The Homestyle

A few weeks ago I reposted my recipe for homemade applesauce. Today I’ve got a new recipe for you: Oatmeal-Apple Scones. I guess you could say I’m on an apple kick.

I discovered this recipe a few years ago on Rachael Ray’s magazine. When I told Brian I planned to make them, he made that face. You know the one. The one that says, “I think I might not be hungry that day.” Come to find out, my husband does not like scones. At all. His words? “I guess I’m more of an apple fritter man.”

Mental note to self: research how to make apple fritters.

But I persevered and made the scones anyway (with a few tweaks to the original recipe). When I served them for breakfast, I was shocked to see Brian eat two scones! I guess he’s a scone man too.

Photo Credit: Jane’s Sweets (The truth is we ate these too fast for me to even get a picture. )

Ingredients:

1/2 cup milk (whole milk is best, if possible)

1 1/2 cup flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 egg, beaten

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 tsp. salt

1 stick of butter or margarine, chilled and cut into very small cubes

1 1/2 cup oats (any variety except instant)

1 large apple, cut into 1/4 inch cubes (leave peel on)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450. Whisk the milk and egg together.

2. In a large bowl mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Blend the butter in gently with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

3. Add oats and apples and toss. Stir in the liquid until the dough forms a ball.

4. Turn onto a floured surface. Pat into a 7-inch round. Cut into 8 wedges. Transfer to a greased baking sheet. If desired, brush tops with a little additional milk and sprinkle with additional sugar.

5. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm.

When I post our weekly menus, I frequently have an item on our breakfast lists that generates some questions in the comments. We call it Sparkly Toast.

Sparkly Toast is nothing more than cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top of a slice of buttered toast (usually made with our homemade sandwich bread).

Naomi came up with the name years ago. I set it down in front of her one morning and she joyously cried, “Oooo! This toast has sparkles on it!!” She was very much in the princess/pink galore/the more sparkles the better stage, so this quickly became her most requested breakfast item. The name stuck.

And that, my friends, is Sparkly Toast.

I got this recipe a couple of years ago from a neighbor. We love these for breakfasts or snacks, and they are so easy to make!

Ingredients:

•  3 cups flour

• 1 cup sugar

• 4 tsp. baking powder

• 1 tsp. cinnamon

• 1 tsp. salt

• 2-3 very ripe bananas, mashed

• 2 cups milk

• 1/2 cup butter, melted

• 2 eggs

• 6 oz. chocolate chips (we like dark chocolate ones best in this recipe!)

Directions:

1. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together. Make a well in the center.

2. In another bowl, combine the bananas, milk, butter, and eggs. Add all at once to the well in the dry mixture. Stir until combined.

3. Gently stir in chocolate chips. Line muffin tins with paper liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray. Fill cups 1/2 full.

4. Bake at 400 for 18-20 minutes.

Maybe you love rhubarb, maybe you hate it. Most people don’t have a middle ground with this vegetable. (Yes, did you know it is a vegetable, even though we use it frequently in pies and other sweet dishes?) Maybe you’ve never tried it or have no idea what it even is.

                   Photo Credit

Rhubarb is a leafy vegetable that grows prolifically once planted. If you plant rhubarb in your yard, be prepared to cut it back every. single. year. The leaves are toxic to eat, but the stalk (which starts off green, and gradually becomes pink, then red) can be sliced up and cooked to add a delicious tart flavor to a variety of dishes.

One of my favorite ways to use rhubarb is to make Rhubarb Muffins. I don’t make them super often, because with so much sugar it feels more like eating a donut than a muffin. But when we have them, they are a big hit!

Ingredients:

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup oil

1 egg

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 1/2 cups flour

1-1 1/2 cups finely chopped rhubarb (frozen or fresh)

Directions:

1.  In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, white sugar, oil, egg, vanilla, and buttermilk. In another bowl, combine the baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour.

2. Mix the dry mixture into the wet mixture. Stir to combine (the batter will be somewhat lumpy). Gently fold in the rhubarb.

3. Preheat the oven to 400. Line muffin tins with paper baking cups or spray with non-stick cooking spray. Fill each muffin cup halfway.

4. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Makes about 18-24 muffins.

This recipe reminds me of Naomi: Blonde hair framing big, beautiful blue eyes. Just like the yellow cornbread hugging those juicy blueberries.

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

3/4 cup yellow cornmeal

3 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup milk

1/4 cup oil or melted butter

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a second bowl combine the eggs, milk, and oil.

2. Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture and stir until moistened. Gently fold in the blueberries.

