The best holiday recipes

Make a Smilebox recipe

I ♥ Faces “Sweet Dreams” Photo Challenge

I love this picture taken after a day of searching sunstones.  We are so lucky to live in Idaho and be so close to such treasures!  Grandma Kristi was with us and she is holding sleeping beauty's chin.  Check out the drool!  Nicholas is out too....not a common sight for him. He is usually taking it all in.  I love the sunset in the back windows and the telephone poles.  It was a fun day and I found the largest sunstone....lol!

"Sun Flare" Photo Challenge

This is one of my favorite pictures taken just before the sun started to go down. I guess this is what you would call a sun glare or sun wash.Stop on over at I heart faces to see some other wonderful shots with the sun. 

Nicholas is a winner!

Make a Smilebox postcard

Thank you to all our family and friends who pledged Nicholas at his first Pirahna-thon! It was a huge success and he swam for an hour. It was 32 laps and 64 lengths. That equals almost a mile in one hour. Way to go Nicholas, Mom and Dad are way proud! He was awarded a water bottle and a sweatshirt! There was a little girl who won nothing and Nicholas walked up to her to give her his water bottle and she declined! Talk about a tear jerker.

"Balloons" Photo Challenge

I heart faces has Balloons as the weekly challenge. I decided to enter this cute candid shot I took outside our photographers studio in the parking lot. The kids were dressed for crazy hair day at Vacation Bible school. I had to run to Hymas Image to pick up some prints and get Nicholas's 6 year taken. We went to the beach after and played. It was a really fun day. The kids faces say it all.

School Pictures

Make a Smilebox postcard

Tea Party for memah

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Halloween Treat

Make a Smilebox recipe

I ♥ Faces “Pink” Photo Challenge

I dedicate this week to my mom and mom in law who are both surviviors! This picture of my mom and Paisley is so special considering we are so lucky to have her here with us. The pink glasses are priceless! I will never forget the morning she phoned me and said she had a old fashioned marble size lump and her doctor said to watch it! I phoned a surgeon and had her in the very same week and a diagnosis! It was a very aggressive breast cancer and they were able to do surgery, chemo and rad. The last six years are such a blur. Not for my mom, she has been through it all. Way to be the best mom and survivor I know. She thanks Jesus and so do we. Love you mama.   http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?px=9272302&fr_id=22257&pg=personal

October is breast cancer awareness month, take time to stop by and look at all the great pink photos at I Love faces!

Nicholas and Paisley

Click here to view these pictures larger

Caving 2009

 

Pumpkin Spice!

I love the flavors of fall, here is a bite size treat sure to spoil your taste buds!
Black Bottomed Mini Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake Bites

8-10 whole Oreos, finely ground in food processor

1 1/2 Tablespoons melted butter

8 oz softened cream cheese

1/2 Cup granulated sugar

1/2 Cup pumpkin puree (I used Libby’s)

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

caramel topping

24 Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kisses, unwrapped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine ground Oreos and melted butter into a bowl until well combined. Spoon into 12 mini cheesecake cups that have been sprayed with cooking spray. Press into the bottom of each cup so the crust is flat. Partially bake for 10 minutes then remove from oven.

2. In a stand or electric mixer beat the cream cheese, sugar and pumpkin until smooth. Beat in egg, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg until combined. Pour evenly into the 12 cups filling about 3/4 way full. Spoon about a teaspoon of caramel into the tops of each filled cup and swirl with a toothpick gently. Bake for 25-28 minutes or until cheesecake is cooked through. Let cool completely.

3. Remove cheesecakes from pan and top each with a spoonful of remaining caramel and a Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kiss. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

24 mini cheesecakes

I will post a pic when I get them cooled! They smell fabulous.
I found the pumpkin spice kisses at target.

I ♥ Faces “Excited” Photo Challenge

When I saw excited I knew the picture I would enter. Nicholas was so tickled to catch a brown trout and a big one to boot! This is a priceless picture and will be one of my favorites for many years to come. Please stop by I ♥ Faces to see the other great pictures!

Chocolate cake and grapes!

