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.