My Daily Bread

I decided to get creative, and maybe a little extreme, for this Lent. My sacrifice: Eating only things that I prepared myself. Of course, there are some limitations. For example, I don't have enough time or the right materials to brew my own beer ;P   But I can bake my own bread.

What this recipe lacked in ingredients it made up for in directions. The first step is easy, just mix the yeast with some of the flour. That was the easiest part.

The butter, sugar, and salt had to be combined with water and heated to a specific temperature before being added to the flour and yeast.

Once the water mix was heated enough, an electric mixer was employed. First on low for 30 seconds, then on high for 3 full minutes. It doesn't seem like much when written, but you don't realize how loud that thing is until you're swishing it around in bowl on high for 3 mintues.

Then came the wooden spoon, which is used to "stir in" more flour.

Patience is a virtue. My mantra during this step was "Just keep stirring . . . just keep stirring . . ."

Then you have to knead the bread for 6-8 minutes. As tedious as it was, I really liked this part. I guess I like working with my hands.

Once the kneading is done, you get a nice long break. Yup, rising time! Form the dough into a ball, set it in a greased bowl, cover, and forget about it (for about two hours). As soon as it's doubled in size, you're ready to continue.

 

Then you split the dough in half and grease 2 loaf pans. I guess the silver lining is that all of this yields more than one loaf of bread.

After letting the halves rest for 10 minutes, you shape them into loaves and place them in the pans. Then, once again, you let them rise for as long as it takes for them to double in size.

Then you're finally ready to bake. Just 35 mintues until you have hot fresh baked bread cooling on a wire rack in your kitchen.

This is a sacrifice worth making . . .

A Special Breakfast

This blog post requires a short background story. My roommate, Amanda, loves waffles. Actually, she LOVES waffles. The day after she discovered that I own a waffle iron, she was in the kitchen making waffles from scratch. On average, she makes these delicious waffles once a week, with plenty leftover to freeze for later. Amanda adds chocolate chips to her waffles and graciously adds blueberries to some waffles just for me. It was time to return the favor.

I did some research and found some recipes for cinnamon-raisin waffles. After comparing ingredients and reading reviews, I selected a recipe to try.

The ingredients seem daunting, but the recipe really wasn't too complicated. Basically, all the ingredients mix together to form a batter, as anyone who has made waffles or pancakes before would expect.

Once the batter is ready, the waffle iron must be prepared like so:

Then comes the batter and the iron does the rest. Watch out for spillage:

In the end, using half of the recipe yielded 4 wonderful waffles. Amanda declared this recipe a keeper!

Breakfast has always been my favorite meal!

Slow Joes

Having been so successful with the previous slow-cooker recipe, I decided to try another: Sloppy Joes. A classic recipe that always brings me back to my childhood. Remember those wonderful dinners of sloppy joes and french fries?

Well, this recipe brought it to a new level. Not just because it requires more than browning some ground meat and pouring in a can of sauce, but because all of the flavors have hours to simmer together, making what appears to be a simple dish into an absolutely delectable one.

As with a tradional sloppy joe recipe, you start with browning meat. This recipe adds in some freshly chopped onions and minced garlic.

While all of that is cooking, you put all of the other ingredients together in the slow-cooker to make the sauce.


So colorful!

Once the meat and onions are done, you put everything together and let the slow-cooker do its thing!

Then, when you can't wait any longer, you assemble your slow joe, add your favorite accesssories and beverages, and enjoy.

Now, granted, this is a little diffferent than my childhood memories, but I could get used to the adult version!

Chili vs. Chilly

For those of you that were paing attention to the weather last week, you know how cold is was here in Colorado. For those of you who didn't, it suffices to say that I can relate to the ice cream in my freezer.

Anyway, the best way to combat the cold is to make some nice, hot comfort food. Lucky for me, I received a recipe book for slow-cookers this past Christmas. It was fate. I chose to make Turkey Three-Bean Chili. It was a pretty good recipe. I only changed one thing and added a few others to make it a bit more to my liking.

One of the greatest things about slow cookers, is that all you have to do is put all the ingredients in it and turn it on!


Oh yeah!

Nothing goes better with chili than cornbread. Usually, I just grab a box of Jiffy mix and think nothing of it. This time, I wanted the real thing: cornbread made from scratch. Surprisingly, it was very simple.

Wet ingredients is one bowl; dry ingredients in another.

Mix them seperately and then mix them together. Pour it in a pan or skillet and bake. That's all there is to it. Sorry, Jiffy.


Golden deliciousness.

And there you have it! Chili and Corn Bread. I garnished with the traditional toppings: shredded cheddar, sour cream, and chopped onions. 

I almost can't wait for the next snow storm!

Dinner with a Challenge

This weekend presented my first significant dinner challenge. Here's the story: My good friend, Amanda, is severely lactose intolerant. She can't take any form of milk no matter what it's mixed into or how diluted it is. Her digestive system is also not a fan of pizza, even with homemade dough and no cheese - too many good things all at once.

