Olive Cheese Bread

Here is Marjorie Rhodes' recipe from the My Favorite Things activity.

Olive Cheese Bread

14.5 oz can black olives, drained
6 oz jar pimiento-stuffed green olives, drained
2 green onions
1/4 lb butter, softened
1/2 c mayo (real mayo, no substitutions)
1 lb Monterey Jack cheese, grated
1 loaf crusty French bread

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Place the black olives on a cutting board. Chop them roughly until most of the large pieces are broken up.
Place the green olives on the cutting board. And give 'em a rough chop.
Slice the green onions, then chop them up roughly.
In a large bowl, combine the butter, mayo, cheese, olives, and green onions.
Stir until thoroughly combined. At this point, grabe the nearest cracker and take a taste. Repeat as needed.
Slice the French bread loaf in half lengthwise. Spread the olive-cheese mixture in an even layer on each half.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the cheese mixture is thoroughly melted and beginning to turn light brown and bubly. Cut into diagonal slices and serve immediately.

Prepare the olive/cheese mixture up to two days ahead of time. Store tightly covered in the fridge.
Or, spread the olive/cheese mixture on the bread and freeze, tightly wrapped, up to six months. Thaw before baking.

The cheese topping also makes a delicious spread for crackers.

Substitute drained, chopped artichoke hearts and grated Parmesan cheese for the black olives and Monterey Jack cheese.

Strawberry Orange Muffins

I told Heather I would share this recipe with her so I thought I could share it with all of you too! The recipe is from my Cooking Light cookbook and I make these a lot when strawberries are in season.
Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups halved strawberries
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 teaspoons grated orange rind
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
cooking spray
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 cup strawberry jam or preserves (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400
Combine first 4 ingredients in a blender or food processor, and process just until mixture is blended. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour, 1 1/4 cups sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add strawberry mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until mixture is moist. Spoon the batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle batter evenly with 2 teaspoons sugar. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove muffins from pan immediately. Serve muffins with jam, if desired.

Disappearing Marshmallows

Last night the kids made our dessert. It was a recipe from the Friend magazine Kitchen Krafts section. Very simple, but tasty and easy for kids to do. Sorry, I didn't take a picture!

April 2003
Disappearing-Marshmallow Rolls

16 large marshmallows
2 tubes (8oz) each) refrigerator crescent roll dough
Cube of margarine
½ c sugar
½ t cinnamon

Mix sugar and cinnamon. Melt butter. Coat the marshmallows with the melted butter, then roll them in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Enclose each marshmallow in a section of dough, pinching the dough to completely seal the marshmallow in. Bake the rolls as directed on the tube.

Susan's Cinnamon Rolls

This is my friend's recipe. I've had a lot of success with it. I like to roll the dough out really thin. They turn out more like "Cinnabon's" that way. Enjoy!

Susan's Cinnamon Rolls

(makes about 24)
3 T. yeast
1 c. warm water
1 t. sugar - dissolve, let proof, then add
2/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. melted (not hot) butter
2 c. warm milk
2 eggs
2 t. salt - then, with an electric mixer and a dough hook, add 1 c. flour at a time for the first 5 cups - after that, add the flour 1/2 c. at a time till a soft, slightly sticky dough forms (not wet) - do not overmix
- let rise till doubled (in a warm oven if you're in a hurry); punch down; rise again
- divide dough in half; roll out into rectangle with dough about 1/2" thick
- spread soft butter to edges, then sprinkle generously with brown sugar and cinnamon (optional raisins, walnuts)
- roll up and pinch the seam shut; cut with floss about 2" thick; place on greased sheet; let rise till doubled uncovered on counter
- bake 350 about 15 mins till golden (not browned); cool 10 mins, then glaze with:
1/2 c. melted butter
1/2 t. vanilla
1/4 c. evaporated milk
3 c. powdered sugar - whisk together to desired consistency over a warm burner

