Culinary Activities in our Kitchen

"The kitchen is a country in which there are always discoveries to be made."


Grimod de la Reynière (1758-1838)

My daughter, Lauren made some wonderful Kale chips. She actually got the kale (when we finally found some at a whole foods market) for green smoothies but we were out of fruit. I had been planning on trying this recipe so she made all of it that way. The first batch was cooked a bit too long so it was a little TOO crispy but the second was delicious. All of us here loved it and so did my DIL and grandbabies!  

While my daughter and I were watching our youngest grandbaby, Elijah recently, we made a topping for vanilla ice cream. No, I don't always raid the homes of my kids and eat all their food! ;) Our second to oldest son and his wife were taking mentioned grandboy to the beach and they needed to eat the things that would go bad anyway. Hence, the reason we ate their ice cream.
ANYway, I melted some chocolate chips with a bit of butter and when it was glossy, stirred in peanut butter and marshmallow cream. It was different... kind of like a rich, hot fudge.

I made four loaves of whole grain bread and gifted some of the loaves. I prefer making these (or most usually six at a time)  until I have filled a shelf in the freezer with dough logs and/or buns so we always have homemade bread on hand. This time, we ate two loaves in no time and gave away some. 

There are three main recipes I use for a great deal of my bread making. This one and Vickilynn's from RealFoodLiving site so I'll share both.

Nita's Whole Wheat Bread--4 loaf recipe

Recipe By : Nita Crabb

Serving Size : 32

Categories : Yeast Breads


Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

-------- ------------ --------------------------------

4 cups water -- 110 degrees

2 tablespoons yeast

1/2 cup honey

1/4 to 1/2 cup gluten, wheat

5 cups whole wheat flour -- freshly ground

4 teaspoons sea salt

1/2 cup honey

1/3 cup olive oil (which is about 5 1/2 Tbsp.)

3 cups whole wheat flour -- freshly ground

2-5 cups additional whole wheat flour for kneading



Dissolve yeast in water and stir in 1/2 cup honey. Add gluten flour and

5 cups whole wheat flour and stir. Let sit about 30 minutes or until

big

and bubbly (mine comes nearly to the top of the Bosch bowl). Stir; add

salt, 1/2 cup more honey, and oil. Mix; add 3 cups flour. Add flour by

1/2 cupfuls until dough cleans the sides of the bowl. Let mixer knead

on

low speed 10 minutes. Remove dough from bowl and place in large,

lightly-greased bowl, turning once to coat top. Let rise until double.

Punch down, divide into four equal pieces. Form loaves and place in

greased loaf pans. Let rise until 1 1/2 inches above the rim of the

pans. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes (do not overbake). Remove from oven

and brush tops with butter to prevent crust from getting hard.

Yield:

"4 loaves"






* Exported from MasterCook *



VICKILYNN'S AWARD-WINNING BREAD - 6 loaf


Recipe By :Vickilynn Haycraft C 2000

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

-------- ------------ --------------------------------

6 1/2 cups water -- warmed to 100-110

3 tablespoons yeast -- SAF

6 cups whole wheat flour

2/3 cup olive oil

2/3 cup honey

2 teaspoons salt

1 cup vital gluten

9 cups whole wheat flour -- more or less as needed



In a large mixing bowl (I use a Bosch) place warm water, SAF yeast and 4

cups flour. Stir to mix well, then cover and let sponge 30 minutes.



Stir to punch down; add oil, honey, gluten and salt. Mix to blend; add 2

cups flour and turn mixer on low. Add flour by 1/2 cupfuls until dough

cleans the sides of the bowl and is no longer sticky. Knead on low speed

6- 8 minutes. The flour amount is approximate, use only enough flour to

cause the dough to pull away from the sides of the mixer bowl. Do not

add more flour.



Let dough rise in covered bowl 30 minutes until doubled. Punch down

dough place on oiled counter and divide into six pieces. Form loaves and

place in greasedloaf pans. Let rise in warm oven (turned off) until 1

1/2" above the rim of the pans.



With loaves still in oven, turn oven on and bake at 350 degrees for

about 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and cover with clean towel to soften crust.

Description:

"Makes 6 loaves, each 12 slices. Each slice is 2 points"


Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 121 Calories; 3g Fat (17.8%

calories from fat); 4g Protein; 22g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 0mg

Cholesterol; 62mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1/2

Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

PIZZAS!

I might have already shared the pizza crust recipes I used but I can't remember!

This time around, I grabbed the two quickest recipes I could find. One was topped with basic pizza sauce and two pizzas were made. One had pepperoni and cheese and the other just had cheese.


