I hadn’t made cinnamon raisin bread for a while and one day I decided I was really wanting some. It just so happened I had some raisins in the pantry – so away I went. After I was finished and savored several slices of warm bread I thought – why on earth haven’t I put this on my blog? So here it is

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

adapted from All Recipes

• 1 1/2 cups warm milk
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 tbsp. active dry yeast
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup raisins
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 8 cups all-purpose flour (mix in some whole wheat if you like)
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions:

1. Dissolve the yeast in warm water. Once it’s foamy and making bubbles, mix in the eggs, sugar, butter,  salt, 2 tsp. cinnamon and raisins. Add the warm milk. Gradually add the flour until a dough forms.
2. Knead, adding flour as needed, until it’s smooth and elastic-y.
3. Place the dough in a very large greased mixing bowl, turning it once to coat all sides. Cover with a cloth and let it rise for 1 hour. It should be about double in size.
4. While it’s rising, mix together the cinnamon and sugar.
5. Roll out the dough in a long rectangle, about an inch thick. Brush the dough lightly with melted butter then sprinkle the cinnamon/sugar over the whole thing.
6. Roll it up tightly (forming a very long log) and pinch the dough together to seal it. Gently cut it into 3 equal loaves. (Alternatively, you could separate the dough into 3 equal pieces before rolling it out. Doing it all at once is easier for me though). Pinch together the ends that you cut open and place each loaf in a greased loaf pan.
7. Cover the pans with the same cloth and let them rise about another 30 minutes. They should rise about an inch above the rim of the pans.
8. Bake them for 25-30 minutes (I do 27 minutes), or until they are golden brown and hollow-sounding when tapped.
9. Brush tops with butter if you wish (I do).

Enjoy! And as always, feel free to email me with any questions! domesticcents (at) gmail (dot) com

Why I do what I do ~ Me – “Chloe, what are you going to be when you grow up?” Chloe – “a swan.”

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It seems more and more frequent that I’m making meals or dishes to bring to potlucks and meetings and people that aren’t feeling well.  It’s good to have a stash of quick and cheap recipes for occasions like these. One of mine, that I’d completely forgotten about, is Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. I’m a pineapple fan AND a cake fan so this is right up my alley. Ordinarily I am a from-scratch baker. I do my best to stay away from box mixes. It’s alright to use one every once in a while though right?

I’d like to give credit to someone for this recipe but I don’t know who it is. I found it over 10 years ago online and printed it out. There is no indication on my printout where it is from. So here it is:

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

• 2 cans sliced pineapple rings (in natural juice)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 Butter Yellow cake mix

Directions:

1. Follow recipe for cake on package, substituting pineapple juice from the canned pineapples for the liquid in the recipe.
2. Line 9×13 pan with pineapple slices.
3. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the brown sugar and cook until slightly caramelized. Add a teaspoon of warm water to keep it from hardening.
4. Pour the caramel mixture over the pineapples. And top with the cake batter.
5. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.
6. After removing it from the oven, let it cool slightly. Run a knife around the edge of the pan and turn the cake upside down on a cake plate. Best served warm with whipped cream.

Why I do what I do ~ Have I mentioned this one before? I can’t remember … After getting out of the bath tub, Chloe was cold. Her teeth were chattering. She asked me, “Do you hear my teeth wiggling?”

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Being a fan of all things chocolate – I love brownies. I’d never found a from-scratch recipe that didn’t call for weird ingredients or that tasted really great, so I was a boxed brownies kind of a girl. I know, shame. Then one day my friend Caty shared a recipe with me that she uses. And she made some. And I loved them. I’m sure they probably cost the same as a boxed mix but I like the idea of making them myself. I also like that I usually have all these ingredients on hand. The following recipe is my adaptation of the original.

Caty’s Brownies

• 2 sticks butter (1 cup)
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla or almond extract
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• dash of cinnamon

Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time. In a separate bowl, mix all dry ingredients. Slowly add dry ingredients to the first mixture. Mix well. Pour in a greased 13×9 pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees.  Try not to eat them all in one night.

Why I do what I do ~ Chloe likes to watch the show Curious George. I love that she calls the man “The Yellow Man Hat” instead of “The Man in the Yellow Hat.”

photo credit: JuditK

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Potatoes can be pretty cheap. It’s not uncommon for me to buy a 5-lb. bag for $2. Because of that, they are a great way to fill out a meal (or make into a meal!) Below is a list of some of the potato-based things I could think of. If you have any other suggestions then please leave them in the comments with a link if you have one!

1. Shepherd’s Pie
2. Scalloped Potatoes with Ham
3. Home-made Potato Chips
4. Baked Potato
5. Twice-Baked Potatoes
6. Home Fries
7. Hash Browns
8. Home-made French Fries
9. Pierogis
10. Roasted Potatoes
11. Mashed potatoes (especially loaded!)
12. Cheesy Potato Soup
13. Easy Cheesy Golden Potato Squares*
14. Potato Salad – Although this recipe* looks YUM to me too.
15. Potato Toast* ~ Looks pretty weird but has good reviews. Who knows!
16. Heartland Vegetable Bake*
17. Potato Skins
18. Chili Potato Wedges*

Recipes with an asterisk (*) are recipes I found but haven’t tried yet. They look good but I can’t guarantee their yummy-ness.

