This is my first time participating in the Improv challenge, mostly because I could not commit during the holidays. This month’s Improv challenged us to use sour cream and lemons. So I started with this Basic Sour Cream Muffin recipe because its one of our favorites and I really wanted to keep it simple. I went back and forth between adding lemon zest to the muffin batter and actually decided against it, only because I said I wanted to keep it simple. So instead I create a quick lemon glaze to drizzle over the top. I also decided to give the muffins a little more oomph with some simple lemon extract, of course you could use lemon zest instead.

Lemon Glaze Sour Cream Muffins

1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. lemon extract
4 large eggs (or 8 egg whites + 4 tsp. oil)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 c. sour cream
2 3/4 c. all purpose flour

Lemon Glaze
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Grease the muffin cups or line with paper liners.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and creamy, about a minute. Next, beat in the lemon extract, eggs, salt and baking soda.
Next, fold in the sour cream and then the flour.

Scoop the batter into muffin cups. Place in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean.

Allow to cool for about 5 minutes in pan.

Remove from pan and place on wire rack. In a bowl, combine the powdered sugar and the lemon juice to create the muffin glaze; drizzle over muffins. Serve warm.

Makes 24 muffins.

Lemon Sour Cream Muffins originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on January 19, 2012.

A repost of a recipe by request.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust? Says who? Yes, it’s delicious. And what is even crazier is that you can’t even tell it’s Cauliflower. When we first made this pizza crust, I had to get it together before the 5 kids got home from school. I was on a diet and was trying to lower my carb intake, and knew I had to cut out pizza crust. I also knew that at least one of them would be totally fine with the idea of Cauliflower in her pizza crust, but I wasn’t convinced about the rest. And I’m 100% positive that my oldest daughter wouldn’t have touched it. But she loves pizza and I was focused on making sure she had no idea what I had made it with until AFTER she ate it.

Here’s the recipe:

Cauliflower Pizza Crust Recipe

• 1 c. cooked, riced cauliflower
• 2 egg whites
• 1 c. mozzarella cheese
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1/4 – 1/2 c. pizza sauce
• parmesan cheese, if desired
• pizza toppings

Don’t know how to rice cauliflower? Let me teach you the quick easy way.

I purchased a large head of cauliflower, brought it home – washed it thoroughly, and then patted it dry. I then chopped it into small bite size pieces and tossed them into my food processor and processed it until it was the size of rice. Like this:

After you’ve riced it, place it in a microwave safe dish and put it in there for about 7-8 minutes or so.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F

Grab a pizza pan and spray it with a non-stick spray. By the way, don’t be stingy with the spray. If you don’t use enough, that pizza will be difficult to get off the pan. Trust me on that.

In a medium bowl, combine the cauliflower, egg  whites, mozzarella, oregano and garlic.

Press evenly in the pan. Push it down into all the corners making sure its stuck to itself pretty well. It will not be a pretty circle, but it won’t matter when you taste it, I promise.

Sprinkle with some parmesan cheese if you want some more flavor.

Bake at 450 degrees for 12-15 minutes. I strongly recommend checking it at about the 12 minute mark and then allow it too cook for remaining time if needed. This crust is not like a typical BREAD crust… it sometimes won’t stay together as well and will require a fork and a spoon, but I also know that once you taste it, you just won’t care. At all.

Remove the pan from the oven. Add your sauce, toppings and cheese.

Place under a broiler for about 30-60 seconds, just until the cheese is melted. Watch it carefully or it will burn.

I suck because I did not take a photo of the finished pizza when we made this because I was trying to keep it a secret from the kids. They’d have thought I was nuts photographing a pizza. Anyway, it looks amazing, it tastes amazing and guess what – my pickiest eater who in a million years would not pop a piece of cauliflower into her mouth – Ever, I swear she wouldn’t. AND she LOVES it. Yes. My kids request this all the time. All 5 of them. That’s how good it is. If I can convince at least 3 super picky eaters to eat this, and now they know what it is, you’ll be very happy you made the switch. It’s a little extra work, but it’s SO good you won’t care.

