Hamburger Bun Recipe

 

This recipe is a good one to know. I have wanted to make hamburgers for a meal but had no buns on hand. Did I want to go to the store to pick up buns? The answer is always, "No." That is when I pull this recipe out and make a batch of hamburger buns.

These buns don't stay fresh as long as store bought buns. They are best when used the same day they are baked or the next day. After two days these buns are little too dry for sandwiches, but really good for garlic toast. 

Hamburger Bun Recipe

3 1/2 to 4 cups Flour

2 1/4 tsp. Yeast

1 cup Warm Water

1/3 cup Oil

1/4 cup Sugar

1 1/2 tsp. Salt

1 egg

Combine 2 cups of flour and the yeast. 

Blend the water, oil, sugar, and salt; add to flour mixture. Add egg. Beat at low for 1/2 minute.

Beat 3 minutes on high.

Stir in as much flour as you can with a spoon. (Unless you're using a stand mixer. Then you can stir the flour in by machine, as well as do the kneading.)

On floured surface knead in enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead until smooth.

Place in greased bowl; turn once. Cover; let rise about 1 1/2 hours.

Punch down. Divide in thirds. Rest 5 minutes Divide each third in the four balls.

Roll each ball until smooth and press flat between hands to make 3 1/2 inch circles.

Place on greased baking sheet. (I use saved chicken fat to grease my pans. You can read about that HERE.)

Let rise about 30 minutes.

Bake at 375°F. for 13 -15 minutes.

Cool on wire racks.

Fun Pretzels!

 I made pretzels with my children yesterday.

When I was a little girl my mother let us make pretzels one time. And she let us use food coloring to color the pretzels!

I wanted to give my children the same experience.

I told my children, "Now you have to say that I am a fun Mom."  Haha! 

I sprinkled some food coloring on their individual chunks of dough. (This was natural food coloring so it took a lot, and even then it didn't make a bold color.)

They mixed in the color.

Then they had to make long snakes of dough.

Roll, roll, roll.

The shaping of the pretzels was a little tricky for the children. I did the shaping for the most part. My oldest son was able to learn the right moves to shape his own pretzels after a couple tries.

The pretzels had to be boiled in baking soda water for 20 seconds.

The pretzels were finished by baking in the oven.

Violá!

Tie Die Pretzels for lunch and fun points for Mother!

The recipe that we used is from Sally's Baking Addiction. If you are looking for something fun to do with your children, I recommend that you make pretzels! This was an easy project and the memories that we made will last a long time! :-)

Hearty Chili Recipe!

 This is the way my Mom makes Chili. It is very flavorful and hearty. I learned from her to use a variety of beans. It makes for a nice presentation.

 

Hearty Chili Recipe

1 lb. Ground Beef or Turkey or Deer 

1 Large Onion, Diced

5 Garlic Cloves, Minced

4 TBS. Chili Powder

2 tsp. Salt

1 15oz. can Black Beans, with liquid

1 15oz. can Kidney Beans, with liquid

1 30oz. can Pinto Beans, with liquid

1 quart or 1 28oz. can Crushed Tomatoes

In a large soup pot, brown the ground meat. Pour off grease if necessary. 

Add onion and cook until soft.

Add garlic, salt, and chili powder and cook 1 minute.

Add beans and tomatoes.

Simmer 30 minutes. 

Or, pour into crockpot and cook on high 2 hours or low for 5 hours.

Serve once all the flavors have melded nicely.

Serving Suggestions:

Top each bowl with shredded cheese, sour cream, and green onions.

Serve tortilla chips, corn chips or cornbread on the side.

Add a big scoop of macaroni and cheese to each bowlful to make delicious Chili Mac.

Tightwad Tip: Save Grease

 

I save grease from cooking hamburger, chicken skins, chicken broth, ham bones, bacon, etc..... 

Fat rendering out of fried chicken skins.

I use it for frying eggs, sauteing onions, spreading on tortillas before warming them in a skillet. Chicken grease is soft when chilled. Beef grease is hard when chilled. Pork fat is somewhere in between the two.

The harder fats can be used in place of shortening in savory pastries. Chicken fat works fine in tortillas. Bacon grease tastes good in cornbread as a replacement for butter or oil. 

