Dinner Rolls

Mmmmmm bread!

I make these whenever I have a little time. They go great with almost any meal, and we eat them as snacks or use them to make mini-sandwiches for lunch. They are BY FAR the best dinner rolls I have ever had.

• 1 1/8 tsp. yeast
• ½ cup warm water
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 ½ tsp. egg replacer + 1 ½ tbs water (equivalent to half an egg)
• 1 tsp. salt
• ½ cup milk, scalded and cooled to warm
• 4 Tbsp. melted butter + 1 Tbsp. for basting
• 3 cups flour
  

Dissolve yeast in warm water and let stand 5 minutes. The yeast should look bubbly, similar to this:
Add the sugar, egg replacer, salt, warm milk, and melted butter, mix well.
Slowly add the flour, mix well and knead for 5 minutes or until dough doesn't stick to bowl. The dough will still be pretty wet feeling.
Place dough in greased bowl, cover, and let rise 1 hour until doubled in size. To tell if a dough has doubled press on it with your finger and the indention shouldn't immediately bounce back.
Punch down dough and form into 1 ½ inch balls.
Place balls in greased and floured 9 inch round pan and let rise 20-30 minutes.
Brush with 1 Tbsp. butter.
Bake at 425° for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve warm or store in the fridge for later.

Almond Cookies

One of my mom's favorite cookies. These cookies have a nice mild almond flavor, and aren't overly sweet.

• 1/2 cup butter softened
• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 dollop sour cream or 1 egg replacer equivalent
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• Milk
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
  

In an electric mixer cream butter and sugar for 30 seconds.
Add 3/4 cup of flour, sugar, sour cream or egg replacer, baking powder, and almond extract and mix until combined.
Mix in remaining 1 cup of flour.
Divide dough into 4 equal parts.
Shape each part into an 8 inch roll.
Place two rolls lengthwise on a cookie sheet and flatten each until they are approximately 3 inches wide.
Brush with a little milk and sprinkle with the almonds.
Bake at 325 degrees for 13 to 15 minutes, or just until the edges are lightly browned.
Cut the warm cookies diagonally into 1 inch strips.
Cool cookies on a wire rack and drizzle with icing.
Makes approx. 2 dozen cookies.

For Icing:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
  
• 2 Tbsp. milk

Combine sugar, vanilla and milk in a bowl and mix until the icing runs nicely of the spoon. Add more milk a teaspoon at a time to thin if necessary.

Blueberry Glaze

We made blueberry glazed donuts this morning! The glaze is awesome, and the donuts were yummy but the recipe needs some work.

Here's the glaze recipe and I will post the donut recipe once it is perfected!

• 2 Tbsp. blueberry juice
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp. softened butter

To make the blueberry juice we just microwaved 20 blueberries for 30 seconds, smashed them with a fork and removed the pulp.

Mix all the ingredients until the glaze will run off a spoon, but isn't super runny.

Once the donuts had cooled a little, we just dipped the donuts in the glaze and let them finish cooling on a wire rack with a cookie sheet under it.

Lasagna

Lasagna is one of the easiest comfort foods to make!
All you need is a box of lasagna noodles, some tomato sauce, a little bit of parsley and lots of cheese! I added spinach to mine this time.

• 1/2 pound lasagna noodles (9 noodles)
  
• 1 1/2 cups pasta sauce (I used my standard pasta sauce recipe which makes more than enough sauce for this recipe, but I like extra sauce when I am serving),
• an entire tub (32 oz.) of ricotta cheese
• 1 1/2 cups of grated mozzarella cheese
  
• a little grated parmesan cheese
  
• 1 Tbsp. parsley finely chopped (Fresh flat leaf Italian is the best if you can find it.)

Cook the lasagna noodles following the instructions on the box, or until aldente.
Strain the noodles gently so that they do not break, and run some cool water over them.

Mix the entire tub of ricotta with approx. 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese and 1 Tbsp. parsley. The remaining 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese will be used on the top.

In a 9x13 baking dish layer as follows:

• 1/4 cup sauce
• 3 noodles
• 1/2 cheese mixture
• 3 noodles
• 1/2 cup sauce
• Remaining cheese mixture
• 3 noodles
• 1/2 cup sauce
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
• a sprinkle of grated parmesan

Bake covered at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Remove the covering and bake for an additional 10 minutes, or just until brown on top.