Let me know if you’ve tried this and what you thought of it. I’ll be making it again in a few weeks, and I will grab a picture of the finished pizza. Sorry ’bout that.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on January 3, 2012.

It’s that time again! Monday means, it’s time for This Week’s Cravings. What are we craving this week?

Our theme this week is Christmas Dinners and Holiday Food Traditions. More on that in a minute.

I’m proud to be co-hosting This Week’s Cravings along with Tina over at MOMS CRAZY COOKING, Kristen from From My Tiny Kitchen, Angie from Big Bear’s Wife  & Kristi from Veggie Converter.

Have you made any recipes for Christmas Dinners and/or Holiday Food Traditions and want to link up with us? Go ahead and link it up down below in the linky, just please make sure you’re following our theme – we delete them if they don’t. Also, please make sure you read the simple rules first. This will ensure you have it all right.

Now, onto my yummy recipe and the story behind it.

When I saw the theme for Christmas Dinners, I panicked a little, since I don’t actually make Christmas dinner at our house – we go over the river and through the woods (yes literally) to my mom’s house each year for Christmas. And our Christmas Eve is not like anyone elses I’m sure. We usually create an odd hodge podge of foods and advertisers and we don’t usually do the same thing twice. So what in the world was I going to post?

Then I realized that it also said Holiday Food Traditions. And that opens up a whole new area, because we do Holiday Food Traditions, no problem. Christmas morning every year, we make a huge breakfast with our favorite egg, sausage and cheese casserole, hash brown casserole and these delicious Gingerbread Pancakes.

Now, I can’t really remember where I got this recipe, but we’ve tweaked it and modified it over the years, so its really ours by now. I hope your family will enjoy it as much as ours does.

Gingerbread Pancakes

• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 c. milk

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, the baking powder, the baking soda and the salt. Add the ginger, the cinnamon, the cloves and the nutmeg. In another mixing bowl, beat the egg with the vanilla and the molasses until it is all smooth. Whisk in the milk until it is completely incorporated with the molasses mixture.  Slowly stir the molasses mixture into the flour and spice mixture. Stir just until combined, there will be some lumps.

Heat your griddle over med-high heat. Brush your griddle with some butter. Add about 1/4 cup of batter to the griddle for each pancake.  Lower the heat just a bit to about medium. Cook until bubbles appear on the surface of the pancakes and they begin to brown just a bit around the edges, this is about 2 minutes, and then flip them over and cook them on the other side for around 2 minutes more. Watch them closely as they do burn more easily than regular pancakes.

When you finish them, if you need to keep them warm a little longer, preheat your oven to about 250 degrees and set them on a pan and keep them toasty in there until you’re finished making the rest.

These are amazing with just syrup, but we often top them with powdered sugar and whipped cream, we us fruit toppings, your possibilities really are endless. So good!!

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Participate in upcoming linky parties:

• 1/2/2012 Week # 62 Let’s Get Healthy… Healthy Meals & Snacks
• 1/9/2012 Week # 63 COMFORT FOOD: Soups & Casseroles
• 1/16/2012 Week # 64 CHEESE LOVER DAY… YUMMY Cheese recipes
• 1/23/2012 Week # 65 Homemade Pies
• 1/30/2012 Week # 66 Recipe from Your Favorite COOKBOOK
• 2/6/2012 Week # 67 Nutella DAY (Peanut Butter, Almond Butter & More)

This is a BLOG Party hosted by MOMS CRAZY COOKING and co-hosted by the blogs listed in the top paragraph.

If you are a regular link-up we’re excited to see what you made this week. If you are new please read and follow the simple rules, so that everyone can enjoy the linky party!

