Rainy day is mom's day

A rainy day gives me an excuse to tell my kids that mommy can't take them outside because it's raining. I have a really hard time keeping my kids inside on a sunny day as they stand by the window and wait until you give in and take them outside. So when it's raining it's my turn to do what I want to do INSIDE. Well usually what I do is bake and crafts. But of course your kids are usually bored inside so you have to include them. So today we made mickey mouse bon bons or cake pops as some people call it and painted these. Looks expensive for a kids' craft? Well, not really...especially if you bottle feed. Keep those formula containers!!! These are now a gift box. A cute one at that!

Chunky Potato Bread

4 1/2 tsp yeast
1 1/3 cups of warm water
2/3 cup of sugar
2 medium size baked potatoes (about 2 cups mashed)  You can finely mashed or leave some chunks
2/3 cups of shortening
2 1/2 tsp of salt
2 eggs
4 1/5 to 5 cups of flour


If you have a kitchen aid or bosch, simply dissolve the yeast with warm water and wait for 5 minutes, then it's a matter of combining all ingredients and mix!  Dough will be sticky so let rise in the mixing bowl for 1 hour.  Transfer into floured and greased pans.  Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown  Serve with jam!!  Yum...

Crock pot Pork Roast

2 lbs pork roast meat cut up in big chunks
1/2 cup chicken broth (I just used 1/2 of boiling water and 2 chicken boullions)
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp of garlic salt
3 tbsp of soy sauce
1 tsp of ground ginger
1/2 tsp of chili powder
Ground Pepper
 1 yellow or sweet onion, sliced

Cook all in a crock pot for 4 hours on High.  Serve with rice or on hamburger buns, or wrap in tortillas!!  Delicious!!

Banana muffins

3-4 ripe bananas
3/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of crisco
2 eggs
3/4 tsp of baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 and 1/4 cup of flour

Put sugar, crisco, sugar, and eggs and cream it. Add salt, baking soda, and flour. Add bananas last if you want it to be chunky, otherwise mix all ingredients at once. Put in paper cups in muffin pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Cinnamon Rolls

4 tbsp of yeast
3 cups of warm water
1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
4 tsp of salt
6 eggs
9-10 cups of flour

If you have a kitchen aid, dissolve yeast in warm water and add all remaining ingredients except and mix. Let rise and roll out.
If you don't, follow this direction. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add remaining ingredients, except 1/2 of flour to make a soft dough. Add the rest of flour and stir in to make a stickly dough. Let rise until double.
Divide dough and roll out with lots of flour. Roll out white dough in rectangle. Spread with melted butter. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Let rise again. Bake, frost while warm.
Frosting: powdered sugar, some butter, hot tap water.

French crepes

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. Sift together flour, sugar and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs and milk together with an electric mixer. Beat in flour mixture until smooth; stir in melted butter.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 2 tablespoons for each crepe. Tip and rotate pan to spread batter as thinly as possible. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Chocolate Chip Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

• 3/4 cup crisco
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup oats
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
• 1/2 cup raisins                                                               Bake at 350 for 10 minutes

Daddy's Sunday Pancakes

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups wheat flour
2 Tablespoons baking powder
2 Tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon salt

4 cups milk
2 eggs
6 tablespoons butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla


Directions

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg, melted butter and vanilla; mix until smooth.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Refrigerator Rolls (Not any regular recipe)

At the Stevens' house we bake this at least once a week, sometimes twice. It is that good and so easy. Especially with a kitchen aid!

2 packages of yeast (or 1 Tblsp instant yeast)
1/4 cup of warm water
1 cup of milk
1 cup warm water
7 cups of flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup sugar

Mix yeast and 1/4 cup water. Let stand until dissolved. Scald milk and cool to luke warm. Add 1 cup water, salt, eggs, oil, and sugar and beat together. Add yeast mixture. Add flour to mixture until able to knead. Use leftover flour for bread board. Knead five minutes, rest five minutes. Knead again and put into oiled bowl. Let rise in warm place until doubled (about 1 1/2 hours), or put in refrigerator overnight. If refrigerated, set out at room temperature for 1 hour before using, Divide into 32 pieces, shape and let rise until double (about 45 minutes). Bake 15-20 minutes at 375 degrees. Key note: Rolling and shaping the rolls have a huge effect on the look of the rolls. Start from top and with both hands pull top edges downward and wrap in a ball. This traps moisture inside.

If you let it rise twice as long and cook on the top rack it looks more like this!

A few favorite foods I made

Soft fluffy breadsticks
1 tbsp dry yeast
1 1/2 cups of warm water
1 tsp salt
4 cups of flour
1 tbsp of sugar
1 tbsp milk
Brush with melted butter
Sprinkle with Italian seasoning and parmesan cheese!

Cook at 400 degrees for 15 minutes




Pull apart pork sandwiches
2 lbs of pork
1 can of coke
1/4 cup of sugar
1 onion
4 cloves of garlic
salt and pepper to taste
Cook in crockpot on low over night














Skillet Eggs and pork
2 lbs of pork
6-7 boiled eggs
1 tsp of curry powder
1/4 cup of soy sauce or fish sauce
1 tsp of paprika
1 onion sliced up
1 bag of baby carrots
1 tbsp of oil