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Hot Cocoa Station and Warm Quick Bread

December 5, 2015 By Becca 3 Comments

The hot cocoa station has taken its place in the kitchen. I think this is one of my daughter’s favorite traditions about the Holidays. She loves coming home after school and making herself a cup of cocoa. My absolute favorite cocoa is Williams Sonoma Peppermint Hot Chocolate. It’s to die for, friends. It takes a little longer to make, so my kids tend to go for the Nestle Quick hot chocolate. I pour that into a cute jar and it’s ready to go for an afternoon warm-me-up.

When you combine the hot cocoa station with some homemade banana bread or some warm pumpkin bread, it makes for some happy kids after school.

I must confess that the pumpkin bread is from a box. I bought the Krusteaz Pumpkin Bread from Costco before my surgery because I didn’t think I’d be in the mood for baking. We’ve all decided that we like this with butter and cinnamon sugar on top.

The banana bread is homemade. I couldn’t resist baking when I saw that we had a few over-ripe bananas. As much as I love making homemade bread with yeast, I also love a good quick and easy quick bread recipe.

Here’s the recipe I use for Banana Bread:

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

2 medium ripe bananas (mashed)

1/3 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease the bottom of a bread pan.

Beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

Add bananas, milk, eggs, and vanilla. Mix.

Add the rest of the dry ingredients. Mix.

Add 2 cups of chocolate chips (optional).

Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.

Happy Baking!

Homemade Bread and Chocolate Chip Cookies

November 13, 2015 By Becca Leave a Comment

Yesterday was Veteran’s Day and the kids and I were given the gift of time. It was a day off in the middle of the week that we all needed. My daughter’s Veteran’s Day concert was the night before and it was a great concert. She didn’t seem like her perky self, but I didn’t really think much of it… until the fever set in. I guess if you have to get sick, it’s best to do it on a day off from school. So, my daughter was down and out, my son wanted to hang out with friends, and I’m just trying to take it easy and ride out my back pain. In the midst of resting and relaxing, I decided that it was a good day for baking bread and cookies. Ok, when is it NOT a good day for baking bread and cookies??

I started with the bread because it’s the easiest. Friends, I know you may think this sounds crazy, but homemade bread is the easiest treat ever! I use the same recipe that my mom always did when I was growing up. Sometimes I will use whole wheat flower instead of white, but it’s always the same basic recipe. I make the dough in my bread machine, on the dough cycle, because it makes the process SO much easier. Once the dough is ready I put it into bread pans to rise again. I don’t like the way my bread machine cooks the bread, so that’s why I just use the dough cycle.

If you don’t own a bread machine, you can buy one for CHEAP at Goodwill. I use mine on a regular basis and I actually have two because it makes the double batches of cinnamon rolls so much easier.

If you’re ready to try some easy homemade bread, here’s my recipe:

Ingredients:

1 package yeast

1/4 cup warm water

2 cups scalded milk

1 Tbsp shortening

6 cups flour

(white, whole wheat, or a combination)

2 Tbsp sugar

2tsp salt

Combine yeast and warm water. Let it rest for about 10 minutes. Scald the milk and add the shortening so that it melts. Put the milk mixture into the bread machine first. Add the rest of the dry ingredients on top of the milk. Then, pour the yeast mixture on the very top. Set your bread machine to the dough cycle and wait for it to beep at you! Once it has risen in the machine, form into loaves and let rise again until it has doubled in size. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Tips:

DON’T BE AFRAID OF YEAST!

Yeast is very easy to work with and shouldn’t be intimidating. When I dissolve the yeast in the warm water, I make sure the water feels slightly warmer than bathtub water. If it is super hot, it will kill the yeast. If you use cold water, it won’t activate. I also make sure the milk is about that same temperature. Finally, when I let the bread rise in the pans, I usually turn on my oven to preheat and just set the pans on the stove. It gives the pans just enough warmth to help them rise.

In addition to homemade bread, it was also a chocolate chip cookie kind of day. Luckily, one kiddo was napping and the other was at a friends house, so I just ate all of the cookies myself and hid the evidence. Ok, just kidding on that one. Actually, after baking the cookies, I put them all into individual baggies and into a freezer container. That way, as the kids are making their lunches, they can pull out a bag of 2 cookies and put it into their lunches. By the time lunch rolls around, the cookies have thawed and are ready to eat.

