Crock Pot Night

Tonight my Relief Society is doing a crock pot taste testing. I am super excited because everyone is going to bring something to share. I really love using my crock pot. It is so nice to prepare something early in the morning and then have a great dinner ready for the evening. If I worked full time I would ALWAYS do a crock pot meal.

The crock pot recipe I am going to highlight tonight I got from a friend a long time ago. It is RICE PUDDING! I know it isn't anything that is hard to make on the stove but I really like not having to babysit it. You can add anything you want to this recipe to to make it your own. I don't like raisins but that is popular.

Crock Pot Rice Pudding

4 cups whole milk ( I tried using other milk before and it doesn't turn out as creamy)
1/2 cup long grain white rice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter

Put all these ingredients into your crock pot and then turn it to high and cook for 2 1/2-3 hours. Just until the milk is completely soaked up.

Then turn your crock pot off and add these ingredients that you have already mixed together.

3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 large eggs (I know this seems weird but I usually just add 2 medium eggs)
1 tsp vanilla

Once you have mixed these ingredients with the rice concoction in the crock pot you can serve it right away. It is super yummy warm! It will also keep in your fridge for up to a week and is good as leftovers.

Yeah, happy CROCK POTTING TONIGHT!

Buttermilk/Caramel Syrup

I stole this recipe from a friend and since then it has been my favorite recipe. I just love to make it and then people are wowed at my skills. It is an easy recipe but really delicious. You can use this on just about anything, we sometimes put it on our ice cream!

Buttermilk/Caramel Syrup

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 cup karo syrup

3/4 cup buttermilk/sour milk

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

In a very LARGE pot melt all of the ingredients together and bring to a boil. Let the syrup boil for about 8 minutes or until the peaks of the syrup start turning a light caramel color. Don't boil it for too long or it will be too dark. Pour into your favorite syrup dispenser and serve.

See I told you it was super easy!!

Applesauce Pancakes

I have a reputation in my family for being the one who does the breakfast. I love to make new things and I love to just make new recipes up. This recipe I got the skeleton from Pinterest (my new favorite website) but I tweaked it so that it would fit with what I have found works the best.

Applesauce Pancakes

1 cup buttermilk/sour milk

1 egg

2 TBSP applesauce (if you don't have any then you can just use butter but that is why I substituted it because I didn't want to use butter)

1 cup flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 TBSP sugar

1/2 tsp salt

Whisk the buttermilk and the eggs and the applesauce together then add the dry ingredients. Let sit for a couple of minutes while your griddle heats up. Make sure to use a spray on your griddle so the pancakes don't stick. Pour the batter to the size you want and then cook for 2-3 minutes on one side and then flip to the other side til golden on the bottom. Serve with your favorite topping. Mine is homemeade Buttermilk syrup!

Makes 4 servings.

This recipe is super easy and takes just a few minutes to make in the morning and then you can be a winner at your house for breakfasts.

Homemade White Bread

Auntie's White Bread

4 cups lukewarm water

1/2 cup sugar

3 TBSP yeast

4 3/4 cups flour

2 TBSP salt

1 TBSP butter

5-5 1/2 cups flour

Mix the water and sugar together and then sprinkle on the yeast. Let it sit for about 5 minutes. Add the first 4 3/4 cups of flour and the salt and mix thoroughly. Add in the butter and slowly add the flour until it no longer sticks to the bowl. Knead for a couple of minutes and then leave to raise for 45 minutes. Punch down and then let raise again til double in size about 1 hour.

Punch down again and then divide the dough into 4 bread pans and let raise for 45 minutes or until double in size. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

Omelet night

I always have those nights when I just have a craving for something besides pasta or rice. I just need to have that protein and usually I come up with Omelets. I don't usually make these for breakfast because I think it is just too much food for the morning when I am still trying to wake up my stomach. I DO think that this is the perfect dinner meal when you really don't want to cook too much and don't feel like having a super starchy meal.

To start my omelets I put 2-3 eggs (depending on the person eating it) into my magic bullet. This machine is so amazing and I really REALLY love it. I pretty much use it everyday, whether it be for a smoothie or just to help make scrambled eggs.

I put about 1/2 TBSP oil into the pan to get hot and then I add the egg. I make sure that the egg is spread out evenly in the pan so it will cook evenly and I don't get those really disgusting soggy spots. I usually let this cook 2-3 minutes so it isn't soggy in the middle. Then I add whatever I fancy.

My husband's Omelet-

My husband likes to keep things simple. He doesn't like to add fancy stuff. I used 3 eggs for his omelet because he works hard all day long and he needs the extra protein. In the middle I put cheese, bacon and cherry tomatoes (since I have a million in my garden). Then I garnished with a tomato on top.

My daughter's Omelet-

This 3 year old is really picky so I kept it super simple and just used 2 eggs and cheese and bacon. She loved it because I cut it up like pizza. She will eat anything in the shape of pizza.

My Omelet-

Unlike my husband I like to make things fancy so before I got to cooking all of the omelets I dices some onion, garlic and green peppers and sauteed them all together so they would be slightly cooked when I put them into my omelet. I used 2 eggs for my omelet because I am super picky about the texture of the omelet and I CAN NOT eat soggy omelets. In the middle I put the veggies that I had sauteed beforehand, cheese and bacon. I decided not to do tomatoes this time because I wanted to dip my omelet in my homemade salsa. I really enjoyed mine and the veggies just hit the spot. I also garnished with some green pepper to make it look pretty. Just something fancy.

I just love Omelet night.

Zucchini Bread

The baseball bats are taking over! I have to keep up with my zucchini somehow and I thought that I would shred a bunch of it and put it into my freezer. Then I decided to use some of the zucchini to make a treat for us and zucchini bread sounded perfect. I also needed to make something to take to my neighbor so I set out for the task.

Zucchini Bread

3 beaten eggs

1 cup oil

2 3/4 cup sugar

3 tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

3 tsp cinnamon

2 cups shredded zucchini

3 cups flour

1 cup chopped nuts or chocolate chips

In your Kitchenaid mixer combine the eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla. Mix all dry ingredients in a separate container and then add to the Kitchenaid mixer and mix well. Then add the zucchini again mixing thoroughly. Pour into 3 bread pans ( I did two last time and so my loaves were huge but I suggest using 3 instead. Sprinkle the nuts or the chocolate chips on just before you put it into the oven. Cook at 325 for 70 minutes.

This particular loaf turned out extremely moist. It was delectable and all of the chocolate chips sunk to the bottom to make for a surprise on the bottom. My husband really liked it and surprisingly so did my really picky 3 year old eater.

Happy Baking!

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Do you have baseball bat zucchini and don't know what to do with them? I have the perfect sinful recipe for you to use up all that zucchini. Who doesn't like Chocolate cake? I LOVE it. I think this recipe really brings out the amazingness of zucchini! The cake turns out so moist and dense. If you peel the zucchini first, your family will never even notice!

1/4 margarine or butter

1/2 cup oil

1 3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vailla

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 cup shredded zucchini

2 1/2 cups flour

4 TBSP cocoa

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cloves

In your mixer, whether it be Kitchenaid or Bosch, cream the butter, oil and sugar together. Add the eggs one at a time and make sure that the mixture is well blended. It should look nice and creamy. Add the buttermilk slowly to this mixture. Add the zucchini and the dry ingredients all at once and mix thoroughly. Pour into a greased/sprayed with PAM 9/13 pan. Bake at 325 for 45 minutes. Sprinkle with chocolate chips(optional).