I admit to taking a spin on the book Use What You Have Decorating. When I say Use What You Have Cooking I’m talking about garden produce and items in your pantry.

As the summer begins to make it’s merry way into hibernation I find myself baking and cooking a bit more.  Also making extra meals for the freezer.

I recently sent one of my best friends a couple of my favorite freezer and mix cooking books so she could make ample use of her extra garden produce and stock her freezer with delicious meals and snacks.

As much as like cooking for the freezer I just don’t have the energy to make a day of it. Strangely enough I tend to make my freezer meals the day I come from  grocery shopping. I have all my ingredients fresh and ready to go.

Here is a list of what you’ll usually find in my freezer…

Lasagne (great tasting dinner the freezes well)

Parmesan Chicken (from The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet)

Beef and Ground Turkey Blend Meatballs (based off of the swedish meatball recipe in the Joy of Cooking

Master Beef Mix which I turn into soup (from Make-A-Mix)

And that’s it for completed meals. I also have homemade frozen cinnamon rolls and wheat blend dinner rolls that will be set out to rise and then bake.

This is all sandwiched by my ice cream, frozen chopped onions, carrots and celery. And frozen packages of ground beef, buffalo (my sister got me started on this), some steak.

So what is in your freezer?

My baking day is generally Thursday but this past week it landed on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I wish I had pictures for you but I was so involved in the baking process and now the items are mostly gone from the home (I share with neighbors) and what is left is half eaten, so not so pretty anymore.

But WHAT did I make is what is important and do I have recipes or ate least links to recipes to share?!

Of course!

Well the first thing I made was some delicious Cinnamon Bread…

Now bear with me. Although the recipe looks long it’s really straight forward. I mix everything in my bread machine and then pop it out to rise. I replaced 1 cup of the flour with 1/2 cup of graham and 1/2 cup of buckwheat flour. I also added 2 tablespoons of gluten but that probably was not necessary. I did use King Arthur Flour, cause I always do.

Dough

* 1/4-ounce packet “highly active” active dry yeast; or 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast; or 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
* 7/8 to 1 1/8 cups lukewarm water*
* 3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
* 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
* 3 tablespoons sugar
* 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
* 1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
* 1/2 cup instant mashed potato flakes
* *Use the lesser amount in summer (or in a humid environment), the greater amount in winter (or in a dry climate), and somewhere in between the rest of the year, or if your house is climate controlled.

Filling

* 1/4 cup granulated sugar
* 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 2 teaspoons King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
* 1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, to brush on dough

Directions

1) If you’re using “highly active” or active dry yeast, dissolve it with a pinch of sugar in 2 tablespoons of the lukewarm water. Let the yeast and water sit at room temperature for 15 minutes, until the mixture has bubbled and expanded. If you’re using instant yeast, you can skip this step.

2) Combine the dissolved yeast (or instant yeast) with the remainder of the ingredients. Mix and knead everything together—by hand, mixer or bread machine set on the dough cycle—till you’ve made a smooth dough. Adjust the dough’s consistency with additional flour or water as needed; but remember, the more flour you add while you’re kneading, the heavier and drier your final loaf will be. If you’re kneading in a stand mixer, it should take about 7 minutes at second speed, and the dough should barely clean the sides of the bowl, perhaps sticking a bit at the bottom. In a bread machine (or by hand), it should form a smooth ball.

3) Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl. Cover the bowl, and allow the dough to rise, at room temperature, until it’s nearly doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Rising may take longer, especially if you’ve kneaded by hand. Give it enough time to become quite puffy.

4) While the dough is rising, make the filling by stirring together the sugar, cinnamon, and flour.

5) Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, and pat it into a 6″ x 20″ rectangle.

6) Brush the dough with the egg/water mixture, and sprinkle it evenly with the filling.

7) Starting with a short end, roll the dough into a log.

8 ) Pinch the ends to seal, and pinch the long seam closed.

9) Transfer the log, seam-side down, to a lightly greased 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ loaf pan. Tent the pan loosely with lightly greased plastic wrap.

10) Allow the bread to rise till it’s crested about 1″ over the rim of the pan, about 1 hour. Again, it may rise more slowly for you; let it rise till it’s 1″ over the rim of the pan, even if that takes longer than an hour. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 350°F.

