Lemon Blueberry Bread...

6:50 pm - 60 degrees - lightly scattered clouds...

This is a new family favorite. Moist, flavorful, delicious, and can be served for breakfast, snack, or dessert. I also love to make it in patterned bundt pan.

~ Lemon Blueberry Bread ~

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup unsalted butter (melted)

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 teaspoons fresh grated lemon zest

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup milk

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

~ Lemon Glaze ~

2 table spoons butter (melted)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 9" x 5" loaf pan with parchment paper or a bundt pan lightly greased with butter.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking power and salt, and set aside.

In a separate bowl, using an electric mixer, blend together the melted butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Mix until well combined.

While slowly mixing, alternately add in the flour mixture and milk - add some flour, then some milk, then the rest of the flour, then the rest of the milk. Stop mixing as soon as its just combined.

In a small bowl toss the blueberries and 1 Tbsp flour. If using fresh blueberries, rinse the berries off, so they have a bit of moisture on them so the flour will stick. This flour coating will help prevent the blueberries from sinking to the bottom of your mixture while baking.

Add the flour coated berries to the batter and gently, but quickly, fold the berries into the mixture.

Immediately pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 55-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean. Cool bread in the pan for about 30 minutes, then move to a wire cooling rack with a baking sheet below (to catch the glaze you are about to add).

Prepare glaze by simply whisking together the melted butter, powdered sugar, lemon juice and vanilla, then pour glaze over the loaf. Allow to set for a few minutes then enjoy!

Notes:

If baking the day before serving, wrap cooled loaf in plastic wrap and store at room temperature WITHOUT the glaze. Then, mix up and add the glaze the day of serving.

Store leftover lemon blueberry bread at room temperature, or in the fridge in an air tight container for up to 3 days.

Fresh or frozen blueberries work, whatever you have on hand.

You can freeze the bread in an airtight container or ziploc bag for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator.

Homemade Waffles...

9:20 am - 33 degrees outside - snowing...

This morning our kids asked for waffles, so homemade waffles it is. These waffles are so good, and very filling!

- Homemade Waffle -

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp granulated sugar

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup whole milk

2 egg, separate whites and yolks

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

4 Tbsp butter, melted

Preheat waffle iron.  Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

Whisk milk, yolks, vanilla, and lemon juice together in a second blow, then add to dry ingredients.  Blend just until moistened (batter will be slightly lumpy).  Stir in the melted butter.

Beat whites to medium peaks in a bowl with a hand mixer, and then gently fold into the batter.  To cook, pour batter into the waffle iron and cook according to waffle iron instructions.

Freeze extra waffles for up to two weeks, and then recrisp in a toaster on low heat.

Yields:  three 7” round waffles

Total time:  10 minutes plus cooking

Starter Dough Bake Off - Part 3...

8:06 pm - 34 degrees out - calm night...

10 days ago, my daughter challenged me to a bread bake off and here is the first one...

Using the Amish Friendship Bread started that I started 10 days ago, I divided it into 5 bags - 1 went to a friend, 3 went to the freezer, and 1 went to make this delicious Cinnamon Bread, which everyone loved!

Caitlyn's recipe is more complicated than mine, and she'll be baking her bread tomorrow.

Here is the recipe I used:

Amish Friendship Cinnamon Bread

1 cup Amish Friendship Bread starter

2 cups flour

3 eggs

1 cup oil

1/2 cup milk

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon 

2 tablespoons brown sugar 

Preheat over to 350°. 

Mix everything together (minus the cinnamon and brown sugar). In a separate bowl, mix the cinnamon and brown sugar. Grease 2 loaf pans. Pour about half an inch of batter into each loaf pan, then top with a light layer of the cinnamon mix. Pour another batter layer, followed by a light cinnamon mix layer. Continue to do this ending with cinnamon mix layer.

Bake for 1 hour or until done.

Enjoy!

Starter Dough Bake Off - Part 2 – Amish Friendship Bread Starter...

11:17 am - 33 degrees outside - blue sky, sunshine, 3-4" of snow on the ground...

Who can make the better bread starter...? That is the current question right now in our house.

I want to make sure that our kids know how to cook, so they pretty much have free reign to experiment in the kitchen – as long as they clean up after themselves! Our daughter has been on a sourdough bread kick lately, and that somehow got turned into a challenge of who could make the better bread starter. 

Caitlyn chose a sourdough starter that she found on the Homestead and Chill blog - recipe posted on Starter Dough Bake Off – Part 1 – Sourdough Starter {click here}. Caitlyn chose this starter recipe because it had good reviews.

