Brandons Dressing (hope the drapes are closed!)

1 Lemon, juiced
1 C Oil (Canola or other light tasting oil)
5 Garlic cloves, pressed
Salt
Pepper

mix lemon and garlic in medium bowl. slowly add oil in a steady stream, whisking the whole time. Add salt and pepper to taste.
let sit 4 hours before use to let flavors marry.
pour over chopped romaine lettuce with toasted slivered almonds, grapes, cubed swiss cheese and crispy bacon pieces. toss. eat. eat some more. Mmmm!

Whole Wheat Bread

4 C Water
4 Eggs
4 t Yeast
4 t Salt
2/3 C Oil (i use olive)
2/3 C Honey (i used maple syrup once when i was out of honey)
10ish C Flour

Add yeast to the water heated to 110*. cover and let sit while you add eggs, 6 C flour, honey and oil to mixer. Add water mixture to mixer and blend for 30 seconds. cover and let sit for 5 minutes. turn on mixer and add enough remaining flour till mixer is cleaning the side of the bowl.  mix for 10 minutes. cover and let raise for 30 minutes or till your tired of waiting.
grease counter top with crisco and dump dough out on counter. smash down slightly. cut into 4 pieces. set 3 aside and one at a time roll dough up into a loaf. grease 4 bread pans with crisco. place dough in pans. place pans in oven with a bowl of hot water on the bottom. the hot water helps to warm the oven and keep a crust from forming on the raising dough. let raise till doubled or tripled. dont let go too long, err on the side of not long enough.
remove pans a few minutes before they are done raising and pre heat oven to 350*. bake 30-35 minutes. bread is done when dough pulls away from the side, sounds hollow when thumped on top or my fave is to dump one out and see how brown the bottom of the bread is.
remove bread from pans and let cool dumped on their sides. keeps from trapping moisture on flat bottom.

*Add/stop adding flour when dough pulls away from side of mixer.  use your eye, not the measuring cup. i never ever measure the second addition of flour.

Cheese Ball haters cheese ball

8 oz Cream Cheese
3 slices Bacon
1 1/2 T Onion, minced
2 t Tabasco (use it Jill, its what makes this un-awefull!)
1/2 C Cheddar Cheese, grated
1/4 C Mayonnaise

Mix ingredients together and roll into a ball.
Roll ball on chopped walmuts or pecans.
Serve with Ritz Crackers.

I HATE  CHEESE BALLS! at a young womens party i tried this just for fun and i then proceeded to stand there for another 30 minutes and barely could contain myself from slapping anyone that tried to eat some of MY cheese ball.  its the kick of the Tabasco that rocks this so use it. the bacon is really good in it too.

Spaghetti Squash with Pomodoro Sauce



• 1 spaghetti squash
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 2 tsp olive oil (I used my rosemary, thyme, pepper herb garlic infused oil )
• 1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• Fresh basil
• 97% lean hamburger 1/2 lb

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°F. Halve squash lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray; lay halves, flesh side down, on sheet. Bake 35 minutes or until you can easily pierce shell. While squash bakes, sauté garlic and hamburger in oil over medium heat 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients except fresh basil and cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes. Lower heat if sauce begins to boil. Remove squash from oven. Scrape crosswise to pull strands from shell. Pour sauce over squash and garnish with basil.

-I made this for Sunday dinner for Brandon and I it was GREAT :)

Kelli Miller's Granola

I gave this to Mark and Paige my Brother and Sister  Inlaw as a house warming gift. They just bought their first home! How exciting for them!!!

Okay when I wanted to make granola I didn't have the ingredients list for either Mom or Jill's so I just winged it when I was at the store. When I got home I also looked on Epicurious and they used butter instead of oil and since the only oil in my house was "robust flavor" or "garlic" I decided against them! So this is my granola I made with a twist on ingredients and a twist on my husband's tastes too. He LOVES vanilla so I didn't add any spice and doubled the Vanilla. It turned out great!!!

 Before Oven!

