Fry Bread

4-1/2 C. Flour
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Baking powder
1 C. Milk
1 C. Water

Mix dry ingredients in bowl of mixer.  Add milk and water and mix with dough hook until smooth dough forms.  Cover bowl, and allow dough to rest while oil heats to about 375 degrees.  Divide dough into 16 pieces.  Roll each piece out thin and shallow fry until golden brown on both sides.  Serve with taco fixings or honey & powder sugar.

Flour Frosting

This is Bryan's most favorite frosting. Tradtion is for him to enjoy this on his red velvet cake.
 
  1 c. milk
  5 tbsp. flour
  1 c. butter
  1 c. powdered sugar, sifted
  1 tsp. vanilla

Combine milk and flour in saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat stirring constantly.
Cook until smooth and thick.
Place in refrigerator until cooled.
Cream and beat together butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy.
Add flour mixture and beat at high speed until very soft, light
and fluffy. (This may take 10 minutes on high speed to break up and distribute flou mixture throughout.)

Must be kept refrigerated.

Texas Sheet Cake - From Pioneer Woman

THE BEST CHOCOLATE SHEET CAKE. EVER.

CAKE:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 4 heaping Tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa
• 2 sticks butter
• 1 cup boiling water
• ½ cup buttermilk (Or use this tip to make a buttermilk substitute: Place 1/2 Tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup. Add enough regular milk to bring the liquid up to the 1/2 cup line. Let stand for 5 minutes, then use in the recipe.)
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

FROSTING:

• 1 3/4 sticks butter
• 4 heaping Tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa
• 6 Tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 pound (minus 1/2 cup) powdered sugar (about 3 to 3 1/4 cups)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts, optional (Jane did not use nuts in her frosting and it was great…so if you don’t like nuts, leave them out!)

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.

Melt butter in a saucepan and add cocoa. Stir together. Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into 13 x 18″ sheet cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes (if using a 10 x 15″ jelly roll pan, you may need to bake 22 to 23 minutes). NOTE: I greased my pan, but you’ll note that the Pioneer Woman’s recipe doesn’t say to do that, you be the judge.

While cake is baking, make the icing. If using nuts (I never use nuts in this recipe), chop them finely. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Add the nuts, stir together, and pour over warm cake. (NOTE: if you follow these directions, you’ll notice your frosting is still a little lumpy. To make frosting really nice and smooth, just simply cook the frosting several minutes longer over low heat, stirring until the mixture is smooth. Another option if you decide to use nuts is to leave them out of the frosting mixture and sprinkle them on top of the icing instead). If you made your cake in a 13 x 18″ pan, pour on all the frosting–you may need to spread it a little so it covers the entire cake; if your cake is in a 10 x 15″ pan, just pour enough frosting on to cover the surface of the cake without going over the edges of the pan. You’ll probably have about 1/2 to 2/3 cup of frosting left over (save for another desert).

You can let the frosting cool and set before cutting into squares if you want, or cut into squares while it’s still warm and dig in! The frosting will start setting in about a half hour, but it needs between 1 and 2 hours to set more firmly; at 2 hours, it should be nice and firm.

Cranberry Salsa

1- 12oz. bag cranberries

¼ to ½ C sugar

Juice from ½ lime

1 jalapeno (for mild salsa, remove seeds/ribs)

3-5 green onions (or ¼ small onion chopped finely)

½ bunch cilantro

Dash of salt & black pepper

Optional: garlic powder / onion powder to taste

Chop cranberries finely in food processor.

Mix in sugar and lime juice.

Finely chop jalapeno, onion and cilantro and add to cranberry mixture.

Adjust to taste by adding more onions, sugar, salt, lime, cilantro, etc.

Store refrigerated in an airtight container and use within about a week.

Salsa is good when fresh, but better if it has a few hours to blend the flavors and for the sugar /lime to break down the berries a bit.

Blackberry Swirl Pie - From Sharon

1 rolled refrigerated unbaked pie crust
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. flour
1/8 tsp salt
3 cups fresh blackberries or 1 (16-oz.) pkg. frozen blackberries (I used frozen loganberries)

Preheat oven to 450. 

Let frozen berries stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. 

Meanwhile, prepare pastry and line 9-inch pie plate. Line pastry with double thickness of foil. Bake 8 minutes. Remove foil. Bake 4 minutes more or until lightly browned. Cool on wire rack. 

Reduce oven to 350.


In a bowl, combine sour cream, sugar, flour, and salt. Add berries and gently stir to combine. Spoon into pre-baked crust. To prevent over-browning, cover edge of pie with foil. 

Bake 25 minutes (50 minutes for frozen berries). 

Remove foil. Bake 20 minutes more or until filling is bubbly and appears set (some berries will "pop" up to surface). 

Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve or cover and refrigerate.

Banana Nut Bread

My favorite Banana Bread recipe!

1/2 C oil
1 C sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3 ripe bananas, mashed
2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 C chopped nuts

Beat oil & sugar together. Add eggs & banana pulp and beat well. Add sifted dry ingredients, milk & vanilla. Mix well & stir in nuts. Pour into greased & floured loaf pan. Bake at 350 for about 1 hour. Cool. Makes 1 loaf.

Blonde Brownies

(Chewy Butterscotch Flavor)

1/4 C Butter or Margarine, melted
1 C light brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C coarsely chopped nuts

Add butter to brown sugar until well-blended. Add egg & vanilla and mix well. Stir in dry ingredients, then add nuts. Spread in a well buttered 8"X8" pan. Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes. Cool in pan on cake rack. Cut into 2" squares. Makes 16.