How To Make Your Weekend Amazing! aka Baked Vanilla Bean Donuts

Homemade donuts on the weekend are pretty special around my house.  I know it is probably easier to buy a box of donuts from the store but they don't have the same fresh taste as homemade.  The cake in this donut is so moist and slightly sweet.  The not too sweet taste might be why I prefer this donut recipe.

This is a tried and true recipe.  I have made this particular one about 5 or more times and each time they are perfect.  The ingredients for this recipe get dumped into one bowl which makes cleanup a breeze.  The cake is lightly brown but tender inside and they fall right out of the pan without sticking.

The glaze for this recipe is new to me but i have to say it is preferred to the others I have used in the past. This glaze recipe doesn't call for corn syrup which is a win in my book.

Confession: I hate to sift ingredients before mixing but I think that it is very important when making a glaze or thin icing. If I don't sift the powdered sugar I end up with little lumps and then my donuts don't look like they belong in a bakery case.

I am posting a photo of what I consider to be essential tools for this recipe.

I love my silicone tipped whisk, donut pan and my icing bags.  If you don't have piping bags for icing handy then you can use a large ziploc baggie and cut the tip off.  I find that this method is almost essential when placing the batter in the donut pan.

Ingredients:

Original recipe here

Servings: 12-14

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 24 minutes (12 minutes each batch)

Donut Batter

2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean scraped (optional but recommended)
2 eggs
3/4 milk
2 Tbsp butter, melted



Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Spray pan with baking spray or brush with melted butter to grease (quick painless release of the cake donut is what we want).
Melt the 2 tablespoons butter and set aside to cool. Once the butter is no longer hot, add all the ingredients to a bowl and stir.  Stir just until combined so that the cake remains soft.  Place the batter in a ziploc or a decorator bag, snip the tip and pipe the batter in the donut pan.  Only fill each circle of the pan 1/2 way. Bake for about 12 minutes (should be lightly golden) and then let sit in pan a few minutes before placing the donuts on the cooling rack to cool completely.

*If you don't have the vanilla bean I would still make this recipe.

Glaze:
Original recipe here
Servings: 12-14 donuts
Prep Time: 10 minutes

1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
3 Tbsp unsweet cocoa powder
2-4 Tbsp milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

Sift the powdered sugar and cocoa powder into a bowl with a wide rim.  Add 2 tablespoons of milk and vanilla.  Whisk to combine.  If the glaze is still thick add 1 tablespoon of milk at a time until glaze is thin and spreadable but not runny.

Dip each donut top in the glaze and give a twist as you pull up.  Place on foil or wax paper for at least 5 minutes while the glaze firms up.

These should be eaten within 2 days.  If covered for too long the glaze will soften.

Enjoy!!

Roasted Cabbage

My new favorite vegetable side dish is cabbage.  I actually saw the idea on Pinterest and once I realized how cheap cabbage was in the produce department at the grocery I decided to give it a try. I figured since the boys like brussel sprouts that the taste wouldn't be much different.  Too my surprise the roasted cabbage was so much better than brussel sprouts. The biggest difference was.....

Sweetness!

When the cabbage was roasted the inner layers were soft and sweet while the outer layers had a bit of the caramelized crunch you get when you roast almost any vegetable.

Tonight I paired my cabbage slices with some mini meatloaf.  Gavin thanked me tonight for making his favorite dinner ever tonight.  I think for an 8 year old I am doing pretty good if he eats all of this.

You do need a bit of cook time so this isn't a last minute dish but it is delicious.

Roasted Cabbage Slices
Servings: 4-6
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 40-45 minutes

Ingredients
1 medium head cabbage
2 Tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment.  Slice the cabbage into 6 slices. This should make each slice about 3/4-1 inch thick.  Line the cabbage slices in a single layer on the pan. Drizzle olive oil over the cabbage.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Bake for 40 minutes or until edges of cabbage begin to brown.

Barbara's Chicken

Sorry it has been so long since my last post but we were busy setting up the kids in separate rooms and then next thing I knew it was time for school to start.


I felt like over the past few weeks I have been cooking the same things over and over.  Most of my dinner were Tex Mex and I decided I needed to seek out some different recipes for the menu this week.  I had to do some digging to find this recipe card but I knew that this chicken needed to be made this week. This is one of the few recipes that I make and the kids will eat the mushrooms.  Not sure what makes the difference here but they eat every single bite!

What do I like about this recipe?
The flavor is wonderful
I like that the chicken breast is thinner but comes out moist and delicious
Onions and mushrooms are a great combination


I need to give credit to Jon's mom for this recipe.  We were in Fort Wayne visiting and she made this for a dinner one night.  I loved the flavor so much that I asked her to write down the recipe on an old fashioned recipe card. I have of course made some changes to her original recipe but not much. My changes were only for the fact that the ingredients below are what we are more likely to have on hand.

Barbara's Chicken

Adapted from a recipe by Jon's mom, Barbara Stedge
Serves: 4
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:
4 chicken breast (thin boneless, approx. 1 lb)
1 Tablespoon butter
8 oz. sliced portabella mushrooms
1/2 small onion, rough chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup broth (chicken or veggie)
splash of red wine vinegar
*1 cup shredded mozzarella, optional
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a 1 1/2 quart baking dish.
Season your chicken breast with salt and pepper.  Place your butter in a skillet on medium heat until melted. Swirl the pan to make sure the butter is distributed. Arrange the chicken in a single layer in the skillet and cook turning once until both sides are brown.  Spray your baking pan (I used a 1 1/2 quart ceramic baking dish) and place the chicken breast in a single layer in the pan.  Set aside while you prepare the rest of the dish.  Place the onions and the mushrooms in the same skillet that you cooked the chicken.  Add the garlic and a bit more salt/pepper to taste. Cook for about 3-4 minutes until the onions begin to soften.  Pour in your 1/2 cup broth, vinegar and cook a few more minutes to distribute the flavors.
Pour the mushroom and onion broth over the chicken.  Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes at 375 degrees.

*If you plan to add the shredded mozzarella, take the pan out after 10 minutes, sprinkle the cheese, cover and bake an additional 15 minutes.

I always say to add salt to taste along with the pepper but to tell you the truth I hardly ever add salt to anything. We prefer to use pepper and other spices/seasonings.

Enjoy!!