Friday's Treat ~ Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownie

I thought I would do something special for today since it is Valentines Day. My husband doesn't really care to deliver heart shaped anything to co-workers but this year I did it anyway! :) 

I don't think there is much to say about these. The pictures tell you everything you need to know! They are really, really good! So easy and cute!

I baked these on a sheet pan and then when they were completely cool cut them into strips just wide enough for the heart shaped cutter and place that on a cutting board. It was easier to do it that way then try to dig the cutter out of the pan. :)

We don't really celebrate Valentine's Day but I do try to make  { or bake } something special....just because. Not that I need an excuse but I feel better about eating something like this if it is for a "special" day!

Here is the recipe. Bake some today for someone you love. They will love you back:)

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

Brownies:

1 box red velvet cake mix

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 large egg

1 tablespoon water

Topping:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 large egg

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 baking dish.
2. Beat together the cake mix, butter, egg, and water until well combined. Dough will be very thick and sticky. Press the batter into the prepared pan.
3. Beat together the cream cheese, egg, sugar, and vanilla until well combined. Drop by the spoonful onto the brownie dough.
4. Bake brownies for 10 minutes and then remove from the oven and run a knife through the dough to swirl the cheesecake througout. Return to the oven and continue baking for 25 minutes or until set.
5. Cool completely before cutting.
6. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

 ~ recipe adapted from Food Fanatic

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

I know it's been forever since I have done a post on here. It's been a little crazy since November. It took our oldest awhile to recover from his surgery in November. A few days before leaving the hospital my husband started a new job on the slope. For those outside of Alaska, the "slope" is at the top of Alaska. He works on the pipeline. It's a three week on, three week off rotation. But since November 22, for several reasons, he has only been home for three weeks. He is scheduled to return home on Monday. I can't wait. Pretty much anything that could go wrong has and then some. Also, a week after getting home from the hospital we closed on a house in Sutton, AK. It's a log sided house on 5 1/2 acres on the Mat-Su River. Can I just say we LOVE it there. I have been going back and forth (1 1/2 drive from Anchorage) a couple of times a week painting. Hopefully, we will be out there full time by April.

So, back to the title of this post, homemade dishwasher detergent. I have been using this for awhile now and have no complaints. For me it works great and I save money. I usually only run the dishwasher once a day, after dinner. This recipe lasts me about five weeks and costs about $2.00. The price depends on where I buy the ingredients and if they happen to be on sale. Also, we don't have hard water so sometimes I don't use the citrus shine (that makes a difference in the price). I also use vinegar as a rinse aid (just fill the rinse aid dispenser as normal). I have not had any issues with spots on the glasses, dishes are always clean. The best part is that you haven't used any harsh chemicals and save money. I got my recipe from here.

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent
1 1/2 cup Lemi-Shine (used for hard water)
1 1/2 cup super Washing Soda
1/2 cup Baking Soda
1/2 cup Sea Salt
Mix it all together and fill your dishwasher soap dispenser as normal.

It's so simple, works great, and it's cheap. It's worth a try.

Christine

Cinnamon Biscuits

I see it is my turn to give a tour of our Christmas home. I am working on it...finishing up some pictures first. Meanwhile we were hungry this morning { while working on Christmas pictures }, a perfect morning for something warm and sweet. Something called a Cinnamon Biscuit!!!

 There is a restaurant back home in North Carolina that had the best cinnamon biscuits. 

I have wanted to make my own several time and just never did, until today. They took all of 5 minutes to make, 15 minutes in the oven.....

This is what we ended up with.  A cinnamon biscuit so much better than any restaurant could make.  Light and fluffy, which is essential in any good  biscuit. A sweet topping and crust that was just the right amount of sweet. No sugar high here today:)

We don't have this kind of breakfast very often. Despite all of my sweet treats I post on here, we actually do eat pretty healthy....most of the time:) These would be great Christmas morning. So quick and easy!!

But not today. Today was a cinnamon biscuit kind of day, something special, something warm from the oven as we sat and watched the snow fly.

Enjoy!!!

 Mary Elizabeth

Biscuits

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup cold butter, cut into small cubes

1 1/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375. Butter and medium cast iron skillet.

Mix together the dry ingredients and then cut in the butter until you get course crumbs. Add just enough of buttermilk until everything pulls away from the sides and is just combined. { Sometimes I use it all and others I leave a tablespoon or so out }.  Drop large spoonfuls of dough into skillet, lightly smoothing out the tops. Cover with brown sugar topping and bake for about 15 minutes. 

Yields 8-10 biscuits

Brown Sugar Topping

1 stick very soft butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

Mix together until smooth. Spoon onto biscuits and gently spread on top.

sweet and sour chicken { homemade }

I love good chinese food. There are few place around here that have it though, unfortunately, so I suppose it is just as well that we rarely eat out. When I saw this recipe over at The Recipe Critic I just had to try it. Good chinese food at home? Yes, please!!

