A Sandwich Bread Tutorial

I told myself that I had to sit down today and write this post since I took the pictures for it already!

Since I got my KitchenAid Mixer and got over my fear of making bread I have been making it weekly.  I am proud to say that I have not bought a single loaf of bread since Christmas!

I use a recipe that I found on hubpages.  Easy to follow directions, and the bread turns out great everytime.  I went to pull up my recipe last week, and I could not find it  Cue panic!

Luckily, I had written the recipe down, but I like to have pretty pictures to follow along with, so I thought I would do a post about it, and then I can always find my recipe and pictures.  :)  This recipe will make two loaves.

Ingredients

1/2 cup milk
3 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp butter
2 packages active dry yeast (or 4.5 tsp of bulk yeast)
1.5 cups warm water (105*- 115*F)
5-6 cups flour (I use 5.5)

Combine your milk, sugar, salt and butter in a pot on low heat until the butter meats.  Cool to lukewarm (105-115*)  A digital thermometer is your best friend when making bread.  You can do it without, I find it much easier to use one though.

Warm your mixing bowl by swirling hot water and dumping it.  Add 1.5 cups warm water and dissolve yeast in it.  Whisk it up with a fork to help it along.  It will start to look like this pretty quickly.

Add your lukewarm milk mixture and 4.5 cups of the flour to the bowl.  Attach your dough hook and mix at the lowest speed for two minutes.
Continue mixing at the same speed while adding the rest of the flour (5.5 cups is what I use).  Add 1/2 cup at a time until the dough clears the sides of the bowl and sticks to the hook.  Continue to knead for another 3-5 minutes after this until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Turn your dough in to a large greased bowl.  You want to actually put your dough in the bowl, turn it in a circle and then flip it.

You will cover the bowl and set it to rise for an hour. You can use either plastic wrap or a clean dish towel. It needs to be in a warm area free from drafts.  If you put it in your oven with the light on this is the best place.  This next picture is after the rise!

Punch your dough down a couple of times to release air.  Divide it in half.  You can use a kitchen scale if you want to be precise, I normally just eyeball it.

Sprinkle your work surface with flour.  One ball at a time roll out to approximately 9"x14"

Now you fold it into thirds along the long edge. Wipe off excess flour and then tightly roll dough up.  Pinch the seams and the ends.

Put in two greased loaf pans seam side down.  Cover and rise again until doubled.  This usually takes another hour.  The next two photos are before and after the rise.

Remove the pans from the oven and then heat the oven to 400*.  Bake for 30 minutes until they are golden brown.

Take the loaves out of the pans right away and cool on wire racks.  You know that your loaves are done when you tap the bottom and it sounds hollow.  Enjoy!

Bruschetta Chicken and I miss summer

I miss summer.  As I look out my window at all the snow, and feel the -23*C (-32with windchill), I can imagine the warm sun and green grass.

I am itching to get in to my gardens.  Unfortunately, we have at least another two and a half to three months of winter left to get through.

So, I decided to bring a little summer to our dinner, and make bruschetta chicken.  I had to go out and buy the tomatoes and basil instead of plucking it from the garden, but it was still good eats.

You can do your chicken however you want, grilled, roasted, pan fried.  I wanted to grill, but did not want to shovel off the BBQ, so roasting it was.  I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  The meal was finished off with some cheesy potatoes, and steamed green beans and broccoli.  It was all gobbled up.

I am not a fan of raw onions, as in if I get any in my mouth I cannot choke it down, I start gagging and have to spit it out, so my bruschetta recipe does not have onions.  If you want to know how I make the rest for bruschetta, scroll to below the photo.

Bruschetta (this makes a large batch, you can easily half the recipe)

6 or 7 ripe roma tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
6-8 fresh basil leaves chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Start by destemming and deseeding your tomatoes, then chop in small pieces.  Some people will remove the skins, I never have, and honestly, I don't notice much of a difference whether they are on or off.

Mix in all other ingredients and let it sit while you prepare the chicken.  The longer it sits, the more the tomatoes take up the yummy balsamic flavouring.

Salt and pepper your chicken and prepare how you like.  I baked mine covered at 350 for about a half hour.
When it is done plate it and add your bruschetta mix to the top.  And voila!

To make bruschetta:

Make your tomato mix and let it sit.
Take a loaf of small crusty bread and cut on a diagonal.  Brush olive oil on one side of the bread and put on a cookie sheet, oil side down.

Toast at 450* for 4-6 minutes, until the bottoms are a slight toasty brown.  Arrange bread on a plate toasted side up and either add toppings or keep the bowl out beside the bread for people to load themselves.

A Delicious New Cookie

I had a couple of browning bananas sitting on my counter that I needed to use, and I wanted to dry something different instead of the same old banana bread.

