Home Made Wheat Bread

Recently I decided to venture into home made bread.  My husband gave me the final push I needed while he was home recently.  I searched for recipes and ideas that would work for me and ended up taking a recipe and tweaking it to fit what I preferred.

6 ¼ cups of flour (I use whole wheat or unbleached flour.  At some point I will try this with fresh milled flour but I do not currently have a grain mill)

¼ cup of honey (I use local raw honey)

2 packages instant yeast

2 tsp salt

1 ½ cups hot water

½ cup milk

2 tbs butter

Combine 2 ½ cups of flour, yeast and salt.  Heat water, milk and butter to 120 degrees (just befor boiling).  Gradually add hot liquid to dry mixture.  Add Honey.  Slowly continue to add flour to make a soft dough (At this point you may or may not use all the flour you set aside or you may use more.  Keep adding flour until the dough is soft and malleable but not sticky).  Knead dough for 6 minutes.  Cover with a damp cloth and let rise for 20 minutes.

Split dough into two even balls.  Roll one ball out to a 12 inch x 7 inch rectangle.  Roll tightly into a log, pinch ends to seal.  Place in prepared loaf pan (a thin layer of butter and a powdering of flour) seam side down.  Cover and let rise for 25 minutes.  Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees. 

This is what happens if you fail to bake your bread seam side down.  This loaf was just as delicious but a bit difficult to slice.

Beef Stew

This is not your typical beef stew!  What I love about this particular recipe is the addition of apples.  I absolutly love almost anything with apples included.  This stew uses apple juice in the broth as well as applesauce in the dumplings.  It is the perfect dish for a crisp Autumn evening.  

Stew
5 pounds stew beef cut into 1 1/2" cubes
1/2 cup flour
3 beef bouillon cubes, crushed
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cups onions -- sliced
2 garlic cloves -- minced
1/2 cup beef broth
3/4 cup apple juice
2 Tbs vinegar
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp curry

Apple Dumplings
1 cup applesauce
2 eggs, well beaten
2 tsp parsley, chopped
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

To make dumpling batter, blend applesauce with eggs and parsley; add flour, baking powder and salt and beat into egg mixture.

Coat meat with mixture of flour, salt and pepper. Combine meat, onion, garlic, beef broth, apple juice, vinegar, thyme and curry in crockpot. Cover and cook on high 4 to 5 hours or low 8 to 10 hours. 
Remove cover and place tablespoons of dumpling batter on top of stew. Cover and cook on high for 20 minutes.

Apple Crisp Cheesecake

I love any and all types of cheesecake!  This particular recipe brings together my two favorite desserts...Apple Crisp, and Cheesecake.  I plan on making it again this fall and hopefully it will become a staple of my family Thanksgiving feast along with my delicious Maple Cheesecake (I will share that recipe later).  

Apple Crisp Cheesecake
CRUST
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup quick-cooking oats 4 teaspoons brown sugar 3 tablespoons butter, melted FILLING: 2 packages (3 ounces each) cream cheese, softened 1/4 cup packed brown sugar 1 egg, lightly beaten 3 tablespoons sour cream 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger 2/3 cup sliced peeled apple TOPPING: 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon quick-cooking oats 1 tablespoon brown sugar 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 2 teaspoons cold butter

  Directions: In a small bowl, combine the cracker crumbs, oats and brown sugar; stir in butter. Press onto the bottom of a 6-in. springform pan coated with cooking spray; set aside. For filling, in a small bowl, beat cream cheese and brown sugar until smooth. Add egg; beat on low speed just until combined. Stir in the sour cream, cinnamon and ginger. Pour over crust. Arrange apple slices over filling. For topping, combine the flour, oats, brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over apple.

  Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight. Just before serving, remove sides of pan. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 4 servings.

Summer Salads

Every summer I spend countless amounts of time trying to come up with delicious food that doesn’t require a lot of cooking.  I certainly don’t live in the hottest part of the country, but it still reaches 90 here in the middle of July.  I don’t know about y’all, but slaving in front of a hot stove on a 90 degree day is not exactly my idea of a fun time.  Anywho, over the years I have found some amazing summer salads that require very little cooking.  Some don’t require turning the stove on at all!!  There are the classic macaroni, pasta, and potato salads as well as a few new ones I have tried and loved.  Over the next few months I will share my favorite summer recipes.  I will start with a classic – 

Topher’s Pasta Salad

1lb Tricolored Rotini

2 Large Bell Peppers (I like one red and one green)

1 large Cucumber

1 Large Head of Broccoli

Cherry or Grape Tomatoes

Pepperoni

Swiss Cheese

Cheddar Jack Cheese

Zesty Italian Dressing

Cook pasta according to directions on box.  Chop up remaining ingredients.  Toss everything together in a large bowl.  

