Carnival of Recipes

Carnival of the Recipes the comfort food edition.

Funny I didn't know the theme when I submitted my Apple Crisp. It's a big carnival, so grab a cuppa whatever before you click over!!!

Apple Crisp

Apple Crisp

30 oz canned applesauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh nutmeg (I'd use 1 tsp if pre-ground)
2 apples peeled & sliced

Topping
1 cup biscuit mix (Whole Wheat Flaxseed Baking Mix)
1/2 margarine, softened
1/2 cup sugar

Pre heat oven to 350. Place applesauce, brown sugar, spices & apples in a casserole. Combine. In a small bowl combine the topping ingredients & crumble ontop of fruit mixture. Bake for 1 hour.

This would be great with some vanilla ice cream but we didn't have any & it was too cold to think about it anyways, we just ate it warm with some whipped topping!

Whole Wheat Flaxseed Baking mix

Wheat Biscuit/Baking Mix
3 c. whole wheat flour
4 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c cold milled flaxseed
1/3 c. baking powder
4 tsp salt
1/2 c. sugar
2 c. shortening (I used the equvalent to butter flavored shortening)
1 1/4 cups powdered milk
Measure all ingredients into a bowl and blend very well. This mix lasts better if you vacuum seal it and freeze it to maintain the freshness of the wheat.javascript:void(0)
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Hawaiian Pizza, it's whats for dinner!

I used some of my Perfect Pizza Crust that I had frozen the last time I made a double batch (This was actually a quarter of that batch, so half of a regular batch). Sauce was a basic tomato I had left over in the fridge, topped with some crushed pineapple & diced ham. MMM MMM good!

BTW to thaw it I tossed it into an olied bowl coated the ball with oil as well & tossed it in my already warm oven until it was workable.

Best Goulash

Best Goulash recipe I have (there are no instructions just a list of ingredients so I'm winging it here)

2 QTS tomato (spaghetti) sauce w/meat
2 QTS tomatoes (crushed, puree, sauce)
3 - 6oz cans tomato paste
1 can Hunts Traditional Sauce
Brown Sugar to taste
Hamburg (ground beef) browned
Macarroni, cooked (pretty sure this suace will cover a 3pound box, maybe more or less)

The tomatoes get simmered, I add the brown sugar towards the end then add the hamburger & macarroni.

Baked Butter Beans

Baked Butter Beans
2 15 oz cans of Butter Beans, rinsed & drained
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup ketchup
1 TBS yellow mustard
1 TBS dried onion flakes
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ketchup brown sugar & onion flakes add beans. Pour into a casserole dish (I used a 1 1/2 quart) bake for 1 1/2 hours.

I have also added 1/2 cup of molasses to this, but it was really sweet! If you want to you can add some bacon to the top. I had some already cooked & crumbled so I added them in the last half hour.

Parker House Rolls

Parker House Rolls

There are tons of recipes out there for these rolls. I haven't made them in my new mixer yet, but I have made these before. They are better using butter, but I have made them with margarine too.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup whole milk
2 pkg. dry yeast
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
4-1/2 to 5 cups flour
more melted butter
PREPARATION:
Warm the milk in a small saucepan over low heat. Mix 1/3 of the milk with the dry yeast in a small bowl and let sit until bubbly. In a large bowl, combine remaining milk, melted butter, salt and sugar and beat until the sugar is dissolved.
Then add the beaten eggs and bubbly yeast.
Add flour, 1/4 cup at a time, beating on high speed of stand mixer. This step should take at least 5 minutes. When the dough gets too stiff to beat, stir in rest of flour by hand, if necessary, to make a soft dough. Turn out onto floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, until smooth and satiny. Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover and let rise in warm place until light and doubled in size. (I have also covered the dough well and placed it in the refrigerator overnight. This works really well.)
Punch down the dough and roll out on floured surface to 1/2" thickness. Cut with 3" round cookie cutter. Brush each roll with melted butter and fold in half to make half circles. Pinch edge lightly to hold, so the rolls don't unfold as they rise. Place in 2 greased 13x9" pans, cover, and let rise again until double. (If you refrigerated the dough, this will take a little longer.)
Bake rolls at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan immediately and brush with more melted butter. Don't use the same butter you used when forming the rolls - melt some fresh just for this step. Makes 24 rolls

Food Network - Parker House Rolls

60 Minute Parker House Rolls

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Eyeglasses on the cheap.

As I am sitting here I realize that it is that time, time to buy new glasses. Thanks to my daughter & myself constantly knocking them off the nightstand my current pair has become annoyingly scratched. It is time to make that dreaded eye exam appointment. Last time I had one I went to a "REAL" optomitrist who tried to pull some switch to get me to buy $300 contact lenses. I gave up & stuck with the glasses. Of course they weren't anything that I would have chosen for myself, but I was given a rack of 12 to choose from. They have barely lasted the 2 years, the plastic frames discolored at the nose & the lense coating itself has started to peel. So much for "quality."

This time I will go back to the Wally world optomitrist & order my glasses online. I am hoping to hear "Thank you for using Zenni Optical". If you wear glasses & haven't been to the site, go browse. I did manage to find a pair that I liked in the $8 category, they are so inexpensive I might buy 2 pair. I found a realy awesome pair in the Euro Classic line for $23.95. Maybe I'll get the $8 pair tinted for sunglasses! Fancy!!!

Menu plan - not on Monday!

For the next few days at least.

Tonight
Pizza

Thursday
Out - we have a concert, it's a DATE!!!

Friday
Leftover ham casserole with broccoli, rice & cream of mushroom soup & cheese.

Saturday
Leftover Prime Rib sandwiches, probably grilled with onions, peppers & cheese

Sunday
Mozart Mozzerella with homemade crescents.

LED the way to go!

We will be adding landscape lighting low voltage lights to our front yard & maybe the back yard this year. I would prefer them to be LED. My Mom has a couple of the old solar powered stake lights & they just aren't bright enough for me. After buying & using a couple LED flashlights I think they would be a fantastic choice for our very large dark yard.

We have a security light on the garage but it hasn't worked right since we moved in so the back yard is very dark. LED lights are far better an option for outside, no moving parts, they are durable, remain cool, shock resistant (I can testify to that one after dropping one of our LED night lights about half a dozen times!), and they are highly energy efficient. So the electric bill won't go up!

We picked up a few window candles that are LED, they are bright & efficient. They are battery powered so we didn't have to worry about running extension cords all over the place. The best part is that they have a sensor that turns them on at dusk & off at dawn. That was a big selling point because I didn't want them on 24/7 and I also didn't want to run around the house turning them all on and off (we only have 5 right now but plan to add another 10 or so by next year).

I think I'll have to start shopping around for some good ljavascript:void(0)
Publish Postights, spring will be here before we know it, RIGHT???