Maddox rolls

If you live in Northern Utah and haven't been to Maddox Ranch House in Brigham, you are missing out.  I would honestly make the drive JUST for their rolls.  Since that's not always an option (especially in the winter!), I found a recipe online for copycat Maddox rolls.  I made them for the first time last night.  :)

Maddox Ranch Rolls

2 TBSP yeast dissolved in 1/2 C warm water

Scald 2 C milk

To scald milk: pour the milk in a saucepan and heat over medium-high heat.  When it gets frothy and the bubbles stick to the sides of the pan, it's done!

 When that is done, pour it over 1/2 C softened butter and 1 tsp salt.  Mix it up and let cool until warm.

When it's warm, combine it with your yeast mixture, 1/2 C sugar, 3 eggs, and 5 1/2 C flour.

Bonus points to you if you can pour and take a picture at the same time.  ;)

Stir thoroughly.  

(I used a beater-made it way easier and no one told me not to.)

GOOPY!

 At this point in the recipe, it said, "Dough will be sticky.  Very goopy."  They weren't kidding!!!  I tried to take a pic, but it's hard to tell just how goopy it was.  It was a big bowl of goop!  Don't panic and DON'T try to knead it.

Let rise for 90 minutes.

I put a warm, damp towel over the top (like I always do with breads) and at the end of 90 minutes, the towel was COVERED in goop and hard to pull off the top.  SO, I would suggest covering it with saran wrap that is HEAVILY sprayed with Pam (or Great Value).  ;)

Spoon into well greased muffin tins.  Allow to rise until slightly rounded.  

(I only waited about 10-15 minutes and it was fine.)

Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

ALL DONE!

Maddox's rolls are perfectly shaped, and mine were kinda funky looking:

 

 But they tasted great!!!
It was seriously the easiest roll recipe I have EVER made.  This is going to be my "go-to" roll recipe from now on.

It's been a while since I've been to Maddox, so I can't remember exactly what their rolls taste like, but I don't think these are a perfect copycat, y'know?  However, they were delicious and no one was complaining.  :)

And you can't have Maddox rolls without...

RASPBERRY BUTTER!!

WOO!

Raspberry butter

1/2 C butter-softened

1/3 C fresh or frozen raspberries (I used frozen)

2 TBSP confectioner's sugar

Dash lemon juice

Combine all ingredients.  Serve immediately.  Refrigerate leftovers.

The roll recipe made 36 rolls (it says it only makes 24, but maybe if they were all HUGE that would be right), so I doubled the butter recipe.

 

 I thought it looked weird, but was brave enough to try it anyway.

OH. MY. GOSH. it was DELICIOUS!!!!

And I'm SO glad I doubled it.  With that many rolls, this was perfect!

Serve with turkey steaks, mashed potatoes, and you're all set!  Enjoy!

P.S. If you buy Maddox Turkey Steaks at the store, the package will say that it takes 25 minutes to cook them.  IT LIES!!  Ours took about 45 minutes (and, yes, I followed the directions correctly).  Just a head's up.  :)

P.P.P.P.P.S.S. If you're NOT going to make the raspberry butter with these, then add another 1/2 C sugar to the recipe.  The rolls will taste better plain that way.

Laundry Soap (not edible) lol

I have been thinking about posting this for a long time, I keep forgetting!
I make homemade laundry soap and I think it works like a charm!

Homemade Laundry Soap

1 bar Fels Naptha soap

1 cup washing soda

1 cup borax powder 

~You will also need a 5 gallon size bucket~

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan.  Add 9 cups water and heat it until the soap melts.  Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved.  Remove from heat.  Pour 6 cups hot water into the bucket.   Now add your soap mixture and stir.  Now add 2 gallons plus 1 cup of water and stir.  Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel.  You use ½ - 1 cup per load.

(You’ll want to stir the soap before each use)

Optional:  If you want your soap to have some sort of scent you can scent this with  1½ to 2 oz. of essential oil or fragrance oil of your choice. (You should put the scented oil in after it is completely cooled.)

~The finished soap may or may not be a solid gel.  If it is solid, stir it up really well.  It will be more of a watery gel that has been accurately described as an "egg noodle soup" look.

~The soap is a low sudsing soap.  So if you don’t see suds, that is ok.  Suds are not what does the cleaning, it is the ingredients in the soap.