If you forget to follow the theme, your post will be deleted. Please don’t feel hurt, just come back and link up a recipe that follows the theme. Thanks a million, we look forward to blogging with you! The LINKY PARTY is opened ALL Week!

PLEASE do not link more then 3 recipes per week. This week’s theme is:Christmas Dinners and Holiday Food Traditions.
Please only link recipes with our theme!

This post linked to: Melt in your Mouth Monday, Motivate Me Monday, Made by You Monday, Makin’ You Crave Monday, Tuesday Talent Show, Tasty Tuesdays, What I Whipped Up Wednesday, Look What I Made Wednesday, Will See It Wednesday,

Gingerbread Pancakes originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on December 19, 2011.

It’s time for This Week’s Cravings again and what a fun week!

Our theme this week is French Toast, Pancakes and Waffles in honor of National French Toast Day. I am very proud to be co-hosting This Week’s Cravings along with Tina over at MOMS CRAZY COOKING, Kristen from From My Tiny Kitchen, Angie from Big Bear’s Wife  & Kristi from Veggie Converter.

So have you made any delicious French Toast, Pancakes or Waffle recipes lately? Want to link up? Yes, you – if you have a recipe that follows that theme, link it up down there at the bottom in the linky. It will be awesome. (make sure you read the simple rules first). And make sure it’s for French Toast, Waffles or Pancakes.

Now, onto mine. At holiday time we love to spice up our traditional foods to make them more festive, and that’s what happened one morning when we decided to play around with Pumpkin Pie Pancakes. Surely there had to be a way to make them yummy.

Pumpkin Pie Pancakes

• 3/4 c. milk
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 c. all-purpose flour
• 3 Tbs. white sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 Tbs. pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbs. butter, melted
• 2 Tbs. canned pumpkin (more if desired)

Combine the milk with the vinegar in a bowl and allow it to sit for about 5 minutes to let it sour.

In another bowl, combine the flour, the sugar, the baking powder, the baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and the salt.

After five minutes has passed, whisk the egg and the butter into the soured milk. Add the canned pumpkin and whisk again.

Pour the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture whisk until lumps are gone. At this point, you can see whether you need more liquid or more flour. (this will probably depend somewhat on how much pumpkin you used) Add milk and/or flour by Tablespoons until you are happy with the consistency. (usually I just leave it as is, but in case you like a different texture batter).

Heat a large skillet over medium heat or a griddle set to 360 degrees, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cup of batter onto the skillet or griddle, and cook until bubbles begin to appear on the surface.

Flip ONLY once with a spatula, and cook until golden on the other side.

Top with whipped cream and some pumpkin pie spice or syrup. Yum!! So festive, so good, and so warming!

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Participate in upcoming linky parties:

• 12/05/2011 Week # 58 Christmas Baking: Sweets, Treats, Candy & Gift Ideas
• 12/12/2011 Week # 59 Macaroni & Cheese
• 12/19/2011 Week # 60 Christmas Dinners & Holiday Food Traditions
• 12/26/2011 Week # 61 Appetizers & Party Platters

This is a BLOG Party hosted by MOMS CRAZY COOKING, From My Tiny Kitchen, Big Bears Wife, The Daily Dish and Veggie Converter.

If you are a regular link-up we’re excited to see what you made this week. If you are new please read and follow the simple rules, so that everyone can enjoy the linky party!

If you forget to follow the theme, your post will be deleted. Please don’t feel hurt, just come back and link up a recipe that follows the theme. Thanks a million, we look forward to blogging with you! The LINKY PARTY is opened ALL Week!

PLEASE do not link more then 3 recipes per week. This week’s theme is: French Toast, Pancakes and Waffles.
Please only link recipes with our theme!

This week’s theme is: FRENCH TOAST, PANCAKES and WAFFLES. Please only link recipes with our theme!

