Jamie'sPoppy Seed Salad Dressing

Jamie's Poppy Seed Salad Dressing:

1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup veg. oil
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground mustard
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
3/4 cup of sugar
1/3 or 1/2 of a purple onion
can add one or two strawberries or raspberries for color.
~blend it all together and refrigerate

For the salad I use spinach and roman mixed together
with almonds(slivered- sometimes I candy them with sugar), pomegranate seeds, (raspberries or strawberries), thin sliced purple onion, mushrooms, and feta cheese, I don't like feta, but I know a lot of people do- I have used Parmesan before too.
If I don't have all the items I just put what I have. And if I am in a hurry I sometimes just use the "Brianna's poppy seed dressing."

Amy's Sugar Cookies

These are the best sugar cookies ever. They always bake up soft and delicious.

2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
4 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon flavoring
1 cup sour cream
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
6-8 cups flour

cream sugar, butter and eggs. Add remaining ingredients and enough flour to make soft dough. Chill. Roll out and cut in shapes. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 stick butter
3 ounces cream cheese
1 lb. powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese and butter till smooth. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Mix well. Add milk to thin.

Delicious Buttery Dinner Rolls

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of milk
3/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 egg
1 Tablespoon salt
2 Tablespoons yeast
2 cups of warm water
about 9-10 cups of flour
at least 1 cup of butter
Directions
Scald 1 1/2 cups of milk, 3/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup of butter, in a microwave safe bowl, for about 2 minutes. Cutting the butter into pieces helps it melt faster. There will probably be some little cubes of butter still floating in the hot mixture, they will melt.

Add yeast to this hot mixture, but it will be too hot to just dump the yeast straight in (it would kill it!). To cool it down add 1 egg and 1 Tablespoon of salt, and leave it to cool for a couple of minutes. Meanwhile, in a measuring cup dissolve 2 Tablespoons of yeast in 2 cups of warm water and 1 Tablespoon of sugar. Let it sit for a couple of minutes until it is bubbly. You can stir in 1-2 cups of flour to the milk/butter mixture to cool it down further. Make sure your milk mixture is just warm, not boiling and add the yeast mixture!

Using a fork or wooden spoon, gradually stir in 9-10 cups of flour. I would recommend only adding 2 cups at time and stirring in between. These rolls turn out so much better when they are mixed by hand. At the end the dough will be dense and sticky, and may be hard to stir, you can use your hands to incorporate the rest of the flour if needed. Be sure not to add too much flour. Then smooth the dough out and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Leave it in a warm place and let it rise. (about 1 hour)

Cover your working space with flour to prevent the dough from sticking. Dump your dough out and divide it into 4 balls. Eyeball the sizes, then lift them up and feel the weight of each ball. Try to make them even, but they don't have to be perfect. Using one ball of dough at a time: roll the dough into a circle on a floured counter. Once it is rolled out spread the top with soft butter from edge to edge. You will use about 2 Tablespoons per circle of dough.

Cut the dough into quarters using a pizza cutter. Then cut each quarter into 3 pieces. You should end up with 12 triangles from each circle of dough. Roll each triangle starting with the wide end. Tuck the tail of the triangle under the roll and place it on the buttered cookie sheet. You will make 3 rows, with 8 rolls per row. This will give you 24 rolls per pan. Two balls of dough will fill 1 pan. You will get a total of 48 rolls!

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Place the pans of rolls in a warm place (on top of the oven if possible) to let them rise. Once they are touching and full in size, cook (one pan at a time) in the oven 'till they are golden brown. About 10- 15 minutes. (it was about 14 min for mine)
Keep a close eye on your first pan to get the right time for the second.

While they are still hot and fresh out of the oven run a stick of butter over the tops of the rolls for a delicious buttery glaze.Today tested out the rolls I talked about a few days ago. They turned out great. So I guess I'll be making them again tomorrow to take to Christmas eve dinner. Now what to do with all these rolls I made today?

Gingerbread cupcakes

Gingerbread Cupcakes, makes about 20 mini sized* cupcakes.

Needed: 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon ginger, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, a pinch of cloves, 3/4 cup softened butter (1 and 1/2 sticks), 3/4 cup sugar, 1 1/2 tablespoons molasses, 2 large eggs and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.

