Cabbie’s Cooking

My oldest sister, Janice, gave me this recipe.  They sound delicious, don’t they?

ORANGE ROLLS

1 Tablespoon yeast
1/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup milk
3 eggs
1 Tablespoon salt
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Dissolve the yeast in the water. Mix with other ingredients until it forms a ball. Let it rise for two hours. Divide into four parts. Roll each part out to 1/4 inch thick and cut into triangles.

Zest of one orange
3 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup butter

Mix the orange zest and sugar. Melt butter. Dip each rectangle into melted butter and then into the orange/sugar mix and roll up from the wide end first. Let rise. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 - 10 minutes.

This is my mother’s recipe, and these are quick and delicious!

BREAKFAST MUFFINS1 egg
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 cup milk
2 Tablespoons melted shortening (or vegetable oil)
2 cups sifted self-rising flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts OR 1 cup blueberries

Beat the egg. Add milk, shortening and sugar. Add the flour. Stir only until moistened. Fold in nuts or blueberries, if desired. Fill greased muffin cups 2/3 cull. Bake in hot oven (400 degrees) until lightly browned.

This is a recipe from my sister, Joan of Daddy’s Roses.  I haven’t had them in a long time, but I remember them being absolutely delicious.  When I make them, however, I always leave out the raisins.  I just don’t like raisins in cooked dishes.  If you also don’t care for raisins in muffins, you could substitute chopped dates or dried cranberries for a good option.

BEST EVER OATMEAL MUFFINS

1 cup quick cooking oats (uncooked)
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Combine oats and buttermilk. Let stand for one hour. Add egg, sugar and oil, stirring well. Combine other ingredients and add to the oats mixture. Stir just until moistened. Baked in greased muffin pans for 18 minutes at 400 degrees. Contains 120 calories each if you make 12 muffins (80 calories each if you make 18).

Yesterday my granddaughter told me about a going-away party her first grade class had for a student who is moving to Thailand (the family serves as missionaries) over spring break.  She said that they had oatmeal muffins for treats during the party. 

Have you ever heard someone mention a food, and suddenly you just REALLY start craving that food?  That’s how I felt about oatmeal muffin.  Up to that point I hadn’t thought about oatmeal muffins, but after she mentioned them, I knew I wanted to make some.  I immediately started looking for recipes.  Here’s one I found that included ingredients I already had on hand.  As soon as I got home, the grandgirls and I made a batch.  I really liked them.  They were moist, lightly sweet with a crunchy outside.

When my daughter came to pick up the girls, she tasted one and commented, “These taste healthy.”  You can make of that what you want.  They ARE healthy.  They’re sweetened with honey, the flour is whole wheat, they have skim milk, old fashioned oatmeal and two cups of fresh grated apples. 

The recipe makes a dozen muffins - and between the six of us (RT, me, daughter, son-in-law, grandgirls) we ate them all yesterday.  I plan to make these again and freeze them individually and grab one to eat for breakfast on my way to school on mornings when I’m running late.

Oatmeal Apple Muffins

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup old fashioned oatmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup skim milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup honey
2 cups shredded apples

Combine the flour, oatmeal, baking powder, soda, salt and cinnamon in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl mix the milk, oil, honey and shredded apple. Combine the ingredients and mix well. Spoon into muffin tins that have been sprayed with PAM - or you can use cupcake papers. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Yield: one dozen large muffins. Calories: approx. 190 per muffin with 5 grams fat.

Not long after RT and I first got married in 1969, someone gave me a recipe for Angel Biscuits.  I used to make them all the time because once you make the dough, you can keep it in the refrigerator for up to two weeks - using some of the dough to make fresh biscuits whenever you’d like.  They’re really closer to rolls than biscuits, and they’re delicious.  They’re so good that my mother, Ruthlace, included the recipe in her book titled Recipes, Rhymes and Reflections.  Here it is:

ANGEL BISCUITS

5 cups self-rising flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 cup shortening

3 pkgs. yeast (dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water)

2 cups buttermilk

Combine dry ingredients.  Cut in shortening. Stir in yeast and buttermilk.  Roll out and cut, as desired.  Bake in a hot oven (400 degrees)  Dough may be covered tightly and kept in the refrigerator for two weeks.

Here’s an easy recipe for Monkey Bread

MONKEY BREAD

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

2 cans refrigerated biscuit dough

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup butter, melted

Preheat over to 350.  Spray a small bundt pan with Pam.  You can use a loaf pan or cake pan instead of the bundt pan, if you prefer. 

Mix the sugar and cinnamon in a plastic food bag.

Separate the biscuits, and then cut each one into quarters.  Place the biscuit pieces in the bag with the sugar and cinnamon.  Shake to coat well.  Then place the coated biscuit pieces in the pan.

Mix the brown sugar and melted butter.  Pour over the biscuit pieces.

Bake for approx. 30 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool in pan for about 10 minutes.  Then invert onto a plate.  Serve warm.  You just pull apart however much you want to eat. Makes 6 servings.

This makes a great dish to take to a morning meeting.

Great recipe for a no-mess, individualized omelet.

Omelets in a Bag

For each omelet:  Crack 2 eggs into a quart-size Ziplock bag.  Shake to combine.  Add other ingredients as desired:  shredded cheese, chopped ham, onion, green pepper, tomato, hash browns, salsa.  Salt/pepper to taste. 

Each person prepares his/her bag with his/her favorite ingredients.  If you’re making several, you can write the person’s name on the outside of the bag with a permanent marker.

Shake each bag well.  Make sure to get the air out of the bag and zip it up.  Place the bags into rapidly boiling water for exactly 13 minutes. If it’s a large pot, you can cook 4-6 omelets at a time.

After 13 minutes, remove the bags carefully from the water, open the bags, and the omelets will roll out easily. 

I’ve tried these a couple times, and they’re really good.  Serve with some fresh fruit or pastry - and you’ve got a great breakfast.  It would be rather cool to do this with guests, too.

I got this recipe from my sister, Joan, and the biscuits are delicious.  If I have buttermilk on hand, I use that instead of regular milk.  The biscuits are good either way.  And they’re so easy.  There are just three ingredients, you can mix it with a spoon, and then the oil makes it where you can shape the dough into balls with your hands without it sticking to your fingers.  Easy, quick and delicious. 

Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits

2 cups sifted self-rising flour

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup milk (or buttermilk)

Combine the milk and oil.  Add the milk/oil mixture to the flour.  Stir until the flour is mixed in. 

Pinch off and shape biscuits into balls.  Flatten each ball of dough with your hand or the bottom of a glass.  You could roll out the dough on a floured board and cut the biscuits with a cookie/biscuit cutter, if you prefer.

Bake at 475 degrees for about 10 minutes.