This post is linked up with: Melt in Your Mouth Monday, Made By You Monday, Mangia Mondays, On The Menu Monday, My Sweet & Savory Meatless Mondays, Savvy Homemade Monday, Homemaker Monday, Amaze Me Monday,

Pumpkin Pie Pancake Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on November 28, 2011.

We made this recipe up ourselves one evening in the kitchen when we had a can of pumpkin and we were making our french toast casserole recipe. We decided that for a Fall treat, it would be nice to make it pumpkin pie french toast and so this recipe was born. I’ve tried it a couple of different ways since we first made it, but this is the easiest and tastiest way to make it. This makes one casserole, but we double it to make two. (remember I’m feeding five hungry teenagers here.)

Overnight Pumpkin French Toast Casserole

• 1/2 C Butter
• 12  slices White Bread
• 1/2 C Brown Sugar
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 – 1/2 c.  pumpkin
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 5 eggs
• 1 1/2 c Milk

Melt the margarine and pour into a 9×13 pan.

Mix the brown sugar and the pumpkin spice seasoning.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, milk and vanilla together.

Layer 6 pieces of bread into the casserole dish.  Spread a thin layer of pumpkin (as if you were buttering a piece of bread) on each of the six slices of bread.

Next, sprinkle half of the brown sugar and pumpkin spice mixture over the top of the pumpkin that is spread on the bread.

Now repeat all steps again – layer the rest of the bread on top, then the pumpkin, the rest of the topping.

Pour the egg mixture over the top of all of it and then sprinkle the remaining brown sugar/pumpkin spice mixture over the top.

Cover and refrigerate overnight or at least 4-8 hours. Honestly, the longer the better. In the morning, cover the dish with tinfoil and bake in a 350 degree over for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, uncover the dish and bake an additional 15 more minutes. It should be golden and set.

Remove from oven and serve hot. Sprinkle with some powdered sugar if you want. This can also be served with syrup, butter, whipped cream or just eaten plain. It is delicious!

P.S. We are going to try it with some other “flavors” and I will let you know what we come up with, that actually works and tastes good.

Pumpkin French Toast Casserole Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on November 18, 2011.

We found this recipe and we have never looked back. We usually bake several loaves in one day and just freeze them, but the bread at it’s freshest is like nothing I’ve ever eaten before. So delicious and soft and perfect. We occasionally pick up a loaf of store bought bread for a wide variety of reasons, but for the most part, this is the one we stick to – tried and true…. frugal and amazing. You should try it.

Oh, and another “frugal” thing we do, is keep any bread bags and ties we have to store the bread in. It’s a great way to reuse the bags that store bought bread comes in. We do the same thing for our hamburger buns, hotdog buns and bagels which we are now making from scratch. Next, we’ll try English Muffins.

Anyway, let’s move on with the bread.

This is probably the best homemade bread recipe I have found for sandwich bread, and I’ve certainly tried a lot.

The crumb is nice and even, not crumbly at all.

The crust is actually really soft and even a little chewy in a good way. I am not a huge fan of crust as a kid I cut it off, as an adult, I eat it, but not a fan. I absolutely adore the crust on this bread. It’s just delicious.  I’ve been known to dip it in soup or spread a little butter on the crust too. Delish!

My house still smells amazing from the bread. I love the smell of fresh baked bread. And this bread is so awesome because you can use it for anything you would use regular bread for. Yep, that’s right – toast, french toast (heavenly!), bread crumbs, grilled cheese and so on. Assume if you can use regular store bought sandwich bread for something, you can use this bread – and it will taste better too. I promise.

Baking bread is really easy. This recipe makes two 1 pound loaves. Warning: If you have a family of seven, they will consume at least a loaf a day.

You will need two loaf pans. I just used my Pyrex glass ones.

While many of you probably have stand mixers, and if you do, feel free to use it to mix the ingredients (about five minutes), but I just do it the old fashioned way. There is something very therapeutic about kneading dough. Since I do it the old fashioned way, I usually knead it for about 10 minutes. Oh yeah, and make sure you take off your rings, because otherwise, it’s a lot of fun to try and get the dough out of all the little crevices. Or not.