I thought, how about a banana cookie of some sort.  So I went searching, and found a recipe for banana chocolate chip cookies.  It didn't look too hard, and who doesn't like chocolate chips?

Oh my goodness, they are delicious, like little soft banana cakes!  I am not a huge sweets/dessert eater, but even I had to have more than one!

They lasted a total of three days, and I have already had a request to bake some more!

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup butter softened
1 cup mashed bananas (I used three in this recipe)
2 large eggs
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup white granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
4 1/2 cups flour
1 12oz bag chocolate chips (I used chocolate chunks dh had brought home from work and ended up using two cups)

In a large mixing bowl combine the butter and banana.  Add the brown and white sugars in and cream together.  Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until just mixed.  Add the flour, baking soda and salt and mix well.    Add the chocolate chips and make sure they are mixed in well.

Use a small scoop to scoop on to an ungreased cookie sheet.  They should be about 2" apart.  Warning, the batter will be sticky, if you need to use your fingers try really hard not to lick them clean!

Bake at 325* for 13-14 minutes, or until bottoms are a light brown.  Let stand on cookie sheet for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

If you need to stack them to store, use a piece of wax paper in between layers or they will stick together.

You have to try one of these when they are cooled down just enough to eat.  The chocolate chips are all melty and warm, so good!

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Wow, I know I said it in my last post, but I have been a bad blogger!  I am going to be better, I promise!  Now that summer is over and the kids are in school I am hoping to have some more time to myself.

Oct 14th was Canadian Thanksgiving, and turkey dinner was hosted at our house.  We always do a full spread (that I forgot to take a picture of).  The day was eventful to say the least (think exploding toilet and full septic tank)  but all turned out well in the end.

Do you have canned cranberry sauce with your delicious turkey dinners?  We used to, until two years ago when I decided that I wanted to try to make it.  After looking on the back of a package of cranberries and seeing how easy it was I thought I would give it a go.  Seriously, it only takes about 15 minutes to do.

OMG, it is so much better than the canned.  You can add all sorts of different things to it, but I like mine plain and simple.  I bought organic local cranberries this year, and so did not have the recipe handy to make, so I had to go searching the internet to find one.  This is also how I found out about all the different things you can add to the sauce.

This is all you need, plus a pot.

Cranberry Sauce
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
4 cups cranberries washed

Combine your water and sugar and bring it to a boil.  Add berries and return to a boil.  Reduce heat and gently boil for ten minutes.  You will hear them popping, like Rice Krispies but cranberry style!

After ten minutes remove from heat and cool to room temperature.  After it is cooled put it in to the bowl I will be serving it in and refrigerate until it is dinner time!  I always make it the day before as well.

Muffin Tin Meals

Man oh man, I did not realize that it had been so long since I had posted.  Blame it on life I guess.  Hopefully now that the boys are done school for the summer and the daycare kids are gone I will have more time.

Have you ever cooked meals in your muffin tins?  I have recently discovered this novel way to make indivdual meals, and the boys love it!

The most recent thing I made was on Fathers Day, breakfast "muffins".  My husband is a huge fan of these, I always make extras to keep in the fridge so he can pop them in the microwave and eat them for breakfast on the way to work.

I will warn you that the muffin tin is a pain to clean afterwords, I have used butter, and oil to coat the tin and it still sticks.  I might try using muffin papers next time.

They are very versatile, add in whatever fillings you want.  This time around I used bacon, jalapeno pepper, tomato, fresh basil and cheddar cheese.

You will need:
8 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
3. Whisk together eggs, milk, oil and baking powder.  Season with salt and pepper.
4. Lightly spray a 12-cupcake pan with oil. Spoon your ingredients (I used bacon, tomato, basil and jalapeno) evenly into each cupcake.

5. Ladle the egg mixture over your other ingredients.
 6. Sprinkle with cheese.

7. Bake for 15-20 minutes.  This is how they will look when they come out.

I have tried a couple of other meals in the tins as well, mini meatloaves, which take a lot less time to cook than a full sized loaf!  There is also this recipe for mini chicken pot pies, they are really good! Mini Chicken Pot Pie

A great way to use up leftover meat (and other ramblings)

Geez, I am looking at the last time I wrote a post, I am being a bad blogger already!

I will blame it on being busy in the gardens, spring has officially sprung in my area, I have tulips, and daffodils, and hyacinths and many others as well.  But with spring comes spring cleaning in the gardens, and that is what I have spent most of last week doing.

