Accidental Green Bean Casserole

I had a couple handfuls of fresh green beans and a half a purple onion along with some mushrooms that equaled about a half a box to a full box and I decided to chop the mushrooms up small cut the green beans and dice the onion. I warmed my skillet and used olive oil to saute about three cloves of garlic. Then I added the green beans and last the onion and mushrooms. Oh wait! I had a fresh tomato that I diced and tossed in once everything was almost done cooking. When they were finished I dumped it is a casserole dish. At this point I didn't realize I was going to make green bean casserole. But then it hit me I had all the ingredients except the white sauce. So I cooked up a small white sauce. Using two tblsp of butter and flour and some milk til I thought I have enough. It thickened and I dumped it over the veggie mess. I shredded some kinda yummy Italian cheese over the top (Mark knows the name.) I stick it in the fridge and covered it. I heated it up on 350 for maybe 30 minutes. Oh my goodness! This was the best green bean casserole ever. I had to type this right away after eating it because I want to remember how it came about so I can try to duplicate. I don't measure very many things so it is hard for me to write out my recipes. I make some awesome dishes and think that I will remember but I never do so I am using my blog to archive them for myself. I'm not sure if I can put these in a separate folder. Let me know if anyone knows how to do that so people don't have to see these. I have tried many recipes for green bean casserole and I'm so so so glad that I had some mushrooms, green beans and a half an onion that needed to be cooked all at the same time. Fun fun for my family!

Honey bread recipe

New bread recipe. I was trying out a new bread recipe today and of course I couldn't just follow it! So now that it is baked I am trying to figure out just how I changed it. Here is what I think I did for my own archives but if you are interested in yummy homemade bread here's a good one.

Honey Bread

4 1/2 tsp of active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (105-115F)
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup butter
3 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups very warm water (120-130)
4 1/2 -5 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup flax meal
1/2 cup rice flour
1 cup all purpose flour

1. Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water.
2. In large bowl mix honey, butter, salt and very warm water and then let cool for a few minutes
3. Beat 3 cups of whole wheat flour into honey mixture and then beat for a few min til it is nice and mixed.
4. Beat in all other flours and dissolved yeast mixture.
5. Then add the rest of flour a bit at a time and knead by hand ten minutes or if using electric mixer with hook like two or three maybe, until smooth and elastic.
6. Grease bowl and toss the dough in there then grease top of dough and cover with cloth. Let rise til doubled in size. I didn't check clock, my bad.
7. Punch down and split in half roll out on floured surface into a rectangle, roll up to fit into your regular sized bread pan. Grease pan and put dough in pans. Cover with towel and let rise again.
8. When doubled in size bake in preheated 375 oven for 30 minutes. Turn oven down to 350 and bake 10 ish minutes longer (until when tapped on it sounds hollow) Take bread out of pans to cooling racks. It is much easier to cut bread when it is cooled but hey if you are hungry who cares!

2 Loaves

I think next time I will try this with less all purpose flour and honey and salt. We'll see how it goes. The family really likes it so it's a winner.

Our last trip to the zoo

Take note of the hand holding the coffee cup in the picture below people!

14 miles an hour! Guess who?

Mommy and Ali are kissing the frog :)

Ali would like you all to know that the rinos have big bootys :)

We took our last trip to the Phx zoo with our zoo pass. We let our kids ride the carousel and had a super fun blast. We won't renew our pass this year. Sad times. We had downloaded our pictures and then my computer crashed. A friend found most our pictures but unfortunately it looks like we only got a few zoo pictures back. Here's some fun pics! We're glad to have gotten some of them back for sure!

One egg wonder cake

My Granny used to make a pound cake called a One Egg Wonder Cake. It was so delicious that my mom would make it too. We would put strawberries and whipped cream on top and also pour milk over it. Aside from the milk part it became what my brother and I called Strawberry Shortcake. We loved this cake sooo much. Years ago I asked my dad for the recipe. He emailed it to me and I've been making to the delight of my friends and family. I use it for strawberry shortcake and for chocolate fondue. It is also tasty all by itself.

I'm not sure where this recipe came from but on my copy it says it was in my Grandma Ethel Estes' recipe box from my Great Aunt Dot.

Preheat oven 350 F. Grease 8 inch loaf pan or 8x8 cake pan.

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

combine flour, baking powder and salt. (original recipe has you sift flour and then sift these ingredients three times. I never do.)

Cream butter, add sugar, cream until light, add egg and beat well.

Add flour mixture and milk alternating in small amounts - beating after each addition.

Add vanilla

Dump in greased loaf pan or 8x8 pan (I've never used 8x8 but it is said to be preferred.)

Bake 350 for 50 minutes - toothpick test to make sure it is done. (The 50 minutes is a guide. Adjust accordingly depending on what size and type of pan.)

Nutrition info:(8 servings) per serving: 293 Calories; 9g fat; 4g Protein; 49g carbohydrate; 1g Dietary fiber; 26mg cholesterol; 296mg sodium.

Well, for those who love my strawberry shortcake here it is! This is not a healthy recipes by any stretch of the imagination but... It sure beat frozen in a box and it tastes so so good! Thanks Dad for emailing me this so many years ago.

My bountiful harvest!

Can you say yum!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love my garden. Believe me when I tell you I am no pro gardener. It is all hit and miss. This year I planted spinach like ummmm 6 times! Well, needless to say after trying and trying and trying again here it is! When I want it I have it to pick. It is quite funny really. I planted seeds several time and watered them etc. Well the darn seeds wouldn't sprout. So the kids saw the seed packets and ask to plant the seed. (kids were mine and the schmids) So they planted seeds themselves on several different days also. Well, like a month or so after the last time we planted them they started sprouting up everywhere! It was laughable. I don't even know what to say. Well, we have it growing around everything else I have planted out there. Too fun! Wanna salad? Come on over and bring the dressing :)

Micah's icecream cake

Here are some pictures of Micah's bday cake. Beating egg whites is a normal process that most of us do regularly but beating egg yolks til they foam is not. Here is part of the process. This may bore you but I was so incredibly fascinated I had to take pictures to share. If you ever want to make an excellent ice cream cake a good option for the cake part is sponge cake. Trust me people it is delicious! Can I get some positive comments from those who have tasted a Jessica ice cream cake! Can I hear a wha wha! It is a delicate and slightly intimidating process but if you can make waffles from scratch you can make a sponge cake!

Pics of us!

Here we are! I know most of you might know what we look like but I'm sure some of you only see pictures of our kids on here so here we are. Special thanks to Roberta for taking these pictures of us.