11) Bake the bread for 40 to 45 minutes, tenting it lightly with aluminum foil after the first 15 minutes. The bread’s crust will be golden brown, and the interior of the finished loaf should measure 190°F on an instant-read thermometer.

12) Remove the bread from the oven, and gently loosen the edges with a heatproof spatula or table knife. Turn it out of the pan, and brush the top surface with butter, if desired; this will give it a soft, satiny crust. Allow the bread to cool completely before slicing.

“Recipe courtesy of King Arthur Flour.”
Then I made some Amish Sugar Cookies. I’ve had this recipe for years but I did some altering to it this time. I swaped out 1/2 cup of the flour for graham flour, used  King Arthur’s Vanilla Bean paste and about 1/8 of a teaspoon of Fiori Di Sicilia. Then I rolled the cookie balls in sugar crystals before flattening (with a cat faced cookie presss) for baking. You can’t really see the cat face but here is the end result. Yummy!

Okay the giveaway has now ended. Be back tomorrow (6/15) AMish with the winner.

I have another great giveaway for you. I was recently sent a Costco Sunny Day Snack Pack to review and let me tell you this is one yummy review.

Okay first of all I love Costco warehouse store. We don’t go there as much as my sister (twice a week) but we go there several times a month to pick up bulk staples and hopefully grab something new to try. We also price out our regular stapes and pick up certain canned goods, toiletries, and paper products for much less to name just a few of the many items we buy there (gush).

You know summer time is the time for running hither and yon getting as much outdoor action as you can in before school and cooler weather comes again. It’s the time for zoo trips, park trips, road trips and more and that means hungry kids on the go. You don’t always want to or even need to stop and get something to eat. Many times it’s just that little tidbit you need tokeep going. So what better way to curb the appetite than take along snacks?

I’m a fan of snack bars AND fruit snacks. Since Peanut was able to eat such solid foods I ALWAYS make sure I have one or two with me whenever we go out. Even if it’s just to the store. So when I was contacted to check out some new products Costco is carrying this summer I was gung ho.

First off my favorite. The Simply Fruit Roll-Ups are delicious! I’m a fan of fruity snacks so these are just up my alley. Each box contains 2 flavors, strawberry and wildberry. A sweet treat sure to make your little one smile. For those of you with food allergies they are gluten free. And for those of you looking to watch a bit of weight each roll-up only carries 50 calories. Small enough to pop into your bags to go they are addicting so take more than one.

The Nature’s Valley Trail Mix bars are a big hit with not only my own Peanut but my much older nephew who asked me if I had a few more I could pass over his way. Packed with whole oats peanuts, almonds, cranberries and raisins they carry 3 grams of protein and 8 grams of whole grains. Unfortunately due to the soy lecithin content I could not partake but those who could gave a thumbs up to the taste.

Interested in winning a prize pack for yourself? This is what the winner will receive…

“Costco Sunny Day Snacks” prize pack includes stock-up sized packages of the Nature Valley Chewy Trail Mix Bars (48 ct.) and Simply Fruit Roll-Ups (42 ct.), and a $25 gift card for my favorite warehouse store Costco.

Giveaway ends Midnight on Monday June 14th.

Woo Hoo!

How to Enter

*This giveaway is open to US residents only (sorry) who are 18 years or older.

Leave a comment (here) letting me know what yummy snack you plan on purchasing (or would purchase if you were a member at Costco on your next visit.

Additional Entries (must do entry above first)

1. Blog about this post and link back (1 time, 1 extra entry)
2. Tweet about this post include @momtools in the tweet and leave me another comment letting me know you did this. (again 1 time, 1 extra entry)

Now I hope you know that General Mills  generously provided me with the great snack pack and Costco cards through MyBlogSpark (button on the side)

Crackers have been on my mind for some time. They are a great quick snack and paired with cheese and fruit can become dessert, tea, or hors devours.

Yes you can buy crackers in the store but why when you can make so many different kinds.

And what if you have a food allergy, not only does price of crackers go up but selection goes down.

So recently I spotted a great recipe for some yummy looking crackers in some obscure magazine.

