Heavenly Honey Oatmeal Bread

Our favorite bread recipe and it is sooooo very easy.
1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
2 cups boiling wataer
1 pkg. active dry yeast
l/4 cup warm water (105-115)
1/3 cup honey
1 tablespoon butter or cooking oil
2 teaspoons salt
1 egg
5 l/2 cups all purpose flour
milk and a little more rolled oats.

Placce the 1 cup oats into a large bowl. Pour the boiling water over oats; let stand for 15 minutes or till mixture is lukewarm. Sprinkle the yeast over the l/4 cup warm water in a small bowl, stir to mix let stand 5 minutes to dissolve. Add honey, butter, salt and yeast mixture to the oat mixture. Mix well with a wooden spoon. Stir in enough of the flour so the dough can be handled (The oats and honey make this stickier than regular bread dough). Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 2 minutes. Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Knead 12 to 15 strokes till dough is elastic, but still rather sticky, adding flour as needed; don't add too much flour at a time. Place dough in a greased bowl and turn to grease surface of dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place till doubled abaout one hour. Punch dough down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface, as the dough should be a little sticky. Divide the dough in half. Shape each piece into a loaf. Place loaves in two greased loaf pans Cover and let rise in a warm place till doubled in size around 30 min. Brush with milk and sprinkle with additional oats.

Bake 350 oven for 45 minutes or till the loaves sound hollow when tapped. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks. Now you will gain a pound or two and love it!!!

Classic Butternut Squash Soup

Our Relief Society tries to do a cooking club once a month. We do it by theme. This month it is at my house and the theme is soups. Here is a recipe I tried from Ladies Home Journal and it turned out pretty dang good. If I have enough time I am going to make the croutons as well that came from Southern Living Magazine.

Classic Butternut Squash Soup
Prep: 30 min Start to Finish: 1 hr 45 min
Ingredients
3 lbs butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 tbsp unsalted butter
2 medium onions, chopped
7 to 8 cups vegetable broth
Snipped fresh chives, for garnish
Directions
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large roasting pan, toss together squash, oil, salt and pepper. Roast, stirring once, until tender, about 1 hr.
2. Meanwhile, in an 8-quart stockpot, melt butter. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 20 min.
3. Add squash and 7 cups broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 min. Transfer soup, in batches, to a blender and purée until smooth; return to pot. Add more broth, if needed, until desired consistency. Salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with chives, if desired. Makes 14 cups.
Nutrition Facts
Calories 130, Total Fat (g) 5, Saturated Fat (g) 1.5, Cholesterol (mg) 4, Sodium (mg) 1140, Carbohydrate (g) 22, Fiber (g) 3, Protein (g) 2

Sweet Croutons
Yield
Makes 3 cups
Ingredients
4 cups French bread cubes
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Preparation
Toss together bread cubes and melted butter. Combine sugar and cinnamon; add to bread cubes, tossing to coat. Spread in a single layer on a lightly greased baking sheet.
Bake at 375°, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Paula Dean's Oooey gooey butter pumpkin cake

I saw this on Rachel Ray last year and I have waited this long to try it! So I made it last night for our gigantic enrichment activity (4 girls showed up, 1 participated!) of carving pumpkins! Anyway, everyone loved the desert and shad ate more for breakfast :( so here it is. and yes, it's not healthy...notice the word "butter" in the name!?! 

Ingredients
For the cake:
1 18.25-ounce box yellow cake mix
1 egg
1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter
For the filling:
1- 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
1-15 ounce can pumpkin pie filling
3 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 16-ounce box confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter

Yields: 20-24 small squares

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine cake mix, egg and butter, and mix well. Pour into the bottom of prepared pan and set aside.
In the mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth; add pumpkin pie filling, eggs and vanilla. Dump in confectioner’s sugar and beat well. Reduce speed of mixer and slowly pour in butter. Mix well. Pour filling on top of cake mixture and spread evenly. Bake 40-50 minutes (You want the center to be a little gooey; so don’t bake past that point!). Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before cutting into squares.