Another "project" I  am working on is using up everything in my freezer.  I always buy a lot of meat when it is on sale, and my freezer was becoming a little bit of a bottomless pit.  So I made myself commit to a good solid two weeks of not buying any meat while grocery shopping, and using only what was in my freezer.  I am at the end of this two weeks now, and I am happy to say that I did not cheat!  I am down to a manageable freezer that has only frozen tomatoes from last years garden (used in place of canned tomatoes), waffles, and chicken breasts.

One of my meals involved cooking a ham that I had purchased after Christmas when they were really cheap.  now a large ham for four of us was going to be too much meat, but I figured a day or two of leftovers, then freezing the rest for later use would be good.

In my search for recipes to use up some of the meat, most of what I came across was soups.  We are not huge soup eaters around here, so I decided to make up my own recipe.

Making up a meal as you go can be a daunting task for some people, I actually enjoy it.  And I have a hubby who will eat mostly anything I put in front of him so that makes it a little easier.  I must say that the end result was delicious, all my boys loved it.  You can also use pretty much any kind of meat leftovers you are trying to use up, you may have to switch up the soup though.

Ham and Pasta Casserole

Ingredients:
chopped, cooked ham
pasta cooked al dente
garlic, minced
veggies of choice (I used asparagus and broccoli)
Cream of Cheddar soup
one soup can of milk
Spices
Cheese to grate on top (optional)

I first started by cooking my pasta and setting it aside.
Cut up your vegetables in to bite sized pieces, I used asparagus that needed to get used up as well as broccoli.  Sautee with minced garlic in a litlle bit of olive oil.

Mix your cream soup (I used cheddar) with one soup can of milk.  Add seasonings.  I used some seasoning salt, pepper and basil.  Add in your ham and pasta, and vegetables once sauteed.

 Mix it all together and bake in the oven at 350* for about a half hour.  *I use a lid or I find that the pasta can get kind of dry.

At the end of the half hour I grated cheese over top and mixed it in and put it back in the oven, lid off, for another ten minutes (or until cheese is bubbly).
The cheese I used was a Jalapeno cheddar.  If you like a little hint of heat, use this!

Stir Fry

Who doesn't love a good stir fry?  It is a healthy meal, fairly quick to cook up, and the leftovers are great for lunch the next day.

The only time consuming part is cutting everything up.  I try to get that done in the afternoon so all I have to do is cook up the rice or noodles, and cook the stir fry itself.

I decided to go with a chicken stir fry for dinner, adding in lots of veggies so the boys could pick out the ones they like.

 My go to veggies are normally red pepper, mushroom, celery, snow peas, ginger and garlic.  Sometimes I will throw some carrot and broccoli in there too.

I find it easiest to cook the meat up first and remove it from the pan, then cook the vegetables and add the meat back in when you add the sauce.

Ahhh, the sauce.  That is always my biggest problem is what kind of sauce to use.  I used to buy the PC Memories sauces and use them, but I have been making my own for quite a while now.

I found a great list of basic stir fry sauces  from food and family, and have pinned it for future reference.  I used the soy sesame sauce for my stir fry. 

Homemade sauces are quick and easy to whip up, and you most likely have the ingredients in your pantry already.

Soy Sesame Sauce

1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup soy sauce
4 tsp. rice wine vinegar
4 tsp. toasted sesame oil
2 tsp. hot red pepper flakes (next time I would use 1/2 tsp or less)
2 tsp. sugar

**One thing I must note is that if you have anyone who doesn't like hot to cut back on the amount of chili flakes used.  I cut back to 1 tsp and it was still too hot for my sons.

After cooking my veggies I added the chicken back in and added my rice noodles.  Then I added the sauce and mixed and simmered for a couple of minutes while I set the table and got little hands washed.

The finished product!

Cranberry Apple Pork Loin Roast

I do not cook pork a lot.  I do not mind the meat itself, it is just that I always over cook it, doesn't matter if I roast it or pan fry it.  I recently found a recipe for crock pot pork chops (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-pork-chops-ii/) and they were amazing!  So the crockpot has become my new pork cooking tool.

I had a pork loin roast in the fridge and I was perusing recipes for the crock pot to figure out what I was going to do with it.  I found this  pork loin recipe    and thought it was worth a try.  I have to admit to being a little skeptical of the ingredients.  I was fine with the apple and cranberry, I thought that the juice and brown sugar would make the recipe too sweet.  But, I am always up for trying something new, so I gave it a go.

I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by this recipe, it was quite good, and very little prep work.  I minced fresh garlic because that was what I had on hand, but if you have the pre minced garlic in a jar it is even faster.

Your ingredients:

• 1 (3 to 4 lb) boneless pork loin roast
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can whole cranberry sauce
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1/2 c apple juice
• 2 apples, cored, peeled and coarsely chopped
• salt and pepper to taste 

(I am paraphrasing here since I found the instructions a little vague)
Place your roast in the crockpot.  Rub the roast all over with the minced garlic.  Add remaining ingredients by sprinkling around and on top of the roast.  Cook on low for approximately 7 hours.  Your pork will be done when it reaches 160*.

