Homemade Donuts

Trey had class today so I tried to do some fun stuff for/ with the kids. 

My girls are such Daddy's girls, especially Abigail, that when he is not home on days that she is used to having him (or "break days" as she calls them) she tends to be a little weepy; especially if he is not home at bedtime.  Doing special or fun things tends to take our mind off how much we miss him.  So to try and make the morning a little less sad, as Daddy walked out the door, I decided that I would surprise the kids with homemade donuts for breakfast.

I had never made homemade donuts before, but had been wanting to give it a try.  I figured how hard could fried dough be.  And with my new old school mindset, that anything homemade is better, I was bound to be successful.  I  had been looking for a recipe, so that I could check donut off the make from scratch list.  I came across a fairly simple recipe in an issue of Better Home an Garden Magazine and it is the one I decide to wip up for my first try. 

I prepared the dough on Friday night before bed and it chilled in the "ice box" over night.  *Side note:  Abigail actually called it an ice box the other day.  I was a little proud :) Maybe she will end up getting something from me. 

Then this morning, while waiting for my coffee to brew, all I had to do was roll out the dough and heat the oil. I used my new candy thermometer for the first time.
They turned out pretty good for my first time and MOST importantly the kids were very excited.  They LOVED them. 

"Yummy!"

"DOOOOONUT!!

Hannah admiring  the sprinkles

Finger licking good

This was my first time to submerge anything in a pot of boiling fat. Serious question..."What do I do with all the leftover oil?"

I like donuts as much as the next guy but ,WOW, that was a LONG post about donuts!

Breakfast is ready!

At the beginning of the year I set a goal to make breakfast for my family more often. I have been doing good or great in my opinion. It has been a process but I am now making a hot breakfast of some sort for the kids almost every morning. Trey doesn't get to partake yet because I haven't been waking up that early due to our newborn. Now that Rebekah is sleeping consistently, about 8 hours at night, I plan to start waking up and making the meal earlier so that Trey can eat with us. I thought that I would share some photos of some of the things that i have been making.



Apple cinnamon pancakes


Chocolate Chip pancakes




Homemade whole wheat buttermilk biscuits with homemade cream gravy. I was very excited that they gravy turned out yummy, I have tried in the past and failed desperately! Biscuits and gravy is one of my favorite breakfast treats. Even though it is not something that we will eat often, it is nice to know I can pull it off for a special occasion.


I also like to keep several batches of "breakfast bread", it is easier than muffins for me, in the freezer for an easy hot breakfast. I put it in the fridge the night before and then warm it in the oven before serving.


Here is a list of some other things that i make that I have not taken pictures of:

Kolaches
Banana waffles
Banana bread
Cinnamon Apple bread
Chocolate Apple bread
Strawberry Oat bread

Most of my recipes are adapted from allrecipes.com. Don't worry they are not all unhealthy I use whole wheat flour and Oats for extra fiber. I also hope to start using Agave nectar in place of sugar and flax seed for even extra fiber in the near future. And of course we use real Maple syrup when needed not the high fructose corn syrup stuff. No prepacked or frozen breakfast around here. My goal is hot and healthy whole foods. I will try and post some more of my yummy breakfast creations soon.

Strawberry Shortcake

I made this delicious dessert one Friday night, a couple weeks ago, when our fresh strawberries were at the end of their life. I even made the whipped cream myself. Go Mama Go! :) We all really enjoyed it. The next morning I heard Hannah say," Hey Abigail, That was yummy cake last night wasn't it!" I guess she dreamed about it all night long :)

New cookie recipe

Thursday night Trey and I had my Apples of Gold banquet at Church. The nursery provided pizza for all the kids and I thought it would be fun to make them a dessert. So, I found a recipe and of course I modified it to try and make it "healthier", by adding my whole wheat flour. I really liked that the recipe already included oats. LOVE all the fiber and unrefined foods :)

Abigail and I made these cookies for her "friends" .

Choc-oat-chip cookies

1 cup of whole wheat floor
3/4 cups of all purpose floor
1tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 Tbsp. milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups quick or old fashioned oats
2 cups of chocolate chips of your choosing

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in small bowl. Beat brown sugar, butter and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in eggs, milk and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in oats and chips. Mix well.
Drop rounded tablespoons of the dough onto ungreased baking sheet. ( I lined mine with foil)

Bake for 9-10 minutes for Chewy cookies or 12-13 for crispy. (We def. go for the chewy around here)

*It makes a lot of dough. It says 4 dozen cookies. I just baked what I needed for the first night and then put my mixer bowl, with snap on lid, in the fridge. So we were able to eat fresh hot cookies when we wanted. I just used the rest of the dough to make cookie bars.

Hope you enjoy! We thought they were great :)

Christmas Candy

Christmas Candy is made and delivered. And it is Yum Yum! I made two of my regulars. "Puppy Chow"( but added peanut butter this year) and another candy that my mom used to make that we just called "Almond Bark"candy. I also tried a new recipe. I had some pecans that I wanted to use so I searched and found one that sounded like a delicious chocolate goodness.



I think the pecan candy may have turned out to be my favorite, I am glad I was not disappointed. Trey's favorite is the almond bark one and I think the girls like the puppy chow.



Here is a picture of the Christmas treats.







I hope that you are having fun with your Holiday baking or at the very least eating someones scrumptious treats. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cinnamon Rolls

I did some baking this weekend.

Trey loves cinnamon rolls and so I have made them apart of out Christmas morning breakfast menu. I decided to try and find a yummy homemade recipe. Last years were not so yummy. So, I went on a search to find a delicious new recipe that would make every ones tummy happy. This is what I found... http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/cinammon_rolls_/

I got the dough all prepared on Saturday night and then woke up early on Sunday morning to roll and bake them. I halved the recipe so it made 3 pans instead of 7. So, 2 pans are in the freezer ready to be baked on Christmas morning. They were very time consuming but ended up delicious. Definitely worth the time and effort for our special Christmas morning breakfast.

If you have been looking for a new special recipe. Try giving this one a roll, but make sure you give yourself plenty of time :)