Make your own Breadcrumbs

So what do you do with old bread? I'm not talking about yucky, moldy bread but those bags of bread that don't get finished, you can pitch them (wasteful) or feed the ducks (not completely wasteful) OR you can make your own breadcumbs.

tear up the bread and place on cookie sheets, for best results don't overcrowd the pans, it will dry better.

 Bake them at 275 for approx 2 hrs.

 I usually let them set out for awhile after they are bakes before i grind it to make sure its completely dried, you don't want the insides to still be soft or they will not keep.

 I use my Vita-Mix but you can use a food processor or rolling pin....or what means possible. :) 

I store mine in the freezer, you don't have to but i think they stay fresher....and fresh is good!


THINGS I USE BREADCUMBS FOR:

Chicken Parmesean
Breaded fish
stuffed mushrooms
topping baked mac & cheese
meatloaf, meatballs
.......and more


ENJOY!
Rose

Best Sandwich

Ok this could be called a grilled cheese....cause it is grilled but that does not seem to do this sandwich justice, ITS SO GOOD!....   pumpernickel bread, pastrami, colby cheese & avacado...all grilled together. There is nothing quite as yummy and comforting as a gooey cheesy grilled sandwich.

As a kid we ate a lot of grilled cheese consisting only of bread and velveeta cheese...always and ONLY velveeta. we called them toasted cheese sandwiches. also we always put strawberry jam on these grilled cheese, me and the kids still eat them that way.....Merle not so much.

Enjoy!!
Rose

Grilled Zucchini

This is one of my VERY favorite sides - Grilled Zucchini!! I found these really nice yellow zucchini at my farmers market, but you could use yellow squash as well.

These are so nice and shiny! love the bright colors, i could even frame this picture and hang it in my kitchen, yes i think i might just do that.....

I like to cut them all in nice little squares, toss them with olive oil, salt & pepper, you could some other spices if you want but sometimes the veggies are so yummy i really want to TASTE the veggies and not just the spices....ok so when they are all happy in the oil & salt & pepper dump them on the grill thingy and grill till done, does not take very long, stir a few times with spatula while grilling.

 you could toss some other veggies in with it if you please, i have done some peppers & onions. LOVE LOVE LOVE!!
Im sorry i get excited about yummy veggies :)

ENJOY!
Rose

Grilled Salmon

This is THE BEST Salmon, and so so easy to make! I have had salmon prepared a lot of different ways and really i have not had any that i didn't like, I just REALLY LOVE Salmon. 
I used to not like salmon then several years ago our friends said they want us to come for dinner and they were making salmon, oh boy i was kinda ....um reluctant but i was not going to tell them i don't like salmon..... oh my goodness! just 1 bite and i literally wanted to roll around in it, all those years and i was missing out! oh well at least i am on right track now, AND its healthy.. so yay! 

I like to grill the whole slab of salmon, but you could use cut pieces as well, i place it on the holed grill thingy, I'm sure there is a more proper name for it but my mind is kinda blank right now, but anyhow you know what i mean, you could probably use heavy duty foil if you don't have the grill thingy. :)

This is what i used but you can use any seasoning of your choice, i like Emerill's seasonings as well.

I try to keep the grill around 400 degrees.

SO YUMMY!!


GRILLED SALMON
Ingredients:

Salmon
olive oil
seasoning

rub the salmon down with olive oil, season with your choice of seasoning, place the salmon on the grill, grill on medium heat for approx. 15 minutes, do not flip, grill time will depend on thickness of the salmon, as soon as it feels firm it will be ready, do not overcook.

ENJOY
Rose

Kitchen Favorites

My husband does not like shopping or cooking but he LOVES kitchen gadgets....go figure ...who knows...AAANYHEW.....he is the one responsible for buying me the kitchen aid, so I'm not complaining.

my kitchen aid of course is a MUST, i use it for all my bread recipes, also works wonderfully for shredding chicken, use the paddle attachment throw in chicken and walk away, when you get back you have perfectly shredded chicken. 

