Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Awesome Bread!

I found this in another blog here the other day. Since I was making soup tonight (cream of tomato, America's test kitchen recipe) I decided to give it a go. It was AWESOME! So good! The recipe is below:

Super Easy Skillet Bread
2 cups flour
1 T. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 1/2 cups milk
2-4 T. butter
optional mix ins: cheese, bacon bits, green chilis, cornmeal, taco seasoning...use your imagination
Stir together the dry ingredients, then stir in the milk until a smooth batter forms. Place an oven proof skillet (I used an 8x8 pyrex dish) in the oven while it's heating up and put the butter (I used all 4 tbsp) in. Once the butter is nicely melted and bubbly, pour the batter into the skillet. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until the top is nicely golden brown. You may either slice it into wedges to serve, or simply tear off hunks. I put in about 1/2-1 cup of shredded colby jack and it was way good! So, this is not that great leftover cold (may reheat all right). You can also cut the recipe in half and do it in some smaller containers (I used some corningware last night).

How I make Pizza

I feel like I have perfected pizza making so I thought I would share my method.

First buy a pan like this or this.

Next buy frozen white bread loaves. I find these at Walmart made by Rhodes, but Kroger also sells a generic. You can similarly buy pizza dough from the bakery at Publix.

Start making your pizza.

About 4 hours before dinner, get out your frozen bread dough. Put it in a loaf pan and allow to defrost and rise. You can warm your oven a bit to speed up the process. Once you dough has risen, work it into a round shape. I roll it out for a while and then I start stretching with my fists and fingers. Just try not to pull it so thin it breaks. Spray your pan with non-stick spray, spread your pizza dough on it (you want it fairly thin), and put it in a 400 degree oven. Now watch your dough, if it starts forming bubbles, pop them with a fork. When it starts to get just slightly brown, pull it out of the oven.

Now for the toppings. Put on your sauce, a little cheese, your toppings, then a little more cheese. Throw it back into the oven and wait for the cheese to get just a slight bit brown and bubbly on the edges, at least 10 minutes in my oven. Pull it out and slice. You have a nice crispy crust and we really enjoy it. If you come to my house on Friday night you are almost always guaranteed to see us eating pizza!

Cinnamon Pork

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com when I was looking for something new to do with some pork tenderloins. I found this recipe and I think it turned out pretty good. I had made cookies just before and then plopped this in the oven and Ruthanne (my non-meat eater) said what smells so good? And, she followed through and has eaten a slice both times we ate it this week.

Here is the recipe (with my modified instructions):

* 1/4 cup soy sauce
* 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
* 2 tablespoons sherry (I just used a splash of balsamic vinegar)
* 1 1/2 teaspoons dried minced onion
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 pinch garlic powder
* 2 (3/4 pound) pork tenderloins

I mixed the marinade together in a 8x11 pan and then plopped my tenderloins in there too and flopped then around a few times to get marinade all over. I let this sit in the fridge for about 4 hours, then baked in a 325-350 oven for about an hour. I let it cook in with the marinade and then we used the juice over the rice and pork. The cinnamon adds a different but good flavor. Luke thought it was a lot of different flavors together, but I really liked it and it was really tender.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Cafe Rio Recipes

I always have to go back to Kara's blog to find these (since I think the recipes she found are the best copycats I've made), so I thought I would link them here to make it easier for me!

http://opp-family.blogspot.com/2007/08/cafe-rio.html

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Curried Coconut Chicken

I've adapted a allrecipes.com recipe for the crockpot.

2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts (whole, frozen works great!)
1 teaspoon salt and pepper, or to taste
2 tablespoons curry powder (maybe start with 1 tbsp then add more if needed)
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
3 tablespoons sugar

Throw everything into the crockpot. Cook 6-8 hours on low. About an hour before serving, shred your chicken into more manageable pieces and so they will soak up more of the yummy sauce! Serve over rice.

Chicken Cashew Salad

12 oz Small salad macaroni (d'italini), cooked according to package
3 Chicken breasts, cooked and cut up
2 cups red grapes, halved
2/3 cup Chopped green onions
2 cup apples
1 cup Mayonnaise, I use low fat!
1/2 cup Coleslaw Dressing
1/4 cup Milk
1 cup Cashews
Salt & Pepper to taste

Wisk together the mayo, dressing, and milk. Combine everything except cashews and then stir in the dressing mixture. Chill.
Add cashews right before serving. We add the cashews to our individual servings mostly, they get soggy after a day or two (ew!).

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Whole Wheat Blender Pancakes

1 1/2 cup milk
1 heaping cup whole wheat (not flour)
1 heaping tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla

Pour milk and wheat into a blender. Blend for 4 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and blend. For each pancake, pour 1/4 cup batter onto a hot, oiled griddle. Cook on both sides until golden. Makes about 20 pancakes.