Yeah I promptly lost track of the magazine including the recipe.

I thought I had found the recipe in a Martha Stewart magazine  but I couldn’t locate it again.

Then I thought they had been in my Taste of Home Healthy Cooking magazine but I couldn’t find that either.

Note to self to keep track of recipes and magazine finds.

Then my aunt loaned me one of her copies of Mary Jane’s Farm magazine. Loaded with cracker recipes! I made the two below. Yummy yummy! They were quick and easy and it was a fun time for Peanut and I.

Sesame and Ginger Crackers (2 different kinds)

Make some crackers today!

Cracker recipes

Martha Stewart’s Simple White Crackers

Gluten Free Crackers

Graham Crackers (nummy)

Cheddar Gold Fish Crackers

King Arthur Flour Crunchy Crackers

I really like cake. My whole family just loves cake…except for my husband. But that is another story. He enjoys them well enough but would rather have a pie than a cake any day.

Lately we have been into America’s Test Kitchen. You know the show where they find the best way to make a dish and test all kinds of methods, ingredients, and gadgetry. I had received their cookbook as a birthday present several years ago and true enough I turn to it for any basic recipe I’m about to embark on. I brought home some of their DVDs from season’s 3 and 6 to watch and we got hooked. We really enjoy cooking as a family and trying new things. All three of us. Peanut gets to mix spices, assemble veggies and she cracked her first solo egg a couple of weeks ago.

Anyway then we decided to take the plunge and subscribe to their annual online tv thing where you can watch all past and current shows for $20 a year.

We are having a ton of fun and my weekly menu has altered a bit as a result. I’m also finding myself spending a great deal of time in the kitchen so if you’ve noticed less updates all around blame America’s Test Kitchen.

We’ve been slowly making our way through the various cakes to see if we can improve on what we already thought was perfection (our own cake baking).

So far we have made the Classic White Cake with Almond and Raspberry filling (please note you won’t be able to see the full recipe unless you subscribe or take the plunge and sign up for the 14 day test drive WITH your credit card which they won’t charge until the 14 days are up). My husband loves this one. And I was surprised at that because as I said cake is not his thing. It’s also super easy. The key is to assemble your ingredients beforehand and weigh your flour and sugar. I have heard to weight certain ingredients but had never done it. Since I was using King Arthur’s new Organic Cake Flour which I was pretty sure is a bit denser than Queen Guinevere (sp) I thought I ought to weight it. Not possessing a regular kitchen scale… wait I think I had one before we moved. Oh well I used my old mailing scale and adjusted for the weight of the bowl.

The goal was to make cake baking a little easier. This was easy too. The egg whites were put in the milk and that easy addition to the flour/butter mix made it go very fast.

So voila!

********

Our second cake to test drive was the chocolate cake. Being allergic to soy it’s only been the last several years that I found chocolate without soy. As a result I had NEVER baked a chocolate cake. Go figure! So I figured why not my first chocolate cake be one that has been tested etc.

The goal was to make a chocolatey tasting cake but not a decadence cake with a fluffy frosting not a ganache or non-chocolate tasting frosting. There were issues with cooling the melted chocolate and not ‘cooking’ the eggs by adding the sugar too fast. And whipping cream was used in the frosting which probably added a few more pounds to me.

This cake took a little more time than the raspberry one and it took us much longer to devour because the chocolate was so intense.

The end result while good was a bit too chocolatey for me (ducking the tomatoes and eggs being thrown). Not being able to eat chocolate for so long means I eat it in small doses. The cake came out wonderful though and all was perfection as you can see.

Here are some of the rolls (getting ready to rise a bit before baking) I made from the Hot Roll Mix I talked about earlier.  Notice my marble rolling pin in the background? I get teased about this from my family. Maybe because I bought it when I was about 20 years old. So that would make it 20 years old. Still looks like the day I bought it. Smooch!

Oh the rolls. Yes I halved the recipe and still had too many for my dinky family and then was one rogue roll I had to fit in between some others. But I’m loving the mix cooking. I don’t always want a thousand packages and drops of this and that on the counter. On a day when our daughter was feeling under the weather mama still punched out made from scratch yeast rolls. I really should be making the whole wheat mix but I’ll get to that later.