I love this salad because it is super easy to make, my son gets to help, and it always tastes better the next day!

The brand of ingredients will change the flavor of your salad so try a bunch of different ones until you find what you like best.  The amount of dressing you use will also depend on your personal taste.  I like a nice moist, zesty pasta salad but you may prefer one that is drier or more or less spicy.  I also love to use veggies fresh from the garden or local farmers market.  Fresh vegetables taste fantastically better than produce that has flown across the continent. 

Honey Roasted Pork Loin

My local grocery store often has great deals where you buy a certain amount of meat and get so many items for free.  A while ago I purchased a 2.6 lb pork loin in one of these deals and was having a heck of a time deciding on how to prepare it.  I came across this recipe and absolutely loved it!

2lb pork loin
salt and pepper to season
1/4 cup honey
2tbs orange juice
2tbs olive oil
1/2tsp thyme
1/2cup chicken broth

Preheat oven to 375
Season pork loin and place in baking dish
In a small bowl combine honey, juice, oil, and thyme
Pour honey mixture over pork
Add broth to pan
Bake for approximately 60 minutes basting frequently.  Until internal temp of pork reaches at least 150 degrees.
Strain juices from baking dish into a sauce pan.
Reduce over medium/low heat to a syrup.  
Serve syrup over sliced pork.

My son is a crazy picky eater and he loved this pork.  It is perfect for a weekday dinner with some steamed veggies and mashed potatoes!

Creamy Meatball Bake

One can of your favorite red pasta sauce

One can of your favorite alfredo sauce

2 dozen meatballs

One pound of spaghetti

Shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine sauces and meatballs in a baking 

dish.  Sprinkle with mozzarella.  Bake until warm and bubbly.

While that is baking, prepare pasta according to the box.

Serve pasta, top with sauce mix, and enjoy!

A friend of mine made this for dinner while she was visiting and it was delicious!!  She made it with whole wheat pasta, which I was skeptical of, and everyone loved it.  Everyone except my son who rarely eats what is prepared for dinner.  I will definitely be trying it again and hopefully I can try with homemade sauces and meatballs. 

Spice up Your Pancakes!

Easter Sunday always brought with it a great breakfast feast.  This would include bacon, eggs, sausage, biscuits, gravy, grits, oatmeal and of course, pancakes.  My father tended to make pancakes every Sunday, but Easter Sunday he always tried to make them extra special.  Now that I have a child of my own, I am always thinking of ways to spice up our pancakes.  I have compiled a list of different ingredients you can add to make your typical pancakes just a little bit better.  Some of these additions are basic, and others are a bit harder to come by.  Give them all a try and choose your favorites.

-          Any fruit.  Fresh is best but frozen certainly works too.  Either dice it up very small and mix right into the batter, or slice and add to the top of the half cooked pancake befor flipping.

-          Chocolate chips.  Or butterscotch chips, or peanut butter chips.  These can also either be added to the batter befor pouring, or to the pancake befor flipping

-           Cinnamon.  I have always put cinnamon in my pancake batter.  It adds amazing flavor

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-          Cardamom.  My Aunt suggested I add cardamom to my pancakes after I complained at Christmas about how expensive the spice is.  I do not suggest you go out and purchase cardamom for the sole purpose of pancakes unless you plan to use it very often.  But if you happen to have a jar of it in your house, this is a great use.

-          Bacon.  Crisp cooked bacon, crumbled into pancake batter adds flavor and gives you two breakfast flavors in one!

-          Brown Sugar.  Sprinkle this on to your pancake batter just befor flipping.  It adds a caramelized flavor that doesn’t need any syrup.

       Jams or Jellies.  Rather than the typical syrup on pancakes, add your favorite jam or jelly to add some more flavor and texture.  Or get creative and make a PB&J pancake.  

-           Flavor infused butter or syrup.  There are so many recipes and ideas to infuse flavors into your butters or syrups that I cannot list them all here.   A quick internet search will yield a multitude of options

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I hope you all have a happy Easter, and enjoy some new pancake ideas!!