Ingredients:
1 1/2 C warm water (adult bath temperature-test on your arm)
1 1/2 C warm milk (can also use rice or soy milk)
4 t yeast (regular, plain yeast)
2 T sugar or honey
3 T melted butter or canola/vegetable oil
2 t salt
7 C flour

Mix water and milk with yeast.  Let stand until bubbly (about 5 minutes).  I never know what “bubbly” means because mine doesn’t really do that.  Anyway, then add sugar, butter, half the flour, and salt.  Mix well.  Add the rest of the flour, mix well, cover, let rise in a bowl in a warm area about 30 minutes.  (I preheat the oven for one minute, then turn it off).

Dump out on floured surface and knead (I learned to knead by making this bread, so it must be forgiving) down to smooth mound.  Let rest five minutes.

Grease two glass loaf pans, pinch apart dough and roll into loafs, place them in pans.  Let rise again in warm oven for 30 minutes or until doubled in size.  Take loaves out of oven.

Preheat oven to 350 and bake until brown – about 25 minutes.  Rolls will take about 20 minutes.

Oh, the smell of warm bread throughout the house!  Oh, the pounds I gain if I lose control!

Blend with your hand in a bowl:

3 C Flour
1/2 t Instant or rapid rise yeast (they’re the same thing).  If you buy it in those packets, just throw in a packet.
1 1/2 t Salt
1 1/2 C Water (can be cold or warm)

Cover bowl with plastic wrap.  Let rest 4-18 hours (anything in that range is fine).  Lightly flour a work surface, spread out the dough and fold it into a neat square-ish loaf.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for 15-30 min.

Preheat a Pyrex round casserole dish and lid to 450.  Once the dish is hot, take off lid, throw in the dough, put the lid back on and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove lid and bake another 15-30 minutes.  Pull it out of the oven and dish to cool when you like the color of the top.

This is a super crispy crust and oh so yummy.  Bon apetit!

I have been tired of half my grocery bill going to laundry detergent and toilet paper. I’ve been looking for acceptable alternatives for items that needlessly suck money out of my wallet. I have a lot of recipes to share with you, but will only do so after I try them, tweak them and accept them. I refuse to use recipes that are not up to my standards. I currently have 4 recipes on my Houshold Recipes page. If you’re interested, please take a look.

I’ll let you know when I come up with a toilet paper alternative.  No, the Sears catalog, leaves and expired coupons aren’t acceptable. 

NO BAKE TOFFEE

No kidding – this is so good and quick you can make it when no one is home and eat half of it before they get back. Ok you can eat the whole thing but you’ll have to clean up your evidence too.

1. Coat an 8 or 9″ square glass pan with cooking oil.
2. Spread 1/2C chopped pecans on the bottom of the pan. Set aside.
3. Melt 1/2C butter in a 1 qt. saucepan, add 3/4C brown sugar and bring to a boil over medium heat. Set timer for 6 minutes. Boil mixture for 6-7 minutes until it starts to smoke, stirring constantly. Following this is the crucial step.
4. Drizzle mixture over pecans.
5. Sprinkle 1/2C chocolate chips on top. Cover pan with a cookie sheet for about 6 minutes. Uncover and smoothe out melted chips with the back of a spoon.
6. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Chop into pieces and gorge.

SUPER MOIST BUNDT CAKE – NO ICING NEEDED

I like to serve this instead of coffee cake.

Prepare any yellow cake mix as directed. Add one can of German chocolate pecan or coconut icing. Mix. Pour into bundt cake, cook as directed on cake mix box, but add 10 minutes to baking time. Cool completely before dumping out of pan. YUMMY!

ICE CREAM PIE

1. Smash a pkg. of Oreo cookies and place in the bottom of a 13×9 glass pan.

2. Drizzle 2 jars of Mrs. Richardson’s fudge over the cookie crumbs. This is the best fudge in a jar ever.

3. Microwave (just until soft) 1/2 gallon ice cream of your choice (I like Blue Bell’s Moolenium) and spread it over the fudge. Freeze until ice cream is hard again, then dig in! My kids request this one.

You can add nuts, m&m’s and other toppings if you prefer. We like it plain.

CREPES – to be filled with your choice of fruits and syrups.

Mix 2 eggs, 1/4C sugar, 1/4t salt, 1C milk, and 1C flour in a bowl.

Heat a small, crepe size, non-stick pan to med.-low. Pour in enough batter to coat the bottom of the pan. Flip with fingers (fork will tear crepe). Be careful not to brown the crepe. You don’t want it crispy or it will break when trying to roll it.

COOKIE BARS

1. Preheat oven to 350 (325 for glass dish). In 13×9″ baking pan, melt 1 stick of butter in the oven. Sprinkle 1 1/2C graham cracker crumbs evenly over butter; pour 1 (14 oz.) can of sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumbs. Top with 2C chocolate chips and 1 C peanut butter chips; press firmly.

2. Bake 25 min. or until lightly browned. Cool. Cut into bars.

Need a tall glass of milk now? Thanks for visiting. Hope you look around my site while you’re here.

I’ve got a new strategy now that a friend clued me in about how to cook it. Here is what I now do. Place the strips on a broiler pan and line the bottom part of the pan with foil (easy clean up). Preheat to 400 and bake for:

10-15 minutes for thin cut
15-17 minutes for crispy
*add 4-6 minutes to above time if you have thick slices

Slices won’t look firm and crispy until after they cool.

Drain on paper towels. To keep bacon warm, drop the oven to 150-200 and put cooked bacon on an oven safe plate and pop it in.

Frugal tip: Reserve your bacon grease for other cooking. Just pour it into a mug and keep in the refrig.

Freeze cooled bacon in baggies. To reheat put 2 slices in the microwave for 30 seconds.

ACID FRUITS
Strawberries
Grapefruit
Oranges
Lemons (lemons combine well with all plant foods)
Pineapple
Raspberries
Cranberries
Tangerines
Limes

SWEET FRUIT
Bananas
Papaya
Dates
Figs
Raisins
Prunes
Other dried fruits

SUB-ACID FRUITS (can combine with either of the 2 above lists)
Apples
Apricots
Blackberries
Blueberries
Cherries
Nectarines
Peaches
Pears Mangos
Plums
Grapes

Eat MELONS alone because they do not digest well with other foods. Any of the melons can be combined with each other (honey dew, cantalope, watermelon, etc.) .