monkeys+apples+caramel=lovely

so this most amazing thing happened Saturday morning...

I was throwing around the idea of making monkey bread for breakfast
...please don't tell me you have no idea what monkey bread is...
(yep, I'm healthy like that)
and so I look around the kitchen to make sure I have what I need...
and I did...
and then as I was standing there cutting the biscuits I remembered my mother-in-law making a monkey bread recipe sort of thing a few years ago not with refrigerated biscuit dough but with frozen roll dough (I think) and then I think she tossed the dough balls in a sugar, cinnamon, hot chocolate powder mixture...

yep...
I said hot chocolate powder....
so I decided to see if I had any packets of hot chocolate...

I DIDN'T have any hot chocolate...
but I did have packets of apple cider...
I started to close the cupboard in sadness when a little voice said,
"why not apple cider?"

and then....
this is the moment that all the stars aligned and perfection was born...

I ran to the computer and searched all of the world wide web
(aka pintrest)
for anything close to a Caramel Apple Monkey Bread recipe...
and guess what...
it didn't exist...
because if it's not on pintrest than it hasn't been invented yet!!!

nope, brand-new invention...

so I ran back into the kitchen and became giddy with my new found power of creation!
and thus pure awesomeness was born...
please...let me be the first to introduce you to

Caramel Apple Monkey Bread!
2/3 cup Brown Sugar
1 1/4 cup butter
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
3 cans of Buttermilk Biscuits
1 1/4 cup Sugar
2-3 packets apple cider drink mix
2-3 apples cored, sliced and chopped thinly

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees & grease your bundt pan.
2.  Place your butter & brown sugar into your bundt pan and place in oven while it's pre-heating. Keep an eye on the butter/sugar mixture while it melts and becomes one, open up the oven and stir ever few minutes until the two have become caramel goodness. Once the brown sugar and butter married, you can pull it out of the oven and wait for the biscuit nuggets.
3.  While your butter/brown sugar (aka caramel) is melting in the oven...open up all three cans of biscuits and cut each biscuit into quarters/nuggets.
4.  Next, in a 1 gallon zip-lock bag, combine the white sugar with 2 teaspoons of cinnamon & apple cider drink mix packets (2 for a mild flavor, 3 for a slightly stronger flavor).  Drop all of the biscuit nuggets & chopped apples into the cinnamon-sugar mix. Once all the biscuit nuggets and apples are in the bag seal it and give it a vigorous shake. This will get all those pieces unstuck from one another and nicely coated with cinnamon-sugar-apple cider goodness.

5.  Take the caramel...(butter and brown sugar) out of the oven, mix it up good and slowly spread these nuggets out evenly in the bundt pan, coating them in the gooey caramel-ness in the bottom of the bundt pan.
6.  Bake for about 30 minutes until the crust is a a little beyond golden brown, you want it slightly gooey, but not doughy. When its finished cooking, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool for about 15-20 minutes before turning it over onto a plate.
 
So, here you go...
'Hello World Wide Web...I'd like you to meet Caramel Apple Monkey Bread...'

can you see the caramel coating those apple slices?  YUM

she really is very friendly, with all those carbs and gooeyness...

and bonus...when she's cooking in the oven she makes your house smell like fall...

I totally forgot that it was August and going to be 100+ that day...

I smelled baking apples and cinnamon...

and I had visions of sweaters and cold noses dancing thru my head!

Now, just to be clear...this was the-one-and-only-thing my children ate for breakfast on Saturday...

but it had apples in it so I figured that the fruit would get them thru till lunch...

and they acted totally 100% like they had eaten Caramel Apple Monkey Bread for breakfast...go figure!

pretzel memories

I did something last week that I've been wanting to do for a long time...
I made soft pretzels with the kids...

