Pasta Week

I am so sorry that I haven't posted for so long! I've been dealing with morning sickness, but it's been more like all day sickness. I'm finally feeling a little bit better and so I'm back to post things.

This week, I've decided to focus on pasta - something my little family LOVES. So check out my post for today and the ones coming up this week and give them a try! I'll try to be a little more regular. We'll see how it goes!! Wish me luck!!!

Spaghetti Pie

This recipe comes from my Aunt, Karen, just simplified a bit. It's really pretty easy and my kids LOVE it (as do my hubby and I)! It's just a fun way to eat spaghetti.

Here's what you'll need:

6 oz. cooked spaghetti

2 T. butter

2 eggs, beaten

1/3 C. Parmesean cheese

1 lb. hamburger, browned

1 (26.5 oz) can spaghetti sauce

16 oz. container cottage cheese

8 oz. pkg. Mozzarella cheese, shredded

Combine eggs & Parmesean cheese. Stir butter with the warm cooked spaghetti until it is melted, then combine with the eggs and Parmesean. Press into a "crust" into 2 greased 9 or 9 1/2 inch pie pans.

Spread each crust with a layer of cottage cheese (half of the container for each pie).

Stir together hamburger and spaghetti sauce then spoon over the cottage cheese layer. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Top with Mozzarella cheese and bake for another 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Cut like a pie and serve. Mmmmm...

To use as a freezer meal, assemble the pies in foil pie pans.  Cover tightly with heavy duty foil or freezer foil. Label and freeze.  To serve:  Thaw and bake at 350 degrees and bake for 30 minutes and continue from there.

Pie Heaven!!!

The last time I posted, I mentioned that I was busy preparing for a food demonstration. Well, I have to say that it went over SO well! It was tons of fun and everyone LOVED it. They were all so surprised at how easy making pies really can be. I think the biggest compliment was when ladies asked me to make pies for their Thanksgiving celebrations! It was so much fun.

So in today’s post, I’m giving you all three recipes I used for my demonstrations. But first, a little info on these recipes...

In preparing my menu of desserts to make for a possible local restaraunt, I had several months that I hosted taste-testings, where I made several recipes of one thing, like pumpkin pie, for people to taste test and take a survey on which one was the best one.

Well, for both of these pie recipes, they are the winners of my taste-testings in their respective categories. The nice thing about these pies is that all you have to do to make them is toss the ingredients together, mix it up, and pour it into a prepared, unbaked, pie crust. Pies really don't get much easier than this! And to make them come together in a flash, pre-measure all of your ingredients. It really saves on time!!

Another tip: ALWAYS make these pies a day before you plan to serve them. That way, they have plenty of time to set up and the flavors really get a chance to blend together. It's also nice to have them done a day in advance so that you can focus on other things they day you plan to serve them!

O.k., enough explaining!! Read on for the recipes...

Classic Pie Crust

Most people think that pie crusts are hard to do, but I've learned that they really aren't so bad. There are just some tricks to know that make pie crusts easier. First of all, you'll need cold ingredients, mainly the butter, shortening, and water. The reason these things need to be cold is to slow the development of gluten in the flour. If the gluten develops, you'll end up with a rubbery, heavy crust. Some people even go as far as chilling their mixing bowl and pastry blender. I don't see that as necessary, but evidently, some people do.

I like this crust recipe because it uses a combination of shortening and butter. Recipes that call for all shortening give you a nice and flaky crust, but recipes that call for all butter give you a rich, melt-in-your-mouth texture - not so much flaky. This recipe give you a little of both!

Here's what you'll need:

3 C. flour
2 tsp. sugar
¾ tsp. salt
½ C. shortening, chilled
½ C. butter, chilled
8-10 T. cold water

In a medium bowl stir together flour, sugar, and salt.

When measuring flour, always level off the top with a straight edge, like the straight side of a knife, or like me, just use your finger.

