It seems like forever since I was able to get into the scrapbooking room and actually do something. I have been working on a altered clipboard project for the stake RS activity this weekend. Jennifer, Becky and I have been painting clipboards for Saturday's activity.
So today when I had a few minutes I decided it was time to make a card for the exchange. The theme was sympathy card and I decided to use yesterdays Try a new technique challenge to use a ribbon frame. I wanted to keep the card simple since the ribbon frame needs to be the focus. The inside of the card says "He always opens a window". I wish I had a stamp of a door instead of a window but I think the point gets across still. Let me know what you think?
Apple Biscuit Spirals
2 Cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup margarine
2 slightly beaten egg whites
1/3 cup skim milk
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 small apple, cored and finely chopped (2/3 cup)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Nonstick spray coating
In a large mixing bowl stir together flour, sugar, and baking powder. Cut in margarine till mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in the center. Combine egg whites and milk; add all at once to flour mixture. Stir just till dough clings together. On a lightly floured surface. knead gently for 12 to 15 strokes.
Roll dough into a 15x8-inch rectangle. Mix brown sugar and allspice. Combine apple and lemon juice. Brush dough lightly with water; sprinkle with sugar mixture. Sprinkle apple lengthwise on half of the dough. Fold dough over apple to make a 15x4-inch rectangle. Cut into fifteen 4x1-inch strips.
Spray a baking sheet with nonstick coating. Twist strips. Place on baking sheet, pressing ends down. Bake in a 425 degree oven about 10 minutes or till golden. Remove at once. Serve warm. Makes 15 biscuits (15 servings).
Note: You may reheat spirals in a microwave or a conventional oven. Ina microwave oven, place 1 spiral on a paper plate and micro-cook on high power for 15 to 20 seconds if refrigerated (25 to 30 seconds for 2 spirals) and 25 to 30 seconds if frozen (35 to 40 seconds for 2 spirals). In a conventional oven, wrap 1 or more in foil and heat in a 300 degree oven for 7 to 9 minutes if refrigerated and 18 to 20 minutes if frozen.
Cinnamon Spiced Muffins
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ t. salt
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon ground allspice
½ milk
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 egg
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ cup butter or margarine, melted
Microwave: In large bowl, combine flour, ½ cup sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, coriander, and allspice. In small bowl, combine milk, butter and egg. Stir into flour mixture just until moistened.
Line 6 microwavable muffin-pan cups with double paper liners. Spoon batter into each cup, filling ½ full. Microwave at HIGH (100%) 2 ½ to 4 ½ minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Rotate dish ½ turn halfway through cooking. Let stand 5 minutes. Remove from pan. Repeat procedure with remaining batter.
Meanwhile, combine remaining ¼ cup sugar and cinnamon in a shallow dish. Roll warm muffins in remaining ¼ cup melted butter, then sugar-cinnamon mixture.Serve Warm Makes about 12 muffins
Conventional: Preheat oven to 400°. Grease 36 miniature muffins cups or 12 regular muffin cups. Prepare batter as directed. Spoon into muffin cups. Bake 10 to 15 minutes or until edges are lightly browned and wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from pan
Meanwhile, combine remaining ¼ cup sugar and cinnamon in a shallow dish. Roll warm muffins in remaining ¼ cup melted butter, then sugar-cinnamon mixture.Serve Warm
Makes about 12 muffins or 36 mini muffins
Brown Sugar Muffins
½ c. Butter
1 c. brown sugar
2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
½ c. milk
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
¼ t. salt
½ c. chopped pecans (optional)
First soften butter in the microwave. Not completely melted but partially. Add Brown sugar, egg, and vanilla. Beat well with a mixer. Combine the dry ingredients, except nuts. Stir to brown sugar mixture alternating with the milk. Gently stir in the nuts if you have them and spoon 2/3 full into muffin tins. Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes.
