Herb Foccacia

Herb Foccacia
from Keeping Up


2 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast
1 large clove garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning (or 1/2 teaspoon each oregano, thyme and basil)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup warm water

In the bowl of a mixer, combine all ingredients with the dough hook attachment.  Mix at medium speed for 5 to 8 minutes or until dough is smooth and has pulled away from sides of the bowl.  Remove dough hook, cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow dough to rise for 30 minutes.

Deflate dough and allow to rest for 5 minutes.  Spread dough out by hand on an oiled baking sheet into roughly ad 8"x10" rectangle.  Use your knuckle to make indentations on dough every 1/2-inch, or make holes over entire surface with a fork.  Lightly brush dough's surface with olive oil and bake in a 425 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Stir together olive oil and salt and brush over the surface of hot bread.  Serve immediately.

{cooks note}

This bread is so good, especially with the herbs.  I didn't end up using the whole amount of flour the recipe called for.  Each climate and elevation with bring different results.  From start to finish it was 1 hour total.  It goes perfectly with this soup.

Grace's Banana Bread

Grace's Banana Bread
from Favorites


5 large ripe bananas
4 eggs
1 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

In mixing bowl, beat eggs; add bananas until smooth.  Add shortening and sugar and mix well.  Add flour, soda, and salt and combine.  Pour into 3 greased (8"x4") loaf pans and bake at 300 degrees for 60 to 65 minutes, or into 2 greased large (9"x5") loaf pans for 75 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in pans for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack.

{cooks note}

I love this banana bread recipe.  I like to use my mini loaf pans to bake them in. They make great little treats for neighbors and friends.  My kids love this stuff...especially when I make a simple powdered sugar frosting to drizzle over each piece.  Highly addictive I tell you.  I prefer my banana bread with walnuts, but my kids do not.  I make two with nuts and two without.  Stay tuned over the next few months for a more health conscious recipe that is just as good.

Raspberry Muffins

Raspberry Muffins

adapted from The Pioneer Woman's recipe for Blueberry Muffins

3 cups minus 2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
Heavy pinch of salt
Dash of Nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 generous cup plain, unflavored yogurt (throw in extra if you want)
2 cups fresh raspberries (or blueberries)
Vanilla Extract
Softened Butter, for muffin tins
Turbinado sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 385 degrees.

In a large bowl sift flour, baking soda, nutmeg, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In another large bowl whisk together sugar, oil, cap-ful of vanilla, egg, and yogurt. Add the dry ingredients and stir to a count of 10.

Add raspberries, reserving 1/2 cup, to mixture and stir 3 times.

Add mixture to well-buttered muffin pans. Sprinkle remaining berries on top and press down lightly. Sprinkle turbinado sugar over top. (Brown sugar can be used instead.)

Bake 20 to 25 minutes and allow to cool completely.

{cooks note}

I filled my parchment cups up with quite a lot of batter.  This recipe made 11 muffins total.  I also cooked mine a little too long (one of my kids may or may not have turned off the timer without me knowing--that seems to happen a lot).  I still think they turned out great.  They are best when served 5-10 minutes out of the oven.

I love raspberries.  Last weekend I happened to have an extra container of them, so I decided to make raspberry muffins.  I searched and searched for a good recipe, but couldn't find one I liked.  I decided to turn The Pioneer Woman's Blueberry Muffins into Raspberry Muffins.  

I made my own muffin liners with parchment paper.  I really like how they turned out.  I didn't fold my raspberries into the batter like the recipe calls for.  I thought it would break up the raspberries too much.  Instead, I filled each parchment cup with batter, lightly pushed 5 raspberries into each and sprinkled the tops with sugar.

Don't they look like they came straight from a bakery?  I really love this look.  

Don't make this if you have a sweet tooth.  It's definitely more on the side of breakfast/brunch food.  

Campbell House Scones And A Honey Giveaway

Campbell House Scones

from my cousin Tamara

3 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup firm butter (1 1/2 sticks), cut into small pieces

1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly grease a baking sheet, or line baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt until thoroughly blended.  Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles course cornmeal.  Make a well in the center of the butter/flour mixture and add the buttermilk all at once.  Stir mixture with a fork until the dough pulls away from sides of bowl.  With your hands, gather the dough into a ball and turn out onto a lightly floured board.  Divide dough into four parts and lightly pat each part into a circle.  Cut each circle into four parts and place the wedges on the prepared baking sheet.  Bake until golden, about 12 minutes.  Serve warm with Cox's honey.

