Easiest Doughnuts EVER!

I am not kidding when I say this was the EASIEST recipe for doughnuts. I have been making doughnuts for a long time and always hate all the work that goes into them. These not only were quick and simple, but they look awesome. I don't think I have ever made a doughnut that actually looks like a doughnut! We loved them!

Quick and Easy Doughnuts

Ingredients:

biscuit dough—ready to use or from scratch
small circle cutter—I used a lid from my water bottle
1/2 cup (or more) cooking oil—vegetable or canola
tongs
paper towels

Directions:

Open the biscuit can and spread all the rolls out. Then using a small circle cutter, press out a donut hole right in the middle.

Then get your pan to medium heat with 1/2 cup oil. Depending on how many you make, you will need more oil. You want enough oil to cover half of the donut when cooking, and so that they can float a little off the bottom. Place 3-4 doughy donuts into the pan and leave until the bottom is golden brown. They cook fast! Then turn them over and cook another minute or so. Using tongs, place the cooked donut on paper towels to drain and cool slightly.

You can then sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, or make this yummy chocolate glaze.


Chocolate Glaze

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup whole milk, warmed
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

Directions
Combine butter, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla in medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until butter is melted. Decrease the heat to low, add the chocolate, and whisk until melted. Turn off heat, add the powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth. Place the mixture over a bowl of warm water and dip the doughnuts immediately. Allow glaze to set for 30 minutes before serving.

Southwestern Black Bean Burgers

Ingredients
2 slices whole wheat bread, torn
4 T fresh cilantro
2 cloves garlic
1 15 0z can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 t taco seasoning
1 egg
Place torn bread in a food processor bowl or blender container. Cover and process or blend until bread becomes crumbs.
Transfer crumbs to a large bowl and set aside.
Next, process or blend cilantro and garlic until finely chopped. Add beans and seasoning. Process or blend until beans are coarsely chopped and mixture begins to pull away from the sides.
Add mixture to the breadcrumbs in the bowl.
Add egg, mix well and shape into four 1/2 in thick patties.
Grill patties on a lightly greased rack or an uncovered grill directly over medium heat for 8-10 minutes or until patties are heated through, turning once. (I cooked mine on my George Foreman.)
Place the black bean burger on a bed of coleslaw and top with tomatoes, guacamole, and limejuice. I served it with cheese quesadillas. You can also put it on a bun to make it more burger-like.
Serve with healthy coleslaw

gee whiz...

For those of us who must be blogging morons (which I guess is only me), could you please explain how to edit a post that is already there (to add a picture for instance.) Is it possible that it won't let me edit something that Shelli posted? I can't find an "edit" or "add picture" or "change date" option anywhere on any of the existing posts.

Love, Amy

Fresno Tacos

This is one of our favorites and one of the only recipes where my kids will eat cooked cabbage.

1 lb. ground beef
6 cloves of garlic (more or less to taste)
1 can (15 oz.) diced new potatoes (drained)
2-3 C. cabbage (sliced to preference)
white corn tortillas
grated cheese
cooking oil

Brown the ground beef and garlic together until brown. Then add the diced new potatoes and cabbage to ground beef and toss together. Cover and simmer on medium low for about 15 minutes or until the cabbage is cooked to your preference. While the ground beef is simmering, heat the oil and fry the corn tortillas to where they are slightly stiff but still bendable. Serve with cheese.

*This recipe calls for a lot of garlic. You can choose how much you like. I usually add more. You can add more cabbage to bulk up the meal. I drain my tortillas on paper towels before serving. For less fat don't fry the tortillas but warm them in a moist paper towel in the microwave. Mark and I are big Cholula hot sauce fans and I think it tastes really good on it. The photos show 1 1/2 lbs. of ground beef.

Apricot Chicken

This is not the greatest photo, sorry. I am not a photographer.

1 c apricot jam
1 c Catalina dressing
1 pkg. onion soup mix
chicken
Combine ingredients and pour over chicken. Bake at 350 for 1-1 ½ hours. Serve with rice.
This almost taste like a sweet and sour chicken. It is sooo good!