A quick repost of my favorite sandwich bread.

You will need:

• 2 cups warm water
• 2 Tbs. sugar
• 1 Tbs. dry active yeast
• 1 Tbs. salt
• 5 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 Tbs. butter, softened (we’ve used margarine, but you will have better results with pure butter)

Take the time to proof your yeast first. It works better.

In a bowl, pour the water and the sugar. Mix until dissolved. Add the yeast. Again, mix until dissolved.

Set it aside for 10 minutes. When you come back it should have bubbles formed all over the top of it. This is how you know it’s “alive” and ready to go.

Next, throw in the flour and the salt. Then, slice up the butter into smaller pieces and add it. This just makes it easier for it to blend when you’re mixing.

Now comes the fun part. Knead the ingredients together for about 10 minutes by hand, about 5 minutes with a mixer. You can usually tell it’s done when it feels slightly elastic, smooth and isn’t sticking to anything.

Knead the dough into a ball and place it in a clean bowl. Cover it with some plastic wrap that you have sprayed with cooking spray or rubbed with some oil. (believe you me, we have forgotten this step before, and it makes a difference. I have no idea why. It just does. So do it.)  Set the bowl in a warm place. I actually just cover mine with two kitchen towels and put it on the counter in the back out of the way.

Allow it to rise for one hour.

After an hour uncover the dough. It should be pretty big and poofy at this point. Take your hand and punch into it once or twice to get it to push all the air out of it.

Knead it again (you don’t have to take it out of the bowl, I do it right in the bowl) for about a minute or so, forming it into a ball.

Sprinkle flour onto your table or other wooden work surface.

Put the ball in the middle of the dough.

Cut the ball into two equal pieces using a bencher, or I just use a kitchen knife.

Taking one half of the dough, knead it a little folding it over itself over and over. Create a sort of ovalish shape with it and then place it into your lightly greased loaf dish.

Now repeat everything with the second wedge of dough.

Put both pans back where you had the bowl for the first rise, but leave them uncovered. For one hour.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. When your dough has risen the second time and doubled in size, it’s time to put them in the oven.

Just put ‘em in there for 35-40 minutes. I’m pretty faithful with my 35 minute timing, but it could take more in your neck of the woods.

When they’re done, pull ‘em out of the oven and allow them to sit in the pans for 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes, using a potholder or towel, turn the bread out onto a cooling rack and allow them to cool the rest of the way. Since you’re aiming for sandwich bread, it is better not to cut them until they are completely cooled, otherwise they get a little crumbly.

Once cooled, trim into slices and store at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days (if it lasts that long, because we’re already through one loaf in 1 day!) lol

Enjoy!!

Our Favorite Homemade Sandwich Bread originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on October 27, 2011.

These are so yummy during the Fall! We make the Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffins all year long, but on holiday’s I like to change up the ingredients to fit the holiday. This recipe for Pumpkin Pie Spice Donut Muffins is super easy and my daughter is the one who made the ones pictured in the photo. So it’s easy enough for kids too.

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ginger
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. all spice (or you can just use pumpkin pie spice which we did)
• 1 c. sugar
• 2/3 c. shortening
• 2 lg. eggs
• 1/2 c. buttermilk
• 1 cup canned pumpkin (no sugar or spices added)

For the outside coating:

• 2 sticks of butter,  melted
• 1 1/2 c.  sugar
• 3 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

In a bowl, blend the sugar, shortening and eggs until you get a creamy mixture. Add the canned pumpkin, mixing the entire thing until smooth. Make sure you scrape the sides of the bowl and get that down in there too. In another bowl, mix all of your dry ingredients – the flour, the spices, baking powder & baking soda.

Blend everything up real good.

