Baking Bread!

Who doesn't love fresh-baked bread?  With a sourdough starter, it's actually pretty easy. If you don't know, the starter can live in your refrigerator  - literally - forever. You just have to feed it every 3 - 5 days. It sounds kinds creepy, but it makes such yummy bread!

Over the years, my dear friends have given me their sourdough starter again and again. The reason? I forget to feed mine and it dies. (Come to think of it, maybe it's a good thing I never had kids....)

So - when I found a recipe for a sourdough starter in the Cobb-Marietta Junior League "Southern On Occasion" cookbook, I was so excited!

I made the starter, which is a simple mix of water, instant potato flakes, sugar, and yeast. The mixture was left on the counter for 4 days to "sour;" then it was ready to use. I took 1 cup to use in the bread and put the rest in the refrigerator.  (I sure hope I remember to feed it this time.)

In my mixer bowl, I added 6 cups of bread flour, 1 tsp. salt, 1 cup of starter, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup canola oil, and 1 1/2 cups hot water.

With the dough hook attached, I ran the mixer until the dough came together into a ball and cleaned the sides of the bowl.

I lightly oiled a huge bowl and dumped in the dough, turning it around to coat the whole ball.  (When we received the giant bowl as a wedding gift, I thought it was pretty, but I had no idea how I would ever use it. Now I love it for my bread bowl.)

Then I covered the bowl with a damp cloth and put it in a sunny spot on the kitchen table. (Since it was only a sunny spot for an hour at most, it was probably pointless, but it seemed like the thing to do.)

I let it sit until the dough doubled in size. It took about 12 hours.

This recipe makes 3 medium-sized loaves, so I sprayed 3 bread pans with nonstick spray. Then I dusted  the counter with flour.

Then came the best part: punching down the dough. It's not nearly as violent as it sounds. All you do is put your fist down in the middle of the dough to deflate it, but it's surprisingly fun!

Then I dumped the dough onto the floured counter. It's pretty sticky, so I sprinkled a little more flour on top. I kneaded the dough for a couple of minutes, incorporating most of the flour on the counter in the process.

Don't know how to knead? Just pick up one side, pull it over the rest, and press down on the dough ball with the heel of your hand.

 Repeat over and over for a couple of minutes.





(Incidentally, it's a lot easier to do this with two hands. I don't recommend trying to knead dough and take pictures at the same time.)

When I was finished kneading, I took my handy-dandy bench scrape and cut the dough into 3 equal(ish) pieces. I love this tool. I usually use it to gather up chopped veggies to add into a pot, so it was pretty cool to use it for it's actual purpose this time!

I took each piece and formed it into a rough log. You can see what I mean by "rough." I don't worry about trying to make it too smooth since it's homemade bread. Who wants people to wonder if you really made it yourself?

I brushed each loaf very lightly with canola oil, and covered each one loosely with plastic wrap. I left them out 12 hours to rise.

I love it when time goes by and the result is beautifully risen bread! It's somehow very satisfying.

I baked the loaves in a 350-degree oven for 25 minutes, then cooled them on a rack. I like a tender crust, so I wrapped them in plastic wrap when they were still a tiny bit warm. Otherwise, I would wait until they were completely cooled.

Lessons I've learned:

1). Use only fresh ingredients. My canola oil was a little stale and you could taste that in the end product. 

2). Check the instructions to your mixer to be sure it's OK to mix a heavy dough. I burned out the motor of my first KitchenAid mixer by mixing heavy dough on the wrong speed. An expensive mistake I don't intend to make again!

3). Rotate your loaves halfway through baking if your oven has a "hot spot." I have no excuse. I knew the back left corner of my oven is hottest but didn't bother rotating. Hence the dark brown spot!

The bread is great toasted with jelly and it makes the absolute best grilled cheese sandwich anywhere. The dough also makes great cinnamon rolls. I plan to try substituting some of the flour for whole wheat flour and see how it works.

Try making your own bread if you never have. It makes me feel so accomplished! You don't have to tell anyone how simple it is.

Roast Part 3: Taco Night

It's time for the third and last meal of the weekend using the chuck roast I cooked on Friday.  First there was a simple roast beef meal with rice and gravy, then spaghetti with chopped roast added to the sauce. This last meal is a soft taco bar with shredded roast beef.

This was the simplest meal, by far, with mostly just reheating and chopping involved.

I decided to serve the tacos with a packaged Mexican rice mix, so I go that started first.

