Smokey Cheese Ball

This was soooo easy to make. It was the hit of the party I took it too, and I will be making it again to go with Christmas dinner. I completely forgot to take a picture of the finished ball. I thought about taking a picture of what was left but there wasn't really anything left. :) I will upload a picture when I make it here in a couple weeks. I will warn you you see those little cheese balls in the store that are like 1 cup max. This makes 3-4 cup cheese ball its massive!

I like being crazy so I mixed two different cheeses together, you could do one by all means. Change it for your taste. Or throw a little of all types in it. I used Smoked Gouda and Sharp Cheddar along with the rest of the recipe. It smelled soo amazing also. Highly recommended.

Prep: 15 minutes

Chill: 4 to 24 hours

Stand: 45 minutes

Makes: 3 1/2 cups

2- 8 ounces packages cream cheese

2 cups finely shredded smoked cheddar, Swiss, or Gouda cheese

1/2 cup butter or margarine

2 tablespoons milk

2 teaspoons steak sauce ( I used A1)

1 cup finely chopped nuts, toasted. ( I didn't toast mine, I just bought some chopped nuts ( hazelnuts , because the Mr. grabbed the wrong kind still yummy though)

1. In a mixing bowl let cream cheese, shredded cheese, and butter stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Add milk and steak sauce, beat until fluffy. Cover and chill for 4 to 24 hours.

2. Shape mixture into a ball, roll in nuts. Lets stand for 15 minutes. Serve with crackers.

French Bread

I am forever going to be making my own French bread. This was so delicious, it froze nicely, it baked well. Two thumbs up! I precut my french bread into smaller portions so that I could just grab out of the freezer and go. I have made garlic bread, and cheesy bread.

I would say if you do make some and freeze it, I wouldn't let it sit in the freezer past 3 months. It would probably start getting a stale taste and what not.

Prep: 40 Minutes

Rise: 1 hour and 35 minutes

Rest: 10 minutes

Bake: 35 minutes

Oven: 375 degrees

Makes 2 loaves (28 slices)

 51/2-6 cups all-purpose flour

2 packages active dry yeast

11/2 teaspoons salt

2 cups warm water ( 120 to 130 degrees)

Cornmeal

1 egg white, slightly beaten

1 tablespoon water

1. In a large mixing bowl stir together 2 cups of the flour, the yeast, and salt. Add the 2 cups warm water to the flour mixture. Beat with an electric mixer on low to medium speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.

2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a stiff dough that is smooth and elastic ( 8 to 10 minutes total). Shape dough into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease dough surface. Cover, let rise in a warm place until dough doubles in size ( about 1 hour).

3. Punch dough down. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide dough in half. Cover, let rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, lightly grease a baking  sheet, sprinkle greased baking sheet with cornmeal.

4. Roll each dough half into a 15x10 inch rectangle. Tightly roll up, starting from a long side, seal well. If desired, pinch and slightly pull ends to taper them. Place shaped dough, seam sides down on prepared baking sheet. In a small  bowl stir together egg white and the 1 tablespoon water. Brush some of the egg white mixture over loaf tops. Let rise until nearly double in size about 35-45 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 375 degree. Using a sharp knife, make three or four diagonal cutes abouts 1/4 deep across each loaf top. Bake for 20 minutes. Brush again with some of the egg white mixture. Continue baking for 15 to 20 minutes more or until bread sounds hollow when lightly tapped. Immediately remove loaves from baking sheet. Cool on wire racks.

Recipe courtesy of Better Homes and Garden Cookbook.



Banana Muffins

What do you do when you have left over bananas that know one will eat?!?!? Make BANANA MUFFINS! Then everyone eats them :) No wasteful food in this household, everything gets brought back to life.

Got everything ready to go!

Added flour and such, made my well and added the milk and egg.

Just keep stirring, just keep stirring ( watch Finding Nemo one to many times :) )

Add caption

Notice two missing my girls just couldn't wait to eat them :) Proud Mama

Receipe Courtesy of Better Homes and Garden Cookbook.

Muffins

Prep time 10 minutes 

Bake time 18 minutes

Oven 400F

Makes 12 or so muffins

1 3/4 Cups all- purpose flour

1/3 cups sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg beaten

3/4 cups milk

1/4 cup cooking oil ( I use olive oil for everything and I never notice a difference)

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Grease muffin tin or use muffin cups or lined paper bake cups. Set aside. In a medium bowl combined flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in center of mixture, set aside.
2. In another bowl combined egg, milk, and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to the flour mixture. Stir just until moistened ( batter should be lumpy.
3. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each two-thirds full. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown and a wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups, serve warm.

• Banana Muffins, prepare as at left, greasing muffins cups ( do not use paper bake cups ). Reduce milk to 1/2 cup. Stir 3/4 cups mashed banana and 1/2 cup chopped nuts ( I don't prefer nuts in my baking products, though I do enjoy them by themselves. Weird I know ) into flour mixture along with the egg mixture.

I hope you enjoy making these and finding a new purpose for your older, ripened bananas.

New things are coming out soon! .........

I'm trying something new tonight for dinner and I just cant wait to share the outcome. I have tried a couple new venison recipes that I will be sharing SOON! One has to do with back straps, I personally have never really been much of a fan for them. Though when talking to a relative he gave me a few pointers on how to remove the "gamey taste" I do believe it did the trick. I sooo enjoyed the back straps and will be enjoying them more often now. :) Also I did a Beef-n-noodle version but with venison and a few other added ingredients that I don't normally put in my beef-n-noodle dinner. But it was sooo delicious!

Stay tuned for the updated post to be coming out! recipes included. Please also take a moment and leave a comment. I would love to here if you enjoy what I share! Also let me know what you may want to hear about???

The more I learn everyday the closer we are to be less in debt, more money in our savings, and living off the land that is provided for us. I wish I would have learned more sooner and been a little more opened minded when I was younger.