Cream Cheese Frosting

My mom gave me this super easy recipe for Cream Cheese Frosting. I used it for decorating Cut-out cookies but it can used for pretty much anything like pumpkin rolls or carrot cake or anything you like with cream cheese frosting!

1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
2 T. butter, softened (real butter tastes the best)
1 t. vanilla
powdered sugar to desired consistency (approx. 1 cup for pumpkin roll, approx. 3 cups to decorate cookies)

Whip cream cheese and butter together. Add vanilla and whip again. Add powdered sugar. Allow to whip together well.

Ham Bone Soup

In crock pot combine:
1 ham bone (with small amount of meat still on it) and broth or 1 ham hock
1 rib of celery, chopped with leaves
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 lb. dry pinto beans that have been washed
optional – 1 whole hot pepper (chop, if high heat is desired)

Cover all with water to an inch or so from the top of crock. Cook on high all day (5-6 hours). Taste test broth. Depending on amount of salt in ham, salt may need to be added as beans absorb salt. Before serving, remove ham bone. Allow bone to cool about 10 minutes. Remove meat, cutting into bite-sized pieces and adding back into the crockpot.

Good served with crusty cornbread, baked in a cast iron skillet.

Whole Wheat Bread

1 1/2 c. boiling water
4 tsp. salt
6 TB shortening
1/2 c. honey
1/2 c. brown sugar
3 1/2 TB yeast
2 c. warm water
2 eggs
2 c. whole wheat flour
9 c. white flour

• Combine boiling water, salt, shortening, honey and brown sugar.
  
• Dissolve yeast in warm water
• After honey mixture is cooled to lukewarm, add yeast, eggs and whole wheat flour + 3 c. of white flour; mix for 2 minutes.
  
• Gradually stir in 6 more cups of white flour. Dough should be sticky, but let it rest for 20 minutes, then pour some oil over the top and gradually knead until oil is absorbed.
  
• Turn dough over in the bowl, cover and let rest for 1 hour.
  
• Form into 4 loaves; put in pans and let rise for 20 minutes.
  
• Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
  

*Debbie's notes:
This is a really good recipe, but the key is to not get too much flour in it. The dough has to be sticky when you first let it rise. As it is, the recipe doesn't use much whole wheat flour. I like more, so I increase the amount of whole wheat to 3 or 4 cups. If I do that, then I usually will decrease the white flour by a cup or cup and a half, since the wheat is more coarse and the recipe will require less flour in general. So, if using 4 cups of whole wheat then I would use only 5 1/2- 6 cups of white flour.

Also: make sure that the honey mixture is cool before adding the yeast mixture. Excessive heat can cause the yeast to die and the bread doesn't rise. (Much anger and flat bread to go around.)

A good addition to this recipe is rosemary and sea salt. =) Beat an egg and add fresh chopped rosemary to it. When you make your loaf, before it starts to rise, brush the egg/rosemary mixture over the top and then grind sea salt over it. You can also knead rosemary into the loaf.