Secret Donut Recipe

We have tried several donut recipes in the past, but so far this has been the favorite. You can find the full recipe and pictures at http://www.secretdonutrecipe.com/recipe1.html. This is a copy of that site. This recipe should make a dozen. The theory is that you can make this recipe in less time and loads less cost then it would take to drive to the store to buy some. They taste better too!

Microwave 1 cup of milk so that it is warm (not hot) add the 5 teaspoons of yeast (2 packets) and a pinch of sugar and stir. Let stand for about 5 minutes.

In a bowl combine:

2 cups of all purpose flour

1/2 cup of warm mashed potatoes

The potato is the most important part of the recipe, take one medium sized potato and poke some holes in it with a fork. Put it in the microwave for a few minutes until it is done (soft when you squeeze it). Scoop out a half a cup of potatoes for the recipe

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/4 cup of sugar

Then in the bowl add:

The milk mixture and 2 Tablespoons of oil

Mix the dough well by hand or in a mixer with a dough hook for 3 minutes. Prepare your kneading surface by spreading a few tablespoons of flour on a smooth surface. Put the dough in the middle of the flour and sprinkle a little flour on top and on your hands. Knead the dough a few times. Once the dough has been kneaded, spread it out to be a half inch thick with your hands or with a rolling pin. Now it is time to cut out the donuts, you can use a donut cutter or just use something about the same size and then find something to make the hole with. Place the donuts on a floured pan to let rise as you get the oil ready. Let them rise for a total of ten minutes (it takes about five minutes for the oil to heat up).

Pour about a half inch of oil (vegetable oil) into a cast iron pan. An electric fry pan works great also. The oil needs to be about 360 degrees which on my stove is about Medium to Medium High. If the oil starts to smoke it is way too hot. Test the oil with some of the scraps of dough and when it is ready cook the donuts until golden brown on each side. Allow the donuts to cool on a rack or on some paper so that the oil soaks off. 

Vanilla Glaze

In a mug, microwave half of cup of milk with a teaspoon of butter (you'll use this later)

In a bowl mix:

1 cup of powdered sugar

2 Tablespoons of the milk mixture

1/4 teaspoon of lemon

1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract

If you a really thin glaze, just add a little more of the milk mixture.

Chocolate Glaze

Use the milk mixture from above.

In a bowl mix:

1 cup of powdered sugar

2 Tablespoons of Hershey Cocoa

3 Tablespoons of the milk mixture from above.

Put a slightly warm donut face down in the chocolate glaze, turn slightly and remove. Perfect! Now you are ready to enjoy your dozen donuts.

Chickpeas, Chickpeas, Rolly Polly Chickpeas.

Now, we've all seen these beans in the super market. They are small, look like brains, and say garbonzo on the bag. But like most peas and beans, what do we do with them. With these ugly little things, there's only one thing that we should do with them. HUMMUS!!! This simple, semi easy treat can be done within minutes (after the hours it takes to cook the dried chickpeas), and it's pretty tasty. All it is, is spiced, cooked garbonzo beans (chick peas) in a food processor or blender, ground as smooth as possible. That's all it is. Then to make it even more delicious, add spices, tahini (olive oil and sesame seeds), garlic, and some lemon juice and you have a vegi dip and a bread/cracker dip for all you dips out there.

Seriously, I've heard of hummus in the past, and I had no idea what it was. So I decided to try it (without tahini, I had no idea what tahini was back then), and it turned out okay. Then last night, we decided to try it again. So I figured out how to make tahini (a complex recipe, I'll post that one first), and add it to 3 different hummus recipes. They ALL turned out great. I'm surprised and impressed. I also made some pita bread, and cut it into wedges to dip. This middle eastern food is actually flavorful, tasty, and a good meal to have while chatting with guests. So, here it is:

Tahini (Be careful, this burns easily)
2 c. sesame seeds (can be purchased at many stores like Sunflower Market)
1/3 c. olive oil

Heat a heavy, wide-bottomed sauté pan over medium-high heat.Add the sesame seeds and toast lightly - about 2 minutes, shaking the pan so they toast evenly. Two tips here: a) I am a messy cook with limited arm strength. I have a great fear that if I toss a pan, food will end up everywhere, therefore, I tend to just vigorously stir rather than toss. b) Keep a careful eye on the sesame seeds as they go from toasted to burnt really quickly. As soon as they start to brown, they are done.Transfer to a bowl and let cool completely.

