Day of Baking!

Today, I made homemade bagels, sweet bread, and chocolate pudding cake. I am planning on making banana oatmeal muffins sometime tomorrow, so I'll include those here too.

Bagels: The homemade bagel recipe comes from Tammy's Recipes, at tammysrecipes.com, and they are so delicious!
Ingredients:
1 1/2c warm water
2 tbsp yeast
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp salt
4 1/4c bread flour

Put all of the above in a bread machine on the dough setting. I typically use half whole wheat flour and half bread flour. When dough is ready, divide and shape into 12 balls. Let rest 5 minutes. Make a hole in the dough to make a bagel shape, cover and let rest 10 minutes. While resting, boil about 8 cups of water. Drop 2 bagles at a time in the water for 45 seconds, flipping halfway through. Drain bagels on a wire rack and brush with egg white (1 egg white is enough for all the bagels). At this point, I topped a few with a cinnamon and sugar mixture. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes, turning the cookie sheet halfway through.

Sweet Bread: The sweet bread recipe I made completely in the bread machine. It tastes great, although I expected it to be a little sweeter.
Ingredients:
1c milk
1 egg
2 tbsp margarine
1/3c sugar
3/4 tsp salt
3c bread flour
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (one packet)

Put all of the above in a bread machine and set to the 'sweet bread' setting. You can also do the dough cycle and then bake at 350 for 20 minutes. The latter makes for a much better presentation, but is a little more work.

Chocolate Pudding Cake: This chocolate pudding cake is my default dessert to bring to anything, because it is so easy and delicious! I got the recipe from my old roommate Alison Babb a few years ago.
Ingredients:
1 box yellow moist cake mix
1 box Jello pudding - vanilla
1 box Jello pudding - chocolate
1/3c oil - I used smart balance brand
1 egg
1c water
1/2c chocolate chips - I used about 3/4c

Mix everything together, saving the chocolate chips until last. I typically make in a Bundt pan, which cooks for 35-40 minutes at 350. This time, I made an 8" round and an 8x8 square and baked for about 25 minutes.

Banana Oatmeal Muffins - This recipe is from my wonderful friend, Cate, who is one of the few readers of this blog :) I am actually making these muffins for her!
Ingredients:
1/2c butter/oil
2 eggs
1c bananas
1/2c warm honey
1/4c vanilla yogurt (or buttermilk)
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp salt
1c quick oats

Mix first 4 ingredients with a wooden spoon. Add yogurt and baking soda, mix well. Combine flour, salt and oats separately and add to banana mixture. Bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes. I think this makes 12 muffins.

Our house is overflowing with baked goods!

Calzones

Tonight, I made calzones using Pillsbury crescent 'recipe creations'. These are sheets of crescent dough without the perforations so they are easier to use for things other than rolls. I couldn't find a recipe that I liked itself, so I combined a few and it turned out pretty well. I laid out one sheet of crescent dough, then spread out a layer of pepperoni, leaving about a one inch border on all sides. Then I added 3 slices of provolone cheese and about 1/2 c of shredded mozzarella cheese. I topped with another sheet of crescent dough, and fluted the edges with a fork. I baked at 375 for about 17-18 minutes.

Both Bart and I really liked these, although I will definitely add more filling next time. I think doubling up the layers would make a big difference, and potentially adding ground beef. We dipped the calzone pieces in warm spaghetti sauce.

I also baked quite a few other things today, since I was working from home and had no work to do, but I will post those separately.

Happy New Year!

Red Lobster's Cheddar Bay Biscuits

I got this recipe from a girl at my parents' church in Austin, and it is delicious and so easy.

Ingredients:
2c. Bisquick
2/3c milk
1c shredded cheddar cheese (less if you want)
1/4c parmesan
1/4c butter, melted
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp parsley flakes

1. Mix Bisquick, milk and cheddar until smooth, soft dough. Beat for 30 seconds. Drop dough by heaping spoonfuls onto cookie sheet.
2. Bake at 450 about 10 minutes or until golden brown.
3. Mix butter, garlic powder & parsley together. Brush over warm bscuits before removing from cookie sheet.

Makes 12 biscuits

You might notice that the parmesan in the ingredients is not listed in the instructions...thats the way I received this recipe, and I'm not sure if it belongs with the dough or with the butter, but I usually but it in with the butter. I'm sure it would be good either way.

After Thanksgiving, we brought home some extra ham and used that to make ham biscuits with these...probably one of the best (and easiest) things I have ever cooked. I am hoping to have extra ham at Christmas to take home so we can have a repeat! Enjoy!

Breakfast for Dinner

Last night, I made breakfast for dinner. Breakfast foods are one of my favorite things to cook, right behind all desserts :) I had a can of Grands biscuits that I'm pretty sure were bought quite awhile ago, so I decided to form dinner around them. We had sausage biscuits (with Jennie-o turkey sausage), scrambled eggs, and bacon. When it came time for the eggs, I did not find them in my fridge, but knew I had bought them at the store this weekend...it turns out, I left them in car after the store! Ugh. I immediately threw them in the dumpster without even looking at (or smelling) them. So, I went over to Tom Thumb to get some eggs, and was thrilled when I found Jennie-o turkey sausage links marked down to 99 cents! (regular price was $4.75) I also got some turkey cutlets marked down to 99 cents, which is perfect because I just saw a Rachael Ray show where she used turkey cutlets, so be on the lookout for that maybe next week! Hope you are all having a great time preparing for Christmas...I hope to find some Christmas-y recipes to post here on the blog sometime soon!

Cake Mix cookies

In preparation for the cookie swap tomorrow, I made some cookies from a cake mix like Catherine always does. I used a reduced sugar yellow cake mix, 2 eggs, 1/3c of oil, and about 2/3 bag of chocolate & caramel swirl chips. All you do is mix all the ingredients together and bake at 325 for about 10 minutes. These turned out pretty well, and I think I will make some more tonight with red and green M&Ms to swap at the party. Yum!