Now take turns adding the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture alternating between the dry stuff and your buttermilk. Mix well in between each addition. Make sure that everything is mixed well, including all the batter that gets stuck to the sides of the bowl.

Don’t forget to scrape that bowl!

We make these in mini muffin pans, but you could totally do this in a large muffin pan. Grease your muffin tin thoroughly. We use shortening, but you could do this also with non-stick cooking spray. Fill each muffin cup about 2/3 of the way full.

Now bake ‘em!

Bake these little gems at 350 degrees for about 20-24 minutes. (we usually pull them around 21)

Allow them to sit for about 2-5 minutes, and then remove and allow to cool for another 10-15 minutes on a cooling rack. You don’t want them to be cold, you just want them to be easy to handle. If they cool quicker than 10 minutes…

Go For it. Get ‘em covered in sugary/spicey goodness!

Now for the coating: Blend the sugar and pumpkin pie spice together in a bowl. Place the melted butter in another bowl next to it.

Dip each muffin into the butter for only a second or two, completely submerging it. Now roll the muffin into the Sugar & Spice mixture. Coat it really well, rolling it around so every inch is covered.

Now you can eat them. Or you can save them. But I recommend you eat them. Because as soon as others get a bite, they’re gonna go fast!

Happy Fall!

Pumpkin Pie Spice Donut Muffins originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on October 1, 2011.

I roughed the hot weather, and heated up the oven this morning while it was still… well, not 110 degrees heat index. We decided to make a triple batch of these awesome, delicious Pistachio Muffins. Basically we plan to freeze two dozen of them to save for next week, or the next time I do not wish to heat up the oven. Yes, it’s just that hot.

Pistachio Muffins

You need:

3 c. flour
1 1/2 c.sugar
2 Tbs baking powder
1 box Pistachio Jello Instant Pudding
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/4 c. milk
1 1/2 Tbs. honey
3/4 c. coconut or canola oil

In a big bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients: flour, the sugar, the baking powder and the pudding mix.

In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, the milk, the honey and the oil. Stir well.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and blend until moistened.

Fill the baking cups full.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes in preheated 375-degree oven, or until muffins test done.

Mmm… Enjoy! Makes 12 muffins.

Awesome with a hot cup of coffee or tea. Spread some butter or honey and eat up. Oh, and my kids really like peanut butter on them? It really does taste pretty good. LOL

Pistachio Muffins originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on July 21, 2011.

We found this recipe and we have never looked back. Occasionally we will still pick up a loaf of bread from the store, but it is so rare, and only if we have coupons that will make  it free or REALLY cheap. Otherwise, you can pretty much rest assured that homemade – from scratch bread is definitely cheaper and healthier than it’s store bought counterpart. A lot healthier and cheaper!

Oh, and we keep any bread bags we have to store the bread in. Great way to reuse the bags that store bought bread comes in. We do the same thing for our hamburger buns, hotdog buns and bagels which we are now making from scratch. Next, we’ll try English Muffins.

Anyway, let’s move on with the bread.

This is probably the best homemade bread recipe I have found for sandwich bread, and I’ve certainly tried a lot.

The crumb is nice and even, not crumbly at all.

The crust is actually really soft and even a little chewy in a good way. I am not a huge fan of crust, but I absolutely adore the crust on this bread. It’s just delicious.  I’ve been known to dip in soup or spread a little butter on the crust too. Delish!

My house still smells amazing from the bread. I love the smell of fresh baked bread. And this bread is so awesome because you can use it for anything you would use regular bread for. Yep, that’s right – toast, french toast (heavenly!), bread crumbs, grilled cheese and so on. Assume if you can use regular store bought sandwich bread for something, you can use this bread – and it will taste better too. I promise.

Baking bread is really easy. This recipe makes two 1 pound loaves. Warning: If you have a family of seven, they will consume at least a loaf a day.

You will need two loaf pans. I just used my Pyrex glass ones.

