How to have an Air tight seal when preserving food:

Here's a Neat idea! I hope you can make use of it.  Thank you to Sister Pat Hegedus for sharing!

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How to seal a bag and make it air-tight!

Cut up a disposable water bottle and keep the neck and top, as in photo.

Insert the plastic bag through the neck and screw the top – to seal.

The bottle is made to be air-tight, such that water will not leak,

the secret lies with the top and screw!

This is a great idea to share. Good for us and the environment too.

and you can still recycle the bottle!!!

Ward Corn Bust - Beef on a Bun

We have to give a HUGE thank you to the ward activities committee for another fabulous event! The annual corn bust, (held this past Wednesday) was a great time and the food was delicious. I don't imagine that it is a simple thing to cook enough Beef on a Bun and Corn on the Cob to feed a couple of hundred hungry people - but those working behind the scenes did just that! It was fantastic!

If you happen to be craving some of those beef sandwiches still, OR if you need to perhaps feed an ARMY any time soon - then you will love this recipe. Thanks for sharing Sister Hegedus!

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"I had never cooked such big (25 lb) roasts in my life. Being so large the outside was cooked first, so once the roast shrunk, I cut them in half and flipped them down so the middle could cook in the juice. It was recommended to use inside round roasts.   Of course buying in bulk, and so large, the price was much cheaper than normal family size.   Tip:   It's almost worth it to buy the large size and cut & tie it to make several roasts to suit your family.
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Sear the roast at 450* for 1 hour.
Add about 1" of water.
Seal tightly with tin foil.
Lower the heat to 260* to 300* for 4 hours.
To season I added 1 pkg of Lipton soup mix to one roast.


I rubbed Montreal Steak Spice on the other 3 before cooking.


Then I combined the juices & cooled it to remove the fat for dipping.

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Notes: To reheat after cooling the meat overnight to slice the meat so it wouldn't fall apart, put parchment paper in the bottom of the roaster, and drizzle about a cup of juice over the slices, seal again with foil and heat on low @ 200* until hot. I actually used a cup over each of the 2 layers in the roasters. This large amount of meat took about 2-3 hours to reheat.
If the foil might touch the meat and stick, put saran wrap on top without it touching the sides of the pan before covering with foil.
The hardest part was slicing the meat because the grain of the meat kept changing depending on the muscle part we were cutting. This wouldn't be a problem in a regular roast."

"When Life Hands you Lemons" Chocolate Cake

A couple of weeks ago, I sat in Sacrament meeting as Sister Holt spoke to us all on the subject of Adversity.   (Are we not all going to miss her lessons and talks while she is away serving on a two year mission with her husband?)    At one point in her talk, she mentioned that inevitably at some point life hands us all lemons, which - it does right?     Those little (or large) trials that bog us down and may at times seem too difficult to overcome.    However in her ever joyful way, Sister Holt reminded us that life also gives us Chocolate!      The chocolate in life being those beautiful delightful blessed moments that remind you just how SWEET life is, even when things are not going as you'd hoped.        What a Happy Thought that is!!!


Seeing as Sister Holt is the one who created this Relief Society blog, and seeing as we will all miss her while she is away,  I figured I'd post a delightful little dessert in her honor.  


One made of CHOCOLATE of course!
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This Cake is absolutely perfect and the frosting is equally delicious!    Enjoy it for dessert, or better yet - make cupcakes and share a little "Chocolate Love" with somebody who could use it!  Enjoy!


CHOCOLATE CINNAMON CAKE

(recipe and photo taken from mindikamoments.com)

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon table salt

2 cups hot water

3/4 cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon vanilla extract


1. Preheat oven to 350 with rack in the center.

2. Spray two 8" round cake pans with nonstick spray.

3. Whisk dry cake ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.

4. Combine water, oil, vinegar, cinnamon, and vanilla in a large measuring cup.

5. Add to the dry ingredients and whisk until combined- a few lumps are ok.

6. Divide batter between the two pans (about 3 cups each), then bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (35- 40 min).

7. Cool cakes for 15 minutes on a rack, then invert them onto the rack.

8. Leave upside down until completely cooled before frosting them.

CHOCOLATE CINNAMON BUTTER CREAM FROSTING

½ C. butter softened

½ - 1 C. coco powder (the more coco the more chocolaty the frosting)

Pinch of salt

½ t. vanilla

1 lb. powdered sugar

2 t. cinnamon

1/3 C. milk

1. Mix butter and vanilla until well combined.

2. Add 2 C. of the powdered sugar, salt, coco powder, cinnamon and mix well.

3. Add the milk and mix again.

4. Continue to add powdered sugar until desired frosting consistency.


(If you would prefer a vanilla cinnamon butter cream, simply leave out the coco powder. You may need just a touch more powdered sugar.)

Summer Slush!

This slush might very well be the perfect way to enjoy a warm afternoon in your backyard. Not only is it easy to make, it is also very refreshing, kinda sorta maybe healthy and 100% Delicious!

