Gingerbread

Favorite Old Fashioned Gingerbread

"This soft and spicy cake is flavored with molasses, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Serve it with fresh whipped cream!"

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup white sugar 1/2 cup butter 1 egg 1 cup molasses 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup hot water

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9-inch square pan.
2.	In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the egg, and mix in the molasses.
3.	In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Blend into the creamed mixture. Stir in the hot water. Pour into the prepared pan.
4.	Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan before serving.

Slow Cooker Yogurt

What you need: 1/2 gallon of pasteurized milk (any fat content); 1-1/3 C powdered milk or 2-2/3 C instant powdered milk (not fake milk like Morning Moo – real powdered milk); yogurt (make sure it says “live and active cultures” – you only need to purchase this the first time you buy your yogurt, after that you can use your own homemade yogurt!); a 4-5 Quart slow cooker.
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Advice: Start this process when you first wake up or at about 4-6pm. This process is very, very easy and very, very time consuming.

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Also – NEVER stir your yogurt, only scoop or fold, or it will break down and become thin.
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Process:

1. Combine the powdered milk into the milk, mixing well (I use my stick blender). The powdered milk adds milk solids to your yogurt giving it a thicker consistency than most homemade yogurt. I HIGHLY recommend it. Plus, it’s a great way to use your food storage!
2. Pour the milk into a 4-5 quart crockpot, cover and turn on low heat.
3. Leave it alone for 2.5 hours.
4. Unplug your crockpot.
5. Leave it alone for 3 hours.
6. Uncover the milk and skim off any skin. Scoop 2 C of warm milk into a bowl and whisk with 1/2 C yogurt. For my starter I used Greek Gods traditional plain greek style yogurt.
7. Pour the milk/yogurt back into the other milk and cover your slow cooker.
8. Wrap the entire slow cooker crin a fluffy towel and let it sit on your counter for 8 hours.
9. Unwrap. Scoop yogurt into clean containers and refrigerate.

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That’s it. If you follow the measurements exactly and use the proper size slow cooker this method should work for you. If you change amounts or use a smaller or larger crockpot your heat will vary and it may not work. I cannot believe how easy and INEXPENSIVE this is. I will never buy store bought yogurt again. To flavor it – just stir in some jam or homemade syrup (I combine 1 C sugar, 1 C water, bring it to a boil and then add 1 C of mashed fruit and let it simmer for about 10 minutes). Delicious!!

Chicken-Fried Steak

Chicken Fried Steak Recipe

ingredients:

Gravy
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 Tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Steak
3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp onion powder
1/2 tsp cayenne powder
2 tsp baking powder
Salt & pepper
4 large eggs
1/4 cup whole milk
1 pound sirloin steak tips (flap meat) cut into four 4-oz pieces- I also bought 3 sirloin tenderloin steaks & cut 1 in half to make 4 steaks
1 1/2 cups peanut or vegetable oil (I used vegetable oil)

directions:

For the Gravy:

1. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
2. Stir in the flour and garlic powder and cook until golden, about 2 minutes.
3. Slowly whisk in the broth, milk, salt and pepper and simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes.
4. Cover and keep warm while preparing the steak. (The gravy can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 days.)

For the Steak:

1. Whisk the flour, cornstarch, garlic and onion powders, cayenne, baking powder, 1 tsp salt and 2 tsp pepper in a large bowl. Transfer 1 cup of the seasoned flour to a shallow dish.
2. Beat the eggs in a second shallow dish.
3. Add the milk to the bowl with the remaining flour mixture and rub your figures until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
4. Pat the steaks completely dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper.
5. Score the meat lightly using a knife at 1/4 inch intervals in a crosshatch pattern on each side.
6. Dredge each steak after scoring in the seasoned flour.
7. Using a meat pounder, pound the steaks to between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick.
8. One at a time, coat the steaks lightly with the seasoned flour again, dip in the egg and then transfer to the bowl with the milk and flour mixture, pressing to adhere.
9. Arrange the steaks on a wire rack inside a rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate for 15 minutes or up to 4 hours; do not discard the milk and flour mixture.
10. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 200 degrees (if not already done so).
11. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking.
12. Return 2 of the steaks to the bowl with the milk and flour mixture and turn to coat.
13. Fry the steaks until deep golden brown and crisp, 2 to 3 minutes per side.
14. Transfer to a clean wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet and keep warm in the oven.
15. Repeat with the remaining steaks. Serve with mashed potatoes and gravy.

Rice Cooker Lime Rice

Put into rice cooker:

1 C Rice
1 C chicken Broth
1 C Water
2 cloves of minced garlice
1 teaspoon butter
1 teaspoon lime juice

Mix together and add to rice once cooked:

1 tablespoon lime juice
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon freeze dried cilantro

Homemade Orange Sherbet

Ingredients:

1/2 C Sugar
2 t finely grated orange zest
1/8 t kosher salt
1 C freshly squeezed orange juice, approximately 1 to 2 pounds oranges
2 t freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 t vanilla extract
1 C very cold whole milk

Directions

In a food processor combine all of the ingredients except the milk and process until the sugar is dissolved, approximately 1 minute. Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl and whisk in the milk. Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator until the mixture reaches 40 degrees F or below, approximately 1 hour.

Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and process until it is the consistency of soft serve ice cream. You may serve now or transfer to a lidded container and place in freezer until firm, approximately 3 hours.