Baking Powder Biscuits

One of the first things we were taught to make in Grade 8 Home-Ec. A great, versatile standard. If you add a little extra milk, (on purpose or by accident) to make a stickier dough, you can either drop them onto the top of a bubbling stew to make dumplings, or drop them onto a greased cookie sheet for "drop biscuits". Add cheese and bacon! Add chopped green onion or chives! Add sugar and bake in round "cakes" to make scones! You can even use the baking powder biscuit as a pizza crust in a pinch. Perfect with soup or stew for dinner, or for breakfast, hot and fresh with jam or to hold an egg and ham sandwich.

2 cups all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 cup of butter or hard margarine

3/4 to 1 cup milk

Lightly grease a baking sheet and preheat the oven to 375*F.

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium sized bowl. Cut the butter in with a pastry blender. If you don't have a pastry blender, you can use a couple of knives to cut at the butter, or just use your fingers, kind of squishing the flour and butter together until the butter is broken up into little flour covered pieces and the mixture sort of resembles oatmeal.

Add the milk- start with 3/4 cup, and add a bit more if needed, gently folding it into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula until it holds together. (*if you use whole wheat flour, it will take more milk than with white flour) Dough should be in a lump together but not sticky. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and gently roll out to 2 inch thickness. Either cut into circles (or hearts, or shamrocks or Christmas trees...) and place on prepared baking sheet. You can gently gather the scraps together and recut it. OR (as I usually do) just cut the rolled dough into 12 squares and place on cookie sheet. 

Bake for 15-25 minutes, until biscuits are risen and golden brown.

If you add too much dough and it's quite sticky, just drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet, dividing it into 12 mounds. Bake as indicated until risen and nicely browned.

VARIATIONS: 

To make dumplings for stew, add 1 cup to 1  1/4 cups milk to make a soft, sticky dough. Drop by Tablespoons onto hot stew. Cover and let the stew simmer for 15-25 minutes until the tops of the dumplings are firm to the touch. To make dumplings in the Slow Cooker, cover the top of the slow cooker (under the lid) with a clean tea towel. This keeps the condensing steam from dripping back onto the dumplings which keeps them from getting cooked properly on top.

Cheese Biscuits: Add 3/4 to 1 cup of grated cheese with the flour, either before or after you cut in the butter.

Cheese and Bacon Biscuits: Add 3/4 cup of grated cheese and 1/2 cup of cooked, chopped bacon before you add the milk.

Cheese, Bacon and Onion Biscuits: Add 3/4 cup of grated cheese, 1/2 cup of cooked, chopped bacon and 1/3 cup of chopped green onion before you add the milk.

Easy Scones: Add 1/2 cup of sugar to the flour mixture, and increase the butter to 1/4 cup. Divide the dough in half, after the milk is mixed in, and shape it into two 6 inch circles. Score the circles with a knife, cutting each into 6ths. Brush the tops and sides with a little milk or cream and sprinkle with sugar. Bake as directed for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.

Healthier Butter Tart Squares

Butter Tart Squares are a family favourite around here, but I don't make them very often because I like them, and they're traditionally VERY full of sugar and flour. Although this version is still very high in carbs and calories, I switched up more than half of the white flour for whole wheat flour and wheat germ, so between kicking up the fibre and replacing half the brown sugar with sweetener, it's at least a little better for you. If you cut them smaller that will help a bit too. Just remember- one at a time. Savour the sweetness.


Bottom Layer

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
2 Tablespoons ground flax seed (optional)
2 Tablespoons Splenda  artificial sweetener
1/2 cup hard margarine, softened

Second Layer

2 eggs
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup Splenda  artificial sweetener
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter or hard margarine, melted
1 1/2 cups raisins

Crumble Bottom Layer ingredients together then press into an ungreased 9" square pan. Bake at 350*F for 15 minutes.

Mix eggs, brown sugar and Splenda together. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Spread over Bottom Layer and bake for about 20 minutes, until light brown. Cool. Cut into 36 squares.

