Homemade Bread

Nothing beats fresh whole wheat bread hot out of the oven! This is the best recipe I've ever used. I've never once had it turn out badly (except for the time last week where I was letting the bread rise on the floor--we do have heated floors after all--and the kids came barreling through and pushed them over, causing them to fall...but it still made really good toast...) The only issue: It makes a LOT of bread, so unless you have a Bosch mixer, it may or may not fit in your mixing bowl. You could always do it by hand, I suppose. I've never tried to half it, so if someone wants to try and let me know if it turns out, by all means! Otherwise, this makes about 5 loaves of bread.

5 c. warm water
1/3 c mashed potato flakes
1/3 c oil
1/3 c honey
2 eggs
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp yeast

**Mix together, then let sit, covered, for 10 minutes (at least), until you see the mixture 'growing'!

Add:

3 c white flour
9-10 c wheat flour
2 Tbsp flax meal
2 Tbsp bean flour

Mix until dough leaves the side of the bowl--ie the bowl with be completely clean!! Mix for 5 more minutes. Spray or rub oil into a large mixing bowl, and place the dough inside. Sprinkle with flour to keep it from sticking. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel. Place in warm place to rise. Let rise about 45 minutes OR until the dough rises over the top of the bowl.

Punch down, shape into a large roll (rectangular shape) and cut (using pizza cutter) into 5 equal loaves. Place each loaf into greased bread pan. Cover with towel, let rise again in a warm place for about 45 minutes. Turn oven on to 350 degrees. Bake 2 or 3 loaves at a time for 25 minutes. Set on cooling rack for 10 minutes then take out of bread pan, and let cool completely (or eat it while still warm–it’s yummy)!! It is the lightest, fluffiest, best tasting whole wheat bread you'll ever eat! :)

This bread freezes well, and makes great toast! :)

Cinnamon Rolls

My famous Cinnamon Rolls!!

This is a breadmaker recipe that I have 'tweaked' a bit to serve my own personal agenda! :) If you have a breadmaker, just add the ingredients as listed, press the 'dough' button on your machine and then skip to the rolling out part! If not, I've written out the instructions!

1 Egg PLUS enough warm water to equal 1 ½ c
1/3 c Oil
½ c Sugar
1 ½ tsp Salt
2 ½ c Wheat Flour
2 c White Flour (I have done 100% whole wheat, and it works just fine!)
1 Tbsp Bean Flour
1 Tbsp Flaxmeal
2 tsp Yeast

(*You will also need butter, sugar, and cinnamon for the filling, and powdered sugar, soy milk, and almond extract for the glaze!)

Mix gently for 5 minutes until all the dough is in a ball. Let rest, covered, for 15 minutes.

Add 2/3 c Raisins (this can be added before, too!! If using a breadmaker, add at the beep. Sometimes, I add it as soon as the dough is in a ball right at the beginning!)

Mix for another 10 minutes--either by hand or using dough beaters on a mixer on low.

Cover and let rise for 30-45 minutes, or until double in size.

(**Skip to this if you're using a breadmachine!!)

Take dough out and roll out into a rectangle shape on a flat surface with flour. Spread soft butter (NOT margarine--PLEASE!! Margarine makes the rolls touch and chewy. BUTTER, on the other hand, makes it just oh so yummy!) all over the top. Sprinkle with sugar (I think brown sugar tastes even better than white, but that's a personal opinion!), then with cinnamon. With a pizza cutter, cut the dough in half (up and down). Roll up one side, then use the pizza cutter to cut little rolls, about 1 inch thick. Put rolls on a greased cookie sheet. When all the rolls are on the tray, put a towel over them, then put on top of the oven (not inside!!). Turn oven on to 350 degrees. Let rise for about an hour. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.

Drizzle with glaze:

1 ½ c powdered sugar
1 Tbsp soy milk (if there isn’t any soy milk, water or regular milk can be used...)
1 tsp almond extract

Mix with fork until all the lumps are gone and it is fairly thick and smooth. Drizzle over warm rolls. (I seriously don't measure the liquid. I just add it until it's a nice thick glaze-y consistency.)

Quick Tip: Butter

I don't use margarine. It's not because of too many other reasons than the fact that cooking with butter makes everything turn out better. Sure butter is more expensive, but a little of it can go a long way!

• Butter makes cookies melt in your mouth; Margarine makes them rubbery and hard.
  
• Butter makes pancakes crispy around the edges; Margarine makes them soggy and tough.
  
• Butter makes cinnamon rolls flaky and taste like toffee on the inside; Margarine makes them tough (for lack of a better word)!
• Butter makes banana bread light and fluffy and melt-in-your-mouth yummy!; Margarine makes it more dense and chewy.

The list goes on. Butter is just better. I make no claims to be a dairy lover. Quite the opposite, in fact. But butter is 'better for you' than margarine, regardless (think hydrogenated oils and chemicals all over the place!) and just gives you that added edge to make your baked goods (and anything else you use it for) win that gold medal!!

Roast Chicken

I get many requests for this chicken. It's my personal fast food. I love it and it's a no-brainer! However, I do it differently every time. So, here are a few of my favorites:

My base:
Boneless skinless chicken breasts (I usually use four or five)
Olive oil
Season Salt

Then, the sky's the limit!! Here are some seasoning combinations that I've used:

Italian (oregano, rosemary, basil, thyme, pressed garlic)

Latin (Cilantro, lemon juice, dash of cumin)

Rosemary & Lemon (Rosemary--fresh or dried, doesn't matter--, freshly squeezed lemon juice)

Garlic & thyme (1 pressed clove of garlic for each chicken breast. Rub it in, then sprinkle your thyme on top. We LOVE garlic at our house, so I use this one all the time!)

