Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits

from Top Secret Recipes


This is the best recipe I've tried for these biscuits. They are really quick and easy to make as well.

2 ½ c Bisquick Baking Mix
½ stick cold butter
1 heaping cup grated cheddar cheese
¾ c cold whole milk
¼ tsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp butter
¼ tsp dried parsley flakes
½ tsp garlic powder
Pinch of salt

Heat oven to 400.
Combine ½ stick butter and Bisquick until pea sized chunks form. Add milk, cheese, and ¼ tsp garlic powder and mix by hand. Do not over mix.
Drop by ¼ c portions onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 15-17 minutes until tops start to turn light brown.
Remove from oven. In a bowl, melt 2 Tbsp butter. Stir in ½ tsp garlic powder, parsley, and salt. Brush on top using all of the butter.

Marie Callender's Famous Golden Corn Bread

This cornbread is sweet and dense, with a cake-like quality.

1 1/4 c. flour
3/4 c. corn meal
2 tsp. baking powder
1/3 c. sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
1 1/4 c. milk
1/4 c. shortening
1 egg

Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Add milk, shortening, and egg. Mix only until all the ingredients are well combined. Pour batter into a greased 8 X 8 inch pan. Bake at 400 ° F for 25 to 30 minutes until top is golden brown.

HONEY BUTTER
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/3 c. honey

Use a mixer on high speed to whip together until smooth and fluffy.

Recipe from A Treasury of Top Secret Recipes.

Bread Bowls (Soup Bowls)

from allrecipes

You can easily half this recipe, and mold into smaller bowls. These are great and turn out perfectly every time.

2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (110 degrees to 115 degrees)
1 cup warm milk (110 to 115 degrees F)
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons salt
6 cups all-purpose flour
Cornmeal

In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water.
Add the milk, shortening, sugar, eggs, salt and 2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into eight pieces; shape each into a ball. Grease two baking sheets and sprinkle with cornmeal. Place four balls 3 in. apart on each prepared pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

Whole wheat dinner rolls

I hesitate to post this because it is my father-in-laws recipe that has been passed down through several generations, but after some deliberation, I decided this recipe needed to be shared. I have honestly never had a better roll than this, and it just happens to be whole wheat. They are so soft and slightly gooey - something you don't really find with whole wheat rolls.

3 packages of yeast (if you're using jarred, 1 pkg = 2 1/4 t)
1 c warm (not hot, it will kill the yeast) water
1/8 c sugar
3 c warm milk
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1c sugar
4t salt
2 squares oleo, melted (or 1c other fat, like shortening or butter)
8-10 c flour

Mix yeast, water, and sugar together and let sit for 10 minutes, or until bubbly.
Mix in everything else except flour.
Add 7 c flour and mix well. Mix in as much more flour as needed to make a dough that just barely sticks to your finger. Cover and let rise, about 20 minutes. Punch down, cover and let rise again. repeat 2 more times, until it has risen for 1 hr. Roll out and use a pizza cutter or knife to cut them into square rolls. Dip them in butter in put them in a pan. Let them rise while you preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Cook for 10-15 minutes, and brush with butter when cooked.

Green Bean Casserole

This is fresh, people. No canned veggies or condensed soup here. And it's the bomb.

3 lbs green beans, strung and snapped
2T unsalted butter
2T fresh thyme
2T fresh chives
2T olive oil
2 pounds mixed mushrooms (I use button, shitake, cremini, and portobello, but you can really use whatever you like)
2 shallots, sliced
1c heavy cream
salt and pepper

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add some salt and the green beans. If you like your green beans crisp, cook them for about 5 minutes, as they will cook more in the oven. If you like them more tender, cook for 8-10 minutes. Drain them and set aside.
Melt the butter and olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and shallots, and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the shallots are tender and the mushrooms have released all their liquid. Pour in the cream, thyme, and chives, and cook for 5 more minutes. Add the green beans and stir well. Season to taste. Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish and top with desired topping (choices listed below). Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly.

*Toppings*

Croutons:
1 loaf crusty Italian bread
1T fresh chives
1T fresh thyme leaves
1T fresh rosemary
2T parmesan cheese
3T olive oil

Cube bread (2" cubes). Put them in a bowl with all the ingredients and mix well. Spread onto a baking sheet and bake at 375 until it turns just golden (about 10 min). If using the croutons, sprinkle a little more parmesan cheese on top of everything before baking.

