After 12+ years.....

Let me tell you a little story about me and my amazing husband.

We were both young when we got married but Blake was eager to give me all that I desired. So one day while we were at a kitchen store I started drooling over a Bosch and all the attachments. I am pretty sure the sales guy said it could even clean itself. After Blake broke out the mop and cleaned up my drool he asked what I would do with a Bosch. I started thinking up some very elaborate plans of what I would do with this new toy if only it could be mine. Besides pizza (which is a given cause I LOVE PIZZA) I mentioned to Blake that I could make bread with the Bosch and that got him all excited, and I got a brand new toy. Never mind the fact that we had little money cause we were poor starving newlyweds, I had my toy.
Well, the years went by and I am sad to say there was no homemade bread. Every once in a while Blake would put in a soft reminder that he was still waiting for that bread. Well, I blamed the fact that I did not make bread on everything from I didn't have a recipe that I liked, to I had no wheat grinder, I am pregnant, to I am nursing, to I have too many kids, to the sky was just too blue (it really was that ridiculous).
Then about a year and a half ago, Blake got me the BEST wheat grinder in the hopes that I would finally make good on my promise. Well, nothing! Until about a month ago...... I got a great wheat bread recipe from a great friend and she stayed with me to help me make my first batch. And instead of her just doing it while I watched she was brilliant enough to tell me what to do and I did it. And it was SOOOOOOO good!!! And once you have this bread you just can't go back to store bought cheap-o bread, so I had to make it a part of my life. So now I make bread once a week and Blake tells me all the time it was worth the wait (actually I made that last part up, but he does tell me how much he LOVES that I make bread)!!!!

So now I must pass on this amazing creation of whole-wheat "to die for bread" (let it be known that you have all been warned, once you try this there is no going back).

Here is a shot of all the ingredients.



100% Whole Wheat Bread

Ingredients (combine and mix on speed 1 until well blended:
6 Cups Hot Tap Water
⅔ Cup Olive Oil (you can also use 1/3 C Olive Oil and 1/3 C Vegetable or Canola Oil so you are not using as much Olive Oil)
⅔ Cup Honey (if you use the same cup as you used with the oil, it won’t stick)
2 heaping Tbsp Dry Milk
2 Tbsp Wheat Gluten
2 Tbsp Dough Enhancer
6 Cups freshly milled Whole Wheat Flour (I prefer using = parts white and red wheat)
2 Tbsp Yeast
Switch to speed 2:
Add 2 Tbsp Salt

Slowly add 6-10 more cups of whole wheat flour while kneading. Sprinkle in the last of the flour ¼ cup at a time. Don’t get it too dry. When the dough pulls away cleanly from the sides of the bowl, you have enough flour. Continue to knead for 5 minutes. I grease the pans during this time. I use five 8 ½” x 4 ½” pans (this is what the lady I got this from uses and by the way hers are metal, but I use 5" x 9" glass pans hence why there is only 4 loaves instead of 5).


Shape into loaves and place in pans.


Allow to rise for 20-25 minutes or until nearly doubled.


Bake at 350°F for 35 minutes (because my pans are a bit bigger, I cook it for 40 minutes). Remove from pans immediately, rub with butter on top for a softer crust and allow to cool before storing in plastic bags.


Please be advised that this uses 12-16 cups of freshly milled flour. I have been using all white wheat, but I have tried the equal parts red and white and it is delicious as well. I hardly can tell the difference.

Anyway, ENJOY!!!!!

Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

I am sure by now you are all wondering if I make anything that I have not found on a blog. Well, yes I do! They just are nothing NEW to me so I don't think to take pictures. I have had many people ask for some of my recipes, which of course I got from someone else but at least they are not currently on a blog already. Anyway, I am working on those and will take pictures next time I make them.

But for now another meal from another blog. This one again comes from Marin over at Marin's Creations. This meal got rave reviews from the hubby and kiddos. So here it is...

Biscuits
2 cups flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/3 cup shortening
1 cup milk

Mix flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl. Cut in the shortening until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Gradually stir in milk until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl (you may not need a whole cup). Mix well. Flour your surface really well and dump the dough out of the bowl. Roll out to 1" thick. Cut biscuits with a large cutter or juice glass dipped in flour. Place biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 13-15 minutes at 425 degrees.



While those are baking make the gravy.

Sausage Gravy
3/4 lb. sausage roll
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:
1. Crumble and cook sausage in a large skillet over medium heat until browned.



2. Stir in flour until dissolved. Gradually stir in milk. Cook gravy until thick and bubbly. Season with salt and pepper.



3. Serve over hot biscuits.



So this is a keeper at our house. I think next time I will make the biscuit a little bigger around. But it won't be long before we have these again.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Bake

Alright, I guess it is time that I post something more on this blog. I had a cousin get a little antsy (by the way, Joe, I had no idea you were even reading this blog cause you never posted a comment), so I figured that I better get posting.

Here is another recipe I got from Marin's Creations which was delicious. And perhaps even better than being delicious it was super easy and fast to put together. So here is the recipe....

