Oh Henry Bars

This is my mom's recipe and she would make this for us when we would have swim meets and she would have to make two pans because all the kids on our team would drool over it. I like it because of all the peanuts and I feel like it gives you some energy as well as some quick sugars.

1 cup sugar

1 cup corn syrup

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup peanuts

3 cups rice krispies

1/2 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a large sauce pan boil the sugar and the corn syrup together until the sugar looks to be dissolved. Remove from heat and then add the peanut butter til it is melted. Then add the peanuts and rice krispies. Press the mixture down into a 9x13 pan and then sprinkle the chocolate chips over top. Let them melt and then spread them evenly with a spatula. Let the chocolate chips cool and then serve.

This is a really easy snack and is really delicious.

I do love my pan with the lid. It helps to keep treats fresher longer.

Tatonuts

Yesterday I thought that I would be crazy and take on my house. I got everything cleaned and did some of the laundry from the weekend. I got finished and thought to myself, this kitchen is clean enough to cook in...so I did! I decided to make tatonuts. My mother-in-law gave all of us girls this cookbook/baking mix book. It has all these recipes to make your own mixes. I found one that was really easy and I happened to have all the ingredients. It was the HOT ROLL MIX. From that mix I found a recipe for tatonuts. My husband has been asking about making doughnuts for a long time, he loves doughnuts. So I set out to do this.

The mix is called the HOT ROLL MIX.

5 lbs all-purpose flour

1 1/4 cup sugar

4 tsp salt

1 cup instant nonfat dry milk

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Stir together to distribute evenly. Put in a large airtight container. Label. Store in a cool dry place. Use with in 6 to 8 months. Makes about 22 cups of HOT ROLL MIX.

If you get the book then there are lots of things that you can make with this mix. they have cinnamon rolls. rolls, bread and pretzels. I think I will make the pretzels soon so I can put that recipe on there but just having this mix for doughnuts is good enough for me.

Here is the tatonuts recipe. It was really fun to do and super yummy. We did it for FHE and my husband's brother came over to enjoy them with us. My husband even helped a little!

1 TBSP yeast

1/2 cup lukewarm water

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup melted butter

3 TBSP sugar

1/2 cup instant potato flakes

1 cup milk, scalded

4 1/2 -5 cups HOT ROLL MIX

Vegetable oil for frying

Vanilla Glaze

Dissolve the yeast into the water. I usually just do this right in my Kitchenaid mixer to use less dishes. After about 5 minutes add the eggs and melted butter. Mix these together well, I added the melted butter very slowly so as to not cook the egg and boil the yeast. Then add the sugar, potato flakes and milk ( I actually didn't have potato flakes so I ended up using potato pearls that I blended up so they would mix better, I think it worked fine. ) Mix well. Add the HOT ROLL MIX slowly and make sure to mix well. Once mix through put on your dough hook and knead in the Kitchenaid mixer for about 5 minutes. After cover with a wet towel and let it raise for 1 hour. After it has raised double it's size punch down and roll out onto a floured surface about 1/4 inch thick. Cut out doughnut shapes using a doughnut cutter or if you don't have one then you can use a couple of different cups/bowls to make the doughnut shape(this is what I ended up doing). Let the dough raise again for another 40-45 minutes. You can either use a deep fryer or you can heat up some oil in a pan so that the doughnuts are not floating. Cook on one side for about a minute or until they are golden brown. We made the mistake of heating the oil too hot, it said to have your oil to 375 and our was hotter and the insides of the doughnuts didn't cook (some did and some didn't). Next time I would have the oil cooler and the dough was a little bit thick. You live and learn. They were still delicious.

These pictures don't really do them justice but just think about how yummy they taste. I think that we will end up making them again sometime soon. The recipe did make quite a few, these were only a couple of them.

Pizza Calzone

This recipe is a real hit at my house. I love making them because my 2 year old will eat them and my husband loves pizza and these are much easier. I like the dough recipe too because you can use it for breadsticks as well.