It was so simple and easy to make. I had it ready in about 45 minutes.....I changed a few things. Imagine that!!

I used my large cast iron skillet and cooked it on top of the stove because I didn't want to wait for it to bake in the oven. I used butter and basically fried it and it was easier to make sure all the chicken was coated in the sauce, which is the best part!

( by the way, if you don't have a cast iron skillet you need to get one! I don't know what I would do without my cast iron skillets and pots...you can check some out here. They are very inexpensive and if you take care of them right they last forever!! )

I served the chicken with rice. I almost always cook my rice with more chicken broth than water. It gives it so much more flavor! This was so, so good. Better than any sweet and sour chicken I have had at a restaurant!

sweet and sour chicken
recipe adapted from The Recipe Critic

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breast
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups cornstarch
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil ( I used butter )
1 cup sugar
4 tbls ketchup
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbls soy sauce
1 tsp garlic salt

Preheat oven to 325. Cut chicken breast into bite sized pieces and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Whisk the eggs together and then in a separate bowl place the cornstarch. Coat chicken in cornstarch and then in the eggs. ( I did dipped it back into the cornstarch again after the egg before placing in the skillet ).

Heat oil ( or butter ) in large skillet and brown chicken. Place into a 9x13 pan.

In a medium bowl mix together the sugar, ketchup, both vinegar's, soy sauce and garlic salt. Pour over chicken and bake for 1 hour. Stir chicken every 15 minutes to evenly coat in sauce.


Note: After browning the chicken in the cast iron skillet I just left it in there and poured the sauce over it. Turned the chicken every few minutes to keep it coated in the sauce. It only took about 15 minutes to cook on top of the stove.


Enjoy,

Mary Elizabeth

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

If you have kids I'm sure you go though a lot of chocolate milk. My kids love chocolate milk. Making your own syrup is super easy and only takes a couple of ingredients. I always have a jar of this in the fridge. This is great for ice cream too.

Chocolate Syrup

3/4 cup (homemade) brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
1 cup cold water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla

Whisk all the dry ingredients together in a medium size pan. Add the water and whisk until all the lumps are gone. Over medium heat bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer on low until syrup starts to thicken (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat and cool. Keep refrigerated. This makes about two cups and last two weeks.

Enjoy,

Christine

Homemade Flaked (Rolled) Oats

Ok, I started writing about milling the flour and then realized that I still haven't taken a picture of the milled wheat. I have a bunch of pictures except of what it looks like after it's milled. Hopefully, I'll remember to get a picture tomorrow when I make bread again. So, I'll post about flaked oats instead. Okay, homemade flaked (rolled) oaks is so good. Once you have eaten you will never go back to store bought. Every article that I read about flaking your own oats mentioned this. Now, I can truly attest to this. I bought store bought this week because I haven't been able to go to go to my suppliers (she lives an hour and 1/2 away, we have been having vehicle trouble). I made hot oatmeal on Thursday and nobody would eat it (including Brian and I). It was gross. This is a little time consuming though, because I only have a hand crank. If I had it to do over again I would buy an electric flaker.

Put the oat groats in the top. Turn the handle and the rollers flatten the oats. Great job for the kids. All I have to do is tell the boys that it will make their muscles big and then they are all about it.

 

Above shows the three different settings on the flaker. It's hard to tell the difference in the pictures.

Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal is a favorite at our house. I add the cinnamon apples (post coming about that soon) that I dehydrate. It's really good. And better yet, it's really good for you. No chemicals/preservatives or words that you can't pronounce.

Christine

Homemade Butter

I admit it, some days, trying to make everything homemade that I can, drives me crazy. For example: I was in the shower the other morning, deciding what to make the kids for breakfast. Pancakes was about the only choice, because I was out of oat groats to flake for cereal. And of course by the time I get out of the shower all the kids are awake (7:30 am). I come to the kitchen with all four of them trailing behind me. Realizing on the way there that I don't have butter, syrup or flour ready to go. I sigh, evidently loud enough for Luke to hear and he asks why I did that. I tell him that I need to make butter, syrup and mill the wheat before I can make the pancakes. He sighs loudly. I ask him what's the matter. He shakes his head and tells the rest of the kids that they are going to starve to death because it's going to take Mommy a long time to make breakfast. He's silent for a moment and then looks at me and says he has a good idea. He then asks if they can eat chocolate chips while they wait. That kid tries every chance he gets to eat chocolate. Being the good Mother that I am, I tell him no, he'll have to wait. His response, "if we die it's not my fault, because I had a good idea for food".  So, after making butter, syrup and flour (an hour later) they are eating pancakes and nobody died. One crisis averted for the day.
So, on to the butter. If you have never made butter, you really should try it at least once. Even if it's not something you would do all the time, it would be worth the little bit of effort for a special dinner. And honestly, it'll bring a smile to your face when your looking at your finished product and the thought crosses your mind, "I just made butter".  This is super easy and all you need is cream, a mixer, a strainer, and two bowls.

