Pocketbook Rolls

Note: The best part about this recipe is the fact that you can keep the dough in the refrigerator and roll out as you need them.

Pocketbook Rolls

Ingredients:
1 cup Crisco
1 cup hot water
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp salt
2 pkgs. yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
6 cups all purpose flour

Directions:
Melt Crisco in hot water. In a separate bowl, beat together sugar, eggs and salt. Add yeast dissolved in lukewarm water; mix well. Add flour. Knead together thoroughly. Allow to stand in refrigerator for 1 hour.

You can leave this in the refrigator overnight or as long as 5 days. Flour dough down and roll out to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut in 3 inch circles and fold in half. Put on baking sheet and baste with melted butter. Allow to rise until doubled in size.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 6 minutes or until golden brown. Recipe makes about 50 rolls.

For more great recipes, go and visit Lisa at Blessed with Grace. Bring a recipe with you!

Shrimp Scampi

Note: The only problem with this recipe is that there are never any leftovers!

Shrimp Scampi

Ingredients:

2 cup cooking oil

1 Tbsp. paprika

4 cloves garlic, pressed

juice from 1/2 lemon

salt

cayenne pepper

24 large shrimp

1/4 lb. garlic butter

12 oz. vermicelli, cooked

chopped chives

Directions:

Prepare marinade of oil, paprika, garlic, lemon juice, salt and cayenne. Marinate shrimp 6 to 8 hours. Drain and sate in garlic butter. Remove and keep hot. Saute cooked vermicelli in garlic butter. Serve mounds of vermicelli with shrimp. Sprinkle with chives.

The Bible.... Through the Eyes of a Child

A child was asked to write a book report on the entire Bible.

I wonder how often we take for granted that children understand what we are teaching???

Through the eyes of a child:

The Children's Bible in a Nutshell

In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness, and some gas. The Bible says, 'The Lord thy God is one, but I think He must be a lot older than that.

Anyway, God said, 'Give me a light!' and someone did.

Then God made the world.

He split the Adam and made Eve. Adam and Eve were naked, but they weren't embarrassed because mirrors hadn't been invented yet.

Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating one bad apple, so they were driven from the Garden of Eden.

Not sure what they were driven in though, because they didn't have cars.

Adam and Eve had a son, Cain, who hated his brother as long as he was Abel.

Pretty soon all of the early people died off, except for Methuselah, who lived to be like a million or something.

One of the next important people was Noah, who was a good guy, but one of his kids was kind of a Ham.

Noah built a large boat and put his family and some animals on it. He asked some other people to join him, but they said they would have to take a rain check.

After Noah came Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob was more famous than his brother, Esau, because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in exchange for some pot roast. Jacob had a son named Joseph who wore a really loud sports coat.

Another important Bible guy is Moses, whose real name was Charlton Heston. Moses led the Israel Lights out of Egypt and away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh's people. These plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable.

God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti. Then he gave them His Top Ten Commandments. These include: don't lie, cheat, smoke, dance, or covet your neighbor's stuff.

Oh, yeah, I just thought of one more: Humor thy father and thy mother.

One of Moses' best helpers was Joshua who was the first Bible guy to use spies. Joshua fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell over on the town.

After Joshua came David. He got to be king by killing a giant with a slingshot. He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 porcupines. My teacher says he was wise, but that doesn't sound very wise to me.

After Solomon there were a bunch of major league prophets. One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then barfed up on the shore. There were
also some minor league prophets, but I guess we don't have to worry about them.

After the Old Testament came the New Testament. Jesus is the star of The New. He was born in Bethlehem in a barn. (I wish I had been born in a barn too, because my mom is always saying to me, 'Close the door! Were you born in a barn?' It would be nice to say, 'As a matter of fact, I was.')

During His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Republicans. Jesus also had twelve opossums. The worst one was Judas Asparagus. Judas was so evil that they named a terrible vegetable after him. Jesus was a great man. He healed many leopards and even preached to some Germans on the Mount.

But the Republicans and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot. Pilot didn't stick up for Jesus. He just washed his hands instead.

Anyways, Jesus died for our sins, then came back to life again.

He went up to Heaven but will be back at the end of the Aluminum. His return is foretold in the book of Revolution.