The pork came out so tender I barely needed a knife to cut it.  I served it with roast potatoes and roasted asparagus.  It was delicious, and my pickiest eater had seconds of the meat.  All in all it was a hit.

Baked Potato Casserole

I have been craving potatoes all day, but have been busy working around the house, so did not have time to plan out and cook a big meal.  I also forgot to take any meat out of the freezer, so I was left with few choices of something that would defrost quickly.

I settled on bacon, and then remembered my potato craving, so baked potato casserole it is!  I am sure you have seen something like this on Pinterest, or somewhere else on the internet.  This is my own version.

My ingredients: potatoes, bacon, cheese of your choice, seasoning of your choice and butter.

My first step is to cook the bacon.  I throw it in the oven to cook up, way less mess that way.  Seriously if you have never tried cooking bacon in the oven give it a shot.  Throw some aluminum foil on a baking sheet, put your bacon on that and put it in the oven at 400* for about ten minutes.

While the bacon is cooking wash and cut up your potatoes.  I like to do them in rounds, about 1/4" thick.  You can also cube them.  Next I parboil them so they don't take as long in the oven.

When the potatoes are done add them to a casserole dish.  I used a pyrex dish that I lightly buttered.  You could also use cooking spray, I just didn't have any at hand.   Add your seasoning of choice (in my case salt, pepper, garlic powder and basil), add a couple of dollops of butter, and put in the oven at 400* for about 15 minutes.

Add your bacon and cheese, I used parmesan and cheddar and put back in the oven until the potatoes are fork tender and the cheese is melted and bubbly.

I served it wish some steamed broccoli, and sour cream on the side.

Mmmmmm salad

Salads are a summer staple in our house, often replacing a full meal when it is too hot to cook or eat.  I can't wait for summer to come so that I can use veggies fresh from my garden or farmers market instead of store bought.

I was looking for something quick and easy for dinner so I went with one of my favourites, my version of a cobb salad.  I often make this to use up leftover meat like chicken or ham.  It is very filling and you can use your own favourite vegetables and salad dressing.
My version tonight:
leaf lettuce
cucumber
celery
carrot
radish
cauliflower
hard boiled egg white
cheese
leftover chicken burger patty
Kraft Classic Herb salad dressing
Sunflower seeds

And voila!  It was delicious.

Banana Bread

After having a stomach bug run through the house my bananas went a little brown.  Since no one in this house likes to eat the "old" bananas, I figured it was time for a batch of banana bread.  This simple recipe is one that I have been making for the past twelve years.  It is very simple and has no nuts in it.  In my mind nuts do not belong in banana bread!  It is a favourite in my house, a big pan usually only lasts three days, and it is safe for school lunches.

I always double the recipe, a single recipe makes an 8"x8" pan, doubling makes a 9"x13" pan.

Your ingredients:

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup mashed banana (2 bananas for single recipe, 4 for a double)
1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp. bakings soda
1/2 tsp salt

Cream shortening and sugar together.  Add eggs and mix well.  Stir in mashed banana.
Sift together your dry ingredients.  Add to you banana mixture and mix well.

This is what you mixture will look like.

Pour in to a greased pan.  Bake at 350* for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
I forgot to take a picture just out of the oven, but this is just as good!

Pizza Rolls

My very first post!  I am starting this blog due to the encouragement of others.  For me it will be a great spot to keep all of my favourite recipes that I will share with all of you.  My recipes tend to be easy to prep and cook, perfect for a mom of two on the go.

I am in the kitchen after dinner tonight making pizza rolls.  They are one of the most simple things to make, and always a huge hit.  We have an Easter potluck lunch at B's playschool tomorrow, and ever since the first time I brought these in they have been requested for every potluck.  O loves these in his school lunches too.

INGREDIENTS
1 package of premade frozen or fresh pizza dough
1 can of pizza sauce
grated cheese of your choice
toppings of your choice

**Keep in mind you will be rolling the dough with the toppings, so less is more in this instance.  I normally do just cheese, or pepperoni and cheese.

Your first step is to roll the dough out into a large rectangle. Make sure you have floured your surface first.

Next you want to cover with your pizza sauce, followed by your additional toppings.

Roll your dough up fairly tight, it will relax a bit while baking.

Cut in to 1/2 inch sections and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.  You are supposed to throw out the two end pieces, but I always cook them up for me to eat. They aren't pretty so just don't add them to your party tray!

Bake at 400C for 9 minutes.

And voila, miniature pizza rolls perfect for any party!