Almost Gwen's Harvest Bread

My friend Gwen Ericson brought me the most wonderful loaf of bread when I was recovering from surgery last year. She's such a generous lady that she happily gave me the recipe. I've modified the ingredients to reflect my pantry and changed her instructions a bit- I'm lazier than I ought to be and found I could throw everything together in my Kitchen Aid mixer with good results.   I also adjusted it to make just one very large loaf instead of the three or four her original recipe made. This is a lovely, light multi-grain loaf with a beautiful texture. I like it with sunflower seeds, but others here don't, so I leave them out. Adding a quarter cup of dried cranberries would be nice too. I haven't tried it "Regular", so if you try the "Regular Instructions" and find something in the method that needs to be changed, let me know!

3 cups white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1 Tablespoon instant yeast
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons whole flax seed
2 Tablespoons oatmeal
2 Tablespoons Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Cereal
2 Tablespoons toasted sunflower seeds (optional)
1 1/2 cups very warm water
1 large egg
1/4 cup lard (or 1/3 cup vegetable/Canola oil)
2 Tablespoons oil

*Kitchen Aid Instructions:

Put all ingredients except the last 2 Tablespoons of oil into largest mixer bowl. Mix on lowest speed with dough hook for about 10 minutes. Add more flour if necessary, 1 Tablespoon at a time, until dough no longer sticks to your fingers when you test it.

Take dough off dough hook, and form into a ball with your hand. Remove from bowl, (either hold in one hand or rest on clean breadboard) and add 2 Tablespoons of oil to bottom of bowl. Put dough in bowl, swishing it around to cover the bottom with oil, then flip the dough to cover the other side.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and set in a warm place to rise until doubled in bulk, 1.5- 2 hours.

When bread dough has risen, remove it from the bowl and shape into loaf/loaves, and place in lightly greased bread pan(s). Set in warm place to rise again until bread is about doubled in size- 1-1.5 hours.

Preheat oven to 350*F, then bake the loaves for 30- 50 minutes until nicely golden.

Take the pans out of the oven, and carefully tip the bread out of the pans. Cool on baking racks.

Yield: 1 very large loaf, 2 small loaves, 1 good sized loaf + a couple of buns (hamburger/hot dog/ dinner roll shaped)

*Regular Instructions:

Measure water, salt, yeast, sugar, lard, egg and 2 cups of the flour into large mixing bowl. Using electric hand mixer/ beaters, beat batter together until lard and flour are incorporated, and mixture looks gelatinous, (kind of gooey/ glue-y) It will be very sticky.

Measure in 3rd cup of flour and the rest of the ingredients except the last 2 Tablespoons of oil.

Using a wooden spoon or your hands, mix dough together. As the ingredients are incorporated, the dough will get stiffer and you'll find it easier to just transfer it to a lightly floured board and mix with your hands.

When the dough starts to feel less sticky, and the flour is mixed in, begin to knead the dough, adding flour a Tablespoon at a time as needed to keep dough from sticking to your hands. As you knead it, the dough will get less sticky and the less flour you add, the lighter your bread will be.

To knead: Gather the dough into a ball. With the heel of your hands, push the dough away from you. Now with your fingers pull the dough back towards you into the ball. Repeat with pushing away and pulling it back 4 or 5 times. The dough should start to get longer, side to side. Rotate the dough, (1/4 turn), so it is long-wise to you; gather the longer end up into a ball with your fingers, then push it back out in the kneading motion as before. Continue kneading and turning the dough for at least 10 minutes. The longer you knead, the better your bread will be.

Put the 2 Tablespoons of oil in the bottom of the bowl. Put the dough in the bowl, swishing it around to cover the bottom with oil, then flip the dough to cover the other side.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and set in a warm place to rise until doubled in bulk, 1.5- 2 hours.

When bread dough has risen, remove it from the bowl and shape into loaf/loaves, and place in lightly greased bread pan(s). Set in warm place to rise again until bread is about doubled in size- 1-1.5 hours.

Preheat oven to 350*F, then bake the loaves for 30- 50 minutes until nicely golden.

Take the pans out of the oven, and carefully tip the bread out of the pans. Cool on baking racks.

Yield: 1 large loaf, 2 small loaves, 1 good sized loaf + a couple of buns (hamburger/hot dog/ dinner roll shaped)

Granola Squares

My friend Susan gave me this recipe. It's one of those "never exactly the same twice" recipes that is always good. The key is the "extras"- use whatever your people like and leave out what you don't have or what you need to if allergies are an issue. This is one of the few recipes I've done that doesn't work with homemade sweetened condensed milk, but "light" condensed milk works well. If the squares don't hold their shape when you cut them up, the resultant crumble can be used as dessert/yogurt topping, or you could add milk and eat it like granola cereal. I sometimes wrap the squares in plastic as soon as they're cooled, and store them pre-wrapped and ready for school lunches. Be careful, though, these granola squares are a little addictive... Easy to make, yummy to eat- enjoy!


