At Home My Way

PIZZA CRUST/DOUGH (I prepare no-knead dough the night before for making our pizzas.  This dough recipe makes four med size pizzas.) (I learned the basics of the crust recipe from an issue of Mother Earth News. The link is here   and the authors also have a very nice blog where they try new recipes. But, I digress... here we go... No-Knead Dough 3 cups very warm water (NOT lukewarm) (think “hot but no hurt” - like hot bath water) 2 teaspoons or 1 packet active dry yeast 6 ½ cups all purpose flour 1 Tablespoon salt Instructions :  Measure 3 cups of very warm water (should feel hot to your hand but you can hold your hand under there without having to remove it). Stir in the yeast until mostly all dissolved. Let the yeast/water sit while you measure the flour and salt into a mixing bowl.  In about 10 minutes, the water/yeast should be getting a foamy top. In a large mixing bowl measure 6 ½ cups of "fluffed" all purpose flour. Add 1 Tablespoon table salt and s...

This weekend I was really in a mood to cook alot! I mixed up a batch of this french bread dough . I made one loaf of regular french bread to go with our supper. I rolled up one loaf of pizza bread. I rolled another one with ham and grated mozerella to eat for sandwiches for the week (sliced). But, the most exciting thing I made was I made homemade spaghetti pasta. I used this pasta maker which a friend loaned me to try out. You can find it on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Imperia-SP150-Pasta-Machine/dp/B002ZWA15K/ref=sr_1_2?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1297708223&sr=1-2 I used the recipe in the box which was: 2 1/4 cups flour 3 eggs I mixed this up with a little sprinkle of water and kneaded the dough until smooth. Formed the dough into a disk and wrapped in plastic wrap to rest in the fridge for about 20 minutes. Then we rolled pieces of the dough into strips with a floured rolling pin according to the directions in the box, fed those strips into ...

I grew up mostly eating homemade biscuits. The ONLY time we ever got canned biscuits (we have a friend who calls these "wop biscuits" ... purely for the wop you make with the can on the side of the counter LOL) was when we were at my Granny's house. I don't think my Granny really loved cooking like I do.  If there was a shortcut, she took it! LOL.  That's not to say that she didn't make some completely delicious food! She could make a mean pot of spaghetti sauce which all of us grand "young 'uns" (as she called us) thought was the very BEST SPAGHETTI ON THE ENTIRE PLANET and her conch peas and sweet tea - PURE BLISS! (But that's for another day...) I loved eating canned biscuits at her house. My brother and I would get to split a can. But, at home, we had homemade which was delicious as well! I make homemade biscuits at my house. They are wonderful and we eat them for breakfast, lunch or supper. My girls really dislike canned biscuits! They...

We were invited to a Superbowl party this year at the house of a good friend. This is the dish I took to share. I turned this Crusty French Bread Recipe into Pizza Bread. I remembered to take "before" pictures, but of course,was in a run out the door to the party and forgot to take a picture of the finished product. This dough makes 2 loaves of french bread or 2 loaves of pizza bread. No kneading required really. So easy, and everyone should try it! Crusty French Bread (my camera is pretty awful, but I wanted you to see how it looks while baking) 1 package (2 1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast 1 1/2 cups warm water (HOT but no hurt) 1 Tablespoon sugar 2 teaspoons salt 1 Tablespoon oil or melted shortening (I used oil) 4 cups all purpose flour In a 2-cup measuring cup, measure the hotish/warm water. Add the yeast and sugar. Stir well to dissolve, leaving your spoon in there. Let this rest while doing the next step. In a large bowl measure out the flour and add the...

I am always on the lookout for perfect pancakes. I love pancakes, but I don't like sweet ones. I don't like dense heavy ones. I don't like to taste too much egg. I can't really describe the perfect pancake until I find it. Well... I hit the mother load and found it. I used to teach a bread baking class on Sunday mornings to our high school Sunday school class. They loved making these pancakes! Some of them had no idea you could even make homemade pancakes without a box mix, so they were thrilled to have this recipe. These are THE PERFECT PANCAKE... at least to me. We make up a bunch and store in either the fridge or the freezer for quick busy weekday mornings. I originally found this recipe at a favorite blog http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/pancakes.htm . This site is a great resource for all basic cooking recipes. I make lots of her recipes and they always taste great. I like my pancakes a little less thick and dense than the original recipe on the blog so I have m...

I used this recipe for Bobby Dean's Goulash found at Mommy's Kitchen blog (which I love by the way), for the most delicious quick supper (think how fast Hamburger Helper is, but better for you)! I changed it up a little bit using what I had on hand like this: GINA'S FAVORITE GOULASH 2 - tablespoon soy sauce 2 - bay leaves (do not omit - key ingredient here) 1 - teaspoon oregeno seasoning 1 - (15-ounce) can crushed tomatoes (diced is great too but I had crushed) 1- (15-ounce) can tomato sauce 2 - cups water 2 teaspoons garlic powder 1 lb - lean ground beef 1 Tablespoon onion powder 2 - cups elbow macaroni, uncooked In a Dutch oven or large pot, saute the ground beef over medium-high heat until no pink remains. Break up the meat while sauteing. Spoon off any grease. Add the onion powder and garlic to the pot. Add 2 cups water, along with the tomato sauce, crushed/diced tomatoes, oregeno (basil or italian seasoning works here), bay leaves (key ingredient - don...

To ward off the "blues" during our BLIZZARD OF 2011 (18 inches of snow... the entire interstate was closed from St. Louis to KC), I made this cool bread! I call it rainbow bread. I made some for a bake sale they were having at church. The last time I sold it at a farmer's market it was the first thing to go. Even my high schooler loved taking PB&J on this! I used the recipe for my sandwich bread and dyed each batch a different color (I mixed gel dye into the yeast/water portion of my recipe) and then proceeded from there. When the dough was ready (I did mine in the bread machine throughout the day), I divided each batch of dough into fourths, rolled out each fourth and stacked three colors together (with varying colors on the outside). Rolled like for a cinnamon roll and plopped it in a sprayed loaf pan. It rose for about an hour and then I baked it for 30 minutes as in the recipe. They turned out so cute and if you have to make a great gift for a young person ...