Wow, it has been over a month since I posted last and I swear, I've been cooking pretty much every night...it's just been crazy. I'm seeing a preview of what my life will be like sooner rather than later, with all five of the kids being in school and sports and activities...and we are still only in kindergarten and preschool! Ahhhh! Oh well, we are very blessed. Here is what I made for dinner last night and I liked it, my kids didn't eat much of it but that really doesn't say much as they are picking eaters regardless of what I make!
Growing up my mom would make us chicken roll, I don't remember what all it had in it other than cream cheese and chicken and you dip it in cream of chicken soup although I'm sure I have her recipe...somewhere. Anyhow, well talking to my sister Jessica the other day and she said they had chicken roll the other night and when she said it it sounded so good...so I decided to make it, but I wanted to desperately use up some of the things in my fridge so I made my own version...
Italian Chicken Roll:
1/2 batch Never Fail Dinner Rolls found here http://simplehomegourmet.blogspot.com/2010/06/never-fail-dinner-rolls.html
1 pkg cream cheese softened
4 boneless skinless chicken breast marinated in Italian dressing seasoned with salt and pepper then grilled and sliced
1/4 cup pesto
2 T sun dried tomatoes, dice small
1 cup mozzarella cheese grated
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated
salt and pepper to taste
egg wash
Alfredo or marinara for dipping(heated through)

Roll out the dough to a large rectangle. In a bowl combine the pesto, sun dried tomatoes and cream cheese, spread onto the center of the dough leaving about three inches on each side. Top with the cooked sliced chicken, top with the cheeses season with salt and pepper. Cut 1 in slices in the dough on the long sides of the rectangle leaving the ends in tack. fold ends over then weave or braid the strips of dough over the end pieces, creating a braided loaf. Coat with egg wash and sprinkle with more Parmesan cheese if desired. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes until golden brown and bread is cooked through. Serve with warm marinara or Alfredo for dipping.  Enjoy!

Grandma Grace Macbeth

This post is in honor of my Grandmother who passed away this week. 99% of my readers will already have this recipe but I wanted something to remind me of my grandma. I started by showing the kids a picture of Grandma, I explained to them that she died this past week and that mommy was really sad. I explained that it is okay that she died because she is with Grandpa and Heavenly Father and that she is happy. I then told them we were going to do something fun that will help us remember Grandma. I then told them that Whenever Grandma Macbeth came to visit I would wake up in the mornings and she would be in the kitchen rolling out scones to make. I loved it! We would cut them into different shapes and fry them up. I rember Grandma always cut them into rectangles then slit the middle and inverted one end into the other to twist it a bit. We would eat them with honey butter and jelly and powdered sugar. Such found memories. So then we made them and I decided I would share it with you all... even though you probably already have the recipe!

Scones:

3 T yeast

1/2 cup warm water

2 cups milk, scalded

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp salt

3 eggs

6 cups flour

Scaled milk and allow to cool. Combine yeast and water and set aside. Cream sugar and shortening. Add remaining ingredients and combine well. Allow to sit in the fridge for at least an hour or over night. Roll out on to a floured surface and cut into strips. Fry till golden brown on each side. Serve warm with honey butter, jelly and powdered sugar.

I Love you Grandma and I will miss you! Give Grandpa a hug for me and till we meet again!

Baking....

Aghh... anyone who knows me knows that unless it is rolls or a cake I don't bake. Never really have. Hated, no utterly despised it in school...perhaps it was partly because of the hour inwhich the classes met, no college student should be getting up at 5:30am. Mainly though I don't like to measure, I simply don't have the patience for baking...
However I decided to make a southern meal tonight for dinner, and wanted some biscuits to go with it. So I found this ooober easy recipe and surprisingly they didn't turn out half bad!

2 cups all purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup shortening*
1 cup milk

Heat oven to 400`. In a mixing bowl combine dry ingredients and add shortening till small pea like size. Add milk and mix just till milk is absorbed. Lightly dust the surface and gently form into a ball and roll to about an ince thick. cut out and coat tops with an egg was. Bake for 12-15 minutes till golden brown.
* I didn't have shortening (strange I know) I really didn't feel like hauling all four kids to the grocery store so I used Butter, they will taste better anyways :) I used 1/4 cup plus 2 T because the butter has water in it where as the shortening does not. Happy Baking!

