Grandma Velma's Irish Potato Bread

Grandma Velma’s Irish Potato Bread       

{Printable Version Here}

Makes 2 loaves

2 Tbsp sugar

4 tsp salt

2 pkg dry yeast

6-8 C flour, divided

1 ½ C prepared mashed potatoes

½ C water

1 ½ C Milk

½ C butter (1/2 stick)

3 eggs

1. In mixing bowl combine sugar, salt, yeast, and 1 ½ C of the flour; set aside.
2. In a 2 qt sauce pan add potatoes, water, milk, and butter. Heat over low, stirring often until very warm and combined.
3. Very slowly stir liquid mixture into dry mixture.
4.  Add eggs and beat for 2 minutes.
5. Stir in 3 ¼ C of the flour to make soft dough.
6. Turn dough onto floured board and knead for 10 minutes.
7. Knead in additional 1 ½ C of the flour.
8. Shape into big dough ball and place in lightly greased bowl, turning to coat dough.
9. Cover with towel or plastic wrap and let rise 1 hour.
10. Punch down. Turn onto floured board. Cut dough in half. Cover again and let rest 15 minutes.
11. Place each half into large, greased loaf pan and gut 2 gashes across top with serrated knife. Cover and let rise and additional hour. Preheat oven to 400°.
12. Brush top of loaves lightly with milk.
13. Bake 40 minutes, or until golden brown.
14. Turn out from pan and cool on wire rack. Let cool before cutting.

·       Recipe can be used to make dinner rolls as well. About 3 ½ - 4 doz.

Allan Rosenberg/Cole Group/Photodisc/Getty Image

{Get Printable Version Here}

Monkey Bread

This gooey delicious version of cinnamon sticky buns are sooooo sinfully sweet I don't even care about the calories!  (Good thing I only make this once a year!)   It's called Monkey Bread because you pull it apart with your fingers - like a monkey would!  :)

Tip:  I put my bag of frozen dinner rolls in the refrigerator the night before to thaw.  Around here, Rhodes Rolls are the best, but there are a number of good store brands that work just as well.  To find Rhodes Rolls in your area click {{HERE}}.

1 C chopped pecans
24 frozen dinner rolls, thawed
1/2 C sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 stick (1/2 C) butter
1 C brown sugar

Spray inside of bundt pan with cooking spray and cover the bottom with nuts.  In bowl mix together cinnamon and sugar.  Cut rolls in half, and re-shape into balls if necessary.  Roll each dough ball into cinnamon-sugar mixture coating well and then layering in bundt pan.  Cover with sprayed plastic wrap and let rise until about double in size or at least until even with the top of the bundt pan.  In saucepan over medium heat, mix together butter and brown sugar and cook until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Pour over rolls in pan.  Bake 30-35 minutes until golden brown.  Invert onto serving plate.  Let cool sightly.

Quick-Method Variation:  No time to let dough rise?  You can substitute the dinner rolls with 3 cans of refrigerated biscuits.  Cut each biscuit in half and form into ball and proceed with recipe above, omitting the "let rise".

Butterscotch Bubbleloaf Variation:  Omit the cinnamon-sugar mixture.  Instead, roll each dough ball into Butterscotch or Vanilla Cook&Serve (not Instant!) dry pudding mix (small box).  Sprinkle remaining mix over rolls, cover and let rise and continue as above.

Spaghetti Boats

If I am short on time (not even enough time to boil the pasta), I opt for Spaghetti Boats instead of regular spaghetti.  The kids love them and it seems no matter how big the "boats" are, there are rarely leftovers!  (Note down below for variations we often eat as well.)

