Bunny Bread

I adapted my recipe from the Taste of Home magazine.

Ingredients

• 2 loaves (1 pound each) frozen bread dough, thawed (I made homemade bread dough and then just used these instructions to form the bunny.)
  
• 2 raisins
• 2 sliced almonds
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Directions

• Cut a fourth off of one loaf of dough; shape into a pear to form head. For body, flatten remaining portion into a 7-in. x 6-in. oval; place on a greased baking sheet. Place head above body. Make narrow cuts, about 3/4 in. deep, on each side of head for whiskers.
• Cut second loaf into four equal portions. For ears, shape two portions into 16-in. ropes; fold ropes in half. Arrange ears with open ends touching head. Cut a third portion of dough in half; shape each into a 3-1/2-in. oval for back paws. Cut two 1-in. slits on top edge for toes. Position on each side of body.
• Divide the fourth portion of dough into three pieces. Shape two pieces into 2-1/2-in. balls for front paws; shape the remaining piece into two 1-in. balls for cheeks and one 1/2-in. ball for nose. Place paws on each side of body; cut two 1-in. slits for toes. Place cheeks and nose on face. Add raisins for eyes and almonds for teeth.
• Brush dough with egg. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30-45 minutes. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
• Yield: 1 loaf.

Once you taste this salad, it will be a favorite! It's so easy and so yummy. I got this recipe from my sister and seriously, how can you go wrong with strawberries and chocolate?? You could probably save time and use a store-bought poppyseed dressing, I haven't tried it...but you could? My motto with this salad is "don't mess with a good thing"..

1 bag baby spinach
1 pint strawberries, sliced
heath bits*

Dressing:
1 c. mayonnaise
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. vinegar
2/3 c. sugar
2 tbsp poppy seeds

Mix dressing ingredients together and toss with spinach, strawberries and heath bits.
Not every store has heath bits, so if you can't find them just crush up a skor bar or a heath bar.

Lemon white chocolate chip cookies

I was looking through my cookbook last night, trying to come up with a dessert for our Valentine's Day dinner. I came across this cookie recipe, I did post this on my blog a few years ago, but here it is again. It's one of my favorites:

1 c. margarine, or butter
2/3 c. brown sugar
1/2c. granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. lemon extract
2 1/4c. flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. lemon zest (I like them really lemony,
so I usually add more)
1/2 tsp salt
1 pkg. white chocolate chips


You know the routine, Mix wet ingredients in a bowl, and dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then combine. Or if you are like me toss it all in one bowl and stir together. Bake 8-10 minutes in 350 degree oven. Yummy!

Chicken and Roasted Pepper Tostadas

This recipe again comes from one of my favorite blogs
www.fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com
I made this recipe last week and it was delicious. It was actually the first time that I had roasted peppers and i'm not sure why I waited so long, they were yummy! The sour cream sauce is a must!

Chicken and Dressing:
1-2 red bell peppers, cored, seeded and flattened
1-2 yellow bell peppers, cored, seeded and flattened
1 pasilla pepper, cored, seeded and flattened
2 c. leftover roasted chicken meat, shredded
1/4 sweet yellow onion chopped finely
1-2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1 clove of garlic, minced
juice of 1 lime
salt/pepper

Position oven rack close to broiler and heat the broiler. Cover a baking sheet with tin foil. Put the cored, seeded and flattened peppers skin side up on a baking sheet: broil until blackened. Transfer to a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let cool 10 minutes. Once peppers are cool enough to handle, carefully remove skin (It should peep right off) Chop peppers into small pieces. Reduce oven temp. to 400. In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, cumin, garlic, lime, salt and pepper. Mix and set aside. (In the regular recipe she just combines the meat/peppers and onion in a bowl) I put chicken, onions and peppers in a frying pan and cooked until onions were soft and everything was warm. Remove from heat and toss with dressing. The recipe is for tostadas, but I found it easier to eat like a taco. Use costco's tortillas for best results :) Top with sour cream sauce.

Sour cream sauce:
1 c. sour cream
1 tbsp sweet yellow onion, finely chopped
2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, finely chopped
juice of one lime
1 clove garlic, minced
salt/pepper
Combine all together in a bowl...

Simple Crusty Bread

This is my first Domestic Diva post, but this recipe is fabulous--so fast, easy and non-fussy. The friend who sent it to me said it would change my life...and it has! I've copied the recipe into the blog pretty much as she sent it to me (hence all the random commentary).

