On Friday Nights we usually have pizza as a family. Homemade pizza is the best kind you could ever have!

So Hannah and I had the joy of making pizza the other night together. I love working with my sister Hannah. She is such a joy to be with, and she always knows how to get the job done while have fun doing it. I would like to share with you our family’s yummy pizza recipe.

My brothers are always going back for their fifth or sixth ( sometimes ninth or tenth ) with this recipe! What a blessing it is to serve my family in this way.

Here is the Recipe for Wilkes Team Pizza:

This recipe makes 2 pizza’s, we usually quadruple or quintet it.

3 cups ~ Flour

2 Tblsp. ~ Sugar

2 1/4 tsp. ~ Fast rising Yeast

1/2 tsp. ~ Salt

1 cup ~ Warm Water

2 Tblsp. ~ Oil

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 cup of the flour, sugar, undissolved yeast, and salt; blend well.

2. Gradually add water and oil to mixture. Blend at low speed until moistened, then beat for 2 minutes at medium speed. By hand, add 1 1/2 to 2 cups flour until dough pulls away from sides of bowl.

3. On floured surface, knead in 1/4 to 1/2 cup flour, until dough is smooth and elastic, Cover loosely with plastic and let rest in a warm place for about 15 minutes.

4. Press out dough onto (2) 12-inch pizza pans, pick randomly with a fork.

5. Brush crusts lightly with oil then prebake them in a 450 degrees oven for 5 minutes.

6. Top as desired, then bake again in 450 degree oven for 4-5 minutes, or until desired doneness.

~ Don’t forget to add your favorite toppings on top!:-)

This is a family favorite over here for the 4th of July. From the thin crust, creamy filling to the delicious fruit on top! We thought some of you might enjoy it too!

Pizza Crust:

Cream spread:

Then add your favorite fruit toppings and enjoy with your family and company!

Homemade Hot Cocoa 

____________________

1 cup of sugar

2/3 cup of cocoa

1/4 teaspoon of salt

8 cups of milk

2/3 cups of water

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine the sugar, cocoa and salt in a large pan. Stir in milk and water. Cook and stir over medium heat until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat and stir in extract. Serve in your favorite mugs with a few little marshmallows on top to finish it off. Yields: 10 servings (some of you may have to double it )

Mom prepared a family favorite casserole of venison burger and vegetables. When everything was ready, we dressed in hunting gear and sat down for a scrum-dilly-licious meal.

We learned a lot of valuable lessons this year. Several people gave us advice on how to hunt better. As a result, this was our best hunting season ever.

Venison Burger Casserole

In a 13x9x2 glass pan, spread 1 ½ pounds of ground venison, put in 2 small cans of green beans for the layer number 2, pour in 1-2 cans of tomato soup depending on how runny you prefer, and then spread about an inch of mashed potatoes on top. Sprinkle a little paprika seasoning for additional flavoring and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

When everything was finally ready we piled into the car and spent yesterday afternoon making the special deliveries. There was not enough time to make it to every house we wanted to so we may do a New Years Delivery too. I was encouraged by all the effort that was put into baking and shopping for needed supplies. Thank you Wilkes Team for the joy that you put into this special tradition. I can’t wait till next year.

NEVER FAIL FUDGE

5 cups of sugar
1 can of evaporated milk (12 oz.)
1/4LB. butter of margarine
12oz. Marshmallow puff
1 teaspoon salt
————————————————–
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 large packages (12 oz.) of Semi-sweet Chocolate chips

Combine first five ingredients in large sauce pan. Stir over low heat until blended.

Bring to boil over moderate heat  being careful not to mistake escaping air bubbles for boiling, THEN BOIL SLOWLY , STIRRING CONSTANTLY FOR 5 MINUTES.(use soft ball test)

Remove from heat, stir in chocolate and vanilla until chocolate is melted. Pour into 2 buttered 9 by 9 inch pans and cool.

Tips: I usually put the fudge in a 15 by 9 inch pan instead of two 9 by 9 inch pans. This will yield approximately 5 pounds.

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup of milk (any type of milk should be fine)

2. 2 tablespoons of sugar

3. 1 teaspoon of vanilla

4. 3 cups of ice cube

5. 1/4 cup of salt (any type of will work)

6. Add any extra flavors at this time. We like to add either strawberries or crumbled oreos.

In a quart size ziploc bag, mix together the milk, sugar and vanilla. Seal the bag tightly, without leaving lots of air inside (If you are a little concerned about it leaking out, feel free to tape it up!). In a gallon-sized ziploc bag, mix the ice and salt. Place the sealed quart-bag inside the gallon-sized one.

Now comes the teamwork part. For the next 10-15 minutes thoroughly shake the bags (the more the better). Continue until you have a milk-shake consistency. I have been blessed to have many helpers every time I make the ice cream. Everyone works hard for the tasty treat at the end. Usually, the end result is more like a milk-shake but still extra tasty!

With Thanksgiving coming right around the corner, all three of us decided to create our very own ‘Turkey.’ Using delicately sliced fruits and vegetables with toothpicks, we were able to construct a scrum-dilly-licious looking turkey. We learned some fun things about the turkey:

The frontal caruncle (the large growth that appears from the base of its bill) and the waddle (the skin underneath the turkey’s throat)change colors depending on their mood. When the male turkey struts around the waddle and caruncles become a bright red. When scared, the head take on a pale blue color. When the bird is butchered the head changes to a whitish blue.