1 large loaf French or Italian Bread

1 lb ground beef

chopped garlic, onions, peppers, oregano as desired

1 jar favorite spaghetti sauce

2 C shredded cheese (I usually use Colby-Jack or Mozzarella)

Cut the loaf of bread in half, lengthwise and then cut each half into quarters, ending up with 8 "boats".  Set aside on baking sheet.  In skillet or sauce pan brown ground beef and add desired veggies.  Drain fat and add favorite spaghetti sauce.  (Homemade or store bought.)  Mix well, and stir until heated through.  Spoon meat sauce evenly over each bread boat.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Bake in 350 degree oven 10-15 minutes, or until cheese is melted. 

Tip:  I like to line my baking sheet with foil or parchment paper for easier clean-up.

Variations:  
For Sloppy Joe Boats, prepare ground beef as you would for Sloppy Joes and top with shredded cheddar before baking.
For Pizza Boats, use marinara sauce, sausage, pepperoni, etc, and top with a shredded Italian cheese blend.
For Cheeseburger Boats, saute chopped onion with the ground beef and season with a little salt, pepper and some Worcestershire sauce.  Top each with slice of favorite "cheeseburger" cheese (American, Pepper-Jack, Cheddar, Swiss, etc.)  After baking, add ketchup and mustard if desired.


Hope you enjoy these as much as we do!

Cream Puff Croissants

I was craving cream puffs, but did not feel like baking. However, I had a plethora of croissants from Costco and got this idea. They were sooooo good. We used the "big" croissants and could hardly finish one. I think most of the kids ended up eating half and saving the other half for later. But they were De-Lish!!!

12 mini croissants (or 6 regular)
Glazed Icing {click here}
Vanilla Pudding (6 servings) or Vanilla Cream {click here}

Hershey's Syrup, or Chocolate frosting, melted

fresh berries, optional.

Cut opening in croissants, as if you would for a sandwich. Line baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper. One at a time, coat each croissant in glaze. Let set (refrigerate to expedite if desired). Fill each croissant with vanilla cream. Drizzle chocolate syrup or melted chocolate frosting. Garnish with fresh berries if desired. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Premium Stuffed French Toast

French Toast slices
Vanilla Cream Filling (click here for recipe)
Powdered Sugar
Fresh Berry Sauce (click here for recipe)

butter, optional.

Take first slice of warm French Toast and spread generous layer of cream over it. Butter top side only of second slice of French Toast and place on top of first slice. Dust with powdered sugar. Top with Fresh Berry Sauce. Enjoy!

*for my french toast mixture, I use about 6 eggs, 2 tbsp milk, 1 tbsp ground cinnamon and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Whisk together and now you are ready to dip your bread and cook over heated griddle. about 4-6 servings.

Mac & Cheese Toast

Found this lovely little shaker jar of "Macaroni & Cheese, Cheese Topping" on sale for a dollar like forever ago. I bought one. Didn't know if I'd ever used but, for $1...

I discovered, that it has a good long shelf life! I finally opened that bad boy up the other day for a very cheap version of Texas Toast! My kids LOVED it!!!



Sliced Bread
Butter or margarine
Garlic Powder
Mac & Cheese, Cheese Topping

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Line baking sheet with foil. Place single layer of bread slices on pan. Butter top sides of bread generously. Dust lightly with garlic powder, followed by a sprinkling of the cheese topping. Place in warm oven. Check after about 10 minutes. Should be lightly toasted. Serve warm.

Yummy-Mummy Halloween Calzones

We made our own Yummy Mummy calzones and they were fun! Kids enjoyed them too! Not as pretty as the ones on the recipe video, but I thought they still turned out great! Try these next year and get the kids involved. For recipe click here....Rhodes Rolls Yummy Mummies

Navajo Tacos (EASY)

I really didn't want to go to the grocery store this past week. I scoured my cabinets, refrigerator, and freezer to see what I had on hand and how many meals I could get out of what was there. I made a list, and then racked my brain, and lo and behold, I came up with 6 dinners (which didn't even include the "rice-a-roni" packages). Whoo-Hoot!

