A friend of mine's daughter had her birthday yesterday.  She requested a luau themed party.  Unfortunately, the 85 degree weather did not stick around, and the day was met with a 30 degree drop, along with wind and rain.  Regardless, we had a grand time, with fabulous food, good friends, and a nice warm fire to congregate around.

  The party was potluck style, and since the meat was all being provided, I was hard pressed to find something to bring that would fit in with a luau style.  Then I saw this recipe for Hawaiian sweet rolls.  These are my favorite type of roll.  I mean, who doesn't love these things?  Sweet, light and flaky...  what says luau better than these?

  Now, I had never attempted any kind of bread that required yeast.  Something about working with the yeast, the constant waiting and punching, is daunting to me.  However, I had been determined to try, and this seemed like a good reason and time!  This recipe does not require kneading or punching, but does require lots of time to let the dough rise. 

  I had to have my boyfriend do the rolling for me, because the dough is quite sticky, and I have some huge gross-out factor to that kind of stickiness.  His little trick of spraying his hands with cooking spray was a good idea, though, and that might help me for next time. 

  The smell of them baking was divine.  Many comments were made about "What smells so good?" as they were baking.  They came out delicious.  Everyone raved about them, and I was asked to pass the recipe along, so here it is!  They are a bit more subtle in the sweet department than the store bought kind, but I think that can be easily adapted to fit your specific tastes..  I forgot to brush the butter on before baking, and believe that if I had remembered to do that, they would have been even more fantastic.  Maybe mix a little honey into that butter for an even bigger sweet pop?


Hawaiian Sweet Rolls:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup pineapple juice
• 1/4 cup melted butter, plus more for brushing
• 1 tablespoonful dry yeast
• Salt (the recipe I found did not specify.  I just did a couple of shakes into the bowl)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 teaspoonful vanilla
• 6 tablespoonsful sugar
• 3 cups flour

Directions:

1.  Combine water, juice and butter in a large bowl.  Sprinkle in yeast.   Add salt, egg, vanilla and sugar.   Stir to mix.  Add flour one cup at a time, stirring between each addition.  Mix with your hands if the dough becomes too stiff.  Luckily for me, I was able to completely mix with just a wooden spoon.  Cover and let rise until doubled, about 2 hours.

2.  If baking later, place covered dough in the refrigerator.

3.   Spray baking pan(s) with cooking spray (I used a cake pan).  Roll dough into balls and place in pan.   Cover and let rise  until doubled, about another 2 hours.

4.  Preheat oven to 350*F.   Brush rolls with melted butter and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden.

  While perusing stuff to bake on Taste of Home's website (I use the crap out of that site!), I came across this recipe for a basic bread mix.   It is a base for making different types of non-yeast breads.   This particular recipe mentions blueberry, zucchini, and cinnamon breads.  It has a great base batter, and shows you how to divide it so as to make a mini-loaf of each type.  In my household, I've found that muffins go over better than breads, so I used a standard 12-cup muffin pan instead of the mini loaf pans.  I also used all of the batter to make one type of muffin.  The base mix made a full 12 muffins of perfect size.

  Let me start off by telling you that the base batter is delicious!  I think it would make a nice muffin or bread all on it's own!  I think I ate 2 muffins worth of just batter on my first try...

   Since I had a bunch of blueberries that had been sitting in my fridge for awhile, and were starting to get saggy (but still edible), I decided to start with the blueberry recipe.   It whips up very easy, and the resulting muffins were superb!  They were gone within 24 hours, and that's really saying something in this house.  They were sweet, and had a hint of a cornbread texture.   I would change absolutely nothing about this recipe.

  Next off I tried the zucchini recipe.  I had a big zucchini out of my garden that was begging to be turned into something scrumptious, so I figured to try this base with the zucchini.   Again, a delicious muffin.  Even my kids went back for more.  Same light cornbread texture, with a sweet nutty taste.




Basic Mix:

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
3/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoonful baking powder
1/2 teaspoonful salt
1/4 teaspoonful baking soda
1 egg
2/3 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons butter, melted


Directions:

Combine all dry ingredients in one bowl.  In another, whisk together the egg, juice and butter. Pour into the flour mixture.   Mix well.


For blueberry muffins:

Mix one cup fresh or frozen blueberries into entire mix.  If dividing batter for multiple loaves or types, divide accordingly.  Bake at 325*F for about 30 minutes.  While baking, whip together 6 teaspoons honey with 6 teaspoons of orange juice.  Pour over muffins upon removing from oven (I did not do this part, because I forgot.  However, they still came out perfectly tasty.. I can only imagine that this step would transform them to heavenly.)

For zucchini muffins:

Mix 1 cup shredded zucchini,  3 teaspoons grated orange peel and 3/4 teaspoon of cinnamon into the batter. Again, if dividing, divide accordingly.    Bake for 325*F for about 30 minutes.




I am not a fan of cinnamon, so have not made that kind.  However, I just may with fall coming upon us.  I think it sounds like it might be yummy to add some chopped apple to it.  If I do, I will let you know how that turns out.  If you make them, let me know!   (The recipe is in the link.. remember to multiply the amounts by 3 for the full pan if you are using the entire base for one recipe.)

   It's that time of year when zucchini is aplenty in our gardens.  That happened to be the case with a friend of mine, who handed over two huge zucchinis to me.  I knew right away I'd be making zucchini bread.  Since I suddenly had so much of it, though, I decided to experiment a little.  I found a few different recipes, and will be making a few different types, so I have a bit of variety! 

  This recipe for Apple Zucchini Loaf comes from Taste of Home's website.  I made a few changes which I will show below. 

