Easter Basket Cookies

I saw these on Facebook on the Perfectly Imperfect Parents page and just had to share. Originally, I was just going to pin it so I could find it again later to do with my kids, but that didn't work. So I'm posting them here, instead. I plan to make these next week with my children and will let you know how they turn out!



Ingredients:
1 roll (16.5 oz) refrigerated sugar cookies
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
colored sugar
1 container (12 oz) fluffy white frosting
2 cups flaked coconut
Food colors
Assorted jelly beans
Pipe cleaners or licorice
1/4-inch pastel ribbon

Heat oven to 350° F. Grease or spray 24 miniature muffin cups. In medium bowl, stir or knead cookie dough, flour, & food color until well blended.

Roll dough into 24 (1 1/4-inch) balls; roll in matching colored sugar. Press 1 ball into bottom and up side of each muffin cup.

Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until set and edges are light golden brown. Cool in pan until can handle, but still warm. Roll in matching sugar again. Place on cooling rack.

Add coconut to a 1-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag. Add 3 to 4 drops food color and shake until well blended. It may be necessary to add 1 to 2 teaspoons water to help disperse the color evenly or additional food color until desired color is reached.

Frost top of each cookie. Decorate with colored coconut and jelly beans. Tie a small ribbon bow on 5-inch piece of pipe cleaner or you could use licorice; insert into each basket for handle.

Hip Hop Bunny Cake

We decided to make the Hip Hop Bunny Cake at Kraft Foods this year for our family Easter party with all the cousins. But we made several changes to their recipe. Instead of carrot cake and cream cheese frosting, we made a funfetti cake with vanilla frosting. Additionally, we had to change some of the decorative candy due to a lack of gumdrops. We used Raspberry M&M's for his ears & nose and blue sugar to make his eyes.

Snake Calzone

Ingredients
1 can (13.8 oz.) refrigerated pizza dough
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
pepperoni
1 egg white
1 drop each yellow and green food coloring
2 manzanilla olives
1 cup pizza sauce

Preparation

Heat oven to 350°F.

Unroll dough on lightly floured work surface; roll or flatten to 17x10-inch rectangle.

Cut 1 pepperoni slice to resemble a snake's tongue; set aside. Arrange remaining pepperoni slices over dough rectangle, leaving 1-inch border around all sides; top with cheese. Roll up dough, jelly-roll fashion, starting at one long side; pinch seams together to seal (use water on your finger to seal stubborn spots). Place, seam-side down, in "s" shape on baking sheet lined with parchment paper to resemble snake.

Beat egg white and yellow food coloring lightly; brush about half over dough. Add green food coloring to remaining egg white; brush randomly over dough to resemble a snake's splotched skin. Cut hole and insert olives into one end of dough for the snake's eyes. Add pepperoni tongue.

BAKE 30 to 35 min. or until golden brown. Meanwhile, heat pizza sauce just until warmed.

Serve calzone with the sauce.

Jack-o'-lantern Cheese Ball

Ingredients
3 green onions, divided
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1 pkg. (8 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped red peppers
2 slices pepperoni
crackers

Preparation

Cut 4-inch length from green end of 1 onion; slice remaining onions. Beat cream cheese and 1-1/4 cups Cheddar with mixer until well blended. Stir in sliced onions and peppers. Refrigerate 1 hour.

Shape into pumpkin shaped ball; roll in remaining Cheddar. Cut pepperoni into shapes for the jack-o'-lantern's eyes, nose and mouth; press into cheese ball to make face. Insert green onion piece into top for stem.

Serve with crackers.

Mummy Pizza Bites

Ingredients
1 plain bagel, divided in half
2 Tbsp. pizza sauce
2 sticks string cheese
4 slices black olives

Preparation

Heat oven to 400ºF.

Spread bagel halves with sauce. Pull cheese into thin strips; place in random criss-cross fashion on tops of bagels to resemble mummy bandages. Trim ends with kitchen shears and fill in holes with trimmings. Add olives for the eyes.

Place on baking sheet.

Bake 10 min. or until bagels are crisp and cheese is melted.

Pancakes: Scratch vs. Mix

So, I've had many a discussion about the pros/cons of pancake mix with various people. I am a fan because it makes my life a bit easier and isn't very expensive. But you wouldn't believe the lectures I've gotten from people about how it's more expensive and doesn't taste as good. So apparently, people have strong opinions on this subject. I therefore found an article in Bon Appétit's blog, titled Is Making Pancakes From Scratch Worth the Effort? very interesting. The final analysis was that they taste the same, cost the same and scratch takes more time - so you might as well use mixes.

Christmas Dinner 2010

Our family’s tradition for Christmas dinner is that we each get to pick two dishes that we want and then I fill in the menu with sides, breads, etc. Usually, there is no limit on what a person can pick (for example, last year my oldest daughter chose crab legs). This year, because we are living with another family and are on a tight food budget, each person only got to pick one dish and couldn’t pick anything expensive. I also didn’t cook everything, as both families contributed. But I have posted recipes and thoughts on those things that I did prepare.

