A Recipe for 'Sweet' Family Home Evenings

Six Essential Ingredients
1. A Pinch of Prayer - Always start and end with a prayer. The old saying is still true, "The family that prays together stays together!"
2. Add a Good Lesson - Children tend to stay focused if the lesson grabs and keeps their attention.
3. Pour In a Flavor of Fun - A fun activity during or after the lesson will keep your children looking forward to your weekly family home evenings.
4. Stir Quickly - Keep your lessons short. A good rule of thumb is that you have about one minute of attention span for every year of the child's age. A ten year-old has about 10 minutes of good attention span.
5. Add Something Sweet - It's always fun to have refreshments. Family members can take turns preparing something delicious for after the lesson
6. Stir In Lots of Love - This is what children need most. It's what families provide best! If children know they are loved they will feel safe and content. (And don't forget patience. Remember, they're just kids!)

Recipes from Visiting Teaching Night

Here are some of the recipes that I have received from the Visit and Serve Night. I will post the others as I get them.

Potato Pearl Rolls

2 pkg. yeast (5 tsp)
1/4 c warm water
2 c milk
3/4 c sugar
1/2 c shortening
1/3 c potato pearls
2 eggs
2 tsp salt
8 c flour (approximately)

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Scald milk, sugar and shortening and set aside. Mix potato pearls with hot water to equal one cup. When milk mixture has cooled to lukewarm, mix with potato water, yeast, eggs and salt. Add about 8 cups flour. Knead until smooth and elastic. Raise until double. Punch down, roll out 1/2 inch thick. Cut in 3 to 3 1/2 inch circles. Fold in half, pinch edges together. Place on greased cookie sheet. Raise until double (approx. 45 minutes). Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes.
Makes 3 1/2 dozen.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Suzi Webster

3 C. Pumpkin
6 eggs
1 1/2 C. Canola oil
4 1/2 C. Sugar
3 tsp. Baking Soda
2 tsp. Salt
1 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. Nutmeg
1 1/2 C. Water
4 2/3 C. Flour
1 1/2 C. Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips

Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl. In a separate bowl mix all wet ingredients. Combine and mix ingredients from both bowls. Pour into greased pans. Bake for 60-70 min.
Makes 9 mini loaves, or 4 large loaves.

Strawberry Bread

Suzi Webster

3 C. Flour
1 tsp. Baking soda
1 tsp. Salt
1 1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
4 Eggs
1 C. Vegetable Oil
2 C. Fresh Strawberries or 16 oz. frozen
1 1/4 C. Chopped Walnuts

In a large bowl, combine first 5 ingredients. Add eggs and oil and mix well. Stir in strawberries and nuts until evenly distributed. (You can mash the strawberries first for a more even consistency or leave them whole for larger pieces in the finished bread). Grease and flour 2 9x5x3 inch loaf pans. Divide batter between pans and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Cool in pan 10 min. before turning out on rack.

Rosemary Focaccia Bread

Kristina Pendleton

Stir together. Allow to get bubbly:
1 Tbl. Yeast
1 Tbl. Sugar
1 C. Warm water

Stir into yeast mixture:
1 tsp. Salt
1 Tbl. Butter
2 C. Flour

Then add:
2 Tbl. Fresh chopped Rosemary

Knead 19 min. adding additional flour as needed. Oil bowl. Let rise til doubled (1 hour) covered with a towel. Punch down and divide in half. Shape into 2 round loaves and place on sprayed shortening cookie sheet. Butter tops of dough and sprinkle on crushed sea salt and minced rosemary. Cover again with towel and let rise til doubled (45 min. - 1 hour).
Bake at 375 for 15-20 min. til golden brown. Cool on rack.

Cottage Cheese Dinner Rolls

Andrea Conner

3-6 tsp. Water
1 large Egg
3 Tbsp. Honey
1 1/2 C. Cottage Cheese
1 1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
3 C. Whole Wheat Flour
2 1/4 tsp. Active Dry Yeast

Mix in bread mixer.(optional)
Let stand 5 min. on floured surface.
Divide into 12 portions, roll into balls and place into greased 9" baking pan. Cover with cloth until doubled in size, about 30 min.
Glaze tops of rolls with egg whites.
Bake at 350 for 20-25 min.