Easy Pizza Bake

We love pizza at our house.  Homemade pizza is the bomb, but there are times when I can seem to find time to make homemade pizza.  Then we order pizza from a local gas station, yeah, from a gas station.  Their pizza is very tasty, but as you know takeout, even from a gas station is expensive.  Several friends on Facebook have started posting links to recipes, and this pizza bake was one of them.  I thought, heck that recipe is a great starting point, but I can take it and make it even better.

This was easy to throw together using jumbo biscuits and sauce from a jar.  I think my husband had two servings, then went back and got a little for a snack.  Using what we had on hand, I made this pizza bake with bulk ground sausage and ground beef, you can chose what topping your family prefers.

Easy Pizza Bake

1 can jumbo biscuits
1 jar (14 oz) pizza sauce
2 cups mozzarella cheese
1/4 to 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 lb ground sausage
1/2 lb ground beef
4 oz can chopped mushrooms and pieces
4 oz can chopped black olives

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2.  Brown ground sausage and ground beef together.
3.  While meat is cooking, cut each biscuit into 8 pieces.
4.  Toss the biscuits, meat, mushrooms, olives, 1 cup of mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese together with the jar of pizza sause.
5.  Spray 9 x 13 inch baking dish with non stick spray and spread the mixture into the pan.
6.  Bake at 375 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.
7.  Remove from oven and top with remaining cheeses and place back in the over for an additional 3 to 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Adapted from Pillsbury

Oven Cooked Bacon

Weekends are a little slower around the farm especially on the Saturdays that I don't have to work and this Saturday was no exception.  Once we got the animals all fed, it was time to feed the family.  This morning we had homemade waffles and bacon.  This time, I prepared the bacon differently, I baked it.  DH looked at me as I was putting it in the oven and I said, "Well it is called "bakin".  It was pretty nice to not be popped while cooking bacon.

Oven Cooked Bacon

1 lb bacon

black pepper optional

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2.  Place bacon on cookie sheet.  Sprinkle bacon with pepper.

3.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, turning half way through cooking.

I retained the bacon grease for flavoring beans or cabbage.

Adapted from  Food Network

Cake Mix Banana Bread

Yesterday was a nasty, cold, rainy day, a day made for our ducks and geese, so we spent the day indoors watching our new Netflix.  We finally decided to cut the cable with our satellite provider when they raised their price AGAIN.  But there was a bunch of bananas that were starting to turn brown and a DH saying that he wanted banana bread.  Instead of pulling out the Betty Crocker cookbook and what feels like a 1,000 ingredients, I went online and did a search for cake mix banana bread.  With 4 simple ingredients that most people would have in their kitchen, I made a very yummy banana bread.

Cake Mix Banana Bread

1 yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil
3 - 5 mashed bananas

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Grease 2 loaf pans or one bundt pan -- I used an angel food cake pan.
3.  Mix all ingredients together until well mixed.
4.  Bake 30 - 35 minutes for loaf pans or 45 minutes bundt pan.
5.  Cool.

There are no pictures today because DH could not wait until it was cooled to have a slice.  It tasted just like I had slaved in the kitchen instead of just tossing a few ingredients in a bowl and mixed.

Recipe adapted from Duncan Hines

Silk Tie Easter Eggs

So what do silk ties and eggs have in common?  Silk Tie Dyed Easter Eggs.  After searching the internet and coming up with several different recipes for these eggs, I settled on a recipe that I found at Taste of Home.  With a few minor alterations, my son and I made Silk Tie Easter Eggs this morning.

What you will need:

Raw Eggs
Silk Ties
Yarn
Scissors
An old pillowcase

Directions:

1.  Cut up the silk ties and remove the labels.  Make sure that you get 100% silk ties to do this.  I found mine at thrift stores.

2.  Cut a piece silk large enough to cover the egg.

3.  Wet the silk and drape over the egg.  Twist tightly to make sure that the silk is touching the entire egg.  Wrap the yarn around the end and tie securely.

4.  Cut up the pillowcase and wrap around the egg.  Tie yarn around the case to make sure it doesn't slip off.  Do this with all the eggs you have. 

5.  Place eggs in pan, cover with water, and bring to a rolling boil.  Boil eggs for 15 minutes.

6.  Cool and carefully unwrap.  Wipe eggs with oil for a shinier surface.

Adapted from Taste of Home

Homemade Bread

Two weeks ago while my brother was visiting, he took my son to the grocery store with him.  When they came back, my brother told me that he had a hard time finding several things in the store, but that my son was able to help him find them, everything but the bread.  My brother said that when he asked where the bread was, my son told him "Mama makes our bread."  Homemade bread is easy, how easy, well as easy as sliced bread!

