthy amount of minced onion (calls for 1 chopped onion but I like it better with minced onion instead)
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. chili powder
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sauce.. 2 cups ketchup
1 & 1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoon liquid smoke
a bit more minced onion.
Mix meat, milk, oatmeal, eggs, onion, garlic powder, salt, pepper & chili powder. Shape into balls, put meatballs in baking dish. Make sauce of ketchup, brown sugar, liquid smoke & minced onion. Heat sauce till sugar dissolves, pour over meatballs. Bake 1 hour at 350
This is SO easy and SO good. I highly recommend making extra sauce.. like not quite doubling it but making extra.. like 1.5 times what it calls for or something.
This is one of those hard to mess up recipes.. I just dump and it’s ready to go about 10 mins after you started.
Filed under: Uncategorized
This has got to be just about the simplest recipe I have ever tried.
Your ingredients..
2 eggs,
1/3 cup veg. oil,
1 cake mix.. any flavor.
Keep back about 3 tablespoons of the cake mix,
add the remaining cake mix, eggs, and oil to a bowl and mix well. (hint.. do not use a whisk.. this is a very thick cookie batter and just gets all stuck up in the whisk.. ask me how I know) if the mixture is too thin then add in the remaining cake mix.
Form into 1 inch rounded balls and drop onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for approximately 7 minutes or until slightly browned, being careful not to overcook.
And voila.. the easiest cookies ever!
Filed under: Make It Monday
These turned out quite yummy! I’m not going to post instructions to the icing recipe I used though because I wasn’t overly impressed. I would suggest a yummy cream cheese icing but the buttercream recipe I’ve posted before would also work well.
Credit to the recipe goes to Picky Palate
(water not pictured )
1 box Pillsbury Devils Food Cake Mix
4 eggs
1/2 Cup vegetable oil
1/2 Cup water
1 small box instant chocolate pudding mix
1/2 Cup sour cream
1 Cup chocolate chips
3 4 oz boxes Jr Mints (look for them on sale, I found them for $1.00)
Favorite Vanilla or Cream Cheese Frosting
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand or electric mixer, add the cake mix, eggs, oil, water, pudding mix, sour cream and chocolate chips.
Mix on medium for 2 minutes or until well combined and somewhat thick.
Scoop into 24 paper lined muffin cups. (personal tip from me.. spray your liners w/ non-stick spray.. helps the cupcake come out easier)
Press 3 JR mints into the center of each cupcake center. (personal tip from me.. helped to put all the mints on and THEN press them all down on all cupcakes at the same time.. kept my fingers less messy and icky feeling because I wasn’t playing in dough, reaching for mint, repeat)
Bake for 22-25 minutes or until toothpick comes mostly clean from center. Let cool completely.
Frost with your favorite vanilla or cream cheese frosting.
Makes 24 cupcakes
Filed under: Uncategorized
Dinner in an envelope.
You’ll need, chicken breast, some veggies, and some foil.
Cut the chicken breasts into more chicken tender type sizes just to speed up how fast it cooks..
Chop up your veggies.
tear your foil into however many pockets you want.. spray with olive oil, then put your chicken, veggies, and sprinkle w/ salt and pepper.. (I also used some lemon juice and rosemary)
I probably should have taken a picture of a diff. pouch. This is my husbands so it’s supersized. LOL
Wrap up and pinch the ends so it’s airtight.. place in oven and cook for about 50 mins to an hour at 350 degrees
and voila.. a complete easy meal..
Filed under: Uncategorized
So, on to the recipe.. 
5 1/2 cups hot (for yeast temp) water
1/3 cup safflower oil (always do the oil before the honey.. this gets the measuring cup all slippery and the honey slides right out instead of sticking)
1 cup honey
2 Tbsp yeast
mix those together in mixer just enough to mix together
add 2 cups of flour..
mix and let sit covered for 10 mins so the yeast can sponge up.. this is a quick easy way to see if your yeast is working. Before you let it sit the mixture will be very soupy. After the 10 mins are up it should be spongy/ foamy looking and take up more of the bowl.
before..
after..
add 3 Tbsp Dough enhancer (I really recommend NOT skipping this.. I have tried the bread w/o it and it’s not near as good)
2 Tbsp Salt (sea salt kicks regular salts booty)
add flour (rough guide.. 12-15 cups) with your mixer running. Just add a bit at a time so you can stop when it looks done. The dough will be pulling away from the sides but not completely.. I do it until I can catch glimpses of the bottom curve of the bowl.
knead for 8 mins.. this was in a bosch mixer so it will need to be longer by hand or a kitchen aid. (kneading in the mixer for that long allows the gluten to be fully developed so that only one rising is needed)
Spray your pans w/ non-stick spray.
Once the kneading is finished.. grab a knife and your oil.. Pour a small amount of oil onto the countertop. Oil works better than flour for this step because it keeps you from drying your bread out by adding more flour.
dump the dough onto the countertop where you oiled it and form it into one long loaf. I then cut it into equal sections for each loaf..
form loaves. I tried to take pictures of how the lady that introduced me to grinding my own grain taught me. Kinda hard to demonstrate via pictures though. But I’ll try..
take one of the sections of large loaf and form it into a quick ball. make the top nice and smooth by pulling dough from the top and tucking it under the bottom.. stretching the top. Be sure to keep a sort of ball shape by tucking dough under on all sides.
a quick picture of what the bottom looks like
place the dough in pans and let rise until doubled (I did 4 loaves and 6 hamburger buns)
a good test to know when your dough is finished rising is to lightly push your finger into the bread leaving an indention. If the indention quickly fills back in let it rise more, if it stays it’s done rising.
cook for 30 mins at 350.. although it needs to cook longer in my oven and at 330.. until it starts to brown..
and.. the first slice! (and yes it’s upside down LOL.. after I take the loaves out I let them cool off and dry a bit upside down.. the bottom is a bit moist after cooking and they tend to sink down and get shorter if they rest upright)
Filed under: Uncategorized
HAVE- Rubbermaid Premier Food Storage
I’m really liking these. I think I’ll get two more of the 9 cup size to round out my stash. They are supposed to resist stains which I’m hoping they do, I love the way the lids stack, and best of all, they are actually quite pretty! After ditching a lot of old mismatched tupperware I’m wondering why they didn’t always make this stuff in clear? So much more practical!
I bought my set at Target and I’m guessing Walmart carries them as well.
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And I’m going to do something a bit diff. this week, I’ll post a want and a cheaper version of it that I have.
WANT–
I REALLY REALLY want fiesta ware casserole dishes, okay to be honest I really really want fiestaware plates, mugs, silverware, bakers, cake stands, pitchers, oh wait.. back to the subject at hand. I needed a new casserole dish and love the look of all things fiestaware but did NOT have the money to spend on one right now. $60+? Yikes!
So, I went to target and found these.. for just $14! Much more affordable. I may not like them QUITE as well.. but when either I or a kiddo breaks one (which is sure to happen) I won’t run screaming into the street.
Filed under: fresh off the grill friday
Grilled Burger, grilled onion, and mushrooms. Served with fresh tomatoes from the farmers market and on a freshly made bun 
with oven baked fries. SO good!
The bread recipe will be coming on Monday. To make fries I just wash up potatoes and slice them leaving the skins on. Toss them with some olive oil and sea salt then sprinkle on some pepper. Bake at 375 until done. Very good and much healthier than the fried alternative.
