Easy Bread

This is such a yummy, fast recipe if you're looking for some homemade bread. Start to finish, can be done in 1.5 hours. And, it only has 5 ingredients! A staple for Sunday dinners around here.

2 1/2 c. warm water

2 T. active dry yeast

2 T. sugar

1 T. salt

5 1/2 c. flour

Stir sugar and yeast into the warm water, and let it sit and get all bubbly. While that's working, put salt and flour in mixing bowl with dough hook. Once the yeast is proofed, dump in the mixing bowl and stir on low speed for a few minutes. The dough will be sticky. Prepare two bread pans with non-stick spray, and divide the dough evenly between the two. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for about an hour, or until double in size. Bake at 400 F for 20 minutes or until it looks nice and golden brown on top. 

I love making homemade goodies for Christmas presents for our friends, and I made this last year with some cinnamon honey butter as well. People raved about it! It's so good and so easy! 

Buttermilk syrup

A Sandstrom Christmas tradition is a waffle bar for breakfast, and there's a small flask of maple syrup for me, and everyone else eats this yummy buttermilk syrup. I guess you could compare it to the Magleby's fresh syrup that they serve with their french toast, if my memory serves me right. But on a whim I made it at the Checketts cabin when we stayed there for the Sept. 11 football game. Thanks again to Laura and Ben for hosting us all! Enjoy!

1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. buttermilk
1/2 c. sugar (can use white or brown)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Melt butter, buttermilk, and sugar in a saucepan until bubbly. Take off heat and add vanilla and baking soda. The baking soda will bubble up and foam, so make sure there's space in the pan. Serve warm, and stir it up if it's been sitting and has settled. SO GOOD!!

Oatmeal Scotchies/Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had butterscotch chips in the pantry that I never really planned on using so I found a recipe for Oatmeal Scotchies to use up the chips. HOLY MOLY, they were good. I thought to myself, these would be even better with milk chocolate chips. So for Ben's birthday (not a cake guy), he asked for cookies and I made these. Needless to say, they didn't last very long. Pulled from verybestbaking.com.

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or grated peel of 1 orange
• 3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
• 1 2/3 cups (11-oz. pkg.) Butterscotch chips or milk chocolate chips (OR BOTH I suppose!)

PREHEAT oven to 375° F. 

COMBINE flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in oats and morsels. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. 

BAKE for 7 to 8 minutes for chewy cookies or 9 to 10 minutes for crisp cookies. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. 

Easy Cream of Broccoli Soup

During my early days of pregnancy some commercial popped up for Subway and they had a Cream of Broccoli soup on the screen and I needed to have it. But instead of running to Subway we decided to make our own. We used this recipe and added a handful of cheddar cheese and some chopped turkey bacon to make it a meal. It's so easy and so good. Also of note, our local Costco has frozen broccoli bags that come with 4 individual 16 oz. bags per large bag, which is nice because they keep them separated and in perfect portions.

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• 1 pkg. (16 oz.) frozen chopped broccoli
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 can (14.5 oz.) chicken broth
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 can (12 fl. oz.) Evaporated milk
• This recipe was taken from verybestbaking.com
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Easy Greek Tzatziki

Growing up in Calgary with Opa! at my disposal has spoiled me. I now have to hunt to find good Greek restaurants in each new place we have lived. But this recipe makes it easy to do your own Greek at home. I love putting this on pitas with grilled chicken, in a salad, or just for a good veggie dip. 

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

1 teaspoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tablespoons chopped cucumber

1 teaspoon fresh dill

1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine the tzatziki ingredients in a bowl and mix. Taste to see if it's salty enough for ya, I sometimes add more salt to take away from the tangy greek yogurt.

Healthy Chili Lime Tuna Patties

Tonight for dinner I was trying to find a yummy way to use all of the canned tuna in my pantry with the ingredients in my fridge and this recipe was the result. I was really pleased with the taste and it was a bonus that it was so healthy. I hope you like it!

