Rosemary Bread

Katie thought up this delicious twist on Matt's bread recipe and recommended it to me. Today I tried it and just the smell of it baking made me think of Spain for some reason. The flavor is awesome.

Lemon Zucchini Cupcakes

 I found this on a cool cooking blog...can't remember the website though. This is just a copy and paste. Non of the words below are mine. But I LOVED this recipe!!

I have been on a lemon kick lately and last weekend I decided to make these FABULOUS cupcakes!  I found the recipe on Grouprecipes.com and absolutely love it.  These are super SIMPLE and QUICK to make.  Don't let the zucchini scare you at all!  It actually takes the place of the oil and water you would typically add to any cake mix recipe and provides ALL of the moisture and even a bit of color.  

Now this is actually a cake recipe, but since I have a smaller family, I prefer to make cupcakes so I can freeze any leftovers.  First, I place the leftover frosted cupcakes on a cookie sheet. Then I put them in the freezer for the next couple of hours.  Once frozen, I place them all in a container or Ziploc bag.  That way when we feel like something sweet, we just pull out a cupcake and allow it to sit out for about 15 minutes.  It tastes just as FRESH and MOIST as it did the day you made it!  

Lemon Zucchini Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 box lemon cake mix

1 (4oz) pkg instant lemon pudding

4 eggs, slightly beaten

2 C zucchini, peeled and grated

1-2 t grated lemon zest (depending on your taste)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix all cake ingredients for about 3 minutes.

Pour into muffin cups.

Bake for 25-30 minutes (depending on oven), or until tops are light brown.

Remove cupcakes and allow to completely cool.

Once cooled, frost with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

4 T butter, room temperature

4 oz cream cheese, softened

2 C powdered sugar (more or less)

1-2 t grated lemon zest (depending on taste)

1-2 t fresh lemon juice (depending on taste)

*A little milk

Directions:

Cream together butter and cream cheese.

Add powdered sugar, lemon zest and juice and mix well.

*Depending on your preference when it comes to the consistency of the frosting, you may want to add about 1-2 T of milk to the frosting.

Melt Away Cookies

I found this recipe on a blog of a girl that I have never met, she had some great stuff on her blog! I picked this recipe because it only had 4 ingredients!! YAY!! And I'm pretty sure that almost everyone has these ingredients most of the time!!
I told Scott that I was going to make them and he sounded unamused. He flat out said that he didn't think he would like them. When they were done I put one in his mouth and he loved it!! He said "I have never had anything like that!! It is cool!"
Hint: The first batch I made too big, even though they were still pretty small cookies. They are REALLY rich and heavy. So the last couple batches I made them TINY, like the size of my thumbnail, and when they came out they were perfect.
Melt Aways

1/2 lb butter (softenend)
1/3 c. powdered sugar
3/4 c. corn starch
1 c. flour

Mix all ingredients on low speed until the dough comes together. Use a small cookie scooper and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 8-10 min, don't let them brown, just cook until the cookies set and you see small cracks.

Top with your favorite frosting. In the recipe that I followed the girl said to buy cream cheese frosting and add almond extract. I did and it was superb!! YUMMY!

Sauerkraut Chowder

Sauerkraut Chowder

This one sounded interesting! I got it from food.com. I don't usually like sauerkraut, but this chowder got such good reviews I had to make it!
Another easy one with products that are easy to find in the store! That is what I like!

• 3-4 large russet potatoes
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 (15 oz) can sauerkraut
• 1 (10 oz) can evaporated milk
• 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 lb package kielbasa, diced
• water
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Cut potatoes into bite size pieces. Place in pot and cover with water. Add onions and boil until cooked through fork tender.
2. Add sauerkraut, evaporated milk, and cream cheese. Stir until cream cheese is completely blended.
3. Add Kielbasa
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Cover and cook at a low simmer for 30 minutes.

Curry Chicken

1 can coconut milk

A glug-glug of regular milk

Potatoes, carrots, garlic, onion,

chicken and cashews.