To save grease: 

I recommend that you pour grease from browned hamburger meat into a heat safe bowl and then chill in the refrigerator until firm. Oftentimes  the fat poured off hamburger meat has water at the bottom. Scoop the hard fat off the top and put in a jar to store.

Collecting fat from the top of broth
after chilling in the refrigerator.

To save fat from chicken broth or other types of broth:

Boil bones and trimmings for several hours. Allow broth to cool. Chill in the refrigerator overnight. The fat will solidify on the surface of the broth. Scoop the solid fat off the broth and store it in a jar in the refrigerator.

Spreading chicken fat on a corn tortilla
 before warming it in a skillet.

To collect fat from bacon or fried chicken skins just pour the fat into a glass jar when it is still hot and in a liquid state.

I can't say how long this fat will last in the refrigerator. I keep mine for several weeks until it is all used up. I only throw it out if it smells rancid, but normally it is gone long before this point.

My Favorite Italian Sausage Recipe

 I found this recipe from Sufficient Acres.com back when it was Queen of the Red Double Wide blog. That was years ago! This sausage recipe is one of the best I have tasted. I want to add it to my collection of recipes here on my blog because it is a staple in my kitchen. 

I have mixed this spice blend into ground turkey, ground beef, ground pork, and ground deer. If you want "real" Italian Sausage it is best to use pork with a high percentage of fat.

Italian Sausage Seasoning

1 tsp. Ground Pepper

2 tsp. Dried Parsley

1 1/2 tsp. Italian Seasoning

1 tsp. Garlic Powder

1/2 tsp. Red Pepper Flakes

1/2 tsp. Fennel Seeds

1/2 tsp. Paprika (Smoked Paprika is really good)

1 tsp. Minced, Dried Onions (I used 1/4 c. fresh minced onions if I don't have the dried version)

1 1/2 tsp. Sea Salt

Mix all of the ingredients together. Stir into 2 pounds of ground meat. Refrigerate 2-24 hours before cooking.

Some of you may remember that I also shared a Breakfast Sausage Recipe several years ago. It was also a recipe from Sufficient Acres.com. You can see the original recipe for Breakfast Sausage HERE or my version HERE.

Recipe For Beef Jerky

Story Time Before The Recipe:

I grew up in a family that did not celebrate Valentine's Day. It was considered a pagan Roman Catholic holy day. We never participated.

After I got married I assumed that Mr. In The Mid-west had that same view of Valentine's Day. I remember saying in a conversation one day, ".....we don't do Valentines." And he said, "We don't?" That was my first clue. 

For several years we didn't do anything special. But, the year before last Mr. In The Mid-west did something sweet, gave me chocolate, I think. And, last year he bought me chocolate and a gave me a hand written card. I didn't have anything for him and I felt bad about that. 😔

This year I was determined not to be caught empty handed. I decided to make him beef jerky. It would be a special treat for him, because he never buys any for himself. He just can't justify the cost per ounce. Packaged store bought beef jerky is super pricy!

I watched prices for various cuts of beef. In January Beef Bottom Round roast was $2.99 per pound at our local IGA. I bought a 2 1/2 pound roast for $7.48 to make jerky for Mr. In The Mid-west.

The recipe I used was from Allrecipes.com (I really like their site). It so happens that it was a Chef Jon recipe from FoodWishes.com! I really like Chef Jon's YouTube video recipes. I have shared one of his videos in a post I did several years ago about making hash browns. I am not sure if any of you remember but here is a link. Back to jerky....... I went over to YouTube and watched Chef Jon demonstrate how to make beef jerky.

Partially freeze the roast. Pull it out of the freezer before it is solid. You want your roast to be firm this will help you to able to cut very thin slices of meat. Cut the beef into 1/4 slices.

Wisk together the marinade ingredients and pour or sliced beef. Separate the slices to insure that all surfaces are exposed to marinade. Soak overnight.

Pat the excess liquid off of the slices of beef on some paper towels. Dry the meat on racks in a very low oven for 5-6 hours. Package and present!

Chef Jon's Beef Jerky

From foodwishes.com

2 pounds thinly sliced beef top round

3/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

3/4 cup soy sauce

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

1 rounded tablespoon smoked paprika

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 generous tablespoon honey

- Marinate for 3 hours or more.

- Bake at 175 F. for 3-4 hours or until dry and leathery

My jerky took longer to dry completely, more like 5-6 hours. Also, I didn't have honey. I used some brown sugar and molasses instead.