Handy Dandy Donut Baking--Cinnamon Baked Donuts

I made donuts! I was really proud of myself, can you tell? There is something so good about fresh-baked homemade donuts, right out of the oven. Having a donut pan makes it all easy, handy, dandy! So with my 40% off coupon, in hand, I was off to the baking aisle at Hobby Lobby and picked up this Wilton pan for a great price. It's a nice pan--I might get a second one!

Handy Dandy Donuts (makes 12)

For the dough--
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup Splenda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
3/4 cup milk with a splash of lemon juice--or use buttermilk
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 eggs, beaten

Instructions--
Mix together the dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients and combine. Do not overmix. Fill each pan cavity 2/3 full. Bake at 425 degrees for 7-9 minutes or until the top of the donut springs back when touched. Let cool a few minutes, then dip in the cinnamon sugar topping.

Topping--
Melt 2 tablespoons butter
Mix together 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar.

Dip each donut top in melted butter, then cinnamon/sugar. Serve!

My little nephews loved these and so did everyone in the house that day. They did not last the day. But they looked cute piled up on a cake stand, and stayed fresh with the lid on--but I don't know how long they stay fresh, because they were eaten! But they are easy enough to make, that I am happy to make up another batch anytime.

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch, Bake

A Perfect Summer's Day at Last

We are about to kiss Summer 2013 goodbye. I'm relaxing with my little laptop, and thinking of all the best moments. Summer lovers must be a little sad--although we've all had our weather roller coasters, the last bit of August was absolutely beautiful here in the Ozarks, and September has heated up enough to keep my tomatoes and my tan going--why would I want to bid all this heaven farewell?

There are things I love about fall like wearing sweaters, making apple pies, decorating pumpkins, and hot cocoa on a crisp fall day, it's true. 

But it will all have to wait one more moment while I reminisce about my summer. I stumbled upon a sweet summer memories blog post, which made me think it's time for another. I had posted this one in July of that year, and it was kinda fun.

♥ Read Cats and Quiches

 This year we were not able to travel...and I didn't even really have my deck to sit out and sip coffee on because it is all torn up right now! I've been looking forward to a new deck for a while. So, things are not perfect, but that's no excuse not to find some bliss. 

These are a few of my favorite things from this summer.

I found a new cozy corner on my greenhouse sunporch.

We actually grew pumpkins this year! We've already harvested the first big orange one. It was great weather for the squash family.

My aloe vera plant (which has now been moved to that new cozy corner) is huge!

My front yard flowers have been amazing. In the flower box hubby built for me many moons ago, are marigolds grown from seed, impatients, and pink lavender.

My mailbox garden was grown from seeds...marigolds and zinnias.

I made blueberry muffins with real blueberries! So yummy. I'll post this recipe soon, I promise.

I finally went to the new location of the FM Store--my favorite fabric store. I just get lost in there dreaming about all the things I'm going to make! This time I was picking out a chair covering. Here's a few fab pics!

I actually knitted a lot this summer. I finished a patchwork knitty quilt, and I'm almost finished with the second piece of my knitted tank top. Woo hoo!

Minnie is hanging out with me right now, telling me her best moments of summer. ♥ She loved my daughter being home and constantly hanging out in her room--especially when she has friends over!

I love wearing summer shirts and shorts much more than cold weather clothes! Almost all the shorts I wear have embroidery on them! Embroidery is how I tatoo!

Speaking of wearable art (embroidery in particular) I found my Mexican dress! A dear friend actually bought it for me in Mexico and it is filled with the most amazing embroidery...gorgeous! My daughter thinks it looks like a blue tent on me, but I don't care because I'm so in love with the embroidery. What a nut! I need a good photo of it and soon. ♥

I discovered "earthing" the simple act of walking barefoot on the ground to transfer the earth's free electrons (the most potent antioxidants) into your body. It sounds so simple--too simple almost. But there are places in the world, like in Austria and Switzerland, where there is a tradition of getting up in the morning and going barefoot. What will I do when it's too cold outside?

I'm still eating, cooking, and canning tomatoes fresh off the vine. Nothing like it, period.

I decorated my typewriter! Might as well...only four ribbon cartridges left before it gets upcycled!

Finished the butterfly scarf--it will be fun to wear this fall and winter. Now that's something to look forward to!

I became a contributor to Tag Tuesday. I love making tags, and they have so many uses. Being a part of Tag Tuesday is just more motivation!

My hubby's in an awesome show at the Little Theatre, but still took time to go to a lovely craft fair with me!

I started making mood boards - fun! Kinda like inspiration boards. And I've turned Pinterest into many inspiration boards for myself. Love it. Join me on Pinterest! (see my link at the top right)

I made pink lemonade a lot. Yum.

I made an upcycled summer art journal using vintage file dividers for the covers--very cool.

Read Upcycled Art Journal here.

I did a lot of reorganizing in my crafty corner!

Don't forget to write down what you loved about this summer, whether you blog about it, put it in your art journal (I'm putting mine in there too), or just make a list--it's really fun to look back on and makes you remember all the things you love about your life.