Yep...I'm Martha...
totally 100% Martha...
...
only that's a lie...
I'm not...
...we just have to remember the cake pop incident of '12 to know I'm not Martha!

the reason I have never made them before is because I was scared...
it's bread...which equals yeast...and that's always a little iffy...
it's rolling and shaping of the dough...with children involved...
you have to boil them in a brine...
yes...a brine...
....that's freaky!
and then the egg wash
and all with kids...

yep...no, thanks I'll pass...

but I really wanted to...

I kept pinning soft pretzel recipes...
I would read them and re-read them...
even though they look scary with the whole brine thingy...
they also looked very easy....
but then I would remember the cake pop incident of '12 and then remind myself that just because the other bloggers think it's easy doesn't mean it is easy!

Well I did it...
I took the leap and made pretzels with the kids...
I followed this recipe from Alton Brown/Food Network
(my slightly altered recipe posted below)
it was great...
the dough...super simple...

the creating pretzel shapes with the kids...fun..not super easy...but fun
AND the dough is very forgiving, and even though the boy child played created with his dough for a LONG time it wasn't any worse for the wear, I couldn't even tell which 2 were his over-loved creations when they came out of the oven.

the scary brine...easy peasy!

egg wash...no biggie...just a small simple step
and the kids...
they LOVED it...loved it so much we did it three days in a row!

yes...THREE days in a row...
day one...loved them but only had table salt and that was too much salt..
day 2...I got the right salt...but Beau made the dough and I didn't tell him the right amount of butter (Alton's recipes is in oz not tablespoons)...so it was a bit too rubbery of dough for the knots so we opted for bites instead-AMAZING...
day 3...cinnamon pretzels for breakfast-yes please!

Homemade Soft Pretzels
1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 1/4 teaspoon yeast (1 package active dry yeast)
4 1/2 cups flour
4 tablespoons butter, melted
Pam (the baking spray...not the lady) for spraying
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons melted butter
Pretzel salt or Cinnamon & Sugar

Directions
Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam.
Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined.
side note...I was summoned to the back yard at this point to see the snake that the boy child had found...and I left the mixer going...I have no idea how long I was gone... I came back and the dough was smooth and pulling away from the side of the bowl...so I never upped it to medium speed...
Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes.
Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then spray with Pam (the spray...not the lady). Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and spray with Pam...the spray not the lady!

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface (I just sprayed the counter and let the kids go to town) and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel...or skip the knot and make pretzel bites by cutting them into 1-2 inch squares (we did bites the 2nd time we made these...just as yummy!).  Place onto the parchment-lined pan...(or spray the bee-jeezus out of the pan...DO NOT opt for wax paper...just sayin')

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 or 2 at a time (for bites I would say between 10-15), for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to cookie sheet, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture, if topping with Pretzel Salt (Course Sea Salt...not table salt, if you don't have pretzel salt skip the salt...and take my word for it that table salt was TOO much!) sprinkle it now. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 10 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at about 5 minutes.

For Cinnamon & Sugar Pretzels:  Wait 2-5 minutes for pretzels to not be too hot, brush the tops of warm pretzels with melted butter and turn upside down/butter side down into a bowl with bowls with cinnamon & sugar

Devour Eat pretzels while still warm...and enjoy with the family!

this is the pictures you get when you ask your husband nicely
 to snap a picture of the kids enjoying their pretzels!

Sorry for the lack of pictures of all the steps...I was enjoying the pretzel moment with my kids and didn't stop and take pictures along the way!