I chose an Amish friendship bread starter that I found on The Benson Street blog – recipe posted below. I chose this starter recipe because I’ve made Amish friendship bread ages ago and once you have the starter you can add in different flavors to switch it up.

In 10 days, we will be turning our starter doughs into bread and have a blind taste test where the guys will decide which starter is the winner!

Caitlyn's starter is on the left, and my starter is on the right.

AMISH FRIENDSHIP BREAD STARTER

by The Benson Street

Bread Batter Start: Mix 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk, and 1 cup sugar in a gallon sized plastic Ziploc bag.

Do not use a metal spoon or bowl for mixing. Do not refrigerate. If air gets into the bag, let it out. It is normal for the batter to rise, bubble and ferment.

Day 1:  This is the day you either make your bread starter (1 cup milk, 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, mixed and stored in a gallon Ziploc bag) or you receive bread starter from someone in which case, you do nothing with it other plan place it on your counter.

Day 2:  Mush the bag.

Day 3:  Mush the bag.

Day 4:  Mush the bag.

Day 5:  Mush the bag.

Day 6:  Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk, and 1 cup sugar to the bag and mush it thoroughly together.

Day 7:  Mush the bag.

Day 8:  Mush the bag.

Day 9:  Mush the bag.

Day 10:  Pour starter mix into a large bowl and add 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk, and 1 cup sugar. Stir and put 1 cup of starter into four separate gallon sized Ziploc bags. Keep one for yourself and give the other starter bags to friends.  If you want to make Amish Friendship Bread once, you’re done. But if you want to be able to bake it whenever you’d like, save an extra bag for yourself and either toss it into the freezer until ready to use or start the process all over again, treating Day 10 as Day 1. The starter tastes better over time, so rather than making it fresh whenever you want some Amish Friendship Bread, consider keeping a bag on hand.

And now its time to bake it! There are so many uses for the starter, and here is just one of them:

Amish Friendship Monkey Bread

Dough:

1 cup Amish Friendship Bread starter

2 cups self-rising flour

1 cup milk

3 tablespoons sugar

1 egg

½ cup shortening

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

Gooey Cinnamon Mixture:

2 cups brown sugar

1 cup butter

2 tablespoons cinnamon

Dry Cinnamon-Sugar Mixture:

1 cup white sugar

3 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine starter, flour and milk. Mix well.

2. Set aside at room temperature overnight.

3. The next day, preheat oven to 350° F (175° C).

4. Stir the starter mixture and add the remaining dough ingredients.

5. Pour onto a well-floured surface.

6. Knead until dough is elastic but no longer sticky. Add flour as necessary but be careful not to over knead as it will make the dough tough.

7. Shape dough into a large ball and let it rest while making the gooey cinnamon mixture.

8. Add the gooey cinnamon mixture ingredients into a sauce pan and cook over medium heat until sugar has dissolved.

9. Grease or spray Bundt pan, then pour a thin layer of the gooey cinnamon mixture to the bottom.

10. The dough is ready if you press a finger into it and it springs back. Pull apart about 40 dough balls, approximately 1¼" in diameter. For an extra cinnamon-y hit, roll each ball in the dry cinnamon-sugar mixture.

11. Layer the dough balls to the pan and pour the remaining gooey cinnamon mixture on top.

12. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly on top.

13. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.

14. Take a plate and place it upside down over Bundt pan. Flip right side up onto plate. If desired, use a vanilla drizzle on top before serving.

15. ENJOY!

Starter Dough Bake Off - Part 1 – Sourdough Starter...

10:25 am - 32 degrees outside - blue sky, sunshine, 3-4" of snow on the ground...

Who can make the better bread starter...? That is the current question right now in our house.

I want to make sure that our kids know how to cook, so they pretty much have free reign to experiment in the kitchen – as long as they clean up after themselves! Our daughter has been on a sourdough bread kick lately, and that somehow got turned into a challenge of who could make the better bread starter. 

Caitlyn chose a sourdough starter that she found on the Homestead and Chill blog - recipe posted below. Caitlyn chose this starter recipe because it had good reviews.

I chose an Amish friendship bread starter that I found on The Benson Street blog – recipe posted on Starter Dough Bake Off – Part 2 – Amish Friendship Bread {click here}. I chose this starter recipe because I’ve made Amish friendship bread ages ago and once you have the starter you can add in different flavors to switch it up.

Caitlyn's starter is on the left, and my starter is on the right.

SOURDOUGH STARTER

by Homestead and Chill

Ingredients:

500 grams of organic white bread flour

1 large apple, grated (keep skins, but avoid the core)

360 mL room temperature filtered water

Large glass air-tight container

Digital kitchen scale

Step 1:  In a large mixing bowl, weight out 500 grams of organic white bread flour. Different flours weigh varying amounts, so it must be weighed to be accurate.