Lots and lots of curry

Lots of chicken bouillon paste

Stir-fry veggies and chicken, add soup mixture and cook.  Toss in cashews last thing.  Serve over rice.  Be as generous as you like with the curry and bouillon.  That's what gives this stuff it's goodness!  If you're adventurous and dig spicy, SPICY curry, try a red curry paste instead of the yellow curry powder and add pineapple.  It's a real kick!

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Thick American-Style Pizza

Tonight's hand-tossed pizza.

Okay, I think and talk about pizza a lot.  And, I have already covered the topic of at-home pizza making before (although in an offensive way).  I should probably just stop.

I can't.  The pizza I made tonight was satisfactory to even the most delicate foreign palette.  My wife told our Korean friends that I used to work at a pizza joint. They excitedly asked if I hand toss my dough, to which I replied in the affirmative, and before I knew it my wife had volunteered me to demonstrate the process for them to watch.  Talk about pressure, I have never had to toss in front of a camera before (I'll include the video here if they ever send it to me).  Luckily I didn't tear the dough or smack it against the ceiling.  Here's the recipe.

Dough
1 c warm water
2 tsp active dry yeast
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs olive oil
2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups flour

Mix the yeast with warm water and let sit long enough for the yeast to dissolve completely.  Mix in all the other ingredients before adding any flour.  Add the flour while mixing 1/2 cup at a time until the dough gets close to being able to clean the bowl, then add it a spoonful at a time.  You want the down to not be sticking to the bowl, and be able to be pulled into a window - but still be as wet as possible.

Oil a bowl and your hands.  Shape the dough into a ball by holding it with both hands and pushing up into the dough with your fingers several times.  Don't do this so much that the dough gets all ripped up, just enough so that the surface feels tight.  Place the dough in the bowl, cover, and let rise for 30 minutes.  Punch the dough down, fold, and let rise another 15 minutes or so.  Place the dough ball on a floured surface and slap it flat with your hand into a circle.  You can stretch the circle larger by holding an edge and letting gravity do the work by moving your hands around the circumference, or you can put the circle on the BACK of your hands and toss in the air with a spin.  Both work.  Put the dough on your cooking surface (I prefer a screen) and work around the edges until it fits just right.

A good pizza starts with good ingredients.  I recommend spicy cappacola, marinated kalamata olives, fresh romano tomatoes, basil, and fresh shredded romano cheese.

I basted the crust of this pizza with butter, then sprinkled it with a small amount of garlic salt and oregano.  Pour your sauce (I like Chef Boyardee) in the center of the pie and spread with the back side of a large spoon.

Okay now for the toppings.  I am picky about these.  I always start with a thin layer of shredded romano, then maybe a small amount of cheddar or mozzarella.  By thin layer, I mean lightly sprinkled so that you can still see the sauce.  Next, on one half I put spicy cappacola, chardonnay marinated kalamata olives, and creamy havarti.  The other half was fresh basil, tomatoes, and the havarti.  Gut the tomatoes first.

The assembled pie ready for the blazing hot oven.

Bake your pizza as hot as you can for your cooking surface and pizza thickness.  On a cookie sheet this is probably 425 F, on a screen 500-600 F, on a stone you can go up to around 800 F.  Since the dough on this pizza was thick, I cooked it at about 550 F for about 10 minutes.  Commercial pizza ovens cook pizza for about 6 minutes at 600-650, a really good brick oven pizza will cook in about 90 seconds.

For the first 5 minutes, include a pan of boiling water on the bottom of your oven.  This helps the crust and dough be chewier, and gives a browner color.  Remove the water after 5 minutes so that crust will be crispy on the outside.

I am the baker, I bake the cakes.  Make no mistake, I like to bake.

Homemade Oreos...Boo Yeah!

 Kara the Kookie lover here!
This is a GREAT recipe!!! LOVE IT!!! 

The Chocolate wafers:
Makes about 40 Oreo average sized Oreo cookies. It's hard for me to say exactly since I made a variety of sizes.