Easy Pizza dough recipe


From All recipes.com

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast (sometimes I use a smidge more)

2 cups warm water (110 degrees to 115 degrees)

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

4 cups all-purpose flour

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add oil, salt and 2 cups flour. Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. (I use my food processor) Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rest in a warm place for 10 minutes.

Divide dough in half. On a floured surface, roll each portion into a 13-in. circle. Transfer to two greased 12-in. pizza pans; build up edges slightly. Bake at 375 degrees F for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

I make this dough in my food processor. I let the machine knead so skip that step because I don't want the dough to be tough. I let mine stand up to 30 minutes. Then roll out and top and bake. You can back the crust alone first if you like a crunchy crust. I like mine more soft and tender, so don't prebake.

I have lost the Focaccia crust recipe I used but will hopefully find it so I can post it soon. I topped it with homemade garlic, white sauce, two cheeses and sliced Vidalia onions. It was loved by three teenagers and two adults (my DIL and I along with my daughter and two of her friends!) and we gave the other pizza to the kids so we don't know if they liked it or not. Smiles:)

Garlic White Sauce

Butter (a few tablespoons)
Garlic cloves (a few to several, depending on how strong you want it)  ... put through a garlic press
White flour (about as much as the amount of butter you use)
salt & pepper
milk or cream (just enough to make the sauce as thick or thin as you want it

Melt butter in skillet and add pressed garlic cloves OR chopped garlic. Sautee until fragrant and sprinkle flour in ... stir with whisk until blended and smooth. Add milk or cream until desired thickness and immediately take off stove. Salt and pepper and top pizza. I cooked my crust for a few minutes before adding and then add toppings. Cook at a high heat (400 degrees F. or more) until crust is cooked and toppings are starting to brown.

There have been lots more cooked up in our kitchen but this is getting longer and longer and it is getting late. I started it early this morning!

I will try sharing the rest in other posts!

Sunday Morning

"Food is not about impressing people.
It's about making them feel comfortable."
Ina Garten,
The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Lots of from scratch baking and cooking have been keeping me busy in the kitchen. So busy a homemaker have I been, as to not have been very diligent in keeping notes on it all!

The kitchen is being prepped (cleaning, organizing, stocking and so on) for canning --- my first real season of it. I shan't pretend to not have a level of intimidation at even starting but start, I must.

The lovely harvest is graduating from a first cucumber and growing zucchini to hands full and finally, shirts are being filled and we will next need a basket. Each morning, we are amazed and delighted (yes, delighted) over a new gift and God's goodness astounds us without fail.

Hopefully, I will be a wise manager of time and some journaling will be accomplished of the canning process. I am starting out with cucumber pickles, zucchini pickles and maybe a relish or two. My goal is to have no waste from the bounty heaven blesses this humble spot of earth with.

This morning, I got up at 5:00 am ---praise God for my recent return for early risings --- and got a few things done in the quiet glow of getting up before everyone. It even afforded me time to stir together some luscious muffins to make for my family to wake with. Smiles. . . they were a welcomed gift and so 'just right' for a before church eat.

Here they are and I will try to share more from my wrick wrack work as I go!

I just love what the man wrote with this recipe:


Buttermilk Oatmeal Muffins

Submitted By: Robert Luebke
Servings: 8

"These delicious muffins were a significant part of the first dinner I had with my wife when we were courting. She's an excellent cook, and that first meal was truly a gourmet's delight. Now whenever she plans a menu and asks for my suggestions, I make sure these muffins are on it."
-Robert Luebke, Appleton, Wisconsin

Ingredients:
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil 1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1. In a bowl, soak oats in buttermilk for 15 minutes. Stir in egg, sugar and oil. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; stir into oat mixture just until moistened. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 400 degrees F for 16-18 minutes or until muffins test done. Cool in pan 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2010 Allrecipes.com Printed from Allrecipes.com 6/27/2010

H.O.H. Tomato Sauce

If I have already shared this recipe, forgive me!
I have been too busy to get posts written but along the way have still saved recipes and meals here and there to share. This was in my drafts folder so I thought I would go ahead and post it in case I haven't.

It is still important for me to keep a record of what we make and to make those things available for those who have been interested in getting them, too.

Sandy’s H.O.H. Tomato Sauce

H.O.H. Have on Hand --- Using the ingredients I have on hand to make the sauce we were going to buy. The store version is sun dried tomato sauce and I don’t remember the brand but it comes in a glass jar next to the alfredo sauce. We don’t use such high sodium, high fat, and high sugar processed foods usually but Lauren had a friend over and she wanted some to go over tortellini. We got that on sale today but no sauce so I made something similar.

