Potato Yeast Doughnuts

Doughnuts:

2 1/4 t. yeast

1/4 c. warm water

1 c. milk

1/2 c. sugar

1/4 c/ shortening

1 t. salt

3/4 c. mashed potatoes

2 eggs

5 c. all-purpose flour

oil for deep frying

In a small bowl dissolve yeast in warm water. In a medium saucepan heat milk until almost boiling. Stir in sugar, shortening and salt. Stir in mashed potatoes, eggs and yeast mixture. Gradually stir in 4 cups of the flour. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead in the remaining 1 cup flour for about 8 minutes. (or you can just mix it in a Bosch mixture) Knead until elastically and smooth. Place in a greased bowl; turn to grease the surface of the dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size about an hour. On a floured surface, roll out the dough about 1/2 an inch think. Cut with a doughnut cutter, place onto greased cookie sheets to rise. Let rise for about 25-30 minutes, until they look fluffy. 

Meanwhile, in a large heavy skillet or deep-fryer, heat enough oil to provide 1 1/2 inches of frying depth to 375*. Fry several doughnuts for about 30 seconds each side until a little darker than golden brown, then flip and fry the other side. Remove from deep fryer and place onto a cooling rack with paper towel to drain oil. Then dip one side into the glaze and set on cooling rack *Do this while they are still very warm. 

Eat lots and enjoy them! I ate probably way to many :P but they were SO good I just couldn't help it. 

Glaze:

2 1/2 c. icing sugar (sifted)

1 t. vanilla

1 T. butter

5 T milk approx. 

mix altogether until creamy and smooth. 

Makes approximately 2 1/2 dozen doughnuts with holes

Enjoy!!!!!! :D 

Pasta Making Day

   Today I got a snow day at work! I always love it when I don't have to go to work when I was expecting to. It is a great feeling to be able to just go back to bed and wake up at a normal hour like the rest of my family instead of at 3:30 am. Since I didn't have to work today I decided that I would make a couple different types of ravioli to put in the freezer for a later date. I love to make ravioli, it is so fun and quite simple, a little bit time consuming but it is well worth it. They taste simply amazing.

   I made some round ones and some square ones so that I could tell them apart, as they have different fillings. One (the round ones) are a creamy chicken filling and the square ones are a garlic and mushroom filling. Both sound fantastic, but of course I don't know what they taste like as they are in the freezer! But I am sure that they will be wonderful. The last ones I made were beef and vegetable, they were amazing. I made up the recipe though and I have no idea what I put in them now. That was about 3 months ago. I should have wrote it down, but it is to late now. Here are the recipes for these ones, as I don't want to forget these ones too. :)

Garlic Mushroom Ravioli:

Serves 4

5 1/2 T. butter

1/2 c. finely chopped shallots

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1/2 c. finely chopped mushrooms

1/2 celery stalk, finely chopped

1/2 c. finely grated romano cheese, plus extra for garnish

Heat 2 T. butter in a skillet. Add the shallots, garlic, mushrooms, and celery. Cook for 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in the cheese, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Creamy Chicken Ravioli:

Serves 4

1- 4 oz cooked chicken breast, coarsely chopped

1/8 c. cooked spinach

1 shallot, coarsely chopped

6 T. freshly grated romano cheese

pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

1 egg, lightly beaten

Place chicken, spinach, and shallot in food processor and process until chopped and blended. Transfer to a bowl, stir in cheese, nutmeg and egg. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Basic Pasta Dough: ( I also use this for vereniky dough, also know as perogies but the mennonite version.)

Serves about 6

1 c. milk

3/4 c. butter

4 c. flour

1 t. salt

2 eggs beaten

Heat milk and butter in a saucepan stirring until the butter is melted. Allow to cool to room temperature. Put 4 cups flour and salt into a Bosch mixer or you can use a kitchen aid as well. Mix beaten eggs with milk mixture. Add liquid to flour mixture. Beat on slow with dough hook for 2 minutes. Cover dough. Chill for about 4-6 hours. Last time I made them I only let it chill for about 30 minutes and they still worked very well. The dough will just be easier to make if it has been chilled for the proper time.

A great filling for vereniky (which is a cottage cheese filled perogy) is 2 tubs dry cottage cheese, 1 wet tub cottage cheese, 2 egg yolks and salt and pepper to taste. Very easy and VERY good. But this is for a totally different recipe. Not for the ravioli, just to let you know, but if you want to try it, it is excellent.

How to make square ravioli:


Divide the pasta dough in half and wrap 1 piece in plastic wrap. Roll out the other piece to a rectangle 2-3 mm thick. Cover with a damp dish towel and roll out the other piece of dough the same size.

