Starfish Dreams

No one bit :(

07:54, Friday, December 14, 2007 .. Posted in Our favorite recipes .. 5 comments .. Link

Ha ha, I'm so "punny". But, no one wanted to guess how many loaves of bread we went through, proving that no one actually reads this blog. So, I'll tell myself, LOL. Between Saturday and Tuesday, we went through 24 loaves of bread. We've gone through 10 more in the two days since then. The bread recipe is fabulously easy and can be used for all kinds of bread, rather than a separate recipe for each different type. Here it is:

10 1/2 C bread flour (can be all-white, all-wheat, or a combination)
1/2 C sugar
1 Tbsp salt
3 heaping Tbsp yeast

Mix together in your Bosch. What? No Bosch?! Then cut the recipe in half and mix it in your Kitchen-Aid. Add

3 silver-dollar size blobs of liquid lecithin
4 C HOT water (could need more for all-wheat bread)

Mix until flour is all mixed in, then go another 5 minutes to develop gluten and give your bread a lovely texture. This bread dough will be a lot moister than most bread recipes you are used to - that's a good thing! Divide dough into 4 parts and go to town - 4 loaves of bread (let rise 25 minutes), 64 rolls (let rise 25 minutes), 4 braids (let raise 25 minutes - I think you get that part now), 4 pizzas (no need to rise), breadsticks, focaccia, French bread - you name it, you can make it. If you want more in depth help, order my friend's DVD from Pantry Secrets It's worth getting! And since no one actually reads this blog, I can tell you that I am giving that DVD for Christmas, along with lecithin and yeast.

Homemade caramels

15:11, Saturday, December 1, 2007 .. Posted in Our favorite recipes .. 0 comments .. Link

One sure sign of Christmas at our house is the making of homemade caramels. This is our favorite recipe, by far. I just made a double batch on Sunday - if you want to double, make sure you have a big pan and cook long enough.

2/3 C sweetened condensed milk (that's 1/2 a can)
3 C cream

2 C sugar
2 C white corn syrup
pinch salt

Heat cream and milk in double-boiler. While that is heating, bring to boil sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring to soft ball stage, then start adding cream mixture. I usually add about 1/4 at a time, then stir well, wait a couple minutes, add some more, etc. Bring to hard ball stage, stirring constantly as you get close (unless you have REALLY good pans), then remove from heat. Add 2 tsp vanilla, stir well, then pour into well-buttered glass pan. (Mine is about 11 X 9). Let set at least 12 hours before cutting into squares and wrapping with wax paper. Mmmm.

Peach Melba Trifle

07:12, Sunday, November 11, 2007 .. Posted in Our favorite recipes .. 0 comments .. Link

Here's yet ANOTHER favorite of ours!

The pictured trifle is a double batch and is in a bowl a fair amount larger than a normal trifle bowl. So, here's the recipe:

½ of an angel food cake

1-2 jars of peaches

raspberry jam

1 package cheesecake pudding

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 C whipping cream

Put 1 ½ C cold water in a bowl – whisk in the sweetened condensed milk, then the dry pudding mix until well-blended. Let set for 10 minutes until it starts to firm up (it's usually still kinda runny).

Tear ½ of the cake (so ¼ of the total cake) into bite-size pieces and put in bottom of trifle bowl. Drain 1 jar of peaches well and put over the top of the cake – you probably will not need the entire jar. Dribble raspberry jam over peaches (not too much).

Whip cream until good whipped cream consistency (you won't add anything to it – just the cream), then fold gently into pudding mixture. Pour half of the pudding/cream mixture over cake and peaches, then repeat layers. Refrigerate before serving. Mmm.

Fresh Apple Breakfast Cake

07:15, Saturday, November 10, 2007 .. Posted in Our favorite recipes .. 1 comments .. Link

This is another favorite breakfast meal (can you tell I LOVE a variety of breakfast foods?!) We quadruple the recipe and cook it in two 11X15 glass pans - it takes a little longer to cook all the way through, as it's a little thicker. We have also substituted fresh peaches, fresh strawberries or strawberries and bananas - they also cook longer, as they make for a moister batter. But YUMMY! Add in some scrambled eggs and you've got lots of tummies full and happy.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 egg
1 cup sugar
½ cup chopped nuts
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups cored, peeled and diced apple
¼ cup salad oil
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, nutmeg

Sift flour, salt and soda together; set aside. Place apple in a medium-size bowl. Break egg over apples. Add oil, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and nuts; blend thoroughly. Stir dry mixture into apple mixture just until flour is moist. (The mixture will seem dry.) Spread in a greased 8-inch square pan. Bake in a 350 oven for 30-35 minutes until a wooden pick comes out clean. Gets nice and crunchy on the top, moist on the inside.