Then I put the shredded beef I had set aside Friday night into a small pot with a steamer basket set inside. I added about an inch of water to the pot and set it over medium-high heat when the rice had only about 8 minutes left to cook.

Next I started preparing the rest of my toppings. I shredded green leaf lettuce (because that's the kind I had) and cheddar cheese. I chopped some green onions and cilantro. I put a dollop of light sour cream in a ramekin and added some chipotle in adobo sauce, along with a little salt, to make a spicy sour cream spread. I also opened up a container of blue cheese crumbles.

Once the meat was reheated and the rice cooked, I wrapped a few flour tortillas in damp paper towels and heated them to a minute in the microwave.

Then the taco bar was open!

On one taco I used the spicy sour cream, beef, cheddar, lettuce, tomatoes and cilantro. On the other I used regular the plain sour cream, but substituted the cheddar cheese for blue cheese and left off the cilantro. Both were really good, and it was easy to forget that the meat had started out as an oven roast two nights before.

I really enjoyed my weekend of creating three meals with one protein. It was a challenge to come up with three completely different menus, making leftovers interesting every night. While I don't know that I'll do this on a regular basis, I hope it will inspire me to re-imagine leftovers in the future and keep meals (and meal planning) more fun!

Roast Part 2: Beefy Spaghetti

So, Friday morning I went to the grocery store and bought a chuck roast. I planned for the roast to serve as the basis for three meals. Yesterday's post details how I made the meat that will go into Saturday night's beefy spaghetti.

For the spaghetti sauce, I used the sauce recipe in the following post on the Food Network website: Turkey Meatballs with Quick and Spicy Tomato Sauce and Whole Wheat Spaghetti, by Ellie Krieger. (If I had a clue about web technology, no doubt I could add a link taking you directly to the recipe. Alas, I have no clue.) 

Needless to say, I did not use the turkey meatball part of the recipe on this day. Nor did I use the whole wheat spaghetti, but I'll explain that later. I have made this recipe as written including the turkey meatballs, and we really liked it. That's how I knew this sauce would be good with the beef.

On Friday, while the beef was roasting in the oven, I decided to get a head start on Saturday night's dinner.    

Start by chopping one onion and three cloves of garlic. Add olive oil to a 4-quart pot over medium heat. After a couple of minutes, add the onion to the pot, sprinkle with salt, and cook until softened. Add the garlic and cook a minute or so.    Add the tomato paste. 

I like tomato paste that comes in a tube. So often recipes call for a tablespoon or two and a can is just a waste. By using the tube, you can use small amounts at a time, put the tube back in the refrigerator, and have tomato paste for another day. 

It's pretty much the same thing with chipotle in adobo. You buy it in the ethnic section of the grocery store and it comes in a can. Dump everything out of the can and chop it really finely. What you don't use for the recipe, scrape into a snack zip-top bag, label, and toss in the freezer. Then you can break off enough to use for any recipe that comes along.  

This time, I took the whole bag out, used the amount for this recipe, and put the rest in the refrigerator. (Hint: it will be used in Part 3 of the roast recipes.)  

Stir the tomato paste and chipotle into the onions and garlic for a minute or so. 

Add in the rest of the ingredients and continue the recipe as on the website.

After the sauce has cooked 15 minutes, take it off the heat and add the meat saved from the previous day's roast. At this point, I refrigerated the sauce to reheat the next day.

On Saturday, we were out of the house until about 6:45 p.m. When we got home, I put a large pot of water on to boil for the spaghetti. Instead of whole wheat spaghetti, I use Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta which is "white" pasta with extra fiber. This is close to whole wheat pasta in Weight Watcher points because of the fiber, and tastes exactly the same to me as regular pasta. 

(To let you in on how much I love this pasta, I have a case each of thin spaghetti and rotini in my basement. Frightening, I know.)

Next, I took the sauce out of the refrigerator and put it in a pot over medium heat. Watch it closely, as tomato products tend to scorch on higher heats.

Once the pasta is cooked according to the package directions for "firm," reserve a cup of the cooking liquid, drain the rest of the pasta, and add the pasta to the sauce. Toss the pasta with the sauce to combine completely. Use the reserved liquid, if needed, to thin the sauce to the desired consistency. I forgot to add the fresh basil, a fact which did not come to my mind until I was typing this entry. Don't forget the basil!

