No Knead Bread

This recipe comes from Alexandra's Kitchen with my own modifications because I can't seem to follow a recipe to save my life.

In a bowl, wisk together:

1 cup whole wheat flour
3 cups white flour
1 T sugar
1 t salt
2 t yeast I'm using breadmaker yeast.  If you're using the stuff you need to put into water, you'll have to mix it into the water before adding it.

Mix in:

2 cups water (a little warm)  The dough is going to be very sticky and moist.  This is NOT your normal bread dough.

Grease up whatever dish you're gonna bake it in.  I chose a 9 x 13ish oval baking dish.  Tht was too large, next time I'll use a smaller casserole so it rises up the sides more.  Alexandra uses two pyrex mixing bowls.

Pour / dump the dough into your greased up pan and let it rise in a warm spot until it's doubled.  At least one - two hours.

Use a utensil to beat it down and pull it away from the edge of the baking dish.  Alexandra suggests forks.  One seemed to work for me.

Let rise for another 30 minutes.

Bake for 10 minutes at 425F.  Lower the heat to 375F and bake for 20 more minutes.

If your pan was greased well enough, the loaf should fall right out.  Mine didn't but I mentioned my inability to follow directions, right?

This took up so little of my time and it was so super good with the soup I made.  The outside was so crispy and the inside was wonderful.  I don't know what it tastes like next day yet, but I'm very optimistic.

Honey Mustard Chicken

This is my mother's recipe and I have happy mouth memories when I eat this now!  I'll write her recipe and then add my comments in another colour.

8 chicken pieces, skinned
1 tsp curry powder
½ cup orange juice I used Orange Rasberry juice 'cuz all I had in the house was Veggie Juice
2 tbsp melted butter
½ cup liquid honey
2 tbsp prepared mustard  Oooooh - 'prepared' mustard.  I used dried.  This is probably why mine wasn't as yellow as I remember Mum's
salt

Rub chicken pieces with curry powder and arrange in a baking dish.  I just sprinkled it over top.  I'm lazy like that.
In a small glass measuring cup, mix together the rest of the ingredients until smooth.
Pour over chicken pieces and bake at 375F for about 1 hour, turning once and basting often.  I covered mine in foil for the first 45 minutes because I didn't feel like turning and basting.  I'm lazy like that.

Baked Oatmeal

I only had baked oatmeal for the first time this summer when my mum cooked at camp.  Just recently I went searching for a recipe that might be similar and found an amazing recipe on food.com.  Here it is with some Lisa mods.

3 cups quick-cooking oatmeal (not instant) 
1 cup brown sugar 
2 teaspoons baking powder 
1 teaspoon cinnamon 
1 cup milk 
½ cup butter or margarine, melted 
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 handful of almonds (perhaps ½ cup)
¾ cup blueberries


I mixed this all up in a 9 x 9 glass dish (yay for less cleaning) and baked it for 30 minutes at 350F


Serve with more brown sugar and milk. 

Orange Balsamic Chicken

I discovered a YUMMY chicken recipe in a Rachel Ray cookbook.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs orbreasts or any combination of light and dark meat
• Salt and coarse black pepper
• 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves chopped
• 1/3 cup orange marmalade
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 2 scallions, whites and greens, finely chopped

PREPARATION

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high to high heat.

Season the chicken liberally with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. When the olive oil ripples, add the chicken and brown for 5 minutes, then turn and sprinkle with rosemary. Cook until the chicken is tender and cooked through, about 5 minutes more.

In a small bowl, stir together the marmalade, vinegar and stock and pour over the chicken. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce has thickened and becomes a thin glaze. Arrange the chicken on a serving platter and serve topped with the glaze, and scallions.

Sausage Pepper Spaghetti

I adapted this recipe from a Catelli spaghetti box.  It is such a quick, easy meal!  Serves four.


Heat in a heavy sauce pan:
½ cup olive oil
½ tsp chili pepper flakes
1 tsp dried rosemary (a sprig or two fresh)
Cook for 15 minutes, strain and discard solids.


Meanwhile, prepare your favourite pasta - I used whole wheat spaghetti.


