I'm Dreaming of a Dark Chocolate Cheesecake!

Only 25 hours and 47 minutes, people! Do you have any idea how long I have waited for this moment? I do! I have waited 524, 113 minutes! Yup, in only 25 hours and 46 minutes (time is a ticking!) I CAN HAVE CHOCOLATE!!!!!!!!! And I am just a wee bit excited! And the first bite of sweets to cross my lips and tickle my tastebuds? I've done a lot of thinking and cheesecake it is. Deep Dark Chocolate Cheesecake drizzled with Raspberry Coulis and garnished with a hint of whipped cream! Oh, I think I shall die, it will be sooooo good. A little dramatic, yes, but you try going an ENTIRE YEAR without sweets and then see how much you look forward to that first delicious bite! Jay was smart enough to buy my favorite chocolates for my stocking - Mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, M&M's, Chunky Kitkat, Ferrero Rocher, other dark chocolate goodness (actually only the Reese's were actually in the stocking, the rest I am supposed to pretend I don't know about but I was right there when he bought it!). Oh, I am drooling with excitement! Gotta go pull out the cream cheese from the freezer so I can make the cheesecake first thing in the morning to give it time to chill before MIDNIGHT! I have never looked forward to January 1 with as much anticipation as I am right now (and I am now down to 24 hours, 38 minutes)! What does January 1 hold for you?

More Christmas Baking

Over 200 cookies added to the 2010 Christmas Baking stash!

Today's recipes:

Secret Almond Cookies

(or called Secret Kisses Cookies if you use regular Hershey's Kisses)

Mini Kisses Chocolate Peanut Butter Blossoms

(The recipe above doesn't call for cocoa and uses regular Hershey's Kisses. On the back of the package of Mini Hershey's Kisses baking pieces is the recipe I used. Basically, make the recipe like the link says, adding 1/3 cup cocoa to the flour mixture, make the cookies slightly smaller and bake for 6 minutes, adding the mini Hershey Kiss instead of the regular one, as the recipe indicates.)

Quick Cooking with Homemade Mixes

Life has been super busy around here with schooling taking a better part of the day (until 3pm)and the rest filled with household chores, cooking, cleaning, etc. It is at times like these I am especially appreciative of the homemade mixes I rely on to continue providing home baked goodies in a fraction of the time. These are three of our favorites.

HOMEMADE PANCAKE MIX

4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon baking soda

For Pancakes:
1 egg
3/4 cup milk

For Blueberry Banana Pancakes:
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 medium ripe banana, mashed
3/4 cup blueberries

In a bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place for up to 6 months. YIELD: about 6 3/4 cups (6-7 batches of pancakes)

To Prepare Pancakes:
In a bowl, combine egg and milk. Whisk in 1 cup pancake mix. Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto a lightly greased hot griddle; turn when bubbles form on top of pancakes. Cook until second side is golden brown. YIELD: about 6 pancakes per batch

To Prepare Blueberry Banana Pancakes:
In a bowl, combine egg, milk and banana. Whisk in 1 cup pancake mix. Fold in blueberries. Cook as directed above. YIELD: about 8 pancakes per batch

CHANTELLE'S NOTES:

• I always make a double recipe of the dry ingredients, putting everything into an icecream pail, putting the lid on the pail and shaking until well mixed. You can label the pail with the directions for pancakes.
• When I make pancakes for the whole family, I always make a double recipe of the plain pancakes and a single recipe of the Blueberry Banana. That provides enough for the meal plus a few extra! Hey, we are pancake lovers!
• My personal favorite are the Blueberry Banana pancakes - they taste excellent!
• My mix never lasts 6 months, not even 6 weeks, its that good! :)

When Pepe was only 5 months old, we made a trip to the West Coast to visit Jay's relatives I had not yet met. What a wonderful time I had meeting these delightful family members. I now wish we lived closer so we could see them more often as they have left an indelible mark on my heart! Jay's gracious Aunt L let us stay with her for a while and she always made these muffins fresh every morning. Although I believe they are called 6 Week Bran Muffins, I call them Aunt L's Bran Muffins.