(Recipe taken from www.thefamilyhomestead.com and modified by me!)

Cookie Bowls

Derrick had this great idea of using the bottom of a muffin tin to make cookie bowls for our ice cream. I know it looks like a mess but they worked perfect. I did put a little more cookie batter on the pan then I should have, but I still think the idea was AWESOME! Ok and I might have cooked them a few minutes too long! 

Post

Please post something...as you can see...my recipes are just normal recipes...nothing chef-worthy!  We want your recipes.  No-one wants All Mikael Recipes All The Time.   Please please please share.  You don't have to put pictures...just put something!!!!

Bean and Bacon on Toast

This is one of those "I usually have all of the ingredients on hand that is good, cheap and filling...but I really wouldn't serve it to company".  You can have the whole dinner on the table in less than 5 minutes.

Toast your bread.  Top with Campbell's Bean with Bacon soup.  On top of that add grated cheese, sour cream salsa and lettuce (I didn't have any lettuce last night for the picture).

Notes:  I like Campbells a lot better than generic bean n bacon.

I only add 1/2 can of water to the soup instead of a full can.

I add a T or 2 of brown sugar to the bean and bacon

It is also really good wrapped in a tortilla.

Store-bought Lasagna

My MIL brought us a store-bought lasagna tonight. It was a crazy day and I was so grateful for the help. I am not normally a big fan of store-bought lasagna's (stouffers and what-not). This one was really good. I would even serve it to company. It was a bit spicy, which I liked! But if your kids don't like spicy they might not be a fan. It was Kirkland All Natural Italian Sausage and Beef Lasagna. We cooked it in the oven, but it says that it is microwavable. Kirkland is the Costco brand (if I remember right). This was a smaller one. It said it had 6 servings and I would say that's about right. Try it! You'll like it!

Frosting

This is how I make frosting it is fast and easy. It makes a great family night treat spread on graham crackers. Or use on cakes, eat off the spoon, etc... I'm sorry there aren't exact amounts...but just try it...it's not that hard.

-----------------------------------------

2 large spoonfuls of shortening (serving spoon size...like a serving spoon that comes with your silverware sets...have it heaping with shortening...2 times)

1/2 bag of powdered sugar.

a little boiling water (just put a small bowl in the microwave for a few minutes)

1-2 T. vanilla

cocoa (if desired)

food coloring (if desired)

Put shortening and powdered sugar in mixing bowl. Blend well. It should form small balls or be creamed together (either way is fine). Add 1 or 2 T. vanilla and 2 regular size spoonfuls (like what you eat cereal with) of boiling water. Blend. It should now be nice and creamy like frosting is. If it isn't add another spoon of water one at a time and mix until it turns nice and frosting-like.

Now you have to taste it. If it tastes too shortening-like then add some more powdered sugar (just a little at a time). If it tastes too sweet (usually not the case) then add a little more shortening. If needed add a little bit of water to cream it back up.

It should taste like yummy vanilla/white frosting at this point. Now you can add cocoa if you want it chocolate. Or food coloring if you want it different colors. (If you want more than 1 color then split it into separate bowls before adding the food coloring.)

Anyway...give it a try. It really is easy and way cheaper and yummier than canned frosting.

Peanut Butter Bars

This recipe is from Chris (if you don't know who this is...ask me).

3/4 C. shortening

3/4 C. sugar

3/4 C. brown sugar

2 eggs

3/4 C. peanut butter

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 C. flour

1 1/2 C. oats

Peanut butter and Chocolate Frosting

Cream sugars, shortening and 3/4 C. PB. Add eggs and vanilla. Add remaining dry ingredients (do not add more PB or frosting. Spread in jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 degrees for only 12 minutes. Do not overcook. Allow to cool slightly. Spread with a layer of PB while still warm but not hot. Cool completely and top with chocolate frosting.

Chris uses canned choco frosting and I use homemade. I will post that recipe next.

Sorry to anyone sampling these at tonights High Priest social...they got overcooked today...so you get crunchy PB bars...we'll pretend that's the way they were supposed to be!

Mexican Casserole Recipe

1 pound ground beef
1 10 3/4 oz can tomato soup
1 can 16oz Chili
1 16 oz bag Fritos Chips
1 cup Cheddar Cheese Chips

Brown meat and simmer until done.  Drain Grease.  Add Soup and Chili.