Ingredients:
2 pkgs Stuffing Mix (I used Stove Top)
1 can (10 3/4 oz) Cream of Chicken Soup
1 C Milk
1/2 tsp Pepper
3/4 lb sliced Deli Ham, cut into 1" strips (I just used some processed cubed ham)
8 Swiss Cheese Slices, or 1 C shredded ( I don't much like Swiss Cheese, so I used Mozzarella)
2 C Cheddar Cheese, shredded 
2 C Cooked Chicken, ( I used some bottled chicken I got from a friend, thanks Jennifer)

Directions (complete with photos, well of most of the steps)
1. Make the stuffing as directed on the package.
2. Combine the soup and milk in a bowl and set aside.
3. Grease a 9x13 baking dish and put the chicken in and sprinkle with pepper.

You can see the bottle I got my chicken from. Because it was a quart bottle I did not use all of it, so the smaller pan there on the counter is the other half I put away for another day.


Layer ham...


Cheeses...


Soup mixture....


and finally the prepared stuffing. Bake it for 45 minutes at 350 and VIOLA!!!!!






Here is a picture of it all served on a plate. Serve it with a roll and some veggies and it is a complete meal. Seriously, my husband loved this so much that within about two days he was asking when we were going to have it again. Thus we made it again shortly thereafter when we had some guests over. Both of which said guests DEVOURED it!!!!!

S'mores Brownies

I had this amazing dinner planned with some friends and was assigned to bring brownies. Before I started this blog I would have just ripped open a box of brownie mix and called that good enough, or better yet had one of my amazing daughters do it. But not anymore. I mean I have to get some posts onto here right. I think my blog is looking a little sad with just one post. So since I had already done my "food blog browsing," I knew I had a recipe in my "to try" folder for some yummy looking brownies.

Today's recipe actually comes from Amber and you can find her here

Here are all the ingredients I used.


1 box brownie mix (plus ingredients listed on the brownie box)
1 bag mini marshmallows
1 package Honey Graham Crackers(1 package out of the box)
As many milk chocolate chips as you want!

Grease the bottom of a 9x13 pan and then line with whole graham crackers. Mix brownie batter as instructed on Brownie Mix box, pour mixture over graham crackers, bake as directed on the Brownie box or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted in middle. Remove from oven when finished, set oven to Broil (low if it is available on your oven).


Cover brownies with marshmallows and sprinkle milk chocolate chips and graham cracker crumbs on top. Place under broiler and watch closely for 1 minute or so until marshmallows "toast". (Do not leave the kitchen-keep a close eye on this cause the marshmallows will burn fast!)


Let cool for 15min. before cutting. (You can cut them before that, but it will be a gooey mess!)

These are seriously delicious, so if you don't want to eat them all make sure you have plenty of people to share with cause it is WAY too easy to down the whole pan.

Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

As my first post I dare say this should be interesting, or at least comical. Let me just explain for a moment. If you look to the left you will see that I have 5 kids. They range from ages 11 to 2. My life gets a little crazy sometimes and dinner becomes, all too often, an "Oh, Crap! What are we going to have for dinner." As if having dinner is a rarity and not something that happens every single night. My husband is a helicopter pilot and works six nights a month, which means I have to have dinner ready before he leaves or he does not get much to eat, which as you can imagine is BAD, or he has to plan to buy dinner somewhere along the way which means McDonald's (UGH!). So tonight was one of THOSE nights. I had pulled chicken out of the freezer (I am a buy-in-bulk-while-on-sale-and-freeze-it kind of gal) I just had no idea what I was going to make with it. I had my oldest cook the chicken in our pressure cooker (which I totally love), while I created this blog (priorities, right?) and then came the hard part...... trying to decided what to make for seven hungry people and have it ready in 10 minutes. I raced onto my computer to my "to try" file and found a few recipes that called for chicken. Then I quickly narrowed it down to one that I could tweak and have ready in the least amount of time. The winner was this fabulous meal that I found over at Marin's Creations.

Since the chicken was already cooked I threw the chicken into my Bosch mixer with the wire whisks and shredded it. I then added about a half a cup of Franks Hot Sauce and I put in 3 Tbsp of ranch mix (because my 2-year-old is not ready for the heat... yet). My kids really liked it! They were eating the leftover chicken right out of the bowl. And yes you read that right, we actually had leftovers. I was not sure if three chicken breasts would be enough to feed us, but it was. I think next time I will make it according to the recipe and see how it goes. Definitely a KEEPER!




Ingredients:
2-3 chicken breasts
1 bottle of Frank's Red Hot BUFFALO Wing Sauce
1-2 Tbsp. dry Hidden Valley Ranch mix
2 Tbsp. butter
6 hoagie rolls

Directions:
Place chicken breasts in slow cooker, and pour 3/4 of the wing sauce and the ranch dressing mix over top. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.
Once the chicken has cooked, add the butter, then shred the meat with two forks. Pile the meat onto the hoagie rolls and add a splash of remaining sauce if desired.

I topped ours with lettuce, mozzarella cheese, bell peppers and onion. Also on mine I put ranch dressing on it cause I love it.

Also, as you can tell by the picture we did not have hoagie rolls on hand so we just used sandwich bread instead.