I love this time of year. The smells are so crisp and baking is so fun. I made a cake for Nicholas today and twinked the recipe a bit to make it more fall like. It is hard to believe frost and pumpkins are here.
Jeff has a weekend plannned to close Yellowstone Park. We always try to open and close the park. We love it there and the kids enjoy the timeshare and swimming too. We are going to check out a hot spring right outside the park and soak our feet! I am blessed to have a wonderful husband who takes time for family and my children who teach me so much.
We are making wine this year and have had fun with the crush. The kids had never stommped the grapes.
They are merlot from the Prosser area in Washington.. Jeff makes wonderful wine and this is the first batch to be made in Idaho Falls. The grapes we planted here are doing better this year. We hope to get a little juice from those also.
the recipe is following, enjoy and thanks for stopping by.
Amazing Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Wow, this is one of the better gluten free cakes we've had. Very light, fluffy, and so moist!

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups gf flour blend (see sidebar at right for recipe)
1/2 cup cocoa
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini
1/2 cup milk
1 cup chopped nuts (opt)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
1 Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon; set aside.
2 With a mixer, beat together the shortening and the sugar until they are smoothly blended. Add the eggs to the shortening and sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. With a spoon, stir in the vanilla, orange peel, and zucchini.
3 Alternately mix the dry ingredients and the milk into the zucchini mixture, including the nuts with the last addition. Mix until smooth.
4 Pour the batter into a greased and flour-dusted 10-inch tube pan or bundt pan (I used a 9x13 pan, as I didn't have a bundt pan). Bake in the oven for about 40-50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes; turn out on wire rack to cool if baking in bundt pan. Otherwise, leave in 9x13 pan.
5 Drizzle a glaze of your choice over cake.

I made it with substitution of 1 cup pumpkin plus 1 cup zucchini and left out the vanilla by accident. I added 1 cup white choc and 1/2 cup dark choc chips. This made 12 large muffins, costco size large. The cocoa i used was Gourmet Ramstadt breda rich dark cocoa.

Both ways are wonderful, enjoy!

The last day of summer 2009

It is hard to believe what a great summer we have had, hardly any wind and good temperatures. We took the pool down and winterized a bit. The eves are suppose to get into the 20's so I guess fall may be short. We are headed to Kellogg for two days to enjoy the water park and then to the Walkley's for two days. We will miss our baby, Balto will be at the kennel. We are thankful for our families and friends. Jeff and I have enjoyed putting up the garden and canning. It is so rewarding to see it preserved. Tomorrow is the last day, pickles are on the agenda for our Nicholas!

The best Photographer

We are so blessed to have Evelyn in our lives. She has captured images unimaginable of All of us. This one of Nicholas is especially sweet. He was featured on her newsletter. I am so proud of him and his accomplishments considering his disabilities and he has a love for life and everyone. I love you Nicholas. Here is the article and picture. Gone Fishin' ff

Little kids love to go fishing and play in the water. Come and enjoy the lazy days of summer at our inside fishing hole. Bib overalls, fishin' hats, and willow fishin' pole are available at the studio or you can bring your own.

Creative Sessions: $49

Watch Me Grow or Children's
price list apply to this session.


Quick Takes are also available. $69
includes one 8x10 - two 4x5's and 4 wallets. Studio edits to best pose.

Gonzaga

We have been fans for over 10 years and this video clip is so touching. This team is in our hearts and you will see how awesome they are when you hear past players talk and see these men cry. I will be ordering a copy. enjoy learning who the zaggy dogs are why they touch our hearts, and why our world stops when they are playing. Go Zags!
the link is http://www.youtube.com/user/GUBulldogs

I ♥ Faces “Contemplative” Photo Challenge

I love this photo that was taken this summer at a local lake. When I saw the contest, I had to enter this one. Look at all the other great pics at I ♥ Faces.

Sinful

This is a recipe I received from a dear friend Caroline Loftus. I was asked to share it with our Aunt Nellie.....so here it is!

Microwave Carmels

2 C sugar
1 C real butter
1C white karo syrup

stir: cover with wax paper, cook 5 min on high
stir: add 1 can eagle brand milk, cook 4 minutes
stir: cook 4 min more
stir: cook 4 min more
stir: add 1 tsp vanilla

Pour onto bottom of inverted buttered 13x9 pan and cool, I have poured mine onto parchment paper, sometimes it sticks and is trouble to get off.   Some pour onto counter or marble but I did not have as good a luck with that either.  Cut in small pieces and wrap in wax paper after totally cool. I like to cut with a pizza cutter.
*note: take butter and smooth some over the top edges of the glass so that the caramel boils to top and touches paper, it won't lift it off and spill all aver the microwave.