Menu:
Grilled Tilapia
Mini-cheeseburgers & Buns
Paninis
Hotdog & Buns
Soft Tacos
Shrimp Ramen
Broccoli & Cheese
French fries
Utah Scones
Honey Butter

Paninis

Sliced sourdough bread
1 pkg. deli sliced turkey
1 lb. sliced Colby jack cheese
1 tomato, sliced
1 lb. bacon, cooked
1 medium avocado
2 tablespoons ranch dressing
Butter

Mash avocado into a small bowl. Add dressing and mix well. Butter outsides of two sourdough slices. Inside, layer turkey, cheese, tomato, bacon and avocado dressing. Grill over medium heat, flipping occasionally until sourdough is toasted golden brown and cheese is melted.

Hotdog & Hamburger Buns

I prefer homemade bread of every kind to store bought. So, I often make our own hamburger and hotdog buns when there is extra time. Having a Bosch mixer with a dough hook or a bread maker with a dough cycle makes bread making SO much easier. If using a Bosch mixer for kneading, the dough is ready when it pulls from the sides of the bowl and the bowl looks clean.

1 ¼ cups skim milk, warm
1/3 cup vegetable/canola oil
¼ - 1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 ¾ cups bread flour
2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
butter

Dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add oil, sugar, salt and flour. Knead well until smooth and elastic to touch.
Let rest in warm, draft-free area for 15 minutes. Punch down and knead gently.
Roll in a long log. Cut into 12 pieces for hot dog buns or 9 pieces for hamburger buns.
Hot Dog Buns: Roll into a long skinny hotdog shape.
Hamburger buns: Flatten with palm of hand till thickness of a pancake.
Put on parchment lined baking sheet.
Brush with melted butter.
Cover with cloth or pam sprayed plastic. Put in warm oven for 45-60 minutes to rise.
When doubled, remove from oven.
Bake on top shelf of oven.
Preheat oven to 400°F. Place buns in oven and turn temperature down to 375°F immediately. Bake hot dog buns abt. 15 minutes and hamburger buns abt. 17 minutes.

Broccoli & Cheese

Steam broccoli until fork tender. Dump your preferred amount of shredded cheese on top and allow to melt from the heat of the broccoli. You can use any kind of cheese, I prefer Colby jack. When making about 3 lbs. of broccoli, I use two large handfuls of shredded cheese.

French Fries

The only way to make French fries is in a fryer. An oven just doesn’t get them as crisp. Yes, it’s fattening. So don’t eat fries every day. I just get whatever brand is on sale of the crinkle fries in the local grocer's freezer aisle.

Keep the fries in the freezer until you are ready to put them in the fryer basket. If you are making two batches, put the fries back in the freezer in between. Set your fryer to about 350 degrees and fry the first batch for 6 - 8 minutes. Batches after will take more time, so keep checking every 3 - 5 minutes. When they look golden, they're done. Drain on paper towels, salt, and serve hot with fry sauce!

Utah Scones

Scones in Utah are different from scones I’ve had anywhere else. They’re similar to Indian frybread, made with a sweet yeast dough and buttermilk. They are absolutely delicious. These can be used as a dessert/breakfast food with honey, butter, jam, etc. Or you can use them for Navajo Tacos. One of my daughters likes to just eat them plain. They’re very versatile. Be warned, this recipe makes a massive amount of medium sized scones, so make sure you have enough people to eat them! There are ten people in our household and it takes us 3 to 5 days to eat them all.

1 envelope active dry yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 quart buttermilk
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
8-9 cups flour
oil for frying

Sprinkle yeast over warm water. Warm buttermilk (careful not to overheat, as it can seperate. Warning, it stinks while heating). Add sugar, eggs, butter, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Stir in yeast mixture. Beat in 4 cups flour. Continue to beat until smooth and well mixed. Stir in enough flour to make soft dough. Knead until smooth and elastic. Cover, put in warm place (I prefer my oven) and allow to rise until double in bulk. Punch down. The dough will keep for three days in fridge, just be sure to punch it down daily.

Heat 1-2 inches of oil in a deep pan to 375°F. Pinch out some dough and roll in hands into a ball about 1 to 1 1/2 inches diameter. Then pull flat until dough is almost see through. Place in oil and fry until scone puffs up and is lightly browned. Turn and brown opposite side. How many you can fit at once depends on your pan and how big you're making the scones. Drain on paper towels. Serve warm.

Honey Butter

Equal parts honey, butter & powdered sugar. Mix well and refridgerate.

Family Christmas Party 2010

Our family Christmas party this year was on Christmas Eve. Here was our menu. I didn’t do near as much cooking as I did at Thanksgiving because I was getting ready for Christmas dinner and Santa.

Menu:
Shrimp Plate
Roast Beef
Green Bean Casserole
Salad
Homemade Ranch Dressing
Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potato Casserole
Rolls
Banana Creme Pie
Apple Pie
Blackberry Pie
Kool-Aid

Thanksgiving Dinner 2010

Thanksgiving was spent with hubby's family. As there are eighteen of us (soon to be nineteen) that means LOTS of food. I'm going to share a list of everything we had and then the recipes and/or thoughts for everything I cooked/prepared.