3. Grease muffin tins or line with muffin papers. Fill each cup about half full.

4. Bake for 15 minutes at 400, or until the tops are just browned. Serve warm with butter.

By now you’ve probably noticed that I never bake my bread in the bread machine itself. I use it to mix and rise my dough, but I always bake it in the oven.

As a busy mom of three, this extra step does make baking bread more time consuming. This can become a deterrent to making all our bread from scratch every week. And truthfully, sometimes convenience wins out, and I do run to the store and grab a loaf of store-made bread. But every time I do we all comment on how different the taste and texture is from our usual loaves.

There is a reason that I add in this additional step, though. I have found that allowing my bread to rise a second time is critical for getting the light texture my family really loves. For years the reason I never baked homemade bread was because Brian hated the dense, heavy texture of bread baked in bread machines. Once I started removing the dough and rising it a second time, he was pleased to find that the density got much lighter.

The second reason I don’t like baking my bread in the bread machine is the size of loaf it turns out. I mean, really, who wants to eat a 7×7 square sandwich?? (I exaggerate, but you know what I mean!)

But really, the size and shape of the loaf most bread machines turn out is not very conducive to most uses for sandwich bread.

So because of these two reasons, when I make our delicious Homemade Whole Wheat Bread or my new Yogurt Bread recipe, I always just run the dough cycle, take it out, and let it rise a second time. If you’ve never tried it, I’d recommend to try it at least once and see if the extra work is worth it to you.

We love, love, love our Homemade Whole Wheat Bread! I make at least two loaves every week, and we absolutely devour them. We are by no means sick of that recipe, but you know me… I like to try new things!

So last week I was wanting some buttermilk bread. I pulled out a buttermilk bread recipe I had used a couple of years ago. I knew it was tasty, but I sat at the table staring at it for a few minutes. I don’t know why, but I just didn’t want to make it.

Suddenly on a whim, I decided to invent my own recipe!

I started with my basic whole wheat recipe, made a few little changes, and then thought: I wonder what would happen if I put yogurt in my bread? No sooner had the thought entered my head then I scraped a cup of plain homemade yogurt into my bread machine. Before I could rethink my decision, I pushed start and walked away.

The result was awesome! The bread was so creamy and flavorful, with that distinct zip that comes from yogurt, but with the smoothness I had been craving in the buttermilk bread. Yum! So here you go:

Ingredients:

 1 cup warm water

3 Tbsp. butter

3 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 1/2 tsp. salt

4 cups flour (The first time I made it, I did all white flour because that’s all I had. The second time I made it, I did half whole wheat, half white flour. They were both great!)

1 cup plain yogurt

2 Tbsp. vital wheat gluten

1 Tbsp. yeast

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients to your bread machine according to your machine’s instructions. Run through the dough cycle.

2. Remove from bread machine and shape into two loaves. Grease two bread pans and put dough into the pans. Cover with a dish cloth and place in a warm place. Allow to rise until dough has just crested the top of the pan.

3. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 375. If the top begins to look too brown before the bread is done, cover it with foil for the remaining bake time.

4. Allow to cool before slicing.

Oh my goodness, I am absolutely FREAKING OUT about these new breadsticks!!

            Photo Credit

Although they took a lot of time (I had to run the bread machine through its dough cycle PLUS let the breadsticks rise an additional hour), they required very little hands-on work.

And the end result? Absolutely delicious!!

As you read through the recipe here, there’s only a few recommendations I would make:

1. Grease the cookie sheet a little more generously than she recommends. The bottoms seemed a little dry to me.

2. Mine were completely done right at 10 minutes. Be sure to check them right around that time. If I had let them go to 15 minutes, they would have been toast – literally!

3. After I took them out, I brushed them with melted butter and garlic salt, as the author recommended. Then I dusted them with Parmesan cheese, and put them back under the broiler for just about a minute to crisp up the tops.

Oh wow. They were good. Mmmmmmm…….

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. yeast

1 1/3 cup warm water

3¾ cups flour

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. salt

Directions:

1. Dissolve the yeast in the water for 5 minutes.

2. Place all ingredients in the bread machine in the order listed. Run the dough cycle.

3. Remove from bread machine and spread out on a well-oiled pizza pan.

4. Top and bake at 475 for 12-14 minutes, or until browned.

Here’s another great use for your bread machine: Make homemade cinnamon rolls!

Photo Credit

I found this recipe here.

I think you will agree that once you make cinnamon rolls this way, you will NEVER go back to Pillsbury again!

When I make these, I like to prepare them the night before. I fill them with the buttery, cinnamon-y goodness, and put them in the baking pan in the refrigerator. Then, when I wake up in the morning, I pop them into the oven. By the time I get the kids up, they are ready to go. Plus who DOESN’T love waking up to the smell of cinnamon rolls??