Place 1 teaspoon of the prepared filling in neat rows spaced about 1 1/2 inches apart on a sheet of pasta dough. Brush the spaces between the mounds with a little water or beaten egg.

Using a rolling pin, place the second sheet of dough on top and press down firmly between the pockets of filling, pushing out the air bubbles. Using a pasta wheel or a sharp knife cut into squares.

Place on a floured dish towel and let stand for 30-60 minutes to dry out slightly before cooking.


ENJOY!

Recipe # 8 ~ Apple-Cranberry Crisp with Apple Custard Sauce

I made these for dessert last night, I decided to make individual ones in ramekins. I bought some orange ones the other day and really wanted to use them. I also wanted to make something that my sister could eat as she cannot eat sugar. And this recipe doesn't have a lot so it was easily substituted with coconut sugar. She said that it was the best dessert she has had in about 3 months! So I think that was a pretty good compliment. I also added pears to this recipe, so it is about half pear, half apple. 

I didn't have time to make the apple custard sauce so I just used vanilla ice cream to accompany my dessert, but I really want to try the custard so I think I will make it one day as is sounds really good. I really enjoy any kind of crisps and they are always great to make all year long. You can use any type of fruit that is in season and just cut it up and make a topping for it. Such an easy, fast and delicious dessert anytime.

Topping:

1 c. all purpose flour

1/2 c. old fashioned oats

1/2 c. (packed) golden brown sugar

1/2 t. ground cinnamon

1/4 t. salt

1/2 c. chilled butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

Whisk flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in large bowl. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until moist clumps form.

Filling:

2 1/2 pounds large granny smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/3 inch thick wedges

1 c. fresh or frozen cranberries (unthawed)

1/3 c. sugar

2 T. fresh lemon juice

2 t. finely grated lemon peel

1 t. ground cinnamon

1/4 t. ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375*. Butter 10-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Place apples in large bowl. Mix in cranberries, sugar, lemon juice, lemon peel, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Transfer fruit mixture to prepared dish, mounding slightly in center.

Sprinkle topping over fruit. Bake until apples are tender, about 45 minutes. Cool on rack until lukewarm, about 20 minutes. Serve with apple custard sauce.

Enjoy!

Apple Custard Sauce:

makes about 2 cups

6 large egg yolks

1/3 c. sugar

1 1/2 c. whole milk (do not use low fat or nonfat)

3 T. frozen concentrated apple juice, thawed

1/2 t. vanilla extract

Whisk egg yolks and sugar in medium bowl to blend. Bring milk to simmer in medium saucepan. Gradually whisk hot milk into yolk mixture. Return mixture to saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat (do not exceed) until custard thickens and leaves path on back of spoon when finger is drawn across, about 5 minutes (do not let boil). Strain into bowl. Whisk in apple juice concentrate and vanilla. Chill until cold, about 3 hours. 

Can be made a day ahead. Cover and keep chilled.

Prepping Pictures from YOSHIcatering

I only got to take a few pictures as I was prepping for YOSHIcatering. Here are some of the ones that I took, there are not many but I thought that some of them looked cool and I wanted to share them with you. So enjoy them :)

ALL of my lemons for my lemon curd... turned out to be about 35 of them in total. This is only part the the pile that I did have. My arm definitely got a work out that night from juicing them all.

All of my ingredients in one BIG pot for my lemon curd :)

My tart shells that I baked blind in the oven, I thought that they looked kinda cool just sitting on my stove waiting to go in the oven. I put dry rice in them as I didn't have any dried beans. 

Strawberry Meringues! 

Lemon zest that was chopped finely for my lemon whipped cream. 

The final product! I think it looks very pretty... don't you?

Recipe # 7 ~ Banana-Oatmeal Bars with Chocolate Chunks

   These bars remind me of banana chocolate chip muffins, except for the pecans and oatmeal. They are really good, and if you wanted more of a dessert bar then I would suggest putting some cream cheese icing on top! That would be absolutely delicious.


2 c. all purpose flour
1 c. quick cooking oats
1 t. baking powder
3/4 t. salt
1 c. butter, room temperature
1 1/4 c. sugar
1 1/4 c. brown sugar (packed)
2 large eggs
2/3 c. mashed bananas (about 2 large)
2 t. vanilla extract
10 oz. semisweet chocolate, cut into chunks (or 1 1/4 c. chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350*F. Butter and flour 15x10x1-inch baking sheet. Blend flour, oats, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add both sugars and beat until well blended. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in bananas, then vanilla. Stir in flour mixture, then chocolate and pecans.

Spread batter into prepared pan. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean and top is golden, about 45 minutes. Cool in pan on rack. Cut into bars.

Enjoy!