Baked Oatmeal

For dinner tonight I made Mel's Kitchen Cafe Baked Oatmeal.

3 cups oatmeal, either quick or old-fashioned

3/4 cups brown sugar

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup applesauce

1 cups milk

2 beaten eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoons salt

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together and pour into a greased 8X8-inch baking pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve with milk and/or fresh fruit.

*We poured milk over it, sprinkled cinnamon, and I finely chopped up blueberries.

**I know Miranda has to make some changes so that it is not so sugary. hopefully she will leave a comment with her changes.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is again Miranda's recipe.

These are delicious. I'm actually eating one right now.

I put all but one batch in the freezer. It seems to keep them from drying out and it only takes a couple of minutes out to have them thawed out.

2/3 c. shortening

2/3 c. butter, softened

1 c. sugar

1 c. brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

3 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 pkg. chocolate chips (this time I used the mixed bag with chocolate and peanut butter chips)

Mix first six ingredients. Add next four. Then add chips.

Cook at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Calzones

This is a super easy meal that I learned from my friend Diana.

Rhodes rolls (3 for adult, 2 for children)

Toppings (we usually do pepperoni, pineapple, and olives)

Mozzarella cheese

Thaw out rolls about 45 minutes) roll 3 (or 2for children) into circle. Fill half with toppings. Add generous amounts of cheese on same half. Fold over and pinch edges. Place on greased cookie sheets. Cook on 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

No Bake Lasagna

This again is Miranda's recipe. I made this for the missionaries this week. I didn't take a picture because I felt weird taking it in front them.

This is also a great freezer meal.

For meat, this time I used 1/2 pound ground beef, 1/4 pound Italian sausage, and 1/4 pound hot Italian sausage. Mmmmmmm.

1 lb. ground beef

½ cup chopped onion

Garlic (to your liking)

1 32-oz Jar spaghetti sauce

16 oz. medium diced tomatoes

½ cup water

½ package lasagna noodles

2 cups ricotta cheese

1 T. Parsley

3 cups shredded cheese

Parmesan cheese

Brown ground beef with onion and drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce, water, and tomato chunks.

Cheese mixture: Ricotta cheese, garlic, salt, parsley, and parmesan cheese. Spread on noodles.

Meat mixture, noodles, cream, meat, cheese, noodles, etc.

Bake at 375 for 50 minutes with foil and 15 minutes without.

Here's a great pizza sauce recipe that we tried with Miranda's  pizza crust! it was really good. :) here's the link - http://www.food.com/recipe/ultimate-pizza-sauce-114392  Enjoy!

Brownies

This really is not the best picture. My friend Kimber gave me this recipe. It's nice to have a fast easy recipe for desert. It's gooey yumminess!

Brownies

1 cup melted butter
2 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup flour
dash salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup cocoa

Mix all ingredients. Grease bottom of 9X13 in pan. Pour brownies in pan. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

Sandwich Bread

Tonight I made dinner for a friend that had in-vitro done today. I am so glad that Heidi reminded me about the Chicken Noodle Soup recipe. When I take meals to people I love to take soups because because it already has the vegetable in it. It seems like so much to do when you have to add veggies to a meal. Yum! So, this bread recipe is my most favorite bread. It is a little more dense than my other bread recipe so it works really great for sandwiches and french toast. Let me know if you have any questions.

Sandwich Bread

1 cup whole milk, warm

1/3 cup water, water

3 T. unsalted butter (I don't use unsalted butter so I just don't put as much salt in)

3 T. honey

3 3/4 cup bread flour, plus extra for the counter

1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp.)

2 tsp. salt

This is how I make it: I use a 2 cup measuring cup and measure 1 cup of milk and put it in the microwave for 1 minute. Then add the honey, hot water, and melted butter to the milk. In mixing bowl I measure the flour, yeast, and salt. I use 1 1/2 cups of white wheat and 1/2 cup red wheat and the rest white flour. Before adding the wet ingredients make sure that it is hot. If it's not hot enough put it in the microwave for 20 seconds and test. I like it to be almost too hot for my finger. When it is hot enough add it to the dry ingredients. When there is enough flour to make a nice dough knead for 10 minutes. Then knead by hand for 1 minute. Let rise in a greased bowl for 30-45 minutes until it has doubled. Punch out and place in a greased bread pan. Cover with greased saran wrap and a towel. Let rise till doubled, about 1 hour. When you heat your oven put a bowl of water in it. I'm not sure why but I think it helps keep the bread moist and makes the crust nice. Bake 350 for 22-26 minutes. I usually check it at 22 minutes and then cover it with foil so that I can cook it longer without the crust getting too dark.