Basic Cheese Sauce

I use this as the cheese part of my potato cheese soup. I use 6 medium baking potatoes cut into about 1" cubes, boil them with just enough water to cover. When the potatoes are fork tender I add this cheese sauce and it comes out great.

1/2 c. butter
3 c. chicken broth
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese (sharp cheddar gives better flavor)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 c. flour
1 c. milk
1/4 tsp. hot pepper sauce

In a large saucepan melt butter, stir in the flour. Add the milk and chicken broth. Stir until thickened. Add the cheese, the hot pepper sauce and salt and pepper to taste; stir until cheese is melted.

All-Purpose Baking Mix

I keep this on hand instead of store bought baking mix. It works just as well and is less expensive. I use it for pancakes, waffles, biscuits, dumplings and any recipe that requires biscuit or baking mix.
I store it in a tall Rubbermaid container with a copy of the recipe taped to the front.

6 c. flour
3 Tbsp. baking powder
1 Tbsp. salt
1 1/4 c. shortening (butter flavored or plain)

Combing flour, baking powder, and salt in large bowl.

Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse corn meal. Store in a container with tight fitting lid. Will keep for up to 2 months.

For biscuits: Stir together 2 1/4 c. baking mix with 2/3 c. milk. Knead 10 times on lightly floured surface, roll out and cut into biscuits or skip the kneading and simply drop dough into an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 425 for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes about 10 biscuits.

For pancakes: Stir together 2 c. baking mix, 1 c. milk and 2 eggs until blended. Do not over mix. Ladle 1/4 cupfuls onto hot greased griddle or skillet and cook until edges are dry and top is bubbly, turn over and cook until golden brown. Makes about 14 pancakes.

For waffles: Stir together 2 c. baking mix, 1 1/3 c. milk, 1 egg and 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil until blended. Pour batter into center of hot greased waffle iron and cook for 5 minutes to until steaming stops. Makes about 12 (4 inch) waffles.

For dumplings: Stir together 2 c. baking mix and 2/3 c. milk just until soft dough forms. Drop by spoonfuls into boiling liquid, cover and cook for 10 minutes without lifting the lid. Makes about 10 dumplings.

Slab Apple Pie

I found this recipe on another blog and I really love it. It reminds me a lot of my apple crisp recipe, but has a flaky pie crust too, which I love. It's scrumptious warm and at room temperature.

Pie Crust for single layer pie
6 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Preheat oven to 375°. Prepare pie crust according to directions and pat it into the bottom of a 9×13 pan. In large mixing bowl, combine apple slices, sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon. Spread in an even layer over crust. In food processor, combine flour, butter, and brown sugar, pulsing until coarse crumbs are formed, or in a large mixing bowl, combine these ingredients, cutting butter into sugar and flour with a pastry blender or two knives held together. Stir in nuts. Sprinkle crumb top over apple layer.* Bake for 45 minutes to an hour or until filling bubbles. Cool completely.
If preparing ahead of time to freeze. Wrap with foil and label at the *. Then, when ready to serve, bake frozen pie at 425° for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 375° and continue baking as directed.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

Who doesn't love warm homemade bread? No one that I know, that's for sure. My usual hesitation with making bread in the bread maker is that the bread is only delicious for a few hours, but the next day or so it becomes too airy and not as good, I would never use it for sandwiches. I found this recipe on the back of the Gold Medal Flour package and it's very good. I even will use it for making a sandwich. My whole family loves it. After dinner one night E ate 3 whole slices as his dessert. It's also very good as toast. On cooler days when my house is too cold to raise dough very well I will sometimes take the dough out to the car and use that as a proofing box, it works wonderfully; and sometimes if its too cold outside I will use a space heater to heat up my closet and put the dough in there to proof. I'm still want to but am too nervous to try making real whole wheat bread without any white flour. When I do attempt it and it works I'll post that recipe too.
When I made 1 large and 3 small loaves I put the smaller ones in with the big loaf after 20 minutes cooking and they came out great.

4 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
1/4 c. warm water
1/2 c. honey
1/4 c. butter or margarine
3 tsp. salt
2 1/2 c. very warm water
4 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
2 3/4 to 4 3/4 c. all-purpose flour

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water; set aside. In large bowl, mix honey, butter, salt and very warm water; cool 5 minutes.

