Mommy Octopus

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Tasty Tuesday: Freezer Biscuits!

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I love making homemade biscuits, however with as busy as I am, I don’t have time to make fresh biscuits every morning.  To solve this problem, I’ll make a big batch of biscuits, freeze them, and then pull out what I need.  It helps prevent waste and overeating as well by just pulling out the number I need.  Here’s how to make your own freezer biscuits:

First, gather the following ingredients:

  • 5 cups self rising flour
  • 3 teaspoons sugar
  • 1 cup butter or shortening
  • 1 3/4 cup buttermilk or milk

Add everything into the bowl and stir well until the dough has formed.  If it seems too sticky, add in a little extra flour as needed.

Roll the dough out to about 1/2 inch and use a cup or a cookie cutter to form the biscuits.

Place the biscuits on a pan.  It’s okay to have them super close together since they will not be rising.  If you have more than one layer, be sure and place wax paper in between the layers so they do not stick together.

Immediately put the biscuits into the freezer, making sure that they stay flat.

After a few hours when they are frozen, remove them from the pan and place in a freezer safe bag and return the bag of biscuits to the freezer.

Pull biscuits from bag as needed and bake at 425 for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown on top.  Yum!  Give it a try and see what you think!

Tasty Tuesday: Let’s Make A Smoothie!

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Although it’s hard to imagine wanting a smoothie on this cool, crisp day here in the south, it makes for a quick, easy, and healthy snack!  Normally I’d be loving 66 degree weather but after months of 90 degree weather, I may have to go grab a winter coat! 🙂

On to smoothie making!

First gather up your ingredients.  I like to use Simply Orange Juice, Trader Joe’s Berry Medley, whatever yogurt we have on hand, and also a banana.  Don’t forget that there is a $1 off Simply Orange Juice coupon available!

Throw your ingredients in your blender, or in my case, I use the Magic Bullet.  I got this a couple months ago from some of my facebook fans recommendation.  I have been really pleased!  I purchased the Magic Bullet MBR-1701 17-Piece Express Mixing Set and we use it all the time!

Throw your ingredients in.  I have never really measured, but I use a half of a banana, a bit of the frozen fruit, couple scoops of yogurt, and then fill in the gaps with orange juice.  Make sure they you leave room at the top for everything to move around and it mixes.  Blend away and enjoy!

What do you like to put in your smoothies?

Tasty Tuesday: Make Your Own Granola!

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This past week, I’ve been struggling to find things that I can give my son.  Most boxes cereals have soy as an ingredient.  My son LOVES cereal and would eat it all day long if I’d let him.  After a very frustrating trip to the grocery store, and purchasing a tiny $4.99 box of granola, I decided to take matters in my own hands.  I thought it would be hard to make granola but it was surprisingly very easy!  I even had all the ingredients in my pantry!  Let’s make some granola!

Ingredients:

  • 4 Cups Rolled Oats
  • 3/4 cup pecans
  • 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup canola oil
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup raisins

First things first, grab your strongest kid and put them to work smashing the pecans!  I like to put the pecans in a baggie and then give my son a meat tenderizer to hammer them out.

While your kid is happily pounding away, bring the oil, honey, cinnamon, and brown sugar to a boil in a saucepan, stirring to make sure all ingredients are well dissolved and blended.  Remove from heat and add the vanilla extract.

Combine the oats and pecans in a large bowl and pour the brown sugar mixture over the oats and pecans.  Stir well to coat.

Pour out the oats on a pan in a single layer and cook for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.  Stir after 10 minutes.

Cool completely before adding the raisins.  Store in an airtight container.

Have you made granola before?  What’s your favorite recipe?

Tasty Tuesday: Make Your Own Sandwich Rolls

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Welcome to the new Mommy Octopus weekly feature: Tasty Tuesday!  I will be showing all of you different recipes that I make with my kids.  First up this week is making your own sandwich rolls from scratch.  I promise that these are easy to make, super yummy, and much better than anything you can buy in the store.  And SOOO soft in the middle!

I like to keep things simple and less messy, so I use my bread machine on the dough cycle to make the dough.  If you’re looking for a good bread machine, I highly recommend mine, the Breadman TR2500BC Ultimate Plus 2-Pound Stainless-Steel Convection Breadmaker.

Let’s gather the ingredients that we need:

  • 1 1/4 cup warm milk
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 2 tablespoons softened butter
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon yeast

Put the ingredients in your bread machine in order and then set for the dough cycle.

When the dough is ready, place it on a lightly floured surface and then roll it out to about 3/4 inch thick.  (My kids got a little carried away with the flour!)

Use a cookie cutter, or in our case, a large cup to cut your rolls.  It’s a great time to grab those kiddos with clean hands to come help.

Lay the rolls out on a greased cookie sheet, allowing room in between for the rolls to rise.

Cover and let rise for about an hour until they have doubled in size.

Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes or until a nice light brown.

Then ENJOY!  We used a few of them for Cheesesteak sandwiches yesterday.  So delish!

There you have it!  Give it a try and let me know what you think!

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