Bakin’ Bacon

I am sure many people already know this, but I have “discovered” the very best way to cook bacon… In the oven! It’s quick, easy, clean, and no standing over the stove turning bacon and avoiding those nasty grease splatter burns!

Preheat the oven to 400.

Line a shallow baking pan with foil or parchment for easy clean up.

Lay bacon on pan in a single layer.

Place in oven and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until it reaches desired doneness.

Remove from oven and place on paper-towel lined plate.

Vintage Cheese Signs

This last week we toured the Tillamook Cheese Factory on the Oregon Coast. Not only do they have the best cheese and ice cream ever but they had these very cool and very retro cheese ads…

German Pancakes

This used to be a breakfast staple at our house before it took over a dozen eggs to actually fill my crew up. But now that we have chickens and a constant supply of eggs they’re back on the menu boys!!!

Preheat oven to 400-425.

This recipe will fill one 9x13 glass baking dish.

1/3 cup butter

4 eggs

1 cup flour

1 cup milk

This recipe will fill two 9” glass pie plates.

1/4 cup butter

3 eggs

3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup milk

Put butter into pans (divide evenly if necessary) and place pans in oven until butter melts.

Beat eggs until light and lemon color. Alternately add milk and flour and mix until smooth. Batter will be thin.

Pour into pan just to cover the bottom. If the batter is too thick, it will not puff up as much while it bakes and it will be a bit heavier.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden and puffy.

 

Serve with powdered sugar and lemon juice.

County Fair Funnel Cakes

Yesterday we went to our county fair. While admittance is free, the food is not. And since fair food just isn’t in the budget but I had a hankerin’ for funnel cakes, I just made some at home. They were awesome! And we made $40 worth of funnel cakes for less than the price of one at the fair!!!
3 eggs
2 cups milk
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 2/3 cups all-purpose flour (I use a mixture of white and wheat)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
Directions:
In a medium bowl, mix salt, baking powder, and 1 1/2 cups of the flour. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream eggs, sugar, vanilla and milk. Add flour mixture and beat until smooth. Continue to add remaining flour, but use only enough to achieve desired consistency. Batter will be thin enough to run through a funnel.

In a skillet or deep fryer, heat the oil to 375 degrees F
Put your finger over the bottom opening of the funnel, and fill the funnel with a generous 1/2 cup of the batter. Hold the funnel close to the surface of the oil, and release the batter into the oil while making a circular motion.
* I used a ziploc bag with the corner cut off a bit. It was much easier to manage.

 

Fry both sides until golden brown. (It took about 3 minutes per side for me)

Use tongs or a wide spatula to turn the cake over carefully.

Drain on paper towels, and sprinkle with sifted powdered sugar.

Marshmallows

These are possibly the very best thing I have ever made! I adore them! They are just like eating sugary, puffy clouds. And they are so easy! Thank you so much to my friend Betsy for giving me this recipe! I will NEVER buy marshmallows again…

Next time I am making orange marshmallows and dusting them with cocoa and powdered sugar!!!

Combine in stand mixer bowl:

3 packets of unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup cold water

1 1/2 tsp vanilla or other extract of your choice

It gets thick immediately

Combine in medium saucepan:

2 cups white sugar

3/4 cup boiling water

1/8 tsp salt

Cook on medium high heat until candy thermometer reads 236. Stir occasionally. (It took about 10 minutes)

Remove saucepan from heat and pour into gelatin mixture in mixer bowl.

Beat with whisk attachment on medium high speed until the consistency of thick marshmallow cream. It should form peaks in bowl. (It took me about 15 minutes) Start mixer slowly after adding sugar syrup. It’s HOT and you don’t want it to splash!

 

Pour into a well-greased and powdered-sugared baking dish.

Let sit in fridge or at room temperature until set.

Remove from pan and cut into squares, or shape of your choice.

Dust well with more sifted powdered sugar until no longer sticky. (It takes quite a bit of powdered sugar)

Shake off excess sugar and store in air tight container.

Muesli

I found a recipe for muesli on-line and decided it would be the perfect companion for homemade yogurt. Basically it’s just uncooked granola. So I whipped up a batch, totally changed the recipe, and love it! There are about a million possible combinations, too! Have fun discovering your favorite!

The first one I made was tropical muesli with raisins, papaya, mango, coconut, almonds, orange cranberries. I am already thinking about what to do next…

1 cup rolled oats

3 tablespoons wheat germ

3 tablespoons ground flaxseed or sesame seeds

5 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons chopped nuts of your choice 

1 tablespoon raw, hulled (out of shell) sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup chopped dried fruit of your choice

honey (optional)

grated apple (optional)

plain yogurt

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Store in airtight container on shelf.

Stir into plain yogurt just before serving. Add a touch of honey and a little grated fresh apple if wanted.

before yogurt

 

after yogurt

Pudding Cookies

My friend Sue told me that she had found the best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever! And of course I had to have the recipe for my biggest chocolate chip cookie fan ever!

I didn’t have vanilla pudding or chocolate chips, but I couldn’t wait… My first batch had chocolate pudding mix and Heath bar pieces. They were fantastic, moist and chewy cookies!

I can’t wait to make chocolate chip cookies!!!

1 cup butter or marg. softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 package (3.4oz) instant van. pudding mix (or chocolate)
2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 ¼ cups flour

1 tsp soda

2 cups chocolate chips

Cream butter, sugars and pudding mix together. Mix in eggs, one at a time. Stir in vanilla. Slowly add dry ingredients and mix until combined. Fold in chips.

Bake at 350 on ungreased cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes