Ingredients  

• 10 cups flour (more or less)
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 packages active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 cup margarine
• 3 1/2-4 cups lukewarm water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons shortening

Instructions

1. Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup of the lukewarm water with 1/2 tsp sugar added, let stand for 5 minutes or until doubled in size. Place in large bowl, add enough flour to make a batter, cover with a cloth and blanket, and let stand until it forms bubbles and looks lumpy. Add remaining ingredients, mix well and knead for about 10 minutes or until smooth. Add more flour if dough is too soft. Cover with the cloth and blanket and let stand in warm place until doubled in size. On floured board, using about 1/3 cup dough for each roll, shape into round balls.
2. Let shaped rolls rest on a cloth. After all rolls are shaped, beginning with first shaped rolls, flatten each with palm of hand, making an indent in the middle with the side of your hand, and fold in half.
3. Lay each on a cloth with open side down. 
4. Let rolls rest for 5 minutes.
5. Place rolls on baking sheet with open side up, and brush with milk.
6. Bake in preheated 500F oven for 10-15 minutes.

Ingredients

• 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
• 1 1/3 cups warm water 110*
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• 2 tablespoons cornmeal
•  

Instructions

1. Place flour, brown sugar, warm water, salt, olive oil and yeast in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.
2. Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Form dough into two loaves. Place the loaves seam side down on a cutting board generously sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover the loaves with a damp cloth and let rise, until doubled in volume about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
3. In a small bowl, beat together egg and 1 tablespoon water. Brush the risen loaves with egg mixture. Make a single long, quick cut down the center of the loaves with a sharp knife. Gently shake the cutting board to make sure that the loaves are not sticking. If they stick, use a spatula or pastry knife to loosen. Slide the loaves onto a baking sheet with one quick but careful motion.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 onion, minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 6 potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 quarts cold water
• 6 ounces Chorizo sausage, thinly sliced
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1 Collard Greens, rinsed and julienned

Ingredients

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook onion and garlic in 3 tablespoons olive oil for 3 minutes. Stir in potatoes and cook, stirring constantly, 3 minutes more. Pour in water, bring to a boil, and let boil gently for 20 minutes, until potatoes are mushy.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium-low heat, cook Chorizo sausage until it has released most of its fat, 10 minutes. Drain.
3. Mash potatoes or puree the potato mixture with a blender or food processor. Stir the sausage, salt and pepper into the soup and return to medium heat. Cover and simmer 5 minutes.
4. Just before serving, stir Collard Greens into soup and simmer, 5 minutes, until Collard Greens are tender and jade green. Stir in the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and serve at once

Ingredients

• 1/2 Onion
• 2 Garlic Teeth
• Tbsp Oil
• Chorizo
• 2 Cups of Water
• Chickon Stock
• 1 bag Peas
• Bay Leaf

Instructions

Sautee onions until they are brown add chorizo and sautee for until they are golden. Add water and bay leaf, simmer for 10 minutes then add frozen peas. Cook until peas are done then add eggs.

Makes 7 1/2 cups batter, enough for two full 8″ rounds or one 9×13″ sheet.

Ingredients

• 18.25 oz Pillsbury or Betty Crocker White or Vanilla cake mix (this is approx. 1 box + 3/4 cup cake mix)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup + 2 tbsp cake flour (NOT all-purpose flour)
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup melted butter (lightly salted)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or almond extract (optional)

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, put water, extract (if using), eggs, melted butter and sour cream. Mix well with paddle attachment.
2. Add cake mix, sugar, cake flour, and salt.
3. Mix with paddle attachment at medium speed for approximately 2 minutes, or until most lumps are worked out. It is not necessary to work out all the lumps.
4. Pour into prepared pans and bake at 325 until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a crumb or two clinging to it.
5. Cool for 7-10 minutes in pan, then turn out onto cooling rack. If you experience problems with sticking, you may wish to line your baking pans with parchment paper.

This White Minestrone Soup is a bowl of comfort on a cold winter day. Serve the soup with crusty bread and dinner is served!

If you’re not a fan of turnips, you can substitute with squash or add more carrots.

If serving the soup the next day and you find the soup has thickened, simply add a little boiling water to thin it out.