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch, Summer-at-Home



















 

Cheesy Golden Potato Bake

Also known as "scalloped potatoes" this golden cheesy variety is my family's favorite. We always have them at holiday dinners, and sometimes, like the other day when I was home all day, I whipped up a small dish for a simple family meal. Winter food of the gods!!

Cheesy Golden Potato Bake
4 yukon gold potatoes
2 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
cracked black pepper to taste
1 cup milk
1 to 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Slice the potatoes in very thin rounds--you really need a food processor with this attachment, or a mandolin slicer, or what I use--my Saladmaster! (a tool that I'm pretty sure hardly anyone else on the planet has) Melt the butter in a small to medium size sauce pan and saute the onions and garlic for just under a minute or until onion is transparent. Stir in flour, salt and pepper and slowly pour in the milk, stirring and stirring until the mixture thickens, over medium high heat (you do not want to burn the milk!). Stir in the cheese until melted. This is your sauce.

I got my Saladmaster with all its different slicing cones many years ago.

Layer half the sliced potatoes on the bottom of a greased casserole, and pour over half the sauce. Layer on the rest of the sliced potatoes and pour on the rest of the sauce. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake at least another 20 minutes until golden, edged in brown, and bubbly. Enjoy!

I had to have a cookware party to get this thing almost 25 years ago! Still works great.

Ready to go in the oven!

I almost forgot to take a picture before they started digging in!

Eat well, write often, dream daily, stitch happy.

Homemade Easy Sea Salt Potato Chips

A sandwich full of fresh-from-the-vine garden veggies needs something special to go with it--and not something out of a bag! Homemade sea salt potato chips are so easy to make, and are ready in about the time it takes to make the sandwich!

I have this wonderful contraption called a "Salad Master" that comes with different cones. This one makes the nice thin slices that I often use for baked scalloped potatoes, so today I decided to used it for my potato chips. You can use any type of mandolin that makes the thin slices, or slice them by hand. Two or three potatoes are plenty for two people.

 I tossed my sliced yukon gold potatoes in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, and sprinkled them with sea salt. They go into a 400-degree oven for about 15 minutes. Turn on your convection fan to reduce the time and brown them faster--just keep an eye on them. You can tell when they are done.

I served my homemade chips with ham, cheddar, basil and tomato sandwiches on honey wheat bread. I love slicing up the yellow and red tomatoes for each sandwich.

These homemade chips would be really yummy tossed with some chopped fresh rosemary. Hmmm...do over!

It's An Eat Write Dream Stitch Theme Week! Today We Eat Bread from the Garden!!

That's right, it's a hot summer's Monday, and a great reason to keep the kitchen cool and make something yummy in the ole bread machine! And I've created a yummy new garden bread recipe.

 This bread recipe all began when I was staring at my 15-year-old bread machine, wondering if I should throw it out. It's kind of large for a bread machine, because it doubles as a little oven and a toaster oven. It's an old Toastmaster Breadmaker's Hearth. It still works just fine, though, so I realized I just needed to use it! 

I got out the original recipe book that came with it, and found a recipe for "Rosemary Tomato Bread." But here's the funny thing. There is NO ROSEMARY listed in the recipe. I cracked up. It has cilantro and oregano. What the heck? So, I experimented and wrote my own recipe!

 The "tomato" in their recipe called for a can of vegetable juice. In my recipe, I use a jar of home-canned tomatoes, straining out the juice. You can also strain the juice from the fresh tomatoes in your garden too.

I chopped up fresh rosemary. That's right, I actually use "rosemary" in the rosemary bread! Ha ha!

The other ingredients include snipped sun-dried tomatoes (not the kind packed in oil), olive oil, and fresh-ground garlic sea salt. I love having the garlic sea salt around, I use it for a lot of things.

The recipe for Rosemary Garlic Tomato Bread - add one-fourth cup of sundried tomato

 Everyone's bread machine is different--mine makes a really tall, large loaf and uses 4 cups of flour each time, so you can adjust your ingredients according to your machine's size and specs.

Got my loaf pan all ready with the flour and yeast on top and the one-fourth cup of snipped sundried tomatoes ready to go. These were tomatoes from my garden last year, just like the canned tomatoes I used to strain the juice from. I dried them in my dehydrator last fall.

I used the light setting, and from mixing, kneading, and rising to baking, it took three hours.

A tall loaf! Very tall. My bread machine is hilarious.

Alright, I have to tell you how good this bread is. I really wasn't sure how this was going to turn out--but this bread has the best flavor. The sweetness of the tomatoes and the aromatic rosemary really bring out a wonderful flavor. Since fresh homemade bread needs to be used up quickly, I'm going to make my own croutons from this bread tomorrow. Fun!

Soooo good!

Experimenting with my bread machine and the ingredients I like was really fun and relaxing. My new blogger friend Victoria baked a fresh loaf of bread the other day, and ever since then I've had it on my mind to bake some bread! Thanks Victoria!

Eat happy. Come back tomorrow, and we'll Write!