Stromboli

We have a tradition in our home that every Friday night is "Fun Night". We rotate through the children, in birth order, and when it is "their night", they get to decide on the meal and more importantly, the dessert :) They also get to decide what we do that night for fun. They can choose a game to play, movie to watch, etc.

So, every Friday, I will post a new recipe for you from our dinner!

This past Friday it was Jacob's night. He is 5 and you never know what he will pick! He chose Stromboli and he likes it made with eggs, sausage and cheese. You can fill it with numerous different things. We have done italian, mexican, ham and cheese, etc.

First, you make your dough.

2C very warm water

4tsp yeast

5T sugar

2tsp salt

4T oil

5C flour

In a large bowl, mix water and yeast with a whisk until dissolved. Add sugar and salt. With a wooden spoon, stir in flour one cup at a time. After the 4th cup, I add the oil. It makes it easier to stir in that last cup. Beat until a soft dough forms. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. This will make one large stromboli.

Like I said, we have used many different varieties of fillings. The picture shows a filling with scrambled eggs, sausage, and cheese. When you are ready to assemble, roll out the dough to approximately 12X12 inch rectangle. Spread your filling over the entire surface of the dough. Fold in ends first then fold over sides. Pick it up carefully and place on your pan seam side down. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Enjoy!

Blessings,

Cindy

Cindy's Intro

I am Cindy, married to my sweet husband for 19 years and mom to 9 children (8 here with us and 1 with Jesus). I am so thankful for the priviledge of being a wife and mother, and serving my family is the greatest joy. I have always loved to cook and I want to pass on to my children the love of hospitality and service to others. I am always trying out new recipes and I would love to share them with you. I hope to encourage you as you seek to serve your family to the glory of God.

Chocolate Covered Cherries

A Christmas tradition still going strong
after 14 years.

Parmesan Chicken

I'm copying this recipe that Jessica originally posted on the Sew Chic blog because I never can find it over there. Seems like we rarely post on this cooking blog anymore, but I often find myself coming over to find one of my own or Jessica's tried and true recipes. This chicken Parmesan has become a favorite at my house, and now I'll be able to find the recipe easily. :) You can find Jessica's original post here.
Ruth
p.s. This is really, really good!!!!


Parmesan Chicken
1 cup dry bread crumbs (needs to be a pretty fine consistency. We ground ours up in the hopper chopper)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
3/4 cup melted butter
2 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken but into 1" cubes or strips

Combine the dry ingredients in a shallow bowl. Dip the chicken in the melted butter, then roll in crumbs. Place in a greased 15 by 10" sheet pan. Bake at 400 degrees 15-20 minutes.

Serve with pasta topped with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese and a good salad!

All Recipes review

All Recipes has become one of my favorite site to find recipes lately. I love how all the recipes have lots of reviews, and a lot of the reviewers give changes and suggestions to improve the recipes. One of the other neat features is that you can do an advanced search for the ingredients you have on hand, and it'll find you recipes with those ingredients in them.

Last week I searched bacon, pasta, tomatoes and spinach and came up with this fabulous recipe for Penne Pasta with Spinach and Bacon. I did end up using chicken instead of bacon, fresh tomatoes instead of canned, and spaghetti pasta instead of penne, but it still turned out delicious!


Last night was pork chop night...I was bored with all the usual ways I cook pork chops (we eat them a lot because they are so cheap here!), so I did a quick search and found this amazing recipe. Baked Pork chops with Spicy Tomato Sauce. Here's the recipe and picture... Both Justin and I thought the sauce was astonishingly different and incredibly tasty. He was quite impressed and kept asking me what the ingredients were! The only changes I made was to lightly bread the pork chops in flour and pepper before browning.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 thick cut boneless pork chops
• 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 (10 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup water

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Place pork chops in the skillet, and brown about 5 minutes on each side. Remove from heat.
3. In a small bowl, mix brown sugar, salt, pepper, and dry mustard.
4. Arrange pork chops in a medium baking dish. Sprinkle with lemon juice, season with brown sugar mixture, and cover with tomato sauce. Pour water into the baking dish.
5. Cover, and bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).

Finally here's a great recipe for Pumpkin cookies. Last night I finished off 4 or 5 of these and could have eaten more, but alas, they were gone! Light, not too rich, and very, very yummy!

INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 
  
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.
4. To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.

Note: all 3 of these pictures are from the All Recipes site; they are not my own.