Homemade Butter
6 cups of heavy cream
a little bit of salt (I don't add any, because I have bought unsalted for a while now)

This will make just a little over a pound of butter.

Pour cream into your mixer with the whip attachment.  Mix for about 15 - 20 minutes.

Your cream will come to the stiff peak stage. Keep whipping.

 



Then it will break down and become soupy with small lumps. Your almost there at this stage.

 

 

The lumps become more defined and you will start to see it separate from the "buttermilk" which will be at the bottom. 

 

When you can really see the the separation of butter and buttermilk, your finished whipping.

 

You need to strain the butter from the milk. Save the buttermilk for pancakes, biscuits or whatever you would use buttermilk for. This isn't the cultured buttermilk from the store with lumps. But I haven't had an issue using it in any of my recipes that call for buttermilk. If you rinse it in cold water the butter will last for about two weeks. Honestly, I'm not really sure how to tell if butter is spoiled or not. I go though so much of it that I have never had that happen.

 

 

This is the buttermilk.

 

After rinsing it, knead it a little to make sure all the water has been removed. Then form into whatever shape you want. I usually measure out two cups and wrap that in plastic.

 

Stand back and smile to yourself, because you just made butter.

 

 

 

 Enjoy!!

Christine

Homemade Condensed Milk

Here's another staple that you can make from scratch. I use quite a bit of condensed milk for our homemade creamer. Needless, to say it's cheap at the store. I started making my own. I always have a jar of it in the fridge ready to go. It does take about a while to cook and it's not quite as thick as store bought. I haven't had any problems using it any recipes that call for it.

Here's my recipe:

1 1/2 cups of milk
2/3 cups of sugar
3 Tablespoons of butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla

 

Mix sugar and milk together in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stirring often, bring it to a low simmer over medium-low heat. As soon as steam starts lifting off the milk, lower the heat even further, and when the sugar is entirely dissolved, put the heat as low as it can go. A simmer burner is great for this.

 

The goal is to reduce the quantity in the pot by approximately half. It takes about 2 hours at  very low heat to reduce to one cup of liquid. If your in a hurry you could have the heat a little higher, but you have to watch it and stir constantly to keep it from burning.

 

Once reduced, whisk in the butter and vanilla.

 

 

There you have, homemade condensed milk. After tasting it you'll find new ways to use. It's really good.

 

Christine

 

Homemade Bread

I should start this post about my newest kitchen machine, but I couldn't wait to get pictures of it and the whole process. I finally have my grain mill up and running. And I am SO EXCITED about it. I now mill grain for flour. It's pretty easy and so much better for you. Did you know that flour loses all of it's nutrients within 72 hours of being milled? There is nothing good for you in store bought flour. I realize that not everyone wants to mill their own flour. It is definitely worth the little extra expense to get started. I'll take pictures of the process this afternoon and show you.

So, on to the homemade bread. This is one of the best and easiest recipes for homemade bread. The kids love it and eat it more than bread I made before. They also love being involved in the process of milling the wheat.
 Here's the recipe from Uncle John's Original Bread Book:

Braue's Home-Baked Whole-Wheat Bread
2 packages active dry yeast (2 Tablespoons if you use bulk yeast)
1 cup lukewarm water
1/2 cup brown sugar (homemade)
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups scalded milk
2 tablespoons melted butter (I need to do a post for homemade butter)
7 cups of flour 

Dissolve yeast in water for about 10 minutes. While the yeast is dissolving, scald milk, then add brown sugar, salt and butter. Combine yeast mixture and milk mixture. Slowly add dough 1 cup at a time until the down doesn't stick to the side of the bowl.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until springy and smooth. Shape into a bowl and place into a lightly floured bowl. Cover with a clean towel and let rise until double in size.
Then divide dough into two balls. Shape each into loaves and place in greased bread pans. Cover with clean towel and let rise again until double in size.
Bake at 350 for about 30 - 45 minutes. The time depends on the size of the loaves and if using fresh flour. I have noticed that things bake a lot faster with the fresh flour. I'm not sure why. When I find out I'll let you know. Bake until the tops are golden brown. If using fresh flour until the temperature reaches 120-125 degrees.
Let the loaves cool in the pans for about 10 minutes and then remove from pans and let them finish cooling.

The result is a loaf of the best bread you will ever eat.

