Secret code cookie

These cookies make a cute Valentine, but I think they'd be great for a Detective or Science-themed Birthday Party, a Spy Cookie "S" snack, or with a different cookie cutter you could make a kite, butterfly or whatever with a secret code.

Cookies with a twist! Red candy melted in the center of each cookie acts as a decoder on your handwritten valentines. On white paper simply write your secret message with a light-blue fine point marker. Then, using orange, red, and pink markers, doodle shapes, scribbles, or words over the rest of the paper. Go ahead and doodle right over your secret message because your decoder cookie will only reveal your secret message and everything else will disappear!

Secret Message Decoder Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
5 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. soda
1/4 cup milk
Red, hard, transparent candies/crushed to fine pieces


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar together with mixer. Add vanilla. Add eggs and beat until fluffy. In separate bowl add flour, salt, soda, and baking powder. Stir together. Add flour mixture to the butter mixture alternately with milk and stir until dough is smooth. Chill until dough is stiff.

Prepare baking sheet by covering with a sheet of foil and lightly coat with cooking spray. Don't skip this step--you need the foil or the candy will stick to the pan!

On floured surface roll a portion of the dough to 1/4" thick. Cut out with large heart cookie cutter (approx. 4") and place 1" apart on baking sheet. Cut center with a slightly smaller heart cutter and remove dough. Using a small teaspoon carefully fill center with crushed candy. Bake for 10-12 min. or until lightly golden on edges. Cool completely before removing cookies. Store in an airtight container or individual cellophane bags and attach paper valentine.

Ravioli Skillet

3 to 4 servings* Easily doubled*310 Calories for 1 1/2 cups.

1 14.5oz Italian style stewed tomatoes (basil,oregano...)
1 chicken bullion
1 c Water
2 medium zucchini or yellow squash cut.
1 9oz package of refrigerated cheese ravioli
grated Parmesan cheese

1. Boil tomatoes, bullion, and water until bullion is dissolved.
2. Add zucchini and ravioli
3. Bring to boil again.
4. Reduce heat and simmer until ravioli and zucchini are tender
5. serve and sprinkle with cheese

Pizza Sauce

1 8oz can of tomato sauce
1 t oregano
1 t basil
1/2 t rosemary
1/4 to 1/2 t garlic powder
dash of salt

Mix together and spread over pizza!

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

Serving Size: One tasty large pizza

1c Water
1t. sugar
2T. oil
1 package of dry yeast
2 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1/2 t. salt

Put water, sugar, oil, in sauce pan: heat on medium heat until water is hot to the touch and sugar is dissolved. Do NOT OVER HEAT! or as we all know it will kill the yeast. Because I am scared of this, I always just microwave these things in my glass measuring cup.

In a separate bowl add 1 1/2 c flour, salt, and yeast. Pour water mixture into dry ingredient and mix together well. Then slowly add the remaining flour until a stiff dough forms.

Kneed for about 1 min.

Let rest for 10 min.

Turn oven on to 425

Lightly kneed dough into a circle, place on pizza pan and bake for 10 min without any topping!!!

Take out of oven
Top with toppings
Bake for 12 more min!

This recipe is tasty with 1/2 white and 1/2 wheat or just wheat
It doubles well! I always make 2, because I love pizza!

my final square yea - it looks much better in real life! I got it done!

Sorry these are really bad pictures, but this is what my corner looks like.

This is the outside corner of the bag.

E Z Bread Pictures

I made Melissa's EZ Bread and turns out that it is E Z, and it is no fail!! I didn't have powder milk on hand, so I just used 2 cups warm water and 2 cups warm milk. I also made mine 1/2 wheat and 1/2 white. AND.. I added a little ground barley to the bread to give it a little more nutrition. It turned out WONDERFUL!

Then I decided to make a little cinnamon roll with what was left over. I've picked up on a little secret to making cinnamon rolls and thought I would share it. Somewhere in the baking process my cinnamon rolls start to loose their insides. I always load on the cinnamon and brown sugar, but when I go to eat them most of it has gushed out. A family in my ward showed me this little trick and it works amazingly. Plus, it is a little easier as well. All you have to do is take your roll and turn it into a circle. It keeps all the insides in and makes a beautiful ring of yummy cinnamon. This picture doesn't really do it justice. In fact, I almost didn't post it because I knew it looked bad, but I wanted to share the trick. So give it a try, I promise you'll like it.

corn fingers and banana bread

Just a few of the tasty treats we have made.

Busy day soup - just because for mom by melissa

1 can bean with bacon soup

1 can vegetable soup

1 can tomato sauce

chili powder to taste

I posted this just for fun. I don't know how many time we made this growing up.

Burrito Enchilada Style By melissa

1 pound hamburger browned

1 16 oz. can refried beans

1 8 oz. can tomato sauce

Stir together in pan season to taste with taco seasoning

fill middle of 6-7 tortillas and roll up. place in 9x13 pan

Sauce

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/ to 3/4 cup sour cream

1 can diced green chilies

Mix together and pour on top of filled tortillas grate cheese on top and bake 350 for 20 min. or until heated through.

