Garla’s Fluffy Toast (twist on French toast)

1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1 ½ t. baking powder
2 eggs
½ t. salt

Mix and make like French toast. Add cinnamon to liking.

*We added about 2 t cinnamon.  Jacob loved these and I thought they weren't bad.  I good substitution for French Toast if you are running low on eggs.  Blending all the flour in takes a fine touch.  This recipe made 11 French toast, so if you are like my family, you will probably need to double it.  We made it with Cinnamon Suryp.

Cinnamon Syrup

1 cup light corn syrup
½ cup water
1 cup evaporated milk
2 cups sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
Mix corn syrup, sugar, water, and cinnamon in med size pan. Bring to a boil over med. Heat stirring constantly. Continue for 2 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes. Stir in evaporated milk.

*Jacob said, "I like this syrup more than any other syrup I've tasted in my life, make it every time."  For me, it was good, definately sweet, but didn't convince me that I need to stop buy store syrup.  Just a little hint of cinnamon.  3 1/2 Stars.  We made this with Garla's Fluffy Toast.   We halved this recipe and it made approximately 2 cups of syrup, plenty for a meal and more to save.

Just Plain Fries

Thanks to a hand-me-down from Grandma Lillie The Shrimp (a little deep fryer), we can make our own fries.  Just peel potatoes, fry in the hot shortning for 5-6 minutes and add salt.  I perfer the baked kind, but every once in a while, I make them like this for Jeff.  They taste great, it's just the clean up and extra calories I like less.

Fluffy Pancakes

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup margarine, melted (can use shortening)

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Combine the egg, milk and shortening; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

2. Pour batter by 1/4 cupful onto a greased hot griddle. Turn when bubbles form on top of pancakes; cook until the second side is golden brown.

*In the winter time, we like to make snowman pancakes using frozen blueberry's for the snowman's buttons, eyes, and nose. Jacob loves them! We even experimented with reindeer pancakes and shark pancakes, it was lots of fun. We found this recipe a couple of years ago and have it at least 2-3 times a month (or more). Once you have them, you can never go back to a mix.

Rice--how to cook

I bought a very large bag of rice, but it didn't come with directions on how to cook it.  This is what works best for me:

1.  Put cold water and rice at a 2:1 ratio in pot. 

2.  Add salt and butter to liking. 

3.  Bring to a soft boil until craters form (see picture).  Then cover and simmer for about 20 minutes. 

4.  Fluff with fork.

 

Crock Pot Cheesecake

Recipe from crockpot365.blogspot.com

Crust

- 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
- 2 T brown sugar
- 3 T melted butter

Filling
- 16 oz cream cheese, room temperature (I nuked mine for 30 seconds to get it soft)
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature (I put the eggs in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes)
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 t good vanilla
- 1 T flour

Find a heat-resistant dish that will fit into your crockpot for the cheesecake. I have an oval crockpot and so I used a loaf pan. However, not all of the cheesecake mixture fit into the pan because I didn’t want it to be too thick. You are going to create a bain marie, or water bath in the bottom of your crock pot.

In a plastic zipper bag, beat the crackers into crumbs with a rolling pin or crush them in a food processor. Put a cup of the crumbs into a medium bowl, and add melted butter and brown sugar. Stir until it's wet and crumby. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the dish you are going to use.

In a separate bowl, cream the cheese, sugar, eggs, flour, cream, and vanilla with a hand-mixer. Unless you have one of those fancy Kitchen Aids. Then use that. Pour the cheese mixture on top of the crust. Lick the bowl.

Add 1 cup of water to the bottom of your crock pot. Lower the dish inside, being careful to not slosh water into your cheesecake.

Cover and cook on high for 2-3 hours. The cheesecake is done when the edges are no longer shiny (like how it looks when you first pour the mixture in). My cheesecake wasn't perfectly set in the middle, but I unplugged the crock anyhow.

I cooked it for exactly 2 hours. Let the cheesecake sit in the cooling crock pot, with the lid on, for an hour. Then remove and transfer to the refrigerator. Chill in the refrigerator for about 2 -3 hours before cutting and serving.

Spicy Beef Roast

3 lb round tip roast
1 Tbs. cracked black peppercorns
2 tsp. dry mustard
3 cloves garlic or ½ tsp. garlic powder
3 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
2 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce
¼ C. soy sauce

Rub the cracked pepper, dry mustard and garlic into the roast. Place roast in crock pot and with a knife, make several shallow slits in the top of the roast. In a small bowl combine vinegar, W. sauce, soy sauce. Pour over roast. Cook on low 8 – 10 hours, high 4 -5 hours.