Have you ever made homemade soft pretzels?
How about bagels...I think bagels are next on my list!...

the 'bread'

you either love it or you hate it...
not the bread itself, no one could actually hate this bread...
but the tradition of the bread is what you love or lothe...
or like me, I love the bread enough to tolerate the origins of it.
it's called Amish Friendship Bread
but I've had friends call it the 'Friend Hater Bread'

you know the stuff...
a friend gives you a weird
gooey,
goopy,
lumpy looking bag of 'starter'
along with a crinkled xeroxed paper
with directions like

we shall have cake for breakfast

 but it's practically like veggie oatmeal, so it's good...right...right?

so I had a huge zucchini from a friends garden...
and I needed to use it since it's been hanging out on my counter for about 2 weeks now...and then I was thinking I can make a nice healthy breakfast for me and the boy child...
...girl child spent the night at a friends house...
...Beau is still in bed....

when I'm making cake for breakfast I like to make it whole wheat so I feel better about feeding it to my kids...so this is what I do....
ready...major news break here...
when the recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups flour...
...I use 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour...
crazy amazing, I know...

blog tangent...as I was standing in my kitchen making cake breakfast I looked up at my cupboard and decided to share with you my beautifully organized life....

and then because I'm real...I decided I'd show you the other side of the same life...

blog tangent over...

and here is the recipe for the veggie oatmeal otherwise know as Oatmeal Zucc Coffee Cake....

Oatmeal Zucc Coffee Cake
1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1 1/4 c. oatmeal
1 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/4 c. dairy sour cream
2 c. shredded zucchini
1/2 c. butter, softened
2 tsp. vanilla


crumb topping
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. oatmeal
1/2 c. flour
1/4 c. softened butter
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 9 x 13 inch pan. Combine all coffeecake ingredients at low speed. Put in pan.

Mix topping ingredients minus the pecans until crumbly. Sprinkle 1/2 of crumbs over 1/2 of cake...mix pecans into rest of crumb topping and sprinkle over rest of cake.
(my family doesn't appreciate the gift of nuts in desserts breakfast foods)

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cut into squares. Serve warm with coffee...or milk

a Scone-ful week

So I had this idea last week that I'd do a few English sounding recipes because of the royal wedding and all...
and then I did none of them...because I won't post a recipe that I haven't actually made so since I never got around to making any of them I couldn't post them...
and by English recipes I mean scones...
and scones and a few more scones...

all that blabbering to say, that I finally got around to making these yummy scones yesterday for breakfast
and it's actually my own recipes because I totally tweaked the recipe I was following so much that it's nothing like the original!

oh, and if you've never made scones before, please do...
they are so easy to make and so worth it!
think sweet biscuit...
and if you've never made biscuits SHAME ON YOU!

nothing like a nice warm scone right out of the oven with your cup-o-Joe...
and I'm always amazing at how many scones my kids devour daintily eat for breakfast!
and hey, whole wheat, fruit (dried cranberries are a fruit right), dairy (yogurt)...that's a well rounded breakfast!

Cherry Vanilla Scones

1 cup dried cherries 

     or my cheater cheap version 

     1 cup cherry flavored dried cranberries

2 teaspoons vanilla*

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup white flour 

     (or go with 2 cups of whatever you have,

      I like to have some wheat so it seems healthier)

3 Tbl brown sugar (or raw, if your going the healthy route)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup butter, cut into pieces

1 teaspoon orange or lemon lest

1 beaten egg yolk

1 cup vanilla yogurt

1 tea vanilla

1 recipe Vanilla Glaze, recipe follows

     (optional, I didn't make so you don't see it in the picture)

Place dried cherries (or cranberries) into small bowl, pour 2 teaspoons vanilla over the top and then pour enough boiling water over them to cover.  Let stand for 5 minutes and then drain well.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine flours, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.  Using a pastry blender cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Toss in orange zest and drained cherries/cranberries; until coated. 

In a small bowl combine egg yolk, yogurt and vanilla.  Add mixture all at once to flour mixture, using a fork stir until combined.  Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface   Knead dough by folding and gently pressing dough for 10-12 strokes.  Pat into a 1 inch circle and either cut into 12 wedges or cut circles using a biscuit cutter.

Place scones onto an ungreased baking sheet, bake in a 400 oven for 7-9 minutes.

Vanilla Glaze

mix together 3/4 cup powder sugar and 1 tbl vanilla until you have  a drizzling consistency.