We use this griddle almost EVERY single day! LOVE LOVE LOVE....we make pancakes, grilled cheese, breakfast sandwiches....and more on this baby

we have went through several blenders and finally decided to bite the bullet and get the best, i can make peanut butter, soup, bread crumbs, smoothies and so much more, really its a blender and a food processor. Great Machine!

love this little thing, living in Florida i use a lot of fresh citrus, mostly from our own trees, so this is perfect for zesting, i also use it for grating parmesan cheese.

yes i love this thing! I use it ALOT! I buy cheese ends at my deli (cause we go through a lot of cheese)and this is the easiest quickest gadget, cause who likes to wash a bunch of gadget parts?
i don't either.

 as much as i love my kitchen aid, i might have to choose a hand mixer over the kitchen aid....yikes...i don't know....i use my hand mixer so much, anyhow i would hate to be without either one.

I LOVE my knife rack, out of reach of little hands but easy to grab when you need them...IKEA, who does not LOVE Ikea?

 I would love to design my kitchen just the way I want it...maybe someday :) for now this is my kitchen and it works.

 I have a thing for plain dishes, All these i found at garage sales or thrift shops, I LOVE a good deal.

AND last but not least, my aunt makes these potholders and they are the BEST!! The only ones i use.

Ok so i probably bored you silly with all this stuff, but i like to know what other people like to use in kitchen, maybe I'm weird or maybe its an amish thing :)

Have a fabulous day everyone!

Rose

"I can do all things through Christ who gives me the strength i need" Phillipians 4:13

Amish Potatoe Salad



 Yes there is a distinct difference between Amish Potato Salad and any other Potato Salad I have ever had, this is the only way we made potato salad at home, my mom always said "that other stuff is no good!" I cant say that I would agree with her, I have had some yummy Potato Salad from "the other side"
 
First of all this stuff is sweeter than most Potato Salad, and it has mustard.....my husband refers to it as the yellow Potato Salad.

The recipe calls for 12 cups potatoes, I usually plan on each medium size potato = 1 cup....so I used 13 potatoes just to be sure.

boil 12 eggs

sauce ingredients, I always use Hellmans (I LOVE Hellmans)but you could use a different brand of mayo.

 

sauce

So easy to peel...notice the thin peels from the potatoes, not much waste :)

 

I don't measure the potatoes after I shred them, I use 12 or 13 medium sized potatoes and call it good!
When it comes to baking you probably want to measure things exactly but when it comes to cooking I usually like ah-its good, most of the times that works :)

 

 I used my salad master to shred the potatoes and the eggs but you could use any gadget, you could even use a old fashioned box grater.....seriously I love my box grater for shredding cheese.

My mother-in-law dices her potatoes but she does it wrong, haha...hope she does not read this blog...wait she's Amish, no worries.

almost to the finish line.....

 

weird but my favorite part of making potato salad is dicing the celery....

 

 

 

 Its a beautiful thing!

Potato Salad

 

ingredients:

 

12 cups cooked & shredded potatoes, (1 med potato = 1 cup)

12 eggs

1 onion, diced

1 1/2 cups celery

3 cups Hellmans mayo

1 1/2 cups white sugar

3 Tlbs. mustard

3 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup vinegar

 

Directions

cook potatoes & eggs, let cool, peel then shred. dice onions & celery,  mix together mayo, sugar, salt, mustard, milk & vinegar.

mix everything together & refrigerate.

 

ENJOY!

Rose



 

Applesauce

Homemade Applesauce

 

Homemade applesauce is a staple for most Amish, growing up we did not eat a lot of it or make it all the time.

But Merle was used to having it with most every meal, as a lot of people in our community do.

So after we got married I started making applesauce, usually a bushel or two,

wash the apples, cut them up, cook them, run through a strainer, add sugar and scoop it into freezer containers.

 

One long tiring day but it was really nice to have lots of applesauce in the freezer for my family even if I am not very gung ho about it.

 

Ok so then..... we moved to Florida and the whole canning - freezing thing pretty much went out the door, not even completely sure why...well party because of a lack of apple orchards down here.....or maybe I don't know where to go....or maybe because I don't care. :(

 

So then one day I am browsing along in our local Sam's club and what do I see?.....