AUNT L'S BRAN MUFFINS

2 cups Nabisco 100% Bran
2 cups boiling water
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup shortening
4 eggs
1 litre buttermilk
5 cups flour
3 tablespoons baking soda
1 tablespoon salt
4 cups bran flakes cereal
2 cups raisins

Pour boiling water over 100% bran and let stand while creaming sugar, shortening and eggs. Add buttermilk. Add bran/water mixture. Sift flour, soda and salt in separate bowl. Add bran flakes. Fold into wet mixture until moist. Add raisins. Store in ice cream pail for up to 6 weeks in refrigerator. Bake at 400F for 15-20 minutes.

CHANTELLE'S NOTES:

• You can switch the amounts of the bran and bran flakes cereal if you so desire.
• You can also substitute wheat bran for the 100% bran
• These make excellent snacks throughout the day. I bake about 9 fresh in the morning and they are usually gone by supper.
• These are really really good with peanut butter spread on top! Mmmmm!
• Ideally, after these are mixed, wait to make the muffins until they have sit in the refrigerator for one day. If you make muffins right away, they tend to be really flat and hardly rise at all. Wait a day or more and they turn out much nicer!

Finally, fresh baked buns are such a treat around here but I rarely have time to mix a batch each time we want them! Welcome to the world of refrigerator rolls! Oh, these yummy buns sure hit the spot and take so very little time to prep. I can usually form them during morning recess and have fresh baked buns for lunch or I form them right after school and have fresh baked buns for supper. Now I just need to tweak them a bit to include some whole wheat flour and maybe some ground flax.

REFRIGERATOR ROLLS

2 cups boiling water
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons shortening
2 pkgs dry yeast (or 2 tablespoons)
1/4 cup warm water
2 beaten eggs
7-8 cups all-purpose flour

Mix boiling water, sugar, salt and shortening together and cool to lukewarm. Soften yeast in 1/4 cup water and stir into first mixture. Add beaten eggs. Stir in 4 cups flour and beat until smooth. Stir in remaining flour to make a fairly stiff dough. Place in greased bowl and cover then place in refrigerator. This dough will keep for up to 6 days. When wanted, roll into 24 evenly-sized balls. Place on greased pan and allow to rise until double in bulk, about 1 -1 /2 hours. Bake in a 400F oven for 15 minutes.

CHANTELLE'S NOTES:

• I make this recipe x 1 1/2 then store it in a large Tupperware bowl in the fridge.
• I make 1 dozen fresh buns daily then whatever dough is left over at the end of the 6 days, I make into buns and freeze if necessary (which it hasn't been!).

Artisan Bread - Attempt #1

Back in February I ordered a few books from Amazon - one was Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day - The Discovery that Revolutionizes Home Baking by Jeff Hertzberg & Zoe Francois. I like the idea of artisan breads and in only 5 minutes? Hey, I'm game. Today I decided to try it out. The premise of the book is that with minimal work, you can have fresh-baked bread everyday (without a bread machine!). You make a batch of dough (the master recipe only calls for water, salt, yeast and flour!) and let it sit for two hours then refrigerate it for up to 14 days. Anytime you want a loaf of bread, you shape a piece of the dough (which takes about 30-60 seconds), let it rise for 40 minutes, pop it onto a hot stone in the oven and in about 1/2 an hour, you have a fresh-baked crusty bread! How easy is that!

I made the Master Recipe earlier today and it took about 10 minutes with very few dishes left to clean. I let it rise in the large 10L red Tupperware bowl I got for Christmas for just this purpose (Jay says the kids can use it to slide down the hills when I am not using it, it is that big!!). Then, before supper, I shaped my 1-pound loaf and let it rest. I am supposed to use a pizza peel but seeing as I don't own one (that must change!!), I used a cardboard pizza round.