*Vanilla Tip...not sure if I've ever shared my tip for cheap good vanilla.  Buy it from a Mexican Grocery...I buy my big bottle for $8...Yep $8 for 33.7 oz of Really Mexican vanilla or $4 for 8 oz of imitation Safeway vanilla???

this little shopping secret allows me to use lots more vanilla which, in my opinion, is the key ingredient in many baking recipes!

don't have any idea where a Mexican Grocery is...either google it or look it up in the old fashion yellow pages, or talk to someone at your favorite Mexican restaurant...the Mexican store I go to is in the small shopping center as one of our favorite Mexican restaurants!

can't believe I haven't shared

just got a call from a friend requesting this recipe, and I searched and searched my blog and soon realized that I have yet to share this recipe with you guys...shame on me!
This is a family favorite...
   it took me a few years to get just the perfect flavor and texture...
so this is my personal recipe 
and YES, mom I know it has a LOT of sugar
but it is a SWEET corn bread 
(no southern corn bread for this family)...
Beau calls it my corn cake...
sweet enough that no honey is needed in the eating of it, just lots of buttah! 
     (unless of course you want it, whipped honey butter recipe follows!) 
Oh, and I always double and put in a 13 x9...but I understand that's a LOT of corn bread for most families! 
I also just made this recently and served it with Whipped Honey Butter...so very yummy! (recipe following)

Sweet Corn Bread
1/4 cup butter
1 cup milk
1 large egg
1 1/4 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour (also good with whole wheat, use it about half the time I make it, when I remember)
2/3 cup sugar
1 Tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

1. Grease bottom and sides of an 8x8 sq or 9" round pan or muffin tins. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In microwave safe bowl melt butter stir in milk and egg, Stir in remaining ingredients all at once just until it's all moistened; do not over mix, batter SHOULD be lumpy. Bake for 25-35 min until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean.


Whipped Honey Butter
Soften Butter-not melted
Honey
place as much softened butter as you want (at least 2 sticks, 1 cup) into a mixing bowl or kitchen aid mixer and mix using the whipping attachment (looks like a wire whisk) on med-med high slowly start adding honey 1 tsp at a time until butter is as sweet as you want.


this is great to serve with chili, soups, roasts, side dish for Thanksgiving...might make a good cornbread stuffing (but I personally don't like stuffing!).

No Tom-Foolery Here

I had planned to blog about all the mischief and Tom-Fooler that the Leprechauns brought to our house early this morn...
and was going to share with you some of our St. Patrick's Day family traditions...
and I was going to go blog public with my history geekness and share with you my LOVE for St. Patrick and why we celebrate him...
but I don't have lots of time to sit here today...busy busy...

so instead I'm going to tell you why my menu planning was a bust!

Beef Stroganoff on the menu for last night...the husband is sick so that goes out the window, replaced with Chicken Noodle soup...oh well...

and then...
well, when planning the menu on Monday I forgot that today was St. Patrick's day...
so rather than grilled chicken salad...menu was changed to
Potato Soup and Soda Bread...
(What NO Corned Beef and Cabbage?!?  tried that a few years ago and I was the only one eating dinner, so I've changed my St. Patrick's menu to the Potato Soup and Soda Bread...)...
I've posted the recipe to the soup before...potato soup...but here is the soda bread recipe...the kids LOVE this and I ALWAYS say, "why don't I make this more often?" and then I put away the recipe for another year!
Irish Soda Bread with raisins

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour or whole wheat or 1 cup of each...
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup raisins (optional)
1 cup buttermilk
butter
1.  Into a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and soda. Stir in raisins, then stir in the buttermilk, stirring just until mixture is blended. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead about 8 times.
2.  Shape into a 6-inch round; place on ungreased baking sheet. Cut a cross on the top of the loaf. Bake at 375° for 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Brush hot soda bread loaf with butter; break apart or slice.
Serve warm.

...
hope your St. Patty's day was great...