{ Bread }

Oh how I loooooove bread!  And butter.  REAL butter!  For years I never made homemade yeast breads because the thought of kneading dough scarred me.  Over kneading, under kneading, adding too much flour, not enough flour!  All of those reasons have deterred me over the years.  Thankfully not long ago, 2 people put their scientific and culinary skills together and wrote an amazing cookbook.  A few years after that, they added another cookbook that revised their original recipe into a healthier version.  The original book is "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes Per Day".  I LOVE THIS COOKBOOK!  This book has revolutionized the art of bread baking.  It is so unbelievably easy!!  Another bonus in baking your own bread is the cost.  At less than 50 cents per loaf, it will definitely save you some "dough"!  Also, isn't it nice to be able to actually pronounce the ingredient list in the food you are eating?  I am going to give you a link to their youtube video because the first batch I made was easy, but had I seen this video 1st would have been even easier!  Plus the authors are the ones in the video and they help you realize how easy this recipe is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFJZPm-_2-M

Now that you've seen the video and realize just how easy it is, here is a link to both cookbooks.  I love them both and have made several recipes from each.  I even made the pita bread in the first book and it was so easy and so tasty! 



Both books found on amazon.com

Big Ol' Mess!

Do you like it hot and spicy?  If so, this is a recipe for you!  This is a recipe my husband found in a Marlboro (yes, the smokes) cookbook at the fire station.  It really has a kick so be prepared.  We love jalapenos here on the "Miller Ranch" so it has become one of our new favorites.  Speaking of jalapenos, I will be so excited when our jalapenos are ready for harvesting out of the garden.  We canned "jalapeno salsa" a few years ago that was soooo good and I can't wait to share the recipe with you this summer.  Anyways, on to the recipe at hand~

{ Big Ol' Mess }

Ingredients:

12 ounce jar of sweet & sour sauce

1 green bell pepper, chopped & seeded

3 jalapenos, chopped & seeded

1/4 cup Tobasco sauce

1 pound smoked sausage, diced

1 small onion diced

6 cups prepared white rice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*.  Combine all ingredients, except white rice, in bowl and stir until combined.  Pour into a greased 9 x 13 baking dish and cover.  Bake for 45 minutes.

While "Mess" baking, make rice per package directions.  Serve "Mess" over prepared rice.  Enjoy!

Buttery Coffee Cake

Good Friday afternoon!  Yea, Blogger is finally back up!  Sorry to keep you waiting for a new recipe post.  Between my personal schedule being hectic this past week and then Blogger going down, it's been a while, so "HELLO"!

Today's recipe is a new favorite of mine.  I made this coffee cake last weekend for our Mother's Day brunch and it was a huge hit!  How can a recipe with 3 sticks of butter in it not be good?!  Did I mention there are also 2 sticks of cream cheese and a few cups of sugar.  This is definitely a treat, but well worth it.  I hope you enjoy as much as we did. 

Buttery Coffee Cake

Ingredients:

Cake

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup sour cream

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling

2 (8 oz. packages) cream cheese, softened

1 egg yolk

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup flour

1/2 cup butter, softened

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350* and set oven rack on lowest setting.  Grease a 9 x 13 baking pan. 

Cream butter with sugar for 3 minutes.  Add eggs and sour cream and mix an additional 3 minutes.

In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat well until combined.  Batter will be thick.

Spread half of the batter in prepared baking pan. 

In another bowl, cream together all filling ingredients until smooth, then carefully spread over the cake batter.

Spoon the remaining cake batter over the top of the cream cheese filling.  It will be more like dotting tablespoons of batter on top of the filling.

Mix all topping ingredients in a bowl and sprinkle evenly over cake.

Bake for 50-55 minutes or until middle feels set.

It is sooooo good.  I cannot wait for you to try because I know you will love!

 Original recipe can be found at food.com