Ingredients

6 c. Oats
3/4 tsp Salt
2 c. Golden Raisins (Because I LOVE raisins and I love the golden ones!)
1 c. Chopped Almonds
1/2 c. Real Maple Syrup
1/2 c. Honey
1/2 c. Butter ( I used salted because that's all I had)
4 Tbs Vanilla

Melt butter on low heat over stove. Once melted (DO NOT BURN!) add all liquid ingredients together. All dry ingredients together. Combine and stir dry and wet ingredients. Preheat Oven to 350. Bake on jelly roll pan for 15-20 mins. Stir 1/2 way through & make sure to get sides stirred in really well since they brown faster.

Greek Omelet

Greek Omelet

Ingredients

Mushrooms

Spinach

Feta Cheese

Fresh Tomatoes

1-2 Eggs (Depends on how thick or how much you want to make)

Heavy Whipping Cream

Salt & Pepper to taste

Satay mushrooms & spinach in some butter and set aside. Beat eggs and milk in bowl pour in pan that has been lightly buttered.  Add feta, mushrooms, spinach and tomatoes. Salt and Pepper to taste.


-This is one of Brandon and My favorites :)

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

 

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 Icing

• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
3. 
   
4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.
5. To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.

-The first time WE made these I just talked to Brandon's sisters and Mom hahaha....but I remade them after that! ;) Brandon did a GREAT job!

Carmel Corn

3 microwave bags of popcorn or 2 large bowls popped corn

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 c. Karo syrup

1 cup butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp baking soda

Place popped corn in a brown paper grocery bag. It should come up to about the first fold. Mix sugar, syrup and butter in microwave dish and cook 2 minutes on high. Stir, then cook 2 more minutes on high. Add vanilla and baking soda, whip until frothy, then pour over popcorn in bag. Seal bag by rolling down the top.

Microwave on high for 1 minute. Shake bag. Repeat for 1 minute 2 or 3 more times, shaking the bag in between until popcorn is well coated. Put popcorn in a bowl and toss the bag!

-I didn't have a brown bag so i just put it in a bowl and stirred it and it seemed to work just fine. Carmel corn is always better the 2nd day since its had time to sit and harden a little. Joel loved it, Camdon preferred the plain popcorn over the Carmel...weird!

Jill

Hearty Banana Muffins

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 cups Kashi Heart to Heart Honey Toasted Oats Cereal, crushed (can place in food processor/ blender to grind up)

1 1/4 c. whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 c. evaporated cane juice crystals (sugar)

1 Tb. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

1 c. mashed bananas (3 medium bananas)

1/2 c. milk

2 egg whites

1/2 c. canola oil (or olive oil)

1 t. vanilla

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl. In a seperate bowlwhisk together the remaining ingredients. Add liquit mixture to dry mixture and stire until just combined. SPoon batter evenly into lightly oiled muffin tins. Bake until toothpick inserted in the certers of the muffins comes out clean or about 20 minutes.

Camdon actually ate these! It was basically a miracle since this kid wont eat anything willingly but candy. And these are super healthy being whole wheat. I love the Kashi heart to heart cereal and Camdon will eat that as well so i always have the cereal on hand. I did mini muffin tins instead of the regular ones. I also added quite a bit of cinnamon and a little cinnamon sugar combination on top.

Pizza Dough

Brandon and I tried Jill's Pizza dough recipe. We used all whole wheat flour & honey and it tasted great!!

We used the pizza stone Mom bought us for Christmas. We use it all the time for cookies, biscuits, pizza and more. This is a before photo pre-oven shot.

Sauce: Cream, garlic, Romano Cheese

Our Toppings:

Feta Cheese

Sauteed Mushrooms and Onions

Fresh Basil

Fresh Tomatoes

Fresh Mozzorella Cheese

It was to die for good!!!!

Butterscotch Oatmeal - Jill's Favorite!

I made this for Brandon one Sunday morning and he LOVED it! We used coach's oats & maple syrup