For Sweetie

Sometimes, when I am daydreaming I imagine that I get some of my love for baking from my Great grandmother. I don't know this for sure, but whenever I think of Sweetie I think of Christmas and baked goods. I know that she had a insatiable sweet tooth, and loved chocolate. So this post at the end of March is all about Christmas goodies. Just for Sweetie.

Texas Governors Mansion Cowboy Cookies
Make life amazing.

Pillow Cookies
Make life complete.

 

Christmas without Fudge is not Christmas.

Cranberry Orange Bread

When I was making all this for Christmas I had never baked so much in my life. It was a wonderful experience and I can't wait to do it all again next year because it makes me feel that much closer to my great Grandma. I love you and miss you Sweetie.

Peanut Butter Bacon Cookies

I love love love bacon! Don't you? 

And I love peanut butter cookies. So while I was looking for the perfect peanut butter cookie recipe I stumbled upon one of my favorite blog sites- Joy The Baker. Her recipes are so amazing and unique. Anyways, I saw this and had to make these cookies now! They are super easy to make and super delicious! 

Fry up 6 pieces of Bacon.

1 cup of Peanut Butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup sugar

 

Mix Peanut Butter and sugars for 2 minutes

Add in 1 egg and 1 teaspoon of Baking Soda.
Mix for 2 minutes and fold in Bacon.

Folded in Bacon

Roll into Walnut sized balls.
I rolled mine in some sugar as well

  

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. (Don't mind the 2 missing cookies)

Peanut Butter Bacon Cookies

adapted from Joy the Baker

makes 15 cookies about the size of your palm

1 cup all-natural chunky or smooth peanut butter

1 cup sugar (1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated sugar)

1 egg

1 teaspoon baking soda

about 6 slices of bacon, cooked, cooled and dices

In a skillet over medium high heat, fry up bacon until cooked through and let cool on paper towels until cool enough to dice.  Dice up and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease a baking sheet with butter and set aside. In a mixer combine peanut butter and sugars until well combined, about 2 minutes. Add egg and baking soda and mix for another 2 minutes.  Fold in cooked bacon.   Roll into large walnut sized balls and create a cris-cross pattern with a fork. If you’d like, roll the dough balls in granulated sugar before making the cris-cross pattern. Bake for 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool on a baking sheet for five minutes, then transfer to a baking sheet... or your mouth.

Enjoy!

Pizza Dough

Pizza is one of those things growing up that I absolutely adored. Some of my fondest memories is making tortilla pizza's for our birthdays, eating at Anthony's Pizza on post. If you have never had a tortilla pizza you are totally missing out on that. These aren't tortilla pizza's though these are genuine made from scratch pizza dough- the recipe is super super easy. At least so far... I figured that while I am waiting for the dough to rise I would start on this post.
Since pizza is one of my fondest food memories, I am wondering what is your favorite food memory?

The dough was delicious, and so was the pizza! :)

I got this recipe from The Tasty Kitchen:

• Prep Time 1 Hour30 Minutes
• Cook Time    12-15 minutes
• 1 package Quick-rise Dry Yeast

• 1 cup Warm Water, Bath Water Temperature
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 3 cups All-purpose Flour
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

In the bowl of a food processor or electric mixer, dissolve the yeast in the water and let stand for 5 minutes.

Add the salt, flour, and the olive oil and mix until the dough forms a ball.

1 hour later....

Turn the dough out onto a surface dusted with flour or cornmeal and knead briefly until smooth.

Lightly oil a medium-size mixing bowl and turn the dough in the bowl to coat. Cover with a damp dish towel or plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free area for 1 hour, or until doubled in size. 

Once dough has risen, knead the heck out of it, roll it out & viola! Pizza dough.

Cover with your favorite toppings and bake til golden brown at 375 degrees.

We Used pepperoni, pineapple and mushrooms. 

Our Pizza's!

Enjoy!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Can I tell you a secret?

I cannot stand Corned beef, or cabbage...

I know I suck...

I do however love Irish Soda Bread.

I decided to go with the most traditional recipe I could find and oh boy it is simple!

The recipe is

4 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 1/2 cups of buttermilk**

Preheat your oven to 425 and grease and flour a round cake pan.

Sift together your dry ingredients and slowly add in the buttermilk to make a sticky dough.

Place on a lightly floured surface and gently knead.Do not over knead! If you over knead too much gas will escape.

Place the kneaded dough into the round cake pan and press into a round shape. Cut a cross into the dough.

Cover with another pan and bake for 30 minutes.

Cook uncovered for an additional 15.

Tap the bottom of the bread. It will make a hollow sound when done.

I got this recipe from the Society of the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread.

**If you don't have any Buttermilk on hand add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to just under 1 cup of milk, and let sit for 5 minutes. For this recipe use 2 tablespoons of vinegar to just under 2 cups of milk.

Have fun everyone and remember that sometimes imperfections are good!

A new House and a new blog

I've decided to change sites. The other one was fine, but I have always been a fan of Blogger, so why deviate.

I haven't had a lot of chances to cook in the last few weeks (OK none at all). We have been eating out like crazy! And I absolutely hate it! My butt doesn't need all that excess calories and preservatives, and immersion cooked food. Bleh.

One of the things that we agreed on when we moved back down to Belen was that we are going to be cooking a lot more. It makes sense though especially when you look at what there is to offer- Sonic, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, McDonalds, and my two personal favorites- Long John Silvers and A&W.

So the other night I made my Mom's Taco Soup. It's delicious, and mostly healthy unless you add cheese, and sour cream, and cornbread.... I totally did.

1 pound of browned ground beef or 1 pound of thin round steak

1 can of light kidney beans rinsed off

1 can of dark kidney beans rinsed

1 can of sweet whole kernel corn

1 package of taco seasoning

Water

In a medium sized pan (larger if needed) add all the ingredients and just enough water to cover the everything (I added to much water and while delicious I felt that it needed more flavor). Bring everything to a boil, and turn down the the heat to a low medium and let simmer for about 5 minutes.

Serve hot and with whatever you want. :)

Enjoy!