These are the very best carmel I have made, I also like to lightly sprinkle the caramel with course sea salt after pouring into 9x13. Just a little....ENJOY

Balto Walkley

Well, we have new member. He is 2 mo old and we are in love. He is a cuddly, soft, loving kitty. He loves to knead our necks and purrs beautifully. We think he is handsome. Nicholas has been asking for a year with less and less time in between askings! We caved when we saw this guy. He is fun to play with and we are excited to have him in our family. I have been a little busy this summer so I will update summer activities and recipes soon. Thanks for stopping by!

Cuddly the tank!

When Grandma was here Nicholas built with cardboard a tank called Cuddly. Daddy said it is in the way in the garage, so he made a deal. If he could fire off a firework out of the cannon then daddy could burn Cuddly up. So we videoed the burning and Nicholas was emotional. It is hard for him to give up something he created. I asked Grandma and Nicholas how did they come up with the name Cuddly? There was no reason. Sounds a bit girly for a TANK don't you think? The video is 5 minutes long but worth the wait. Hope you enjoy, I did get frustrated with how long it was taking for daddy to build the fire! I love to see Nicholas' imagination at work. Tomorrow he is going to build a mini scale of cuddly he can keep in his room. I am sure he will paint it and draw flames this week. We are going on a mini vacation this weekend to Spokane. Jeff's parents are having a family reunion in Spokane. We are staying with his sister so the kids can be with Alexis as much as possible. They have a beautiful pool and I am sure we will be in it the entire time. Nicholas loves to swim with Lexie, he wants to show her his new swimming skills. I will be taking lots of pics I am sure. Paisley is starting to really enjoy the water and can imitate Nicholas and most of his moves! She looks really cute in her swim cap!

My cousin Darin aka Pyro tech since age 5...did a great fireworks display and here is a link to view it on utube. It is a great show, awesome job Darin!

Grandma Kristi part 2

Just a few more pictures to show what a great time we had. We enjoyed every minute of our vacation together. Paisley got sick the last few days, but we made the best of it. We even tried out some of our gluten free recipes on grandma and she loved them. Mom and I even got to so shopping for a few hours by ourselves....no kids. Thanks for spoiling us and wanting to spend a few weeks with us. We really enjoyed having you.

Grandma Kristi

What a great two weeks we had with grandma. We got to spend a week in Yellowstone, one of her favorite spots. We enjoyed coffee, laughs, sewing, kids, food, cooking together and most of all just her company. She loves to play with the kids and will do any adventure we ask her to. She got up at 6 am to go to swimming, played pirates, swam in our pool, did the laundry and ironing...all of it....., bought transformers, jewelry, kitchen glasses and a BIKE for Paiser! She really spoiled us. We took lots of pictures and wanted to share some of our fun times. We love you Grandma and miss you tons!

Gluten Free Banana donuts

Nicholas loves donuts. I have been buying GF Donuts at almost $1 a piece. I found this recipe and converted it to gluten free by using rice flower mixture and some pamelas baking mix. Nicholas loves them and so does the rest of the family. I hope you enjoy them.


Glazed donut drops /Jenny Flake
Ingredients

* 3 large ripe bananas, cut into 1/2-inch slices
* 2 tablespoons cold butter, cubed
* 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
* Vegetable oil, for frying
* 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 cup heavy cream
* 1/4 cup sour cream
* 1 egg
* 1 cup cinnamon chips (recommended: Hershey's)

Glaze:

* 1/3 cup milk
* 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Place sliced bananas into a small baking dish. Top evenly with cubed butter and sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden and bubbly. Remove and coarsely mash with a fork, still leaving chunks of bananas. Set aside.

Heat 3 inches of oil into a large Dutch oven or large deep-fryer over medium heat, to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl sift the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside. Gently whisk the heavy cream, sour cream and egg until just combined. Slowly stir banana mixture, cream mixture and cinnamon chips into dry ingredients until just combined.

In batches, using a medium cookie scoop (that holds approximately 1 1/2 tablespoons); scoop dough and carefully drop into hot oil, about 8 at a time. Fry for 3 to 4 minutes turning frequently, or until golden brown. Transfer doughnuts with a skimmer onto a paper towel lined plate to drain, until all have been fried.

