Light Oat Bread

Once again, an Allrecipes.com recipe. Here is the way I did it (Originally it was a bread machine recipe).

1 1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons margarine
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Melt margarine and mix with water (112* F), sugar, and yeast. Let sit 5 minutes. Combine all ingredients in Kitchen Aid mixer and use the dough hook to knead until smooth and elastic (and no longer sticky)-- adding flour as necessary. Place in oiled bowl & turn over to coat. Cover & let rise until doubled (approx one hour). Punch down and shape into loaf shape in pan. Allow to rise until doubled again. Bake at 350* F for 30 minutes.

One bread secret is to slice with an electric knife--like the one you might carve a turkey in.

Granola

I made this for breakfast cereal. I'm sure it would also be good on yogurt. It is very cheap to make, very filling, easily adaptable (I'm thinking of adding almonds). I got the recipe here. If you go to the site you can see lots of people's comments & adaptations.

4 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup raisins

In a large bowl, combine oats and coconut; set aside. In a saucepan, combine brown sugar, oil, honey and cinnamon; bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla. Pour over oat mixture; stir to coat. Spread in a large shallow baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cool. Add raisins. Store in an airtight container.

Southwestern Salad

This is an adaptation of a recipe I got from AllRecipes.com (a favorite site of mine).

Chicken Breasts, grilled, cut up, coated in BBQ sauce + chili powder, to taste
Lettuce, torn or cut
Black Beans
Corn (can use straight from the freezer or from a can)
Onion (pick your form: green, red, yellow, white; sauteed, uncooked, powdered)
Cilantro (I just used the dried stuff)
Tomatoes, diced
Tortilla Chips, crushed up a little bit
1/4 c. BBQ sauce
1/2 c. Ranch Dressing.

Combine Beans, Corn, Onion, Tomatoes, Chicken, Cilantro. Combine BBQ sauce and ranch dressing. Serve with Tortilla chips on the bottom, then lettuce, then Beans & Corn mixture, then dressing. I find that serving & storing the lettuce by itself helps it to keep longer, but everything except the chips could be mixed together for serving & storage.

Grilled Salmon Marinade

This recipe courtesy of Jamye H.

1/3 c. Brown Sugar
1/3 c. Water
1/4 c. Vegetable Oil
1/3 c. Soy Sauce
Lemon Pepper, to taste
Garlic Powder, to taste

Marinate Salmon and grill. I'm guessing broiling would also work. This is why I love my Joy of Cooking cookbook (Thanks Ruth Ann... it's the only 16th birthday present that I think I still use)... You can always get ideas about how to cook something and how long to cook it, etc.

Hot Fudge Sauce

This is a 'secret' family recipe that I believe came into the family through my ex-uncle. Since I'm making it right now for some neighborly ice cream eating tonight I figured I'd type it up. That's how confident I am that the recipe will get asked for.

Ingredients:
1/2 c. Butter
1 SemiSweet Chocolate Square (1 oz)
1 Bittersweet/UnSweet Chocolate Square (1 oz)
1/2 c. Cocoa (sift if lumpy)
1 1/2 c. White Sugar
1 c. Heavy Whipping Cream
1 t. Vanilla

Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler on med-hi heat. In a seperate bowl mix cocoa & sugar together (I use a whisk & this eliminates lumps in the cocoa). Add cocoa/sugar to chocolate/butter. Stir well. Add cream & vanilla. Whisk well. Cook 15-20 mins on LOW heat. Note: Mixture will thicken, have no lumps and very few air bubbles. Keep refrigerated in glass jars for easier reheating. Reheat on low power in the microwave.

Blueberry Sausage Casserole

Ingredients:

Cake:
2 c. Flour
1 t. Baking Powder
1/2 t. Baking Soda
1/2 c. Margarine
3/4 c. Sugar
1/4 c. Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
8 oz Sour Cream
1 lb Sausage, browned
1 c. Blueberries
1/2 c. Pecans, chopped
Sauce:
1/2 c. Sugar
2 T. Cornstarch
1/2 c. Water
2 c. Blueberries
1/2 t. Lemon Juice

Directions

Cream margarine and sugar. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Add dry ingredients and sour cream alternately. Fold in sausage and blueberries. Spoon into ungreased 9x13. Top with pecans. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. For sauce, combine and cook all ingredients in sauce pan until thick. Add lemon juice. Serve warm.

Cranberry Peach Jam

Ingredients:
12 oz fresh or frozen cranberries, thawed (about 3 cups)
2 cups coarsely chopped fresh peaches
6 cups sugar
3/4 cup peach nectar (on the mexican section- made by Goya)
1 t. grated fresh ginger, optional
2 (3-oz) pouches liquid pectin
1/4 c lemon juice

Process cranberries to 1/8 inch -> put in large bowl. Process peaches to 1/4 inch. Add peaches, sugar, & nectar to cranberries. Add gingerroot, stir 2 mins. Let stand 10 mins. Combine pectin & lemon juice in small bowl;Sstir into fruit mixture; mix well. Spoon into 7 labeled 1c freezer containers leaving 1/2 in headroom. Cover with tight fitting lids & let stand 24 hrs on counter to set. Keeps in fridge up to 3 weeks or freezer up to 6 months.

Honey Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:
2 lbs sweet potatoes
2 T olive oil
2 T honey
1 t fresh lemon juice
1/2 t salt

Preheat oven to 350*. Peel and cut the sweet potatoes into 1in pieces and put in a 9x13 baking dish. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, honey and lemon juice. Pour mixture over potatoes and toss to coat. Sprinkle with salt and bake, stirring occasionally, for about 1 hour, until potatoes are tender. Or, cook longer for chewy, awesome potatoes!

Peanut Butter Pie

Ingredients:
8 oz cream cheese (1/3 fat may be used)
2c powdered sugar2/3c peanut butter
13-16oz cool whip (lite may be used)
2 premade crusts (graham cracker or oreo, but not the extra large graham cracker ones)
mini-chocolate chips, optional

Cream together first 3 ingredients. Stir in 1/3 of cool whip and then fold in remaining cool whip. Pour into 2 crusts and garnish with chocolate chips, optional. Chill completely for ease of serving.