Strawberry Shortcake

I only started baking about three years ago and ever since I started I wouldn't do anything that I didn't know anything about without someone with me who did...tonight my mom-in-law really wanted strawberry shortcake and the way she remembers making it with her momma. However, I had never made anything like that before but her trust in my abilities gave me enough motivation to attempt the recipe, and to my surprise it turned out awesome.
It feels so good hearing your mother-in-law's moans and groans over her pleasure from the food you made.

I modified a recipe I found for using Bisquick mix...this is my version.

Strawberry Shortcake:
*Have sliced strawberries with 1/4 cup sugar sprinkled on top set aside first so the sugar can really moisten the berries.
Ingredients for shortcake-
*2 & 1/3 Bisquick mix
*1/2 milk (I used evaporated milk with only about a tb extra of water-for moisture)
*4 tb sugar
*3 tb melted butter and 1 extra tb set aside

Instructions:
*Stir mix, milk, 4 tb sugar, and the 3 tb butter until the dough is soft.
*Put into an ungreased pan or dish.
*Drizzle on top the 1 extra tb of melted butter.
-if you want it all together then bake at 425 deg for 15ish minutes.
-if you want it separated into individual blobs then use a cookie sheet for that and blop it on old fashioned biscuit style and bake for 10-12 minutes.
*I put it all in one circular glass dish and it turned out perfect.

*Serve crumbled onto a plate with the berries and cream on top. I would presume that most of you would already have cool whip or something close to it to use but we don't have that where we are so we had to add sugar and vanilla to a can of 'cream' and mix it for a few minutes and that turned out just fine.

Clearing and Keeping a Blemish Free Face

I admit that the only time in my life my acne ever really got out of hand was in middle school where all on the side of my upper face and along my chin I had blemishes. BUT I hadn't ever really had a perfectly clear face of blemishes until this year.
My secret is baking soda.
While in the states the vitamin e oil and tea tree oil definitely helped with my face, but the number one thing that has prevented pimples is washing my face with baking soda once a day. 

If you want to try this here are my instructions:
Each night wash your face by making a paste out of baking soda. Just put a spoonful of soda on your hand and lightly wet the other and mix it in to make a paste-like texture. Have your face wet first and then start GENTLY circulating the paste on your face. Do this only for a minute, or two tops, making sure you get your entire face covered. Then, when splashing your face to rinse, rub your face real well multiple times until you do not feel any more of the gritty paste. To get my mascara off I will get my eyes rubbed in there too during the rinsing process which will clean them just right but I won't directly use the paste on them like with the rest of my face.
Then finish off with your moisturizer...I prefer vitamin e oil but I can't find any in this country we're in right now so it's whatever I can get my hands on.
Don't wash your face in the morning. Just rinsing it in water will be sufficient, even if you will be putting on make-up.

When preparing to leave the states my husband warned me that my face would be breaking out really bad and so I prepared myself for the worst. But it never happened and we have been here over six months. And I know it is solely because I been washing my face once a day with baking soda paste.

Cinnamon Vanilla French Toast

I have been dying to make french toast. A recipe of my own that I kept playing with has been stuck in my head for months and finally tonight I crafted it to become reality. I wanted to bake it, but our oven went capooey so stove-top it was...which was less assuring but still worked fine.

You will need: 

4 eggs

1/2 cup heavy milk -I used evaporated milk.

1/2 cup melted butter

1-2 Tb or more of cinnamon (depending on how much you like it)

1 overflowing Tb of vanilla

bread (-I used raisin bread) -I made 3/4 a loaf but had plenty left over for the full loaf.

Instructions:

*Melt butter and mix very well with eggs and other ingredients but not the bread. 

*Put a little oil in your large skillet and put on low heat setting.

*Dip each slice of bread into the mixture soaking each side.

*Gently place the wet slice of bread into the skillet...continue placing as many slices you can into the skillet.

*You will know when to flip by the color of the bread. It will not be like the texture of grilled cheese so be expecting a little softness. As long as it's golden colored then it's time. A little crisp is okay too.

*Hints: To keep the slices warm as you continue cooking each round just place on a plate with a lid on top.

*For Baking Instead: Follow instructions until it's time to place in a skillet. Instead of placing into the skillet place each wet slice of bread standing up in a dish and bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown at 350 degrees. Check often.

Enjoy! We put butter on top of our warm slices and then syrup on top (pancake style). 

Classic Stuffing....FROM SCRATCH!!!

Every year for Thanksgiving there is only one thing that I absolutely MUST have...I don't care about the turkey or the pies...what I care about is the stuffing. And me, well, I'm a stove-top girl and I have mastered it very well. However, as many of you know, I am currently living in a third-world-country -a place that does not have stove-top anywhere to be found.
So what was a desperate girl to do? Make it from scratch. I was not expecting it to end up this amazing so when I took it out of the oven the first time I freaked out over how good it smelled and looked so of course it was picture time. IF I KNEW that it was going to turn out so amazing then I would have taken pictures of my entire process but I didn't because I was expecting it to be a failure.
For weeks I searched and searched online to find the winning recipe. I didn't want raisins or cranberries or sausage or whatever else fancy nonsense...I just wanted simple stuffing. AND FINALLY, I found it and gave it many of my own little tweaks due to the lack of certain ingredients and making it the day before but re-baking it the next day. I also did what I needed to do to make it moist...the way I like it.

Berdy's Classic Stuffing (no, my name is not Berdy...just my nick-name)

You will need:
1.5/2 loafs of white bread - stale or lightly toasted -cubed (approximately 16 cups of cubed white bread)
lots of seasonings (sage, oregano, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper)
2 eggs with a little milk (about 1/4 cup)
1 stick of butter plus some on the side
chicken broth
1 cup of finely chopped celery
9X13 dish....it made A TON!

*Assuming you start this the day before your feast*
Melt the stick of butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
Add celery with lots of garlic and herbs...only a little salt but heavier on the pepper...& cook 5 minutes.
Add 3 cups of chicken broth and bring to a simmer.
Beat 2 eggs w/ milk in a VERY LARGE bowl...add the 16 cups (or close to it) of cubed stale white bread.
Pour in the veggie-broth mixture and toss. Really get each cube of bread a bit wet.
Transfer to a buttered baking dish and lightly pour melted butter over the top...don't go overboard.
Cover and bake 30 minutes @ 375 F. Uncover and bake a good 15 minutes.
The next day soon before it's time to eat so you pull it out hot...
Pour in a butt-load of garlic and seasonings (minus the salt and pepper) into a cup of water and mix.
Pour over entire top of stuffing and bake uncovered for approximately 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.
Lastly, eat it!

I prefer my stuffing on the moist side and not so much on the dry side so if you prefer it on the dryer side then don't add milk to your eggs and only pour 1/4 cup of seasoned water on the for the last baking instead of a full cup.

Enjoy!