Orange Rolls

1 pkg active dry yeast

1 cup water

1 cup scalded milk

1/2 cup shortening

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

5-51/2 cups flour

2 beaten eggs

1/2 cup orange juice

2 T. grated orange peel

• In a small bowl, soften yeast in warm water.
• In a mixer blend scalded milk, sugar, shortening, salt; cool until lukewarm.
• Stir in 2 cups flour. Beat well. Add eggs, mix well. Stir in yeast mixture. Add orange juice, orange peel, and enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough.
• Let dough rest 10 minutes and then knead 5-10 minutes on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic.
• Place in lightly greased bowl, turning once. Cover with warm, damp cloth.
• Let rise until dough is double in bulk, 1-2 hrs.
• Roll into rectangular shape and spread *orange filling over the top. Roll up like a jelly roll, slice, and place individual rolls on a pan. Let rise for about 1 hour. Bake 12-15 minutes, 425 degrees. While warm, drizzle with glaze.

*Orange filling (make the filling while the dough is rising the first time in order to allow flavors to mingle)

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar (brown sugar is the best)

grated peel of one large orange.

**Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar.

1/4 cup hot water (I like using part orange juice for this)

1 tsp. butter

Blueberry Muffins

I just bought some yummy blueberries and made some of my favorite muffins. The recipe isn't from me and I LOVE them. They are from dianasdesserts.com. I guess the coarse sugar on top makes them irresistible. I don't always have the orange zest so sometimes that's out and I also make 11 muffins out of this instead of 12 so they're nice and big. So good! I also bake them for slightly less time that 20 minutes. But it's really an easy recipe. I finished them before my oven's pre-heat bell rang.

2 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 cup granulated sugar 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 beaten eggs 3/4 cup milk 1/2 cup (1 stick/4 oz./113g) melted butter (no substitutes) 1 tablespoon finely shredded orange peel 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed Coarse sugar (optional) (from Kathy: really not an option. You MUST have this on top! :))

Instructions: 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 C). Grease twelve 2 1/2 inch muffin pan cups. Set aside. 2. Stir together flour, the 3/4 cup sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Make a well in the center of dry mixture; set aside. 3. Combine eggs, milk, butter, and orange peel; add all at once to the dry mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy). Fold in blueberries. 4. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each almost full. If desired, sprinkle tops with coarse sugar. Bake in preheated oven 20 minutes or until golden. Cool in muffin cups on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups. Makes 12 muffins.

Source: Better Homes and Gardens

Submitted By: Erica

Date: May 11, 2005

Weird Pizzas but still yummy!

Last month, I made a few out-of-the-ordinary pizzas and I thought I'd share them with you along with the pizza dough recipe that is from Maria not me and it comes out perfect every time I make it! So I had to share it but Maria gets the credit! :)

This first pizza had grilled green onions and asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes with ricotta cheese. Very good and tasty. I love asparagus! The second one (no photo) had goat cheese, balsamic vinegar and caramelized onions. Different but still good and fun to try. Caramelizing onions is not like sauteing onions. I sliced five, yes five!, onions and put them in a medium heat pan with butter and a little oil. On medium heat, they just kept braking down and caramelizing but it does take long time. I also add a tablespoon of brown sugar for every onion. Anyway, it was tasty and interesting.

Okay, here's Maria's Bread sticks recipe that I use for a thick pizza crust in a cookie sheet.

Maria's Bread Stick

1 T. yeast

1 1/2 c. water

2 T. sugar

1/2 t. salt

3 - 3 1/2 c. flour

1/4 - 1/2 c. butter

Heat oven to 375. Dissolve yeast in water and add other ingredients. Kneed for 3 min. and let rest for 10 min. Melt butter on cookies sheet in the oven. Roll dough and cut into strips. Place on cookie sheet and roll in butter. Sprinkle with garlic and Parmesan. Let raise for 15-20 minutes and bake for 20 minutes.