Sunday Randomness #3425 State Fair Entries 2023: Ribbon count

34 food entries-

 25 ribbons: 8 blue first place, 7 red second place, 9 white third place, and 1 pink fourth place

While it was fun, if not grueling at times, endeavoring to make so many food entries, I'm undecided if I will enter things in the fair next year or not.  We'll just have to see.  I am proud (and thankful to my friend!) for the sourdough start that I've kept going and made a number of loaves of bread along with some chocolate muffins and cinnamon rolls.

State Fair Entries 2023: The submissions

(pecan roll and bacon/cheddar cornmeal muffins not pictured)

 

Author 48: Appetizers from Good Housekeeping

(More cookbooks from the library.)

Sigh. We made the Mini Corn Dogs and the Soft Pretzels. We were not impressed with either recipe. The pretzels tasted strongly of baking soda on the outside and the corn dogs were crunchy inside and out. Maybe we should have tried a non-bread like appetizer.


You just don't know sometimes how a recipe will turn out. We'll keep trying. The kids have made some great cakes that I hope to feature in an upcoming post.

Caramel Pecan Rolls

Caramel Pecan Rolls made from scratch. That's right, folks! No canned biscuits here! No frozen bread dough! No pre-made caramel topping in a little tin! Jessica made these little morsels this last week and they were scrumptious! Of the original 24 there were only four left by the time evening fell and she had made them in the afternoon.

Sweet Potato Bread

The latest cooking assignment has involved Vitamin C. Jessica was assigned this nutrient and has already presented her report. The only thing left was to prepare a recipe that contained a fair amount of Vitamin C. Most people are aware that sweet potatoes contain lots of vitamin A. What people might not be aware of is the high vitamin C content. A 2/3 cup serving of canned yams contains 30% of the daily requirement of vitamin C. These yams (sweet potatoes) contain fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, some iron and some calcium. (At least according to the nutrient list on the can.)

So this last week she made these beautiful loaves of Sweet Potato Bread. The batter was really thick and I wasn't too sure about how much the bread would rise but they turned out beautifully and tasted like moist pumpkin bread even though it was canned sweet potatoes in place of the pumpkin. The pecans added a nice bit of crunch as well as a visually attractive addition.

On a side note, Jessica made this cute little turtle with green sugar on a cake for Sarah to share with her friends when they came over to play. They all made the cake together and Jessica did the turtle design on a whim.

Just Simple Cornbread

Jessica made cornbread for her cooking assignment. It turned out good but this particular recipe wasn't as sweet as some variations. It rose nicely and the taste was fine.

Blueberry Pound Cake

Blueberry Pound Cake-reminds me of something you'd find at a favorite friends home. Jessica made the pound cake and sauce for her cooking at home assignment last week.

Blueberry sauce to go with the pound cake.

Dark blue and purple delight.

The cake was soft and moist with a slightly crispy crust and the blueberries were evenly distributed through the cake. The sauce was thick and loaded with blueberries that were plump and not mushy.

Divine Dumplings

Dumplings in chicken soup-an example of great winter comfort food:

The five ingredients needed: flour, milk, oil, baking powder and salt.

The sticky biscuit dough.

Spooning the dumplings onto the boiling soup.

Mmmmm, puffy, fluffy dumplings that almost triple in size as they cook.

DUMPLINGS

1 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 TBSP vegetable oil
scant 1/2 cup milk

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, oil and milk in a medium bowl. Add more milk (up to 2 TBSP) if needed to make a slightly sticky biscuit-type dough like for drop biscuits. Drop spoonfuls of dough into the pot of boiling chicken soup, spacing evenly. Cover and cook for 15 minutes with no peeking. Dumplings should plump up and rise to the top. Use a fork to gently pry up the top of a dumpling-it should not be doughy underneath. Cook uncovered a few more minutes if needed. Serve immediately. Makes 4-6 dumplings depending on size.

One a penny, Two a penny, Hot Cross Buns

It's not Easter time but we wanted a warm comfort food that would help us to celebrate the Sabbath by reminding us of the Savior and His sacrifice. It also helped us to remember through the olfactory senses since the rolls smelled so wonderful with the cinnamon and raisins as they were baking. I'm glad I can enjoy the blessings of smell and taste with good food.

Our senses really do play a remarkable role in helping us to remember experiences in our lives. I am thankful for all my senses from hearing, tasting, smelling, seeing, touching and to the intangible senses (some suggest these as equilibrium and intuition-helping us to stay in balance and our natural moral anchor) that help me to feel the love of both my Heavenly Father and others. Do your senses help you to feel balance and joy in the world and the people around you?

Hot Cross Buns

Soak 3/4 cup raisins in 1 cup boiling water with 1 tsp vanilla. Let sit until ready to mix into dough. Combine and heat to 120-130 degrees F: 1 cup milk and 4 TBSP butter. Add 2 eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, 1 scant TBSP yeast (1 small pkg.) and 5 cups of flour and mix well, kneading to combine. Drain raisins, discarding vanilla water and add raisins to dough, kneading until dough is smooth and elastic. (About 5-10 minutes or just let the bread machine knead it for you-adding the raisins near the end of the mix cycle.) Allow to double in size in a covered bowl (about 1 hour). Punch down dough and divide into 18 pieces. Roll into balls and place in two 9-inch round greased baking pans or two 9-inch square greased baking pans. Cut a cross into the top of each roll and cover and let rise for about 30 minutes or until doubled. Beat together an egg wash of 2 Tbsp water and 1 egg yolk and lightly brush on top of rolls after they have risen. Bake at 375 F degrees for 17-20 minutes or until golden brown on all the tips of the rolls. Remove from pans and let cool. When cool, top with orange icing.

For orange icing: combine 4 tsp. orange juice with 1/4-1/2 tsp grated orange peel (juice and peel from 1 orange) and add in 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar. Fill cross marks on rolls with icing using a frosting bag or ziploc bag with corner snipped off. Makes 18 rolls.

Delicious Dutch-Oven Dishes (Dish #2)

CORNBREAD!



Thanks again to Byron Bills for the cornbread recipe. It was fantastic. As you can see, I browned (or rather blackened) the top a little too much but other than that (and making too much for the pan size) the cornbread was delicious. The recipe was for a 12" dutch oven and I cooked it in a 10" so some of the batter I made separately into muffins. I probably should have made a dozen muffins instead of 6 muffins because the cornbread was a tad moist (not doughy but just with a moister crumb) in the middle. We're just moving right along with our dutch oven cooking this year. By the way, at first our children thought it looked like yellow cake and were actually happier that it was corn bread. We're just not really cake fans although we do like cake occasionally. Keep looking for more dutch oven delights in the future!