Simple Crusty Bread

3 c. warm water
1 1/2 T yeast
1 1/2 T kosher salt or 1 T iodized
6 1/2 c. flour or 6 cup whole wheat

Mix yeast, salt and water in large bowl. (Like popcorn size bowl.) Stir in flour, mixing until no dry patches remain. Dough will be very loose and sticky. Cover and let rise 2-5 hours.

Dust a pan or cookie sheet with cornmeal, maybe 1/3 cup. Sprinkle dough with flour and pull off grapefruit size pieces of dough. Turn into a ball using additional flour on your hands as needed to shape 4-6 loaves. (Remember this dough is ultra sticky so I justify the oddly shaped loaves as being rustic and artisan.) Let rest on pan for 40 minutes.

Heat oven to 450 degrees and place an empty pan such as an old muffin tin or bread pan on the bottom rack while heating. Dust loaves with flour and slash tops with a knife three times or if you are up to it in beautiful ornate patterns. Pour one cup of water in empty pan in oven and place loaves in oven. Quickly close oven door to prevent escaping steam. Bake for 30 minutes. (I know, seems like a long time at that high of heat but don't scrimp on time or you'll loose all the yummy crusty goodness! And don't peek by opening the oven door either. Tempting, but you'll loose the steam. Must. Keep. Steam.)

You can also keep the dough covered in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Let rest on cornmeal for an extra hour before baking.

Braided Hot Sandwiches

I should definitely come up with a more creative name for this most delicious meal. Several years ago a woman from church shared a variation of this recipe with me and it has been a family favorite ever since. Basically it is a hot meat and cheese sandwich with anything extra you decide to throw in.

This past week I whipped up six of these (we were sharing four with another family) in not much time at all.

Braided Hot Sandwich

First:

Make your bread dough (a real simple recipe is just perfect).

2 cups hot water
1 Tab. yeast
2. Tab. sugar
1 tsp. salt
4 cups flour
optional: 2 Tab. spices (I used this yummy mix from TJ Max called Parmesan Garlic Bread Dipping Blend)

Let rise about an hour (or stick it in your warmed oven if you are short in time until the dough rises to double).

Then:

Divide dough up. The dough recipe above will make three Hot Sandwiches.
Roll the dough out so it is a nice rectangle (maybe like 10" X 16")
Next use your pizza cutter or knife and make 1 1/2" slices all down the side of the dough (see below)
Then put all your fillings in the inside. This is where you can great creative.
Here are some ideas that I have tried:

--mustard, ham, cheese
--pesto (mixed with ranch), turkey, cheese
--marinara, ham, peperoni, cheese
--meat, cheese
Then you braid the dough. First you fold down the top of the rectangle a bit and then just start "braiding" the dough. Really it is a fake braid because you are just crisscrossing your dough strips.Gently lift of the braided sandwich and lay it on your greased and cornmeal dusted pan. Don't forget this next step...take one egg YOKE blended with 1 T. of water and brush the tops of all the sandwiches. One egg yoke was enough for all six of my sandwiches.
Let rise for a bit (maybe a 1/2 hour or stick in the fridge if you are not wanting to cook them for a couple of hours). Then Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown (probably 15-20 minutes).

They are delicious and look very pretty. If you are a veggie lover you could throw in some sliced olives, red peppers, artichoke hearts, or any other nasty veggie you can think of (just kidding...just I really am just a meat and cheese girl).

Serve with homemade french fries or chips and a tasty salad. Super yummy!

GOOOOOOD Granola!!

(and good for you too I guess...)

Our Enrichment last night was on healthy living (blah blah blah) BUT, I did decide that maybe we should eat less fruit loops and more healthy cereals for breakfast, so I made granola- so yummy! I love it! and you really can't screw it up is the best part...any nuts, dried fruit, seeds, etc make it great! But here's a base recipe to get you started-

8 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups wheat germ
1 1/2 cups wheat bran or oat bran
1 cup sunflower seeds
3 cups varied nuts (almond slices, cashews, pecans, walnuts, peanuts)
1 cup coconut
MIX ALL TOGETHER IN A BIG BOWL

1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup honey
1 cup veg. oil
1 TBS cinnamon
1 TBS vanilla
BRING TO BOIL IN SAUCE PAN OVER LOW HEAT

Pour sugar mixture over oat mixture and stir until evenly coated. Dump granola onto 2 foil-lined cookie sheets and bake at 325 degrees for 20-30 minutes...(longer if you like it even crunchier) It won't be hard or crunchy when it first comes out of the oven, but as it cools it will be! When cooled, mix in 2-3 cups dried fruit (raisins, craisins, cut-up apricots, extra coconut, anything!)
Store in air tight container.