1.5 cups rolled oats

1.5 cups Rice Krispies

Extras to equal 4 cups: raisins, sunflower seeds, chocolate chips, nuts, coconut, sesame seeds, chopped dried fruit, wheat germ, flax seeds ...

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup butter or hard margarine, melted

Preheat oven to 325*. Line a jelly roll pan or your largest cookie sheet with tin foil; grease the foil. 

Mix cereal and the rest of the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix together sweetened condensed milk and melted butter, then add to dry ingredients. Spread well combined mixture over prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until lightly browned. Let cool slightly, then invert pan onto clean cutting board. Remove pan and peel off foil. Cut into squares while still warm. Store in a cool place in an airtight container. Save the crumbled bits to use as a yogurt topping.

Two-Fer Scones

Or, "Six of One, Half Dozen of The Other". Originally from "Company's Coming Muffins & More" Cookbook, the "Rich Scones" quickly became a family favourite. When I started needing to kick up my fibre, I began to add a batch of the "Bran Cereal Scones"- a variation of "Current Scones", without the sugar.  Being down in numbers doesn't mean we've ceased to enjoy scones and tea for a Sunday supper, it just means we don't eat two dozen scones at a time. I've been making half a batch of each of our favourites, and it works very well. If you want to make 12 scones of either variety, simply double the ingredients as I've given them here, and use the whole amount of liquid in it. (1 egg + 2/3 cup milk) To make a dozen of each, you'll need two eggs and 1 1/3 cups milk. But you're smart. You figured that out.

Preheat oven to 425*F.

Set two medium/large sized mixing bowls on the counter. One is for the Current/Bran Cereal Scones, and one is for the Rich Scones.

Measure the following ingredients into the bowls as follows:

Bran Cereal Scones                            Rich Scones

1/3 cup all-purpose flour                  1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour                1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup lightly crushed
    bran flakes cereal*
2 teaspoons baking powder              1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt                             1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4-1/3 cup currents, if desired

Mix the dry ingredients together. Using a pastry blender, two knives or your fingers, cut in margarine until crumbly- 1/8 cup margarine into the Bran Cereal Scones, and 1/4 cup margaine into the Rich Scones.

In a small measuring cup, measure 2/3 cup milk. Add one large egg and beat to blend well. Pour half into each bowl. Stir each batch of scones with a fork to form a soft dough.

Lightly grease a large baking sheet. Form scones into a 6 inch circle, one on each end of the baking sheet. Brush the tops with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Gently cut each circle into six pie shaped wedges.

Bake for about 15 minutes, until risen and browned slightly. Serve hot with butter and jam.

Yields 6 Bran Cereal and 6 Rich Scones.

*I've used Bran Flakes, Raisin Bran (and omitted the currents), Vector and, in a pinch, Strawberry Special K. Any multi-grain flaked cereal should be fine.

Lauralea's Potato Salad

Those of you who need-need-need structure will hate this recipe. Those with any amount of imagination might be able to deal with it. My potato salad is pretty much never exactly the same twice, because I generally use what's leftover and on hand. It's a good formula, though, and it's always tasty. Post your own inventive add-ins in the Comments section so others can reap the benefit of your expertise : )


If I'm planning potato salad for tomorrow, and I'm on the ball, I will purposefully cook extra potatoes for it today. If I happen to have a bunch of leftover boiled, baked or roasted potatoes, I might be inspired to turn them into potato salad.

Here are my potato salad tricks:

Figure on about half a medium potato per person. Plus one or two. I always err on the side of caution and abundance. For a potluck, I'll boil/cook probably 6 potatoes. Or whatever fits in the medium sized pot. Cut cooked potatoes up quite small. I don't generally make a chunky potato salad.

Boil an egg per person. Six to eight for a potluck salad. Chop them quite small. I cut each egg in thirds lengthwise, then in thirds again on the uncut side, (to make 9 lengthwise pieces) then cut across all 9 pieces making small diced bits of egg and yolk.