Why I do what I do ~ A couple weeks ago, David was watching sports on television. After the game, the head coach (who will remain un-named) was being interviewed.  Chloe watched intently for a moment before saying, “He doesn’t talk right.” David and I literally burst into belly-laughs. We could definitely see why she would think that …

photo credit: WordRidden

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We’re big Italian food fans in our house. Some kind of pasta with some kind of sauce and some melty cheese is some good stuff. The perfect accompaniment? Italian bread, of course. I make Italian herb bread, which is YUM. However, if I happen to see some of the garlic bread they make at the grocery store on the discount bakery rack – I always buy it. You know the one – the Italian loaf split in the middle with the garlic butter.

So I got to thinking – there’s no reason at all that I can’t make that at home – cheaper and yummier. So I did. I made the Italian herb bread and spread it with the garlic butter you see below. You don’t have to use Italian herb bread though, you could even use slices of bread to make garlic toast (see below).

Garlic Butter

from All Recipes

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 tbsp. minced garlic
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tbsp. garlic salt
• 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp. ground paprika

Mix it all together with an electric hand mixer. Store in the refrigerator.

I spread this on Italian Herb bread and bake it on the top rack of the oven at 400F until lightly golden brown.

Or … to make garlic toast, spread it on both sides of sliced bread and then grill it in a frying pan until each side is golden brown.

Why I do what I do ~ I just re-read this post and realized I misquoted at the top. I said that we’re huge Italian food fans. That’s not entirely true. 2/3 of us are huge Italian food fans. My daughter won’t eat red sauce or anything mixed (casseroles, soups), also no ground beef at all – so that pretty much eliminates all Italian bakes that I make. Oh well, right?

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A quick and easy crock pot recipe that’s perfect for a winter that drags on and on and on and …

Easy Cheesy Potato Soup

from Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes

• 6 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 2-1/2 cups water
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 tsp. instant chicken bouillon granules
• a few grinds of black pepper
• 6-8 oz. cheese (I’ve used cheddar and monterey but I’m sure others would be great too – maybe Velveeta)
• 1 12-oz. can evaporated milk
• Pre-cooked ham or crumbled bacon

Directions:

1. Combine the potatoes, water, onion, bouillon and pepper. Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours or on high for 4-4-1/2.
2. After that, mash potatoes slightly then add the milk, cheese and ham/bacon. Cover and cook for 1 more hour on low or 30 minutes on high. It might not take that long. You’re just trying to get it all hot, melty and cohesive.

Add some extra spices if you like, leave the meat out or change up the cheese. This is a quick and easy frugal meal that hits the spot.

Why I do what I do ~

Chloe- ”Daddy are you watching a mercial?”

David- “No, I’m watching a COMmercial.”

Chloe- “No, no, no – a mercial.”

David- “What’s a mercial?”

Chloe- “A mercial is a winner and a frog.”

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Can you picture this? You’re in the kitchen, gathering the ingredients to make cookies. You look and see softened butter is one of the ingredients and all of your butter is in the refrigerator. Probably 1 in 15 times I remember to pull the butter out an hour early and let it soften perfectly but the other 14 times I have to do something else. Everyone has their trick for softening butter quickly – here’s mine.

Anyone who bakes knows that melted butter is no replacement for softened butter. It completely changes your recipe. If you’ve ever placed a whole stick of butter in the microwave then I’m sure you’ve also experience a half softened/half melted stick of butter. Good enough? Maybe. But I’m picky about my cookies so I take one extra step and I get nearly perfect softened butter.

Here’s the trick. I slice the butter in 1-tbsp. slices and place them on a plate like this:

Then I microwave it for 23 seconds (I’m sure your microwave will vary a tiny bit). You know it’s perfect when you can stick your finger into them like this but there isn’t any melted butter on the plate:

It doesn’t take more than 30 seconds to slice the butter – there are actually 2 sticks of butter on that plate, and 23 seconds to microwave it. So that means you have softened butter in less than a minute!  Happy Baking!

Do you have a great tip for softening butter in a hurry?

Why I do what I do ~ I bought some dried apricots recently. It had been a long time since Chloe had eaten them so she’d forgotten what they tasted like. She was very skeptical and it was difficult to get her to take a bite but once she did, she remembered that she loves them. She carried the bag of them around proudly, calling them her “africots.”

