HOMEMADE POTATO CHIPS

Last night, I fried some homemade potato chips.
They were fabulous and tasted like "Lays' potato chips ".
I realized that I can now make my own fresh chips like
the very expensive ones sold in the grocery store:
Jicama , Sweet Potato, and other root vegetables. This
is my daughter's boyfriend Lucas. He loves to cook too.
And I am teaching him some things.


I used the "thin slicer" attachment on my gorgeous,
fabulous Kitchen Aide standing mixer ( that my precious
Older Sister, Jan , bought for me 3 1/2 Christmas' ago.
I had been praying for months for God to please bless
me with a beautiful Kitchen Aide standing mixer for
Christmas , because I bake alot for other people and
for my daughter, Ashley and I had burned two regular
mixers because they were just not strong enough to
handle it.

My precious sister called me and said that she had gotten
a Bonus at work and that God had told her that she
should buy me a Kitchen Aide standing mixer ; it'd be
too much $ to ship such a heavy item so she went to
her local "Bed, Bath and Beyond and paid $300+ and
explained that she wanted to make it possible for me
to go to my local one and pick out my gift .
It just so happened that I had a coupon which I was able
to use and the mixer was on-sale and it was offered with
a coupon to get a free attachment, so I chose the slicer/
shredder and I use it all the time .


I think of my sweet sis
everytime I walk into my kitchen and see that gorgeous
Red Kitchen Aide mixer .

ps with all the coupons, and the sale price and the free
attachment, I saved enough to buy the ice cream attachment
too. God bless my sister for being so generous.

It only took 5 minutes to slice the thin potato chips.

A dear friend gave me her barely-used rectangualar
deep fryer and I absolutely love it. I make delicious
fried chicken in it.


Tip of the day: I used my salad spinner 3 times to extract
the excess water. It worked great!


When you are frying potatoes , even thinly sliced potatoes,
be sure to put the potatoes in one-handrul-at-a-time , so
that the hot oil does not "boil over" due to the fact that
hot oil and water don't mix. Trust me, it happened to me
and started a stinky grease fire . I had gotten $100 for
Christmas from my dear Father-in-law and I bought myself a
"Tater Twister" and almost caught the kitchen on fire. haha


After frying the potato chips, I salted them and on mine, I
sprinkled alot of red cayenne pepper.
Enjoy!

I HAVE STUMBLED UPON A BISCUIT RECIPE THAT TASTES LIKE CRACKER BARREL RESTAURANTS BISCUITS

         This recipe makes biscuits that taste just like the ones at Cracker  Barrel  Restaurant.
                                                        I love Cracker Barrel.
                                                  I love Cracker Barrel Biscuits.
Ingredients:
5 c. sifted, unbleached all purpose flour
(measure after sifting)
1 T. plus 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 T. kosher salt
1/2 c. plus 2 T. packed butter or lard,chilled
2 c. chilled buttermilk
3 T. unsalted butter, melted , to brush the tops with.

Heat oven 500 degrees. ~ be sure to preheat your oven at this point~

In large bowl, whisk together sifted flour, baking powder,
and kosher salt.
Add lard, coating in flour. Working fast, rub lard between
fingertips until half the lard is coarsely blended and half
remains in large pieces about 3/4" .
Make a well in the center of flour mixture and add buttermilk
all at once. With a large spoon, stir mixture quickly just until
it is blended and begins to mass and form a sticky dough.
(if it appears dry, add 1-2 T. of additional buttermilk
 







Immediately turn dough out onto generously floured surface.
Using floured hands, knead briskly 8 to 10 times until cohesive  ball of dough forms.  Do not "over knead", as this will  make
your biscuits heavy like a lead weight.

 Flour a 2 1/2 or 3" biscuit cutter.
~start cutting from the outer edge and cut each one as close to each other as possible, not to leave so many pieces to have to knead again.  Reknead as little as you can, one you start cutting the biscuits.~
Cut biscuits  and place on a parchment lined baking sheet or just bake them in a well greased black iron skillet.
 Combine the scraps to form 1 or 2 more biscuits.
Place on rack in upper 3rd of oven.***this is very important***

~the temperature called for in a biscuit recipe, is very important, because of the type of "fat" used in the
recipe; so, if a recipe calls for baking at 500 degrees for 8-10 minutes, it is what is required.  This recipe calls for lard or crisco or butter ....if a biscuit recipe calls for only oil as the "fat" content, then, you would bake those biscuits at 400 degrees. 

