HOMEMADE PIZZA POPS!

We love pizza pops at our house! So i decided to try making my own! It was easy and my boys loved them! I made my own dough but you can use whatever pizza dough you want!



PIZZA POP DOUGH

2 1/2 Cups Flour
1/2 teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Yeast
1 Cup Hot Water
3 Tablespoons Oil


Mix dry ingredients first, then add your Oil and Hot Water. Mix all together till it forms a nice smooth ball. Let it rest for 1/2 an hour. In that time you can mix your filling!


PIZZA POP FILLING (I made 2 kinds of filling)


CHEESE FILLING ( Shred as much mozzarella cheese as you want, mix pizza sauce with oregano and garlic and pepper, fold the shredded cheese in) set aside.


PEPPARONI AND MUSHROOM ( slice pepparoni and drain a can of sliced mushrooms, mix pizza sauce and oregano and garlic and pepper together, mix in the pepparoni and mushrooms) set aside.


After dough has sat for 1/2 hour, it will have risen so punch down, cut dough in 4 sections, take a section and roll it out, not to thin the filling will break through the dough then. Take a tablespoon of filling, and put on dough, then flip the douover the filling and make the filling nice and snug inside, using a pizza cutter cut around, the filling but not to close you will need to pinch it sealed. Using a fork go around edges sealing. Continue with the rest of your filling. Then bake in a 400 degree oven until golden brown!

CHOCOLATE CASTLE CAKE!

JR, had his birthday party on Fri, and he was so adament about having a castle cake, we looked on the internet, but found a whole lot of girlie castle cakes, and he looked at me and said I will not have a girl cake, I told him trust me son I promise it will not be girlie! Needless to say he loved it! and it was not hard to make at all!

CASTLE CAKE!

For the cake base I used

TEXAS CHOCOLATE SHEET CAKE!

2 Cups Flour

2 Cups Sugar

2 Eggs Beaten

3/4 Cup Sour Cream

1 teaspoon Salt

1 traspoon Baking Soda

1 Cup Butter or MArgarine

1 Cup Water

4 Heaping Tablespoons Cocoa

(1)In bowl mix together Flour, Sugar, Eggs, Sour Cream, Salt and Baking Soda. Set Aside

(2)In saucepan bring Butter, Water and Cocoa to boil. Remove from heat. Cool.

(3)Stir into Flour mixture and beat with electric mixer until smooth.

(4)Pour into greased 9x7 and 5x6 pans.

(5)Bake at 350 degrees for 20-22 minutes, cool for 15-20 mins and spread with Chocolate frosting.

CHOCOLATE FROSTING!

4 1/2 Cups Icing Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla

1/2 cup Butter (Is a must don't substitute for margarine)

1/4 cup Milk

4 Tablespoon Cocoa

(1)In a bowl mix together Icing Sugar and Vanilla and set aside.

(2)In saucepan combine Butter and Milk, bring to boil, set some aside to add Blue Food coloring in for the water for the Moat. When you have taken some out then add the Cocoa and bring to boil again.

(3)Remove from heat and add to Sugar and vanilla.

(4)Mix well with mixer at medium speed.

ASSEMBLING THE CAKE!

You will need!

9 Ice Cream Cones with notches made on them to look like Turrets, cut out a window on each.

Chocolate Icing

Blue Icing

Lego Knights

Lego Flag

2 Lego Squares

(1)On the 9x7 cake, spread some icing in the middle, take the 5x6 cake and put it on the part you iced.

(2)On the corners of the 2 cakes cut our a little bit of cake from them, so the Ice Cream cone Turrets will fit in snug.

(3)Ice the whole cake now, leaving some extra icing for touch ups.

(4)Ice the Ice Cream Cone Turrets, with a little icing not to much, you still want to see the design of the cone, it adds to the look.

(5)Fit the Turrets into their spots on the corners, take the extra icing and fill in gaps between the cake and cones.

(6)The extra Cone goes on top of cake as the Prison Tower.

(7)Take the blue icing and spread it aound Castle to look like Water in a Moat.

(8)Put the square Lego pieces on for the Door and Draw Bridge,

(9)Add the Lego Knights and the Lego Flag on top of the Prison Tower.

(10)The Castle is complete!

SHIRLEY'S BREAD RECIPE

I got this recipe from a good friend! and it is the best bread recipe I have ever tried, and my hubby loves it (and he is not fond of homemade bread) so this recipe was a winner for me!



