Cornmeal Yeast Bread

Ingredients
2 pkg. active dry yeast
1/2 c. warm water
3/4 c. milk
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 egg
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 c. flour

Directions
Dissolve yeast in warm water. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.
Add milk, sugar, butter, egg, cornmeal, and salt.
Beat in 1 1/2 cups flour until smooth.
Add enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.
Turn onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic - about 6-8 minutes
Please in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top.
Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes.
Punch dough down. Divide in half and shape into 2 loaves.
Place in greased pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
Bake at 350F for 35-40 minutes.
Let cool in pans for a few minutes before removing.

Yield: 2 loaves

Original source: www.allrecipes.com

Flaxseed Banana Bread

This was an experiment that turned out quite well. After a few tweakings, I think I have the recipe where I want it. I was looking for an eggless banana bread, found a recipe, and then decided to try substitute ground flaxseed for part of the oil. Yummy!!

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1.25 cups ground flaxseed (I may use a little less next time - or you can use another 1/2 cup butter)
1.5 cups sugar (a little less next time)
3-4 tsp. vanilla
2TBS c. applesauce
2TBS oil
1 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
5 mashed over-ripe bananas

Directions
Cream the butter, sugar, vanilla, and flaxseed together. Mix in the oil and applesauce. Blend in the bananas. Sift (or dump) in the flour, salt, and baking soda. Pour into 2 greased bread pans. Bake at 325 for about an hour.

Note: Adding 1/4 - 1/2 cup coconut works well. Other good additions include chocolate chips or nuts.

Crockpot Kalua Pork

A local favorite, I thought I would post if for good measure.

Ingredients
4-6 lb. pork butt
Hawaiian salt (kosher or sea salt works well too)
capful of liquid smoke

Directions
Rub salt on pork. Put in crockpot. Add liquid smoke - maybe a little water. Cook on low for 10 hours or high for 6-8.

Shred and enjoy.

Spinach - Beef Bake

This recipe came about by accident and is a mix of a few different ideas. I had ground beef and a box of thawed spinach that I needed to use. My small family devoured almost the entire pan in one meal.

Ingredients
1 lb. ground beef
1 chopped onion
2 cloved garlic - chopped
1 tsp oregano
1 box frozen chopped spinach - thawed
2 cups cooked rice
1 head of broccoli cut into small pieces
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 cup shredded mozzerella

Directions
Saute onion and garlic in a pan with a little bit of oil. Add ground beef and oregano (and other spices to taste) and cook thoroughly.

Put cooked meat into 9x13 pan. Add the spinach, rice, broccoli, soup, and parmesan. Mix together. Top with mozzerella cheese.

Cook for 30 minutes or until heated through and the cheese is melted.

Note: If you would rather used uncooked rice (as I did), use 1 cup on the bottom of the panand add at least one cup of water to casserole. Top with foil and cook for an hour (or until rice is tender). You may need to add more water partway through cooking. Remove foil for last 10 minutes.