Bake  in a 500 degree oven .
Bake 8-12 minutes til golden brown.
Remove. Brush with melted butter and serve hot.
ps I did have a pic of the biscuits in the black iron skillet, and some on a plate all buttered up, but, my daughter sent the pics to my email and it messed up and she had deleted the pics off of her phone before I could tell her that they didn't turn out too good and some did not show up.  Maybe I'll remember to take pics again next time I make biscuits. 

SOME SAY EASY PEASIE...

But, now, I say "Easy Cheesies".
I attended a church function where this
delicious desser was served and it was
the Bomb!

Easy Cheesies
2 - Pilsbury Crescent Rolls (the one that is
not perforated)
2 - 8 oz. Cream Cheese (softened in the microwave
for a few seconds only)
1 tsp. pure Vanilla
3/4 c. white sugar
1 can of your favorite pie filling (Cherry, Blueberry,
Apple, Lemon, etc.)

Spray a 13x9 baking pan with Pam, then, roll out one
pkg. of dough into a 13x9 pan.
Mix next 3 ingredients until creamy. Spread the cream
cheese on top of the dough.
Spread the Pie filling on top of the cream cheese mixture.
Place the 2nd (can) Crescent dough on top of the Pie
filling.

1 stick of butter
Brown Sugar

Melt the butter and pour on top of the dough and then
sprinkle the brown sugar on top. The original recipe
has a note stating that if you sprinkle quite a bit of
brown sugar, it will make the top crunchy.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

You will love this recipe! I promise you will.

Decorating Seasonally

I have a few great ideas for decorating your Holdiay table....if you don't want to use Chinette sturdy plates, you can go to the local Dollar Tree and purchase plates in Autumn colors and if you want to take it a step further, you can layer the 3 plates (dinner, salad and dessert plates ). You could purchase each of the differnt sizes in a different color like...Chocolate Brown dinner plates, Burdundy salad plates and punpkin orange salad plates. Or, you can purchase different colors and mix and match each place setting. Service for 8 (3 sizes x 8 place settings) would only be $24.00 plus tax and that way you would have them for years to come.

The Dollar General and the Family Dollar also offers pretty Autumn colored dishes at the end of Summer too. Keep checking with them and snag them up as soon as you see them bcuz they always sell out fast.

Also, they sell leaf shaped bowls or small plates that can be used at each place setting for bread/rolls or a fancy nametag at each.

You could attach a simple ribbon around each goblet , giving each person a differnt Autumn color so that they could identify their goblet easily.

Can you tell that I adore Thanksgiving and Autumn ? It's because of all the different colors of the leaves in East Tennessee . It is so very beautiful here and the cool temperatures are wonderful.

You can make Cakes, Pies and Cookie Dough and freeze them ...

More prep for the Big Feast....
You can make your cakes, pies and cookie dough ahead of time and freeze them in ziploc freezer bags. You'll need to buy the 2-gallon bags for the cakes and pies.



If you mix up a batch or two of Chocolate Cookie Dough,use a medium size scoop to make cookie dough balls to freeze on a cookie sheet, then, once frozen, transfer to a Ziploc freezer bag to store in the freezer.



Tip: Everyone asks me "how" do I make my cakes taste so delicious and stay so moist, every time I bake a cake for a church function or to take to someone's home.
I prefer the "Butter Recipe Cake Mixes". Butter Recipe Chocolate was my all time favorite, but all the stores around here stopped carrying it.

I always tell them, even tho they don't think I use a box cake mix, that my secret is to always add a small box of instant pudding to the mix,(I use the "store brand"... along with 2 teaspoons of Pure Vanilla and I only bake my Bundt cakes for 38 minutes, max!!!