Dough:

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 TBSP sugar

1 TBSP yeast

1 tsp salt

3 1/2 cup flour

Filling:

Pizza sauce

pepperoni

sausage

mushrooms

mozzarella cheese

Pretty much anything you like on your pizza

1egg

In your mixer dissolve the water and the sugar. Sprinkle in the yeast and let it sit for 5 minutes. Add the salt and the flour and mix with flat blade mixer. The dough is fairly sticky so don't add any more flour. Let it raise for 30 minutes.

Once raised punch it down and tear off a golf ball sized piece of dough. (I usually just roll the dough out onto my cookie sheet that I lined with a Silpat). Roll it out fairly thin and into a circle. Add onto one half of the dough a little bit of pizza sauce and then any toppings you like, including cheese. Our family's favorite is pepperoni and sausage. Fold the dough over and seal it with a little bit of egg that has been beaten. Then brush the top of the calzone with the egg to get it nice and crispy. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes. When you tap the top of the calzone it should sound hollow and then it is done.

To make the dough into yummy breadstick

s you just need to get a 9x13 pan and melt 2 TBSP of butter in the bottom of it. I just do this in my already preheated oven (preheat to 375). Then

stretch the dough out to fit into the pan. Score the top of the dough with a serrated knife and then pour another 2 TBSP melted butter on top. Sprinkle whatever spice you like on top. I usually do garlic, parsley and onion powder but you can do what would match your meal. Then bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

As you can tell, I didn't get the one calzone sealed well enough before I put them into the oven so it split open but I looks good and tasted even better.

Homemade English Muffins

I found a recipe for homemade english muffins and I just knew I had to try it. Our family loves egg sandwiches for breakfast and we also LOVE eggs benedict. I wasn't sure if I would have enough time to do them yesterday but I found the time and they turned out amazing!!

English Muffins

1 3/4 cup warmed milk

2 TBSP sugar

2 tsp instant yeast

3 TBSP butter

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 large egg

1 tsp baking powder

4 to 4 1/4 cups flour (I used whole wheat flour)

Combine warm milk, yeast and sugar. Let this mixture sit a few minutes so the yeast can start to do it's thing. Add the rest of the ingredients ( I let the yeast mixture sit into my Kitchenaid mixer and then I just add the ingredients to it so that I don't have to use so many bowls) and mix with the flat blade mixer. The dough it going to be very sticky but that is how it is supposed to be, DON'T add more flour. Once completely mixed scrape th dough from the bowl onto a lightly floured counter top. Fold dough over a few times, until you make a nice smooth ball. Place in a greased bowl and allow to rise in a warm place for about an hour. (My house is REALLY cold so when I let it raise on the counter top it didn't, so I put it into my oven and set it to warm and left the door slightly open and that did the trick. I ended up raising it for 2 hours HEHE)

Punch down dough and lay out on a surface sprinkled with corn meal( I used corn flour and it work just as well). Roll out to desired thickness. The muffins will rise somewhat, so roll them out about 1/4 " thinner that you want them to be in the end. Cut out circles with a loured

3 inch cutter ( I just used a cup). Re-roll and cut the leftover dough. Cover the muffins with a damp cloth and let res for about 20 minutes.

Heat a frying pan or griddle to very low heat (250 if you are using your griddle). Do not grease but sprinkle with cornmeal(or corn flour). Cover pan and cook for 6-7 minutes on each side. ( I was cooking dinner at the same time so I just set the timer and it worked out fine).

Cool on cooling rack. Store muffins in the fridge or freezer.

These are pictures of my finished products. They were so super yummy.

Chicken Croquets

Well tonight we are entertaining and I didn't really feel like making something extravagant but wanted to make something yummy. I decided on Chicken Croquets because they are super super easy! There is also little clean up and that is nice so you don't feel like your kitchen is a disaster when your company is over.