I use mayonnaise or Miracle Whip-type salad dressing, (whatever's on hand) added until the potatoes and eggs are coated but still quite dry. I squeeze in a generous dollop of prepared mustard, add a few soup spoons of green relish, and a splash of vinegar if I'm using mayonnaise. With the vinegar I add a couple of spoons full  of sugar from the sugar bowl. I like to add Ranch Dressing as the finishing touch,(Ranch with Bacon, Peppercorn Ranch and Creamy Cucumber are all good as well), to hold the salad together and make it creamy. Salt, onion powder (if I'm not adding onion-y things) and lemon-pepper are all added to taste.

Thinly sliced radishes, finely diced celery, chopped chives or green onions are all things I add to the potatoes and eggs if I have them in the fridge. If I'm not using peeled, cooked, leftover potatoes, I leave the skins on for a bit of extra fibre.

If it tastes a little "flat", I'll add a bit more vinegar and sugar to balance it as needed. Sometimes it just needs a little more salt.

I've been known to add 10%-18% cream to make the mayonnaise stretch further, and the Ranch Dressing was discovered when I'd run out of mayonnaise altogether before the salad was creamy enough. Low fat mayonnaise and dressings work fine, and I've used Splenda instead of sugar to counter the vinegar.

Hope these ideas work for you!

Chocolate Reece's Pieces Cookies

These are my friend Janet's Double Chocolate Chip Cookies with a few alterations. They've become a family favourite. Most excellent with a cold glass of milk.

1 cup hard margarine, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 - 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups Reece's Pieces (or peanut butter chips)

Cream margarine and sugar together. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat well. Add flour (start with 2 cups), cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix well. If the dough is too soft to hold a "ball" shape, add a little more flour. (it's not a stiff dough, but shouldn't "plop" onto the baking sheet. You should have soft cookie dough balls.) Stir in Reece's Pieces.

Shape into 2 inch balls (I use my ice cream scoop= about 1/4 cup per cookie) and place on greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Cookies spread when they're baking, so be a little generous with the space on the first pan to see how much room they'll need.

Bake at 350*F for 10 minutes. Let stand on cookie sheet until slightly cooled, then transfer to cooling rack.

Yield: about 3 dozen cookies

Cabbage Borscht

At Thomas' request. The recipe I "use" is in The Mennonite Treasury of Recipes, but as I was looking at it the other day I realized that if one followed this recipe verbatim it has the potential to become a pot of bones with a lump of onion and a whole cooked cabbage... so I'll write it out the way I make it. It's one of those "start with what you've got, and see where you end up" kind of recipes. So... let's see where we end up.


You will need: soup bones and/ or beef bouillon, a large onion, a small green cabbage, 4 or 5 medium potatoes, fresh dill or dried dill weed, fresh or dried parsley, a bay leaf, a can of condensed tomato soup, cream/whole milk/condensed milk. *Leftover roast beef is a good add-in option. I frequently make this soup with bouillon and add leftover beef at the end, with the tomato soup.

If you're starting with soup bones, put them in a large pot and cover with cold water. Simmer for 3 hours; Remove bones and strain the broth into a large bowl.

Finely chop the onion, and grate, shred or finely chop the cabbage (as for making Cole slaw). Clean and/or peel the potatoes, then dice them.

Put onion, cabbage and potatoes into the large pot. Add the beef broth and measure in enough water to cover, OR just cover with water. For every cup of water you use, add 1 teaspoon of beef bouillon. Add the dill, parsley and bay leaf.

Cook until the vegetables are tender.

Add the tomato soup. If you have quite a large pot full, (if your cabbage was bigger than mine or something) you may have to add two cans of soup. Let it simmer for a few minutes to blend the flavours. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Just before serving, add cream/milk/condensed milk (1-2 cups) OR have the cream available for each person to add as much or as little as they like.

Sausage Soup

Copied from a recipe of Grandma Friesen's into my recipe box, it was called "Mother's Best Soup" in her book. This is our "potato, carrot, sausage, bean" soup. A family favourite, and always good on a cold winter day. It's not a terribly "exact" recipe, as I use my recipe as a guideline, but I'll do my best to give you some amounts so it tastes good for you too. It tastes very good without the cream, so can be served dairy free if desired. If you have issues with dairy, serve it with the cream on the side, allowing everyone to add it as they like.