Christine

Animal Crakers (Cookies)

My kids love the animal crackers you buy at the store. With four kids eating them they are ridiculously expensive. So, I made a healthier version. Maybe not extremely healthy, but at least it's not full of chemicals. I got the recipe from Williams - Sonoma. They are super easy and of course the kids loved them.

 

I used a Noah's Ark cookie cutter set. I also used it here. If you roll them out a little on the thick side they will stand up. Which if you have boys they will love this. They had cookies standing up all over the table and they were at war. If an animal got shot it got eaten.



I had to show you all my little helper in the process.

Christinehere.

Baby Wipes

To be honest, we use baby wipes for than just changing diapers. It's something easy for the kids to get to clean up their messes. I know it creates a little more garbage, but it also minimizes the laundry. For this stage in our lives I feel that less laundry is a plus. These homemade wipes are so much cheaper than buying wipes. Also, have you looked at the ingredients in baby wipes? It lists several ingredients that I can't pronounce let alone tell you what they are. As a side note, my obsession with removing any chemicals from my family's life is to help prevent some health issues that I have been experiencing.  Obviously, as mothers we all want to do our best to raise healthy kids and we each have to decide what is best for our family. With that though I am still on the hunt for better ingredients. When I find better ingredients, I'll post those. Or let me know what you use that is "greener" or "more natural".

So, here is how I make baby wipes (extremely simple):

Half a roll of paper towels (Bounty select a size works best for me, they don't fall apart)
2 cups of water
1 tablespoon of baby oil
1 1/2 tablespoon of baby wash

 

Mix ingredients together in a container with a tight fitting lid. Cut paper towel roll in half. Serrated knife works best. Place your towels into the container.

 

Flip it over. Let sit until paper towels are wet.

 

 

 Turn the container back over and remove the cardboard center. Cutting the cardboard with scissors is the easiest way. Pull the center towel up and use.

 

Christine

Friday's Treat ~ Five Layer Bars

I am on a butterscotch kick lately!!

I had been wanting to make something butterscotch for over a week and when we went to church last Sunday evening one of the ladies in my small group brought butterscotch bars...or brownies....or cookies? :) I'm not really sure which category they fell under but they were good!! And that is all that matters, really. So I knew right away I was going to do butterscotch for Friday. So, the search began:) I don't have any recipes for butterscotch ( other than just adding them in to something that doesn't call for them ) so I headed to Google! I found the perfect recipe for butterscotch bars from Paula Dean on the food network website. You can find the recipe here. These are so, soooo good! And so easy to make. Six ingredients....that's it!! They took minutes to put together and were just the right thing for the week!

Start with a graham crack crust

then mix up the coconut, chips and nuts ( I left the nuts out )

Pour that on top of the graham cracker crust.

Pour sweetened condensed milk over top of that and bake.

I did forget to take a picture of what my bars looked like when they were done so I pulled Paula's picture from the recipe. They are pretty close but I think mine looked better....haha:) Probably because mine didn't have nuts in them. I don't like nuts!

via

Hope you enjoy!!!

Mary Elizabeth

Brown Sugar

I have been in this quest lately to make as many things "from scratch" or "homemade" as possible. There are several reasons for my "insanity" as my husband refers to it. He thinks that I am the only person that gets excited about making things from scratch. I know that there are lots of people out there that feel the same as I do. First reason, I had set three financial goals for myself to accomplish before I quit working. Because of the addition of our latest son and my job situation changing I only met two of those goals. I met the goals for my Roth IRA and IRA, but not my 401K. I was extremely close to meeting the 401K. So, in my quest to meet that goal I need to save money around the house. Making so many things from scratch has help. Second reason, the unstable world we live in. We get a lot of earthquakes and wind storms here in Alaska. We could at any point loose electricity or we could have the next big earthquake. Not to mention the situation our county is putting it's self in. The third reason came after watching the movie Food, Inc. This really made me think about our country's food supply chain. By making things yourself you know exactly what is it.

With that all said, I now no longer buy brown sugar. I don't know why I ever bought it in the first place. Just habit I guess. If you don't already do this you should. It's so easy and it tastes SOOO much better. It makes a difference in your baking also. As you know brown sugar is just sugar with molasses and some added chemicals. If you make it yourself you get to leave out the chemicals. It's also so much more fluffy that store bought brown sugar.

Brown Sugar

1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon of molasses (if you like dark brown sugar add more molasses)

Mix for about 10 - 15 minutes, depending on the amount of molasses added. Enjoy!

It stays at this stage for awhile. To the point that you begin to think that it will never mix up.

Then just when your ready to give up it finally starts to look like this.

 

Then you end up with this.

Homemade brown sugar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I've got a couple of things to post that are homemade. What do you make from scratch? I'm always looking for more ideas.

Christine