We really liked it!

Garlic
Butter
Olive Oil
Flour
Heavy cream
Cheese
Garlic powder
Parsley
Salt & Pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg

Drizzle some olive oil and a few pats of butter in a skillet until butter is melted. Add fresh, chopped or pressed garlic and stir frequently to keep the garlic from burning. Keep on low to medium heat.
Sprinkle a small spoon or two of flour over the oil/butter mixture in the skillet and stir with a whisk. When it is smooth and blended well, add heavy cream. Just add approximately how much you’ll need for how many are eating (it is easy to make too much so keep that in mind) and keep stirring and heating up until heated thoroughly but not boiling.

Add just about any shredded cheese (If I had ANY parmesan, it would have been amazing for this) … I used sharp cheddar.

When cheese is melted t hrough, stir in some garlic powder , parsley, and the rest of the ingredients.

Pour this over hot, cooked tortellini!

Gnome Fairy Faerie Elf window by NothinButWood on Etsy

Gnome Fairy Faerie Elf window by NothinButWood on Etsy

There is no end to how these little doors could be used. I like this rounded one with a little, window flower box. I might set up a tiny log for it in my herb garden this summer:)

The same etsy store (one of my favorite shopping spots!) has little wheel barrels, a small wood and more holder and a itty bridge.

Now, to keep the neighbor's cats away . . .

What We've Made Recently

Here are the goods I've been baking and making in my kitchen for the past few weeks:
My husband brought some containers of strawberries home and I had planned to make strawberry bread for the longest time. I finally did and it was a lot darker than I knew it would be (maybe the extra vanilla and strawberry extract I added?) but it was so delicious!
I sliced some for us and it was devoured by our seven year old and the two oldest grandlittles, Emily and Caden. The recipe made two loaves so I sent slices for my niece's best friend and her mother and sent some home with my DIL for her husband:)

Strawberry Bread

Ingredients:
2 cups fresh strawberries
3 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1 1/4 cups chopped pecans

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter and flour two 9 x 5 inch loaf pans.
2. Slice strawberries, and place in medium-sized bowl. Sprinkle lightly with sugar, and set aside while preparing bread mixture.
3. Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt and baking soda in large bowl: mix well. Blend oil and eggs into strawberries. Add strawberry mixture to flour mixture, blending until dry ingredients are just moistened. Stir in pecans. Divide batter into pans.
4. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until tester inserted comes out clean. Let cool in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes. Turn loaves out, and cool completely.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2010 Allrecipes.com

Vegetarian-if-you-eat-eggs- Tortillas

My DIL and I were getting all kinds of help in the kitchen from Emily (4) and Caden (2) while we held Hailey (8 months) and with all our help. . . managed a great lunch.
We heated tortillas on a griddle and topped them with sharp cheddar cheese, caramelized onions and garlic, topped that with a fried egg, added some butterhead lettuce leaves and shook some hot sauce on the top. We wrapped them burrito style and they were so good!
We also had Brandy's (DIL) sloppy joe's from the night before and they were WONDerful.

Today, Nana & Papa surprised us with bags full of produce and a darling visit. We talked at the table and emptied a whole pot of coffee. I fried some potatoes with Vidalia onions and cooked cabbage in the WOK and put them all together for lunch. I added garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, salt and pepper to the potatoes and sprinkled parmesan cheese shavings over at the last.

Summer days are setting in so I will share from what I make as we carry along. . . smiles.

Food Finds and "Fixings"

I pulled out cookbooks the other day to "dream plan" for when the food budget is more luxurious than of late:)

I just grabbed the quickest to reach from my cookbook shelves and ended up flipping through,
Saving Dinner and Crazy for Casseroles. What delicous ideas lined and landed in those books.

Meanwhile, I did another inventory of my pantry shelves, refrigerator and freezer, and kitchen supplies. I will share any creativity I am blessed to receive!

Here are some of the nutrititous basics I will be preparing:

Jars of dried beans {black beans, kidney beans, navy beans, white beans, lima beans and pinto beans}

A jar of potato flakes ... gift for my daughter from her Nana.

• Jar of brown rice
• spiral pasta
• elbow pasta
• angel hair pasta
• frozen strawberries
• frozen brocolli
• cucumbers,
  
• Romaine lettuce
• tomatoes
• bread

I also have some basic baking ingredients so I'm looking forward to seeing what we come up with. I will try to take pictures before it is eaten... not easy to do around this filled with people little house!

Celestial Seasonings Wellness Kit Giveaway!

Celestial Seasonings Wellness Kit Giveaway!