In the top of a double boiler set over simmering water, mix the milk, butter, and vanilla until the butter is melted. Slowly add sugar, beating until glaze is smooth. Dip doughnuts into the glaze, turning to coat, and carefully transfer them to a large sheet of waxed paper to dry.

The ingredients for the GF version are

1 cup rice flower
1/2 cup pamelas baking mix
1/4 cup tapioca
1/8 cup potato starch

Pictures, Frosty's, Donuts

Yesterday Nicholas had his 6 year pictures taken at Hymas Image, Evelyn set up a fishing/pond scene. I am going to have a hard time picking from the 100+ pictures she took. She always does a wonderful job. I will have to take daddy to help sort them down, he is really good at it. After, we took Grandma to Jefferson Lake. It was so fun, had a picnic and took lots of pictures. I loved it. We stopped at Wendy's on the way home for a gf frosty. It was a wonderful treat. Today after swimming we stopped at Bakers dozen for donuts. Nicholas had a knickinak donut and mom and I had a fritter. Paisley had a cake. Too good....almost heavenly. We delivered some to daddy at work too. The donut shop is next to where there used to be the best scrapbooking store. It was called Scrap Coop....Paisley looked at the empty store and said where is the crap poop! We all cracked up and got the hysterics for a couple minutes. It has been a good laugh today!)

Yellowstone

We are really enjoying being with our family and misssing our daddy. The trips to the park are great, the food is wonderful and we are taking pictures like crazy. Today we are off to Norris and Mammoth. The weather has been perfect and the time share is very nice. The kids love the pool and Grandma and I love the hot tub! We got to meet Grandpa Dicks wife Lynnette...a really sweet lady. I love her. They left today to travel home. We hope to see a bear today!

Miller Family reunion

We are in Yellowstone and having a wonderful time. I am enjoying sharing recipes and food. My uncle Jer is a great cook and loves to cook with me and vise versa. I squeezed 14 limes for him yesterday and he used them in salsa and lime cilantro chicken, my cousin Darin's favorite. Uncle Jer had to give me an adjustment this am because of the lime squeezing or the bed. I am not sure.....Thank goodness he is a Chiropractor! He wanted the recipes for the breakfast I made on their first day here and the dessert that evening. So here's for you uncle Jer-I love you

Baked chiles rellenos

Perfect for brunch....makes 8 servings and can be prepared days ahead and chilled, just bake an extra 5-10 minutes

8 poblano chiles
3/4 lbs fresh lean high quality chorizo
1 cup crumbled cotija cheese
1 tsp. minced oregano leaves
12 eggs
1/3 cup flour
1tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup freshly grated jack cheese

Broil chiles for 4-5 min till charred
cover 20min and peel, cut off stem ends and remove seeds.

Cook chorizo, stirring occas to break up until cooked about 4 min.

Preheat oven 375 and mix chorizo, cotjia cheese and oregano. Stuff chiles and lay in 12x8 pan.

In large bowl whisk eggs until broken up and whisk in flour, baking powder and salt. Sprinkle chiles with 1/2 the jack and pour eggs over chiles and sprinkle with remaining jack. Bake until top starts to brown and eggs are set but soft, about 30 minutes.




Chocolate Walnut Tart
No hassle, no fuss and no leftovers! This chocolate walnut tart is so simple to make!

Pastry for single pie crust
1 cup coarsley broken walnuts
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 eggs
3/4 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Press pastry into ungreased 9 inch fluted tart pan with removable bottom.
Sprinkle walnuts and choc into crust
In a small bowl, combine eggs, corn syrup, brown sugar, butter and vanilla.
Pour into crust.
Bake at 350 for 25-30- min or until bubbly and crust is golden brown. Cool on wire rack Enjoy

A wonderful husband

I had the opportunity to attend Time Out for Women with some of my wonderful friends in Pocatello. We stayed in the Holiday Inn....a bit scary especially after the light went out! the lock on the door clicked...no kidding.We called the desk and a scary man came to assist us. All we cared was there was no serial killer in our room. 4 Grown women slept with the bathroom light on. The reason I was telling you this is I came home to a spotless house, laundry started, gazebo put up, dinner planned and kids happy. It was wonderful. We went to church and that was great too. The kids each moved up to new classes. Paisley has Jo and he is great and Nicholas has Bill. The happiest man in our church with a true love for Jesus. Nicholas loves him.! Sunday we worked in the yard and garden for 7 hours and the garden is in. We put weed guard down this year and started most of the veges inside. We are excited to see it grow. Thank you Honey for making my weekend so wonderful! I love You.

