Keegan's Sugarpots

My son's very own recipe. All you need is some of the no knead dough and sugar.

1) Preheat the oven to 325.

2) Butter a cookie sheet.

3) Using fingers of dough, make a little flat square about 1" square. Make as many as you have dough for, or as many as you want to eat :-)

4) Lay on the cookie sheet. Put a teaspoon of sugar in the middle. Cover with another square of dough, and press down the sides.

5) Bake at 325 for 8-10 minutes, or until they're lightly browned, but still very soft.

You're done!

Grilling Carp

How to grill a carp -

Build a roaring fire. Nail the intact carp on a pine plank. Season to taste with salt, pepper, olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic.

Sear over flame, then cook til done. Throw away the carp, eat the plank!

Har Har. I hope you liked it as much as I did.

Baking Basics (or "stocking your pantry")

It's always nice to be able to bake a batch of brownies when the weather turns rainy. Or bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies when your kid's feeling yucky.

On a side note, always have some no-knead bread in the fridge - great for last minute pizza, breadsticks, or to make another loaf of bread when their friends want pblj sandwiches. That's short for peanut butter and LOTSA jelly, by the way, thanks to Keegan. Consider it part of your pantry.

Flour - whole wheat and white, beyond that, whatever your preferences are - unless you really get into baking, no need for bread flour or other specialty flours. If you have the space and use it often enough, buy the flour in 50 lbs sacks from Sam's Club or Costco, or get a buddy in the restaurant business to tack some on to his order. The prices are a lot less than buying 5 lbs. at a time. Store in 5 gallon buckets with good lids - makes it a lot easier to measure out, too!

Baking soda
Baking powder
Salt
Sugar (white or unbleached)
Brown sugar
Confectionery sugar
Chocolate chips
Baker's chocolate (semi-sweet)
Yeast (buy this in bulk off eBay - I paid 9 bucks plus shipping for 2 lbs a year ago- and I'm still using it!)Store in the freezer in a Tupperware container. Don't be paying $2.49 for 3 little packets.

Vegetable oil

and in the fridge (with the no knead dough)

butter (if you insist on margarine, stop right here. I can't help your cooking!)
eggs.

I'm sure I'll be adding to the list...but this is a good start

more savings at the grocery store...

Over-ripe fruit on sale? Buy 'em up - what you don't eat that day or next, slice up, mix 'em up, put into medium sized freezer baggies - then whenever your kid wants smoothies, take a pack out, add yogurt or milk, and put in the blender. Instant smoothie. Check out the fruit before you buy it - this works better with melons, berries, apples. bananas.

Ground beef on sale? Press into patties, individual freeze each patty. Instant snack for Junior.

Bigger piece of meat on sale? Cut up what you don't use into bite size pieces, put about 3-4 oz. into each bag, freeze. Want a quick stir fry - well, there's your protein.

And do watch for sales on freezer bags and yard sales & thrift stores for containers. You'll need them. If you're going to pay retail for the containers - buy quality, not price. The cheap plastic containers will snap soon with the constant freezing, defrosting, freezing.