S'mores Brownies

Bake brownies according to directions.
When they come out of the oven, top with mini-marshmallows and graham cracker bits and pieces.
Broil for around a minute, but watch carefully.
Enjoy!

Crispy Chicken

In one bowl, combine 2 eggs and 1/2 cup milk. In a second bowl, gently crush 3 cups of cornflakes and add a dash of salt and pepper. You can also had onion powder/flakes if you want. Dip pieces of raw chicken in egg batter first, then flakes. Bake at 350 for one hour.

French Toast

This french toast recipe is also from the "Family Feasts" cookbook. I usually don't put flour or sugar in my egg mixture, but the addition made the toast extra good.

Combine:
1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup milk
4 large eggs 1/2 tsp vanilla

Dunk Texas Toast (thickly cut bread) and cook on a griddle. (Really, I'm sure everyone knows how to cook French Toast....)

Vanilla pancake syrup

I just realize I haven't posted anything here since the 4th of July! I attribute half to a busy summer, but half to just being lazy in the kitchen, I guess. But school is starting next week, so I hope to crack open a few cookbooks and try some new things.

This one is so simple to make, and just tastes yummier than store bought syrup. I found the recipe in "Family Feasts for $75 a Week," by Mary Ostyn. I would recommend this cookbook highly to anyone trying to stretch a budget by making more things homemade instead of buying costlier store bought versions.

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract

In a saucepan, combine sugars, water, and corn syrup. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil until slightly thickened, about 7 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in salt and vanilla.

Cool for 15 minutes before using.

Store in a tightly covered bottle in the cupboard.

Jello Cake

My kids, especially the boys, love looking through cookbooks. They almost always choose one from the library to bring home each week. This past week Zachary was especially excited about the cakes, and asked if we could make one for Beatrix's birthday, since her birthday is the next one up. (At least on the kid calendar.) I told him we could pick her cake in November, but that we could make something in the meantime. So we made a Jello cake Friday. Or sometimes they are also called "poke cakes." And since it was the weekend of the 4th, the kids asked me to decorate it with fireworks. That sounded easy enough, but they turned out pretty funny looking. Thus, no picture of the entire (ugly) cake, but just one piece to at least show the fun colors. The recipe actually calls just for cool whip on the top, but I didn't have any, so this was a cream cheese frosting. Mmmm. It is a super simple cake, but does take most the day with all the waiting periods, so be sure to give yourself plenty of time.

Jello Cake

Bake a white cake in a 9x13 and cool completely.

Poke the cake with a fork lots and lots and lots.

Combine any flavor Jello (4oz box) with 1 cup boiling water, until dissolved. Then add 1/2 cup cold water. Slowly pour over the cake. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Frost with whatever sounds good. Cool whip is nice and light, cream cheese frosting makes a nice compliment to the berry flavor.

Braided breadsticks

I like this bread recipe because it makes a good, yeasty bread stick, but from start to finish they are done in about an hour. (Or more, depending on how much "help" I have.) Abigail learned to braid last week, so I made the dough and she shaped them.

Combine and let get bubbly:
1 cup warm water
3 tbl sugar
2 1/2 tsp yeast

In mixer bowl, stir together:
3 cups bread flour
1 tsp salt

Turn on the mixer with the bread hook.
Drizzle in 1/4 cup oil. Slowly add the yeasty water and then let the mixer combine and then knead the dough.

Roll out into a 10x12 rectangle.
Cut into strips. (About 1/4 inch wide.)
Use three strips and braid, place onto a greased cookie sheet.
Let rise for about 20 minutes.
Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes, depending on how thick they ended up.
Brush with butter, and sprinkle with garlic salt and parmesan cheese.

Simple Granola

Many homemade granola recipes have extras in them, like coconut or nuts or fruit. My kids, however, just want the straight granola. I combined a few recipes and came up with this:

4 cups old fashioned oatmeal (not the 1 minute)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 Tbl honey
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla

Put oatmeal into a large glass bowl. Microwave for two minutes, stirring halfway. (Not sure why, maybe helps to dry out the oats?)

Combine the other ingredients in a small bowl. Pour onto oatmeal. Stir until well blended.

Microwave for 4 minutes, stirring at each minute. Pour onto wax paper to cool. Spread thinly if you want little pieces, or thickly to break into big chunks. (And have less little crumbies all over the floor.)

Or alternately, in the oven, bake at 350 for 20 minutes, stirring every 5.

I have only done the microwave method, because it is so fast and turns out well.