4 small potatoes (figure 1 small potato per person)
4 large carrots (again, about 1 carrot per person)
Half a package of farmer sausage
Water
1 medium onion, finely chopped, or 1 tablespoon onion powder
2 bay leaves
1 piece of whole anise seed (or 1/4 teaspoon anise extract)
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried savoury, or 3 pieces of fresh summer savoury (in herb/plant form)
salt and pepper to taste
1 can kidney beans, drained (large or small can doesn't matter)
cream*

Cut potatoes, carrots and sausage into small cubes/ pieces. Put in large pot together with onion and spices/ seasoning. Cover with cold water, then bring to a boil. Simmer together until vegetables are soft and sausage is cooked. (let it simmer for at least half an hour)

10 minutes before serving, add kidney beans, and check for seasoning (adding salt and pepper if needed)

Immediately before serving, stir in enough cream (or canned milk) to give the broth a creamy look.

Serve with fresh buns and cheese for the full Mennonite experience.

And enjoy.

Should serve 4-6

*To keep it dairy free, put the cream on the table rather than adding it directly to the soup. Let everyone add it to their bowl after the soup is served.

Light Peppernuts

A Christmas family tradition from Grandma Friesen. They are small, round cookies that are especially delightful with coffee. My theory is that cookies like this became a Christmas holiday treat because of all the chilling and freezing involved. In the days before refrigerators and freezers it would have been difficult to make these in the summer. Definitely worth the trouble.

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup hard margarine
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon mace (substitute nutmeg if you can't find mace)
1/4 teaspoon ground star anise (or 1/8 tsp anise extract)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sour milk or buttermilk
4 cups all purpose flour

In medium sized saucepan, bring sugar, corn syrup, margarine, cloves, ginger, mace and star anise to a boil. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

To cooled syrup mixture add egg, baking soda and milk. Mix in flour. You will have a very stiff batter/ very soft dough.

Refrigerate/ chill for half an hour, or until dough is firm.

Roll the dough into strips; I use a large plastic spatula to scoop out a "hand full" of dough, then quickly roll it into 1 to 2 inch diameter strips. If the dough feels too sticky, rolling it on a large plastic container lid has been successful, and the odd time I've been in a hurry and have tried rolling dough before it's chilled enough, actually rolling it WITH the spatula ON the plastic lid has worked.

Place dough strips on a waxed paper or plastic wrap lined cookie sheet, and place cookie sheet in the freezer. (If I plan to bake peppernut cookies a few at a time, I will wrap each strip of dough in plastic wrap and when they're frozen, I'll put the frozen strips in a freezer bag)

Freeze strips until hard, then remove, one at a time, and slice the strips into 1/4 - 1/2 inch pieces. Place 1/2 inch apart on a greased baking sheet, and bake at 350* F. for 5-8 minutes, until golden brown.

Immediately remove cookies from baking sheets to paper towel covered counters. I've found this to be my best bet for cooling cookies, as they're too small to stay on a cooling rack.

When cooled, store in airtight containers or storage bags.

Makes an Extra Large Freezer bag full (38cm X 46cm bag- the ones that come in a box of 10).

Fudge Brownies

This is from "Cooking With Cents" by Donna-Joy Halliday and Norma Bannerman. It was a wedding gift from my sisters, and some of my sanity savers originate in its pages! (the Master Mix and basic recipes like pancakes and muffins got me through babies and toddlerhood!)

It seems to be out of print, but was published in 1983 by Cooking With Cents Publishing Company Ltd., in Calgary Alberta. If you can get your hands on a copy of this one, I strongly encourage it! It's a great cookbook.

I've been expressly told to get the family's favourite brownie recipe posted so children far away can make them. Here we go!


1/2 cup (125 ml) hard margarine, melted
1 cup (250 ml) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (60 ml) cocoa
2 eggs
2/3 cup (150 ml) flour

Combine melted margarine, sugar and cocoa. Stir in eggs and combine well. Add flour and mix until well blended.

Spread into greased 8" square pan. Bake at 350* F. for 30 minutes. Let stand about 5 minutes; ice while brownies are still very warm.

Icing:

3 Tablespoons margarine
2 Tablespoons cocoa
1 cup icing sugar
1 1/2- 2 Tablespoons boiling water

Mix margarine, cocoa and icing sugar together with enough water to make a spreadable icing.