Step 2:  Grate your large apple. Keep the skins, but avoid the core. Add the grated apple to the bowl of flour. Some homemade sourdough starter recipes do call for flour and water only, however, flour and water can be pretty sterile. With the addition of apple, it basically stacks the odds in your favor that your starter will get active!

Step 3:  Measure out 360 mL of room temperature filtered water. Add this to the bowl of apple and flour, and mix thoroughly. Avoiding chlorinated water is pretty important when it comes to any fermentation process, including making sourdough. You will likely need to get in there and use your hands to do so, so wash up really well first!

Step 4: Dump, pour, or otherwise scoop the flour, apple, water combo into an air-tight container. The container needs to be large enough to allow for at least doubling in size, if not more.

Step 5:  It’s time to close the container up and watch her rise! But first, using some kind of washable marker that writes on glass, draw a little line on the side of your container at the top level of the mixture – this is so you may monitor its growth.

The mixture will now sit for 3 days. Keeping it in a spot that is about 70° to 75° degrees is ideal.

DAY FOUR - (72 hours after Step 5) After 3 days, the mixture should be a bit bubbly. It most likely has risen, and should smell sweet and tangy, sort of like apple cider vinegar! It may have also darkened in color a bit.

Step 6:  It’s time to do the first discard. To discard, first stir the mixture to knock out any air to let it fall back down to a more condensed state. Then you want to discard half of that amount (you’ll find out what to do with the discarded portion towards the end of this post).

Step 7:  After you discard, now it’s time to “feed” your starter. With your 3-day old sourdough starter, mix in another 250 grams of bread flour and 170 mL of tepid filtered water. Mix thoroughly.

Step 8:  Re-mark the top of the mixture height on your container if needed. Now let it sit for another 2 days or 48 hours.

DAY SIX – (48 hours after Step 8) There should be a lot of activity and small bubbles now. It has most likely risen even higher than the first time.

Step 9:  Repeat Steps 6 and 7 – the discard and feed. After mixing and discarding, add the same 250 grams of flour and 170 mL of water, and then a few extra splashes of water – maybe about 30-40 mL more – until the desired consistency of a “wet, sloppy dough” is reached.

Step 10:  Cover the sourdough starter and let it sit out one final time. This time is only for 24 hours.

DAY SEVEN – If you starter is bubbly and active after those last 24 hours – congrats, you did it! You now have a sourdough starter that is ready to bake with.

Step 11:  You bake with it! Here is a Simple No-Knead Sourdough Bread Recipe {click here}.

What to do with discarded sourdough starter? So many options! If you have chickens, they really enjoy eating the discarded starter. It is full of healthy probiotics for them. Some people make pancakes, pizza dough, muffins or all sorts of things with it. Worst case scenario, throw it into your compost and bury it.

Caramel Apple Butter...

1:16 pm - 60 degrees outside - cloudy, overcast...

Last weekend I picked up a 30 pound box of Gravenstien apples at a local farm - these apples make great applesauce, pies, cobblers, crisps, and so on - they are great for baking. 

The last 12 lbs of apples are going to be canned as apple pie mixes!

So far I have already used 10 pounds to make applesauce, another 8 pounds to make this absolutely delicious Caramel Apple Butter, and I'm going to use the last 12 pounds to can apple pie mixes.  But first, I wanted to share the recipe for this amazing Caramel Apple Butter.

CARAMEL APPLE BUTTER

INGREDIENTS:

15-16 medium sized apples (about 8 pounds—yielding 16 cups of peeled, diced apples)

1 cup brown sugar

1.5 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp ginger

3/4 tsp ground cloves

2 tsp vanilla extract

30 unwrapped caramels (most of an 11 oz bag)

(NOTE: this recipe filled about 11 half-pint jars)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Prepare your jars and lids by washing in warm, soapy water and rinsing thoroughly. Place jar rack into water bath canner, set jars in the canner, add water, and boil jars for 10 minutes to sterilize. Warm your lids in a small pot over low heat. Keep jars and lids warm until ready to use.

2. Peel and dice the apples (you should have about 16 cups of apples), and place into large crockpot.

3. Mix in the brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Cover with lid.

4. Cook on high for 6 hours. Occasionally stirring apple mix.

5. Blend the apples until smooth. You can use an immersion blender, potato masher, chinois and pestle, hand mixer, or food processor.

I like to use this chinois and pestle set.
Very easy to use and I love the resulting texture.

