Clam Chowder

That white bread makes me think of my favorite soup. Clam Chowder! I might as well share that recipe too.

1 small onion

2-3 stalks celery

3 cups potatoes

1 can minced clams

1 can chopped clams

3/4 cup butter or margarine

3/4 cup flour

1 quart half-and-half

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

I like to puree onion in the food processor. I dice the celery really small and I cube the potatoes so they are bite size. (I don't make them all the same size I just don't have huge chunks of potatoes.) Add all vegetable and clam juice to the sauce pan. Add enough water that all vegetables are covered. (It should be at least 2 1/2 quarts.) Let boil for 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally. Keep checking whether they are cooked with a fork. If it is hard to poke through a potato it is not done. If it breaks easily the vegetables are done.

While vegetables are cooking melt butter in a 3 quart saucepan. When butter starts to simmer, bubble around edges, add flour and stir till combined. Remove from heat. Add the half-and-half, salt, and pepper and whisk till the mixture becomes smooth with no lumps. Put saucepan back on heat and cook until bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Pour milk mixture into vegetable mixture and stir. Add clams and stir. Keep on heat until soup is warmed through. Serve.

I read somewhere you can use frozen cubed hash browns if you are in a hurry. I love the taste of regular potatoes, but many people prefer red potatoes because they don't fall apart as easily and they taste a little sweeter. The vegetable and types of clams are all your preference. Some people hate celery. If that is the case use less of it.

Perfect White Bread Every Time

This is a recipe my sister-in-laws sister-in-law gave to me. I just had to say that because I think it is funny. I have tweaked it a little. I have given this recipe to Girls and Guys and everyone loves it.

I like to use my kitchen Aid for this recipe. You can use any mixer.

Turn oven to 400 degrees

3 cups Flour

2 Tablespoons Yeast

1 Tablespoon Salt

Mix these ingredients until incorporated

Add 3 Cups Warm water, the temperature of a nice warm bath not hot

Mix thoroughly and let rest for 10-20 minutes. The yeast should be at a foaming stage. It will have multiplied a lot and formed many bubbles. If the water and the room are at the right temperature this will only take 10 minutes.

Add

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup honey

3-5 cups flour.

41/2 cups flour to start. Mix these ingredients at a low-medium speed for 8 minutes. If after 4 minutes dough is still sticking to the side of the pan add more flour a little at a time until it no longer sticks. There have been a few times when I have had to add a little more than 5 cups. You have to watch the mixer. I swear mine walked of the cabinet and jumped to the floor. I have the dent to prove it!

Grease a bowl. Put dough in the bowl and cover with greased plastic wrap. Let rise for 20 minutes. (This step is not essential. It makes the bread tall and beautiful but if you are in a hurry it will still taste good if you put dough immediately in pans.)

After the bread has risen punch down and divide into two large loaves or two medium loaves and a small loaf. I grease the counter to shape the bread and grease the bread pans. (I prefer glass loaf pans they cook more even.) Put the loaves in the pans and let rise. The dough needs to be at least as tall as the rim of the bread pan. This takes at least 10 minutes. The longer you let them rise the bigger your loaves will be. I have found that you also get more air pockets.

I melt about 1 tablespoon of butter and spread it evenly over the tops of the loaves of bread and then spray with water (using a spray bottle) right before I put them in the even. This keeps the tops from browning too dark. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. The bottoms of the bread will look a light golden brown. Most of the loaf should be this color before you take the bread out of the oven. Once you take the bread out of the oven, let bread sit in the pan for 5 more minutes before dumping them onto a towel. (This will keep the bottoms of the bread cooking longer which will help the bread cook through the center.)

This bread start to finish can take 1 hour. It should not take more than 1 1/2 hours.

If you use wheat flour do not let the bread rise in the bowl. Simply put it straight in the greased loaf pan and follow the rest of the steps.

Dutch Oven Potatoes

8 medium potatoes

1/2 pound bacon

1 onion, medium and minced

1/2 pound cheddar cheese, shredded

1/4 cup butter

Slice the potatoes in a food processor or a salad shredder. Immediately rinse in cold water in a colander. Put in a glass bowl and cover with cold water and a little salt. (These steps are important because they keep the potatoes from turning gray and slimy as they cook!) Cover with saran wrap and heat in microwave on high for 4 minutes. (This is optional; it reduces the cooking time, but you can skip it and still get good results--you'll just need to cook it a little longer.) Heat 12-inch Dutch oven on the stove and saute bacon and onions until bacon is crisp. (You can also do this in a skillet and then move to the D.o.) Melt butter in Dutch oven, then add potatoes after draining water off. Cover and cook 30 to 45 minutes with 14 briquettes on top and 10 beneath. The last 3 minutes lift off lid and add cheese. Put lid back on and let the cheese melt.