I made this again tonight, and Ryan told me that it is one of his favorite meals. I didn't really want to have my oven on for an hour and a half, so I tried it in the crockpot. It worked great in the crockpot, but both Ryan and I thought that it was a little better baked in the oven. I served it as breasts(or tenders) last time I made it, but since it was in the crockpot it became shredded. It seemed a little more dry than I remember it being last time I made it. It was still good and I will probably do it this way again while the weather is warm so that my house doesn't get too hot.

30 Minute Breadsticks OR No-Fail Deep Dish Pizza Crust

I got this from Julie, but I have made it a couple of times.
http://everydayfoodstorage.net/2008/09/21/2-for-1-breadsticks-or-pizza-in-under-30-minutes-from-one-easy-recipe/food-storage-recipes
(If it is too thick for your family, you can either half the recipe or put one full recipe onto two cookie sheets)
2 1/2 C. Medium Hot Water
5 tsp. SAF Instant Yeast*
2 Tbsp. Sugar
3 Tbsp. Oil
1 tsp. Salt
6 C. Flour (you can do half all-purpose and half white wheat or 100% whole wheat)
1 to 2 Cubes of Butter
Directions:
1. Pour medium hot water in mixing bowl. Sprinkle yeast on top and allow to dissolve.2. Add sugar, salt, and oil. Gradually add approximately 6 cups of flour.
3. Melt 1-2 cubes butter on cookie sheet in oven as it is heating to 400 degrees and melt in oven. 4. Place dough on cookie sheet and press to fill pan, make sure butter gets on top of the dough.
5. Allow to double in size (About 10-15 minutes)
6. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes or until desired browning is accomplished.
7. Cut into strips or top with favorite pizza toppings.

*When using regular yeast change amount to 2 Tbsp.

When I made these I used half of the dough for a pizza crust and the other half for bread sticks. It was plenty for both. If you are just doing a pizza crust I would recommend halving the recipe, but I don't know how that will turn out. I haven't tried it yet. I used half wheat flour and half all-pupose. I also only used one stick of butter total-1/3 for the pizza crust and 2/3 for the bread sticks. There is a how to video online. They are really easy to make.


These are the breadsticks and crust while rising. I put garlic salt, parmesan cheese, and parsley on the bread sticks before baking.

BBQ chicken pizza before baking.

Finished breadsticks in the pan.

Crockpot Bacon Chicken

boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 (8oz) sour cream
4-5 slices of bacon, cut into pieces
Put chicken and bacon into crockpot. Mix soup and sour cream together and pour over chicken. Cook on low 7-8 hours, high for 3-4. Right before serving I add peas and mushrooms. Serve over pasta.

Ghost Chili

1lb boneless chicken, chopped into bite size pieces
1 onion, diced
1 T oil
1 1/2 t garlic powder
14oz can chicken broth
1 can chopped green chilis
2 15oz cans Great Northern beans drained and rinsed
1 t salt
1 t cumin
1 t oregano
1/2 t black pepper
Brown chicken and onion in oil until chicken is cooked and onion is tender. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes. Before serving, stir in 1 cup of sour cream and 1/2 cup of whipping cream.(I used regular milk. I also thickened it just a little with cornstarch)
I served it with corn bread muffins, but it would also be good with bread sticks.

Everyone in my family loves this. Even Addelyn likes it!

Moist Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 ½ c shortening
1 ½ c brown sugar (packed)
1 ½ c sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
1 ½ tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
4 c oatmeal (quick)
1 lb chocolate chips
2 cups of nuts (optional)Cream shortening sugar and eggs. Add vanilla and dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly and then add oatmeal, nuts and chocolate chips. Drop by spoonfuls on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 10 min.

Pancake or Waffle Mix

3 ½ c flour (can be all white or half and half with wheat flour)
¼ c sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
Mix all together. Can be stored for up to 3 months. I use this mix all the time. I either just store the mix in a container in the pantry or I make up a whole bunch of waffles or pancakes and put them in the freezer. They can then go from the freezer to the toaster to warm up.

Pancakes
1 cup of mix
1 egg
1 T melted butter
1 c milk
¼ tsp vanilla

Waffles
1 cup of mix
1 egg
1 T melted butter
¾ c milk¼ tsp vanilla