Raised Doughnuts Made With Yeast

With Lent less than a week away, let's tempt our taste buds with one of my favorite doughnuts, a raised donut made with yeast.  They can be made in any shape or size but I prefer these doughnuts to the cake doughnuts.

While most recipes for this doughnut call for a dollop of honey, I can't make these because my daughter is allergic to honey.  In place of the honey, I use maple syrup.  It doesn't alter the taste that much but does give you the sweetness that comes from the honey.

To make these doughnuts, you combine 2 cups of warm water, a package of dry yeast and 1 teaspoon of maple syrup in a large mixing bowl.  Cover with a linen towel and let raise until bubbly.

Add 2 eggs, beaten, 3/4 cups sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon lemon extract and 1 stick melted butter to the yeast mixture.  Add flour until the mixture is no longer sticky.  Cover with your linen towel and let raise.  Punch down.

Roll out the dough and cut with doughnut cutter.  Place doughnuts on cookie sheet, cover and let raise.  Fry in your deep fryer placing the raised side down first.  Turn over when the doughnut raises to the surface.  Place doughnuts on brown papered surface and coat with sugar or glaze.

This is the same dough that you would use to make the Polish version of doughnuts, Paczki for Shrove Tuesday.

These doughnuts can be frozen and eaten at a later time if you make too many.

Cardinals Came to Visit

I am a firm believer that when you see cardinals you are being visited by loved ones who have passed over.

Over the past 15 years my husband, youngest son and oldest step-daughter have all passed.  In late 2016, my oldest son was struck down with a serious medical condition that made me anxious that he would also leave me.  I had a brilliantly colored visitor in march of 2017 and I just caught a glimpse of it on my deck inside the awnings that were down for winter.

Male cardinal on solar light near my feeders

Last year, a brilliantly-colored male cardinal was at my bird feeder and just sat there watching me.  A kind of peaceful feeling came over me as I gazed at him letting the knowledge that I had been visited by a loved one.  While I was watching. my eyes caught a movement on my porch which was darkened by the awnings being down.

There on my railing a female cardinal was trying to get from inside my deck to the feeders.  She finally found the way out and flew down to the ground below my main birdfeeder.

Female visitor on fence across the alley

When I looked out my side window, I saw her in my second bird feeder.

I had a strangely peaceful feeling for the rest of the day after receiving visits from my loved ones to let me know everything will be okay.

The three cardinals have all been regular visitors with the addition newest of the male birds which I know because it's wings are darker than the other male's wings.  He comes to the feeder, cocks his head back and forth and watches me sitting in my chair on the deck as he eats the seeds I've put out for my feathered friends.

Over the past winter, I have not seen any of the cardinals until last week when I saw the male at the feeder outside my computer window.  Yesterday the female was on the fence across the alley just as she is in the picture above.

All was well again and I looked forward each day to them visiting me one by one at the feeders.   Each has it's own distinct features and I know when my children have come to visit.

Choosing & Using the Right Cooking Tools

Over the years, I have lost some very helpful tools and acquired others.  Life is so much simpler when you have the right tools to do the job.

Making a good meatloaf is the result of having the right tools.  It is better for flavor to use ground meat that is higher in fat content.  This now means I have to shop for ground meat in the pick 5 section of my supermarket because they insist on making lower fat content packages in the regular section.  This causes the meat to ooze fat while it is cooking.  So I make my meatloaf in a stainless steel pan that has a groove around the edges to collect the fats during cooking.

The meat sits in the middle on a flat surface while the edges are curved to collect the oil drippings.  HINTS: I always save a coffee tin to catch the drippings so that they don't go down the drain or make a mess in the trash basket.  My son started putting a sheet of aluminum foil lining the bottom and sides which can be let congeal and then thrown away.



Once the meatloaf is cooked, it is handy to have a spatula large enough to lift the entire meatloaf from the pan onto the platter for setting before cutting.





