The Best Cornbread Ever

This is a really great, sweet cornbread. It takes 5 minutes to prepare and 35 minutes to bake. I was experimenting with cornbread recipes for an upcoming missionary zone conference meal. This is the first and last recipe I made!

1/2 cup cornmeal
1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup oil
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/4 cups milk

Mix dry ingredients, make a well and add oil, butter, eggs, and milk into the center. Stir until just mixed (batter will be runny, but don’t be alarmed!). Bake in an 8" square pan at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. This doubles perfectly for a 9×13-inch pan.

Sandwich Maker Oatmeal Bars

This is a very kid-friendly breakfast recipe. The batch makes 16 bars, so I am going to freeze them and get them out as I need them on busy school mornings. I got the recipe from everydayfoodstorage.blogspot.com. I'll put the food storage ingredients you can use in parentheses. You can also bake them in the oven as muffins at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

1-3/4 Bisquick

3/4 cup quick oats

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg (or 2 TBS. dehydrated egg + 1/4 cup water)

1 cup milk (or 3 TBS. powdered milk + 1 cup water)

1 cup raisins (or other dried fruit)

2 tsp. cinnamon

Mix ingredients together until moist. Fill sandwich maker or muffin pans 2/3 full and bake for 2 minutes in sandwich maker or 15-20 minutes in a 350 degree oven for regular muffins.

Pumpkin Muffins

This is a good fall recipe, as long as you like pumpkin. I believe my sister makes the same recipe as cookies instead of muffins.

All you need is 2 ingredients:

1 spice cake mix

1 can pumpkin

You mix the two together. It makes 12 muffins. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

I have also included these ingredients in my short-term food supply because it's a great food storage recipe.

Marlene's Never-Fail Bread

Okay, so this is the much-anticipated entry about my breadmaking experience. This is more a review of a recipe than an actual recipe. Someone at church said the best food storage cookbook is Marlene's Magic With Food Storage. I purchased the cookbook, and the picture above is the first recipe I tried. It is called "Marlene's Never-Fail Bread" on page 144.

She says you can also use this recipe to make cinnamon rolls, donuts, hotdog and hamburger buns, and dinner rolls. It uses such ingredients as yeast, potato flakes, and powdered milk, all of which are ingredients you would have if you were living off your year's supply of food.

The recipe makes seven loaves of bread. Since I had only three bread pans, I made three loaves of bread, one round loaf, one pan of rolls, hotdog buns, and hamburger buns.

To jump to the conclusion, I was not all that impressed. This is why:

1. The recipe made such a huge amount of dough that it wouldn't fit in one huge bowl.

2. The recipe called for kneading the dough 10 minutes. Since I had to split the dough into 2 huge amounts, I actually had to knead for 20 minutes.

3. The recipe called for 16 cups of flour, but I ended up using closer to 20 cups--which seemed like half of my bucket of flour!

4. The bread had a bland taste, which is perfect for sandwiches and buns (you don't want to overpower the toppings). It is definitely not the kind of bread you would want to eat by itself fresh out of the oven--not without a lot of butter and jam, anyway.

5. The bread had a crumbly texture.

So, I 've still got a ton of bread in my freezer that I need to find some use for...

Does anyone else have this recipe book, and, if so, have you had any luck with the recipes?

Homemade Pretzels

This was a fun afternoon activity. It involved only 2 timeouts and 10 handwashings! This is an easy pretzel recipe because you don't have to wait for the dough to rise before you bake them.

Mmmmmm!!!

1 envelope (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup honey
5 tablespoons sugar, divided
4 1/4 cups flour
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with foil.

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast and warm water. Add the salt, honey, and 1 tablespoon sugar and stir well. With an electric mixer, blend in the flour at low then medium speed.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until it's smooth (about 5 minutes). Divide dough into 16 equal pieces and roll into a 10 to 12-inch-long rope. On the foil, shape each rope into a letter, number, or other design.

Bake the dough for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. In small bowl, combine cinnamon and remaining 4 tablespoons sugar. Brush pretzels with melted butter and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top. Makes 16 pretzels.

Garlic-Cheese Biscuits

I also got this recipe off the Bisquick box. It is our favorite biscuit now. They taste just like the biscuits at Red Lobster.

2 cups Bisquick
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded cheese
2 TBS. melted margarine
1/8 tsp. garlic powder

Combine Bisquick, milk, and cheese. Place dough on ungreased baking sheet by rounded spoonfuls. You can roll out and cut if you have time. Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Combine margarine and garlic powder. While biscuits are still warm, brush with margarine mixture and serve immediately. They are not as good leftover.