1. Grab 5 bananas and mush them up in a big bowl real good. I even took my blender to it. Unless you like banana chunks, you will want to really mash em.
2. Add to this 1 can of frozen lemonade concentrate AND 1 can of frozen orange juice concentrate.
3. Pour in 4 cups of pure pineapple juice
4. Pour in 4 cups of water
5. Add 1 cup of sugar

Stir this up and transfer to a 1 gallon ice cream pail. Place in your deep freeze and try to stir it occasionally over the next 24 hours. After that time it is ready to serve. Scoop a couple of spoons into a glass and add sprite or 7 up. That's it.
* For large groups you could just dump half of the pail into a large bowl, add about half a litre of pop and stirred this up. It makes a great Slurpee texture.

There. Make it. Freeze it. Enjoy it!

S'more Recipes for Summer!

We hope that this Recipe link is useful to you all! Now that the Summer Holidays have officially begun, here are some fun ways to enjoy every bodies favorite summer time treat - S'mores!

Nothing really can beat a classic S'more that consists of: a graham cracker, a fire roasted marshmallow, and a decent sized chunk of chocolate. It has been my experience however, that we always, without fail... run out of chocolate. And usually before we've even managed to roast a single marshmallow! It's the strangest thing! No matter how much chocolate I come prepared with - it just disappears and we are left with plain old marshmallows and crackers. (Would you believe me if I blamed that on the kids?) We've recently begun using Nutella in place of chocolate bars, and here's why. Kids, (ok and parents to) can't eat it all up with one bite, it spreads easy, and you can slather as much of that stuff on as you'd like. That means MORE CHOCOLATE!!! (The yummy hint of hazelnut doesn't hurt either!)

Another fun S'more twist that we enjoy comes in the form of these delicious S'more Cookies! They are easy to make, taste like an actual s'more, AND your kids won't smell like Campfire after eating them! (see the baking instructions below)

There. Now it is your turn to SUBMIT YOUR FAVORITE SUMMER RECIPES. Just email me your tips at (cardstonsisters@gmail.com) and we'll post them here for everyone to enjoy! Happy Holidaying!




S’more Cookies:
Ingredients:
2 cups All-purpose Flour 1 cup Graham Cracker Crumbs
1 teaspoon Baking Soda 1 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Butter, Softened ¾ cups Sugar
¾ cups Brown Sugar 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2 Whole Eggs 1 cup Miniature Chocolate Chips
2 cups Miniature Marshmallows 3 whole Hershey's Bars, Chopped
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda, and salt. Whisk together. In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each one. Slowly mix in the flour mixture, beating until smooth. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto un greased cookie sheet.
Bake for 8 minutes and remove from oven. Push 3 or 4 marshmallows and a couple of pieces of chocolate into each cookie. Return to oven and bake an additional 3-4 minutes until cookie is cooked and marshmallows are beginning to brown. Cool cookies on wire rack.

Outback Steakhouse Bloomin Onion

4 Vidalia or Texas Sweet Onions

Batter:

1/3 cup cornstarch

1 1/2 cup flour

2 tsp. Garlic minced

2 tsp Paprika

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Pepper

24 oz Apple Juice (buttermilk or milk could be used)

Seasoned Flour:

2 cups flour

4 tsp paprika

2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp Pepper

1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper

Mix cornstarch, flour, and seasonings until well blended. Add apple juice. Mix well.

Cut about 3/4" off the top of the onion and peel. Cut into the onion 12-16 wedges, but do NOT cut through to the bottom (root) end. Remove a few of the center pedals of the onion. Dip onion in seasoned flour and remove excess by shaking. Separate petals and dip in batter to coat thoroughly. Gently place in fryer basket and deep-fry at 375-400 degrees for 1 1/2 minutes. Turn over, and fry an additional 1 1/2 minutes. Drain on paper towels.

Place onion upright in shallow bowl and remove center core with a circular cutter or apple corer. Serve Hot with Creamy Chili Sauce. (Dill and Ranch dip are both great as well!)

Creamy Chili Sauce:

1 pint Mayonnaise

1 pint Sour Cream

1/2 cup chili sauce

1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper

Youth Day Chili Burgers!

If you attended the ward picnic last weekend then you, no doubt, enjoyed the delicious Chili Burgers that Sister Pat Hegedus prepared. Thankfully, she was willing to share the recipe here for all of you. (After all, you never know when you are going to be asked to feed oh...50-100 PEOPLE!)

This recipe makes a LOT but it'll get eaten, don't worry about that. In fact, it just may be the perfect thing for your upcoming family reunion or Summer get together!

(Sister Hegedus served the meat on soft whole wheat buns, so really, imagine something almost like the picture above only soo much better!)

Chili Burgers - makes 50 - 60 servings

Brown 5 lb (2.3 KG) ground beef & 2 lb (1 KG) chopped onions

Add salt, pepper, & chili powder to taste

Sprinkle on 1/2 c. flour

Add 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce.

Stir in 20 oz (600ml) bottle of ketchup

Add equal of water (600 ml)

Simmer 1 hour

Add 2 lb grated potatoes and cook until thick.


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Comment: The grated potato took longer than I expected to cook soft enough so it wasn't seen in the mixture. Next time I might par-boil the potatoes (still whole) to half cook them before grating them for the mixture.