My favorite CHOCOLATE FUDGE ICING recipe is as follows:

1 bar Real Butter, melted only til it melts,then cooled
2/3 c. Cocoa powder
Mix well.
Then add:
1/3 c. Evaporated milk, in 3 increments , alternating with
3 c. powdered sugar, 1 cup @ a time, beating after each cup,
Then, add:
1 1/2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla or Pure Almond extract
Beat till fluffy and frost the cake.
PS in this pic,I had put a little bit too much milk and it made it
thin, but, it still tasted wonderful.



ps Try not to eat too much of the Frosting before frosting the cake. ps If you heat the butter too much, your Frosting will turn into Fudge sauce (or candy) and you will have to drizzle it on the cake.
Delicious, both ways. If the sauce is too thick, just add a teaspoon more of
Evaporated Milk at a time and beat again.
enjoy,
Tamar

Make some Parker House Rolls and freeze them...

Oh,how wonderful is the smell of bread baking in the oven?
I love the light and fluffy Parker House Rolls.
You can mix up a batch or two and freeze them for the Big Feast.
Recipe follows...

This recipe works best if you have a large stand mixer. If you don't, go ahead and make it anyway. Just beat and beat the dough really well as you add the flour.

Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Rising time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour, 110 minutesYield: 24 rolls
Ingredients:
•1 cup whole milk
•2 pkg. dry yeast
•1/2 cup butter, melted
•1/4 to 1 tsp. salt
•1/4 cup sugar
•2 eggs
•4-1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour
•more melted butter
Preparation:
Warm the milk in a small saucepan over low heat. Mix 1/3 of the milk with the dry yeast in a small bowl and let sit until bubbly, about 15 minutes. In a large bowl, combine remaining milk, melted butter, salt and sugar and beat until the sugar is dissolved. Then add the beaten eggs and bubbly yeast.
Add flour, 1/4 cup at a time, beating on high speed of stand mixer. This step should take at least 5 minutes. When the dough gets too stiff to beat, stir in rest of flour by hand, if necessary, to make a soft dough. Turn out onto floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, until smooth and satiny. Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover and let rise in warm place until light and doubled in size, about 1 hour. (I have also covered the dough well and placed it in the refrigerator overnight. This works really well. If you are going to refrigerate the dough, put it in the fridge before it has a chance to rise. It will rise overnight in the refrigerator; just not as high as it would at room temperature. Let the dough stand, covered, at room temperature for 1 hour before proceeding with recipe.)

Punch down the dough and roll out on floured surface to 1/2" thickness. Cut with 3" round cookie cutter. Brush each roll with melted butter and fold in half to make half circles. Pinch edge lightly to hold, so the rolls don't unfold as they rise. Place in 2 greased 13x9" pans, cover, and let rise again until double, about 45 minutes. (If you refrigerated the dough, this will take longer, about 60-75 minutes.)

Bake rolls at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan immediately and brush with more melted butter. Don't use the same butter you used when forming the rolls - melt some fresh just for this step.

Use -Reuse-Recycle..Old is new again.

I like to buy some Autumn Tablecloths at the local Goodwill for $1 to $3 each and use them to dress your tables for Thanksgiving or if there is a small flaw or stain, you can cut them into 14"x14" peices to zigzag and hem for Dinner Napkins . Now is a gooe time to be shopping for those tablecloths at Big Lots also.
If you'd prefer, you can use the napkins as dish cloths or cut some 14"x21", zigzag
and hem them and use them as dish towels .

If I use a printed Tablecloth, I like to use solid colored napkins and the reverse is true, too.

I buy the largest tablecloth if I am buying it at Big Lots,making more napkins and towels .

I bought a gorgeous wall painting at Goodwill last month, for only $10.

I have always wanted a picture like this one and it was exactly the colors that I love. It doesn't look like it but, my walls are painted a gorgeous muted gold color.
It is very warm and welcoming and soothing.
I bought the paint for $5 for a gallon of ooops! paint at Lowe's . Somebody had them mix it up and then didn't want it after all; and it was a $30 gallon paint . The color, as best as I can describe it is like peanut butter mixed with a little bit of cream. I love it.
Tamar