Line casserole dish with 1/2 bag of fritos.  Pour the meat mixture.  Add the rest of the Fritos. Top with cheese.  Bake at 400 for 15 minutes

**Our kids begged for 2nds and 3rds of this yummy dinner!**

I served it with a bag of lettuce and ranch dressing!

Favorite Cook Book?

Besides ward cookbooks...do you have a favorite cookbook?  What is it?

Lasagna

1 lb hamb.
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
lasagna noodles
spaghetti sauce
cottage cheese
mozarella, grated

Brown hamb with onion. Drain and rinse.
Spread a little spaghetti sauce in the bottom a glass 9 X 13 pan. Put 3 uncooked noodles on the sauce. Cover noodles with a little sauce. Then half of the meat. some cottage cheese, some mozarella, noodles, sauce, meat, cottage cheese, cheese, noodles, sauce, cheese.
Bake covered with foil at 350 for about an hour to

an hour and a half (when you poke with a fork the noodles should be very soft and easy to poke through). Remove foil and bake for 10 more minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes before cutting.

Whole wheat noodles take longer. If you run out of sauce, use tomato sauc

e rather than open a whole new can of spaghetti sauce.

Banana Squash

Cut banana squash into the serving size of pieces that you want (smaller than a potato).  Scoop out the "guts".  Place a piece on a piece of tinfoil skin side down.  Put some butter (real butter is best by far!!!) (about the size of a pad of butter you would get at a restaurant to go on your roll) and 1 T. of brown sugar on top of the squash (on the fleshy part that you are going to eat).  Wrap the tinfoil up around it leaving the skin side still down.  Place on a cookie sheet.  Bake at 450 for 1 hour.  Remove from foil, use a knife or fork to remove the flesh from the skin. (You don't eat the skin).  Pour the "juice" on top.  Yum!

Fresh Spaghetti Sauce

So even though our garden looks like the Garden of "WEED"en it really is producing vegetables.  So yesterday I was feeling home-makerly and decided to make spaghetti sauce from fresh tomatoes.  It turned out really good.  Even Jason liked it, which is saying something!

It was from Food.com.  (Fresh Tomato Spaghetti Sauce by Lauralie41)

Here is the original recipe and below is the way I made it (I didn't have all of the fresh hebs and onion, so I used dried).

http://www.food.com/recipe/fresh-tomato-spaghetti-sauce-10837

4 lbs. tomatoes, chopped and peeled
2 med onions
4 cloves garlic
1/4 C. fresh basil
1/4 C. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
4 sprigs parsley
1 T. sugar

Directions:

1. 1
   To cook pasta sauce, heat olive oil over medium heat in a large iron skillet or heavy saucepan.
2. 2
   Add onion, basil, garlic and salt.
3. 3
   Saute until onion is tender, approximately 5 minutes.
4. 4
   Add tomato, parsley and sugar; heat to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for about 2 hours, stirring often or until sauce has thickened.
5. 5
   Remove parsley.
6. 6
   Serve over cooked spaghetti or other Italian pasta and top with Parmesan cheese.
   
   
   
   
   HERE'S WHAT I DID...
   4 lbs tomatoes
   2 T. dried onions
   2 tsp. minced garlic (from a bottle)
   4 tsp fresh basil
   1/4 C. canola (I didn't have olive oil)
   1 tsp. salt
   4 tsp. parsley
   1 T. white granulated sugar
   
   
   Boil a big pan of water.  Put tomatoes in water until skin splits open.  Remove tomatoes from water, put in cold water.  Skin will just fall right off the tomatoes.  Core tomatoes.
   
   
   Then I put the tomatoes in the blender (because I don't like chunks).   Pour tomatoe puree in a pan.  Add spices.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for 2 hours.  Let cool.  Reheat and serve over noodles.  
   
   
   I did have to add some water at the end because it was too thick for me.  I also added a lb of cooked hamburger.  I think it would have been good without.  Or with sausage.
   
   
   It was good, I would make it again.  A little labor intensive, not too bad.  And you did have to start 3 or 4 hours ahead of when you wanted to eat. 
   
   
   We also had fresh cucumbers and squash and cooked carrots from the garden (the carrots are not pictures because they weren't quite done cooking when we sat down to eat!)  I felt very self-reliant that night!  It's a good feeling!