6. Return apple mixture to crock pot. Stir in vanilla extract, and caramels. Replace lid, but put it on crooked so air can vent. Continue cooking on high for 1-2 more hours until mixture starts to thicken (it will get even thicker when it cools). Occasionally stirring apple mixture, making sure the caramels are melting and getting mixed in.

7. Spread a kitchen towel on the counter. Use your jar lifter to remove warm jars from canner, drain, and line up on the towel. Use your canning ladle and funnel and add caramel apple butter to warm jars leaving 1/2­inch headspace. Wipe the rims. Use your magnetic lid lifter to lift lids out of the warm water, center lid on the jar, and screw on band until it is fingertip tight.

8. At this point you can store the caramel apple butter in fridge for up to 2 weeks, freezer for up to 6 months, or continue for canning.

9. Using jar lifter, place jars carefully into canner leaving space in between them. Once jars are all in canner, adjust the water level so it is at least one inch above the jar tops. Add more boiling water if needed so the water level is at least one inch above the jar tops. When adding water, use the hot water from the small pot your lids were in. Pour the water around the jars and not directly onto them.

10. Cover the canner and bring to boil over high heat. Once water boils vigorously, continue boiling pints for 20 minutes at altitudes of less than 1,000 ft. (add 5 minutes processing time for altitudes between 1001-3000 ft.).

11. When processing time is complete, turn off heat and allow the canner to cool down and settle for about 10 minutes. Spread a kitchen towel on the counter; remove the cover by tilting lid away from you so that steam does not burn your face. Use a jar lifter to lift jars carefully from canner and place on the towel. Allow the jars to cool for 12 to 24­hours. You should hear the satisfactory “ping” of the jar lids sealing.

12. After 12 to 24­hours, check to be sure jar lids have sealed by pushing on the center of the lid. The lid should not pop up. If the lid flexes up and down, it did not seal. Refrigerate jar and use up within a few days.

- Enjoy!

Banana Bread...

4:25 pm - 71 degrees outside - blue sky, light breeze...

It's a nice cool 71 degrees out right now - we're in between heat waves at the moment, so I'm taking advantage to do some baking! Fresh banana bread, yum! This is my grandma's recipe and one batch usually won't even last 24 hours. It goes quick!

~ BANANA BREAD ~

 ½ cup shortening or butter

1 cup sugar

3 over ripe bananas, mashed

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 Tbsp sour cream

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

2 cups all-purpose flour

Mix all ingredients thoroughly.  Put into a greased loaf pan.  Bake at 325°F for 1 hour.

{Note: I like to use oven-safe paper baking pans which will make 3 small loaves instead of 1 big loaf. They seem to last a bit longer, which isn't much, but you don't have to grease the pan, you don't have to flip the bread out, and it's easy to serve out of. Just a lot easier for me.}

Crock-Pot Salsa Chicken...

2:34 pm - 37 degrees - scattered clouds...

This Crock-Pot Salsa Chicken is very simple to put together and produces amazing results!  I begged my friend for the recipe after she brought it for lunch when a bunch of us were stuck at school working a book fair.  It was delicious!  Side bonus is that it can also very easily be turned into a freezer meal.

This is one of those amazing recipes where you don’t need to thaw the meat!  Just grab the few needed ingredients from your pantry and freezer, toss it all into the crock-pot, turn the crock-pot on, and walk away! 

This crock-pot chicken also stores really well in the fridge and is just as good, if not better the next day!

~ Crock-Pot Salsa Chicken ~

2 boneless chicken breasts

1 – 14 oz cans black beans (drained & rinsed)

1 - 14 oz cans sweet corn (drained & rinsed)

1 oz taco seasoning

1/2 jar salsa

Optional Garnishes

Tortillas

Tortilla chips

Rice

Sour Cream

Cheese

Avocados

Tomatoes

Lettuce

Limes

Put the chicken breasts into the crock-pot then add all the rest of the ingredients.

Cook on low for 6-7 hours or on high 4-6 hours.  When chicken can shred easily, remove to a cutting board and shred.  Mix the chicken back into the crock-pot and allow to cook for another 20 minutes. 

You can serve this over a bed of rice or wrapped up in a tortilla (my personal favorite) or with tortilla chips topped off with your favorite garnishes.  However you eat it, it will be delicious!

-Enjoy!

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream In A Bag...

2:20 pm - 61 degrees - mostly cloudy, light wind...

This past weekend we went camping at the beach and we made some homemade vanilla ice cream in a bag to go along with our Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler.  Let me just say... it was an amazingly simple and delicious camping dessert!