Menu:
Cheese Rolls & Crackers
Vegetable Tray
Spiral Cut Ham w/ Glaze
Roasted Turkey
Stove Top Stuffing
Gravy
Cranberry Sauce
Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potato Casserole
Honey Glazed Carrots
Marshmallow Salad
Rolls
Soda
Peach Pie
Strawberry Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Homemade Whipped Cream
Ice Cream
Egg Nog

Spiral Cut Honey Glazed Ham

My mother-in-law got a ham from the local grocer. So all I had to do was mix the glaze, pour on and heat the ham. Done! I am not a ham fan, so I let everyone else enjoy this dish. The only ham I have ever had that I liked was from Heavenly Ham. But at their prices, I’m happy with letting the rest of the family enjoy a ham from the grocer and doing without myself.

Roasted Turkey

So, I am not a traditional oven roasted turkey girl. I use an electric roaster oven every year – they cook faster and have fewer issues with drying the meat out.

Remember, to completely defrost your bird. I have heard the electric roasters can actually cook frozen birds, but have never had the guts to try it. So, defrost! Remember that it’s approximately five hours per pound of meat to defrost. So if you have a 15 pound turkey, be sure to put it into the fridge at least three days in advance. And check your bird the day before. If it still seems too frozen, there is always the quick water defrost method. To defrost with water, be sure your turkey is in a waterproof package. Immerse in cold water. Change the water every 30 minutes. Allow about 30 minutes of thawing in water per pound. So if you have a 15 pound turkey, it’ll take about 7 hours.

On the day of cooking, take out your roaster’s insert pan and pre-heat your roaster to 450°F. While roaster is heating, pull your turkey out of the fridge and prep it. Remove packaging (but leave plastic hooks holding legs if yours have it) and organs and neck from cavity. Rinse with water, inside and out, and pat dry. Rub the bird with butter. Sprinkle your favorite kind of salt and pepper all over outside and inside of bird (we like to use seasoned salts and peppers). Place a stick of two of celery, one coarsely chopped onion and a stick of butter in cavity.

Place the bird in the insert pan on top of the wire rack that comes with your roaster. Make sure the handles are up, not tucked below, or it’ll be a pain to remove when done. Fill the bottom of the pan with water, but not so much that the water level comes over the wire rack (usually only a cup or two in mine). Place into the roaster oven and cover.

Roast at 450°F for 30 minutes. This is to give your bird a nice brown skin. After 30 minutes, turn the oven temperature down to 325°F. 8

The roaster will self-baste if you do not lift the lid, so you don't have to baste it every 20 minutes like you do in your conventional oven. So don’t life the lid during cooking time! Lifting the lid will increase your cooking time (as roasters lose their heat a lot faster than ovens) and can make your turkey dryer.

Check turkey for doneness. Your roaster should come with time tables for how long to cook a turkey. Make sure to follow it! Roasters cook faster, so if you go by the amount given for cooking a turkey in a traditional oven, it will be overdone and possibly dry! If you can’t find your roasters manual, figure to start checking about an hour before it would be done in a traditional oven. Final temps should be 165°D in the breast (be careful not to touch the bone). Juices should be clear, not pink.

Remember, if you’re using a pop-up thermometer, they stick sometimes. So you should have a regular meat thermometer to double check.

When done, remove from the roaster, tent with foil, and let rest for 20 minutes before carving.

Stove Top Stuffing

Yes, we use stove top stuffing for the holidays. It’s easy, it’s fast and everyone likes it. So don’t feel bad for cracking open a box of the name brand or store brand stuff!

Cranberry Sauce

No, I didn’t make cranberry sauce from scratch this year, though I'd like to try sometime. But I did want to comment on it. We have two tastes in our families when it comes to cranberry sauce. We have those that like the jellied sauce and those that like the whole berry sauce. So we typically purchase one can of each. The jellied sauce, we slip out of the can and slice, so that you have a plate of cranberry jelled circles. The whole berry sauce, we pour into a bowl and stir. I prefer whole berry sauce, personally, just tastes better to me.

Mashed Potatoes

These are definitely a southern way of making mashed potatoes and not healthy in any way. I introduced my husband’s family to these a few years ago (versus mashed potatoes made with just milk and butter) and now they ask me to make them whenever we’re having potatoes at a family get together. The measurements here are estimates, as I always make this without a recipe. I just know how it is supposed to look and taste. So feel free to adjust as needed.

8-10 baking potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 -2 cups mayonnaise
1 – 2 cup butter, cubed
1 tablespoon garlic powder
Whole milk, as needed

Place potatoes in large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 10-15 minutes or until tender. Drain. Place potatoes in bowl and beat until smooth (an electric mixer makes this step much easier). Add mayonnaise, butter and garlic. Mix well. Mix in milk until potatoes are the consistency that you prefer for your mashed potatoes.