This is a staple at our house we loovve it!

Tip- mix sauce and pour some in the bottom of the pan before you put your tortillas in. This will prevent sticking.

BANANA APPLESAUCE BREAD by melissa

4 banana's

1 Tb. brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

Puree banana's add sugar and let stand 10 min.

in separate bowl

2 cups flour

1 tsp. soda {Short tsp.}

1 Tb baking powder - yes Tb but I make a short Tb

1 tsp. cinn

a pinch of ginger

1 tsp. salt

After bananas and sugar have rested add 1/2 cup applesauce and 2 eggs mix well

I also add 1 tsp vanilla and 1/4 cup oil but this is optional

Then mix everything together and bake in loaf pans at 350 for 25-50 min. depending on loaf size I make 8 very mini loaves and 1 small loaf about 2-3 regular loaves. YUMMY

I also add chocolate chips We highly recommend chocolate chips its delicious!!

let us know what you think the texture of this bread is like eating a cloud but I wonder if it would be better if you cut the baking powder in 1/2 if the flavor would be even better let me know what you think.

Jello Pudding Cake by Sara for Mom

2 eggs
2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 scant TBS veg. oil
1 yellow cake mix
1 mall chocolate pudding

mix well and bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 min.
for cupcakes bake at 350 for 19-24 min. makes 24

Icing
2/3 c brown sugar
1TBLS cream
1/3c butter
1/2 c coconut

stir together and spread on cake then broil until coconut is a little crisp.

Pretzel Salad

CRUST:
2 cups pretzels, crushed
3/4 cup melted butter (I use unsalted)
3 T sugar

Mix crust ingredients together and spread in a 13x9 baking pan. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Cool.

Filling:

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 c sugar
8 oz frozen whipped topping, thawed

Combine filling ingredients and spread evenly over crust.

Topping:

2 3oz pkgs of strawberry gelatin
2 cups boiling water
2pkg frozen strawberries

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Drain juice from strawberries and mix with gelatin mixture. Add strawberries and allow to firm slightly before spreading over filling. Then chill until completely firm. Enjoy! Andrea

To my Talented Chefette sisters!

Melissa, kudos to you for your yummy yummy speady lazagna! The results are awesome! Talk about a lot of bang for the time in-put!

Sara, Yummeroo on that terrific Stawberry Salad and Poppy seed dressing. It was a hit!!! So fun to make a homemade lighter, dressing,

I also made Melissa's Meat balls. They are sooo good! I never broil things often, and that is a super fast way to get those meatballs ready. I used my "cookiee dough" ice cream scoop to get the meat balls on the pan in a hurry. (crazy college student)

Ya'll are wonderful cooks. Shopping is so fun now. I just go on the blog, print, cross out what I have at home and hit the store!

REQUEST: More dinner ideas! We have a yummy week ahead again with new recipes! Thanks again!

Love, Andi

PS I have taken pics of my darling family eating these vitils. When I graduate, I will post like mad!!!!

E-Z bread by Melissa

5 cups flour

3/4 cup powered milk (or whatever amount your powdered milk takes to make 1 quart)

2 tsp salt

1/3 cup + 1 Tbs sugar

3 Tbs yeast

mix together well and set aside

Then in bowl of mixer - mix..

1 cube melted butter (or 1/2 cup oil whatever you prefer I have tried both and can't tell a difference and I think the oil is healthier.)

4 cups water (good and warm but not hot)

Then add your flour mixture

then add one egg (if you add the egg with the water it will start to cook and you don't want that.)

Then add 4-5 more cups of flour dough will be a little sticky. let the mixer run for 5 min To knead the dough. Then let rest in mixer for 10 min. This replaces the 1st rise. Then shape into loaves, rolls, cinn rolls whatever. and let it rise then bake 350 for 25 ish min. or until done

Makes about 5 loaves

Thats it then enjoy!!!

Variation - use honey instead of sugar

A tasty and easy dinner/breakfast with this dough is My breakfast rolls (we love them) roll dough out in a long rectangle then beat about 5 eggs together and dump it on the dough, then cover with frozen hash brown and grated cheese top with salt and pepper (very important) roll up like a cinn. roll cut and put on pan (same as cinn. rolls) let rise then bake 350 for 25 ish min. these freeze great if you have extra. Can add onion, sausage, parsley whatever for more flavor.

Minestrone

Prep: 15min * Cook 10 min * Serves 8

3 beef bullion cubes

3 cups of water

1 can of red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas), rinsed and drained

1 (14.5 ish oz) can stewed tomatoes

1 can of V-8 juice (11 ish oz)

1 6 oz can of tomato paste

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 1/2 cups loose-pack frozen mixed vegetables

2 cups cooked pasta (aka macaroni, medium sells or twisty noodles)

Cook noodles.

Drain and set aside

Put everything else in the pot and get it started.

Add noodles back into the pot.

Cook for 10 min or until all hot and bubbly.

Serve with Parmesan or other grated cheese.

Sometimes serve with corn muffins or garlic cheese bread.

But above all enjoy!