I bought the pan which was actually advertised as a lasagna pan.  With the lowered edges I can't see the benefit in making lasagna in the pan, but it is perfect for my meatloaf.  The elongated spatula that is pictured, I acquired when two of my daughters were working for a pizza shop that went out of business.  The owner of the shop told the girls who also managed the shop for him to take whatever they wanted.  There was a similar one at Bed Bath and Beyond but it cost $95.  I found the exact same spatula online at a restaurant supply website for $3.

Another tool that was acquired from the pizza shop was this double handled block cheese cutter.  I use this when I make home made pizza.  It cuts the entire pizza with one cut.  I can then use the cutter to make the pizza 6 or 8 cuts depending on how many I'm feeding.

I also use this tool to cut and shave my 10 lb. block of chocolate that I am melting down to make my chocolate molds or for dipping pretzels.  This work by cutting off chunks big enough to be shaved or broken down further using this tool.

 This smaller spatula is a find that I made on a trip to Bed Bath and Beyond.  I use it to cut my lasagna or frittata.  By using the spatula to measure and cut in squares, I have the perfect size pieces for serving.

My son uses it to flip over easy eggs because it is easier to handle and has a cutting edge that fits under individual eggs.

This spatula would also work well at that birthday party for cutting the cake after the first slice has been made by the birthday person.

The pie crust cutter is another tool that I have found other uses.  I do have a hard boiled egg cutter that I formerly used to cut up my hard boiled eggs for potato and macaroni salads.  I have since found that using the pie dough tool works better and chops the egg into smaller pieces that lend more flavor to the salad.  This also serves to not leave egg whites in chunks which to my taste detracts from the flavor of the salad.

I then use the hard boiled egg cutter to cut the last egg for decorating the salad along with slices of fresh pepper if I'm taking it to a party.

It takes time and experimentation to find the right uses for all of the tools that you may already have in your kitchen.  Just because you bought it for one use doesn't mean that it can't be used for something totally different and become a tool you would miss if you didn't have it.

Chicken Dinner Recipes

When I watch reruns of family movies, it's apparent to me that Sunday Dinner was more often some form of roasted chicken with all the trimmings.  Of course, in those days the chicken coop in the yard was more the standard practice.  So, the family would have more access to chicken than other types of entrees.

The popular summer dinner would be Fried Chicken Parts which took more time to prepare because the chicken had to be butchered and an assortment of wings, legs, thighs and breasts would be breaded and pan fried in lard.  The trick to not having a greasy mess was to put the parts onto brown paper to drain the grease off of them before being put on the serving dish.

In today's world, you can buy bags of chicken parts in the frozen section and make any of these recipes.  This week I saw an advertisement from a well known chicken provider for individual packets of chicken breasts.

Sesame Chicken

When I was at a family graduation years ago, my sister-in-law made a dish that was similar called Sesame Chicken.  These tasty chicken parts were moist and had the best flavor I've ever eaten and I'm not partial to chicken unless it's stuffed and roasted chicken.

Chicken Cacciatore made on top of the stove.

While we are using chicken parts, let's talk about an Italian dish that calls for chicken, Chicken Cacciatore.  I was very proud of myself when I made this dish for the first time and it came out so good using my own homemade Spaghetti Sauce.  I got lazy one time and tried to make this recipe in a crock pot, and to my horror, I had a pot full of chicken pieces and bones instead of the tasty lightly covered chicken in the sauce.  But, that's how you learn, trial and error.

Chicken Marsala

Chicken Marsala is a favorite of mine because I love mushrooms and wine sauce.  This one is just as easy to make as a baked chicken with that wonderful Marsala Sauce that it is simmered in at the end of the baking process.

Chicken coquettes

My mother's favorite for chicken was chicken coquettes with white sauce and peas.  Easy to make.

There are several casseroles that I could talk about that call for chicken parts but we will leave those for another article.

The Aroma of Homemade Bread Welcomes Family Home

Home Made Loaf of Bread

In this day of squishy bread or too dry bread it is ludicrous that anyone would bake their own bread and spend the time it takes to make it.  Ludicrous unless you want that wonderful aroma that fills the house or the pleasure of the first piece that is cut with butter that melts because the loaf isn't all the way cooled yet.  There are reasons why people make homemade bread that are totally self indulging.