Double Chocolate Swirl Bread

This is a Pampered Chef recipe that I've never made but have always wanted to. It looks SO good, and I would love to make it around Christmastime. If anyone makes it, please post a comment about how it tastes.

½ cup sliced almonds, chopped
1 cup white chocolate chips, chopped
2 packages (11 ounces each) refrigerated French bread dough
1 egg white
1 TBS. water
¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, grated, divided

Preheat oven to 375°. Lightly spray mini loaf pan (this recipe makes 4 mini loaves). Unroll one package of dough on lightly floured surface. Lightly beat egg white and water in small bowl and brush dough with mixture. Grate half of the semi-sweet chocolate chips over dough. Sprinkle with half of the almonds and white chocolate chips.

Unroll remaining package of dough directly over first dough layer, matching edges and pressing lightly to seal. Brush dough lightly with egg white mixture. Grate remaining semi-sweet chocolate chips over dough. Sprinkle with remaining white chocolate chips and almonds; press lightly.

Starting at narrow edge, roll dough up tightly; pinch edge to seal. Slice roll into four equal portions; place seam side down in pan. Make deep cut down the length of each loaf without cutting through ends. Brush loaves with remaining egg white mixture. Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from oven; cool 5 minutes. Remove loaves from pan; cool completely. For chocolate drizzle, place ½ cup chocolate chips and 1 tsp. vegetable oil in microwave-safe bowl and microwave uncovered for 30-40 seconds or until chocolate is melted and smooth. Drizzle over loaves and sprinkle with additional almonds or chocolate chips if desired.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

My mother experimented with this recipe one evening when Brady and Karissa were visiting. At the time, I thought the idea of sweet potato biscuits was very unappealing. Then I ate one. It was delicious and very sweet. Try one for yourself!

3/4 cup mashed sweet potatoes
1/4 cup melted shortening or margarine
3 TBS. sugar
2/3 cup milk
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cup flour

Heat mashed sweet potatoes. Stir in melted margarine or shortening. Stir in sugar. Add milk, baking powder, salt, and flour to make a soft dough. Roll out dough and cut biscuits. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

Banana Bread

This is the best version of banana bread I've ever had. I got it out of the Alpha-Bakery Children's Cookbook by Betty Crocker. It is a great ABC cookbook for kids, although I was introduced to it in college. You can order it here. My kids love making this bread--especially mashing the bananas. We usually make this when we have too-ripe bananas to get rid of.

3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (3 large bananas)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts, optional

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a loaf pan. Mix sugar, bananas, oil, and eggs in a large bowl with a wooden spoon. Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into pan. Bake until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 60-70 minutes. Let cool in pan 10 minutes, then loosen sides of loaf from pan and remove from pan. Let cool completely before slicing.

Cranberry Orange Nut Bread

This recipe comes from Matt's mother Linda a.k.a. Bigmama to her grandkids. She helped us make this bread for Christmas presents our first Christmas together. We were too poor for anything else!

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. soda
1 cup cranberries, coarsely cut
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp. grated orange peel
1 egg, well beaten
3/4 cup orange juice
2 TBS vegetable oil

Mix 2 tablespoons of the sugar with the cranberries and set aside to sweeten. Sift dry ingredients together; stir in cranberries, nuts, and orange peel. Combine egg, orange juice, and oil and add to dry ingredients, stirring until moistened. Bake in greased 9 1/2 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool on rack.

90-Minute Dinner Rolls

This recipe comes from the Law Family Cookbook, a family cookbook on my husband's side. The recipe is from Jane Law Duckett. The rolls are on the easy side for homemade rolls, and they taste similar to Parkerhouse rolls.

2 to 2 1/2 cups unsifted flour
2 TBS. sugar
½ tsp. salt
1 package active dry yeast
1/2 cup milk
¼ cup water
2 TBS. margarine

Mix 3/4 cup flour, sugar, salt, and undissolved yeast. Heat milk, water, and margarine to 120 degrees. Gradually add flour mixture and beat 2 minutes on medium speed with mixer. Add 1/4 cup flour and beat on high for 2 minutes. Stir in enough additional flour to make a soft dough. On floured board, knead 2 to 3 minutes. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces and shape into balls. Place on greased 8-inch pan. Pour a 1-inch depth of boiling water into large pan and set on bottom rack of cold oven. Set rolls on rack above water. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes with oven door closed. Uncover rolls and remove pan of water. Turn oven to 375 degrees and bake 20 to 25 minutes or until done. Remove from pan to cool.