Ingredients:

Bread:

• 1&1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoonful cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoonful baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoonful baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoonful salt
• 1 jar (4&1/2 ounces) diced apple baby food (I used a 4-oz applesauce cup that we use for lunches)
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoonful canola oil
• 1 cup shredded zucchini

Topping:

• 1/4 cup quick-cooking oatmeal (I used a packet of instant cinnamon-apple)
• 1/4 cup coconut flakes
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoonsful butter, melted
• dash of ground cinnamon

Directions:

1.  In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  If using baby food, drain apples and reserve juice. 

2.  In another bowl whisk together egg, oil and applesauce or reserved juice.  Stir into dry ingredients until just blended.  Fold in zucchini and reserved apples.

3.  Pour into an 8x4in loaf pan coated with cooking spray. I used 4 small loaf pans, not sure of their size, but I filled them each about 2/3 full. 

4.  Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle overtop.

5.  Bake at 350*F for 50-55 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to cooling rack.

These actually came out pretty darn good.   I still had to bake them for the same amount of time as called for with the regular sized loaf pan.  They are a little chewy, but that's alright with me.  They smell divine!  My house smells all yummy now.   =)

 This morning I got a baking hair up my butt, so decided to make these.   The recipe has been taped up to my kitchen cabinet for a few months now.  I was looking at it while refilling my coffee cup, and realized I had all of the ingredients, especially that sour cream, which needed to be used before it went bad.  I grabbed all my little containers and began to make a mess.

 
  The recipe says it yields 6 muffins.  I used my standard 12-cup pan and had just enough batter to do so.  So, use whichever pan bakes the size muffins you like! 

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1&1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup flaked coconut (I used sweetened coconut)
1/4 cup miniature chocolate chips (I used regular sized)
1/4 cup sliced almonds
additional sugar (I forgot that)



Directions:


1.  In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

2.  In another bowl, whisk together the egg, sour cream, butter and almond extract.

3.  Stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture until moistened.

4.  Fold in coconut and chocolate chips.  I also folded in about half of my almond slices, too.

5.  Fill prepared muffin cups two-thirds full.  Sprinkle with almonds and additional sugar.  Bake at 375* F for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan. 

  *Notes:
   The muffin is a bit pasty.  While I do like the almond and coconut together, I don't think I care for the chocolate chips.   Both my boyfriend and I agree that it would be a great lemon-blueberry batter.  Or even just add blueberries instead of the chocolate. 

Tonight's dinner was Sloppy Joes.  This is the first time I've ever made them from "scratch".   I got this recipe from Taste Of Home.   I didn't have any onion powder, so I just used a crapton of garlic powder.  The sauce came out very thick, so if you are a fan of that (I kind of am), then you will be pleased with this.  It was kind of sweet, but not too much.  I liked it.  My daughter (11) did not, but my son (14) did, although he didn't eat a bun.   My boyfriend really likes it.  

I apologize for the crappy pictures this time around.  My boyfriend wasn't here, so I took the photos, and I am not anywhere near as talented. 

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds hamburger
• 1 cup ketchup
• 8 tablespoons water
• 4 tablespoon brown sugar
• 4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 4 teaspoon prepared mustard
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
•  hamburger buns

Directions:

1.  In a saucepan, cook beef until no longer pink inside.  I let mine stay a little bit pink, so that the rest would cook out during the simmer process.  Do whichever makes you happy.

2.  Meanwhile, assemble the rest of the ingredients.  When finished, it should look something like this:

3.  Drain meat.  Add all the ingredients except the buns.  

4.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Doesn't it look delish?  (No, not really... it looks like what it might later, actually.  But trust me.  It came out tasting much better than it looks!)

5.  Spoon meat mixture over top of buns.  I prefer mine toasted, but forgot to do that, so I just used regular ol' buns.  Enjoy!

 

Is there really any better way to start off a food blog than with cheesecake?  How about Oreo cookie cheesecake?  How about Oreo cookie cheesecake cups?  Do I have your attention yet?  These little morsels are a cupcake-wrapper full of heavenly sin.  As a matter of fact, in the time it took my boyfriend to take these delicious pictures, I had devoured 3 of these bad-boys.  I will pay for that on the treadmill later, but my-oh-my are they worth it.  

  I guess this recipe is originally from one of Martha Stewart's cookbooks (go figure), but I found it here.   It is super easy to make, and absolutely divine.  I halved the recipe, and used a standard 12-cup muffin pan.  The halved recipe gave me 18 cheesecakes.  I think I may have found a new family-gathering dish.

Ingredients:

• 42 Oreo cookies (or any similar cream-filled cookie), 30 left whole and 12 crushed
• 2 pounds cream cheese (according to my math, that's 4 8-oz boxes), room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup sour cream
• pinch of salt

Directions:

  1.  Preheat the oven to 275*F.   Line your cupcake pan with cupcake liners.  I don't know how well this would turn out without liners.  If you try that, let me know!  Place one whole cookie at the bottom of each liner.

2.  In a large bowl, beat cream cheese on high speed until creamy, scraping the edges as needed.  Add sugar, and beat until combined.  Add vanilla.

3.  Add eggs a bit at a time, and beat well, again scraping sides as you go.  Add in sour cream and salt and beat until mixed.  Stir in crushed cookies by hand (well, with a big spoon or something.. I wouldn't recommend using your hands, although you'd have lots of yummy gooeyness to lick off!)

4.  Spoon cheesecake batter over cookies in cupcake pan, filling cups until they are almost full.  Bake for about 20-25 minutes, rotating pan halfway through, until cheesecake is set (it doesn't wiggle when you jiggle it).  Remove from oven and let cool completely.  Transfer to the fridge and let set for about 4 more hours or more.  I highly recommend you go find something outside to do during this time, since the anticipation can be insane!

5.  Devour.