• 1 1/4 C all-purpose flour
• 1/2 C unsweetened cocoa
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/4 t baking powder
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 C sugar
• 1/2 C plus 2 T butter, room temperature
• 1 large egg

1. In a medium-sized bowl, mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar.
2. Beat in the butter and the egg. Continue mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
3. Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately 2 inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. (I found that while the dough wasn't sticky enough to roll, I could press it flat with my hands like the recipe said and then use cookie cutters to cut perfect circles. If you just care about the taste, then there is no need for the cookie cutters. Also, remember this is a chance to get creative and use all kinds of cookie cutters.)
4. Bake for 9 minutes at 375 F. Set on a rack to cool.

The Filling

• 1/4 cup room-temperature, unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
• 2 cups sifted powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I used vanilla bean paste instead.)

1. Place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla.
2. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2-3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.
3. To make a cookie, pipe teaspoon-sized blobs of cream into the center of a cookie using a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch round tip. (If you don't have a pastry bag, you could easily just spread the filling with a knife or use a Ziplock with the corner cut off as a pastry bag. I had a pastry bag, but I only had a star tip. The tip doesn't matter much.)
4. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream. (If you do this really fast, it will look like you are spinning records. See above.)
5. Eat the cookies using whatever method you prefer. I like the take apart, lick the cream, then eat the cookie method. Be sure to save some to make oreo cupcakes!

French Onion Soup

¼ cup butter
½ cup cooking sherry
2 large onions (thinly sliced like onion rings)
2 cans beef broth
1 loaf French bread
1 tsp sugar
Sliced swiss cheese
1 tbls flour

Melt butter in a large saucepan. Add the sugar (for caramelizing) and onions and cook till golden-brown (about 20 min.). Toss in flour and stir. Add sherry and beef broth and bring to a boil. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Reduce heat of stove to low and simmer soup, covered, for 10 minutes. Ladle soup into oven-safe bowels, add toasted bread and cheese slices on top, and bake on a cookie sheet in oven for 10 minutes.

Chicken with Orange Demi-Glace and Spiced Cider Apples

Ingredients:
1 large sweet potato
1 lb chicken tenders
1 green apple
1 cup demi-glace
1 cup fresh orange juice
4 rounded spoons of brown sugar
1 tbsp butter
~1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
a pinch of cinnamonsoy sauce
corn starch

Wrap sweet potato in foil and bake for 1 hour at 350 F. While it is baking, mix 1 cup fresh orange juice with 1 cup demi-glace and simmer until reduced by half (about 1 hour). When the sauce is close, add a little bit (about a tsp total) of corn starch or flour (make it into a thin paste with water before adding to avoid lumps) to thicken the sauce a bit.
Thaw chicken tenders with a small amount of soy sauce as the orange demi-glace reduces, it's okay if they are not thawed completely. Oil a skillet, and cook chicken over medium-high heat. Chicken sticks at first, then releases, so don't get too excited about turning. I cook mine only turning once after about 5 minute. Add a little bit more soy sauce as you turn them.

Prepare sauce for apples by mixing brown sugar, cinnamon, and vinegar. Cut apple into wedges and peal. Heat butter in skillet and lightly brown apples over medium heat for about 5 minutes, cover when not turning. Pour in sauce, reduce heat, cover, and simmer until sauce has consistency of syrup.

Cut up the cooked sweet potato.

Pour the orange demi-glace over the chicken, and the apples with spiced cider syrup over the sweet potatoes. Serve with fresh bread.

Note: the orange demi-glace would be excellent with red pepper flakes.
This was originally posted here.
Posting Matt & Katie

Bread Making Trial 5

See the previous experiments here:
Break Making Experiment 3
Bread Making Experiment 4

The result of experiment 4 was a bread loaf that was chewy and had a good flavor, but was too small.  I went out to shop for flour and noticed that Lehi Roller Mills Artesian Bread flour was on sale at the Harmon's case lot sale so I bought 16 pounds.

For experiment 5, I followed the recipe for basic white bread on the Lehi Roller Mill's bag which is essentially what I had arrived at in experiment 4, except it didn't use a pooling (or preferment) and it included sugar.  I use a pooling because in my experience it makes bread have a more complex flavor and chewy texture, it saves yeast, and all the good bread bakers seem to do it.

