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In search of the perfect donut recipe

Or is it spelled doughnuts? Either way, I'm tired of allowing my husband to spend $7 on a box of a dozen donuts from the store. I really love the old-fashioned type donuts, the glazed ones that have the edge that looks like it's been cut. But I figured I'd start out with a basic donut recipe and go from there. I used the following recipe from Free Donut Recipes.

Cake-like Donuts:

3 Tbsp shortening
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup milk
1 tsp grated nutmeg
3/4 tsp salt
3 cups flour
5 tsp baking powder

powdered sugar and/or cinnamon for topping

Cream shortening and sugar. Add the beaten egg. Stir in the milk. Add the nutmeg, salt, flour and baking powder. Make a dough stiff enough to be rolled. Roll out on floured pastry board to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. Cut out with doughnut cutter (or use a water glass and a shot glass or a large round cookie cutter and a small one). Fry in deep hot fat. Sprinkle with powdered sugar/cinnamon.

The result:
This recipe made 20 donuts and about 14 donut holes. It was cake-like but had cardboard texture. The oil must remain consistently very hot between batches and only fry a few at a time. Not a favorite of mine but the kids all enjoyed it. Maybe I shouldn't use free recipes?  I'm also thinking I should roll them out a little thicker and turn the heat down on the oil just a bit so they don't cook as fast.  And no more sprinkling! Let's just roll them in powdered sugar, shall we?

Best Sandwich Bread

It took me several months and many tries to come up with a bread that was perfect for my sandwich loving crew.  I started out with Hillbilly Housewife's Family Bread.  While it was tasty, it was a bit dense and crumbly for us.  I then did lots of searching for the perfect bread recipe.  I tried several others and always something was missing - it used too much yeast, didn't make enough loaves, had to be made in the breadmaker*... finally I started playing with the measurements and ingredients of several of our favorites until I happened upon a winner.  The nice thing is that we always have fresh bread which is great for sandwiches, snacks, or as a filler with meals.  And it's inexpensive too!

Best Sandwich Bread

Prep time: approximately 5 hours
Baking time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
1 cup warm tap water
2 Tbsp granulated sugar or honey
4 1/2 tsp dry yeast
2 cups warm tap water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 Tbsp salt
9 cups or so all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 cup warm water, 2 Tbsp sugar or honey and yeast.  Let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes.  Stir in remaining ingredients except 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, slowly adding flour, until dough begins to hold together but is still sticky.  Sprinkle 1 cup of flour on kneading surface and hands, turn dough out and knead until dough is smooth and elastic.  Add more flour as needed.

Coat ball of dough with 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, return to mixing bowl and cover with damp cloth.  Let rise until doubled, approximately 2 hours.

Grease 4 bread loaf pans.  Punch dough down and knead lightly as you form 4 loaves.  Place loaves in prepared bread pans, cover with warm damp cloth and let rise until doubled, approximately 2 hours. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Bake until loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom, about 20 minutes.  Turn out onto wire racks and cool completely.

Please note that some metal pans will cook faster than others.  I recommend checking your bread at 18 minutes.

*Breadmakers have their place, but not in my kitchen.  For the amount of yeast it takes to make one loaf of bread in the breadmaker, I can make 4 loaves of bread.  Plus there's just something that puts me back to basics when I have to knead the dough myself.

Garlic Chicken Skillet

We went camping for Memorial Weekend and were supposed to have chicken with vegetables wrapped in foil then cooked in the coals of our fire. But we were all stuffed with hamburgers & hotdogs from lunch so the chicken got brought home with us. As it was already thawed out, I didn't want it to go to waste. But I also didn't feel like having oven-cooked foil dinners. I was craving garlic and sauteed onions. The result is this easy, cost effective and delicious meal.

Ingredients:
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1" cubes
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 medium potatoes, cubed
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
2 Tbsp or so olive oil
dash or two of lime juice
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
Put olive oil in large skillet. Add onion, garlic and potatoes and saute over medium heat until potatoes are almost tender, stirring often. Add chicken and cook until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear. Add lime juice, salt and pepper. Remove from heat. Sprinkle cheese on top then cover with lid for 5 minutes so cheese can melt. Stir cheese in before serving.

We had this with a green salad and apple slices. I think next time I might add frozen peas when the chicken is almost done, so the peas are warm but still a little crisp.