Brown Betty
2 pkg. Graham crackers or 1 pkg. of Maria Biscuit cookies (for the Belgians)
1 lg. bottle unsweetened applesauce
½ c. butter or marg. Melted
1 T. sugar
¼ c. brown sugar
1 T. cinnamon
Smash crackers up until they are crust like consistency. Add sugar and melted butter and form into a crust at the bottom of a 8x8 baking dish. Pour applesauce on top and spread evenly. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Bake at 400 degrees for about 10-15 mins. or until heated through.
Okay so here is for Amanda, and anyone else who needs some ideas of what to make for Breakfast!
1. Rice (I love it hot with cinnamon, sugar and milk. Some times I use nutmeg too)
2. Biscuits
3. Scrambled eggs
4. Cream of Wheat (my kids call it white soup, I often add jam to give it a flavor boost)
5. Brown sugar muffins (recipe to follow)
6. Egg, ham, and muffin sandwich (this is one of my favorite breakfast, I make biscuits then scrabble eggs and let cheese melt on top, then I put the cheese eggs, and a slice of ham inside the muffin and yum!)
7. Orange Pan Rolls (see Previous post)
8. Brown Betty (recipe to follows)
9. Omelets
10. Apple Biscuits (recipe to follow)
11. Crepes (banana's, strawberries, whip cream, or chocolate are great fillings)
http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Basic-Crepes
12. Yogurt and toast
13. Sugar and Spice Muffins (recipe to follow)
14. Breakfast Loaf
http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Breakfast-Loaf
15. Oatmeal
16. Banana Muffins
http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Basic-Banana-Muffins
17. Fried Eggs and Toast
18. Biscuits and sausage gravy
19. Dumplings (see previous post)
20. Egg bakes (you can find all kind of recipes for these baked egg dishes, my favorite ones recipe will follow)
http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Ham--n--Cheese-Egg-Bake
21.Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake
http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Blueberry-Streusel-Coffee-Cake
22. Waffles
23. Ginger muffins
http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Ginger-Muffins
24. Egg burritos (don't make it hard, scrabbled eggs, ketchup and tortillas, or add more if you like.)
25. Pancakes (there are a million different varieties)
26. Scones (there are also lots of different variates of these too)
27. Hash browns and fried eggs
28. German Pancakes
29. French Toast (I like to mix a dry vanilla pudding mix in with the eggs and milk)
30. Egg pizza
31. Cold Cereal
32. Sunday Morning coffee cakes
http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Sunday-Morning-Coffee-Cake
33. Amish Baked Oatmeal
http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Amish-Baked-Oatmeal
Well there is my list, I try new muffin and coffee cake recipes all the time. But the ones I have listed are our family favorite. I will post another post the rest of the recipes!
They have always said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and I grew up in a home where my Mother made breakfast for us every morning. I know some people eat cold cereal but that was something we got special on Saturday. So I have always been a big breakfast eater. I have in the past made a list of breakfast foods and I have over 25 different breakfast foods. Different types of muffins, hot cereals and other things are mostly what are on the list. If someone is interested let me know and I can post my list and there recipes.
So back to these delicious muffins. They are called Apple Streusel Muffins and everyone in my house ate them right up. They were very moist and the apple pieces inside were really nice. Here is the recipe try them if you get the chance. I didn't even bother to make the glaze and I really didn't even think it was necessary since they are already sweet.
http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Apple-Streusel-Muffins-4
I have to admit that James did all the baking with these tasty cupcakes but they were so yummy I wanted to share them with you. I know I keep tempting some of you but just think about it once a week won't bring all the pounds on.
These white cupcakes are filled with a chocolate chip cookie dough. James said the next time he makes these he will fill the cupcake almost all full then drop the cookie dough in and barely cover it with a bit more batter.
Since the cookie dough balls were close to the bottom they stuck to the cupcake wrappers a bit. So we frosted the cupcakes upside down.