White Bread

It's unanimous. This bread is good with butter or toasted. That they've eaten nearly 2 loaves a day speaks volumes. Give it a try. There are few things as satisfying as the smell of bread baking and the taste of fresh bread, warm from the oven, with butter or jam. 

Makes 2 medium sized loaves, or 2 dozen small, dinner buns or 1.5 dozen larger buns.

1 1/2 cups very warm water
1 Tablespoon/ package active yeast (not instant)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup lard
1 large egg
4 1/4- 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons vegetable/Canola oil

Put water into large mixing bowl/ Kitchen Aid bowl, and sprinkle yeast on top. Sprinkle sugar over yeast and let stand about 10 minutes, until yeast is puffing up and foamy looking.

*Kitchen Aid Instructions:
Add salt, lard, egg and 4 cups of the flour. Mix on lowest speed with dough hook, for about 10 minutes, until flour is incorporated. Add more flour, 1/8 cup at a time, until dough no longer sticks to your fingers when you test it.

Take dough off dough hook, and form into a ball with your hand. Remove from bowl, (either hold in one hand or rest on clean breadboard) and add oil to bottom of bowl. Put dough in bowl, swishing it around to cover the bottom with oil, then flip the dough to cover the other side.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and set in a warm place to rise until doubled in bulk, 1 1/2- 2 hours.

When bread dough has risen, remove it from the bowl and divide into two equal portions. Roll/ shape each portion into a 6 1/2 inch long roll, and place in lightly greased bread pan. Set in warm place to rise again until the top of the bread is at least an inch above the rim of the pan.

Preheat oven to 350*F, then bake the loaves for 30- 50 minutes until nicely golden.

Take the pans out of the oven, and carefully tip the bread out of the pans. Cool on baking racks.

*Regular Instructions:
To the yeast/water, add salt, lard,egg and 2 cups of the flour. Using electric hand mixer/ beaters, beat batter together until lard and flour are incorporated, and mixture looks gelatinous, (kind of gooey/ glue-y) It will be very sticky.

Now, using a wooden spoon or your hands, mix in 2 1/4 cups more flour. As the flour is incorporated, the dough will get stiffer and you'll find it easier to just transfer it to a lightly floured board and mix with your hands.

When the dough starts to feel less sticky, and the flour is mixed in, begin to knead the dough, adding a little flour at a time as needed to keep dough from sticking to your hands. As you knead it, the dough will get less sticky and the less flour you add, the lighter your bread will be.

To knead: Gather the dough into a ball. With the heel of your hands, push the dough away from you. Now with your fingers pull the dough back towards you into the ball. Repeat with pushing away and pulling it back 4 or 5 times. The dough should start to get longer, side to side. Rotate the dough, (1/4 turn), so it is long-wise to you; gather the longer end up into a ball with your fingers, then push it back out in the kneading motion as before. Continue kneading and turning the dough for at least 10 minutes. The longer you knead, the better your bread will be.

Put oil in the bottom of the bowl. Put the dough in the bowl, swishing it around to cover the bottom with oil, then flip the dough to cover the other side.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and set in a warm place to rise until doubled in bulk, 1 1/2- 2 hours.

When bread dough has risen, remove it from the bowl and divide into two equal portions. Roll/ shape each portion into a 6 1/2 inch long roll, and place in lightly greased bread pan. Set in warm place to rise again until the top of the bread is at least an inch above the rim of the pan.

Preheat oven to 350*F, then bake the loaves for 30- 50 minutes until nicely golden.

Take the pans out of the oven, and carefully tip the bread out of the pans. Cool on baking racks.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Definitely a family favourite! Easy to halve or double. These freeze well. We've also shaped the dough into one or two large rolls, wrapped it in plastic wrap, then placed it in a freezer bag in the freezer. They can be sliced, and baked frozen as per instructions as needed.

1 cup hard margarine, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour (enough to make a stiff dough that can be rolled into balls)
2 cups chocolate chips

Cream margarine and sugars together. Add eggs, then the rest of the ingredients as listed. Scoop dough into balls with an ice cream scoop or large spoon, and drop onto greased cookie sheets, a few inches apart. (12 on a 9 X 13" sized pan) Bake at 350*F for: 10-12 minutes for larger cookies, 8-10 minutes for smaller ones. Remove to cooling racks to cool.

