Hootenanies

Some days I don't have enough milk for everyone to eat cereal, or I don't have enough eggs to make everyone eggs. Usually when either is the case I make pancakes with powdered milk, and it only takes too eggs. But there are days when I don't want to take the time (or I don't have the time) to make pancakes. That is when I make Hootenanies. You can mix them up and get ready while they are baking.  It is a very yummy and easy breakfast.  My kids love them.

Here they are right out of the oven. The bubbles do fall after a minute.

Here is the way we eat them, with syrup. YUMMY!

Hootenanies

6 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

Dash salt (can add up to 1 tsp, but I don't add that much)

1 stick butter or margarine (I understand you can use 1/2 that, but I haven't tried)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Melt butter in 9 x 13 baking dish in oven (watch it so you don't burn it). While butter is melting mix together the eggs, milk, flour and salt. (I use the blender)

Pour egg mixture in melted butter and return to oven and bake for 20 minutes.    Serve with syrup, or fruit jam.  You can also serve this with meat and cheese for a savory dish, but again I haven't tried this.

New Fun Treat

We found a new treat that is fun to make. Homemade Gummies. I found the recipe on OnePrettyThing.com, and followed the link to the original posting site. These are very easy and fun to make. In fact, Kelly has been making them regularly. They go fast, and all the kids eat them up.

The molds I used are silicone ice cube trays that I found. The yellow bullet shapes are from a regular ice cube tray that makes tiny ice. The were harder to get out of the rigid ice cube tray, but not impossible. I got some silicone trays at Hobby Lobby, and some at Wal Mart. I looked at candy molds, but they were much more expensive. We just put a little of the mixture in the mold, to get more candies.

Homemade Gummy Candies

1 3oz package flavored gelatin

3 envelopes unflavored gelatin

1/3 cup + 1 tbsp water

In a small saucepan, Slowly mix gelatins in water. Let sit for 10 minutes. (It will resemble play dough when it is done). Melt gelatin over double boiler (don't want to cook the gelatin, just melt it). When gelatin is melted pour into molds. Let sit in freezer for 5 minutes or refrigerator for 10 minutes. Pop out of molds, and eat.

Side note: I found other recipes that call for 1 3 oz pkg of flavored, and 7 pkgs of unflavored gelatin. That recipe didn't have the 10 minute wait time. After you mix the gelatins, you cook over LOW heat until melted and then put in molds. I haven't tried this yet, but I will. It will be interesting to see if there is a difference in final product.

Holiday Pies

Well I am finally getting around to posting about my holiday food. I know, it is about time. For Thanksgiving last year (that sounds bad, since it has only been just over a month and a half), I made 3 kinds of pie. Pumpkin, Apple, and pecan. They all turned out fantastic, but I used different recipes than normal.

The Pumpkin Pie Recipe I got off of an add, it used sweetened condensed milk rather than evaporated milk and sugar. It was very easy, and I liked it. Kenna actually helped me mix it all up. It was a great recipe for cooking with kids.

Perfect Pumpkin Pie

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin

1 (14 ounce) can EAGLE BRAND® Sweetened Condensed Milk

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Whisk pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from crust comes out clean. Cool. Store leftovers covered in refrigerator.

The Pecan Pie was the standard recipe that I always use out of the Better Homes and Garden's New Cook Book. (I don't know how new it is, we got it as a wedding gift 15 years ago!)

Erin made these pies for me.

Pecan Pie

3 eggs

2/3 cup sugar

dash salt

1 cup dark corn syrup (I didn't have dark, used light with good results)

1/3 cup butter or margarine melted

1 cup pecan halved

Pastry for single-crust pie

In a mixing bowl beat eggs slightly. Add sugar and salt; stir till dissolved. Stir in corn syrup and butter, mix well. Mix in pecans. Pour into pie shell, and cover edges with foil. Bake at 35o degree oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil; bake about 25 minutes more until a knife inserted off-center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

The Apple Pie was from a recipe on thepioneerwoman.com It is a great recipe that Kelly helped me make. It is very good! Rather than retype the recipe I am just sending you to the site where I got it. That way I make no mistakes. :-)

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/12/scrumptous-and_i_do_mean_scrumptous-apple_pie/

All the pies were a hit. I even made my own crust, also from thepioneerwoman.com They were pretty good too. Cooking for Thanksgiving was a family affair this year. It was great to have all the help.