I have included the link to the recipe hope you like them!
http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Chip-Lover-s-Cupcakes
So a few weeks ago I was shopping at the Colruyt where I usually do my food storage grocery shopping. They sale a lot of bulk items and flour is one of those items I frequently purchase here. I will be honest I really don't look at the labels for most of the things I buy, even though I can read them now, more so I think because there was such a long time where I could not read them. Shopping was a trial and error type deal and I usually just looked at the pictures to tell what things were. So anyways, they didn't have the blue bag of flour I usually buy so I thought, why not just try the red bag. Well my blue bag ran out about a week ago and so I pulled out the red bag. Opened it so that I could make cookies, well it turned out to be whole wheat flour. I don't think it would have made very nice chocolate cookies. So I had to have James pick up some white flour on his way home from work.
So now that I have 25 lbs. of whole wheat flour came the question of what am I going to do with it before we move here in the next 4 month. Not that the flour would be good that long. So I have been on the look for recipes that call of wheat flour. This was the first one I turned to today as I was searching through my cookbooks and decided to give it a try. Let's just say it is delicious!
I will admit I did not make my in a loaf as you can see since I only have one loaf pan and it is dark metal so the bread never bakes very evenly so I decided to try rounds like they do at the bakery here in Belgium. I added more wheat flour than the recipe called for. I only used 1-1/2c. regular flour and the rest I used the wheat. Also I kneaded the dough with white flour too. The first loaf I put in for 30 minutes but after 20 minutes it looked done so I took it out. Unfortunately it was not done in the center so I made sure to cook the second one for the full time I just turned the temperature down some.
I know bread it a lot of work but this one really is worth it.
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Vermont-Honey-Wheat-Bread
Here's to inspiration!
Okay so the picture above is one I took of Jouette's new dress I bought for her on Saturday. I was so in love with the dress it has given me several ideas for card ideas. I came home and made this one below. I also have another one but I haven't had the time to make it yet.
So the colors of the card are sahara sand, basic Grey, Cranberry Crisp, and Blush Blossom. All colors which are found in Jouette's dress. The flowers have been stamped, colored in, and then I used glassy glaze enamel to make them glossy and heavy. Then I cut each flower out. I usually don't use a lot of layered paper on my cards I find it a bit wasteful, but I decided to try it so that I could add all the colors I wanted to use. The big draw back is how heavy the front of the card it compared to the back. I guess maybe I will have to add some paper to the inside to equal out the weight. 
This card I was just anxious to use some spring paper. I bought this scrapin' pack last year and so I pulled the paper out. I decided to hold off on the stickers since I like to make 6x6 albums with the packages but I usually don't use all the designer paper. So this time I decided to use the extra paper I don't usually use to make a card first instead of waiting until they are scraps. I was pretty happy with how it turned out. I am a little mad at myself since I colored in the butterfly's and I should have switched the colors places so that the blue was on the green and the green was on the blue but like always I was out of time to make and color in another set of butterfly's. Oh well I am still pretty happy with the results.
Yesterday I was in the mood for something sweet and since Cinnamon Rolls take too long I decided to make Carmel Dumplings. Really these should be eaten as a dessert, at least that is what my Dad use to say when we ate them for breakfast as children. Usually I make the less sweet version that is not carmel but peach instead. Dumplings are one of the few breakfast foods that everyone in my house loves. This recipe is one that my family has been making for a very long time.
Peach Dumplings:
1 lg. can peaches with juices from the can, sliced (I just slice them myself)
2 T. butter
Pour in a frying pan that has a lid and bring to a simmer while you mix the batter
Carmel Dumplings:
2 T. butter
1-1/2 c. brown sugar
1-1/2 c. water
Mix all together and bring to a boil stirring occasionally, so as not to burn the bottom.
Dumpling Batter:
2 c. flour
3/4 c. sugar
1 T. baking powder
3/4 t. salt
1-1/2 t. vanilla
3/4 c. milk
Mix dry ingredients and then add the milk. Drop spoonfuls onto boiling fruit, or carmel. Cover and turn down temperature to medium low. Cook for 20 minutes, do not remove lid until the 20 minutes is over!
I enjoy milk, or when I am really wanting calories cream, poured on top. Serve warm.