Orange Juice Cake

Note: I saw this recipe a few weeks ago on My Sister's Cucina and decided to try it. My boys ate it up! It is a great breakfast cake. I used the Sister's picture of the cake because they used the pecans when baking and I didn't because that is the way my boys prefer it.

Orange Juice Cake

Ingredients:

Yellow Cake mix
Instant Vanilla Pudding (small box)
1/2 cup Oil
1 cup Orange Juice
4 Eggs
Chopped Pecans (about 1/2 cup, or more if you like)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together. Don't over-mix! Spray bundt cake pan. Sprinkle chopped pecans on the bottom of the pan. Pour cake mix evenly in bundt pan. Bake for 30-45 minutes. You know when it is done when it starts to pull away from the sides and the inside ring. While baking, make your glaze.

Glaze

Ingredients:
1 Stick Butter
1 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Orange Juice

Directions:
Combine butter, sugar and juice in small saucepan. Bring to a boil and turn off. When cake comes out of the oven, stir glaze well before spooning over hot cake so that the butter gets mixed back in. (When it sits the butter settles to the top.) The glaze will eventually seep through the cake giving it a juicey moistness all over. This is what your cake will look like after the glaze settles in. Let it sit for 1 hour before removing from your pan. To remove from pan, place your plate upside down over the bundt pan and flip.

Copycat Orange Julius

Note: When I was growing up, the MetroCenter Mall was THE place to go. As a teen, we used to like to walk around and part of cruising the mall was to grab an Orange Julius. We could do that because we had our hands free to hold a drink... we weren't texting anybody! Ha!

Copycat Orange Julius

Ingredients:
6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
10 - 12 ice cubes

Directions:
Combine everything except the ice in the blender. Blend for about 1-2 minutes. Add ice one cube at a time. Serve in chilled glasses. Yum.

Classic Dreamy Cheesecake

Note: Today is my sweet niece, Jonna's 17th birthday. She LOVES cheesecake. Enough said.

Classic Dreamy Cheesecake

For the filling:

3 (8oz) packages of Philadelphia cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tbsp good vanilla extract

3 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

For the crust:

about 1/2 a box of Nilla wafers

1 stick (1/2 cup)unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Make the crust: In a food processor, blend the Nilla wafers until finely ground. Add the rest of the ingredient for the crust. Pulse the food processor until all ingredients are fully incorporated and small clumps appear.

Pour the cookie mixture into a 9-inch spring form pan. Evenly spread the crumb mixture around the pan then, using a flat bottomed measuring cup or glass, firmly press down on the mixture working all the way around the pan and up the sides to create an evenly thick crust.

Bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes or until crust begins to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for half an hour before adding filling to the crust.

Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Make sure the highest rake is positioned in the middle of the oven.

While the crust is cooling, make the filling: Add the softened cream cheese to a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat the cream cheese with an electric beater or stand mixer at medium speed until nice and workable, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar and continue to beat at medium until fully creamed together, another 1-2 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and beat until thoroughly combined and smooth.

Once the crust has cooled, pour in the filling and spread evenly through out the crust using a rubber spatula.

Place the cheesecake into a large roasting pan. Add enough water to the roasting pan to go halfway up the side of the spring form pan to create a water bath , being careful not to pour water into the cheesecake itself! Bake the cheesecake at 325 degrees for about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours, until completely set.

Carefully remove the pan from the oven and the spring form pan from the roasting pan. Allow the cheesecake to cool on a wire rack for at least 1 hour. Transfer the cheesecake to the refrigerate and chill for at least 12 hours before serving.

Serve with your favorite topping. Enjoy!

Olive Hummus

Note: While the boys are in school and the hubs is at work, I like to have a lunch of something that they wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. Enter this recipe for olive hummus!


Olive Hummus


Ingredients:

1 can of garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

2 T. tahini (this is just a paste of sesame seeds)

2T. olive oil

2 T. lemon juice

1/2 C. pitted olives

pinch of salt

fresh ground pepper to taste



Directions:
Put all ingredients into a food processor and process until smooth, scraping the bowl down occasionally. The hummus can be thinned with water if necessary. All amounts can and should be adjusted to suit your own taste!

Serve drizzled with a bit of olive oil and a sprinkling of chopped olives, if desired. Serve with pita, crackers, corn chips or it can be used as a sandwich spread.