My family knows I am a caption kind of gal, but let me be sure to start with a couple things:

• Please do us all a favor and wash your hands.
• Tools you will need:  Cutting board, knife, a large bowl for the slices, a smaller bowl for the garbage, a glass bake pan (9×13)
• Ingredients you will need: One yellow box cake mix, about 8 large peaches, one cube of butter (1/2 cup) chilled, shortening to grease pan (spray oil will do).
• A nice hot oven preheated to 350º.

Let's wash about 8 large peaches.

... and slice them.

See how nicely that pit comes free from the peach meat? That's what we call "free stone." It makes life so much easier when handling these lovelies! Be sure to choose free stone peaches.

Peel. If the peach is nice and ripe, the peel will come off easy as you please.

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If it is not ripe, it will be stubborn and more difficult to work with and you may have to use a paring knife to cut the peeling off.

Slice 'em up!

Now try to have self-control not to snitch them!

Grease up your baking pan. I especially like glass for this dessert.

Pour the peaches into the prepared dish.

Time for the yellow cake mix. Any brand will do. In my opinion, the least expensive, the better in this case!

Evenly sprinkle the cake mix over the peaches.

See how easy this is so far? Even a small child could help with this project.

Don't let the lighting fool you! It's the same dish LOL

Let's get that butter from the refrigerator. Here it is in all its glory.

Slice the butter.

Lay the pats all over the dessert.

Can you imagine trying to do with with soft butter? Not!

Oops! This piece is a little too large. Let's just divide it... then conquer!

Make sure the pieces of butter are not too big. Lay them out evenly.

Ohhhh this is gonna be good!

Time to go into the preheated oven.

Bake 20 minutes or until it is golden.

Enjoy it warm or save it for later when it is cooled down. Vanilla ice cream is great with this, as well.

I think I missed sharing the photo op on my plate. My mind was elsewhere…. focused on eating! We will be getting some peaches in tomorrow, so maybe I will come back with a final photo… if I can control myself.

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Easy Peach Cobbler

* Bread made with 100% whole wheat bread will be shorter. To help improve the height try the following suggestions:

Add 1 whole egg for better bread structure. When doing this you must reduce the liquid amount by the amount of egg being added. Most large eggs are 1/4 cup.

Add 1 to 2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten for better bread structure. When doing this you must also add 1 tablespoon additional liquid.

The Most Important Tip of All – Check the Dough

Another very important tip to follow is to check the condition of the dough during the knead cycle, especially when making a recipe for the first time. After 8 to 10 minutes of kneading, open the machine to check the dough. It is alright to open machine during the knead cycle. The dough should be in a soft, tacky ball. If it’s too dry, add 1 teaspoon of water. If it’s too wet, add 1 tablespoon of flour. Always allow any added water or flour to be blended into the dough for a minute or two before making any further adjustment. The dough is just right when it is soft to the touch, smooth in appearance and the bottom of the pan is clean.

Q. Why does my bread collapse as it’s baking?

This may indicate the dough is too wet.  Next time reduce the liquid amount by 1 tablespoon.

OR

Make sure you are using the recommended amount of sugar, yeast and salt being used. Salt especially cannot be eliminated.

OR

If you are at high altitudes you may need to make some adjustments. Reduce yeast by 1/4 teaspoon at a time. You may also need to reduce liquid by 2 to 3 teaspoons. Some experimentation on your part will be needed.

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Bread Machine Figures For Experimenting

I’m sure this list is incomplete. Perhaps you have some ideas up your sleeve that I have not come up with. Please share!

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85 Ways To Save Money

1. Blend in glass measuring cup: 1/2 c. warm water, 2 T. yeast, 2 T. honey or sugar, 1 vitamin C tablet, crumbled.

2. In large mixing bowl w/wooden spoon, mix: 4 c. very hot – not boiling – water, 4 tsp. salt, 2/3 c. honey or sugar, 2/3 c. vegetable oil

3. Blend in: 6 c. whole wheat flour

4. Blend in order then turn out on lightly floured surface: Yeast mixture, 6 more cups of flour (white or whole wheat) (seeds may be added – about 1/2 c.)

5. Knead 5 to 10 minutes (great time for prayer!)

6. Place in greased bowl and turn to coat. Cover & let rise 1 1/2 hrs. or until doubles in size. Punch down, cover, and raise 45 minutes.

7. Punch down and grease pans.

8. Divide and shape into loaves.

9. Place in pans. Let rise 30 minutes.

10. Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes.

11. Turn out on sides to cool.

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No Fail Yeast Bread

We got together the other night and made party favors/place names with toilet paper cardboard, gold and silver tissue and ribbon. We filled them with a handmade bracelet and candy. We were going to put in a seed packet, but forgot until half way through. I guess we will place those on the tables. Our theme is “treasure.” Where your treasure is, there your heart will be, so the gold was on purpose. The girls will be singing a few songs acapella and one instrumental on strings and recorder. Everyone is to bring a salad or sandwich. A friend is doing a devotional. We also asked everyone to bring a special treasure from home to show and tell. It will be fun and our prayer is to glorify the Lord.