Vintage Earrings Tutorial and GIVEAWAY!!!!

Vintage Earrings Tutorial and GIVEAWAY!!!!

These are so sweet and such a easy idea. They remind me of a pair I had in the eightys. Check it out.

Go green bag

I made these for Nicholas's teachers this year. They loved them and they are so fun to make. I hope you enjoy the idea....happy sewing
I got the inspiration for this bag from here:

http://www.allfreecrafts.com/sewing/shopping-bag.shtml

....and on the purses, bags, wallets: discussions and questions board, pfirsch wanted to know how to make a more "finished" bag. I have also added another feature which allows the bag to be folded up into its own pouch (you will see this further down in the tutorial).

The bag is made from one pattern piece. It's just like the plastic shopping bags and in fact the pattern is made from the shopping bag. The following picture shows the bag full (with three 2 litre drinks inside - and, BTW, carried them perfectly without the fear of the bag falling apart like the plastic ones).


You start by making your pattern using.....ta da.... you guessed it, a plastic bag. Cut off the fused ends at the bottom and both top handles:


Open out the gusset and cut in half on both sides:


Discard one piece and fold the remaining piece in half:


Place this on the fold of your fabric and pin. You will need to cut 2 of the main fabric and 2 of the lining fabric:


Place one main fabric piece and one lining fabric piece right sides together and sew the middle "U" shape. Then sew the other curved seams BUT ENDING APPROXIMATELY 1 1/2 INCHES BELOW THE TOP OF THE HANDLES. This allows you to sew the top of the handles later. Clip the corners and turn right side out and press. Don't topstitch at this stage:


This is what you should now have:


Place the two pieces together, right sides together:


Now we are going to work on the top of the handles. Push the lining back and pin the main fabric together:


Keeping the lining away, start sewing across the main fabric:


Keep sewing and continue on into the lining:


Continue to sew along the lining:


And get to the end:


Push all that fabric into the handles and this is what you will get - an opening in the side of the handles:


This is what you bag should look like now. If you don't want to topstitch, handsew the openings closed on each of the handles. If you do want to topstitch, just ignore the openings for the time being.


Now we are going to go onto making the pocket to allow the bag to fold up into itself. This is optional. If you don't want to do this, just skip the next few steps. The pocket piece size will obviously depend on the size of your plastic bag though. To get this size, I folded it up as I would fold it then measured that size and added some more. It gets quite bulky as when it is folded up into the pocket, the whole thing is turned inside out. My pocket piece is 6.5" x 17". To make the pocket, fold in half (right sides together) and sew the two side seams. Turn right sides out and press.


Find the centre of the bag and the centre of the pocket's raw edge:


Line up the two centres, then pin and sew down the two sides to the main fabric only - NOT the lining:


Now put the two main pieces together and the two lining pieces together (right sides together) and sew the side seams:


Turn right side out and place the lining in the main bag. Press side seams and topstitch around the handles and the bag's opening (if you didn't handstitch openings closed before). The topstitching will close the openings. The next picture doesn't show the topstitching but the picture after does. However, now is the time to do it:


Now to make the gusset. Fold the handles in half and place the side seam parallel with the handle fold, like this:


The following picture is a cross-section of the bottom of the bag:


Repeat for the other side.

Sew across the top of the handles to keep in place. I sewed in the seam so the stitching is almost invisible:


Now we are going to sew a french seam across the bottom of the bag. With right sides out, sew across the bottom of the bag (making sure to catch the gusset in the bottom seam):


Trim the seam allowance then turn inside out. Sew across the bottom encasing the seam allowance:


Turn your bag, right side out and it is now finished:


To fold the bag into itself, start by placing the side with the pocket downwards. Fold one side edge in (use the pocket as a guide to make this fold):


Repeat for the other side:


Turn handles down:


Fold in half:


Put your hand in the pocket, with this hand also grab the fabric (including the bag on the outside) and turn inside out.


Well done. You have finished your shopping bag. You can keep this handy little bag in your purse when you need it.

The best banana bread ever

Cookies and Cream Banana Bread

This is the most wonderful bread, i have even done it with striped shortbread cookies when the oreos are gone. I have trouble keeping oreos on hand now that I have this recipe! Thanks picky palate!