Set aside to rise 10 minutes: 1/2 Cup Warm Water, 1 teaspoon Sugar, 1 Tablespoon Yeast



In bowl put 3 Cups warm Water, 1/4 Cup Sugar, 2 Eggs and 3 teaspoons Salt mix, then add some flour, then add Yeast Mixture, Mix up, then add enough flour to make a stiff dough.
Put into oiled bowl and let rise 1 hour, punch down let rise 1 hour, then punch down and divide into 4 equal parts, shape into bread, put into pans and let rise 1-2 hours depending how warm your house is. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Quick and Easy Mini Pizza's JR Style!

This time it was JR's turn to make supper, he made it last week, and he is a pizza fan! so naturally he made something pizzay!

4 Tortilla's

2 Cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Bulls Eye BBQ sauce original

Ketchup

Oregano

Mix the BBQ sauce and ketchup together, put in as much oregano that suits your taste

spread the sauce on the tortilla's, sprinkle with cheese, and broil until cheese is bubbly!

Add a salad like JR did!

SALAD

Lettuce

Onions

Green peppers

Tomato's

Cheddar Cheeses for garnish

SPAGHETTI TOMATO DELIGHT! CJ STYLE!

My oldest son CJ wanted to make supper tonight! so he was the chef, and he came up with his own version, he also plated the meal himself, I think he did an amazing job!







Spaghetti (Make as much as your family needs)
2 TBSP Margarine
2 TBSP Flour
2 Cups Milk
1 can Tomato Soup
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Seasoning Salt
Pepper to taste
Tex Mex Seasoning (optional)
Parsley for garnish


Cook Spaghetti, In cast iron fry pan melt Margarine, when melted sprinkle with Flour, and stir together, then add Milk and wisk till smooth, add can of Tomato Soup, and mix till nice and smooth. add Seasonings, and then cover and let simmer!
When spaghetti is done drain, add to plates and then pour sauce over and sprinkle with Parsley!
Enjoy!

ALFREDO SAUCE WITH ANGEL HAIR PASTA

This meal is very easy to make when you need a meal ready fast, and is very tasty! I made my own version of it.




Angel hair pasta, make as much as your family needs

3 TBSP Butter or Margarine
3 TBSP Flour
2 Cups whole Milk
1 teaspoon Garlic powder
Pepper to taste, don't add salt the feta is salty already
3 TBSP Feta Cheese
2 TBSP chopped parsley


(1) Cook Angel Hair
(2) Melt butter in sauce pan
(3) Add the flour and mix together
(4) Add the milk and mix till combined
(5) Bring that to a bubble on medium heat
(6) Whisk until thick
(7) Add the garlic powder, pepper and Parsley
(8) Stir in the Feta Cheese until it has melted into sauce
(9) When pasta has cooked drain
(10) Put some pasta on plate and pour Alfredo sauce over
(11) Garnish with some parsley sprinkles

CHOCOLATE LAPTOP BIRTHDAY CAKE!

My oldest son had a birthday last Thursday, and he wanted me to make a laptop cake, well I had to put on my thinking cap, and figure this out, and I knew I had to use fondant icing, this was the first ime ever using fondant, I found it tricky to use, and you need a few days in advance to prepare it. But all in all it was fun, and it didn't turn out to bad. At least the kids were pretty excited about it! I made the cake out of chocolate!


TEXAS CHOCOLATE SHEET CAKE

2 Cups White Flour
2 Cups Sugar
2 Eggs Beaten
3/4 Cup Sour Cream
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Cup Butter or Margarine
1 Cup Water
4 Heaping Tablespoons Cocoa


(1)In a bowl mix together Flour, Sugar, Eggs, Sour Cream, Salt and Baking Soda. Set aside.
(2)In saucepan, bring Butter, Water and Cocoa to a boil. Remove from heat. Cool.
(3)When cool stir into Flour mixture and beat with electric mixer at medium speed until smooth.
(4)Pour into 2 17 inch jelly roll pans, lined with parchment paper ( easier to get the cake out later)
(5)Bake at 350 degrees for 20-22 minutes, or until cake tests done.
(6) Cool before icing.


CHOCOLATE FROSTING

4 1/2 Cups Icing Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1/2 Cup Butter (butter is a must)
1/4 Cup Milk
4 Tablespoons Cocoa


(1)Ina bowl mix Icing Sugar and Vanilla set aside.
(2)In saucpan combine Butter, Milk and Cocoa. Bring to a boil.
(3)Remove from heat and add to Sugar and Vanilla. Mix well with mixer at medium speed.

