My First Loaf of Bread!

I’ve been scared of yeast for some time now.  I’ve worked with it a few times, but always managed to kill the little buggers.  But, when my Mom asked me to bring bread to a family gathering I figured that since I’ve managed to conquer some of my other cooking fears through this blog, it was time to take on yeast again.

My friend Brian had made this bread (from Mother Earth News) during our Thanksgiving with friends last week and was telling me how stupid-easy it was, and he was right!

Make this bread today!  You will not regret it!

INGREDIENTS
1/4t. Active dry yeast
1 1/2C. Warm water (between 105 and 110 degrees)
3C. All-purpose flour, plus more for dusting.
1 1/2t. Salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran for dusting

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add the flour and salt, stirring until blended. The dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest at least 8 hours, preferably 12 to 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

The dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it. Sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let it rest for about 15 minutes.

Using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to the work surface or to your fingers, gently shape it into a ball. Generously coat a clean dish towel with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal. Put the seam side of the dough down on the towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another towel and let rise for about 1 to 2 hours. When it’s ready, the dough will have doubled in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

At least 20 minutes before the dough is ready, heat oven to 475 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in the oven as it heats. When the dough is ready, carefully remove the pot from the oven and lift off the lid. Slide your hand under the towel and turn the dough over into the pot, seam side up. The dough will lose its shape a bit in the process, but that’s OK. Give the pan a firm shake or two to help distribute the dough evenly, but don’t worry if it’s not perfect; it will straighten out as it bakes.

Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake another 15 to 20 minutes, until the loaf is beautifully browned. Remove the bread from the Dutch oven and let it cool on a rack for at least 1 hour before slicing.

Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce

There are two types of people in this world.  Those that like cranberry sauce out of a can and those that like homemade.  You can definitely lump me in with the latter.  There’s something about the canned cranberry sauce that totally creeps me out.  I’m not sure if it’s the way it wobbles out of the can or the imprint lines on the outside.   Ew.

Whole berry sauce has such a tangy sweet flavor and a wonderful texture.

My Mom has been making this sauce every Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember and taught me how to make it a few years ago (the orange is my addition).  It definitely wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without this cranberry sauce.

INGREDIENTS
1 12oz. Bag Cranberries (washed and picked over for stems)
1C. Sugar
1C. Water
1 Large Orange (zested and juiced)

DIRECTIONS
Add water and sugar to a saucepan over medium high heat.  Stir to dissolve sugar.

Bring to a boil and add cranberries and juice.  Cook 10 minutes, or until the cranberries have burst.

Remove from heat, add zest and allow to come to room temperature before putting in the fridge (for at least 2 hours).  Enjoy!

Nutella Hazelnut Cookies

For the last 2 years I have been chatting with a wonderful group of girls online.  The one thing that brought us together – we were all married in May 2008.  These girls are just wonderful!  We’re all going through the same ups and downs of newleywed-dom together and it’s so nice to chat with them every week.

This year we decided to do a sweet treat exchange before the holiday season began.  Using Elfster, names were drawn and we went along our merry way, baking up a storm.

I have a new found love for Nutella, so I decided to make these cookies (from Visions of Sugarplums) for my secret sweet treat exchange gal.  Of course I had to taste test one of the cookies when they came out…just to make sure they were OK.  And they were!  Not too sweet and slightly crunchy.  I sure hope she likes them!

One note – these cookies spread out a lot!  Make sure to leave plenty of room in between cookies before baking.

INGREDIENTS
1/2C. Unsalted Butter
2oz. Unsweetened Chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 1/3C. Granulated Sugar
1 3/4C. All-purpose flour
1t. Baking Soda
3/4t. Salt
3/4C. Nutella
2 Large Eggs
2t. Vanilla Extract
1C. Coarsely Chopped Hazelnuts, toasted

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat; cook butter, whisking frequently, until it turns golden brown and foams, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in chocolate until melted. Place sugar in a large mixing bowl; add butter-chocolate mixture, and beat using a mixer on medium speed, until well combined and grainy – about 2 minutes.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.

Beat Nutella, eggs and vanilla into sugar mixture, until well combined, about 1-2 minutes.

Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in flour mixture until just combined; stir in hazelnuts until combined.

Roll tablespoons of dough into balls, place on cookie sheets, and flatten slightly using palms of hands. Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until set and slightly crisp. Cool 2 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Dark Chocolate Butterscotch Bars

Another sweet treat for my secret sweet treat exchange gal!

I saw these bars on Dinners for a Year and Beyond and while they looked delicious, I was puzzled by the lack of actual butterscotch.  So, I decided to make up for this by using half chocolate chips and half butterscotch chips.  Perfect!

INGREDIENTS
1C. Unsalted Butter, softened
1 3/4C. Brown Sugar, packed
1T. Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
1C. Dark Chocolate Chips
1C. Butterscotch Chips
2 1/2C. Flour
1t. Baking Powder
1t. Salt

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9×13 baking dish and set aside.

Beat butter, brown sugar, and vanilla extract in a large bowl until creamy.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt – set aside.

Beat eggs into the butter and sugar mixture.

Gradually beat flour mixture into butter mixture. Stir in 1/2C. of the chocolate chips and 1/2C. butterscotch chips.

Spread into prepared pan and sprinkle remaining chips on top.

Bake for 30 – 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan.

Grilled Bacon Wrapped Pork Medallions

This week pork tenderloins were on sale at our local grocery store.  Score!  I had some bacon in the house that I needed to use up – that’s where this dish was born.

This pork was wonderful and so easy!  And…let’s face it…everything is better with bacon.  We are absolutely going to be making this again soon.

INGREDIENTS
1 1lb. Pork Tenderloin
6 Strips of Bacon
Black Pepper
Granulated Garlic

DIRECTIONS
Slice pork tenderloin into medallions approximately 1.5″ thick.

Wrap each medallion with a strip of bacon and secure with a toothpick.

Sprinkle each piece with fresh cracked black pepper and granulated garlic.

Grill until the internal temperature reaches 155 degrees.  Rest 5 minutes and serve.

The Best Turkey Chili

I love my Mom’s chili recipe – it’s thick, tomatoey and great over elbow noodles.  But, recently I’ve wanted to try my hand at a recipe with a little more substance so I whipped this up.  It was wonderful!  So thick, rich and had much more flavor than the chili I’m used to.

This recipe makes a rather large batch of chili (I  made this for a committee meeting and it easily fed 8 people), so feel free to cut the recipe in half if you’re just making it for 2 or 4 people.

Like our Halloween placemats? 

INGREDIENTS
1.5lb. Ground Turkey
1 Red Pepper
1 Green Pepper
1 Yellow Onion
3 Cloves Garlic
1T. Olive Oil
3 Cans Reduced Sodium Tomato Soup
1 Can Pink Beans
2.5T. Chili Powder
2t. Cayenne Pepper
Salt & Pepper to taste
Sour cream, cheddar cheese, green onions – or other toppings of your choice

DIRECTIONS
Finely dice peppers and onion.  Add to a large pot with olive oil.  Saute until just cooked – about 6 minutes.

Add turkey and brown completely.  Drain off any excess fat.

Add garlic and stir to combine.

Next, add the soup, seasonings and beans along with 2 cans of water.  Stir to combine completely.

Simmer on low for 45 minutes with the cover on. Remove cover and cook an additional 20-30 minutes to thicken.

Serve with cornbread and toppings of your choice.

Husband Rating – 4 out of 5 – “Delicious first attempt.  Next time we should try it with beef or buffalo!”

Classic Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

This week one of my very best friends, Adam, is having a birthday.  Unfortunately, I cannot be there to celebrate with him so I decided to bake up some chocolate chip cookies and send them along – nicely packaged in a reusable Tupperware container and plenty of paper towels to avoid breakage while in transit.

I have always had good luck with the classic Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe, and that’s what I used today.  They’re slightly crispy, slightly chewy – in my opinion, the perfect cookie!

INGREDIENTS
2 1/4C. All-purpose flour
1t. Baking soda
1t. Salt
1C. Butter, softened
3/4C. Granulated sugar
3/4C. Packed brown sugar
1t. Vanilla extract
2 Large eggs
12oz. Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1C. Chopped nuts (did not use)

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.

Cream butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Gradually beat in flour mixture.  Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if using).

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown (mine took about 13 minutes, I think I just made them too big).

Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

 

Happy Birthday Dork!

 

 

 

 

Us at my wedding.

Witch Hat Cookies

Aren’t these just too cute?  One of my co-workers gave me the idea and I just had to try it out for my Nephew’s first Halloween Party tomorrow.

They were so easy to make – perfect for a kid’s Halloween party.

INGREDIENTS
1 Package Chocolate Striped Shortbread Cookies
1 Bag Hershey’s Kisses (I used the caramel filled ones)
Orange icing

DIRECTIONS
It’s simple, unwrap Kisses, place over hole on cookie and pipe icing around the seam.  That’s it!  So easy!

Triple Chocolate Halloween Truffles

I saw these little guys on the Kraft website the other day and decided to make them for a Halloween party we’re attending on Saturday afternoon.

I didn’t use the Kraft recipe, but one I already had, to make them super-chocolatey.

The coconut dying didn’t go quite as well as I had hoped, and my white chocolate seized up on me, so I didn’t get to do the little ghosts…but I’m going to try again before the party and will hopefully have better pictures to show soon.

INGREDIENTS
1 Batch of your favorite Chocolate Cake (homemade or box)
1 Batch of your favorite Chocolate Frosting (homemade or canned)
1 12oz. Bag Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
8oz. Sweetened Coconut, dyed orange

DIRECTIONS
Bake cake in a 13×9 pan and allow to cool completely.  Break up into small pieces and mix with the frosting.  Set in fridge for at least 2 hours to set up.

Remove from fridge and make small balls out of the mixture – around 1 1/2t. each – and place on a wax paper lined baking sheet.

Move your cake balls to the freezer to set up again while you melt the chocolate.

Melt chocolate in a double boiler, making sure the water isn’t touching the bottom of the bowl of chocolate.

Remove cake balls from the freezer, dip in chocolate (one at a time) and coat in dyed coconut (if you want).

Allow to harden – overnight in the fridge is best.

Enjoy!

Husband Rating – 4.5 out of 5 – “I don’t care how they look, they taste great!  The only reason this isn’t a 5 is b/c I like Bella’s brownie truffles better”

-

Here’s my second try – the coconut dying went better (note to self, use liquid dye, not gel).  But, the white chocolate still gave me a little bit of a hassle.  Oh well.  Better luck next time.

Pasta Primavera with Shrimp in a Garlic Tomato ‘Cream’ Sauce

As I’m sure you’re all aware by now, my darling Husband can’t eat dairy.  Poor guy.

About two weeks ago we went out to dinner and I ordered this dish.  It was so good and I kept wishing I could just give him a forkfull to taste how wonderful it was!  So, I decided to try my best to re-create the dish using dairy free ingredients.  I must say, it was quite good!  The trick is to use the silken tofu instead of the regular kind…it purees up nicely and was super creamy.

Of course, you can just substitute heavy cream if you don’t have any dairy issues.

INGREDIENTS
3/4C. Silken Tofu
3/4C. Plain Soy Milk
4 Cloves Garlic
2C. Tomato Sauce (I used one that had basil already in it)
3C. Veggies of your choice (I used shallots, carrots, zucchini, yellow squash and broccoli)
3/4lb. Shrimp, peeled and de-veined
1T. Olive Oil
1lb. Pasta of your choice (I like farfalle)
Salt and Pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
In a blender mix garlic, tofu and soy milk until very smooth – about 45 seconds.  Stir in tomato sauce and set aside.

Prepare pasta according to package directions.

While the pasta is cooking chop all veggies into bite-size pieces and saute in olive oil until just cooked (do not overcook).

Add shrimp during the last 2 minutes of cooking.  Then, add half of the soy tomato mix and stir to warm completely.

Add the other half of the soy tomato mix to the drained pasta.  Then, add the pasta to the veggies and mix thoroughly.

Enjoy with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

Husband Rating – 3.5 out of 5 – “All these veggies scare me…but the sauce is good!”