Makes 16 scones.

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{cooks note}

We love honey at our house.  Not just any honey, but Cox's honey.  I grew up on it and have really never had anything else.  My parents always made sure we had a pail of it at college and when we got married.  They make wonderful gifts.  I'm speaking from experience.  I wanted to make a dessert with honey, but didn't want to spend too much time in the kitchen.  These scones were the perfect answer.  They are so good straight out of the oven with Cox's creamed honey smothered all over them.  Try them soon, or just as soon as you can get your hands on some Cox's honey.  I'll try and help you out with that soon. I promise.

 The ingredients.  I used half a cube of unsalted butter and it didn't make a difference.  

 Stir the dry ingredients together.

 Cold butter, cubed.

 Cut into the flour/butter mixture with a pastry blender, or two forks.

 Once the flour/butter mixture is about pea sized, you are ready to make your well for the buttermilk to go in.

 Gently pour the buttermilk into the middle of your well.

 With a fork, stir until the mixture pulls away from sides of bowl.

 Form dough into a large ball with hands.

 On a  lightly floured surface, divide dough into four parts and then shape each part into a somewhat flattened ball.  

 Cut each ball into fours.  I like to use my bench scrapper for that.  They are really cheap. I got mine at Ross for $4.  

 Divided sections of dough.

 Place all of the dough wedges on baking sheets.  Mine are parchment lined.

 Before baking the scones.  I was able to squeeze two more on the pan for a total of 16.

 After being baked.  Mine took closer to 15 minutes.

I put a little package of scones and Cox's honey together for a friend.  Guess what?  They use Cox's honey at their house too.  They had just run out of it, so she was happy to get a little more.  

I like the 5 pound pails.  They have different sizes to choose from on their website.  They also have clover honey. I prefer the creamed over the clover. 

 I just poured some of my honey into an 8 ounce deli container and sent that with the scones.  It really makes the perfect gift.  

 I wasn't kidding when I said it was creamy.  

Fresh hot scones smothered with Cox's creamed honey.  You really can't go wrong.

Did you know that honey, if stored at room temperature, can keep indefinitely?  Yes, yes it can.  You can read all about honey facts at Cox's website.  They give quite a few uses for it.   It's perfect for food storage too. I have five, 5 pound pails left.  That will last us another 6 or 7 months.  My kids eat a peanut butter and honey sandwich with Cox's honey about 5 times a week.  We go through a lot at my house.  Not to mention all of the baking I do with it.  It's great added to salad dressings, glazes for fruit, and of course breads and desserts.  You can find Cox's honey products at most grocery stores throughout Idaho and Utah. To see a list of stores, go here.  If you do not live near one of those locations, like me, you can order through their website, www.coxshoney.com, or through Walton Feed.  The honey is very reasonably priced and such good quality. I highly recommend looking into it. Once you taste it, there is no going back to the other honey you were buying.

Now for the exciting part.  Cox's would like to participate in a giveaway on this little blog of mine. They would like to giveaway one case of twelve 20-ounce containers of their creamed honey to one lucky reader.  That is a $70 value.  They will ship the honey right to your front door.  I think I will enter.  Just kidding. 

Here's how to enter:

Leave a comment sharing what food you like to eat with honey.  

That's easy, right?

Now go comment!

Oh, and you have until 11:59 pm on Thursday to enter.

Roundup Bubble Bread

Roundup Bubble Bread

from Favorites

2 pounds frozen Rhodes rolls, thawed

1/3 cup butter, melted

1/4 teaspoon dried basil, crushed

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoons chopped green onions

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 tablespoon fresh grated Parmesan cheese

Grease 12-cup bundt pan.  Arrange thawed rolls in pan.  In small bowl, combine melted butter, basil, parsley, green onions and garlic.  Pour over dough.  Cover with plastic wrap and towel and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

Sprinkle cheese over bread.  Bake at 375 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown.  Remove from oven and cool in pan for 10 minutes.  Turn out onto serving plate.  Pull apart to serve (do not slice).  Serve warm.

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{cooks note}

I thawed my rolls on a plate in the refrigerator overnight covered with saran wrap.  Make sure you spray the bottom of the plate with cooking spray and the part of the saran wrap that will touch the rolls.

