If you do stuff, stuff gets done.......

If you do stuff, stuff gets done.......

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Weekend scenes

Sunday has been quiet but our Friday and Saturday were full and fun and busy.  Here are some pictures, but I don't think I posted them in order.......
All 3 grandsons played hard on Friday and I laundered their clothes late Saturday. Aren't these 3 little pairs of jeans cute?  Seeing their sweet little jeans made me wonder how many pairs of jeans I have laundered in my lifetime, I have no idea but it is lots!
4 of our grandchildren in action. The bigger 3 played in the garage while Grandpa and their 2 dads did some vehicle maintenance. Grandpa's rolling stool turned into a very fun riding toy. 

After lots of family time, just us grandparents went to eat Saturday supper at Olive Garden. 
We tried their promotion where you buy an entree to eat there and they send you home with a second chilled entree to eat or share later. 
That is our packaged entrees, in very sturdy trays with lids and instructions.
Lids off - in case you want to see them better. 
Grandpa got smoked mozzarella chicken. Mine is the penne with 5 cheeses. We had them for supper tonight. 
I don't like to heat things in plastic so I transferred the food to our corelle bowls  to heat. 
They reheated great!  I only had half of my penne tonight so if I want, I can have the rest for my lunch tomorrow. 


I also found some time to start tying the rainbow strip quilt.  

I hope you all had a nice weekend too!

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Lots of breakfast and lunch pockets

My daughter asked if we could make a bunch of pockets to stock their freezer for quick lunches and breakfasts for her family.  I like to cook and of course I said yes.
So Friday, I loaded up my bread machine with the bread part and just let each batch go through the kneading process.  Then I bagged up each batch of dough in a lightly oiled gallon zip bag and let them chil until we did the baking today.
You can make the dough just before you make the pockets but if the dough is able to chill and rest in the fridge for at least a few hours,  it rolls out so easy.

For the fillings- we made a double batch of the scrambled egg, sausage, potato and cheese ones.  Then with the last batch of dough,  half were filled with diced ham and grated cheddar and the other half were pepperoni, mozzarella and marinara sauce.

We made a total of 47 - each batch of dough makes 16 but I gave grand daughter Elizabeth one ball of dough to roll out.  She spent the whole time rolling out and adding flour to her one ball while we made the other 47.  I've tweaked the original Pinterest recipe a bit and here is how we like them
Breakfast and Lunch Pockets 
    Dough
  • 2 1/2 t yeast
  • 1/2 c warm water 
  • 3/4 C milk- heated in the microwave just to steaming
  • 1/2 c vegetable oil
  • 1/4 c sugar
  • 1 egg- well beaten
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 4 c flour
  • you can mix and knead the dough anyway you like but I like to put all the ingredients in my bread machine and let it knead it all to perfection.  
  • Filling
  • 1 lb breakfast sausage
  • 1 1/2 c frozen hashbrown potatoes
  • 7  well beaten 
  • 1 1/2 C cheddar cheese, shredded
  • Cook and crumble the sausage until brown and then drain, then add the hashbrowns and heat through,  Add the eggs, stirring the whole time until the eggs are set.  Add some salt and pepper now if you want.  Just when the eggs start to look cooked,  stir in the cheese. 
  • Set the filling aside while you move on to rolling out the dough. 
  1. Preheat oven to 350°.
  2. Punch down the dough and cut into 16 equal pieces.
  3. Roll each piece into 7 in circle on a floured surface. Top with 1/3 c filling in the center of each dough circle then fold the ends up, then sides up and then lay on your baking sheets with all the folds on the bottom. This seals in the filling and it is not neccessary to wet the edges or spend lots of time crimping either.  
  4.  No need to let rise again and Bake for 15-20 minutes or until brown.  
  5. To freeze:
  6. Allow to cool on the baking sheet. Once cooled, place in the freezer until frozen. Store in a zip bag in the freezer for 3-6 months. To reheat, place on a paper towel and microwave for 1 1/2-2 minutes.