Here’s the recipe:
1 Cup Crisco shortening (original, not butter flavor)
3/4 Cup brown sugar
3/4 Cup white sugar
Mix until soft and fluffy.

Add:
2 Eggs
1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla
Mix just until blended.

Dry ingredients:
2 and 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
Mix it up and add 8-12 oz of chocolate chips.

Bake for 10 minutes (or less) at 350 degrees. My oven is a standard oven, not convection, and this is what I do.

I didn’t check a bunch of items off of my To Do list on Veteran’s Day, but I did get to spend time with my kids, rest, and do a little baking. All in all, I’d say that’s a productive day.

Happy baking!

How To Keep Your Kids Busy Over Spring Break

April 1, 2015 By Becca Leave a Comment

Spring break is almost here! We are sticking pretty close to home this year and it made me think about what we are going to do to keep ourselves busy. This blog is all about home and family. I love to share cooking, sewing, gardening, and art projects that we are doing around here so I thought I’d let you in on my secret weapon. I must confess that I don’t always come up with amazing ideas on my own to keep my daughter busy. I love books and I’m always on the lookout for fun How-To books for her. Over the past few years, these have provided hours of entertainment.

*In full disclosure, I’m part of the Amazon Affiliate program, so if you choose to buy a product by clicking on it, I get a little kick-back. I promise, I wouldn’t tell you to buy these books unless I really and truly loved them.*

First up is the Mom and Me Cookbook. I have a pretty big children’s cookbook collection and this one is my absolute favorite.

If you’re up for a little sewing, this book has some great projects for beginners. My daughter and niece made both of the projects on the front of the book, had a great time, and learned a new skill.

If gardening is your thing, then this next book is great for getting a few little projects going.

The next item is something that I don’t actually own, but it is on my wish list. I’ve been wanting to do some experimenting with wire art in the classroom and at home. I thought this would be a good way to start and see how we like it.

I bought this pipe cleaner book when we were on vacation and needed an activity for our down-time. It was a great way to keep kids busy. Did you know the best way to cut pipe cleaners is with nail clippers? The book comes with pipe cleaners and shows you how to make all sorts of different animals.

Ok, this one is awesome. Have you ever heard of watercolor pencils? You color with them, like normal pencils, but then you add water to the colored-on paper with a paintbrush. It makes it look like a watercolor painting! You might be thinking, “Ok, that’s great, but I can’t draw.” Well, neither can I! This book walks you through the drawing process, step by step, and you end up with a pretty cool product. My daughter liked this one and even framed a few of her paintings.

My last suggestion is the Loopdedoo. It’s a little “machine” that helps you make friendship bracelets out of embroidery floss. Each bracelet takes just minutes and there are tons of different looks you can make. This was a Christmas present one year and it kept my daughter busy for the entire break.

I can’t wait for Spring Break. Sigh. Arts and crafts, gardening, sewing, and baking are on my To Do list. Doesn’t that sound lovely?

Happy shopping!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day – My Favorite Sugar Cookies

March 17, 2015 By Becca Leave a Comment

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Here’s a repost of my sugar cookie recipe, if you’re looking for a yummy St. Patrick’s Day treat.

My kids and I spent the afternoon making one of our favorite cookies…frosted sugar cookies. I make these cookies for most holidays, to share at our volunteer tea at school, to take to Seaside, and simple snowflakes to give as gifts at Christmas. Here’s the recipe:

Just kidding. Here’s the real recipe:

2 Cups Flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

6 TBSP butter

1/3 Cup shortening

3/4 Cup sugar

1 egg

1 TBSP milk

1 tsp vanilla

Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens Cookies for Christmas

Beat butter and shortening until fluffy. Add egg, milk, and vanilla. Beat well. Add dry ingredients. Beat until well mixed. (I usually make a triple batch. They freeze well.)

The dough needs to be refrigerated for about 3 hours to make it easier to handle.

I like a thick sugar cookie. That way they are soft, rather than crispy. I roll them to 1/4 inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 375 for seven minutes.