Original Hummus
2 cups of cooked chickpeas (garbonzo beans)
3-5 tablespoons lemon juice (depending on taste)
1 1/2 tablespoons tahini
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preparation:
Drain chickpeas. Combine chickpeas, lemon juice, tahini, garlic, salt, and olive oil in blender or food processor. Blend for 3-5 minutes on low until thoroughly mixed and smooth. Place in serving bowl, and create a shallow well in the center of the hummus.Add a small amount (1-2 tablespoons) of olive oil in the well. Garnish with parsley (optional).Serve immediately with fresh, warm or toasted pita bread, or cover and refrigerate.


Spicy, Sweet Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

INGREDIENTS
2 cups cooked chickpeas (garbonzo beans)
1 (4 ounce) jar roasted red peppers (or roast your own red bell peppers http://videos.howstuffworks.com/ming-east-west/4682-roasting-red-peppers-video.htm)
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons tahini
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

DIRECTIONS
In an electric blender or food processor, puree the chickpeas, red peppers, lemon juice, tahini, garlic, cumin, cayenne, and salt. Process, using long pulses, until the mixture is fairly smooth, and slightly fluffy. Make sure to scrape the mixture off the sides of the food processor or blender in between pulses. Transfer to a serving bowl and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. (The hummus can be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated. Return to room temperature before serving.)
Sprinkle the hummus with the chopped parsley before serving.


Sun-Dried Tomato Hummus
INGREDIENTS
2 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon and 1-1/2 teaspoons tahini paste
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 cups of chickpeas (garbonzo beans)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained
2 tablespoons finely shredded fresh basil
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/8 teaspoon paprika (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Place garlic, salt, tahini, and lemon juice into a food processor; process until smooth. Pour in the garbanzo beans and 1/4 cup olive oil; process until smooth again, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Once smooth, add the sun-dried tomatoes, and pulse until they have been chopped to very small pieces and are incorporated into the hummus. Finally, add the basil, and pulse a few times until mixed in.
Spread the hummus into a shallow serving dish, and make a few decorative grooves on top. Refrigerate at least 1 hour, then drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil and sprinkle with paprika before serving.

Enjoy!

The (Dave) Woods Clan Ratatouille

Ha Ha (spoken with finality)! Finally, I've come to the point in which I could try my own ratatouille recipe. The original ratatouille recipe, like I said, was just summer vegitables (tomatoes, eggplant, and squashes) diced and saute'd until tender in a lot of olive oil. Now, after watching the movie of the same name, and examining what the rat did, I believed that the rat had a good idea about how to make ratatouille. Like every expiriment, I had to make an original recipe first, which is what the last post was about. But with that done, the diced tomatoes seemed lacking and too squishy for the recipe, but they did provide a great flavor, so I switched it to tomato sauce. Next I relized that the recipe needed some flavor. When a recipe needs flavor there are 3 things you can: sugar, fat, or spices. Guess which one is the healthiest. So I decided I need to come up with a good mixture of spices. After thinking about it, the only thing that seemed to fit, was rosemary, thyme, and basic. I eventually decided to add parsley to even out the spices. Next I had to figure out what vegies. So I went to the market and got whatever was on sale.