To accompany the pasta,  I decided to serve a Caesar salad, also by Ellie Krieger. (Copy the following into your bowser. Again the disclaimer regarding technology)

http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/caesar-salad-grilled-shrimp.aspx

As before, I only used part of this recipe. I used the croutons and the salad, but not the shrimp. 

Here are the croutons when done:

 Mix up the dressing in the bowl in which you want to serve the salad, add chopped/sliced Romaine lettuce, and toss.

I served the spaghetti and salad on one plate. You, of course, should serve in whatever way makes you, or the ones you serve, happy!

Tune in tomorrow for Part 3....

One Roast, Three Dinners

Last weekend,  I cooked a whole chicken in the crock pot and used the finished product for three meals: chicken and rice Friday night, chicken salad Saturday for lunch, and chicken enchiladas Sunday night. While I do not plan to use that same crock pot recipe again (my oven roasted recipe is much better), I was inspired to try the same thing again this weekend.  

This weekend, I went with a boneless chuck roast. (I went to the store looking for a chuck roast on the bone, but this is what Publix had on this cold, dreary Friday morning.)

This method comes compliments of my sister's in-laws and is in my personal recipe book labeled "Bullard Pot Roast." (Thanks, Linda!)

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Pat the roast dry. Liberally add salt, pepper, and granulated garlic to both sides.  See? 

Since I only had enough granulated garlic for one side of the roast, I sliced a few fresh garlic cloves for the second side.

If you use fresh garlic, don't add it yet!

Here's the only place I changed it up a little. The recipe calls for the roast to be placed in a glass baking dish and broiled in the oven on each side to brown. I've done that before, but for some reason I just wanted to use my beloved, bright and cheery dutch oven this time. 

Add a little olive oil (maybe a tablespoon) to a dutch oven over medium-high heat on the stove. When the oil is hot, add the roast to the pot. (I first put down the side that had the granulated garlic on it).

Once it's nice and brown, turn it over and brown the other side. Then flip it back over so the first side browned is on the top. Scatter the sliced garlic across the top of the roast. Be careful none falls to the bottom of the pan or it may burn.  

Slice an onion in about 1/2" thick slices and place the slices on top of the roast. I think they sort of baste the roast as it cooks. 

Add about a cup of water to the pot. Add more if you like a lot of gravy.

Place a tightly-fitting lid on top. (Since the roast was going to be in the oven for a long time, I covered the lid's handle with aluminum foil.)  If you use the oven-broiled method to brown the roast, cover the baking dish tightly with several layers of aluminum foil to seal. 

Put the pot/dish in the oven and cook for 2 - 3 hours. (My roast was about 3 pounds and I cooked it for 3 hours).

After 2 - 3 hours, take the roast from the oven and it will look lovely and smell so delicious!

Remove the onions to a platter to serve alongside the roast. If you use fresh garlic, you can decide to leave it on the roast or scrape it off at this point. 

Move the roast to a cutting board. If you plan to use the roast for more than one meal,  only add the amount you need for this meal to the platter with the onion. Leave the rest on the cutting board for preparing for the other meals. 

For this meal, I wanted to make gravy. I drained the liquid from the pot and strained it into a fat separator. I added one tablespoon of olive oil back to the pot and set it over medium heat. I added one tablespoon of flour and whisked to combine for about a minute. I added some of the reserved liquid back to the pot and whisked to combine. When I tasted it, it had great flavor, but was too salty. I added some water, whisked, tasted. I tweaked it, adding more reserved liquid or water, until it tasted yummy. I let it simmer for a few minutes to thicken it. 

I rounded out the meal with Ellie Krieger's Roasted Nutmeg Cauliflower, boxed quick rice, and canned green beans. (I love canned green beans! Don't judge.) I thought the resulting plate looked nice, and it tasted great too.

Stay tuned for the meals I made using the rest of the roast!

Dinner Shortcut

Today was a long one. I was looking for a quick dinner with a short grocery list. This was it!

I already had some of the ingredients.

I had most of a rotisserie chicken leftover from when I used half of the breast meat for buffalo chicken dip for a party. (Yum!) The celery came from the same thing.

I have a stockpile of Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta I ordered by the case from Amazon a while back when I thought it would be discontinued. Weird, I know, but I really like the stuff.

My brother-in-law has been telling me about Philadelphia Cooking Creme. It's on the same grocery shelf as the regular cream cheese, but it's flavored and pourable, designed to serve as a sauce. I bought the Italian Cheese and Herb flavor to try tonight.