I frost my cookies with a simple powdered sugar and milk frosting. I don’t ever use a recipe. I just pour in a little powdered sugar and a little milk until I get a consistency I like. The Wilton food coloring paste is the only way to go. You can buy it at Michael’s. It gives a much more vivid color than regular food coloring. Stir it up until the color is well blended.

I love to frost my cookies and then use a little sanding sugar from William Sonoma. Oh, they’re just so pretty. It’s a tradition my kids love and it makes the house smell great too.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

December 6, 2014 By Becca Leave a Comment

Warm chocolate chip cookies on a cold night… what could be better? How about a warm chocolate chip cookie wrapped into a pie? I made a chocolate chip cookie pie a few years ago and my hubby didn’t like it too much. Well, I’ve revamped my recipe and I think this is a winner. I took it, along with an apple pie, to Thanksgiving and the kids fought over the last piece on Leftover Eating Day. Yes, our family devotes an entire dinner party just to eating leftovers.

Recipe:

1 unbaked pie crust (I always make my own)

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup shortening

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place butter and shortening in a bowl and beat together. Add brown sugar and white sugar. Beat. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix together. Add flour and salt and stir until mixed together. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into unbaked pie shell. As the pie is baking, I sprinkle a few more mini chocolate chips onto the pie. (The chocolate sinks to the bottom of the pie as it bakes, so this makes it pretty on top.) Bake at 350 for 55 minutes.

Enjoy your warm cookie pie!

Happy baking!

When Rolls Don’t Rise Fast Enough

December 2, 2014 By Becca Leave a Comment

On Thanksgiving I was assigned rolls for both of the parties we were going to. Cinnamon rolls were for one party and dinner rolls were for the other. I ran into a little problem with my timing. It has been SO cold out lately and my house wasn’t as toasty as usual, so my rolls weren’t rising as quickly as I would have liked.

Enter my favorite trick for helping rolls rise faster:

The heating pad.

I placed the heating pad under the rolls and turned it to high. The yeast in the rolls like heat, which makes them rise quickly.

Most of the time, when I’m making bread or rolls, I have the oven on and I can just set the pan of rising rolls on the stove top. Since my oven wasn’t going, this was a great way to get the rolls off of the cold counter top and start doing their thing.

While we’re sharing tips and tricks, I always use my old bread machine on the DOUGH CYCLE to make my bread and roll dough. It saves so much time. I throw the ingredients in, set it to dough, and it beeps at me when it has had enough time to mix and rise.

I know a lot of people don’t bake with yeast because it’s kind of scary. Yeast is tricky because you have to make sure your ingredients are warm, not too hot and not too cold. But, I’m here to tell you that it’s really not that hard. Oh, and once you have your heating pad out you might as well put it on a comfy chair and snuggle up to watch a good show on tv.

Happy baking and stay warm!

Kid Sized Apple Pies

November 20, 2014 By Becca Leave a Comment

My Kid Sized Apple Pies are now posted on LeapFrog’s Learning Path! Talk about SUPER cute and yummy! I really loved making these with the kids. We used our apple corer, peeler, slicer which makes any apple activity fun. I’m in charge of a couple of pies on Thanksgiving, and I’m thinking my daughter might have to make these to bring to the party.

If you’re interested in the recipe and how to use canning rings to bake them up, click over to LeapFrog’s Learning Path.

Jam and Cream Cheese Braid

November 16, 2014 By Becca Leave a Comment

Don’t you just want to reach through your screen and take a bite? This is a recipe that my grandma always made on Christmas. It quickly became a favorite in our family. I mean, how can you go wrong with cream cheese filling? It was destined to be a favorite.

This recipe is really simple and it is made the night before you serve it. There is such joy in pulling something this beautiful out of the oven and knowing that the dishes are already done.

Here’s the recipe:

Bread:
1/2 Cup warm water
1 package active dry yeast
2 1/2 Cups Bisquick (I told you it was simple!)
1 beaten egg
1 Tbsp sugar

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Combine all ingredients to make the dough for the bread part of the braid. Turn the dough onto a floured board and knead until it is no longer sticky.

Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Roll the dough into a 14″x9″ rectangle.

Filling:
1 8oz package of cream cheese, softened
1/2 Cup sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Combine all ingredients. Spread the filling down the middle third of the dough. (For the record, my kids and hubby like it best when I leave out the lemon juice.)