Texas Sheet Cake - A Standby Dessert At My House

Here is a recipe for a favorite dessert at my house.  Every time I make it my family raves, and I have taken it to several get together's and people LOVE it! It is rich, chocolaty, and moist. The reason I love it is it's easy to make, fast, and feeds a crowd.  I like it topped with homemade whipped cream.  This would be perfect to take to a fall picnic or other autumn get together.  Click HERE to get and easy printable version.

Photo Credit from All Recipes

Buttermilk Blueberry Morning Cake

With blueberries on sale right now I thought I would share one of my favorite recipes that use them. I have tried many blueberry quick bread, muffins, and cakes before and I have to say this one is the best.  It is moist with a light texture and the blueberries are just enough.  I only used a heaping cupful of berries instead of the two because I was using frozen ones and it turned out perfect.  I also used sour milk instead of store bought buttermilk but that's a standard substitution.  The whole family raved about it and it is definitely going to become a standard on Monday baking day.  You could use any berry or chopped fruit in this cake.  It's wonderful with coffee or tea.

Buttermilk-Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Serves 6-8

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tsp. lemon zest or more — zest from 1 large lemon
7/8 cup* + 1 tablespoon sugar**
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 cups fresh blueberries
½ cup buttermilk
* 7/8 cup = 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons
** This 1 tablespoon is for sprinkling on top


1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cream butter with lemon zest and 7/8 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Meanwhile, toss the blueberries with ¼ cup of flour, then whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt.

3. Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. Fold in the blueberries.

4. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (or something similar) with butter or coat with non-stick spray. Spread batter into pan. Sprinkle batter with remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake for 35 minutes. Check with a toothpick for doneness. If necessary, return pan to oven for a couple of more minutes. (Note: Baking for as long as 10 minutes more might be necessary.) Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

Easy Summer Breakfast that's high in protein and kids love!

photo credit- Allrecipes.com

Right now I am trying to shift from store bought easy breakfasts like cereals for my family to more healthy home made ones.  Not only are store bought expensive, but they are highly processed with doubtful ingredients, preservatives, and GMO's!  It has been a challenge because I am NOT a morning person.  It takes me a good hour plus coffee to get up to par. Our mornings start horrifically early as our children are extreamly early risers.  Fortunately I wake up at 5 am every morning without fail or alarm clock.  Years of breastfeeding babies has trained my internal clock to wake up like that so I usually have an hour to get primed for the morning rush.  My children do not like things that would go into a crockpot like oatmeal or cornmeal mush.  But I think I have finally found a winning recipe that not only is easy, but healthy, delicious, and filling.

The recipe of course is German Pancakes, also called Dutch Babies.  Could we love it because I am part Dutch :) ?  This is simply a puffed oven pancake that serves a family of 6 easily.  I like it because while my coffee is brewing I simply throw the four ingredients into my mixer, melt the butter in my cast iron skillet and preheat the oven.  Then throw it in and 1/2 hour to 45 min later I have a hot filling breakfast for my children.  I love it topped with powdered sugar and berries.  It can also be topped with maple syrup, honey, molasses, stewed fruits, or plain powdered sugar.  Because it has 6 eggs in it the protein helps my family feel full longer and helps with energy in the morning.  If I were to make just eggs and toast for breakfast we would need about 18 to feed our family.  The other reason this is a time saver for me is because while it is baking I can get on with other morning chores such as making lunches, starting laundry, and assisting the kids get ready for school.

I found the recipe on all recipes, but also have found another recipe that calls for less eggs if you need to stretch them and has a much more detailed instruction.  Eggs are not an expense for us because we have chickens that lay 7 a day.

My children absolutely LOVE these and literally have pleaded with me to make them.  Talk about a hit!  So if your looking for a easy and healthy recipe for your family breakfasts try the one I posted below. Click HERE to go to the allrecipes post.  Or go HERE to see the alternative recipe for less eggs at a great sight called Recipes From a German Grandma.  Love the name :)

As you really MUST have a cast iron pan for this consider investing if you don't already have one. The higher the sides the puffier the pancake so a dutch oven would be perfect! Click on the picks for buying options. Scroll down for the recipe!