Bake in a glass baking dish (size will depend on the amount of chicken you're making!) at about 400F/232C for about 45 minutes.

**Side dish ideas: Quinoa and butternut squash! Rice and salad! Baked potato and steamed veggies! Anything goes with chicken! :)

Quick Tip: Oil

I thought since I'm so focused on cooking from scratch, I'd mention a few of the things that I've learned in all my endeavors for the past 7 or so years. I'll put up some sort of 'quick tip' with every post.

So, my first quick tip is about oils.

In the first place, oil is NOT bad! Contrary to popular belief, eating foods with oil in it is NOT bad for you. What's bad, is eating things with HYDROGENATED oils, otherwise processed oils, or deep frying with the wrong type of oil! Otherwise, if you're doing all your own cooking, don't stress about using oil. If you're going 'all natural', even if you use a gallon of Canola oil in 6 months, you'll still be using a SUBSTANTIAL amount less than you would eating processed and pre-made foods. Your body also NEEDS to have some oil. So, use it, love it, but don't abuse it!

Some things to know:

*Use Olive Oil when sauteeing or baking. It will keep your foods moist. If you use or Canola oil or vegetable oil, it will make it more dry and smell different (less appealing).

*Don't use Olive Oil to deep fry. When Olive Oil becomes super heated, it can be toxic! (Besides being uber expensive to do!)

*If you have to choose between Vegetable Oil and Canola Oil, use Canola Oil.

*For non-stick, I don't like to use aerosol sprays. Too many free radicals and stuff. I use the Pampered Chef spritzer. I know that you can find spritzer things like this at other places, too. I found one once at Target. Unfortunately, the one I bought happened to be defective and didn't work! But I'm sure someone else will have better luck! :)

For more information than you really wanted to know about oils, see Wikipedia! :)

Shrimp Sauce

Another fun invention. This is why I love love love cookbooks. I can look through, and find all kinds of fun and interesting combinations for making fun things! :)

Mini frozen shrimp (I used about 1/3 of a 1 kilo bag)
2-3 Tbsp butter
3 large cloves of garlic, pressed
1 whole large onion
garlic salt (to taste)
seasoning salt (to taste)
6 ripe tomatoes
herbs (I used rosemary and oregano. Basil would taste fantastic with this, but I wanted to use it for something else.)

Melt the butter in a sauce pan. Add the onions and sautee for a minute or so. (This just smells so good!!) Add garlic and stir in. Add shrimp, salts, and herbs. Let simmer for about 5-10 minutes. Add tomatoes. Simmer altogether for about 15-20 minutes. All the flavors should blend nicely.

Serve over your favorite pasta (we used fusilli), or rice! Super yummy!!

Homemade Tortillas

These are YUMMY! Now, don't let the long list of instructions scare you away. It really isn't that hard or time consuming, they're just really detailed instructions! :) It's really fun to do this with kids...even to the point of letting them use cookie cutters, or kid-safe knives to cut out shapes for their tortillas. And, it's really yummy! (OR, you could just get some masa harina from the store, add some water, and there's some tortillas for you, too...depends on if you want flour or corn tortillas.) I haven't tried these with all wheat (I know, you're all gasping and fainting), but intend to soon! I'll update with the results!

Homemade Flour Tortillas

2 cups of white flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. oil
3/4 cup warm water

(This is a fun recipe to let young children help with…)

1. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In another bowl combine the warm water and oil.

2. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour mixture, one tablespoon at a time and mix the dough with a fork. Once the water is mixed in, add another tablespoon of water and repeat the process until all the water is mixed into the dough.
The dough will be sticky.

Kneading The Dough

3. Lightly flour a flat surface (like the table) and knead the dough.
**Kneading is done by pushing the dough with the heals and palms of both hands down onto the board. Fold the dough back onto itself, give a quarter turn and push again with the palms and heels of your hands. (Just like kneading bread by hand!) Just repeat the process of pressing, folding and turning for about 4 or 5 minutes. Add a little bit of flour when the dough gets sticky. If the dough sticks to the cutting board while kneading, scrape up the dough and dust the board with a little flour and continue kneading. Eventually the stickiness will go away and you will have a nice smooth dough.**

4. Place the dough back into the bowl and cover it with a damp towel or damp paper towel. Let the dough rest for 20 minutes.

5. Divide the dough into golf-ball-size balls by pinching off the dough with your thumb and fore finger. Form each ball into a nice ball shape. Place the balls on a flat dish making sure they don't touch each other and cover with the damp cloth.

6. Let the dough rest again for 10 minutes.

Rolling The Tortillas

7. Preheat a skillet or cast iron pan on medium high heat.

8. Lightly dust your table with flour. Take one of the balls of dough and flatten it out on the cutting board to a 4 inch circle. Rub flour on your rolling pin and begin to roll out the dough starting from the center out. Roll the tortilla until it is 6 or 7 inches in diameter and about 1/8 inch thick.

Cooking The Tortillas

9. Once you have rolled out the tortilla, place it on a preheated skillet. You don't need to add any oil or butter. Cook the tortilla for about 30 seconds. You will notice brown spots all over your tortilla. Flip it over and cook an additional 30 seconds.

**Don't over cook it as you want the tortilla to be nice and soft.**

Keep your tortillas warm by covering them in a towel on a plate.

Storing Tortillas

Tortillas are best eaten hot right off the griddle, but you can refrigerate and freeze them too.

If you freeze the tortillas, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and put them in a ziplock bag. When you are ready to use them, first thaw at room temperature and then wrap them in foil and place them in a 250 degree oven for a 10 to 15 minutes.

I don't recommend microwaving them as this tends to toughen them.