Making a House a Home

I LOVE having quick breakfasts ready for my family.  A nice stash of homemade biscuits, pancakes, muffins, all make quick and tasty breakfast choices for a busy family.

This is just one of the many muffins I like to have frozen in the freezer so we can quickly warm it up in the morning before we start school (and often the girls like them for snacks, too!!!).

Chocolate and peanut butter? YUM!! For breakfast? Even better!!!


Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins
1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 egg
¾ cup milk
2/3 cup peanut butter
¼ cup oil
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
2/3 cup chocolate chips

Mix all together and bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes. Makes 12 regular sized muffins.

 I haven't been making biscuits nearly as often as I used to.  The family still loves them just as much, so why not?  I've gotten lazy!!  I'd MUCH rather my family eat homemade biscuits over store bought stuff any day of the week (though, truth be told, that does happen!!!).  Homemade biscuits are so easy to make, they're budget friendly, too!!  Sooo I've decided that I'll make 12- 15 on Sunday nights and put them in the freezer. That way, we can pull them out for a quick breakfast or snack or even use them for sandwiches. 

My recipe for Easy Homemade Biscuits.

I always ALWAYS use a pastry blender when making biscuits.

It helps to have a helper in the kitchen, you know.  :)



 When cleaning up the mess from making biscuits, I've found it VERY helpful to use a dough scraper.  It helps scrape up all the flour and dough scraps from the area on the counter you've made your biscuits on. 

Another way we LOOOVE to use our homemade biscuits is in this yummy recipe- Chicken and Ham "Pot Pie"

Sooo do y'all make homemade biscuits? Do you even LIKE biscuits???  It can't be just a Southern thing, can it??  :)

UPDATE: Okay, so we put the extra cinnamon rolls in the freezer for later. We couldn't stand knowing they were in there, so the next day we took them out of the freezer, let them stand maybe 5 minutes and then popped them into a 250 degree oven for 18 minutes (we put them in a cold oven) and they were even BETTER than they were the day I first made them!!! Seriously!!!



Yep, these are THOSE cinnamon rolls. YUM!!!

Anyone that loves to cook and is online has surely heard of the Pioneer Woman by now!! These are her famous cinnamon rolls! Oh my are these GOOD!!! I halved the recipe and they still came out PERFECTLY!! 24 yummy cinnamon rolls!! One pan we gobbled up immediately and the other is in the freezer (fully cooked and iced!!) for another not-too-distant day.

I know I'm not the only one around the web to have discovered Pioneer Woman's cooking site called Tasty Kitchen. There are some seriously YUMMY looking recipes on there!!!

Recently I made the Perfectly Easy Dinner Rolls and they are just that- perfectly easy!! They are definitely the easiest rolls I have ever made AND they were tasty, too!!!

Here they are before rising and baking. And remember, the recipe says to roll these into smooth balls. But hey, I had a 3 1/2 year old helper and, well, this is as smooth as they get. (And I'm pretty sure they were extra tasty because Elizabeth was helping! smile!!!)



Perfectly Easy Dinner Rolls...

Prep Time 20 Minutes
Cook Time 15 Minutes
Servings 24
Difficulty Easy

Ingredients
1 cup Warm Water (105F To 115F)
2 packages Active Dry Yeast
½ cups Butter, Melted (1 Stick)
½ cups Sugar
3 whole Eggs
1 teaspoon Salt
4 cups To 4 1/2 Cups Unbleached All-purpose Flour
Additional Melted Butter (optional)

Preparation Instructions
Combine the warm water (I usually go to 115F) in a large bowl. Stir in the yeast and let stand for 5 to 8 minutes for a good proof. Stir in butter, sugar, beaten eggs and salt. Beat in 1 cup flour at a time (I use a wooden spoon) until dough is too stiff to mix (some flour may not be needed). Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or up to 4 days in a lightly greased bowl.

Grease a 13- x 9-inch baking pan (I use butter). Turn out chilled dough onto a lightly floured board. Divide dough into 24 equal-size pieces. Roll each piece into a smooth round ball; place balls in even rows in the prepared pan. Cover and let dough balls rise in a warm location until doubled in volume, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Bake until rolls are golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Brush warm rolls with melted butter, if desired. Break rolls apart to serve. You can obviously make clover leaf rolls from this recipe.

And here is the end result. Seriously yummy dinner rolls!!

Thanks to Heritage Schoolhouse, we had a yummy breakfast this morning of Gingerbread Scones and piping hot coffee. Mmmm! Definitely the best way to start off a day!!!


Gingerbread Scones
8 servings

2 cups flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup cold butter
1/3 cup molasses
1/4 cup plus 2 T milk
1 egg, separated
sugar

Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, ginger, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs; set aside. Combine the molasses, milk and egg yolk until smooth; stir into the flour mixture just until moistened. Turn the dough onto a floured surface; knead gently 6-8 times. Pat into an 8 inch circle; cut into 8 wedges and place 1 inch apart on a greased baking sheet. Beat egg white until frothy; brush over scones. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 400° for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan to wire rack. Serve warm and enjoy!

These were perfectly wonderful!! The texture, the taste, everything. Well, everything except I only made 12 of them. Next time, I'm doubling the recipe.

Chocolate Chip Muffins
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted (but not hot!!)
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375°. Lightly grease or line 12 muffins cups.

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs. Stir in melted butter, milk, and vanilla. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in chocolate chips. Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full. (I use an ice cream scoop for this! Super easy!!) Sprinkle the top of each filled muffin tin with a smidge of sugar.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until they are slightly golden on top.

I took this appetizer to the April Ladies Fellowship at church last night. It was easy, delicious and we had NO leftovers!!!



Cheesy Pinwheels with Italian Dip

1 can (8 oz) refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 cup tomato pasta sauce

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Unroll dough and separate into 2 long rectangles; press each into a 12x4 inch rectangle. Firmly press perforations to seal. Sprinkle garlic powder and cheese over rectangles; gently press into dough.

Starting with one short side, roll up each rectangle, press edges to seal. With serrated knife, cut each roll into 8 slices, place cut side down on ungreased cookie sheet. Brush tops with beaten egg; sprinkle with Italian seasoning.

Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. In small saucepan, heat pasta sauce over medium heat until hot, stirring occasionally. Serve warm pinwheels with pasta sauce.

(Oh, I tripled the recipe for church.)

Easy and SO delicous!! And these freeze nicely, too! Perfect to have on hand for on-the-go breakfasts or a quick snack! Yum!


Pumpkin Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup buttermilk
2 eggs, slightly beaten


1 Heat oven to 400 . Stir together all ingredients except butter, pumpkin, buttermilk and eggs in large bowl. Stir together all remaining ingredients in medium bowl. Stir into flour mixture just until moistened.
2 Spoon batter into paper-lined or greased muffin pan. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan.




And, of course, these are much more fun to make when you have a helper. :)