In a large skillet saute for five minutes:
The flavoured oil you just made
1 each sliced red, orange and yellow sweet peppers
1 diced length of farmer sausage (6 or 8 inches worth)

Add and saute briefly:
4 cloves of garlic
Juice of 1 lemon
A little lemon zest

Toss with spaghetti, garnish with Parmesan

Lime Sherbet

I was given an ice cream maker for a mother's day gift.  I was SO excited.  Now I had an easy way to make inexpensive, healthier ice cream.  The machine came with several recipes for sherbet as well.  This is my favourite.


2 cups whole milk
1 container frozen lime concentrate (softened)
3 T sugar

This is mixed together and placed in the ice cream machine.  Prepare according to your machine's directions.


I like a tart sherbet.  The raspberries I paired with this dessert were sweeter than the ice cream!  It was so good and refreshing.  You may want to add more sugar.  You may also want to add a bit of food colouring to make it 'lime' green

Mexican Casserole

:

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and adapted it for our family's taste.  We really enjoyed it.


brown:
1½ lb ground beef

add:
1 cups salsa
Simmer until most of the liquid is gone


add:
1 can kidney beans, drained
warm through


Grease a 9 x 12 casserole dish
Spoon beef mixture into bottom of the dish


Spread on top:
1 cup sour cream

Layer on top:
½ cup green onions
½ cup diced tomatoes

Last layer:
Grated cheese (I used Tex-Mex)

Bake in oven for approximately 30 minutes at 350F or until bubbly.

If your family enjoys olives, add them to the onion / tomato layer.  The original recipe called for crumbled tortilla chips on the bottom, but I found they got lost once the casserole was baked.  We enjoyed scooping up the casserole with tortilla chips instead of a fork.

Gooey Caramel Popcorn

I have this distressing habit of throwing stuff together to see if it works.  When it does, I have to guess what my proportions were so I can repeat my success.

So I've "thrown" this together a few times and it's always yummy.  This is my best guess for amounts.

¼ cup butter
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup mini marshmallows

Melt those together in a saucepan.

I'm too impatient, but almonds or pecans and a tsp of vanilla, mixed in after the sauce is off the heat, would be really yummy.

Mediterranean Pasta Salad

This recipe is adapted from a pasta-less recipe in Canadian Living's Rush Hour Cooking.  The Smaller One and I inhaled this.  The other two had reservations.  *rolls eyes*


Boil and chill your favourite pasta.  I think I used about three cups dried.

In the bottom of your large salad bowl, toss:
1 T minced fresh basil (I've been using freeze dried and I'm loving it)
2 T minced red onion
1 cup of cherry tomatoes, cut in half if they are larger
Feta cheese, diced (the original recipe said 2 oz.  I did not measure)
If you toss these together first, they will start making their own little yummy heaven.  The smell is so good.  I have a feta-ish (haha) for tomatoes, basil and feta.


Add to bowl:
1 chopped coloured pepper (yellow / orange are best for colour contrast)
1 chopped cucumber
People who enjoy olives may want to add ½ cup of black.  Shudder.


Salad Dressing (mix in a measuring up)
1 T red wine vinegar
1 T lemon juice
3 T fresh minced basil
1/3 cup olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
40 turns of the pepper mill
2 green onions, chopped
The dressing should resemble a runny pesto with all the yummy basil in it.


Take your now-chilled pasta from the fridge and toss it and the salad dressing with your veggies.  The ratio of veggies to pasta should be at least 1:1.

Enjoy.  This is seriously yummy. I'm telling myself not to run to the fridge to devour the leftovers.

Crock Pot Beef Stew

This recipe is from the little booklet that came with my first crock pot.  Serve with French bread.

1½ – 2 lbs stew meat in cubes

¼ cup flour

S & P

1½ cups beef broth

1 t Worcestershire sauce

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

½ t paprika

3 carrots, sliced

3 potatoes, diced

1 – 2 onions, chopped

1 stalk celery, sliced

2 t Italian seasoning

Place meat in crock pot.  Mix flour, salt, pepper and pour over meat.  Stir to coat.  Add remaining ingredients and stir to mix.  Cover and cook on Low 8 – 10 hours.  (High 4 –5 hours).  Stir stew thoroughly before serving.