Chicken Croquets:

2-3 chicken breasts (depending on how big they are)

6 oz cream cheese

pinch of salt and pepper

1 can of crescent rolls

1/4 cup melted butter

1 cup bread crumbs

Gravy:

3 TBSP butter

4 TBSP flour

1 can of chicken broth

Boil the chicken breasts for 15 minutes. Take two forks and shred the meat into a big bowl. Add the cream cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Roll out the crescent rolls and separate them to individuals triangles. Put 2 TBSP in each triangle and fold them up so they make balls. Dip each ball into the butter and then in the bread crumbs. Cook according to the crescent rolls instructions.

Gravy: Melt the butter into a small pot. Add the flour and let it cook out a little so you don't get that bold flour taste. Add the chicken broth and stir until it thickens. Pour this over your Chicken Croquets.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tonight I decided that I would let my two year old daughter help me with making Chocolate Chip Cookies. It was so much fun. She thought it was so awesome to put all the ingredients into my Kitchenaid mixer. It was funny cause every time we would add a new ingredient she would put the top down and turn on the mixer. I had to unplug it a couple of time to make sure she didn't jump the gun. When it came to adding the flour and other dry ingredients she put the top down and cranked the mixer to full speed. Yup you guessed it, there was a BIG mess and flour went everywhere. It was so hilarious because my daughter just looked at me with a guilty/wonderment look. She couldn't believe what happened. I laughed so hard!!! We had flour everywhere and my daughter started to lick it off of her hands and arms. It definitely made my night. Then when we put the chocolate chips in she thought it was hilarious and just kept asking me to do it again. I let her have a chocolate chip and she kept saying "last time" to me and took another chip out of the dough. I thought it was so funny. I had such a good time and I know that she did too.

Here is the recipe:

1 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

3 cups flour

1 bag of chocolate chips (this is a lot of chocolate

so if you don't like really overloaded cookies then just throw in a half a bag)

Cream the butter and sugars together

in your Kitchenaid or Bosch mixer. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Add the rest of the ingredients except the chips, in while the mixer is going. Then add the chocolate chips slowly (some people don't like to add it when the mixer is going but I don't care so it is just you discretion). Put 1 TBSP of dough onto your cookie sheet that has been lined with a silpat (my favorite kitchen tool) and bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.

This batch turned out really good. I am going tonight to play basketball and so I didn't get to test one out. I will definitely do it afterwards though.

Baking Bread

Our family ran out of bread this morning so I got out the wheat grinder and set out to make another three loaves. I like to grind on the day of making bread but I also grind extra wheat so I have extra for other things. I really enjoy this recipe because the bread turns out just like the grocery store bread and my husband will eat it. Other recipes leaves the bread very dense, something that I don't really like.

3 cups warm water

1/3 cup oil

1/3 cup honey

1 TBSP yeast

In your Kitchenaid (or whatever mixer you have) combine the warm water, oil and honey together and then sprinkle the yeast on top so it can dissolve. I usually wait 5 minutes.

4 cups of whole wheat flour (I always add a dough enhancer to the flour before I start using it. I think it is 2 TBSP per 6 cups of flour)

1 TBSP salt

Add this to the yeast mixture and then using a flat blade you mix until it is completely combined then switch to the dough hook.

2-3 cups of whole wheat flour

Add the last two to three cups slowly so you can tell if the dough is ready. Let the dough hook incorporate the flour completely before adding more. You can tell it is done when the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl. It is a fairly firm dough. In a LARGE bowl spray some pam and then place the dough in there to raise. You can either add a lid to the bowl or just drap a dish towel that you have been using and is somewhat moist over top. Let the dough raise for 1 hour and then punch it down and knead a little bit. Let it raise another hour and then punch it down and again and then split into three pieces. Spray three bread pans with pam and form the dough into loaves, then place into the bread pans to raise another hour. After about 45 of that hour preheat your oven to 375F and then bake for 25 to 30 minutes. I like to use my glass pans so I can see how well they are done.

I usually make one of the loaves a cinnamon loaf but I didn't have any more brown sugar so I will have to post about the cinnamon loaf the next time I make bread. I think these turned out really well and props go to my husband for putting them in the oven for me while I was at the dentist and taking them out at the exact right time. They turned out awesome!!