Cherry Chip Muffins

1- 1/2  cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon  salt

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 jar (10 oz) red maraschino cherries

3/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

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In a bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, whisk egg, milk, and oil; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Drain cherries, reserving 2 tablespoonfuls of juice for glaze. Chop cherries; fold into the batter with chocolate chips and pecans. Spoon the batter by teaspoonfuls into paper lined mini muffin cups. Bake at 375* for 10-13 minutes or until muffins test done. Cool.

Combine con. sugar with cherry juice to make a thin glaze; drizzle over muffins. Serve with cream cheese if desired.

Ham and Swiss Casserole

Yeah, this is my fouth post today, but it’s on a more homey subject. FOOD! This is the easiest casserole in the world, so if you’re challenged at cooking or looking for something easy to bake, here be it. You should seriously try it. It’s good.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2 cups elbow noodles

1-1/2 c. cubed ham

1 lg. onion, diced

1 lg.  green pepper diced

8 oz swiss cheese- grated or cubed

8 oz sour cream

Salt and pepper to taste

Boil noodles until tender; drain, add all the rest and stir to combine. Transfer to greased casserole dish or 9×9 pan. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

YUM!!!!

{C.o.f.f.e.e. & C.h.o.c.o.l.a.t.e}

I’m going to post some of my favorite recipes throughout October, in addition to the usual devotionals, quotes, worldviews, Bible passages and liberal thought debunking (haha on the last one).

  So, to get in the cooking mood, here’s a muffin recipe I just made!

MOCHA MUFFINS!

Preheat the oven to 400*

1/3 cup (c) brown sugar

1 c milk

1/3 c oil

1 Tbs instant coffee- dry

1 egg

2 c flour

2-3 Tbs cocoa powder

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1-2 cups chocolate chips

Beat sugar through egg, mix in dry ingredients. F0ld in chocolate chips.

Divide batter in cups (almost full) and bake for 12 minutes.

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I LOVE this muffin because it combines two of my favorite flavors: coffee and chocolate.

Also, I recently fell in love with Nutella. If you have a recipe that uses it, by all means, send it my way!

Salsa

 

My mom and I just finished making some salsa. (Like a gallon’s worth…) It’s so good, I thought I’d share the recipe with ya’ll.

Fresh Garden Salsa

Use fresh ingredients!

16 large garden tomatoes

2 medium purple onions

3-4 jalepenos

2-3 green peppers

2 cups chopped cilantro

3-5  limes (squeeze the juice)

2-3 tsp. fresh garlic

salt to taste

2 teaspoons sugar

Directions:

-Chop the tomatoes, onion, jalapeno, and pepper into very small chunks, mix together well

-Chop the cilantro until small, then add into the mix

-Add lime juice and garlic

Mix it well, then add sugar and salt to taste

Makes too much… just kidding…about a gallon, actually! We’re giving some to our neighbors, grandparents, f iends, whoa let’s try that again: FRIENDS!

Warning: your fingers will smell like cilantro after chopping it up. Just sayin’.

The Best Party Snack!

I rarely make these, but I love them just the same! They are delcious and fattening- but oh-so-yummy…

Nut Bon Bons:

8 oz package of cream cheese

2 cups of flour

Nuts or fruit for filling

1 cup soft butter

Powdered sugar

Mix cream cheese, flour, and butter well with a fork. Depending on how sweet you’d like the bon bons to be, try adding a bit of powdered sugar to the dough. (I added around 2-4 tablespoons worth). Refrigerate overnight or for several hours.

Roll dough on powdered sugar until is is 1/8 inch thick. Cut into 1×3 inch strips. Place nuts or fruit at one end, roll. Bake at 375 degrees for 13-16 minutes.

These are so good! They are the best party snack ever- they go fast. It is really easy to double the recipe if need be. A single batch makes about 30 bon bons.

Enjoy!

Amazing Bread!

A few weeks ago, my mom found a recipe for bread and decided to try it. Usually, her bread would come out hard and dry, and would fall apart easily. This recipe is just like store bread! We don’t buy store bought bread anymore… this is better. (Warning, when it comes out of the oven, you will find yourself in the midst of a hunger-stimulating aroma!)

Simple Whole Wheat Bread

3 cups hot water (110*)

2 (.25 oz) pkgs. active dry yeast or 1½ Tbsp. instant yeast

¼ c. honey

5 cups whole wheat flour

1 ½ Tbsp Lecithin

3 Tbsp. oil

1/8 cup honey

1 Tbsp. salt

3 cups white flour + ½ c. whole wheat flour

Butter for tops of bread when it comes out of the oven

In a Bosch mixer, mix water, yeast, and ¼ cup honey. Add 5 cups whole wheat flour and mix with lid on at speed 1 until well mixed and no dry flour remains. Let set for about 30 minutes with lid on or until big and bubbly.

When big and bubbly, add lecithin, oil, remaining honey, salt and some of the flour. Add the flour a cup at a time until dough begins to clean the sides of the bowl. Add more flour only if dough is still sticking to the sides of the bowl. When very little dough is sticking to the sides of the bowl, and NO dough is sticking to the center post, you have added enough flour. Some days you won’t need all the flour, other days you will need a little more (¼ cup or so. Once dough is right, set timer for 8-10 minutes for the kneading stage.

While dough is kneading, oil a large bowl with oil. When kneading is done and dough is soft, stop the machine and gather dough to put into the oiled bowl. Using oiled hands helps. Make the dough into a neat ball and pat oil o top to keep it from drying out. Cover and let rise until double. About an hour, depending on warmth of house.

When doubled punch dough down and empty out onto an oiled surface. Knead a little to remove air bubbles that were created from rising. Shape into proper loaf sizes (In our case 1 14” long one and a 10” inch long one. Flatten each into a rectangle the proper length of the pan and roll up like a jellyroll. Tuck ends under a little and place into a greased pan. Cover and let rise until tops are about 1” above the pan rims. Heat oven to 350* about 10 minutes before dough has completely risen. Place in oven with space around the pans for circulation and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Bread is done when golden brown and they sound hollow when tapped on top. Take out of oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes before removing from pans. Rub butter top when warm with pastry brush to keep crust softer.