40 minutes later, after slashing the bread, I slid that nicely shaped loaf onto the hot stone waiting in the oven. I added hot water to the pan that was awaiting me on the lowest rack in the oven and quickly shut the door. 30 minutes after that, I pulled out a marvelous looking crusty loaf of bread! Now, the recommendation is not to eat the loaf hot out of the oven but who can resist? Though it was tasty, next time I will wait for it to cool. After all, squishing your fresh-baked loaf while cutting it takes away some of the romance!

Two things I will change for next time. First of all, I will weigh the dough to ensure my loaf is 1 pound. A larger loaf requires a longer rest period and a longer bake time. I was just guessing. Secondly, I didn't bake it quite long enough. If the crust softens upon standing, you didn't bake it long enough. That's what happened to me. It is supposed to have a nice crusty outside and a soft crumb inside. The crumb was a bit tacky so it may have been underbaked. Apparently small bits of almost burnt crust are a good thing so next time I will wait for it to get a touch darker. Over all, it was a delicious loaf of bread and I can see myself enjoying such homemade wonders in so little time. Maybe when this batch of dough is done (I doubled the recipe so I have enough for 8 loaves!), I will try out the other bread book I bought, Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day.

Nothing Like Homemade Pizza

Fridays around here have been Pizza Fridays for a long time (well, okay, they were around for a while, then they weren't and now they are back again). And for us that means homemade pizza! To me, you just can't beat the taste of a lovingly handmade pizza hot from your own oven. I haven't found a frozen pizza that doesn't taste like cardboard and ordering in? Well, I am not too fond of the places we have close by. So, a couple of years ago, I made a search online for some pizza recipes that I could try. I found these and haven't turned back since!

If you are looking for a tender and chewy crust that rises oh-so nicely, this is the recipe to try! I honestly have no idea where I got this from but it is not my original recipe.

PIZZA HUT'S PIZZA DOUGH

1 1/3 cup (scant) warm-hot water

2 teaspoons sugar

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons cornmeal

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast

Place water, sugar, salt, yeast and olive oil in bowl of mixer and dissolve sugar, salt and yeast. Stir in remaining ingredients and knead with dough hook to form a soft but not-too-sticky dough, about 8 minutes. Remove from machine and allow to rest, covered with a tea towel, about 45 minutes. Prepare pizza as desired and bake in a 425F oven for 18-20 minutes.

*(though I know some will say "It is nothing like Pizza Hut's dough" - hey, that's the name that was on it when I got it and it tastes good so I don't care!)

** Sometimes, I will make a batch of dough to bake into breadsticks. Just take the dough, after it is done resting, roll into a jelly roll pan (I use stoneware), brush with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic salt, then bake. Cut into sticks and enjoy.

If you are looking for a great tasting sauce recipe, I love this one for the "regular" pizzas, like pepperoni, ham & pineapple, etc. It is also great warmed and used to dip breadsticks.

EXQUISITE PIZZA SAUCE

1 6-ounce can tomato paste

3/4 cup warm-hot water

3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon honey

3/4 teaspooon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram

1/4 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/8 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes

salt to taste

In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients; mix together, breaking up any clumps of cheese (also works great to blend it with the Magic Bullet). Sauce should sit for 30 minutes to blend flavors; spread over pizza dough and prepare pizza as desired.

My absolute favorite pizza, for its tastiness and ease of preparation, would be this one, featured in a Pampered Chef cookbook called Seasons Best Fall/Winter 2005. I make this pizza often and, though the combination of ingredients seems bizarre, it is just fantastic!

