Never Fail Bread Recipe

Per request by Rebecca, and since my whole neighborhood knows it already, I am posting my bread dough recipe. I use it for bread, rolls, cinnamon rolls, pizza crust, and scones. It's up to you, really.
My dear mother has been using the same recipe for years and so have I, since I was about 12, maybe earlier. Over the years I have altered ingredients and found that there are healthier substitutions that work. So here goes.

Whisk 1 egg in mixing bowl, or use 1/4 milled flax with 1 Tbsp. hot water for egg substitute and mix until gooey.
Add 1/4 c. shortening, veggie oil, or coconut oil.
Add 1/2 c. sugar, honey, Demerara, or whatever you prefer for sweetener.
Pour 4 c. piping hot water over it all and stir.
Sprinkle 2 Tbsp. yeast and let stand for 5 minutes to proof.
Add 2 tsp. salt.
1 cup at a time while mixing, add 10 cups of flour. If you choose to use a portion of wheat flour, use 3 Tbsp. yeast earlier.
Knead dough until incorporated, if hand kneading, turn 200 times. Let rise in greased bowl or on counter, covered with a damp cloth until double in size. Divide into quarters and shape into loaves. Place in greased bread pans and allow to rise to the top of the pan. Bake in preheated oven at 350 drgrees for approx. 24 minutes. Immediately dump loaves out of hot pans and cool. Do not allow to cool in pans or you will be sorry. Also, do not cut into loaves until cooled mostly through, as this causes the center to collapse into dough. Enjoy warm with butter and homemade jam. Mmmm mmmm good.

Pizza Rolls

This is a quick dinner idea if you're quick at getting some bread dough ready! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Roll your dough in a rectangle, smother with your favorite tomato sauce, a row of lunchmeats, a sprinkle of spinach leaves, and cover with grated cheese. Roll rectangle up like cinnamon rolls and slice to about 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick, then place on greased baking sheet. Douse each roll with some parmesan cheese and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 20 minutes! Voila!

Homemade Frozen Yogurt

For some time I have been making my own yogurt at home. Today I got the clever idea of freezing it. Not sure how it will turn out, but I know it is healthy!

I have previously posted a yogurt recipe that I continue to use and alter. Here's the skinny in how you do it quickly.
In a crockpot on WARM setting, combine 4 cups pasteurized milk. If using raw milk, boil for one minute before placing in crockpot.
Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup your favorite live yogurt culture, Vanilla or Plain. I have used many varieties, from Great Value brand to Chobani, to Stonyfield Farms.
Add a pinch of your favorite seasonings/flavors. I used cardamom,
cinnamon, and vanilla extract.
Lastly, add up to 1 cup of powdered instant milk, depending on the thickness of yogurt you prefer. I love it thick, so I add a lot.
Whisk all ingredients together and place lid on crockpot.
The mixture CANNOT cook. It is imperative that the warm setting on your crockpot does not kill the live cultures. To avoid this, I occasionally remove the lid and stir to release some heat.
Let the yogurt sit for 6-8 hours. When you check it there should be some separation of whey on top. This can be remixed in, but I prefer it thicker, so I drain it off. You may also use cheesecloth to strain off the whey if you have any.
You can eat it as it is now, sweeten it first, or add fruit, and freeze. I chose to add drained canned peaches from this summer's food storage and blend it all up together is a blender. Then I placed it in a container to freeze. If you choose to sweeten it, I recommend using honey, or Stevia. But you can also use refined granulated sugar.

Yogurt Cheese Balls

I am expounding upon my homemade yogurt recipe. If taken a step further, one can make a creamy yogurt cheese. This is the easiest (and only) cheese I know how to make. You will need cheesecloth, a deep large bowl, and a string or twistie tie. Also helpful is a permanent hook fixture and paperclip. Fold your cheesecloth in half and place in bowl. Fill with your homemade yogurt, however much will fit, then gather up the cloth and tie with the string. You can then hook the paperclip onto the tie and place on hook with bowl placed underneath to catch dripping whey. I didn't have a hook to use, so I let the yogurt hang over the side of the bowl at the top. I made sure to drain the whey accordingly so that it would not soak the ball of yogurt. The instructions I followed suggested no refrigeration while this drains for 24 hours for a more sour cheese, but if you don't enjoy the sour I guess you could let it drain in the refrigerator. After 24 hours when you unwrap the yogurt you will find a soft, spreadable cream cheese with live yogurt culture. You can use it as is, or continue to season with onion powder, garlic salt, ranch dressing powder, bacon bits, chopped nuts, or whatever you prefer. I rolled mine into cheese balls after seasoning and covered with chopped walnuts. Yum!

Homemade Yogurt

I have wondered how to make yogurt for months now, and I guess I have been too lazy to research how to do it until recently!  I just youtubed a few tutorial videos and mixed up a few methods.  There a some that use the stove/oven and some that use solely the crockpot.  I chose to mix in order to achieve the fastest method, because my attention span in the kitchen is limited!  Also, the tutorials all seemed to result in a yogurt product that was runny, even almost a liquid.  I don't like the idea of drinking my yogurt all the time, so I kept my ears perked for what is used as a thickener and doubled the amount used.  Also, I doubled the amount of starter yogurt culture and halved the amount of milk.  This resulted in half as much yogurt which was likeably thick enough for me to eat!  Hooray!  I was thrilled it worked on my first try, especially considering that I added vanilla extract to enhance the flavor a bit.  It still did not taste like vanilla flavor, but it wasn't as noticeably tart as I think it could have been because of this.  I will list the recipe ingredient amounts in the amounts I used to get a thicker, creamier yogurt. 

4 cups milk (whole, 2%, skim, whatever)
1 tbsp. vanilla
6 Tbsp. Plain yogurt w/ live cultures and no sweeteners
6 Tbsp. powdered milk
-combine milk and vanilla and bring to a rolling boil on the stove
-let cool to body temperature (test it on your wrist)
-pour into a crockpot on WARM setting (ideally this should be 110 degrees)
-Add remaining ingredients and whisk well, let it remain covered for 6-9 hours
-scoop into containers and refrigerate

ENJOY!  Flavor may be enhanced with added jams or apple butter, similar to Fruit on the Bottom yogurt at the store. 

Perhaps next time I make it I will post pictures to help you out. 

Meat and Taters

I have a one year old who has somehow bonded with a sweet potato! He carried it around for awhile. I put it on the counter at nap time and gave him his bottle. He wanted the sweet potato back. I let him sleep with it...?!!   My husband said something about him playing with a piece of meat for his next new toy, because he is a meat and taters kind of a boy!  So I couldn't resist letting him play with a piece of meat from the freezer just long enough to get a picture!

Trevor's Tower

For those of you who aren't around toddlers too often, you may think it is the tower building Trevor is interested in when you see this picture.  If you are around toddlers day in and day out, then you will know all too well that Mommy is the one who built the tower, because all Trevor wants to do it tumble it down!