Ingredients

• 1 large onion (finely chopped)
• 2 stalks celery (finely chopped)
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 large carrots (diced)
• 1 small 2 inch piece of presunto (Portuguese prosciutto) or pancetta
• 1 large turnip (chopped)
• 4 cups of chicken broth 
• 4 cups of water or more
• 2 cups cabbage (finely shredded)
• 1 – 28 ounce can white cannelloni beans 
• 8 ounces of elbow macaroni
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon parsley (finely minced)
• Olive oil for garnish

Preparation

1. In a heavy soup pan, saute the onion, celery, presunto and bay leaf in the olive oil for a few minutes for the flavors to incorporate.
2. Add the turnip, water, broth and salt. Let come to a boil and cook for about 15 – 20 minutes on medium heat until the turnip is tender.
3. Puree the soup with an immersion blender to your desired consistency. Add the pasta and carrots and cook for 10 minutes stirring once in a while as the soup thickens. Add the beans and let cook for 10 minutes stirring once in a while.
4. In a separate small pan cook the shredded cabbage in water for about 5  minutes until slightly tender but not overcooked.
5. Add the cabbage, parsley and pepper to the soup, stir well and taste for saltiness. Add more salt and pepper if desired.
6. Pour soup into bowls and garnish with a little olive oil.

Serves: Makes about 2, 10″ rounds in 3″ deep pans OR 1, 10″ and 1, 12″ round in 2″ deep pans

The only white (vanilla) cake recipe I’ll use, now, as it’s moist, dense, carves well, and is RIDICULOUSLY delicious! (Works great for cupcakes, too!) Just leave out the almond extract and substitute it for more vanilla if you want this to be a delicious vanilla cake! *Disclaimer- This recipe STARTS with a box, but it is the added ingredients that makes it so great. I have never had a problem using such recipes, if they taste delicious and work well with my designs. Just as with my chocolate cake recipe, I’ve tested out SEVERAL scratch vanilla cakes, and not one of them could beat this recipe in taste and workability. Hence, it is my favorite.

Ingredients

• 2 boxes of white cake mix (15.5 oz or 16.5 oz boxed both work fine)
• 2 cups flour (all purpose)
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1½ tsp salt
• 2⅔ cup water
• 4 Tab oil (canola or vegetable)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp almond extract (or you can just change this to more vanilla extract if you want to leave out the almond)
• 2 cups sour cream
• 8 egg whites (separate the yolk from the whites… yolks not needed)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325, and prepare your cake pans.
2. Mix first 4 (dry) ingredients together with a whisk, in a large bowl.
3. Add remaining ingredients and beat on low for 2 minutes. (I use beater blades in my Kitchen Aid. They’re perfect.)
4. Pour into greased and floured (or sprayed with “Pam”, the baking kind with flour in the ingredients) pans, about ¾ full.
5. Bake @325 for about an hour or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. (Start checking with a toothpick at about 50 minutes when using 3″ deep pans… at about 40 minutes when using 2″ deep pans.

Yield: 16 cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup (225 grams) granulated sugar
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 3/4 cups (175 grams) cake flour, not self-rising
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup (57 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup (75 grams) full-fat sour cream
• 1/4 cup canola oil or vegetable oil (60 ml)
• 1 tablespoon pure (not imitation) vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup (160 ml) whole milk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C).
2. In a small bowl, combine sugar and seeds from the vanilla bean. (For those of you who are new to using vanilla beans, check out this video to learn how to get the seeds out of the bean.)
3. Using the back of a spoon, move around the bowl and apply pressure to break up any clumps of seeds and to better infuse the vanilla flavor into the sugar. Set aside.
4. In a medium-sized mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, mix together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
5. Add the vanilla bean sugar and mix until well combined.
6. Add butter and mix on medium-low speed for three minutes. Because there is so little butter, you’ll end up with a very fine crumb texture.
7. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, oil, and vanilla extract until smooth.
8. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined.
9. Slowly add milk and mix on low speed until just combined. The batter will be liquid. (Don’t worry, you didn’t do anything wrong. It’s supposed to be that way.)
10. Fill cupcake liners just over 1/2 full.
11. Bake for 14 minutes and then test to see if they are done. They are done when a toothpick comes out without wet batter stuck to it. The cupcakes should appear white with specks of vanilla bean. They should not turn a golden brown. If they are not done, test again in two minutes. If they are still not done, test again in another two minutes.
12. When the cupcakes are done, remove them immediately from the tins and leave them on a cooling rack (or just on your counter if you don’t own a cooling rack) to cool.

Notes