Ingredients

3 cans tuna (drained)
3 eggs
3-4 T. non-fat plain Greek yogurt
½ red onion diced
½ bunch cilantro chopped
3 tsp. chili lime seasoning (I use The Gourmet Collection brand)

Directions

Mix all of the ingredients in a medium bowl. Heat a grilling or sauté pan to medium heat with your preferred cooking oil (I use canola). Pack tuna balls and drop them onto the pan and flatten slightly into pattie shape. Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side until browned. Serve with lettuce in place of buns for a great low-carb option.

Note: These take 15 minutes to make and are cheap, healthy, and easy! Cilantro can easily be substituted for spinach if you prefer. Yields 18 small patties. I serve 3 patties per plate for 6 people. Enjoy!

Aunt Wendy's Snappy Snaps

These are by far my most favourite recipe of ginger snaps. Thanks Aunt Wendy!

Ginger Snappy Snaps

1 1/2 c. white flour
1 c. white sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 c. oil
1 egg
1/4 c. molasses

Combine flour, sugar, soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt in large mixing bowl. Stir in the oil, beaten egg and molasses until a stiff dough is formed. Roll dough into small balls, the size of large marbles and roll in granulated sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake in a 350F oven for 8 to 10 minutes. If you prefer a chewy cookie, leave for 8 minutes. If you prefer a crisp ginger snap, leave in for 10 minutes. Yields 3 dozen cookies, recipe doubles well.

Sweet Potato Casserole (Emphasis on Sweet)

Sweet Potato Casserole

Ingredients

2 cans sweet potatoes (yams)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Drain the sweet potatoes and mash (or beat in mixer). In a large bowl, mix together the sweet potatoes, sugar, eggs, salt, butter, milk and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Transfer to a 9x13 inch baking dish.
In medium bowl, mix the sugar and flour. Cut in the butter until the mixture is coarse. Stir in the pecans. Sprinkle the mixture over the sweet potato mixture. If wanted, melt 1/2 c. butter and pour over the mixture for a more crunchy texture.
Bake in the preheated oven 30 minutes, or until the topping is lightly brown.

This makes for an unbelievably delicious sweet potato casserole and is perfect for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Tis' the season already! Enjoy!

Coconut Syrup Goodness

Ben loves a thing called 'Brinner.' For those of you who don't know what this is, it is breakfast for dinner. It's a term that we learned from the show Scrubs and it is truly a treat when he gets Brinner. Our favourite to put on almost any breakfast item is coconut syrup, but considering you can only get the really good stuff in Hawaii we decided to find a recipe to make it. Here is the recipe we use and it is delicious and easy and lasts for a long time.

Ingredients

1 (13.5 ounce) can coconut milk
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 cups light corn syrup
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut

Directions

Whisk together the coconut milk and cornstarch in a saucepan until the cornstarch is dissolved. Pour in the corn syrup, sugar, and coconut; bring to a boil, stirring continually. As soon as the mixture comes to a rolling boil, remove from heat. Transfer to a blender and blend until the coconut flakes are smooth. Allow to cool before serving.

As a side note, we use 1 can of light coconut milk instead of the regular so that we at least think that it's healthier. Either way it's delicious.

Blue Plate Sliders

This is another recipe that I learned in my Foods class that goes really well with the hamburger buns below and a homemade basil mayonnaise sauce. It is seriously delicious and makes some of the yummiest hamburgers I have ever had. The sliders will be small but you can make them into full sized hamburgers if you like that better. Enjoy!

2T canola oil
1/2 onion chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 t. italian seasoning
1 t. chilli powder
salt and pepper to taste

Saute all together until onion softens

1/2 lb. ground beef
1/2 lb. ground turkey
1 cup grated colby cheese
4 strips of bacon (or turkey bacon)

Mix meat together. Add onion mixture to the meat mixture. Coat an electric skillet with 1 T. butter. Roll meat into ping pong ball sizes. Place balls on electric skillet. When meat has browned, turn over and smash flat. Top with grated cheese. Put the bacon on the sliders and add any condiments. Enjoy!