Lehi Roller Mills basic white bread recipe, adapted to use a pooling


1 1/8 C warm water
1/2 tsp yeast
1 3/8 C flour

Mix pooling ingredients together by hand, cover, and let ferment in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Add 1 tsp salt and 2 Tbs sugar, mix well.

Add 1 1/2 C of flour, 1/2 C at a time, while mixing at speed 2.  Let mix for 3 minutes, turn dough, and let mix for 3 more minutes adding additional flour as necessary.  Dough should clean bowl and be sticky.

Put dough in a greased bowl, turning to coat, and let rise until double in size, about an hour.  Punch down dough, kneed with flour, and shape into loaf.  Place in a greased bread pan, cover, and let rise until dough is 1 inch above the edge of pan.

Bake at 350 F for about 35 minutes.

This turned out to be the best tasting loaf yet, chewy and tasty!  Still, not as big as I would have liked... but close.  Katie replicated what I did with this same recipe, except she doubled it and made a French loaf, a regular loaf, and a little roll.

Note, this was originally posted here.
Posted By Matt & Katie

Bread Making Trial 4

Experiment 3 resulted in a bread that had mediocre flavor, and a delicate texture.  What I wanted was a chewy texture and a flavor that closer resembled a French baguette.  I figured that the flavor I didn't like probably came form the butter and milk.  I changed the recipe up a lot this time, which isn't very scientific because it is impossible to know what results come from what changes.  But, I figure I am more in the exploratory stage of this bread making research, so I don't mind.  See experiment 3 here.  The changes in experiment 4 are: pooling refrigerated overnight, dough mixed cold, dough mixed 2X as long, no butter, no milk, add sugar, less flour, cooked in humid oven, and I basted water on the dough surface with the second rise.

Pooling
1 1/2 C warm water
2 C Gold Medal Better for Bread Flour
1 tsp active dry yeast

Mix ingredients with hands until pooling is the consistency of thick batter with no lumps.  Pour into a container with plenty of room, because batter will double or triple in volume.  Let ferment in the refrigerator overnight before adding:

2 tsp salt
2 Tbs sugar

Mix for 2 minutes.

Add flour, 1/2 C at a time, until dough cleans bowl and is slightly sticky (about 2 cups). Kneed for about 4 minutes on speed 1 in mixer, turn dough over, and kneed for another 4 minutes.  Place dough ball in a greased bowl, turning over to coat.  Cover and let rise until double in size, about 1 hour in a warm place.

Flatten, pull into a rectangle, and shape as desired.  Baste with water, cover, and let dough rise until doubled.  Bake at 350 F for ~30 minutes, with pan of water in the oven to increase humidity.  Brush crust lightly with egg white, and bake for another 5 minutes.

Outcome
The bread was chewy, and had a good flavor. BUT, cutting out the 1/2 C milk, 3 Tbs butter, and 1 1/2 C of flour meant that there was a lot less dough.  I divided it in half so that we could make a cinnamon loaf, and the results was that both loafs were way too small.  Next time: similar recipe but with more dough.

Note, this was originally posted here.
Posted By Matt & Katie

Bread Making Trail 3

Since Katie and I got a Kitchenaid for Christmas we have been experimenting with making our own bread.  Experiment 1 followed the recipe in the KitchenAid book for basic white bread exactly as shown here, using a digital thermometer and everything.  This bread turned out to be just good basic white bread.  Very consistent small holes throughout the bread and not at all chewy in texture - like Wonderbread.

Experiment 2 had more butter than the basic recipe called for and we also worked in some olive oil as we kneaded the bread.  Half of the batch this time went to make a loaf of cinnamon bread that turned out excellent (we made awesome french toast with it).  The other half didn't rise to it's full potential and ended up being a little dense.

Since that time I have come to read about bread science online and have decided to take on a more rigorous approach in our bread experiments.  For example see this excellent excerpt on bread chemistry, this fine tutorial on artisan breads, and this pizza fanatics blog.