The picture below is the cake taken out of the pan and is ready to be frosted! You will only Ice one pan of chocolate cake. The other pan will be for the laptop.

FONDANT RECIPE

1 Tablespoon Unflavoured Gelatin

1/4 Cup Cold Water

1 teaspoon Almond Extract

1/2 Cup light Corn Syrup You can make your own (1 1/4 Cup Sugar and 1/3 Cup Water boiled together til syrupy, this will work jsut as well)

1 Tablespoon Glycerin (This is a must you NEED it, you can find it at your local health store. but ask for the edible kind)

2 Pounds of Icing Sugar (it is a regular bag it equals 2 LBS)

1/2 teaspoon White Vegetable Shortening

(1) Sprinkle Gelatin over Cold Water in bowl and let rest 2 min to soften.

(2)Place in microwave for 30 secs on high until gelatin dissolves.

(3)Add almond extract.

(4)Add Corn Syrup and the Glycerin and stir untill mixture is smooth and clear (if mixture is not truning smooth and clear microwave for additional 15-20 secs on high and stir again)

(5)Sift 1 1/2 pounds of the Icing Sugar into large bowl

(6)Make a hole in the middle of the sugar and pour the liquid mixture into it

(7)Stir with wooden spoon until mixture becomes sticky.

(8)Sift some of the remaining 1/2 pound of Sugar onto a smooth clean work surface and add as much of the remaining Icing Sugar as the mixture will take.

(9)Knead the fondant, adding a little more Sugar if necessary to form a smooth pliable mass.

(10)Rub the Vegetable Shortening onto your thumbs and knead into the Fondant.

(11)Wrap the Fondant in plastic wrap and place in tightly sealed container to prevent it from drying out.

If Fondant does dry out and becomes hard, pop into microwave and knead back to life.

And this is what it will look like!

COLORING FONDANT

(1)Roll The fondant into a ball on your counter and smash it out a bit until soft and pliable

(2)Make a pit in the middle of the Fondant and using a toothpick add dots of GEL FOOD COLOR (don't use liquid food color it will make the Fondant soggy) into the pit. Inportant thing is to add a little bit a time, then knead it it over and over until you get an even spread of color all over

(3)If FOndant is still to pale use same method to add more color

(4)Once you finish coloringt he FOndant shape into disks wrap each in plastic wrap and place in air tight container.

(5)Fondant will darken overnight and lighten in Sunlight.

(6)Wear rubber glovrs when adding color to Fondant, it will stain your hands.

(7)When putting on cake you need to roll the Fondant out thin, and you lay it over your cake, tuck in edges to make it look clean.

I kept some Fondant aside that I didn't color so I could make the keys for the keypad, be creative it is fun!

The other pan of cake I used only half of it, for the bottom half of the laptop, that I fondanted, and laid it on top of the cake that was icinged, (but before you lay the fondanted cake on top put a bit of icing where you are going to put the cake, it acts like a glue, to keep it in place, and the FOndant can take moisture from that and not the cake.) You have quite a thick cake once the Fondanted part is put on but is tastes great all together. For teh sreen part of the laptop, I didn't use cake it would have been to heavy and just fallen, so I cut out a piece of cardboard, and taped a piece of blank paper to one side(so I could write Happy Birthday on it)and Fondanted the rest so you can't tell it is not cake, then I took 3 skewers and pushed them up through the back of the card board, and then stuck it into the cake to stand up. Give yourselves a couple of days to do this all, it can all be made in advanced and then assembled the day of. Happy Baking!

BUTTERMILK DOUGHNUTS AND BITS

My wonderful Hunny, bought me a Chuck Wagon Cooking cookbook several years back, and I love the rustic meals in there, but they also have sweet treats as well, and I saw this recipe for doughnuts, and thought I would try it and I was not dissapointed! They are very easy to make and delicious!

4 1/2 Cups Flour

1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon Allspice

1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda

1 1/2 teaspoons Cream of Tarter

1 teaspoon Salt

3 Eggs

1 Cup Sugar

3 Tablespoons Shortening melted

1 Cup Buttermilk

Oil for deep fying

Confectioners Sugar (optional)

(1) Mix together thoroughly the dry ingredients, except the Sugar.

(2) Beat the Egss until thick and gradually add the Sugar.

(3) Add the melted Shortening, Buttermilk and Flour mixture to the beaten Sugar and Egg mixture. Mix well, chill for 1 hour.

