Cream Cheese Frosting

1 lb. powder sugar

8 oz. cream cheese (softened)

1 cube butter (softened)

1 tsp. vanilla

Beat together cream cheese and butter. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat until well mixed.

Cinnamon Rolls

I use the roll dough found here.

Grease your hands with Pam or butter to handle the dough a little easier. Roll out ½ batch of roll dough onto floured surface into a rectangle about 20” X 12”. It should be about ½” thick.

Make filling as follows:

¼ C butter

½ C brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 Tbs. flour

1/3 C chopped nuts (about ½ cup un chopped)

1/3 C raisins

There are two ways of mixing the filling. If you have a food processer, cut the butter into a few pieces and just put everything in and mix until crumbly. This chops the nuts for you. It also chops the raisins.

To mix by hand, soften the butter, then mix the sugar, cinnamon, and flour in with a fork. Add nuts and raisins.

Spread filling over dough and roll up. Cut off the end then cut into about   1 ¾" slices. I use dental floss to cut or you can use a serrated knife. Put on greased or lined baking sheet and gently press down each roll. Let rise about an hour. I let them rise in the oven with the light on (no heat) and a bowl of hot water in the bottom.  It makes a warm, moist environment for rising. Take out to preheat oven. Bake at 350 ° for 15 - 20 minutes.

Makes 12 rolls.

Frost with vanilla or cream cheese frosting.

Rolls

From Bosch (sort of)

3 C water (warm)

1 ½ Tbs. instant yeast (1/2 Tbs =1 ½ tsp)

1 Tbs. salt

¼ C. oil

½ C sugar

7 ½ C flour (total)

½ C milk powder (optional)

½ C potato flakes (optional)

Mix water and yeast with dough hook. Add 4 cups flour, mix until blended, then cover and let rest for 10 – 15 minutes. Add rest of ingredients except flour.  If you don't put in potato flakes, you may need a little more flour. Mix. Add rest of flour 1 cup at a time until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. Mix 5 min.

Bake 350 degrees for 13 – 18 min.

Note: I have made these with 1/2 wheat flour and 1/2 white flour. 

I made these today with out the potato flakes. They are still good.

Half Recipe

1 ½ C water (warm)

1 ½  tsp. salt

1/8 C oil

2 tsp yeast

¼ C sugar

3 ¾ C flour (total)

¼ C milk powder

¼ C potato flakes

Add only 2 C flour with water and yeast.

Crispy Southwest Wraps

From Brian and Sarah Matthews

Makes 6 wraps

1 cup cooked brown rice (warm or at room temperature)

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 green onion, finely sliced

1/2 red or green pepper, diced

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

juice of one lime

1/2 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

6 medium tortillas

Mix rice together with chili powder, cumin and garlic salt.  Add remaining ingredients except for cheese.  Sprinkle cheese over tortillas, leaving 1/2 inch border around edges, then arrange rice mixture down the center of each tortilla.  Roll stuffed tortillas leaving edges open.  Spray the tortillas with cooking spray or brush w/ olive oil.  Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat for one minute.  Arrange two wraps, seam-side down, in pan and cook until golden brown and crisp, about 2-3 minutes per side.  

Serve with salsa, guacamole, and sour cream.  

Sarah's note

My very favorite meal right now! I find that I like when the whole thing is crispy, so I let them cook on all four sides- takes a little longer but it's worth it.

Food Storage

I was talking to Sarah and she noticed that the chicken and dumplings could be made out of food storage items. It got me thinking about a new category for this blog. I will pay attention to recipes that lend themselves to food storage and label them as such.
Thanks Sarah!

White Bean Chili

1/2  pound lean ground turkey (or turkey pieces)

½ C chopped onion

1 garlic clove, minced (I used 1/4 tsp garlic powder)

3 ¼ C water

2 cans (15 oz.) great northern or cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

1 (4 oz.) diced green chilies

2 tsp. instant chicken bouillon granules (I used two little wrapped squares)

1 tsp. ground cumin

¼ tsp. black pepper

2 Tbs. flour

1. In large saucepan, cook turkey, onion and garlic until turkey is no longer pink. (or sautée the onion and garlic and turkey pieces.)

2. Stir in 3 cups of the water, beans, undrained chilies, bouillon, cumin, and pepper. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. For a spicier chili, you can add a shake of ground hot red pepper.

3. In a small bowl or shaker, mix together the remaining ¼ cup water and the flour. When chili is ready, add flour mixture and cook for 1 minute more to thicken. Serve.

This is great served with tortilla chips and sour cream!


Note: To make this out of food storage items, just used canned turkey and dried onions.

Discounted Chicken

I like to save money on groceries. One of the ways I do this is to stock up when something is on sale and then I'm still serving sale food even after the sale is over.

Cook

Cut and Partial Freeze

Ready to add in a hurry

This is how I do it with chicken. I only use chicken breasts or chicken breast tenders. When there is a good deal on, I buy more than I need. ( I don't like Macey's sale chicken unless I'm going to pressure can it. I think it is tough and dry) I cut it into strips and either grill it or fry it with salt and pepper or lemon pepper. When it is cooked, I cut it into cubes, put it on a tray to partial freeze and then transfer it to a dated bag to keep in the freezer. I use it as an addition to many meals. This is really a time saver when fixing dinner and we are eating cheap chicken all year.

Salad

Tonight we had one of my favorite dinners. Salad. I know it sounds kind of boring but there is a lot you can do to a salad.  Here is a list of things that can go into a salad. Sometimes I serve the items separately, sometimes I mix it all together. Put in what you like and leave out what you don't like or don't have on hand. When this is served for dinner I usually put grilled chicken strips or grilled fish with it. Cottage cheese is also good served with salad.

Lettuce, spinach, carrots, celery, radishes, broccoli, avocado, green onion, cilantro, asparagus (boil in small amount of water for about 7 min. Rinse in cold water and add to salad), strawberries, blueberries, sliced almonds, sunflower seeds, craisins, parmesan cheese, grated cheese, boiled eggs.

Hamburger or Steak Hash

½ lb. hamburger or leftover steak in small pieces (You could use black beans instead)

1 green or red bell pepper (chopped)

½ onion (chopped)

4 small potatoes (scrub and cook in microwave for 3 minutes, then cut in half lengthwise and slice)

¾ cup frozen corn (or ¾ cup canned corn drained)

Brown hamburger. Rinse off grease in colander. Put all ingredients in fry pan with a little olive oil. Cook until onion and potatoes are soft. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with ketchup.

Note: Tonight I didn't have a bell pepper, so I substituted some asparagus instead. 

Mango Salsa

1 mango (chopped)

1 bell pepper (chopped)

½ bunch cilantro (chopped)

¼ c green onion (chopped)

1 hot green chili (or 1/8 tsp red pepper)

1 Tbs olive oil

2 Tbs. lime juice

1 Tbs. vinegar

¼ tsp. salt

Mix and serve. 

How to chop a mango:

Mango should be soft enough to give a little when squeezed. That is when it is ripe. You can't tell by color.

Peel mango with knife, then make slices toward the pit horizontally and vertically. Then cut the sliced sections away from the pit.