What do you do when you're in the middle of baking and suddenly realize there are no eggs in the house? Substitute something else you do have, of course! I saw these Egg Substitutions on Facebook and thought this list might come in handy someday. So I'm sharing.
Here's a great list of handy baking substitutions for those times when you're in the middle of a recipe and realize you're out of an essential ingredient. Chances are you have something in your pantry that can be substituted.
I made this Oatmeal Sourdough bread once before, using 1 cup of whole wheat flour, and I really enjoyed it. It was really good in my French Toast Casserole, too. Yesterday I made it again, with a few adjustments:
How would you like to win some LeCreuset baking dishes? You could win a 9-inch Square Baking Dish and 5-inch baking dish just by entering over at Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms. I already have a lot of baking dishes, but I wouldn't mind winning these. They look really nice!
Giveaway ends April 21st at 9pm EST, so get over there and enter now!
Last time I was in the grocery store, I noticed some figs and dates in the produce/bulk area. I don't usually buy anything like that, but decided to get some dates. Later I wondered why I chose the dates, since I had been looking at fig bars in the last store but decided not to get them. I could have tried making my own. But, I got dates, so today I went looking for recipes for date bars. I ended up choosing this one. They look and smell wonderful, though I haven't tasted them yet.
The repairman called this afternoon and said the part for the stove was in, and he had time to come right out and install it. So he came, installed it, and my oven works now! I turn the oven on, and there's heat! The bottom element turns orange like it's supposed to. This makes me very happy!!
I had to use it, so I made fish sticks and baked potatoes for dinner. Not real exciting, except that my oven works!
Tomorrow I am going to have to bake something for real - bread? muffins? cookies? What do you think?
A couple weeks ago my oven started acting up. It just didn't seem to be heating properly. I put dinner in the oven one night and walked away. About an hour later, I got back into the kitchen, figured dinner should be hot and ready to eat - and the oven was cold! I turned it off and turned it back on, and it seemed to work OK then, but dinner was way behind schedule. After that, sometimes it would work and sometimes not, but I'm not sure it ever got up to the correct temperature. Then this week I noticed that the bottom element wasn't heating at all. I would say you don't realize how much you use your oven until it doesn't work, but that's not true. I know I use it. A lot. It has to be fixed.
So, I started calling about having someone come and check it, and hopefully get it fixed. It's really hard to get an idea of how much it's going to cost for something like this, but it seems like they're all pretty much the same, so I finally scheduled one to come out and look at it. We were thinking the element just went out, and we'd have to replace that. Except that when he got here, he tested the element, and it tested just fine. So he started testing things only to find out that it's the computer board that has the problem, or at least the part of the board that controls the bake element. That part he did not have with him or know how much it would cost, or even if it was still available since my stove is about 12 years old, so he had to get back to me on that.
Well, he called back today, and the part is over $150. Together with the labor to install it, it will cost us at least $200 to get it fixed - in addition to the money we already paid for him to come out yesterday and check it. My first thought was, "Is it really worth putting the money into fixing a 12 year old stove?" Or would it be better to put that money toward buying a new stove? I didn't actually ask the question, but Dave, the owner/repairman said that he would recommend fixing our stove because it's in good shape, and the new ones aren't built to last like this. Jeffrey stopped at an appliance store on the way home from work yesterday, and the lady at the store had told him the exact same thing. Besides that, even if a new one would probably last as well and as long, we certainly can't buy one for anywhere near $200.
So I talked to Jeffrey and called Dave back and told him to go ahead and order the part, and he'll call me when it comes in to schedule a time to come out and install it. He said it shouldn't take too long to get it. And then I'll be able to bake again!
As soon as I saw this recipe, I just knew I had to make these:
Pumpkin Oat Muffins
INGREDIENTS:
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin or line with paper baking cups.
Combine flour, 1/2 cup oats, nuts, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Beat pumpkin, honey, apple juice, eggs and vegetable oil in medium bowl. Add to flour mixture; stir just until blended. Spoon into prepared muffin cups, filling 3/4 full. Sprinkle the 2 tablespoons oats evenly over the tops of the batter.
Bake for 23-27 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Serve warm.
Source: MomCooks
I recently got a dehydrator and decided to try it out this week. My friend Peggy, who picked the dehydrator up for me, had bought some cranberries that she was going to try drying for me. Since I brought the dehydrator home before she had a chance to dry the cranberries, she sent those, too. So I decided to do the cranberries, and I threw some apples in there too, since the settings were the same. The directions said to wash the cranberries and dry them whole, slice the apples and soak them in lemon juice for 2 minutes before putting them in. Cranberries were supposed to take 18 hours, and apples 23.
Well, the apples got done, but the cranberries didn't. So, I looked it up on the Internet and found this:
Dried Cranberries
Servings: 12 ounces
Ingredients:
1 (12 oz.) bag of cranberries
2 quarts boiling water
1/4 cup sugar or corn syrup
Method:
In a bowl, pour boiling water over the cranberries or submerge them in a pot of boiling water with the heat turned off. Let them sit in the water until the skin pops. Do not let the berries boil or the flesh will turn mushy. Drain. If desired, coat the berries with either a light corn syrup or granulated sugar. Transfer the berries to a cooking sheet and place them in a freezer for 2 hours. Freezing the berries helps in breaking down the cell structure promoting faster drying. Put the berries on a mesh sheet in the dehydrator and dry for 10 to 16 hours, depending on the make of the dehydrator, until chewy and with no pockets of moisture.
Another method of drying is to turn on the oven for 10 minutes at 350 F. Then place the cranberries on a cookie sheet in the oven, turn off the oven, and let them sit overnight.
Store dried cranberries in the freezer. Keep in mind that dried cranberries can be used in place of raisins in recipes!
Source: Mary Bell 's "Complete Dehydrator Cookbook"
We always had a huge garden when I was growing up, and that included a lot of zucchini. One of our favorite zucchini desserts was this chocolate cake:
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One of the favorites at our house. 
It started one day when Jeffrey brought home a couple bags of (cheap) overripe bananas, and I had to find something to do with them.
I saw these this morning on Good Morning America, and thought they looked really good.
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Makes one 1½-pound loaf.
Time: About 1½ hours, plus 14 to 20 hours' rising
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting ¼ teaspoon instant yeast 1¼ teaspoons salt Corn meal or wheat bran, as needed
In a large bowl, combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
Image by fuzuoko via FlickrAt least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.
Makes 1 loaf.
Time: 2 to 3 hours.
3 tablespoons olive oil, plus additional for oiling the pan and drizzling the top of the dough 1½ cups (12 oz) warm water1 tablespoon instant yeast or 4 teaspoons (2 packets) active dry yeast 1¼ teaspoons salt 3¼ cups King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour Italian seasoning or dried herbs of your choice, for topping
Oil well a 9- x 2-inch-deep round or a 9- x 13-inch rectangular pan.
Combine the water with the yeast in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the oil, salt and flour and beat on high speed for 60 seconds. Scoop the sticky batter into the prepared pan, cover the pan with a dry towel and let it rise at room temperature until it becomes puffy, 60 minutes for instant yeast or 90 minutes for active dry yeast.
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Drizzle dough lightly with olive oil, and sprinkle with Italian seasoning. Bake the bread until it is golden brown, 35 to 45 minutes (depending on which size pan you put it in). Remove from oven, let stand 5 minutes, then turn it out of the pan onto a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Recipe courtesy of King Arthur Flour
many recipes in the world that there is just no excuse for using one twice if it's not something you really enjoy. Now, whether the rest of the family enjoys them or not is another story, but I try to add special notes about who likes what. 
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