First, I put a pot of water on for the pasta.

Then I started out by dicing a medium sweet onion and a few sticks of celery. I cut a small broccoli crown into bite-sized florets. I picked the meat off of the chicken bones and cubed it. I even used some of the dark meat; I just diced it a little smaller than the white meat. It amounted to about 2 cups of chicken.

I added a couple of teaspoons of olive oil to a large saucepan and turned it to medium heat. I added the onion and celery to the pan and salted it.  I sautéed the veggies until they were tender, about 8 minutes.


Meanwhile I put 8 oz. of rotini into salted boiling water. When the pasta had five minutes left to cook, I added the broccoli to cook along with it.

When the pasta and broccoli were done, I drained them into my cool collapsible colander. (It is dishwasher safe and takes up very little space in the dishwasher or cabinet. Love it!)

I added the chicken to the onion and celery pan, then added the drained pasta and broccoli, and stirred in the container of cooking creme. I should have saved a little of the pasta water to loosen the mixture up a bit. Next time I'll  know better.

In the end, I ended up with a nice plate of pasta that took very little time to cook. Yeah!

Dinner Tonight: Pork Chops and Apples

Finished Product!

Today my husband woke up feeling a little under the weather. He felt better after a day of rest, and I decided to make some of his favorite foods for dinner: pork chops and cooked apples.

(I can't help but think of The Brady Bunch and "pork chops and applesauce.")

About three hours before I cooked dinner, I decided to brine the bone-in pork chops. I combined about 1/4 cup each of salt and brown sugar with about a cup of boiling water. I stirred until the salt and sugar were dissolved.

I added 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar, 6-8 whole black peppercorns, 1/2 teaspoon of whole mustard seeds, a teaspoon of whole coriander, and a bay leaf. Then I added ice cubes and stirred them in until the mixture was cooled.

I put the pork chops and brine mixture into a gallon zip-top bag and put it back in the refrigerator to soak up some flavor.

About 30 minutes before I was ready to cook, I took the chops out of the refrigerator to come closer to room temperature.

Meanwhile, I peeled and chopped two apples. (I think they were Galas).  They were crisp and sweet. (Please ignore that one is upside down in the picture.)

I also had some Granny Smith apples, but I would have had to add a lot more sugar to sweeten them, so I stuck with these. I chopped them into pieces about 1/2 - 1 inch each.


Next I chopped one sweet onion. I chopped half of it into larger pieces to add to the pan with the pork chops and apples.

The other half, I chopped a little smaller. I also chopped 3 small zucchini into bite-size pieces for a zucchini-onion saute.

For some reason, I do not seem to be able to cook zucchini for two. Note to self: we only need 2 small zucchini and 1/4 of an onion for our dinner if we don't want leftovers.

I put olive oil in the bottom of two nonstick pans, one large and one small. It doesn't take much, maybe a couple of teaspoons.

I turned the large skillet to medium-high heat. While it got hot, I took the pork chops out of the brine and patted them dry. I salted and peppered each side.

When the oil was hot, I added the chops to the pan to brown, about 3-4 minutes per side.

Once they were browned, I added the apples and the onion I had set aside for this dish. I added a tablespoon of brown sugar on top of the apples and onion, along with 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and 1/4 cup of water.

I turned the heat down to medium and covered the pan.

Next, I turned the smaller pan onto medium heat.

When the oil was hot, I added the zucchini and the rest of the onion, plus salt and pepper to taste.




Incidentally, I used this cool little tool to make that job easier.  I love this thing! It's called a bench scrape. I think it was designed to use with pastry, but I use it all the time to get chopped ingredients into pans without spilling them all over the place. (It's the little things in life!)

I covered the pan so the veggies would soften the way we like them. If I hadn't covered them, I would have added a little water so they could cook without sticking or burning.

I let both the chops and the zucchini cook about 15 minutes, until both were done. (I used an instant-read thermometer to make sure they were at least 165 degrees.

I used the cook time to empty the dishwasher and fold laundry. Does anyone else hate emptying the dishwasher as much as I do? My next least favorite chore is folding laundry.

Oh well, by the time I was finished, we had a nice dinner ready!

(When I plated my dinner, I realized that next time I will slice the apples rather than chopping them, so they won't be the same size and shape as the zucchini.)

Dinner was tasty!  Now on to ironing....