Donut Recipe

So I've had a couple of requests for this donut recipe. The original recipe that I was taught makes 12 dozen donuts. TWELVE DOZEN! So I tried to quarter it and I was putting off posting it to see if "Our Best Bites" came out with a better smaller recipe. Anyway, here's the original and my atempt to quarter it. They still turned out really good but not quite the same as the ones made in the class when the original recipe was used.

Original:
*Makes 12 Dozen
2 Cups water
5 Tbl regular Yeast
6 Cups milk (2 (14oz) cans evaporated milk + enough water to make 6 cups)
2 Cups sugar
8 tsp. salt (2 Tbl + 2 tsp.)
20-22 Cups flour
2 Cups shortening
8 eggs

Glaze
Mix powdered sugar and hot water to consistency of crepe mix. Add a little yellow food coloring and lemon extract.
Glaze while warm.

Instructions
Mix all together. Let rise twice. Roll out onto floured surface to 1/2 - 3/4 inch thickness. Cut with round cutter. Press center down with thumb. Cut center out with small round cutter. Stretch donut a little, place bottom side down onto floured wax paper or surface. Let rise till light and airy.
Deep fry in canola oil heated to 375
Turn when barely brown with wooden spoon handle.
Let oil drip over pan. Place on brown paper bag till warm enough to touch, then dip in glaze and set on cooling rack with drip pan underneath.

Quartered:
*Makes 3 Dozen
1/2 Cup water
3 3/4 tsp regular Yeast
1 1/2 Cups milk (1, 5 oz can evaporated milk + enough water to make 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 Cup sugar
2 tsp. salt
5-6 Cups flour
1/2 Cup shortening
2 eggs

Give it a try!

Sugar High

That's right! Homemade donuts.......mmmmmmmmm

Fire Station

Last week Johnny had his first field trip of the year and for once got to go to the Fire Station as more than a tag along. It was a different station than we usually go to and the fire fighter who gave us the tour even gave the kids a little ride in the truck which he is still talking about. Johnny was always right up in the front of the group, paying close attention. Until the fire fighter started to put on all of his gear and Johnny slowly started creeping to the back of the group. Apparently he was scared of the guy all dressed up which is interesting since the whole reason he put it all on was to show them that he wasn't scary. The last few years he's gone he never had a problem with it and thought the guy was pretty cool all dressed up. Go figure.

It took a marshmallow bribe to get him to stand next to him for a picture and to try on his coat.

Best of the Beach!

Brad and I had the chance this past weekend to go and watch a "Best of the Beach" AVP volleyball tournament. Although it actually took place in the desert rather than the beach. They dumped a couple of feet of fine white sand in the middle of the Mandalay Bay parking lot in Las Vegas Nevada and created a little beach all their own. We spent our mornings at the Cancun Resort (below) which was nice and relaxing.

And our evenings were filled with bumps, sets and spikes.

Below is Phil Dalhausser, this year's King of the Beach.

Court side seats! It was so cool to be so close to the players.

Our first night there we did take the opportunity to catch The Variety Show out on the strip.

My favorite part of the show was Fast Wally, the juggler and host.


It was such a great weekend!

CUTE

This is my CUTE daughter

This is the CUTE skirt I made her

And these are her CUTE new school shoes

SO CUTE!

A little Labor, a lot of Leisure

Since the kids had both Friday and Monday off over Labor Day weekend we figured it'd be the perfect time to take off for the cabin. While we did fit in a little bit of wood hauling, the guys (Brad & Dad) took it upon themselves to preform most of the labor and the rest of us got to leisure at our will.

Here are a few highlights...
Marshmallow roasting is always a must!

A bear hunt.
Alex put in a request for a bunny hunt next time around
so she wouldn't be so scared afterward.

4 wheel rides

("day are willy mut fasta dan duh whino wides" - Johnny)

Sipping hot chocolate on the porch in the mornings

Just hanging out and forgetting about the to do list waiting for us back at home.

Teamwork!

We have a Wii game called "Outdoor Adventure" where you can jump rope, run races, rock climb, kayak and much more. One "adventure" the kids like in particular is the mine cart race where you have to lean in the direction the track is curving to keep your cart from falling off of the track. When you start the game you have the option of playing by yourself, playing competitively or using teamwork. On this occasion both boys wanted to play and so I chose "teamwork" and they ended up at the mine carts. At first I wasn't sure how this would turn out but after working out a few kinks we saw that they figured it out on there own. We'll have to get them to play it again some time when we have a video recorder handy. We were trying not to laugh too hard to make them self-conscious of what they were doing but it was quite a sight to see.

Nice teamwork boys!