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With the Super Bowl coming up next weekend, I thought I’d throw you a frugal recipe that we absolutely love. I know, I should have a picture to go along with this post, but I haven’t made it recently – so you’re just going to have to picture it in your heads

I know you’ll be tempted to order pizza on Sunday. DON’T DO IT. The recipe I’m about to give you is better than take-out and definitely cheaper. If you have a Buffalo Wings lover in your house then this is your recipe.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

• Pizza crust
• 1-2 cups of chicken, cooked and shredded (leftover chicken is PERFECT for this)
• Franks® Red Hot® Wings Buffalo Sauce – (look for the coupon in the margin of that link!)
• 8 oz. (2 cups) mozzarella cheese, shredded
• Blue Cheese or Ranch dressing for dipping

Directions:

1. Make the crust.
2. Pour hot sauce on the uncooked crust. Use about the same amount you’d use for pizza sauce.
3. Put the chicken on the hot sauce.
4. Top with the mozzarella.
5. Bake at 375F degrees until the underneath of the crust is golden, about 20-25 minutes.
6. If you like, dip your pizza in Ranch or Blue Cheese dressing or drizzle on top.

Why I do what I do ~ Chloe finally relents to take her one required bite at supper time and says – “yes sir, mom.”

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We are pizza fans. If I made pizza 3 nights per week I don’t think I’d hear one complaint. I don’t make it three times per week but I do make some form of pizza once every week or two. I vary the type and form quite a lot. We have alfredo pizza, buffalo chicken pizza, calzones, personal pizzas, etc. For each one of these, I make the same pizza dough.

I’ll give you the base recipe, then the customizations at the end.

No-Rise Pizza Dough
adapted from allrecipes.com

• 3 cups flour
• 1 tbsp. active dry yeast
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. white sugar
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil (I use olive oil)

Directions: Combine all dry ingredients. Add water and oil. Stir until dough forms. Knead until it has an even consistency. You won’t have to knead it as long as you would for a bread dough – just a minute or so. Form it into one large pizza or divide it up. After it’s topped, bake at 375F degrees for about 25 minutes.

This makes a thick, chewy crust and is a very generous size. It will make 4 generous sized calzones.

To Customize:

• Replace some or all of the white flour with whole wheat flour
• Add herbs that would compliment your toppings. I like to add Italian herbs.

If you get into baking a lot of breads and making a lot of yeast doughs like I do, then I highly recommend purchasing active dry yeast at your local health food store in bulk or through a site online like Amazon (<–affiliate link). The little packets in the grocery store are VERY expensive for the amount you get. I buy about a pound of it at a time and keep it in my cupboard. Having yeast as a staple in my house opens up a LOT of options for me.

Why I do what I do ~ One of the things that’s great about being a parent to a preschooler is that every now and then you come across an adorable surprise. For instance – a few nights ago, David went to put his slippers on but felt something inside them. He picked up his slipper and found the whole toe filled with alphabet refrigerator magnets.

pizza dough photo by kimbesa05

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Last week I told you how I slice my homemade bread. I snapped pictures of my sliced bread and several of you commented and emailed that it looked really yummy. I looked in my archives, planning to post the link for the recipe and I couldn’t believe I’d never posted this one.

As a further nudge to write it up … A little while ago a reader contacted me, asking if I had a low-calorie bread recipe. Unfortunately, she entered her email address incorrectly so my response didn’t get to her. Ann, here’s your answer

This is the all-the-time bread at our house. The one I’m sure to keep in the cupboard. A few years ago I did Weight Watchers (Highly recommend. I still haven’t gained the weight back.) and we figured out that this bread was 1 point per slice if it was sliced into, I think, 17 slices (with 2/3 wheat flour and 1/3 white flour). I have no idea how many calories are in it but I can tell you it’s a tasty bread and has some solid nutritious ingredients. You can vary the ratio of white/wheat flour and adjust to your liking. The pictures you see below are with white flour … because I ran out of wheat

Honey Oatmeal Wheat Bread
Yield: 2 loaves, this recipe also doubles nicely if you like to bake ahead.

• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1/3 cup honey
• 2 cups boiling water
• 2 tbsp. active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 5-7 cups white/wheat flour (start with 2 cups white, 3 cups wheat and go from there)

How-to:

1. Place oats, butter, salt and honey in a bowl. Pour 2 cups boiling water gently over the ingredients and stir. Cover with a cloth and let it sit for one hour – no less. Cheating on this step will yield a bread that is not as moist.
2. 10 minutes before the oats are finished, dissolve the yeast in the warm water in a separate, extra large bowl. You’ll need to lightly whisk it for it to dissolve properly.
3. Once the yeast has become a little foamy and started to bubble, add the oat mixture to it. Then begin adding the flour. The amount depends a lot on what ratio of white/wheat flour you use. You need enough flour to form a dough ball. I like to add flour while I knead, so I account for that. You’ll need to knead until it’s smooth and elastic. Don’t give up early – it’s worth it.
4. Let the dough ball rise in a greased, covered bowl in a warm place for 1 hour.
5. Gently deflate and turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Separate into two equal pieces. Roll each of them into a rectangle and then roll up jelly-roll style. Pinch the open edge and ends closed. Place each one seam-side down in a greased loaf pan. Cover with a cloth and let rise about 30 minutes.
6. Bake in a preheated 375F degree oven for 24 minutes.

For more info on how to make homemade bread, go here.

Why I do what I do ~

Me: “Chloe, what do you want to be when you’re a grown up? Some people work at a bank like Daddy or …”

Chloe: “You. I want to be you.”

Me: … melting in a puddle on the floor …

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