To cooled honey mixture, beat in 3 c. of the whole wheat flour with electric mixer on low speed, scraping bowl frequently, until moistened. Beat on medium speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl frequently. Beat in remaining 1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour and dissolved yeast. With spoon, stir in 2 1/4 to 2 3/4 c. of the all-purpose flour until dough pulls cleanly away from side of bowl.

Place dough on floured work surface. Knead in remaining 1/2 to 1 c. all-purpose flour; continue kneading 5 to 10 minutes until dough is smooth and springy. Grease large bowl with shortening or cooking spray; place dough in bowl, turning dough to grease all sides. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and cloth towel. Let rise in warm place 30 to 45 minutes or until doubled in size.

Generously grease 2 (8X4 or 9X5 inch) loaf pans with shortening or cooking spray. Gently push fist into dough to deflate; divide in half. On lightly floured surface, roll each half of dough with rolling pin into 18X8 inch rectangle. Starting with one 8 inch side, roll up dough tightly, pressing with thumbs to seal after each turn. Pinch edge of dough into roll to seal; pinch ends to seal. Fold ends under loaf; place seam side down in pan. Cover; let rise in warm place 30 to 45 minutes or until doubled in size.

Heat oven to 375. Uncover dough; bake 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350; bake 10 to 15 minutes longer or until loaves sound hollow when lightly tapped. Immediately remove from pans to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

Yield: 2 loaves (16 slices each)

Easy Cheesy Scalloped Ham and Potatoes

I thought this was just okay, but Adam really liked it. I made it trying to use up Easter ham I had left in the freezer. I wouldn't recommend using ham that's been glazed: the sauce ended up being too sweet and cinnamon-y for my taste. I might have enjoyed it better had the sauce not been so sweet. Also, I used 3 lbs of basic starchy potatoes since I didn't have any red potatoes.

1 pkg. (8oz) cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. sour cream
1 c. chicken broth
3 lbs. red potatoes, thinly sliced
1 pkg. (6 oz) smoked ham, chopped
1 pkg. (8 oz) shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 c. frozen peas

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray 9X13 baking dish with cooking spray. Mix cream cheese, sour cream and chicken broth in large bowl until well blended. Add potatoes, ham, peas and 1 3/4 c. of the cheese; stir gently to coat all ingredients.
2. Spoon into prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 c. cheese.
3. Bake 1 hour or until heated through and poatoes are tender.

Black Bottom Cake

I remember having this cake when I was a kid and have been thinking about it for a few months, but didn't get around to making it until about 3 weeks ago. It was as good as I remembered, nice and gooey.
The lack of eggs in the cake batter is not a mistake, I did a double take when I was reading through the ingredients, then cross referenced the recipe on-line and found that it really is supposed to be that way. It still turns out nice and moist and not at all crumbly.
Cake:
3 c. flour
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. baking cocoa
2 tsp. baking soda
2 c. water
2/3 c. oil
2 Tbsp. vinegar
2 Tbsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt

Topping:
8 oz. cream cheese sofetened
1 egg
1/2 c. sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
6b oz. chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9X13-inch baking pan.
2. Mix all the cake ingredients and pour into pan.
3. Beat all the topping ingredients with a hand mixer; drop by spoonfuls over the cake batter.
4. Bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Praline Crumb Caramel Cheesecake Bars

I made these for the first time just recently and love-love them. I am a huge fan of cheesecake so anything that makes it easy to do is a-okay with me! You can find the toffee bits in the baking section of most grocery stores.

1 pouch (1 lbs 1.5 oz) sugar cookie mix
1/2 c. cold butter or margarine
1/2 c. chopped pecans
1/2 c. toffee bits

2 pkg (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1/2 c. caramel topping
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg

Heat oven to 350. Line a 9X13 inch baking pan with foil and spray the foil with cooking spray. In a medium bowl cut butter into the cookie mix, until it resembles coarse meal. Reserve 1 1/2 c. for the topping. Press remaining mixture into the bottom of the pan and bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

Meanwhile, mix the cream cheese, sugar, flour 1/4 c. of the caramel, vanilla and egg with an electric mixer until smooth. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the cooked crust. Sprinkle with remaining cookie mixture, pecans and toffee bits. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes then refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

When ready to serve, lift foil out of the pan, cut cheesecake into squares and drizzle with remaining 1/4 c. caramel.

Store leftovers covered in refrigerator.