One of my daughters already started making chocolate truffles (recipe can be found here). We will also be making Scottish shortbread and a lemon cake for the occasion, along with our usual baking. Busy bees we are!

Also Saturday, my 15yo daughter is taking the ACT. This will determine if she will be done with her home education courses or not.

Further, one of my sons is now graduated and has been hired by Horizon Airlines (part of Alaskan Airlines) and goes in for training Monday. They told him that he won’t have weekends off for a long time, so we have quickly been preparing his graduation open house/party for the 11th, the day before Resurrection Sunday!

We spent yesterday shopping for shoes for him and some last minute clothing purchases. He is excited. His goal, Lord willing, is to be a Mission Aviation pilot. We have been able to help him with memorizing all the airport codes for all the cities that Horizon and Alaskan flies to. He is doing very well and I am sure he will do fine.

We handmade all the announcements/invitations to son’s graduation, had his photos taken (by a dear friend) and sent all in a short time.

We have invited a family to both the graduation and dinner on Sunday. They live quite a distance, so suggested they stay the night with us.

Whew! If that’s not enough, we have begun starting our seeds in our living room window. . Has anyone else started any?

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Spring Goings On

Update: I did try making the kraut. After sitting on our counter for some time, it began to show signs of molding. I would like to try it again, but need a better system that can keep out the air.

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Making Sauerkraut

How to make croissants:

Step 1
1 1/3 cups cold butter
3 cups all-purpose flour

Cut butter into 1/2-inch slices. Mix with 3 cups flour in a bowl and chill while preparing Step 2.

Step 2
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 package yeast
1 1/4 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg

Combine 1 1/2 cups flour and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Meanwhile, heat milk, sugar and salt in a pan on the stove till warm. Add to yeast-flour mixture along with the egg. Beat with an electric mixer for 30 seconds on low, then on high for 3 minutes.

Step 3
Stir in chilled butter-flour mixture. Flouring hands, knead dough very gently, punching about eight times. Using a floured rolling pin, roll out on a floured surface into a large rectangle (about 20 inches by 10 inches). Fold dough into thirds, wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 1/2 hours or overnight (or freeze for 30 minutes).

Step 4
Take dough out of refrigerator. Using a floured rolling pin again, roll dough out on a floured surface into a rectangle as described in Step 3. Fold, wrap, and chill dough again, this time for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Step 5
Remove dough from refrigerator and divide into fourths by cutting the dough. Return three portions to the fridge. On a floured surface and using a floured rolling pin, roll out dough into a circle. Cut like pizza then roll up slices into crescent shapes. When you cut it, you can either make 12 small ones out of the circle, or 8 large ones. Repeat rolling, cutting, and shaping with the other portions of croissant dough. Place on greased baking sheets, points down, curving ends. Cover and let rise till doubled (about 1 hour). Bake in a 375-degree oven for about 15 minutes.

If you get busy after you make the dough, the dough can remain chilled in the fridge for up to a week at any stage!

You can find this recipe, and more, at our family recipe blog. Click here.

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Croissants

Besides that, if you are one of the first 250 people to order the 3 print book set, which, by the way, is
priced so low that you get 3 books for the price of one, they will also throw in a free Menus On A Dime booklet! How cool is that?

Click on the cook book to go to their site and check it out for yourself.

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Living On A Dime’s Big Sale

Aunt Barbara’s Mexican Wedding Cakes. See recipe here.

These are light but taste similar to shortbread

Dipped Pretzel Sticks

These are easy for even the smallest child.

Super easy and super good, creamy fudge. See recipe here.

Anne

Anne

Peanut Butter Cookies With Kisses. See recipe here.

Peanut Butter Cookies With Kisses

We also made:

• Molasses Cookies (See recipe here)
• Peppermint Bark (See recipe here)
• Martha Washington’s Bon Bon’s (See recipe here)

All the cookies laid out for the neighbors

After the plates were wrapped, we drove around town caroling and handing out these lovelies to our dear friends and neighbors. We had a couple neighbors gone, so those will probably be distributed tonight.

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Baking Day!

A couple weeks ago, we enjoyed hamburgers made with homemade buns. They were fabulous! The recipe used was from the Tightwad Gazette for Cuban Bread.

This a quick yeast bread. It takes half the time than normal yeast breads and it is super easy!

Ingredients
5-6 cups flour
2 T. dry yeast
2 T. sugar
1 T. salt
2 c. hot tap water
1 T. sesame seeds, oats, or poppy seeds (optional)

1. Mix 4 cups of the flour with the yeast, sugar, and salt.
   
2. Pour in hot water and beat 100 strokes, or 3 minutes with a mixer.
   
3. Stir in the remaining flour until the dough is no longer sticky.
   
4. Knead 8 minutes.
   
5. Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover with damp towel.
   
6. Let rise 15 minutes.
7. Punch down.
   
8. Divide into 2 pieces, shape into loaves and place on baking sheet.
   
9. Cut an X 1/2 inch deep on top with sharp knife.
   
10. Brush with water and sprinkle with oats.
    
11. Place on the middle shelf of a cold oven.
    
12. Place a cake pan of hot water on the lowest shelf.
    
13. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake 40-50 minutes until deep golden brown.

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Homemade Hamburger Buns