(4) Turn out onto floured board. Roll to 1/2 inch thickness, cut with floured doughnut cutter ( I don't have one so I used a large cup to make the whole doughnut,and a very small one for the middle) Kepp the middles and fry them they are like "Tim Bits"

(5) Heat Oil to 375 degrees (I used my deep fryer then I could control the temp) fry a few doughnuts at a time until golden brown on both sides.

(6) Drain on paper towels.

(7) Dust with Confectioners Sugar. Makes 2 1/2 Dozen.

GRANDMA WATSON'S BUN RECIPE

I don't have a Grandma Watson, but her bun recipe was on the bag of flour, it sure is tasty and wonderful! I have tried many recipes, I thought I had found one before, but this one is by far the best I have ever tried! They remind me of my Mom's, and what can be better then that!

INGREDIENTS

3 Cups warm water

1/3 Cup White Sugar

2 Eggs Beaten

2 Tablespoons fast rising Yeast

1/2 Cup Oil

1 teaspoon Salt

8 Cups Flour

MIX TOGETHER

4 Cups of the 8 Cups of flour

2 Tablespoons Yeast

1/3 Cup White Sugar

1 teaspoon Salt

Make a well in flour mixture add 3 Cups warm water, 1 beaten eggs, 1/2 Cup oil mix together then add the rest of the 4 Cups of flour. Knead until it all comes together in a nice smooth ball. Let rise 15 minutes, punch down, let rise again 15 minutes punch down, let rise 15 minutes, then form into buns, put on pan and let rise 1 hour. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Makes 4-5 dozen.

CRUSTY FRENCH BREAD

This is my favorite bread to use for garlic bread, (this recipe came with my Cuisinart mixer) it is crusty and oh so good! I used brown flour this time, it does change the consistency of the texture but still very tasty!


2/3 Cups warm water
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
4 1/2 Cups Flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 Cup cold water
Extra flour for dusting bread


(1)Place warm water in mixing bowl. Stir in yeast and 1 Tablespoon of the flour, let stand for 5 minutes. Mixture will foam and bubble. While yeast is proofing, combine 3 1/2 Cups of the flour and salt. Add cold water and the flour mixture to the yeast mixture. Insert dough hook and mix on speed 2 for 2 minutes until batter like.

(2)Continuing on speed 2, add the remaining flour mixture, 1 Tablespoon at a time, until a dough ball forms, and clings tp the dough hook and cleans side of bowl, then then allow the dought o knead for 4 minutes on speed 3.

(3)Dust dough ball lightly with flour and place inlarge greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in warm draft free place (like oven) until double in size about 1 hour. Punch dough down and let rise again until doubled in size. Punch dough down and divide into 2 pieces. Shape each into a long narrow loaf about 16-18 inches long, place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper (parchment is wonderful none of your baking will ever stick) cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled about and 1 hour. Then pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.

(4) Dust loaves generously with flour. Make 4 or 5 diagonal slashes on the top of each loaf (that can be omitted). Bake for about 25-30 minutes until browned and hollow sounding when tapped. Cool on wire rack. Bread slices best when allowed to cool complettely!

MONKEY BREAD

I saw this recipe on Food Network, and it looked really yummy, so this morning my son C asked if I could make some for breakfast. It is like a cinnamon bun, but just a different twist on it and they were so good, and the boys had a blast helping make them!


FOR THE BREAD

4 Tablespoons Butter melted
2 Cups Milk
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
1 Tablespoon Instant Yeast
4 Cups Flour
2 teaspoons Salt

FOR ROLLING

1 Cup White Sugar
3 Tablespoons Cinnamon
1/2 Cup Butter melted

MAKING BREAD

(1) Pre heat oven at 200, lightly oil a large bundt pan or other baking pan
(2) Put dough hook in mixer, add melted butter, milk, brown sugar, vanilla and yeast. Mix for a few minutes then add flour and salt. Mix until dough comes together and pulls away from sides of bowl, put dough in large bowl that has been oiled and place in preheated oven to rise 1 hour, when you put the dough in oven to rise, turn the oven off.
(3) When dough has risen take out of oven, pour melted butter in a bowl, mix the cinnamon and sugar in another bowl.
(4) Punch dough down, then take some dough into your hand and roll into a small ball (about the size of a golf ball) roll ball ain melted butter, then roll into cinnamon/sugar mixture, layer in bundt pan like picture below. If you have extra butter and sugar mixture pour over.


(5) Put pan in oven to rise again, for 45 minutes, until dough balls have risen to top of pan


(6) Heat oven to 350, then when oven is nice and hot bake Monkey Bread for 40 minutes. When done take a plate put pan upsidde down on it, and the bread will fall out but will be all otgether, let it cool slightly, then pull the bread apart and enjoy!