Even though I knew how to make bread from scratch, I started baking it when I was a single Mom and off work due to surgery.  I could not go out to shop during the weeks after surgery so I made bread instead.  After I met and married my second husband, I made homemade bread because I had seven children.  My husband had been brought up on homemade bread from the time he was an infant.  His mom made it every Saturday, and after I married him, I got in the habit of making it every Saturday.

Bread Dough After Rising

Bread is the opposite of making pie dough.  You can't knead it too much.  Getting those air pockets out of it are what makes it good.  The recipe I've given you makes about seven loaves of bread.  I like to braid it when I doing it for a special dinner, but otherwise I make loaves.  The only difference is I make 5 individual pieces for each loaf and knead and roll them into little logs.  Then I place the logs next to each other in the loaf pan before I let them raise for the last time before going into the oven.  It doesn't affect the taste and the loaf bakes into one but it makes a different shape to the tops.

Pepperoni Bread

As a variety, we like to use the dough to make Pepperoni Bread.  Just flatten out the dough and roll pepperoni and mozzarella cheese into it before you let it raise for the last time.  Bake the same as your homemade bread.

Sandwich Buns

You can also use your bread dough to make sandwich buns by kneading smaller pieces of dough and folding the edges under before place each piece in a rectangular baking pan.

Fried Dough in Deep Fryer

Fried Dough sprinkled with sugar

Another fun thing to do with bread dough is to take a piece about the size of a handful.  Pull the dough out and drop it into 350 deg. oil to make fried dough.  Almost a doughnut but not quite.  Once it's browned you take it out and shake it into a bag of sugar to coat it.

Pizza Shell from bread dough

The last tip I have for you is to make the last loaf into pizza dough.  Spread it out on a pizza pan and make your own pizza.  My mother-in-law would make white pizza with olive oil spread over the dough and then dropping her cheeses and vegetable onto it before baking it at 350 deg. for about seven minutes.

If you like good yeast bread and buns, you are sure to like these. 

Using White Rice From Chinese Order

Are you a fan of Chinese food but don't use the white rice that comes with the order?  We normally order Chinese about once a week but we do not use the white rice.  Our standard order is the Broccoli and Chicken and Chicken Fried Rice.

China Lin Menu

We particularly like the China Lin Chinese Restaurant in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  They are not located right on Butler Street and I have seen people eating inside the restaurant but it seems to do most of it's trade by delivery or pick ups.

I now have two recipes that I prepare from the white rice that we get with our meal.

Sausage, Apples & Rice Casserole

The first is Apples, Sausage and Rice, one of my favorite dinners from the days when I worked in RIDC and ate at a Stouffer Cafeteria.  Because I don't have as much rice as I use for a full casserole, I normally make this with about 6 sausage links precooked and a package of Stouffer's Harvest Apples from the freezer section at the Giant Eagle Supermarket.  After I have precooked the apples I sprinkle them with some additional sugar and cinnamon.  This is important because I love my apples cinnamony good.  Then I place them and the sausage in a casserole with the white rice.  Place the lid over the casserole and pop the whole thing into the microwave for as long as you would to reheat a casserole you have stored in your refrigerator.

Rice Pudding

The second recipe that I like to make with my white rice is rice pudding.  Because I have the white rice precooked, I can just go ahead with my recipe starting with the egg and milk mixture.  Also, because of the amount of rice, this recipe needs to be cut in half using 3 eggs and a pint of milk.  When I'm making this recipe I use a pudding cup or individual bowls and sprinkle cinnamon on top.  The cinnamon sticks make a nice touch for serving.

Stuffed Pepper Soup

Finally, let's use that rice in our ground meat mixture to make those stuffed peppers or even in a smaller pot of stuffed pepper soup.

So there you have it.  Three ways to use the white rice from your Chinese food order that would somehow end up being tossed out.