Using a pastry blender, cut in the shortening and butter until mixture resembles pea-sized crumbs. Tossing the mixture quickly and lightly with a fork, sprinkle in the water, one Tablespoon at a time, until dough holds together when lightly pressed.

Gather dough into a ball. Divide in half. Cover with plastic wrap (I just put each ball into a bread bag and press it) and form into a disk; chill about 30 minutes.

Keep one disk refrigerated while you roll out the other disk.

Here's my trick to transfering the dough to your pie plate: roll it up onto your rolling pin, then unroll it onto the plate. Pretty easy!

Cut off any extra dough. Fold under and press the edges, then decorate (with scallops or curves, etc.) as desired. Keep refrigerated until ready to use. Continue as directed in individual recipes.

Pumpkin Pie

This pumpkin pie recipe comes from marthastewart.com and is something you would expect from her - SO GOOD!!! It just has a wonderful flavor and smooth texture. I took this pie to my sister-in-law as a thank you for letting me use her Bosch and pie plates for my demonstration. A few days later, she told me that her husband doesn't care for pumpkin pie, but that he actually liked this one. So give it a try; it is sooooooooooo yummy!!

Here's what you'll need:

1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling - that's already flavored)

3 eggs, lighly beaten

1 C. light brown sugar

1 T. cornstarch

1/2 t. salt

1 t. ginger

1 t. cinnamon

1/8 t. cloves

1 1/2 C. evaporated milk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat eggs, then add pumpkin, sugar, cornstarch, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and evaporated milk; mix well. Pour into a prepared uncooked pie crust. Place on a baking sheet to make transfering to oven easier. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for 40-45 minutes more. Cool on a wire rack.

Mmmmmm!!!

Pecan Pie

This recipes comes from allrecipes.com, just altered slightly. I love this recipe because it uses a small amount of dark corn syrup, which gives it a fantastic flavor. Pecan pies with only light corn syrup are really sweet and pecan pies with only dark corn syrup, I think, are just too deep in flavor. Both ways are good, but this combination is just perfect to me.

Here's what you'll need:

3 eggs, beaten

3/4 C. light corn syrup

2 T. dark corn syrup

3/4 C. light brown sugar

3 T. butter, melted

1 t. vanilla

A pinch of salt

1 1/2 - 2 T. flour

1 C. pecan gems

1/2 C. chocolate chips (opt.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl or a stand mixer, beat eggs, then add light and dark corn syrups, brown sugar, butter, salt, vanilla, and flour. Spread pecan gems over bottom of a prepared pie crust. If you want a chocolate pecan pie, then sprinkle chocolate chips over pecan gems. Pour syrup mixture over top. Bake for 50-55 minutes.

How easy is that?! Try it for your Thanksgiving celebration. I think you'll be glad that you did!!

All-In-One Day!

I feel like a bit of a slacker this week! I’ve been so busy that All Things Delicious has not been at the top of my priority list, nor will it be again until next week. I’m so excited to say that I’ve been asked to give a food demonstration and make enough pies to feed at least 60 women on Friday and I can’t wait!! It just has preoccupied my time a bit. So to make up for it, I’m doing three recipes today - breakfast, lunch, and dinner recipes! So read on…

Chicken & Rice with Broccoli

Lately I've been posting a lot of recipes that are quick and easy, and this recipe is no exception. There actually is no recipe for this, you just throw things together and you're ready! My mom used to make this for our family quite often, and it's so great to just be able to toss together just before my hubby gets home from work.

Here's what you'll need:

Box of Chicken flavored Rice-A-Roni

Cooked chicken

14 oz. bag of frozen broccoli cuts (or you can use frozen peas - which is what my mom always did)

Just cook the rice as directed on the box. Cook the broccoli as directed on the bag. I stewed 3 or 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts with some salt and pepper and then shredded them. I also like to use a rotisserie chicken bought from the grocery store and just shred that. Anyway, toss everthing together in the pan the rice cooked in. Cover and let warm until ready to eat.