The bug has bitten.

I’ve felt the need the last few weeks to whip up a few freezer meals, master mixes, and spice concoctions.

I’m not sure what happened but going with the pull I got out my books Make-A-Mix and Make Your Own Groceries and decided to whip up some freezer cookie dough and some muffin batter.

If you’ve never heard of these books they are both cookbooks designed to help you spend less time in the kitchen and come up with your own healthier packaged mixes for whipping up stuff like quick breads, cookies, dinner, snacks, breakfasts and even household products (Make Your Own Groceries). It’s a wealth of information.

I like having the freezer cookies on hand not only for unexpected company but because my husband likes to make a few cookies now and then and having some easy slice and bake in the freezer lets him cook as many as he wants and the easy directions are right on the package.

I love having the dinners in the freezer for when I’m feeling lazy and I can just thaw one in the fridge and cook it up for dinner with an added salad or fresh veggie.

Next up I’m agonizing over which master mix to whip up for breads and the like. I also took some time to make a lasagne for the freezer and some german meat balls (an altered version I came up with based off of the one from The Joy of Cooking).

Someone suggested that if you have never seen the books before check them out from your library before purchasing. That is a good idea and always recommended.

It was also a good time to read Lynn’s blog post about freezer peppers from your garden and a yummy recipe to go with. I plan on growing some this year so this was good information to know.

If you’re not sure what master mixes are here’s an article from the main site.

Just what I needed. More things to eat. In this season of gastrointestinal distress through a family member I discovered these great Whoopie Pies from Trader Joe’s.  Not only that but the apparently there is no soy in the recipe so I can eat them! Oh woe is me.  I swiped one from said family member and thoroughly enjoyed it! I don’t think I’ve ever had a Whoopie pie before. There was some sad moon pie thing I ate as a child but that was store bought and preservative full.

A cakey, chocolatey, filled with cream bite of delightfulness these things have a big Maine history and is of those baking issues where each Maine grandma has her own secret recipe.

So next on the quest was to find a recipe that sounded good and didn’t use cake mix.

1. Taste of Home of course was my first stop. But I didn’t try their recipes.

2. About Southern Food had a great recipe and this is the one I ended up making.

3. You know Martha Stewart has a recipe. Her recipes tend to be very involved so I skipped on this.

4. And just in case you’re not into baking you can buy Whoopie Pies in various flavors online here, here, here, and here.

For the filling I really made do. I didn’t have marshmallow creme but I had half a bag of marshmallows. I melted those and mixed them with some buttercream frosting and used that. I had this feeling it was going to be too sweet so I filled half of them with ice cream. My husband prefers that addition.

WWhoopW

Franklin Family Springs has a new homemaking video on the horizon. Another addition to the Homestead Blessings collection this one is called The Art of Cooking. If you feel your skills in home cooking are lacking this is sure to be a great video to get your hands on.

A busy mom can find it invaluable to know how to make great meals in a short amount of time without opening a cookbook.

The Homestead Blessings ladies have come up with several easy delicious recipes for each mealtime dilemma. Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

They’re taking pre-orders now which will drop the price by $3.00

You can purchase through my affiliate link here. Or go straight to the website here. The price will not change.

My daughter (who is 4) loves to cook/bake.  When getting ready for dinner I often think about what things she can do to help me cook. If I’m not organized about it it can get kind of whiny because she wants to help so bad and she say “let me do it!”

This week we had a little mini birthday party for a friend and she got to make the cupcakes. We used this great recipe from an older Betty Crocker cookbook called a Dinette cake. Supposed to be a small sized cake for a few people it’s perfect for making exactly 12 cupcakes.

The original recipe used shortening but for this recipe you use just oil. You make it with regular all purpose flour but can make it with cake flour too by just reducing the amount of flour by 1/4 cup.

I let my daughter do all the mixing and pouring into the cupcake liners. All I did was measure ingredients the and place them in the oven.

We iced them with a simple buttercream (butter, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla).

They were a big hit with the family and it was so fun for her to make.

The recipe was also published in a 1998 issue of Taste of Home magazine (love that magazine) and you can find it online here.