Pizza Rolls

This is a VERY simple and versatile recipe. Great for lunches, after school snacks, or whatever.

Make one recipe of my pizza dough. Divide it in half. Roll out one half to about a 12×6″ size. Spread pizza sauce on it, then top with your favorite pizza toppings (nothing too chunky). Sprinkle with shredded cheese. Roll up as you would for cinnamon rolls. Repeat with second chunk of dough. Place, cut-side down, on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 435*F for 15-20 minutes.

My family is pretty unadventurous when it comes to pizza toppings, so I did one batch of pepperoni with mozzarella cheese, and one batch of ham with cheddar cheese.

Banana Bread

This isn’t my favorite banana bread recipe. I’m hunting for the perfect banana bread recipe. I want it to be MOIST and FLAVORFUL and also simple – not with separate egg whites and yolks and all kinds of “extras.” Is it a tall order? I guess we’ll see. If you have a winning recipe, feel free to post a comment with a link to it, or let me know what it is.

1/4 cup soft butter

1/2 cup honey

2 eggs

1 cup mashed banana

3/4 cup buttermilk or 6oz pineapple juice

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Place butter in large mixing bowl. With a wire whisk, blend in honey, eggs, banana, buttermilk/juice, and vanilla one at a time in order listed. Place flour in a medium mixing bowl. Thoroughly blend in cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Blend dry ingredients into liquid ingredients just until mixed. Scoop batter into greased loaf pan. Bake at 325*F for 70 minutes or until a table knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cornbread

1 cup flour (white or whole wheat)

1 cup cornmeal

2-4 Tbsp sugar (or substitute with apple juice concentrate)

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 beaten eggs

1 cup milk

1/4 cup cooking oil

Grease 9×9 baking pan and set aside. Stir together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt in mixing bowl. Combine eggs, milk and cooking oil in small bowl or measuring cup. Add egg mixture to dry mixture. Stir just until moistened. Pour batter into pan and bake at 425*F for 20-25 minutes, or until brown.

I have also successfully turned this into cornmeal muffins. Use a muffin pan instead of the 9×9 and bake for only 12-15 minutes instead.

Better Biscuits

4 cups flour

2 Tbsp baking powder

2 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp salt

2/3 cold butter

2 cups milk

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Use a cheese grater to shred cold butter into mixture and stir to distribute it evenly. Add milk gradually, stirring just until dough pulls away from the side of the the bowl. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead 15 times. Pat or roll dough out to a 1-inch thickness. Cut biscuits into squares, or if you want to be really picky, use a round-rimmed glass to cut circles. Brush excess flour off biscuits and place them on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 425*F until edges begin to brown (13-15 minutes). Serve hot.

Push-In Pie Crust

I tried this crust for the first time today. I’ve always shied away from making my own pie crust from scratch, for some reason. But this one worked GREAT! And it’s so quick!

1-1/2 cups flour

2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 Tbsp milk

Place flour, sugar, and salt in an 8- or 9-inch pie pan. Mix with a fork. Add oil and milk. Mix again, until all ingredients are combined. Press dough into the bottom and against the sides of the pan with your fingertips. Bake empty pie shell at 425*F for 10-12 minutes. Now it’s ready to use in your next quiche recipe, or make it a delicious dessert by filling it with pudding or fruit pie filling.

Buttery Garlic Cheese Biscuits

I cannot describe to you accurately how scrumptious these are. I love garlic. I love butter. I love biscuits. These are soft, almost melt-in-your-mouth delicious.

2 cups flour

2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1/4 cup shredded cheese (I use mozzarella, but cheddar is fine, too. In fact, Parmesan would probably be good, as well.)

3 Tbsp butter, melted

3 cloves garlic, minced

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Add milk and cheese and stir until just combined. The trick is to spend as little time and energy mixing it. The less you mix, the lighter it’ll be. Divide the batter into 12 greased muffin cups. I like to pick off chunks from the bowl and drop the into the muffin cups. This results in easily pulled apart biscuits that are fun to eat! Then, mix together melted butter and garlic and drizzle over the biscuits. Bake until golden brown at 375*F (about 15 minutes). You’ll want to serve these fresh out of the oven.

Italian Flat Bread

Yesterday, I wanted an interesting bread to go with our meal. I improvised and came up with a winning recipe! Use my Perfect Pizza Dough. Make it exactly as if you’re making a pizza. Spread it into the greased cookie sheet, then brush it with butter or olive oil, or a combination of both (I use a 50/50 mixture). Then sprinkle it with Italian Seasoning and, if you have it, Parmesan cheese. Then bake as you would for pizza! Cut it into strips, and you’ve got flat breadsticks! My kids couldn’t get enough of them!

Buttered Bread Crumbs

2 slices whole wheat bread, broken in pieces

sprig of parsley

1 Tbsp melted butter

Crumble bread slices with parsley in blender and combine with butter in small bowl. Use to top casseroles. Store in an airtight container or ziplock bag in the freezer.

Biscuits

This recipe is quick and easy. It is the best biscuit recipe I’ve ever used. It also happens to be a “family heirloom”, passed down through generations of good, German cooks!

2 cups flour (You can use whole wheat, though the texture won’t be quite the same – I usually use a combination.)

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup shortening or butter (This is the only recipe I ever use shortening for, and only because I make it so often and butter is so expensive.)

1 large egg

milk

Combine flour, salt, making powder and shortening with your hands until it’s all crumbly and blended. In a measuring cup, crack the egg and add milk to yield ALMOST one cup. You might need to experiment with this. I often end up with only 3/4 cup. Add this to the crumbly mixture. Place on a floured counter and roll out about 1/4 inch thick. Cut into squares. Bake at 400*F for 10 minutes.

We eat these for breakfast, or as a bread alongside soup or other main dishes. This dough also makes AMAZING cinnamon rolls! Roll out the dough and spread butter over it. Sprinkle a brown sugar and cinnamon mixture over it. Roll out and slice into 1-inch slices. Bake as above. Drizzle a thin icing over them, if desired. (Just mix icing sugar with a bit of milk and vanilla or almond extract.) Delicious!

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Bread

This bread is so easy to make and so moist. Best of all, it’s whole wheat and uses honey instead of other sweeteners!

3/4 cup raisins

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup oil

1 cup honey

2 eggs

1 cup pumpkin (I use canned, but you could use fresh cooked)

1-3/4 cups whole wheat flour

1-1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1-1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

Cover raisins with water in a small bowl and set aside to soak. In a large mixing bowl, blend oil, honey, eggs, and pumpkin together thoroughly. In a medium mixing bowl, thoroughly blend flour, baking powder and soda, salt, and spices. Drain water off the raisins and pour it into the liquid mixture. Blend dry ingredients into liquid ingredients just until combined, folding in drained raisins at the very end. Pour into a greased medium loaf pan and bake at 325*F for about 55 minutes or until a knife or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes; remove from pan and lay loaf on its side on a cooling rack. Cool thoroughly before slicing.

Note: Whenever I make quick breads like this, I like to make at least two. They freeze well. Also, if you’re using canned pumpkin, you wouldn’t use the whole can if you only bake one loaf. I like to make as many as I can using one can of pumpkin. This might alter your baking time slightly. It’s very handy to have an extra loaf or two on hand in your freezer. Or, better yet, bring one to your neighbor while it’s still warm!