Everyone made their own individual servings of ice cream, in their own baggies and it took maybe 15 minutes... or less.  The hardest part of the whole process was shaking the gallon sized bag, half filled with ice for about 10 minutes.

~ Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream ~

2 Tbsp Sugar

1 Cup Half & Half

½ tsp Vanilla Extract

½ Cup Coarse/Canning Salt

Ice

Pint – size Ziploc Bag

Gallon – size Ziploc Bag

Mix the sugar, half & half and vanilla extract together.  Pour into a pint-sized Ziploc baggie.  Make sure it seals tightly.

Take the gallon-size Ziploc bag and fill it up halfway with ice and pour the salt over the ice.  Now place the cream filled bag into the ice filled bag.  Make sure it is sealed tightly and start shaking. 

Shake constantly for about 5-10 minutes.

Open the gallon-size bag and check to see if the ice cream is hard, if not keep shaking.  Once the ice cream is finished, quickly run the closed pint-size baggie under cold water to quickly clean the salt off the baggie.

Open the baggie and pop in a spoon and enjoy! 

Blackberry and Red Raspberry Freezer Jam...

11:50 am - 52 degrees - scattered clouds...

Yesterday I had some extra time so I decided to make some freezer jam.  I ended up with 9 jars of Blackberry, 9 jars of Raspberry and 9 jars of Strawberry freezer jam.  Yummm!!

Delicious Freezer Jam.
Setting up for 24 hours before it goes into the freezer.

Freezer jam is hands-down my favorite kind of jam.  With no-cook freezer jam you get to preserve the bounty of summer without the fuss, heat, equipment, and time that canned cooked jams require.  Uncooked freezer jam is slightly different than the cooked jams.  It doesn’t have that thick, cooked-down texture and flavor.  Instead, it looks and tastes like the ripe fruit.  If you were to compare a jar of raspberry (or any other flavor) freezer jam and raspberry traditional cooked jam, I think you’d be shocked at the difference.  Regular cooked jam becomes quite dull in color as it cooks, where as freezer jam retains the same pretty color as the fresh berries you started with.

Freezer jam does have two drawbacks.  The first drawback is it’s not shelf-stable.  For long-term storage, all freezer jam must go in the freezer – hence the name.  However, if you don’t have a ton of freezer space, freezer jam can be prepared and poured into quart-size Ziploc bags.  Squeeze out the air, seal the bags and stack them flat in the freezer.  When you need more jam, just thaw a bag, empty the contents of the bag into a jar, put it into the fridge and enjoy.

The second drawback (well, not really) is our kids got so used to eating delicious homemade freezer jam that it didn’t take long before they were sticking their noses up at store-bought jam, and every other kind of jam or jelly, except for freezer jam.  I can’t blame them though because honestly we all prefer the fresh, delicious taste of freezer jams.

To make freezer jam, all you need is ripe fruit, sugar, and pectin.  That’s it!  Quick and easy and before you know it, you’ll be proudly scooping up homemade jam for toast, biscuits, scones, waffles, pancakes, crepes, ice cream, smoothies, cake filling, etc!

Filling up jars of red raspberry freezer jam!

~Blackberry or Red Raspberry Freezer Jam~

3 cups crushed fresh blackberries or red raspberries

5 1/4 cups sugar

1 pkg Sure Jell Premium Fruit Pectin

3/4 cup water

Mash the berries with a potato masher or in a food processor until slightly chunky (not pureed).  Jam should have bits of fruit.  Once the berries are crushed to a size you want, measure out 3 cups and put into a large bowl.

Stir sugar into the berries, mixing well.  Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir 1 box of pectin and 3/4 cup water in a 1-quart saucepan.  Bring to a boil on high heat, stirring constantly.  Boil for 1 minute, while still stirring constantly. 

Pour hot pectin mixture over berry mixture.  Stir constantly for 3 minutes or until sugar is completely dissolved and no longer grainy; whichever is longer.  (A few sugar crystals may remain).

Immediately spoon jam into washed and prepared containers, leaving 1/2 –inch headspace.  Wipe rims of containers and seal.  Let stand at room temperature for about 24 hours or until set.

Store in the freezer for up to a year, or store in the refrigerator for 3-4 weeks.  Thaw frozen jam and stir before serving.

{Note:  You must measure carefully, jam making is an exact process and if you don’t measure correctly, you’ll have unsuccessful results.  Measure the exact amount of sugar, reducing the sugar or using a sugar substitutes will result in set failures.  If you want to make more than one batch, do not try to double the recipe, instead make two separate batches.  We usually have several batches, all in their own bowls, going at the same time.}

For the Strawberry Freezer Jam recipe {click here}.

--- Enjoy!