Next I had to think about how to arrange the seasonings and vegies. Do I mix it all together and call it good, or do I layer it. After watching the movie, I decided to try layering it. There's a problem. How do I layer it? So thinking about, I decided to let put the tomato sauce on the bottom. As the liquid starts to leak from the vegitables on top, it will cause the tomato sauce to become runny, this is actually to my advantage. It will cause the spices mixed into the tomato sauce to start traveling from the bottom of the pan to the top, and will bring up all the other spices along the way. This will cause all the flavors to mix together with out all the vegitables mixing together.

Needless to say, it turned out great. It took me and Sara all our effort to not finish off the large pan. I definately recommend it, or....um....I wouldn't have put it on this blog.

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 teaspoon of basil
3/4 teaspoon of thyme
3/4 teaspoon of rosemerry
1 1/4 teaspoon of parsley
2 8-oz cans of tomato sauce
1/4 cup of olive oil
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large eggplant, peeled, cut length-way into fourths, and thinly sliced
2 zucchini, peeled and thinly sliced
2 yellow squash, peeled and thinly sliced
2 green peppers, thinly sliced
1 cup of mushrooms (optional
3/4 teaspoon of salt, separated
parmesian cheese (for sprinkling)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together the spices (basil, thyme, rosemerry, parsley). Mix 1 Tablespoon of the mixture to the tomato sauce. This should leave about 1/2 teaspoon left for later. lightly saute' the garlic until aromatic, set aside for later.

Grease a 9x13 inch pan with non-stick spray. Spread the tomato sauce on the bottom of the pan. Layer the eggplant on top of the tomato sauce. Spinkle the rest of the spices on top of the eggplant and about 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Layer the zucchini next, then the squash, then the green peppers, and any other vegies that you want. Sprinkle the rest of the salt on top.

Cook for 45 minutes. Sprinkle parmesian cheese on top and cook another 15 minutes. Serve hot with rice, noodles, or cooked potatoes.

Enjoy.

Baked Ratatouille (Basic)

This is a basic Ratatouille. Ratatouille is a basic peasant dish, as the movie suggests. It has tomatoes, eggplant squash, and a few other vegitables and/or funguses (mushrooms), saute'd in a sauce pan with a healthy dose of olive oil. This recipe is my first try at ratatouille, and it was a good base, but was completely lacking in flavor. The parmesan cheese held all the flavors together, which it shouldn't. This is what I've based my own recipe on.

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1 eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
salt to taste
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 zucchini, sliced
1 large onion, sliced into rings
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1 green bell pepper, sliced
2 large tomatoes, chopped

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat bottom and sides of a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Saute garlic until lightly browned. Mix in parsley and eggplant. Saute until eggplant is soft, about 10 minutes. Season with salt to taste.
Spread eggplant mixture evenly across bottom of prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle with a few tablespoons of Parmesan cheese. Spread zucchini in an even layer over top. Lightly salt and sprinkle with a little more cheese. Continue layering in this fashion, with onion, mushrooms, bell pepper, and tomatoes, covering each layer with a sprinkling of salt and cheese.
Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes.

The (Dave) Woods Clan Speghetti sauce

This was a total mistake. I've been working on my ratatouille recipe (its in the oven right now, if it turns out right, I'll post it), and I was expirimenting flavoring some tomato sauce using spiced and some vinegar, when I finished adding a bunch of stuff, I tried it, and it tasted great. Sara tried it too, and said that this would make a great sauce. So here's what I came up with, it still needs some work, and it needs some vegies, but it should still be good.

INGREDIENTS:

16 ounces of tomato sauce (2 8-oz cans)
1/2 teaspoon of basil
1/2 teaspoon of thyme
1/2 teaspoon of rosemary
1 teaspoon of parsley
3 Tablespoons of rice vinegar
1/4 onion, chopped (optional)
1/4 green pepper, chopped (optional)
1 clove of garlic, crushed and minced (optional)

combine ingredients in a small sauce pan. Heat to boiling (or when it lightly boils), simmer for around 10 minutes. For a stronger, and thicker sauce, simmer up to 40 minutes.

Enjoy.