Experiment 3

Make a pooling:  Mix 1-1/2 cups warm water with 2 cups flour.  Next add two teaspoons of active dry yeast, mixing until very smooth like pancake batter.  Cover and let sit for about 30 minutes or until doubled in size as shown below.
 

Add 1/2 cup skim milk and 3 Tbs melted butter, mix.  Add 3-1/2 cups flour 1/2 cup at a time while mixing.  Knead with dough hook on speed two for 3 minutes.  Cover and let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes to autolyse.  Add 2 tsp of salt and knead at speed two for 3 minutes.

Put in greased bowl turning dough ball to coat.  Cover and let rise until double about 35 minutes as shown below.

 

Punch down by gently pressing the dough.  Knead 3 or 4 times.  Separate dough into 2 pieces, one for cinnamon load and one for regular loaf.  Notice the large air bubbles in the cut dough.  

Knead each half 3 or 4 times and shape into a loaf.  Place in greased pan, cover, and let rise until double in size about and hour.  Bake at 375 for 28 minutes.  The crust didn't turn out as dark as we wanted so it might be better to bake the loaves at a higher temperature or for a few minutes longer. 

Notice the crumb.  The air holes are slightly larger and more irregular in size... this is good, or rather better.

 

Note, this was originally posted here.
Posted by Matt & Katie

Chocolate Lover's Frosting

For all you dark chocolate lovers out there here is the perfect Chocolate Frosting recipe adapted from crazy about cupcakes. 

Chocolate Frosting

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2-3 tablespoons milk

In one bowl mix together butter and vanilla until a creamy consistency is formed.  In seperate bowl mix together dry ingredients.   Add dry ingredients into bowl with butter and vanilla until mixed well then add milk a little at a time until you reach desired consistency.

After the taste testing was done I added the frosting to honey graham crackers for us all to snack on!

Posted by Matt & Katie

Detox Smoothie

Above, ingredients for a cure-all smoothie.

Yield: Just the right amount of delicious smoothie to detox a Beto's and soda gorged individual who's stomach can't handle too much milk - or anyone simply wanting a feel-good snack.

Ingredients:

• About 1/3 cup light vanilla Silk soymilk.
• About 1 cup of frozen fruit (I like the strawberry, peach, and pineapple mix).
• 1 4 oz. cup of Dannon Light and Fit yogurt.
• Granola.

Instructions: Blend the soymilk, frozen fruit, and yogurt until totally smooth. Pour into your favorite pub glass taking care to leave enough room at the top for however much granola you care to have. Make sure that you put your glass on a coaster, rinse out the blender, and put all the rest of your crap away. Enjoy.

Above, the end-all cure-all smoothie.

Seriously, I have started drinking one of these babies almost everyday. They are awesome. Since I have been drinking them my encopresis problem has gone away as well as my lack of actualizing zenith. Actually, the zenith thing probably was resolved by a careful self initiated dose adjustment of my medication. When I cut my dose in half, I was working ten times as hard for one tenth the payout. So, I cut back to one fourth my original dose and started drinking yogurt smoothies.

Note, this was originally posted here.
Posted by Matt & Katie

Chowder/Soup

Kara here.

I have made this chowder two times in the last two weeks. It is a hit!! I love to make soups, especially in the winter. This chowder is really satisfying and super tasty!! I am keeping this one forever! Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 6 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
• 1 pound potatoes - peeled and cubed
• 1 teaspoon dried dill weed
• 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 8 ounces smoked salmon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon hot sauce
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
• 1 cup half and half

Directions

1. In a large stockpot over medium-high heat, combine the butter, olive oil, onion, garlic, and celery. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, or until the onions are transparent. Sprinkle flour over the mixture and stir well to make a dry roux. Gradually add the chicken broth and stir until slightly thickened. Stir in the potatoes, dill, tarragon, thyme, and paprika. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.
2. Stir in the salmon, wine, lemon juice, hot sauce, salt, and pepper. Simmer over low heat, uncovered for 10 minutes.
3. Mix in the half-and-half and continue to simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Do not let the chowder boil after adding the half-and-half. Serve hot.