 

Yes you guessed it....big ole containers of APPLESAUCE

 

YAY....so I bought a couple containers, took them home, dumped it into the blender added a bit of sugar, poured in freezer containers and in to the freezer they went.

 

Easy Peasy!!

 

I've had people over for dinner and they are like.... wow homemade applesauce?

I don't take credit for the homemade stuff of course :)

no seriously this stuff tastes just like the real thing!

 

HOW COOL IS THIS?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yumesetti

 

Do you have a go-to dish when you don't know what else to make....well growing up this was our go-to dish, and still is, if the whole family gets together......there are a bunch of us now, Mom still makes this, its easy to make a large casserole of this stuff.

 

My mom never used a recipe for this and neither do I, but I did write everything down this time so don't worry..... that's the thing about blogging, you actually have to write down a recipe.

 

This is truly a Amish thing, I have never seen it anywhere else except for some of my Amish cookbooks, and I think every Amish person has heard of it.....or made it...or ate it.

"Its an Amish thing" :)

 

I asked my Mom where did this stuff come from? and she thinks she got the recipe from my aunt years ago and we have been making it ever since.

 

There are different versions of it, and some people mix the whole mess together but we always made it this way.

 

RECIPE:

1# ground beef

¼ cup chopped onion

16 oz. noodles

1 cup spaghetti sauce

1 can cream of chicken soup

Velveeta cheese

Brown ground beef with onions, salt & pepper to taste,

Drain grease and add spaghetti sauce, cook noodles,

Drain and add cream of chicken soup, spread over

Beef mixture, top with velveeta cheese slices, cover and

Heat till cheese melts.

 

bottom layer

noodles added

cheese on top....at this point you could stick it in the oven (if your pan is oven proof, of course)
all you need to do is melt the cheese and heat the whole chi bang.

its a cheesy yummy comfort food!!
 

 



 

Key Lime Cheesecake

 

Ok so this is not a Amish recipe or at least not a recipe we had when I was a kid, apparently my Mom promised my Dad when they got married that she would never make a lemon meringue pie :(  (he has an extreme dislike for the white fluffy stuff that is NOT whipped cream) anyhew.......needless to say I was deprived of even knowing what meringue was.

But now my parents have a key lime tree in their yard.....at their Florida house of course so ....im always looking for key lime recipes.

I am pretty sure Dad eats lemony limey stuff as long as there is no meringue.

Ok so about this recipe, I wanted to make a key lime cheesecake and I searched many many recipes online and so many of them called for sweetened condensed milk (I have nothing against the super sweet stuff) but I didn't have any and I really didn't want to run to the store.
I probably could have ran to the store quicker than all my research but oh well.

So I modified my regular cheesecake recipe and came up with this super yummy stuff.

I put parchment paper in the bottom of my springform pan but you don't have to, just make sure to grease pan if you don't.

press crumbs in bottom of pan, don't worry about getting them all up the sides, well.... you can worry if you want....but I don't :)

 

 







....and this is what happens when your mind is elsewhere, trash in bowl, cream cheese in trash...duh!
 





before heading to oven

after oven

RECIPE:

Crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2/3 cup chopped or ground pecans
1/4 cup melted butter
3 Tlbs. sugar

Filling:
1 # cream cheese, room temp.
1 stick butter, room temp.
4 eggs, separated
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup lime juice
lime zest
2 Tlbs flour
1 tsp. baking powder

Topping:
1 cup sour cream
2 Tlbs. sugar
lime zest

cool whip

preheat oven to 300 degrees
1.  Combine crust ingredients and bake for about 10 min, set aside
2.  separate eggs
3.  Mix cream cheese and butter and beat well, add rest of ingredients and beat till nice and smooth, use as much lime zest as desired, I used 3, I had a cut on my finger and that was all the pain I could take :)
4.  beat egg whites till stiff and fold into cream cheese mixture
5.  pour over crust and bake for 60-80 minutes.
6.  cool completely
7.  combine topping ingredients and spread over cheesecake, if you have cracks on top of cheesecake this will cover that nicely
8.  top with cool whip
9.  EAT :)

before consumption

love these things!