Let cool 15 minutes and serve warm.

Pineapple Cake Donuts with Pineapple Icing

Donuts:

• 1 1/4 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. pineapple juice
• 1/3 c. sugar
• 1 dollop sour cream (1 egg or equivalent egg replacer)
• 1/2 Tbsp. softened butter
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 c. milk
• 2 cups oil for frying

Mix sugar and sour cream (egg or egg replacer).
Add pineapple juice, butter, vanilla and milk and mix well.
Add flour, baking powder, and salt and beat until smooth. Don't over beat.
Heat oil in a deep pan to 350 degrees.
Fry the donut batter in hot vegetable oil, turning halfway through to ensure even browning.
Fry approximately one minute per side, although the time can vary depending on how hot the oil is.
For donut holes spoon the mixture into the oil.
If you want to make regular shaped donuts you will need a donut dispenser.

Icing:

• 3/4 c. powdered sugar
• 2 Tbsp. pineapple juice
• 1 Tbsp. softened butter

Combine sugar, pineapple juice and butter and mix until smooth.
The icing should run off a spoon nicely.

Once the donuts have cooled a little drizzle the icing over them.

Pasta Sauce

Here's an easy pasta sauce recipe that I use on everything: eggplant parmesan  spaghetti, lasagna, pizza, etc.

It's quick and delicious!

The picture is of my mom's tomato plants from last year which she canned and I used to make the sauce tonight.

• 1 can whole tomatoes
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
• 2 small cloves garlic, finely chopped (1 large clove)
• 2 tsps dried basil (or 8 to 10 leaves of fresh basil, chopped)
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 3 leaves fresh mint (optional)
• olive oil
• water

Pour enough olive oil in the sauce pot just to cover the bottom. (Mom says a little extra never hurts.)

Heat the oil on medium heat, once hot add the onion and saute until almost soft, about 5 minutes or so.

Once the onion is almost soft, add the garlic and saute for a few more minutes. Don't let the garlic get brown. (Note: If you use fresh basil and mint add them when you add the garlic to the onions. It tastes amazing that way!!)

Add the tomato paste and mix with the onion and garlic and cook for 2 minutes stirring often.

Blend the entire can of tomatoes until smooth.

Add the blended tomatoes to the paste mixture and stir until incorporated well. Add water as needed to thin to the consistency you want. The sauce will thicken as it cooks.

Add the sugar, basil, black pepper and sea salt (and mint if you are using it), stir well, cover and let simmer for at least 30 min and up to 3 hours. The longer it cooks the thicker the sauce will be.
You don't want the sauce to boil, you just want it at a simmer so reduce the heat as needed.

Vegetable Cobbler

Vegetables:

• 3 medium red potatoes, cubed
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 1/2 cup broccoli florets
• 1/2 carrot, diced
• 1/2 cup green beans, snapped into thirds
• 1/2 cup whole kernel corn

Steam potatoes, celery, broccoli, carrot and green beans until tender, approx. 10 minutes.

Sauce:

• 2 cups of milk
• 1/3 cup onion, finely diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 4 tbs butter
• 6 tbs flour
• salt to taste

While the vegetables are steaming, bring the milk, onion, bay leaf and black pepper to a boil, remove from heat and let sit.
Heat butter in a sauce pan until bubbling, slowly whisk in flour making a roux. Add the warm milk mixture to the roux (don't forget to remove the bayleaf) and cook just until thick, this will only take a minute.

Biscuits:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup milk

Stir together flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and cream of tartar.
Using a pastry blender (or a fork) cut in the butter until the mixture looks like crumbs.
Make a well in the center of the mixture and pour in the milk.
Knead the dough on a floured surface about a half-dozen times.
Roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thick and cut into 2 inch circles.

Assemble:
Combine the steamed vegetables, corn, and sauce. Add salt to taste.
Pour into 1 quart casserole dish.
Place biscuits on top of the vegetables in a circle as shown in my picture.

Bake:
Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes, or until the biscuits are golden brown.

Notes:You can make this with any vegetables you would like, you just need about 4 cups to fill a 1 quart casserole dish.
Also, if you are in a rush using store-bought biscuits would work fine, but not much is better than homemade biscuits.
I served this dish right out of the oven! I just put the casserole dish on the table and served family style, which worked out great cuz my dad kept eating!

Buon Appetito!