Homemade Rye Bread

"I have a recipe that is so good and economical and wondered if you would share it with the sisters. It is a deli-style rye bread. My husband loves it as do others who have tried it. Not only is it economical, but for those who can't have eggs or oil or sugar, it is very light and tasty." Sister Elaine Raymond

HOMEMADE RYE BREAD

6 c. lukewarm water
3 T. yeast
3 T. salt
3 T. caraway seeds
2-3 c. rye flour
8-10 c. white flour
cornmeal for sprinkling the pans

1. Mix yeast salt and caraway seeds with water in bowl. Mix in remaining dry ingredients. Do not knead.
Cover with towel and let rise about 2 hours (or it can be stored in fridge for up to 2 weeks.)
2. Dust surface with flour and divide into 4 pieces, dust each piece with flour and shape into an oval
shaped loaf. After sprinkling cornmeal on pans (I use pizza pans), let rise for about 40 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 450 and put a container of water on a rack for moisture.
4. Bake for 30 minutes.

NOTE: According to Sister Raymond, this recipe will make FOUR loaves. You could half it, if you preferred, but why would you want less? If I told you that this is a very famous recipe from New York would that convince you to try it?

It is! Go make this RIGHT NOW!

Kay's NEVER FAIL Sweet Rolls

Kay's Never Fail Sweet Rolls

Add 6 cups of warm water to a large bowl

Add 1 cup of sugar

Add 4 tablespoons regular yeast

Let rise for 10 minutes

Add 8 eggs, well beaten

Add 3 teaspoons salt

Add 1 cup vegetable oil or melted margarine

Add about 20 cups of flour (4 cups at a time) until you have a soft ball.

Knead well, let rise until double in size, form into buns, (or cinnamon buns if that is the case). Let rise again for about 1 hour or until double in size. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15-20 minutes.

NOTE: This recipe will make 4 dozen LARGE cinnamon buns.

REMEMBER: When cooking Cinnamon Buns do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT scimp on the butter and sugar!

Best Ever Homemade Doughnuts
(Courtesy of the Two Teaspoons)

6 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
4 cups hot tap water
¾ cup melted butter (only use real butter)

Directions

Combine and mix all the above ingredients. Then add:

4 cups flour and beat together.

Add 2 T self-rising yeast and 4 more cups of flour. Beat.

Add more flour as needed until the sticky dough pulls away from the sides of the mixer bowl (approx 2 cups). Dough should still be a bit sticky.

Once it pulls away from the bowl, beat for about 3 more minutes.

Oil a large bowl and put the dough in. Flip the dough over so bottom and top are greased and let dough raise for an hour in your warm kitchen. Cover with a tea towel.

FREEZER METHOD—if you do not want to make your doughnuts at this time, put the dough in a small bowl with a couple of layers of saran wrap covering it and put in your fridge for later. This will stop the rising process of the yeast. OR put the bowl of dough in the freezer. Or you can cut out the doughnuts, put them on a cookie sheet cover with saran and then in the fridge or freezer to be deep fried later. Just remember to let them come back to room temperature and then raise for 15 minutes before frying.

Lightly flour the kitchen counter and lay your risen dough on it. Lightly dust your rolling pin with flour and roll the dough out to about an inch thickness or roll it thinner for smaller sized doughnuts.

Using a doughnut cutter lightly dusted with flour, cut out doughnuts and let sit for about 15 minutes. Gather up the doughnut holes etc. and re-roll to make more doughnuts or you can let those sit for 15 minutes and fry those up as well.

Using an electric frying pan heat the vegetable oil to 400 degrees F. The pan should be filled with oil to a depth of at least 2 ½ inches or more. The frying doughnuts should not touch the bottom of the pan. Test the hot oil by putting a bit of dough in it to see if it sizzles.

Deep fry 4-6 doughnuts at a time or more if your pan is larger. When they are golden brown turn them over in the oil. Use two forks, chop sticks or tongs to handle the doughnuts.

Spread out newspaper of any kind on the counter beside your pan. Put your hot finished doughnuts on the newsprint, as it will absorb the excess grease nicely.

Glaze: (Premix before frying doughnuts)

1. Gently boil 1 cup of butter, 2 cups of white sugar, and 1 cup of milk for 2 minutes. Stir often and do not leave it unattended.

2. Cool the glaze off the stove for 15 minutes and then mix in 2 cups of icing sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp salt and beat well. (If you want your glaze to be thicker, just add more icing sugar, but the glaze should be drippy.

3. Drop the still warm doughnuts in the bowl of glaze one by one and flip over to coat both sides. Put them on a cooling rack that is sitting on a cookie sheet to catch the drips of the glaze. The drippings can be scraped back into the bowl of glaze to reuse.

Icing Doughnuts-- use only cooled doughnuts or the icing won’t stick properly. Mix up the icing in a bowl and lay the doughnut in the bowl with your fingers and then take right out. Only coat one side (add sprinkles, nuts, coconut, etc. if desired).

Chocolate Icing
1/3 cup butter
1 T milk
3 T cocoa
2 cups icing sugar
½ tsp vanilla
Beat until fluffy.