HUNGARIAN PARTRIDGE NOODLE SOUP

There is nothing like homemade chicken noodle soup when you are sick with a cold, to make you feel better, but I don't have chickens I just have wild fowl in my freezer, and hungarian partridge is one of them, the wild meat adds flavour to the broth that chicken just cannot do, for those who don't know what a hungarian partridge is, it is a very small bird that is in quite abundance out here, the picture below shows the size and what they look like, these are cooked already! they are small enough that I can put 3 on a dinner plate, and you would eat like any other kind of bird!

3 Hungarian Partridges feet taken off

3 Bay Leaves

2 star Aniseed

3 Tablespoons chopped Parsley

Salt and Pepper to taste

Put birds into stock pot, put enough water in to cover partridges, bring to a boil, when boiling put in seasonings and simmer for 2-3 hours. serve over cooked noodles!

The meat is seasoned from the broth, so you can use it in casseroles, sandwiches or whatever you like!

BEEF VEGGIE SOUP

My Hunny was craving veggie soup, so I decided to come up with my own hearty version, and all the flavours blended together makes a tasty full bodied soup, and I made my Hunny's day!

2 Lbs ground beef scrambled

6 medium Potato's peeled and cubed

1/2 bag frozen mixed Veggies

1 medium Onion chopped

10 Cups Water

2 cans Tomato soup

2 Tablespoons Oregano

2 Bay Leaves

3 Tablespoons Parsley

4 Tablespoons Beef Stock Mix

Salt and Pepper to taste

Scramble ground beef, put into stock pot pour in the water, then the 2 cans of Tomato soup, mix that together till the T soup is well blended in, add the Potato's, Onions and Veggies mix together, then add Spices let that all simmer on low for 3 hours, then take out Bay leaf! This makes a big recipe, so I always can the leftovers.

CANNING SOUP

Bring soup to a roaring boil, (soup has to be very hot in order to seal jars) then ladle into jars to about an inch from the rim, put on lid, and they will seal on their own.

SPINACH OMELETTE

I was craving an omelette this morning, so I looked in the fridge to see what I could mix up, I don't like meat in my omelette's, so the spinach and mushrooms make it hearty and the whipping cream gives it a creamy texture!

2 Eggs

4 Tablespoons Whipping Cream

2 Tablespoons Spinach chopped

2 small fresh Mushrooms sliced

2 Tablespoons Onions chopped

1 Cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

Whip eggs with fork, put in whipping cream and mix together, put in spinach, mushrooms, onions and 1/2 Cup of the cheese mix all together and seasonings to taste. Pour into pan that has ben heated on low cover, cook until it gets fluffy take off heat flip one half overthe other, sprinkle the rst of the cheese on top, cover again and let the heat from the omelette melt the cheese!

GERMAN PANCAKES

My oldest son C tried these and wanted me to make them, I had never heard of german pancakes before, and I thought where in the world am I going to get the recipe, then it came to me, I bet you it would be in the Mennonite Treasury, so I looked and sure enough it was, they are very easy to make, and you can serve them with anything, dip them in sugar pour syrup over, or do like my youngest son J did today, spread crabapple jam on it and then roll it up. Very tasty!

1 1/2 Cups Flour

1/2 tsp Salt

3 Eggs

1 3/4 Cups Milk

Make a well in the flour and add salt, unbeaten eggs and 1 Cup of the milk. Beat with mixer until there are no lumps, then add rest of milk, and keep beating until you have a nice thin batter (it will be runny) Heat a iron skillet (pancakes work best in it) brush butter on, pour 1/4 of the batter in pan, and move it around until you have a thin layer, and it covers entire bottom of pan, cook until batter is set. Then flip over and cook until golden brown underneath!

BEEF STROGANOFF CASSEROLE

2Lbs ground beef scrambled
1/2 Onion chopped
1 can Mushrooms
2 cans Cream of Mushroom Soup
3 Tablespoons chopped Parsley
3 Tablespoons Beef flavouring
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
5 Cups of cooked Spaghetti
1 Cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

Saute onion and mushrooms in a little oil until tender, add ground beef, fry until beef is cooked through and no longer pink, add beef flavouring, parsley, salt and pepper, mix together add the mushroom soup mix together add the worcestershire sauce, mix all together let simmer for 1/2 hour, mix with spaghetti, pour into casserole dish, sprinkle the cup of cheese over casserole, and broil until cheese bubbles.