 

First of all, I don't spend all day in the kitchen making bread.  I use a bread maker to do all  the mixing and kneading.  After adding my ingredients, the bread maker takes about 1 1/2 hours to do its thing.  I don't bake my bread in the maker, I take it out and divide the dough into two loaves then allow it to rise, depending on the heat and humidity in the house anywhere from 1 to 1 1/2 hours.  Then I bake up a couple of golden loaves that my family uses for everything from toast to sandwiches.

 

A bread machine is an easy find at most thrift stores; however many do not come with manuals.  But using the internet a person should be able to find the basic bread recipe for the machine they find.  I use my basic bread recipe and add what I want.  For the bread pictured, I used 3 cups of white flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour.  Sometimes I add oatmeal, flax or even cornmeal to the mixture to have a whole grain bread that the whole family will love.

 

Don't spend the whole day mixing and kneading to give your family a loaf of homemade bread.  

 

 

 

Project Snowflake

On December 14, the peace and innocence of Newtown, Connecticut was shattered and 26 people lost their lives. 20 of which were dear, sweet children. I have no words.

 

Now the students and faculty of Sandy Hook Elementary School are preparing to begin classes again in a new location. To ease their return, the Connecticut PTSA has organized The Snowflake Project to create a winter wonderland in their new school.

I think this is a wonderful idea and I am so happy to be able to do something - anything - to help. So who is with me? Let's get the word out and give these kids a gorgeous, snowy wonderland to welcome them to their new school and show them that we care.

Here are the details:

They are asking for everyone to make and send snowflakes for them to hang around the school. Their only request is that the snowflakes have no words on them. Think bright, sparkly, happy, and magical!

Snowflakes are to be sent by January 12, 2013 to:

Connecticut PTSA

60 Connolly Parkway

Building 12, Suite 103

Hamden, CT 06514

You can check out the CT PTA website or Sandy Children Help on Facebook for more information or updates. They are also putting together a photo album of the snowflakes; you can send photos to crafts4newtown@gmail.com. Please include a note to let them know where the snowflakes are coming from (school, grade or age, town etc).

Baby It's Cold Outside

On the day before Christmas Eve, it was warm enough to be outside in a sweatshirt, in fact, I cooked steaks for dinner on our charcoal grill while my son played in the mud next to me.  On Christmas, it turned cold and snowed overnight.  In southeast Missouri; where most of my family lives; a blizzard was predicted and came.  My brother said where he worked the emergency exit doors were closed by 10 foot drifts and my sister posted pictures of three foot drifts outside her door.  Today in the Ozarks we are under a freezing rain advisory.  Earlier when I stepped out to get something from my car, it was misting and pretty slick on the pavement.  Later in the week, more snow is forecasted.  So what's a girl or boy to do in weather like this? 



Snow drifts in Southeast Missouri
(Picture courtsey of my little sis)



If you live on a farm, you go outside in the darkness, feed livestock, break the ice in the waters, and make bedding areas for your animals, just like hubby and I did this morning.  It makes for a busy morning, but the animals must be cared for.  And it's only going to get busier because next week, our son goes back to school and that adds to the morning craziness.  Another thing I like to do when it is cold outside is to make chili.  Yesterday was no exception to the rule.  I like to let the soup part of my chili cook most of the day in the crockpot before I add my meat and onions.  However, yesterday I had a steak left over from grilling on Sunday, so I made chili with it instead of ground meat.  It was too spicy for our tastes so I'll have to modify my recipe when I use the chili ready tomatoes that I used yesterday.

My basic chili recipe:

1 can kidney beans

1 can chili beans

1 quart canned tomatoes chopped

1 pack chili seasoning mix

Let this simmer in the crockpot all day, it will get supper thick, almost like canned chili.  Then:

Cook 1 lb of ground beef with one medium onion.  Add this to the crockpot and allow to simmer another 30 minutes.  When making larger batches, I use two cans of beans per pound of meat, ie: 2 lbs of meat, 4 cans of beans, 2 quarts of tomatoes.

What a great think to come home to after being at work all day.  Just a few minutes in front of the stove and dinner is ready.  And the best part is that there are usually leftovers for lunch the next day.  The batch yesterday was pretty small, so hubby has the chili for leftovers.