Friends don't let friends live without pizza. Hence the challenge: create a pizza that won't put Amanda in the ER. (The last four times she tried "Amanda-friendly" pizza she ended up in the hospital.)

So, I did a little research and came up with a plan: making french bread pizza with mozzarella made from almond milk. There was no record of french bread ever giving Amanda trouble and she had yet to discover the almond milk non-cheese at the local grocery store.

Challenge accepted!

Since we planned on having a ladies' night, I decided to make a few different kinds of pizza to make sure that everyone was happy. On the regular pizza dough I put together a caprese pizza and a supreme pizza. I made the freanch loaf into two supreme pizzas as well. Only the caprese pizza contained real fresh mozzarella cheese.

All the best pizza fixin's.

Assembling pizza is fun: sauce, toppings, cheese . . . or cheese substitute.

About 20 minutes in the oven and the pizzas were hot, bubbly, and ready to be put to the test!

The pizzas were cut up, we helped ourselves to multiple slices, and then we gathered around the kitchen table and dug in.

Amanda digging in.

We all agreed that the pizzas were very tasty. Amanda ate four slices of her specially prepared pizza. However, flavor was only part of the challenge. Amanda's taste buds gave the pizza an A+, but it was her tummy that would make the final call.

It was touch-and-go for a while there: some pepto-bismol was consumed . . .

In the end, good triumphed over evil.




Two thumbs up and all smiles!



Our ladies' night was a complete success. Good food, good wine, and a good movie - what elese could we ask for after a long, hard week? Maybe world peace . . .

Cream Sauce

So, I had some cream left over after making saag. A great way using up extra cream is to make a cream sauce for pasta. It only takes a few ingredients: butter, flour, cream, cheese, and any spices or other flavors that catch your fancy. For this sauce, I used aged Canadian cheddar (I know what some of you are thinking, but trust me, it's really good) and fresh minced garlic.

NOTE: If you used Parmesan cheese, you would make alfredo sauce.

The first step in making any cream-based sauce is to prepare a roux (roo). You take equal amounts of butter and flour and combine them in the saucepan. Let the butter melt, mix them together, and let them cook until bubbly.

At this point I added the garlic and let it cook for about 1 minute so as not to burn the roux. Then comes the cream. Add it slowly and stir constantly so it doesn't scorch. Burnt cream is not so yummy.

Once the cream has warmed through, add the cheese by small handfulls while stirring constantly.

From here it's pretty simple: just keep adding cheese until the sauce is to your prefered thickness and cheesiness.



Less like this . . .                                 And more like this.



Once you've reached your desired levels of thickness and cheesiness, pour the sauce generously over the pasta of your choice and enjoy!



Dinner!!!



And not to brag too much, but when I offered some of this lovely dish to my roommate, she said (with zero enthusiasm), "I don't like white sauce, but I'll try it." She took a bite, cracked a smile, took another bite and giggled with glee. "You can make this anytime!" It's just that good, folks - fear not!

Spinach at it's Best

Popeye had the right idea. You know it's true. Spinach is not only good for you, it's delicious. Especially when you give it the Indian treatment.

One of my favorite Indian dishes is saag (sah-g). Basically the Indian version of creamed spinach. I order it every single time I go out for Indian food. Nothing is more satisfying than scooping up a mound of saag with naan (nah-n: Indian flatbread). Heaven.

So, I decided it was about time I learned to make this wonderful dish so I could have it any time I wanted. I scoured the internet until I found one that looked like an authentic recipe that included fresh spinach, cream, and traditional Indian spices.

Happily, this recipe brought together two of my favorite things. First, one of my favorite vegetables: spinach. And a lot of it! Second, one of my Top 5 favorite kitchen appliances: the Cuisinart food processor! Works wonders.


 

A 1 lb. container of spinach compliments of Costco.

 

Wonder machine!

 

Lest I go off on a severe tangent in an ode to that God-send of a machine, I will move on and tell you about saag.

It starts will oil and onions and garlic and the spices. You can tell there's turmeric because of the yellow-orange color.

Then comes the main ingredient: spinach. At first there's so much it's like a mountain of spinach that might overcome the pot, but heat and steam eventually get the best of it and it cooks down.
 

After



Before



 Then the magic happens. You take all of the yumminess in the pot and puree it in the processor, making it into a green glob of goodness. And to this goodness you add yogurt and cream.

Now for the big finish. Serve with a piece of your favorite flavor naan. In my case, that is garlic naan. And there you have it: a delicious and nutritious Indian inspired snack.

 आप का खाना स्वादिष्ट हो (Hindi for "Delicious food for you") Ain't it the truth!



I could eat this picture!



So, until next time, enjoy whatever is in your bowl this week!