That's it! How easy is that?!

Swiss Tuna Melts

This recipe is so yummy and WAY easy to make. I usually make it when I have no time left for dinner, but it would be terrific for lunch too! My mom likes it because the cheese is shredded into the tuna mixture and not sliced on top. It's really good!

Here's what you'll need:

2 cans tuna, drained

3/4 C. shredded swiss cheese

1/2 C. sour cream

1/2 C. mayo

1/4 C. sweet pickle relish

pepper to taste

8 slices of bread

In a bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. Spread over slices of bread, about 1/4 -1/2 cup per slice. Broil until bread is golden and tuna mixture is warm and bubbly. Watch carefully; it can burn easily!

Or you can make this like a grilled cheese sandwich - butter opposite sides of bread slices and sandwich tuna mixture in between. Cook on a griddle until both sides are golden.

Like I said, EASY! And it's good too, just try it!!

Pancakes

There are two pancake recipes that I truly love - my mom's recipe and my great grandmother's buttermilk pancakes. Today, I'm giving you my mom's! I don't remember her pancakes ever turning out as light and fluffy as mine do. But that's probably because so often I manned the griddle and as a kid, I didn't realized that pressing down pancakes once they've been flipped with the spatula, was a bad thing. Yeah, so don't do that!

I've also found that when I make them, here in Idaho, they are super fluffy and get to be about a half of an inch thick. But when I made them once in Missouri, they didn't turn out as thick - still good, just not as thick. So I'm thinking that it has to do with the elevation here. No matter where you are, you'll have to try these out!

Here's what you'll need:

2 1/2 C. flour

2 T. baking powder

2 T. sugar

1 t. salt

2 beaten eggs (beaten for 5 minutes - You MUST do this for fluffy pancakes!!)

2 C. milk

1/4 C. oil

Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs for 5 minutes, then add the milk and oil.

When beating my eggs, I always tilt the bowl up so that I beat all of the eggs in a more confined space.

Add the dry ingredients and stir until moistened; it should still be slightly lumpy.

Cook on a hot griddle.

Makes 24-32 pancakes, depending on the size.

Look at how nice and thick these are!

I always double this recipe (as I do with any breakfast recipe) so that my kids can continue to eat pancakes all week long.

Mmmmmm!! I love breakfast food!!!

Bread & Milk

One of the things I grew up on, that other people find as disgusting, was bread and milk. I'm not quite sure what the origins of this concoction are, but I like to think that it comes from hundreds of years ago, back when this nation was being settled and even earlier! But now-a-days, it's not something people eat - except for people in my family. We LOVE it!!

It's basically like cold cereal, only you use homemade bread instead of cereal. And there are different ways to eat it. Many in my family like it with honey drizzled over. Others like it with strawberry jam dabbed on. And some of us like it with honey or jam AND cheese broken into it.

This recipe isn't something I expect many people to be interested in trying, but it's one of my favorite meals and I wanted to add this to my collection of favorite recipes.

Here's what you'll need:

Two slices of homemade bread (only homemade - NOT store bought)

Two slices of cheese

Honey or Jam

Milk

All you'll need to do is break up the bread into bite-sized pieces. Do the same with the cheese. Then drizzle honey over everything or drop little dabs of jam on the broken bread and cheese. Finally pour milk over it all, like cold cereal, and enjoy!

Honey Butter

One of the BEST things to put on a fresh, warm slice of homeade bread, in my opinion, is honey butter. I love how it melts into the bread and tastes so sweet and buttery. Mmmmmmmm!! You just can't beat that!

The recipe for today has a secret ingredient that makes the honey butter stay so beautiful and fluffy, and it won't separate. It's really pretty great!

Here's what you'll need:

1 lb (4 cubes) butter

3/4 C. honey

1 (7 oz) jar marshmallow cream

Set the butter on the counter for 20 minutes to slightly soften it. You won't want it at room temperature, otherwise it won't whip up as fluffy as it should be. But you don't want to use it right out of the fridge either. Then you'll end up with chunks of butter. So 20 minutes on the counter will be just right!