The turkey demonstrates availability by preparing itself for the needs and demands of others. Early in the fall, the male turkey spends much time eating and storing up food in its body. Later in the fall, as the hens begin to lay their eggs, the male turkey sets aside his own agenda and needs so he may assist the ones he is called to serve. It listens for a yelp or cluck and then quickly runs to help. Later, after all the eggs have been laid, the Tom can begin to take care of his own needs once again.

That’s all for now – Joshua, Hannah, and Markie signing off!

Availability: Rejecting ambitions that hinder us from being where we are needed.  

Around this time of year as summer is coming quickly to a close and fall is approaching quite rapidly, canning seems to come to the forefronts of the Wilkes Team minds. Seeing peaches, apples, green beans, tomatoes, grapes etc. just seems to get us all excited about gathering and canning!

Before she passed away, Mommom ( mom’s mom) was always canning somthing and getting us to help her in the process when we were little. Grandpa and Grandma have told such fascinating stories about their growing up years living on farms and how they would provide just about all their food from off the land they tilled. We don’t want these next generations to lose these basic skills that our great grandparents and grandparents knew. We need to take action and ask them questions and seek them out and learn from them. 

Each and everyone of us are blessed with ones that have gone before us yet we seem to take them for granted. It is not until they are gone that we realize we did not take the time to glean from their wealth of knowledge. So lets take the time and learn from those who have gone before us! And if you have never learned to can fruits, meats and veggies here’s a great opportunity for you to ask your great grandma, grandma, or mom how they did it! I’m sure you will have a blast doing it, and maybe this could be your first recipie??

Peach Butter

18 medium peachers

4 cups of sugar

Wash and blanch peaches. Peel, pit, and slice in peaches in half. Put them in blender until  it reaches the consistence you want (Chunky to very smooth).

Put blended peaches in a large pot. Add the sugar. Cook until thick enough to round up on a spoon. As mixture thickens, stir frequentily to prevent sticking. Ladle hot peach butter into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch. headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 min. in a boiling-water canner. It yields about 4 pints. 

There has been number of requests for this incredible dish of chicken enchiladas so I thought I would put it up for you all to enjoy!

It yields about 6 servings (we usually double it) 

Cooking time: 1 hour 

  1. Make the sauce

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of butter             

 6 Tbsp of Flour

2 Tblsp of Chicken base

1/8 tsp of white pepper

3/8 tsp of Garlic, granulated

1/8 cumin4 cups of milk, warmed

2 & 3/4 oz. of green chilies

Melt butter in saucepan. Add flour and whisk until smooth. Add chicken base and spices. Cook on very low heat for 5 minutes. Add milk while stirring with whisk. Bring to a full boil. Decrease heat to low and cook 2 minutes. Add green chilies. 

 2. Sauté 2/3 cup of diced onion. Set aside in a bowl. 

 3. Fill the tortillas!  

12  6″ flour tortillas

For filling the tortillas add the next 8 ingredients to onion in bowl.

3 cups of 1/2″ diced cooked chicken

6Tbsp (3 oz.) Sour cream1 oz. of green chilies

1 tsp. of salt

1/8 tsp of white pepper

1/4 tsp of garlic, granulated

1/4 tsp of Chili powder

3/4 cup (3oz.) Shredded cheddar cheese

  5. Add 2/3 cup of white sauce to filling.

Portion 1/4-cup scoops of filling onto flour tortillas. Roll up tightly!

 6. Assemble all into the 9″x13″ baking dish 

Pour 1 cup of white sauce in bottom of greased backing dish

.Placed filled tortillas in pan, seam side down.Pour remaining sauce on top of tortillas: 2/14 cups.

Cover with foil.

  7. Baking instructions

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 -45 min. or until hot and bubbly.

  8. Uncover enchiladas and add  1 1/2 cups of Shredded cheese to top. Then bake uncovered for 5 -10 min.

Extra sour cream and salsa make great toppings for it too!

Enjoy! 

Our local weatherman, who we call up almost daily to hear his recorded daily forecast, informed us of today’s holiday early this morning. So in the spirit of good family fun and memory making, our favorite cook, Mom, baked up another one of her famous batches of banana bread (in the form of delectable, quaint muffins). So, with that said, my 4 favorite cooks would like to share one of their favorite recipies for Banana Bread! We’re sure you will enjoy!

Sunrise Banana Muffins (taken from one of Mom’s favorite cook books, the “No-Guesswork Cooking.”)

1. 3 Medium bananas (1 3/4 C. mashed)
   _____________________________
2. 2 Eggs
3. 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
4. 1/3 Cups Oil
5. 1/2 cup of honey (we actually did without on this today)
6. 2 Tbsp Buttermilk (this actually equals 1oz!)
   _____________________________
7. 2 cups whole wheat flour
8. 1 Tbsp Baking Powder
9. 1/2 tsp Salt
10. 1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
    _____________________________
11. 1/4 cup Pecans (for those who prefer a more crunchy and nutty taste)

Now, Add all the wet ingredients (section 2) to your mashed bananas. In a seperate bowl combine the dry ingredients and then add to liquid mixture. Mix with a spoon until smooth. If using nuts, fold them into the batter at this time. Then divide the batter into greased muffin pans and bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes.

Fun, A-peal-ing Banana Tid Bits:

Did you know that the banana is actually the world’s largest herb, and is a member of the lily family? (Luke 12:27 Consider the lilies how they grow…)

For some timely advice on storing bananas, please visit our favorite family blog site, www.staddonfamily.com and go to the Banana Post!

May you enjoy many more fun Banana Bread Days!

Scrumptously Yours, The Wilkes Team cooks……and their eager supporters! “…every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”

 For more exciting information and pictures of the banana plant, go to Dole5ADay.