(Edited 11 July to add the changes Brian suggested. Thanks, B. You are the best husband in the galaxy!

Skillet Penne, Spinach and Sausage Dinner

This is a fast dinner that all of my kids will eat. I personally love it!

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, minced in food processor

salt

3/4 pound sausage

3 garlic cloves, minced

8 ounces Penne

2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 (5 ounce) bag baby spinach

1/2 cup Parmesan, grated

Pepper

Heat oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion and a dash of salt and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the sausage and cook, until no longer pink, about 4 minutes.

Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add penne. Pour the broth and cream over the pasta. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to simmer. stirring occasionally, until the pasta is tender about 10 minutes.

Stir in the spinach a handful at a time and cook until wilted, about 2 minutes. Stir in Parmesan cheese and pepper and serve.

Fluffy Dinner Rolls

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1/3 cup honey

4 tablespoons crisco shortening

3 tablespoons butter

1 large egg

5-5 1/2 cups flour

1 tablespoon yeast

2 teaspoons salt

Microwave the milk, honey, shortening, and butter together until butter and shortening are mostly melted about 2 minutes. Whisk to melt any remaining pieces of butter or shortening, then set aside to cool until just warm. Whisk in the egg.

Combine 5 cups of the flour, yeast, and salt in a Kitchen Aid fitted with dough hook. With the mixer on low speed, add the milk mixture and mix until the dough comes together, about 2 minutes.

Increase mixer speed to medium-low and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. If after 4 minutes more flour is needed, add the remaining 1/2 cup flour, 2 tablespoons at a time, until the dough clears the sides of the bowl but sticks to the bottom.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead by hand to form a smooth, round ball. place in a large lightly oiled bowl and cover with greased plastic wrap. Let rise until double in size 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Grease a 13x9 dish. Turn the dough out onto a clean counter and stretch it into an even 15-inch log. Cut the log into 15 equal pieces and cover with greased saran wrap. Shaping the rolls one at a time fold log in half and then pinch sides down into a ball. Once shaped and put in the dish spray lightly with vegetable spray and cover with saran wrap. Let rise for at least 20 minutes. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Rotate pan halfway through baking. Pull it out of the oven and let it rest in the pan for 5 minutes on a cooling rack. Dump onto cloth and then spread tops with butter.

These rolls get very tall. They are a lot like a roll you would get at a nice restaurant.

Brian and I like to cook these in the dutch oven. Once all the rolls are formed, I roll them in a bowl of melted butter (about 1/3 cup) and put them in the 9x13 dish. I let them rise for 20 minutes and then place them in a 12 quart dutch oven which has 1/4 cup butter melted in the bottom. You will need 14 coals and cook for 30-35 minutes. The bottom of the rolls will be a nice golden brown. The top doesn't brown that much.

Granola

This is my moms recipe. I love it. I have changed it a little bit because I like it softer and with less things in it. The options for add-ins are limitless.

3 cups Oats

1 cup oat bran

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

1/3 cup margarine, my favorite is Land O'Lakes brand

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

You will need a two-quart dish. Microwave oats on high for 2 minutes. I stir it once at least. I let it cool a little, while I soften the margarine in the microwave for about 20 seconds. Add the oat bran and brown sugar. Break up all the brown sugar lumps. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir. Cook 5 minutes at 70 percent power level stirring once every minute.

You can cook it for a minute longer and it will be crunchier. At camp the girls added all kinds of dried fruit, raisins, m&ms, gummy bears, nuts, sunflower seeds... If you add a fruity candy like gummy bears all of the granola mix tastes like the gummy bears.

In the past I have melted 3 tablespoons butter with 1 package mini marshmallows and then add the granola and 1 cup of mini chocolate chips. Pour them into a greased 7x9 pyrex pan. Let it set and then you can wrap them in saran wrap or whatever you want.

I have just gotten back from girls camp. It was a lot of fun! I came up with a few more recipes. I don't think we are going to have a recipe theme tonight. I will just type till I get tired. It turns out the girls wanted to have a sleep over on the trampoline tonight and I have all the free time in the world.

Devre brought over peanut butter bars yesterday. They were delicious! I really appreciated them because I didn't make any dessert, and what is Sunday without dessert.