German Pancakes/Dutch Babies/Oven Pancakes

Ingredients

Original recipe makes 6 servings        

                       

1/4 cup butter

1 cup all-purpose flour

 1 cup milk

6 eggs, lightly beaten

1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Melt butter in a medium baking dish (best if you use cast iron).
2. In a medium bowl, mix flour, milk, eggs and salt. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.
3. Bake on center rack in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until golden brown.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve while still warm.

Country Morning Coffee Cake-Easy and Healthy

This is one of our families favorite foods for breakfast. The kids love it as does DH.  It is also a quick and easy breakfast and rounded out with milk and fruit is less expensive than store bought cereal.  Now I have to make a batch every week to keep up with the demand from my kids and husband.  We have it for snacks and for breakfast. It's probably much healthier than store bought cereals or snacks and uses up things I have tons of.

It makes a gigantic pan and lasts about  a week for us with 6 people. It is moist and fluffy and doesn't go stale as long as you wrap it up.  My children love it so much that at snack time they plead to have some.  This is a great recipe for feeding a crowd and goes well with coffee, tea, or big frosty glasses of milk.

Housewife  Tweaking:

OK you will notice that I tweak allot of recipes to suit my tastes or needs.   This recipe was originally not as healthy but I have changed it by cutting back the sugar, using applesauce as a sweetener instead, using yogurt, and using olive oil or coconut oil, putting in some whole wheat flour and wheat germ for added nutrition.   It turns out even lighter and moister in my opinion.  Also I like not just Cinnamon in the topping but nutmeg because I'm a nutmeg addict.  I do not add the nuts because all the kids hate them.

Country Morning Coffee Cake

cake

1 c. light olive oil or coconut oil (adds essential fatty acids)
1 c. sugar
1 cup no sugar added applesauce or home canned applesauce (makes a moister cake, cuts on sugar, adds fiber and fruit)
4 eggs, beaten
2 c.  plain yogurt
3 c. flour
1 c. whole wheat flour (adds fiber and is good for you)
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbs. wheat germ  (adds vitamin E and folic acid)


Cinnamon-nut Topping:

2/3 c. brown sugar, packed
1/2 c sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 c. chopped pecans or almonds if you like

Use a fork to mix all ingredients together.


Combine fats, apple-sauce, sugar, eggs, and yogurt  in a large bowl.  Stir in remaining ingredients: mix thoroughly.  Pour into a greased  10 x 14 pan baking pan and sprinkle with the Cinnamon-nut topping.  Bake at 350 for  45 minutes or until a toothpick tests clean. Cut into squares.  Serves 18 to 20



Heartwarming Autumn Meals and Treats!

I love baking and the smells of spices and cider.  Autumn is my favorite time of the year and this year I am looking forward to it more than ever.  This summer has seemed endless with it's blasted heat and smoke.  I thought I would share some recipes that look to good to pass up for this fall.

My favorite fall activities is decorating, baking, going for walks to admire the colors, hot cider next to a burning hearth and candle lit rooms.  Enjoy!

Two-Ingredient Pumpkin Cake with Apple Cider Glaze

The best Banana-ie Banana Bread Ever!

 

 One of the things I frequently bake is banana bread.  Not because I like it, but because my family does (same goes for spaghetti) and it uses up any bananas that go past fresh eating stage.  I always found banana bread not banana-ie enough and somewhat dry.  So when my kind neighbor brought over 20 lbs of fast ripening bananas she got from a church I thought "Great, banana bread forever!"

However a lady I met at a playgroup suggested a new recipe for me to try that uses twice the usual amount of bananas.  This makes the most moist, delicious, banana intense bread you can imagine.  I am now an official lover of banana bread!  I am going to make this for my Christmas gift baskets for our neighbors.  Click the link!

Banana Banana Bread

Oh as a side note instead of butter I used cooking oil and it turned out fine

Original recipe makes 1 loaf        

Makes servings USMetricAdjust Recipe (Help)

                        

2 cups all-purpose flour

                       

1 teaspoon baking soda

                       

1/4 teaspoon salt

                       

1/2 cup butter

                       

3/4 cup brown sugar

                       

2 eggs, beaten

                       

2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Pies! Tips for making great pie crusts

I really like making pie.  Mainly because they are easy when compared to the accolades you will receive   Honestly people think if you made a pie that you spent hours in the kitchen slaving away.  Also baking pies makes me feel all homey and housewifey.  But pie making in general is easy.  The hardest part is the pie crust, or I should say making a good pie crust.