Fried onion strings:
1 large onion
1 egg plus dash of milk
1c flour
1t garlic powder
1t season salt
1t salt
1/2 t pepper
peanut oil or other frying oil

Mix egg and milk to make a batter coating.
Mix flour, garlic powder, season salt, salt, and pepper in a bowl.
Heat oil to 350 degrees. Thinly slice your onion into rings. In batches, dip in egg mixture and lift out, letting excess egg drip off. Toss in the flour mixture until coated. Shake off excess and fry in hot oil, about 3 minutes, until golden. Place on paper towels to drain and repeat with remaining onions. Use enough to coat the casserole. You don't need to add these until the last 5 or 10 minutes of baking time. Place unused onion strings in an airtight container. Will keep for about 2 weeks. Longer if stored in the fridge.

Or you can just use a can of French's fried onions if you want to cut down on your work.

*I use the homemade onion strings - they're a lot easier than they sound, and they are amazing!!!

Cornbread stuffing

I am from the South, and so most of my culinary creations have some sort of southern flair. This stuffing is a staple for us in my family. It's a true southern stuffing, but is sure to please even the Yankees at the table (I should know, all my in-laws are from Utah!). There are some variations you can use for this recipe, so I'll give the basic recipe, and then list the add ons below.

This recipe is for a 12 pound Turkey, and it makes about 9 c. Or if you're like me and don't stuff the turkey, it will make one 9x13 and one 8x8 casserole dish of stuffing.

1 1/2 c chopped onion
3 c chopped celery
2c butter
9 c SOFT bread cubes (do not dry them like you would for traditional stuffing)
9 c cubed corn bread (this is meant to be made with southern style corn bread - NOT sweet corn "cake" like all y'all yankees like to make! :) So reduce the sugar in your cornbread to 2 T (for a recipe originally calling for 1/4 c) to make this more authentic.)
2t salt
3t crushed sage
2t dried thyme
1 t pepper

Cook and stir onions, celery, and butter till opaque. Mix all ingredients until well coated.

If cooking inside the bird, DO NOT PACK the turkey cavity. Place loosely in the bird and use the remainder in a small casserole dish.

If you are cooking this on the side in a casserole dish, you can either wait until the turkey is completely cooked and then dump the juices into the stuffing before cooking, or you can melt some butter and mix it with some chicken broth and drizzle that on the top of your casserole. Either way, you want enough juices mixed in to your stuffing so as not to let it dry out while baking.


*variations*
Sausage stuffing:
cook some breakfast sausage, andouille sausage (for a cajun flair), or smoked sausage with the onions and celery. Reduce the bread by 1c and omit salt.


Giblet stuffing:
Reserve the neck, giblets, and liver from your turkey when you are cleaning out your bird. Boil the neck, liver and giblets for several hours until tender. Shred the meat from the neck and finely chop the giblets and liver. Add to your mixture.
This is probably the most authentically southern, but grosses most people out.

Macaroni Grill Bread

1 Tbs. Dry Yeast
1 Tbs. Sugar
1 c. warm water (105 - 115 degrees)
2 1/2 c. white flour
1 t. salt
2 Tbs. fresh rosemary, chopped
1 Tbs. canola oil, peanut oil or olive oil
nonstick cooking spray
2 T. butter

Place yeast, sugar and water in large bowl and allow mixture to become bubbly. Mix in 2 cups of flour and the salt. Add one tablespoon of the fresh chopped rosemary. Knead for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Add flour if necessary.

Put dough in an oiled bowl and cover with a towel. Let dough rise in a warm place for one hour until doubled.

Punch down dough and divide in half. Let dough rest about 5 – 10 minutes. Spray baking pan with cooking spray. Shape the dough into 2 small rounded oval loaves. Melt margarine or butter. Brush over the top of the loaves. Sprinkle remaining 1 Tablespoon of rosemary over the loaves and press lightly into the surface. Let loaves rise again until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Lightly sprinkle course salt over the loaves. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until lightly browned.

I received this recipe from my dear friend, Tiffany (with whom I've eaten many, many loaves of MG bread), but it is originally from Recipe Circus.

Of course this bread is incredible on its own, but I also like to use it to make Italian-herbed chicken avocado sandwiches. A-mazing!

Instead of making two loaves, make four, as shown below.

Then slice two raw chicken breasts depth wise, to make four flat chicken breasts. A bread knife works well for this. Place them in a deep plate filled with milk.