Yummy pumpkin waffles

07:02, Tuesday, October 30, 2007 .. Posted in Our favorite recipes .. 2 comments .. Link

These are absolute FAVORITES of ours! Great for a cool fall or winter morning.

Pumpkin Waffles

2 C flour

2 Tbsp baking powder

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp coriander (optional)

1/4 tsp salt

4 eggs

1 1/2 C milk

1 C pumpkin

3/4 C butter, melted

1 Tbsp vanilla

Combine dry ingredients and set aside (I never do this actually - I just mix it all in). Separate eggs and beat yolks slightly. Add milk, pumpkin, melted butter and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients. Beat egg whites to stiff peaks. Fold egg whites into pumpkin mixture. Bake in waffle iron and serve with buttermilk syrup - yummy!

Buttermilk Syrup (make this before you start the waffles)

1 stick butter

1 C sugar

1/2 C buttermilk

1 tsp corn syrup

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

Bring first four ingredients to boil in an extra-large pan (really! You'll need it!) Remove from heat and stir in baking soda and vanilla. Mixture will fizz to twice its height. Let set, stirring occasionally, until fizz is gone (takes longer than you think!).

Canadian Cheese Soup

17:51, Sunday, October 14, 2007 .. Posted in Our favorite recipes .. 1 comments .. Link

Can you tell the weather has turned cooler and we are wanting to cook a lot more? Here's today's soup recipe (it's the same one I burned last week - had to do it again!)

2 C chopped onion

2 C butter

1 C flour

6 Tbsp corn starch

1 1/2 tsp paprika

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 gallon milk or half-and-half

1 gallon chicken stock (1 gallon water and 16 bouillon cubes)

4 C diced carrots, cooked

4 C diced celery, cooked

4 C shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Saute onion in melted butter until transparent but not brown, 5 to 10 minutes. Add flour, cornstarch, paprika, salt and pepper. Cook on low heat for about 10 minutes. Add chicken stock, cook, stirring constantly until thickened. Puree cooked veggies with some of the milk, add to soup. Add remaining milk and bring to low simmer. Add cheese, stir and serve. This recipe feeds about 20.

Wassail ala starfish mama

17:42, Sunday, October 14, 2007 .. Posted in Our favorite recipes .. 0 comments .. Link

2 C sugar

8 C water

20 whole cloves

16 allspice berries

4 cinnamon sticks (about 3" or so)

ginger root, approximately 4 pieces of about 2" each

1 can pineapple juice

1 gallon apple juice

Combine sugar and water. Boil 2 minutes, then remove from heat and add spices. Cover and allow to stand in warm place for one hour. Strain (or just pick out the spices like I do), add juices. Bring quickly to a boil. Remove from heat and serve at once. Can substitute 8 C orange juice and 4 C lemon juice for the pineapple juice.

yummy, yummy!

Double-Berry Apple Jelly

17:32, Saturday, October 13, 2007 .. Posted in Our favorite recipes .. 1 comments .. Link

This is a yummy recipe that looks gorgeous in those pretty jam jars. Because you use already-made juice, you can make it any time of year. It's lovely as Christmas presents.

3 C cran-raspberry juice
1 C apple juice
1 tsp lemon juice
1 package powdered pectin
5 C sugar

Combine juices in a large pan. Stir in powdered pectin. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring frequently. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Return to rolling boil. Boil hard one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Ladle hot jelly into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust lid and rings. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.

Yummy jam

06:06, Wednesday, October 3, 2007 .. Posted in Our favorite recipes .. 0 comments .. Link

I started branching out on what I did with the peaches and tried this recipe yesterday. It's pretty and it tastes really good!

Blushing Peach Jam

4 C crushed peaches

¼ C chopped maraschino cherries

1 pkg dry pectin

5 ½ C sugar

Mix first 3 ingredients in large pan. Bring to boil. Add sugar all at once. If desired, add ½ tsp of butter to reduce foaming. Bring to hard rolling boil that can not be stirred down. Boil for 4 minutes, remove from heat. Ladle into jars, leaving ¼ inch head-space. Process for 10 minutes in boiling water bath.

About Me

Welcome to our family blog! We appreciate you stopping in and reading about our family. Life is a journey in more ways than one.... this blog shares our joys and challenges with "homesteading" on just one acre in suburbia, raising a LARGE family, cooking, canning, gardening, adoption, waiting for the time to be right to move to the country (and preparing for that time), and finally, other musings of this mama's heart.