Yield: 4 dozen large cookies.

Variations:

Mini Rolo Cookies are awesome- substitute Mini Rolos for Chocolate Chips. For best results, bake cookies on cookie sheets lined with greased aluminum foil or parchment paper. When cookies are baked, slide foil off pan and allow cookies to cool completely before removing them from the foil.

Smarties or M&Ms work well in place of chocolate chips.

Easter Bunny Cookies- if you have an abundance of Easter chocolate, coarsely chop it and use it in place of chocolate chips.

Christmas Sugar Cookies

A fun way to spend a rainy afternoon with young children. Put on the aprons, fire up the oven, get out the cookie cutters and icing- and have fun!

1 cup (227 g) butter or margarine, softened
2 cups (450 g) granulated sugar
4 eggs
2-4 Tablespoons (30-60 ml or about 1/4 cup) milk, divided
2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract
5 cups (575 g) all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons (20 ml) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) salt
(colored sugar, nuts & candied fruit for decorating as desired)

In large bowl, beat butter & sugar til light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, 2 Tbsp of the milk and the vanilla til smooth. In another large bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt til light and thoroughly combined. Gradually beat flour mixture into butter mixture. If dough seems dry add another tablespoon or 2 of milk. Gather dough into a ball and divide into 8 parts. Wrap each part in plastic wrap and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight. The dough may also be frozen and later thawed in the fridge.

When ready to bake, remove dough from fridge one package at a time. Preheat oven to 350*F. With floured rolling pin, roll dough to 1/8 " thickness on a generously floured board. (*I find that if I flour the board, then sprinkle the top of the dough with a bit of flour and roll the dough with a piece of waxed paper between the dough and the rolling pin that I don't need as much flour and the cookies are lighter) Cut dough into desired shapes, transferring to a lightly greased baking sheet. Re-roll and cut scraps. Decorate cookies on baking sheet with colored sugar, nuts, candied fruit or sprinkles before baking, or decorate with icing when baked and cooled. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or til lightly browned. Transfer to baking racks to cool. Store in tightly covered container for 2-3 weeks.

Each ball makes about a dozen cookies, depending on the size and thickness of the cookies.

NOTES:

-It's easy to make half or a quarter recipe, if 8 dozen cookies overwhelms you, however the dough is also very freezable, so you can make up the whole recipe and put the plastic wrapped dough that you don't want to bake into a freezer bag and toss it in the freezer. To enjoy fresh cookies all season, just thaw the frozen dough in the fridge and roll and bake as directed.

-I use this same recipe for Christmas, Easter, St. Patrick's Day- don't be deceived by the name; they're excellent Sugar Cookies, not just for Christmas.

-As each of my children started school, I made it a special project to bring cookies to their Kindergarten class once. I used this recipe then made giant round cookies (I think I used a large margarine lid... I'm sure they weren't the size of an ice-cream pail lid!) Then I iced them and personalized the cookies, one for each child, using a contrasting color of icing to print his/ her name. Sometimes I did them for Halloween'en, and put a pumpkin candy on each one beside the name, maybe once at my child's birthday, but it was always an exciting treat. Children love to see their name on things, and are at an age when many of them are just learning to print their own name. It was while doing Kindergarten cookies that I discovered that "Christopher" may well be the longest name in North America!

Grandma Morrison's Rice Pudding

The best. This even got a thumbs up from the guys that don't usually like rice pudding!



1/4 cup pearl (very short grain) rice- I used "Compliments Calrose Rice" when they didn't have Pearl Rice
1 cup homogenized milk
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup 18% table cream*
Put rice and milk in the top of a double boiler (or in a thick bottomed pot). Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, then cover and simmer slowly for about 2 hours, stirring once in a while, til rice is cooked and milk is almost completely absorbed.
Add sugar, vanilla and cream. Cook for 1 hour more, or til rice pudding is thick, before milk/cream is cooked away. Serve warm or cold.
makes 2 servings:
Per serving:
374 calories, 53 g carbohydrate, 35 g sugars, 14 g fat, 55 mg cholesterol, 7.1 g protein.
*If you used 10% fat cream, you will lower the calories, fat and cholesterol without loosing too much creaminess.