1 1/2 sticks butter
1 Cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
4 medium size ripe bananas (or 3 Large bananas)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
15 Oreo cookies, broken into pieces

1 Cup powdered sugar
2-3 Tablespoons heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand or electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until well combined. Slowly beat in egg, bananas and vanilla until combined. Place flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt into a large bowl. Slowly add to wet ingredients. Stir in Oreos until just combined.

2. Scoop dough into 16 very mini loaf pans or 2 bread pans that have been sprayed with cooking spray. Muffin tins would work great too. Bake for 28-35 minutes if you are using the mini pan or 45-55 minutes for the normal bread pan. Toothpick comes clean from center.

3. Whisk powdered sugar and cream in a medium bowl until a nice drizzling consistency is reached. Drizzle over top of each bread and serve. Makes 16 mini loaves or 2 full loaves.

Homemade Dishwasher powder

1 cup Borax
1 cup Baking soda
1 packet lemonade koolaid
30 drops of your favorite essential oil
1/2 cup salt

Mix all and put in old dishwaher powder box. I use cantalope essential oil, it is wonderful. The koolaid is so there is some citric acid. You can also add a dash of vinegar to dishwasher if spotting or film occurs. Our water is very hard and I have the hot water heater turned way up.

Bread for Gluten Free diet...wonderful

CELIAC LIGHT BREAD

1 1/8 cup Chickpea flour also called Garbanzo bean flour ( I've switched to sorghum here -- same amount -- as my youngest can't deal with the bean flour yet)
1 cup cornstarch (I use Cream corn starch)
1 cup + 1 Tbs. tapioca flour
3 1/2 tsp. xanthum gum
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 Tbs. brown sugar (Make sure that there are no lumps)
1/4 tsp. creme of tartar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/8 cup warm water (uncomfortable to touch but not boiling)
3 Tbs. vegetable oil (I use peanut oil or canola oil)
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast

Bread Machine Method

WARNING: Adding more liquids or flours or reducing same could cause the bread to not cook thoroughly on the inside or to be too heavy. Also I am at almost 6000 feet altitude which might cause your bread to be slightly different than mine. First try it as is and then experiment if necessary.

Combine all of the dry ingredients in a medium size bowl except for the yeast. Mix dry ingredients thoroughly with wire whisk. Mix together the lightly beaten eggs, warm water, and oil in a separate bowl and thoroughly mix with wire whisk. Pour the liquid ingredients into your bread machine bowl. Immediately spoon in your dry mixed ingredients on top of the wet ingredients to make a mound in the center but covering all of the wet ingredients. With a spoon or spatula make a small depression in top of your dry ingredients (must be dry for the yeast) and immediately spoon in your yeast. Place your bread machine pan in the machine correctly and turn the machine to regular wheat bread cycle and turn on machine. (This dough will need two kneadings in order to get its content to proper consistency.)

Do not add any more liquids or flour. The dough will form a sticky ball. With a spatula scrape down the sides of machine bowl to make sure all of the dry ingredients get into the dough ball. On the rise cycle use your spatula that is wet to smooth the top of the loaf, if desired. Bake the bread using the medium crust setting. When finished turn the loaf out onto your wire rack and allow bread to cool or you can slice it while hot (Do not squeeze the loaf too tightly while holding it to slice while hot.) Slice the bread thin with a serrated bread knife or electric knife and enjoy.

This was a bit salty, I would cut it back a bit. I also would use fast whole wheat cycle, it rose great the first time, not the second.

Gluten Free

the best ever one bowl chocolate cake, i frosted with seven minute frosting....Nicholas loved them!

Ingredients

• 1 2/3 cups gluten-free flour (Gluten-Free Flour Blend)
• 5/8 cup cocoa
• 1 1/8 cups sugar
• 5/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 7/8 teaspoon guar gum or xanthan gum
• 3/8 cup cooking oil
• 1 1/8 tablespoons vinegar
• 1 1/8 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/8 eggs
• 1 1/8 cups water

Directions

1. 1

   Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.

2. 2

   Add all liquid ingredients and mix well.

3. 3

   Bake in greased and floured 9" square pan (or lined with waxed paper), at 350 F, for 30 - 35, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Kitchen Aid-My new Blue baby

This is my new Kitchen aid Jeff won for me! I love it.....It will be used alot. I have already made numerous breads, some even Gluten Free.