MOLE CHICKEN PIZZA

Mole Sauce

1/4 cup barbeque sauce***

2 tbsp semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 tsp creamy peanut butter

3/4 teaspoon chili powder

1 tsp lime juice

1 clove garlic, pressed

Pizza

1 plum tomato, sliced

8 oz cooked chicken, chopped (2 cups)

1 green pepper, diced (about 1 cup)

1/4 cup chopped onion *

1/4 cup pitted ripe olives, sliced *

1 pre-baked pizza crust (I use my regular pizza crust recipe, not pre-baked)

4 oz marble cheese, grated (1 cup)

1 tbsp snipped fresh cilantro *

*Due to personal taste, we omit these

**I love pizza sauce so I often double this recipe

***The barbeque sauce you choose will change the taste of this sauce. My favorite to use, which creates a zippy but tasty sauce, is President's Choice Smokin' Habenero! Oh so good!

Preheat oven to 425F. For mole sauce, combine barbecue sauce, chocolate chips, peanut butter, chili powder, lime juice and garlic. Microwave on high 30-60 seconds, stirring after 30 seconds, until melted and smooth; set aside. For pizza, slice tomato, chop chicken and green pepper; set aside. Chop onion. Slice olives. Combine chicken, green pepper, onion and olives in a bowl. Place pizza crust on pizza stone; spread mole sauce over crust to within 1/2 inch of edge.

Evenly spoon chicken mixture over pizza. Arrange tomato slices around edge of crust. Grate cheese over pizza. Slice cilantro; set aside. Bake 18-20 minutes or until cheese is melted. Remove from oven; sprinkle with cilantro. Cut into wedges and serve.

Finally, this pizza I don't make very often, because I don't always have the ingredients on hand, but it tastes AMAZING!!! I love alfredo so this pizza just made sense. It comes from a cookbook called "Don't Panic - Dinner's In The Freezer."

CHICKEN ALFREDO PIZZA

Alfredo Sauce

1/4 cup butter

scant 1 cup heavy cream

2/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper, to taste

Pizza

1 pizza crust

10 large fresh spinach leaves, rinsed and dried

6 green onions, sliced diagonally, including tops

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cooked and shredded

1/2 lb. bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces, cooked until crisp

1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

1 cup grated Swiss cheese

For sauce: Melt butter in large saucepan or skillet. Add cream and bring to a boil. Simmer 5 minutes, stirring continuously. Add Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Turn off heat under pan.

For pizza: Roll out pizza dough to form crust. Spread alfredo sauce evenly over pizza crust. Arrange spinach leaves over sauce. Add green onions, shredded chicken, and bacon. Sprinkle cheeses over top. Preheat oven to 450F. Bake 15 minutes or until bubbly.

One thing I learned recently about pizza crusts - if it goes into the oven sticking, it will come out sticking. So add more flour to make sure the dough is not too sticky.

I love to use my Pampered Chef stoneware pan to make pizzas but just recently bought 4-7" pizza pans for the kids from Epicure. They are heavily perforated aluminum and make perfect personal pizzas. Now the kids can have whatever kind of pizza they want and so can we!

I am always interested in new pizza recipes so if you have any, send them my way! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you find at least one recipe you enjoy!

Nothing Like Homemade Bread!

I have purposed in my heart to stop buying bread products and, instead, make them myself. However, when you have fallen in love with a particular store-bought bread (Country Harvest Flax is my all-time favorite!!), it can be difficult to find a recipe you like. You find yourself comparing everything to that soft, tasty yet good-for-you loaf. In my attempt to recreate that wonderful bread, I have tried a few recipes. Most failed. Usually too heavy. I don't want a really hearty, really heavy wheat loaf. I also don't want a colon-clogging loaf of white nothingness. I think I finally found "the one!" The recipe I keep making over and over. It is soft. It is full of flax (a prerequisite for me!), it contains lots of whole wheat and it is delicious! And, I will happily share the recipe with you!