The ingredients:  Frozen dinner rolls, Parmesan cheese, basil, butter, garlic, fresh parsley and green onions.

The first six ingredients mixed together.

Thaw dinner rolls before adding to the bundt pan to rise.

Pour the butter mixture over the thawed rolls and let rise.

Doesn't that look great?

After rolls have thawed, bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Mine only took about 14 minutes, but it all depends on your oven.

Can you see why this is called Roundup Bubble Bread?

People will rave about this bread.  I promise.

Almost-Famous Breadsticks

Almost-Famous Breadsticks

from the Food Network Magazine

For the Dough:

1 package active dry yeast (equals out to be 2 1/4 teaspoons)

4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon salt

For the Topping:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

pinch of dried oregano

Make the dough:  place a 1/4 cup of warm water in the bowl of a mixer, sprinkle in the yeast and set aside until foamy, about 5 minutes.  Add the butter, flour, sugar, salt and 1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons warm water; mix with the paddle attachment until a slightly sticky dough forms, 5 minutes.

Knead the dough on a floured surface until very smooth and soft, 3 minutes. Roll into a 2 foot long log; cut into 16 1 1/2 inch-long pieces.  Knead each piece slightly and shape into a 7 inch-long breadstick; arrange two inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Cover with a cloth and let rise in a warm area until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Make the topping: Brush the breadsticks with 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter and sprinkle with a 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt. Bake until lightly golden, about 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, combine the remaining 1/4 teaspoon of salt with the garlic powder and oregano.  Brush the warm breadsticks with the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons butter and sprinkle with the flavored salt.

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{cooks note}

These breadsticks are incredibly easy to make.  I don't knead my dough by hand much--maybe just a few kneads.  I let my Bosch do all the work.  I mix the dough for 5 minutes and that's it.  I had something cooking in my oven when the breadsticks were ready to rise, so I stuck my pans on the stove and covered them with a flour sack cloth--any cloth will do.  The heat from the oven that escapes from a few of the stove's elements helps the breadsticks rise must faster.  This usually only works if you have an electric oven.  I also add more than a pinch of oregano because of pinch is not nearly enough.  You can easily adjust this recipe to your own liking.

The lineup.

My two foot long log of dough.  I shaped this by hand in a matter of seconds.

I like to use a pizza cutter when cutting through bread dough.  Much easier and very clean.  I did not find that I had to knead each individual piece before shaping. I just pick up the dough and shape the breadstick in between my two hands and that is it.

My breadsticks just before they were ready to bake.  Warning: I am not good at shaping breadsticks.  If you have any suggestions, please let me know.  

Just out of the oven.  Brush with the butter mixture and you are good to go.  These are a great compliment to many meals.

Wheat Grinding

Meet my wheat grinder.

The Nutrimill. She is very easy to clean and very easy to clean up.

You pour the grain in the top (also known as the hopper)...

and out it comes freshly ground in the container at the bottom...after a few minutes.

This is where you insert the bowl. They have conveniently placed a "yes" and "no" to make sure you have the bowl in all the way. If you can still see the word "no" that means you need to push your bowl in a little more. Nifty, huh?

This is the bowl that captures all of the freshly ground wheat. It can hold up to 20 cups of flour.

This is the top of the bowl. The black circle is a sponge-like filter that captures unwanted particles from the grain.

This is the inside of the bowl. You can see some of my leftover flour. I never clean mine out when I am done with it. I just dump all of my flour into a storage container I have and put the bowl back in the Nutrimill.

Another convenient feature is the way the cord stores inside the machine. No messing with cords all over the place. They sure did get this one right. I have never had a problem with mine going back inside either...and I have had mine for 4 years.

This is white hard wheat.

This is red hard wheat.

You can choose to have super fine OR course flour. The Nutrimill has the ability to grind super fine flour (much finer than any other impact mill) and also adjust to produce the courser flour you may need for things such as cornbreads. Nutrimill has a 400% range of adjustment from fine to course, ten times greater than other mills. The possibilities are endless!

I LOVE white hard wheat because of its sweetness; however, I like the strong flavor of red hard wheat. Sometimes I mix the two together when I make whole wheat bread, or sometimes I just stick to the white hard wheat. Either way, you will have a great end result that is very good and nutritious. If you want to read more about the differences between the two wheats, go here.

Go here to get your very own.  Valentine's Day?

{Apron giveaway ends tonight!  Go here to enter}