The first thing to making a good pie crust that is flaky and tender is having a good recipe.  My favourite comes from a 60 year old cook book called Farm Journals Pie book.  It is last word on pies.  Pie crusts are pretty simple.  Just fat, flour, salt, and water. .

But my number one tip for making pie crusts is rolling the dough out between two layers of Saran wrap.  Not only does it not stick, but you don't need to add more flour to keep it from sticking which will make your crust tough.

I made two pies this time.  Both are pies I've never had so it was an adventure.  The first was a plum pie made with my home canned plums.  The other was shoofly pie.  Both turned out good, but I think I over baked the shoofly a bit.  The plum was a success so I know what I can use those dozens of quarts of plums I canned for.  Below is the recipe from my farm journal cookbook.

One Crust Pie

1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon shortening
2 1/2 Tablespoons ice water 

10 inch 2 crust pie

3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons shortening
6 tablespoons ice water


For all pie crusts: Whisk together the flour and salt, cut in the shortening until small pea size pieces. Add ice water a spoonful or so at a time, how much water will vary with the weather. Just enough to make the dough stay together.

Roll out between two layers of Saran wrap, one underneath and one on top working from the middle out until desired size.

All ingredients except water

cutting it in with my trusty pastry cutter

the dough between the two saran wrap

my little helper who was rolling his own pie dough.  I couldn't get him to do a normal smile!

I put the pie plate on top to make sure the dough is big enough, by the way the best pie plates are glass or stoneware

The pie dough.  I just remove the top layer of plastic and then pick up the bottom layer of plastic with the rolled dough on top and then carefully flip over and lay over the pie plate.   Then there is no breaking of the dough.

the plums I canned, it took three jars

draining the plums

the plum mixture

crumb spice topping

the finished pies

below is the kind of pie plates I use, just plain ol pyrex, but they are awesome   This one displayed is much prettier than mine though.

I also like stoneware and have one that is similar to this one below.

Once a week baking day

She willingly works with her hands.

She also rises while it is yet night,

And provides food for her household.

Proverbs 31

The Virtuous Wife

One of the most important skills I have learned in my hearthkeeping/homesteading journey is how to bake wholesome tasty breads.  Growing up I taught myself how to cook but baking yeast breads was something I didn't even think of until a fateful day in Wyoming when a blizzard blew in and I didn't have any bread.  Rather than brave the roads (they don't put down salt or shovel the roads in Wyoming because they're too tough) I decided to try baking bread. 

It was the beginning of a love affair between me and all things yeast.

Knowing how to bake your own breads is a cornerstone of homesteading.

Now I try and have a baking day once a week to provide all our rolls, cookies, coffee cakes, breads, and cakes for a family of six.  Several of my selections are must haves because they are delicious and always turn out  but I also try out new recipes weekly.  It makes so much more sence for me to bake all of this rather than buy cookies, breads and cakes at the store.  This way my children and husband have pleanty of snacks and we don't feel tempted while grocery shopping.  I also have to figure in numerouse neighborhood children that come over to play every week.

So why should we as hearth keepers bake our own breads?  Well there are allot of good reasons as to why we should try. 

First its much cheaper.  I can make better tasting foods than at the store for a fraction of the price. 

Second its healthier.   I use higher quality ingredients than a mass manufacturer with none of the health giving chemicals and food preservatives they add.    I also  can do things like cut down on fat  and sugars and sneak in things like whole wheat fruits and vegetables.

And third it builds amazing memories for my family.  I know some of my happiest memories are of coming home to good foods.


If you've never tried baking your own bread fear not!  It's actually very simple and fun and the end product is worth the work.  Plus it gets better as you do it more and gain more experience.

So what I did today

A Bountiful Table

Breads and rolls

these are much lighter looking in real life

Peanut butter, chocolate chip, gingersnap cookies and old fashioned drop donuts

Hide It Cake that I should have hid because it got raided before I could take a picture

Country Morning Coffee Cake

A must have every week

Viking Boy plotting a raid