In a bowl cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and stir until just combined. Now add all of the remaining ingredients and stir until nearly no lumps are left in the batter. Spoon batter into lined baking cups, 2/3 full. Bake at 350 F for 18-20 minutes.

Buttermilk Frosting, makes about 2 cups.

Needed: 1 cup softened butter (2 sticks), 1-2 tablespoons buttermilk, 1 1/2 to 2 cups powdered sugar and a pinch of cinnamon.

With an electric mixer cream the butter and buttermilk together. Add powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time (creaming in between) until you reach your desired frosting consistency. Then stir in a pinch of cinnamon and pipe or spread the frosting on your cupcakes.


These sound yummy and festive!

Taco Soup

Amy's Taco Soup

1 lb. browned ground beef
2 large cans diced tomatoes
1 cup water
2 cans pinto beans
1 pkg. frozen corn
1 pkg. taco flavoring mix
Bring to a boil and serve with fritos, sour cream and cheddar cheese.

Mom's scones

Mom's scones (my very favorite thing she ever made!)

2 cakes yeast or 2 packets dry yeast.
1/4 cup lukewarm water
2 cups boiling water
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons shortening
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon salt
2 eggs
5 cups flour, approximately

Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup lukewarm water, set aside. through mix 2 cups boiling water, sugar, shortening, butter and salt. Cool to lukewarm. Stir in dissolved yeast and eggs. Mix well. Add flour as necessary to make a dough easy to handle. Knead for 5 min. Put in an oiled bowl. Cover. refrigerate overnight. When ready to use, roll to 1/4 inch thick on a floured surface. cut in squares, or oblongs. Let rise until double in bulk (about 1 1/2 hours). Drop into hot fat (365). Cook one side golden brown, flip and cook other side. Drain on paper towel. Serve hot with butter, honey or jam. Note: while scones are rising, make sure they are on a well-floured surface.
Yield about 3 dozen scones.

Cheese Potato Soup

Cheese Potato Soup... from my friend Angie Richards

In a microwave safe bowl, boil 2 quarts of water, and then dissolve 3-4 cubes of chicken bouillon. set aside.

In a saucepan put:
2 sliced carrots
4 med. cubed potatoes
3 stalks celery cut
1/2 med. onion, finely chopped
just barely cover with water, add a little salt and boil until the veggies are done. (do NOT drain water after cooking)

In a large soup pan, melt 3 cubes butter, then stir in 1 1/2 cups flour. Cook until bubbly. Add 1 quart of the water w/bouillon. Cook and stir until smooth.

Melt 15 oz. jar of cheese whiz in the microwave (remove lid and cook for 30 seconds, stir, repeat until melted) Stir the cheese whiz into the large soup pan. Add the veggies with the water, and about 5 oz. of frozen peas. Stir in more water with bouillon until you get the consistency that you want. Its a thick soup. Simmer, don't boil.

dinner rolls

One of my favorite things about Sunday dinner growing up were Mom's dinner rolls! So good. I feel bad, I don't think my girls have ever had a roll made by me (we are lucky to have anything for Sunday dinner other then tortilla and cheese). I love the tradition of homemade rolls so I am determined to try until I get it right. I found this recipe online that shows step by step directions and photos- maybe that will help me get this skill down. I'll let you know how it goes.

PapaMurphy Pizza Crust

Ingredients

* 1 ¼ cups warm water * 1 packet active dry yeast * 1 ¼ tablespoons sugar * 3 ¼ cups flour * ½ teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Mix together water, yeast and sugar in a glass container with a two cup or large capacity. 2. Allow to sit for eight to ten minutes. The mixture will froth somewhat. 3. Place flour and salt in a large bowl. 4. Add liquid to flour and mix thoroughly for four to six minutes, adding flour or water if dough is too dry or wet. 5. The end result should be slightly sticky and firm. 6. Remove from bowl and place in an airtight bag, do not close completely to allow gases to escape. 7. Leave in a warm place for an hour and a half for proper rising. Do not allow to rise more than two hours. 8. Place on a fourteen inch pizza sheet for thick crust and a sixteen inch sheet for thin crust. 9. Roll out and prick with fork. 10. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise fifteen to twenty minutes more. 11. Prick with fork again. 12. Top pizza as desired. 13. Preheat oven to 475 to 525 degrees (thicker toppings will require a higher temperature) and bake until crust is golden on the edges and cheese has browned and is bubbly.