Because sometimes you just want a super easy savory quick bread for dinner.  Truly, what could be better than cheese bread?

2 eggs, slightly beaten
3 cups milk
7 1/2 cups Bisquick
1 1/2 cups sharp cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two loaf pans WELL. Blend together eggs and milk. Stir in Bisquick and cheese. Blend well, but don’t give in to over-beating it. Pour into loaf pans. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.

This is a family favorite. Be careful not to over-stir after adding the dry ingredients to the wet. (And don’t be foolish like I was last time I made this and add the dry ingredients before the milk and egg and don’t skip the mashing the banana before adding step)

Oatmeal Banana Bread

2 cups Bisquick
1 cup quick cooking rolled oats
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
2 large ripe bananas, mashed, (about 1 cup)

Combine biscuit mix and oatmeal; set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time; stir in the bananas and milk. Add dry ingredients all at once, stirring just until moistened. Put batter into a greased and floured 9×5x3-inch loaf pan. Bake at 350° for 35 to 45 minutes.

I have to confess, winter brings the desire for lots and lots of baked goods. It unfortunately doesn’t bring me time and energy to bake. This means I sometimes cheat by starting with Bisquick or refrigerated dough. Here is an example:

Spicy Apple Twists

2 large apples, peeled and cored
1 can refrigerated crescent rolls
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400.

Cut each apple into eight pieces. Unroll crescent roll dough; separate into 8 triangles. Cut each in half lengthwise to make 16 triangle strips. Place an apple piece at wide end of each strip. Arrange in 9″ square pan. Drizzle with butter; sprinkle with mixture of sugar and cinnamon. Pour orange juice into pan but not over dumplings.

Bake at 400 for 30-35 minutes until apples are tender. Serve warm, plain or with cream.

Now, some folks like cornbread dressing for Thanksgiving, in fact they wouldn’t consider anything else. Now, I tend to go a bit wild with the stuffing and make several different types for the holiday, but you could easily stick to just this one.

Cornbread Dressing

4 cups breadcrumbs (leftover biscuits, rolls or loaf bread)
4 cups egg cornbread (use eggs to make, use white meal)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon sage (optional)
3 cups chicken or turkey broth
1/3 cup butter or margarine
1 cup milk

Toast bread for crumbs. Crumble in large bowl. Add onion, celery, and seasonings. Add hot broth to make soft mixture. Mix well. Add butter and milk. Mixture should be very soft to allow for loss of moisture during baking. Add more broth if necessary. Pour into greased pan and bake at 350 for about 1 hour until well browned. (Source: Southern Living Party Cookbook, 1972)

Just a quickie convenience food that is as retro as it is modern. (note the expensive versions in your freezer case)

1 80z can crescent rolls
2 cups mushroom slices
1/4 cup margarine, melted
Grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp marjoram

Separate dough into triangles. Place on ungreased 12 inch pizza pan. Press out dough to fit pan. Toss mushrooms with margarine. Arrange on dough. Sprinkle with marjoram and cheese. Bake at 375 F. for 20-25 minutes.

These are very easy and incredibly convenient. Instead of grabbing the pricey ones out of the dairy case or the ones out of the freezer case…try keeping these on hand. It calls for Crisco but you can use butter instead.

Ice Box Biscuits

4 cups self rising flour
2 eggs beaten with
1 1/4 c milk
1 c Crisco

Work flour and Crisco, add milk and eggs, knead lightly using flour on board, roll thing. Cut biscuits, place on floured tin, freeze. Store in plastic bag and use as needed. Put in cold oven set at 400 degrees F. Bake until done. Brown quickly

This bread truly makes me swoon. I hadn’t thought about it in quite some time but merely running across the recipe…I could eat several loaves immediately. Seriously WONDERFUL. It really is easy. Do not fear the yeast bread!

Dilly Bread

1 pkg. yeast
1 c. creamed style cottage cheese, heated to lukewarm
1 tbs. instant minced onion
2 tsp. dill seed
1/4 c. warm water
2 tbs. sugar
1 tbs. butter
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. soda
2 1/4-2 1/2 c. flour

Soften yeast in water, mix all ingredients in bowl. Work well, let rise until light-about 1 hour. Knead again. Place in buttered 2 qt round casserole. Let rise until light-about 45 minutes. Cook at 350 degrees about 45 minutes. Brush with butter and sprinkle with salt. 1/2 tsp. garlic powder may be added to the above if desired. ~Betty Kittrell

I may have mentioned before that I love biscuits. Liz mentioned that hush puppies were a true food of the south, but they have nothing on biscuits. Of course, this recipe mentions one of those Yankee states…not New York but still…in any case, biscuits are super easy, inexpensive and YUMMY. Don’t over-mix.

Cheese Biscuits

2 cups Wisconsin cheese (Sharp), grated
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon salt

Blend cheese and butter. Add flour and salt. Roll into balls like marbles. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

You can buy a mix for these. You can…and the mix is even fairly cheap, but so is buying some corn meal and having these whenever you want. These are simple, easy and popular…delicious served with fish of course, but also with just about anything.

Hush Puppies

1 egg
1 cup milk
1 1/4 cups corn meal
3/4 cup of flour
5 teaspoons baking powder
salt to taste
finely chopped onion, to taste
Beat the egg and add milk to egg. Add remaining ingredients and stir well. Drop by ice teaspoonfuls into deep boiling fat. Remove when golden brown and drain well.

I am incredibly fond of rolls, good rolls. Unfortunately, these seem harder and harder to find. Fortunately there are solutions…like dragging myself into the kitchen and making some.

These are good ones to make to have on hand…you see…after the first rise…you keep the dough in the fridge and then you can make rolls as needed. Imagine…fresh, hot rolls every day for say…a week. Of course, you can make the whole batch at once and gorge feed your family. Much nicer than store-bought rolls and with ingredients you have on hand.
Mary Jane’s Ice Box Rolls

1 yeast cake (or packet of yeast)
1 cup sugar
1 teasp salt
2 cups luke warm wter
2 eggs
7 cups flour
3/4 cup melted shortening

Crumble yeast in large mixing bowl, add sugar, salt, and lukewarm water. Add well-beaten eggs–add 3 1/2 cups flour and beat the mixture. Add melted butter and and shortening. Beat rest of flour in. Grease top of dough and cover. Let stand in moderately warm place for 2 hours. Punch down dough. Place in refrigerator overnight. When ready to use-remove dough from refrigerator, allow to warm to room temperature. Form into rolls. Place on well greased baking sheet and let rise. Bake at 450 for ~ 15 min.