While many of you probably have stand mixers, and if you do, feel free to use it to mix the ingredients (about five minutes), but I just do it the old fashioned way. There is something very therapeutic about kneading dough. Since I do it the old fashioned way, I usually knead it for about 10 minutes. Oh yeah, and make sure you take off your rings, because otherwise, it’s a lot of fun to try and get the dough out of all the little crevices. Or not.

You will need:

• 2 cups warm water
• 2 Tbs. sugar
• 1 Tbs. dry active yeast
• 1 Tbs. salt
• 5 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 Tbs. butter, softened (we’ve used margarine, but you will have better results with pure butter)

Take the time to proof your yeast first. It works better.

In a bowl, pour the water and the sugar. Mix until dissolved. Add the yeast. Again, mix until dissolved.

Set it aside for 10 minutes. When you come back it should have bubbles formed all over the top of it. This is how you know it’s “alive” and ready to go.

Next, throw in the flour and the salt. Then, slice up the butter into smaller pieces and add it. This just makes it easier for it to blend when you’re mixing.

Now comes the fun part. Knead the ingredients together for about 10 minutes by hand, about 5 minutes with a mixer. You can usually tell it’s done when it feels slightly elastic, smooth and isn’t sticking to anything.

Knead the dough into a ball and place it in a clean bowl. Cover it with some plastic wrap that you have sprayed with cooking spray or rubbed with some oil. (believe you me, we have forgotten this step before, and it makes a difference. I have no idea why. It just does. So do it.)  Set the bowl in a warm place. I actually just cover mine with two kitchen towels and put it on the counter in the back out of the way.

Allow it to rise for one hour.

After an hour uncover the dough. It should be pretty big and poofy at this point. Take your hand and punch into it once or twice to get it to push all the air out of it.

Knead it again (you don’t have to take it out of the bowl, I do it right in the bowl) for about a minute or so, forming it into a ball.

Sprinkle flour onto your table or other wooden work surface.

Put the ball in the middle of the dough.

Cut the ball into two equal pieces using a bencher, or I just use a kitchen knife.

Taking one half of the dough, knead it a little folding it over itself over and over. Create a sort of ovalish shape with it and then place it into your lightly greased loaf dish.

Now repeat everything with the second wedge of dough.

Put both pans back where you had the bowl for the first rise, but leave them uncovered. For one hour.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. When your dough has risen the second time and doubled in size, it’s time to put them in the oven.

Just put ‘em in there for 35-40 minutes. I’m pretty faithful with my 35 minute timing, but it could take more in your neck of the woods.

When they’re done, pull ‘em out of the oven and allow them to sit in the pans for 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes, using a potholder or towel, turn the bread out onto a cooling rack and allow them to cool the rest of the way. Since you’re aiming for sandwich bread, it is better not to cut them until they are completely cooled, otherwise they get a little crumbly.

Once cooled, trim into slices and store at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days (if it lasts that long, because we’re already through one loaf in 1 day!) lol

Enjoy!!

Homemade Frugal Sandwich Bread Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on July 6, 2011.

This is my go-to recipe for a basic sour cream muffin. It’s wonderful with add-ins like chocolate chips, nuts, spices or berries.

Basic Sour Cream Muffins

1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
4 large eggs (or 8 egg whites + 4 tsp. oil)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 c. sour cream
2 3/4 c/ all purpose flour
1/2 cup of add-ins (chocolate chips, any berries, raisins, nuts, etc.)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Grease the muffin cups or line with paper liners.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and creamy, about a minute. Next, beat in the vanilla, eggs, salt and baking soda.
Next, fold in the sour cream.
Now fold in the flour and any of the add-ins that you have chosen.

Scoop batter into muffin cups. Place in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean.
Allow to cool for about 10 minutes in pan.
Remove from pan and allow to completely cool on wire rack. Makes 24 muffins.

Basic Sour Cream Muffin Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on January 4, 2011.