FLAX 'N BRAN COUNTRY WHEAT BREAD

6 3/4 tsp. yeast

3 cups warm water

3/4 cup sugar

Mix this together and let the yeast bubble up and then add:

1 tbsp. and 1 1/2 tsp. salt

3 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup and 2 tbsp. oil

1 cup ground flax

1/2 cup 100% natural wheat bran

1/2 cup wheat germ

3 cups whole-wheat flour*

1 tsp lemon juice

Mix together well then let stand for 10 minutes. I was told the lemon juice softens the whole-wheat flour, creating a softer loaf of bread.

Add:

5 tbsp. whole flax seeds

approximately 5 cups white flour

Mix well and knead for 10 minutes. Dough should be soft and slightly sticky. Place in a greased bowl and then spray the top of the dough with oil,too. Cover with a piece of waxed paper and a tea towel then place in the oven with the oven light turned on. Let rise for 1 hour. Punch down dough and divide into 4 loaves. Place dough into greased bread pans. Spray tops of loaves with oil again, cover with waxed paper and tea towel. Place back into oven for 1 hour rising time. Remove from oven, preheat oven to 375F. Bake for approximately 25 minutes (I usually check at about 20 minutes) or until golden brown. Slice and enjoy!

* I use home-milled whole-grain whole-wheat flour. I am sure store-bought whole-wheat flour would work just as well.

**For a softer crust, cover loaves with a tea towel while cooling. The steam cannot escape as easily, creating a softer crust.

Doesn't that look yummy? My dough is currently rising and I look forward to slathering that first hot slice with butter and savoring every moment of home-baked goodness!

Growing Up

This week has been crazy busy with babies, birthdays, DVBS, crafting and lots of other fun and exciting things! However, that has meant zero time to sit and write about it. So, here I am to fill you in on just a few of the latest happenings.

This week, on August 10, my middle daughter, Ali, turned 2! It is so hard to believe that time has gone by that quickly! She is growing up and though it is exciting, it makes me a little sad! She is a complex child, that one, the only daddy's girl in the bunch and my little brown-eyed cutie. To celebrate birthdays in this household, both sets of families are invited to help us party! Since both sides of the family are so close by, that means about 30 people crammed into our house! It is full, cozy, and a whole lot of fun! The kids especially love it and wouldn't think of having any birthday without the cousins!

I have never been a cake fan so making cakes is just not my thing. In the past, to compensate for the lack of a cake, I have served ice cream sundaes! They always are a hit! This year, however, I took the plunge and made cake! Okay, so this isn't your typical cake - as a matter of fact, I think they are waaaayyyy better - CAKE POPS!! Thanks to Bakerella and this post http://bakerella.blogspot.com/2008/01/dont-lick-bite.html I decided to make these lovelies for the party! Don't they look so fun?!! What girl wouldn't love these?

They really are quite easy to make - and, as usual, I had all the helpers I needed, plus a few extra! Here is Ali making her own pop

and Ali eating that same pop!!

Although I can quite happily live without cake (cheesecake is quite another story!), others need to be satisfied so, although the pops were fun, cupcakes were added to complete the cake experience! Plus, you cannot stick 2 candles into a cake pop - after all, what is a birthday without candles!!

So, my sweet little 2 year old, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I love you for who you are and who God is making you to be. I am so glad He brought you into our lives!

Not only did we celebrate the 2 year birthday of Ali, our little baby celebrated her own milestone this week on August 12, reaching the wonderful age of 6 months! If time was moving fast for Ali, it is moving even faster for Ari (is that possible!!). Was it only 6 months ago this little ray of sunshine entered our lives? Ari is a sweetheart through and through with a smile big enough to light up the room and generous enough to share with everyone! As the last of our 5 children (at least that is our plan - God may have His own [and usually does!!]), we couldn't have asked for a better personality - so laidback and easy-going, happy and easy to content, she is the perfect way to finish our family! We couldn't imagine our life without her (or any one of the others, for that matter!!). Ari, I am so glad God made you so full of joy! Share that joy with everyone you meet and, in doing so, share the amazing love of our heavenly Father. I love you, little one!