Monday's Meal

When I was young I don't remember stopping at the local donut place very often when we wanted a sweet treat. But, I do remember making delicious donuts at home. It's much easier than you can imagine and a ton more tastier. Give it a try. You can mix your dough in the bread machine or use a mixer. If you use the bread machine like I do just add the ingredients as recommended by your machine manufacturer (usually liquids, then dry ingredients and the yeast last). Let me know how yummy they are!

Divinely Delicious Donuts

2 (.25 ounce) envelopes active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup shortening
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 quart vegetable oil for frying

1/3 cup butter
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
4 tablespoons hot water or as needed


Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water, and let stand for 5 minutes, or until foamy.
n a large bowl, mix together the yeast mixture, milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening, and 2 cups of the flour. Mix for a few minutes at low speed, or stirring with a wooden spoon. Beat in remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl. Knead for about 5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Place the dough into a greased bowl, and cover. Set in a warm place to rise until double. Dough is ready if you touch it, and the indention remains. Roll dough out onto a floured surface, rolling out to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with a floured doughnut cutter (or you can use the edge of a glass combined with a shot glass in a pinch). Cover loosely with a cloth and let rise again until doubled in size. Heat oil in a deep-fryer or large dutch oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). While oil is heating, melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in confectioners' sugar and vanilla until smooth. Remove from heat, and stir in hot water one tablespoon at a time until the icing is thin, but not watery. Set aside. When the oil is ready, gently add doughnuts using a spatula. Turn doughnuts over as they rise to the surface. Fry doughnuts on each side until golden brown. Remove from hot oil, to drain on a wire rack. Dip doughnuts into the glaze while still hot, and set onto wire racks to drain off excess.

Monday's Meal

Sorry I was late. I had a busy day yesterday. But this is a goody and a cinch for a busy mom to through together in a pinch. Although it calls to mind Asian cuisine, this version is pure American although merged with Italian. Don't ask me why it's called Chop Suey!

Turkey Chop Suey

1 box of your favorite small type of pasta )
1 pound ground turkey (or beef if you prefer)
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
salt and pepper to the taste
1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 celery stalk, minced
1 jar of beef gravy
Parmesan to top

Preheat oven to 350. degrees. Cook the pasta according to package directions. While that’s cooking, add a bit of oil to a large skillet, heat of over medium heat. Add the meat, onion, celery, garlic and spices of your choice, and cook, stirring occasionally, until meat is browned and no longer pink. Drain meat, if necessary, and return to pan. Add sauce, tomatoes, and gravy to meat mixture, mixing well. Drain noodles, add meat mixture, stir well. Transfer to a casserole dish, top with Parmesan cheese. Cook in preheated oven for 30 mins.

Monday's Meal

Awesome with or without a little vodka added, lol.

Strawberry Lemonade


3/4 cups white sugar
7 cups water
1 cup lemon juice
2 cups of ice
1 1/2 cups strawberries
1/4 cup sugar for strawberries

Directions

1. Wash and quarter the strawberries. Add 1/4 cup of sugar and stir in the sugar and set aside to allow the strawberries time to release juices.
2. In a small saucepan, combine sugar and 1 cup water. Bring to boil and stir to dissolve sugar. Remove from stove and let cool a bit.
3. Remove seeds from lemon juice, but leave pulp. In pitcher, stir together sugar mixture, ice, lemon juice and remaining 6 cups water. Stir well, then add in the sweetened strawberries, stir and serve chilled.

What's going on?

I don't think I fully realized what all goes into being a good and faithful blogger. I've been slacking lately. First with the camera issue and now it's just finding the time to actually write about my crafting efforts and life in general. I've been doing a fair bit of domestic pursuits lately though. It's just I can't seem to find the time to photograph and write about them since I'm so busy doing. I've finished E's quilt and a ton of quilt blocks for swaps. I'm hard at work on my Glam Garden project for TMQG. I also started on M.'s quilt which is a super fun and punchy pattern from the people over at FunQuilts called "Plain Spoken". I started off using Amish colors, but added a few colors that might have strayed away from that but still work really well with this solid colored quilt. There's some really stunning examples on flickr and I think M. is going to love the finished product. I'm having fun piecing it on my Singer Featherweight 221. Such a perfect stitch and oh so cute!
I have a lunch bag cut out for myself out of some Amy Butler laminated cottons. I also need to decide on a pattern and search my stash for the fabric to make a dress or skirt to wear to a wedding I'm attending next month. Hopefully I'll finish up M's quilt and then I can start on the dress. I don't want to have too many UFO's going at once.
Anyway, I guess I'm still trying to adjust to my new schedule and trying to find a good balance. Just know I'm still here.

Monday's Meal

I love fish and this is a dish that never fails to satisfy.

Baked Tilapia

1/4 cup dijon mustard
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
4 tilapia fillets


Preheat oven to 375 degree. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Stir together the mustard and the hoisin sauce. Place panko bread crumbs in a shallow dish. Coat both sides of fish fillet with mustard mixture. Dredge both sides in fish fillets with bread crumbs. Place fillets on prepared baking sheet. Bake, uncovered, about 30 minutes or until fish is flaky and tender.

Friday's Fitness Wrapup

Well, holding steady here. However, as you can see from the amount of blogging I've been doing lately I haven't quite worked out my new schedule. I've only made it to the gym twice this week, and I did not get up early any of the other days and try and work out. I'm going to try again this week. I did look through the programing on exercise tv on demand to see what I might do. I think if I can get up and do a 30 min workout that would be a great start. There's quite a few offering on there. On the food front, not to bad. Although I'm somewhat addicted to McD's smoothies. I looked it up and it isn't too bad calorie wise I just don't think it's terribly nutritious. I'll have to work on that. I've slipped a bit with the food journaling so that will be a goal this upcoming week. Also I think I should start checking in on Sparkspeople again. It's a very motivating site. Anyway, I keep on keeping on. Have a healthy week!