Whip together butter and honey, then add marshmallow cream.

Mix well.

Store in covered container in refrigerator.

Try this out with my yummy potato bread - right out of the oven! You won't be dissapointed!!

Potato Bread

My mom is a wonderful bread maker. She even won first place in the County Fair for her bread when she was a child (yes, she's been making it that long)! She has tried teaching me how to do it since I was in high school and I just was never able to get it. I especially did not like doing everything by hand, which is how my mom has always done it. So when it came to bread, I just bought it at the store.

A few years ago, my wonderful mother-in-law (who is also a great bread maker) bought all of her daughters-in-law and daughter their own Bosch for Christmas gifts. Lucky me, huh?! I was much more excited to use that to make bread, but still wasn't quite sure how to do it. So I took a class from a neighbor on how to use a Bosch to make bread. It is SOOOOOOOOOOOO EASY!!!

Now that bread making is so easy to do, I've been trying TONS of recipes to find one that I like best. After many, many, MANY tries, I ended up making my own. I wanted something that was still moist and tender after the first day and wasn't crumbly. This is what I came up with that fulfills those components...

Here's what you'll need:

2 T. instant yeast (I like to use saf-instant. When you use instant, you don't have to let it soak and bubble in warm water.)

1 T. salt

2/3 C. sugar

2/3 C. oil

1 C. powdered milk

3 C. warm water

1 C. dry potato flakes

1 egg

8 C. flour

Mix together yeast, warm water, sugar, oil, and egg. Then add powdered milk, potato flakes, salt, and flour. Mix on High with your Bosch to knead for 10 minutes (an no, Mom, this is NOT cheating!).

Look at how beautiful that is!!

If you don't have a Bosch, just knead it with your hands, then let it rise until doubled, about 45-60 minutes. Punch down. If you are using a Bosch, you don't have to let it rise the first time, so you can skip that step.

Grease and flour 4 loaf pans. Shape dough into 4 loaves and let rise until loaves come just above the loaf pans (they'll rise more in the oven).

When I do my loaves, I don't really make them into nice and pretty loaves. I just divide the dough into four sections and press each section ito a loaf pan. They aren't the most gorgeous loaves, but that's quick and easy and they look just fine!

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes. Cool on wire racks. Cool completely before storing in bread bags.

Look at how nicely this cuts!! Hardly any crumbs!

Before the bread cools, and this is VERY important, you MUST cut a few slices to eat straight from the oven with butter and jam or homemade honey butter (which is coming this week!)!!

Oh my YUM! It's really good!!

Pizza

My kids LOVE pizza! No joke, they seriously love it. So I thought it would be fun to make some pizzas tonight - one for each of them to make it their own. I immediately turned to a recipe I found on allrecipes.com for the pizza crust. The rest was just canned pizza sauce, and toppings from the store. The only effort I put into this was in the crust. The rest was so fun to put together and eat with the kids! I HIGHLY recommend doing this with kids or grandkids. They'll get to feel like they're the chef for the night.

Here's what you'll need for the crust:

2 1/4 t. yeast

1/2 t. brown sugar

1 1/2 C. warm water

1 t. salt

2 T. oil

3 1/4 C. flour

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water and let sit for 10 minutes.

Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution. Mix in the flour and knead 2-3 minutes.

Cover dough and let rise until double.

Punch down the dough, forming a tight ball.

Allow the dough to relax for 5-10 minutes before rolling out.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, you may place your topping on the dough and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza in a pan, oil the pan. You can dust the stone or pan with cornmeal before adding the dough.

Let the dough rise for 15-20 minutes before topping.

Top as desired.

Bake pizza until the cheese melts and the crust is golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.

I baked my pizzas in four 9 inch cake pans to make fun sized pizzas for everyone to top as they wanted. Give it a try and have FUN with it!!!