In another deep plate, make a breading by mixing flour, grated Parmesan (you can use fresh and the Kraft powder stuff--it's best with both, but if I don't have fresh, I'll just use the powder), thyme, rosemary, basil, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, and pretty much any other Italian seasoning you like. Sorry I don't have measurements; I just put a bunch of everything in, but more of what I like best (basil, thyme, and garlic).

Heat a frying pan on low with some olive oil. Dip, and thoroughly coat, chicken breasts with breading mixture. Place in frying pan in heated oil. Cook on both sides, only once each side, for a few minutes until done all the way through.

Place on bread with mayonnaise, lettuce, avocado, and anything else you like on your chicken sandwich. Enjoy!

Pizza Dough

sumbitted by Jamie

1 Tbsp yeast
1 1/3 c warm water
1 Tbsp sugar
3 ½ c flour
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp oil

Combine first three ingredients, let sit 5 minutes.
Mix remaining ingredients well and knead 10 minutes. Let rise 1 - 1 ½ hours, covered. Preheat oven to 475.
Sprinkle cornmeal on a pizza stone, shape dough onto stone. Top as desired, let sit 5 minutes.
Bake about 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

Cheese Rolls

(Pao de Queijo)
From Café Brazil by Michael Bateman

Makes 12


1 2/3 cups tapioca flour
4 tablespoons sunflower oil
generous pinch of sea salt
1 free-range egg, beaten
6 tablespoons plain yogurt
½ cup freshly grated hard cheese, preferably Parmesan


1. Preheat oven to 450ºF

2. Sift the tapioca flour into a bowl. In a saucepan, combine the oil and salt with 6 tablespoons water and bring to a boil. Slowly pour onto the tapioca, stirring it to a stiff dough with a wooden spoon.

3. When the dough has cooled slightly, stir in the egg, then the yogurt and, finally, the cheese.

4. Grease your hands with an oily piece of paper towel, then form the dough into 12 balls. Arrange them on a nonstick baking sheet. Put into the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 350ºF. Bake for 25-30 minutes. You should be able to tell that the rolls are done by the appetizing smell, but you can test for doneness by inserting a skewer –if it comes out clean they are ready. Cool on a wire rack.

Best when served right out of the oven. Not as good when reheated later.

Auntie Anne's Pretzels

from Even More Top Secret Recipes
These were gone in less than 24 hours, then Eric wanted to make them again the next day. We really liked them!



Pretzels:
1 ¼ c warm water
1 Tbsp + ¼ tsp yeast
3 ¾ c flour
¾ c + 2 Tbsp powdered sugar
1 ½ tsp salt
2 tsp vegetable oil

Bath:
4 c warm water
½ c baking soda

Topping:
¼ c butter, melted

Salted Pretzels:
Kosher or pretzel salt
Cinnamon + Sugar:
½ c sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Dissolve yeast in warm water in small bowl and let sit a few minutes.

Combine flour, powdered sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add water/yeast and vegetable oil, stir. Knead dough 5 minutes on a lightly floured surface or in mixer. Dough will be smooth when ready. Place into a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and let sit in a warm place about 45 minutes or until doubled in size. When dough has risen, preheat oven to 425.

Make a bath for pretzels by combining baking soda and warm water and stir until soda is mostly dissolved.

Divide dough into 8 equal portions. Roll or stretch each portion until 3’ long. Pick up dough parallel to your body and twist the very ends around each other. Lay dough down with loop nearest you, fold ends down and pinch to seal (should be shaped like a pretzel).
Holding pinched ends, dip each pretzel into bath then move to a paper towel to blot excess liquid.
Arrange pretzels on 2 sprayed baking sheet. Sprinkle any pretzels with salt as desired (do not coat with cinnamon/sugar yet if baking those).
Bake one sheet at a time for 8 minutes, spinning each sheet halfway around, halfway through baking time. Bake until golden brown.
Remove from oven and cool a couple minutes, then brush with melted butter.
For cinnamon/sugar pretzels, combine the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl, then sprinkle over generously buttered (unsalted) pretzels.

submitted by Dalyce

Pumpkin Bread/Muffins

Sift dry:
3-1/2 cup flour
3 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
1-1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp. cloves

Then add all together:
3/4 cup oil
4 eggs, slightly beaten
2/3 cup water
2 cups pumpkin
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Pour dough into 2 large, greased loaf pans. Bake approx. 1-1/2 hours at 325*.
*For a different flavor, add a little more pumpkin and substitute milk chocolate chips for the nuts.
For muffins, baking time is a lot less :) Depending on your oven, maybe between 20-35 minutes-just keep an eye on them.