One of those nights we had Navajo Tacos and Sopapillas (click here) for dessert. Now you COULD start by making your own dough for fry bread (click here for a recipe) OR you can do what I do... I use the frozen bread roll dough and put it in the fridge over night to thaw.


Dough for bread
cooking oil
ground beef*
taco seasonings
canned chili*
lettuce
tomatoes, diced
onions, chopped
shredded cheese
sour cream (optional)

If you are using the bread roll dough, like me, put two rolls together for each Navajo taco. Work the bread into a flattened state, about the size of a tortilla. Fry in hot oil about 5-10 seconds each side. Drain on paper towel. In skillet, brown ground beef, adding taco seasonings as you would for regular tacos. Pour chili into large microwave-safe dish and heat up, OR some people like to add it right with the ground beef in the pan. Once meat and chili are cooked build your open-faced Navajo Taco using any other type of ingredients you would use for tacos. Enjoy!

*I did not have chili on hand, so I used refried beans. Also, because I wanted to use what little ground beef I had left for spaghetti, I decided to use some canned chicken I had. I simply drained the chicken, added it to the skillet along with a packet of taco seasonings and a little water, and it was heaven. You can really do it any way you want... my kids LOVED them!

Easy Cheater's Sopapillas

So - what do you make when you have frozen bread roll dough, but want something sweet? You make Sopapillas. Seriously... You can make your own dough from scratch or they even have Sopapilla mix, but these are soooooo good, and I always buy the frozen bread rolls on sale just to make stuff like this. Also - Sopapillas are basically the same thing that Utahns call "Scones". (but in the east, Scones are more like a muffin/biscuit thing.) Anyway... Here is all you do.

Take one thawed roll-dough, and sort of knead it and stretch it out into a rectangle-type shape. Fry in hot oil 5-10 seconds, until desired doneness. (If you don't have a deep fryer, then just fry a few seconds each side).

Then you can brush with honey butter and add anything else you'd like. We have done powdered sugar (as seen here), cinnamon-sugar, and raspberry jam.
I hope you try this. And if you have kids, get them involved in "forming" their own before frying. So simple and Soooooooooooo good!

My Favorite Breadtwists

Today we are making My Favorite Bread Twists. It all starts with these: a bag of frozen bread roll dough - unbaked - from my local grocer. I like to buy these bags when they are on sale 2/$5. I keep them on hand usually for Sundays. I can place the dough on the pans before church to let them rise, and by the time I get home, they are ready for baking. But - today, we are going to do something else with them. We are making Bread Twists. Now, you need to have THAWED dough for this. I set my bag in the fridge the night before to let thaw, but you should read the manufacturer's instructions first.

18 frozen dinner rolls, thawed, but still cold
¼ C butter, softened
¼ C miracle whip
1/3 C grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tbsp parsley flakes

Roll each dough ball into 12”-14” rope, fold in half and twist together. Place onto 2 lightly greased cookie sheets. Mix remaining ingredients in small bowl. Brush mixture on top and sides of each twist. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 45 min-1 hour, or until doubled. Bake @ 375° 12-15 minutes. Be careful not to over-bake.

Muffin Cake

Something my kids love is when I take a basic muffin mix and bake it in a cake pan and then top it with glaze. It's a twist on "cake" and even simpler. My daughter's favorite is the Raspberry, while my oldest loves the Blueberry. He says with the glaze on top, it tastes just like a blueberry cake donut. After tasting it, I'd have to say I agree. I did a raspberry muffin mix in a heart-shaped pan for valentine's breakfast for the kids. They loved it and it was cute.



1 muffin mix
eggs, oil, water according to package directions

GLAZE:
1 C powdered sugar
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla

Mix muffin mix according to package directions. Pour into floured and greased round or square pan. Bake @ 350, adding about 7-10 minutes baking time verses when baking in muffin tins. Done when inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool slightly. Mix glaze; drizzle over cake. Let glaze set slightly before cutting. Best when still warm!

Double muffin mix to fill 9x13 pan.