Zuchinni Bread

I love the smell of zuchinni bread on a brisk fall day! I didn't plant any zuchinni this year, not sure why but luckily my father in law did and he is sharing the wealth! While Darwin and the 2 older boys went cutting wood this morning Parker, Emery and I made zuchinni bread.

2 cups grated zuchinni
3 eggs
1 cup oil
4 T melted butter
2 cup flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves

Combine wet ingredients and set aside. Combine dry ingredients and sift together. Combine wet and dry and mix just till combined. Grease bread pan well and fill. Bake at 350` for 70 minutes or until baked completely through.
Makes one loaf

Fresh Blueberries

one of Darwin's co-workers parents have a blueberry farm in Eugene. Every year I help him sell the Blueberries over here in Burns. Except this year...their crop got some type of fungus and they didn't have a good crop this year which was so unfortunate. However, they love us so much they still brought us a big bag full of the yummy balls as Denver calls them!! One of Darwin's favorite things is blueberry pancakes, I perfer blueberry muffins and have a pan of them in my oven right now! I like this simple recipe because there isn't any cinnamon or nutmeg, it is just blueberry goodness. I've also made this before with a cream cheese frosting that I have drizzled over teh tops while still warm as a glaze. Super yummy!


Blueberry muffins

2 cups flour
2 T baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 stick butter melted
1 egg beaten
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cups blueberries

combine dry ingredients in mixing bowl, combine the wet in a seperate bowl. combine the wet and the dry and mix just till combined, don't over mix clumps are ok! Add blueberries and fold in. Grease a muffin tin and scoop into 12 muffin tins. Bake a 350` for 10 minutes then remove from oven and sprinkle the tops with some sugar then return to oven and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Allow to cool and enjoy!

Never Fail Dinner Rolls

These rolls are the best and they really are never fail! You can also use this recipe for a braided loaf or just do it as the crossiants. I've done it with an herb butter and cheese butter and just butter all are great! Super Yummy!

2 T yeast
1/2c warm water
1 1/2 c canned milk*
1 c very warm water
2 eggs
1/2 c sugar
1 tsp salt
6-8 c flour
2 T butter, melted plus extra for later

Dissolve yeast in the 1/2 c water. In large bowl combine very warm water and sugar, and salt. Mix till dissolved. Add eggs and milk and then the yeast. Add 3 c flour then the melted butter. Add 3-5 more cups of flour. add enough flour till it forms a soft ball of dough, which will seperate from the side of the bowl. Depending on the altitude and mositure in the air will depend on how much flour you need. I use 8 here. Knead on a floured surface until smooth and elastic. Let rise for 1 1/2 hours. Seperate the dough into 3 sections. roll out each section and coat with the reserved melted butter. Use a pizza cutter and cut into wedges. Roll each wedge into a crossiant starting with the wide edge. brush tops with more melted butter. Place on pan and allow to rise about 30 minutes or until they double in size. Bake at 400` for 10-12 minutes.

* if you don't have canned milk you can use regular milk, I perfer using whole milk if I don't have canned. Using the canned milk just makes for a richer dough.

Conference Breakfast

So for Conference this year we invited friends over for Breakfast and to watch the morning session. My dear friend Michelle makes this fabulous Buttermilk syrup it is SO good and yesterday while I was thinking what to make all I could think of was this syrup! I wanted to make something that would go great with the syrup, so I came up with this stuffed french toast recipe. It sure was yummy!!

Stuffed French Toast

French toast bread
6 eggs
2 T milk
1 1/2 T cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground clove
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 T vanilla

For the Stuffing:
1 pkg cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup strawberry preserves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
sliced strawberries

Combine the french toast ingredients and proceed to dip the bread in the egg mixture and cook on a gridle top. Flip to cook the other side, when cooked set aside. Combine cream cheese, preserves and cinnamon. Combine till well mixed. If the cream cheese isn't soft enough nuke in microwave for 30 seconds. Spread a layer of the cream cheese mixture on one side of each piece of french toast. Then top with some sliced strawberries then another piece of frnech toast. Place on a baking sheet and place in a 350` oven for about 5 minutes to heat through. Serve warm with syrup and extra strawberries on top.