Egg Salad Sandwich

So simple.

Hard Boil some eggs.
Chop em up.
Add some mayo.
A couple of
blubs.
Add a large-ish squirt
of American
mustard.
Stir.
Put on your fave
fresh bread.
In my
case
the bread
will be Helga's
and it will
have
lots of seeds.

Eat.

Sausage Apple Overnight Breakfast Casserole

I personally am NOT a fan of sausage, (what I would consider) soggy bread, OR baked egg dishes...BUT...I was looking for a quick, easy breakfast that I could make the night before and feed to a hoard of hungry boys starting VERY early in the morning - and I found this recipe (where, I cannot for the life of me remember!) and thought I'd give it a go.  It made TONS and was very filling, easy (did almost all the prep while dinner simmered), made the house smell AMAZING as everyone woke up, and got the stamp of approval from the hoard of boys! :-)  I highly recommend it...if you're into breakfast casseroles - or are feeding hoards! 

 

Sausage Apple Overnight Breakfast Casserole

1 pkg. (1 lb.) Pork Sausage Roll
6 cups bread cubed into 1 inch pieces (I had a coupon for french bread...so used that - it was under one loaf when cut up)
10 eggs
3 cups milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 large baking apples, peeled and chopped
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
maple syrup, if desired

Brown sausage; drain. Whisk together eggs, milk and vanilla. In another bowl, mix apples, sugar and cinnamon together until well coated. In a greased (forgot to grease the pan the second time I made this dish...definitely stuck to the pan!! So don't skip this step!) 9 x 13 inch baking dish, place half of the bread cubes followed by half the sausage, half the apples, and 1 cup of the cheese. Repeat layers with remaining ingredients. Pour egg mixture over the layers making sure to evenly coat it all with the egg mixture. Refrigerate overnight. In the morning, preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bake uncovered for 55-60 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Serve topped with a drizzle of maple syrup if desired. (the boys ate it plain and with syrup and loved it both ways)

Chocolate Croissants

A most simple, yet decedent treat...

-1 can refrigerator croissants
-a few chocolate chips per croissant

Roll chocolate chips into each croissant.
Place on baking sheet.
Bake as directed on package.
Let cool a bit, then bite into a little bit of heaven!
A truly naughty treat!

Hillbilly Bread

This recipe was shared with me by a dear friend in Alaska. I can still smell it's aroma in her warm, and inviting kitchen on a cold winter day.
This is my go-to bread recipe. It's no-fuss and delicious!
Smeared with a dab of butter on each slice and it's heavenly! :)

2 cups warm water
1 1/2 Tablespoons yeast
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 Tablespoon salt

Mix above ingredients together and let stand for 30 minutes.
Add the following ingredients to the first mixture:

1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
2 1/2 cups All-Purpose flour
2 1/2 cups wheat flour

Mix well. Let rise until double in size. Punch down and make into 3 loafs. Place into greased pan and let raise to desired size.
Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from pans and let cool on rack.

* I usually halve this recipe for my little family, but have, at least once, made the entire recipe and froze a loaf. I like to form a "bowl" bread on my Pampered Chef stone. 

Printable Recipe:
Hillbilly Bread

Homemade Wheat Buns

These can be made in a bread machine, or with a mixer or even by hand!
(I made them in my bread machine until I received a Kitchenaid from my husband for my birthday recently!)
If making with a breach machine add all ingredients except yeast. Add the yeast last, in a well made in the flour. Select 'Dough Cycle.'

1 1/3 cup warm water
¼ cup Sugar (scant)
2 ¼ teaspoon bread machine yeast
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/4 cups All-Purpose Flour

Preheat oven to warm and then turn off.
Place water yeast and sugar in mixing bowl.
Allow to sit about 5 minutes, until foamy.
Add oil, salt, and flour and allow mixer to knead for 10 minutes.
Remove dough onto floured surface and knead into a tidy ball.
Put ball of dough back into mixing bowl, cover with plastic wrap or tea towel, and place in warm oven with bowl of warm water placed on bottom rack.
Allow to rise until doubled in size.
(When dough cycle on the bread machine is complete continue as follows.)
Roll on floured surface, into long log, and cut into 9 pieces.
Place on parchment lined baking sheet and flatten dough pieces until they are the thickness of a pancake and sides are almost touching.
Cover sheet with cloth and put in warm oven for 45 to 60 minutes or until doubled in size.
Remove from oven.
Preheat Oven to 375 degrees.
Bake for 17 minutes.

Printable Recipe:

Homemade Wheat Buns

Banana Bread

The kind my Mom used to make. A recipe my whole family uses.
This is my go-to banana bread recipe!


¾ cup of sugar
1 ½ cups of mashed bananas (4 large)
¾ cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon of salt
½ cup chopped nuts, if you like
(I love banana walnut anything!)


Heat oven to 325°.
Grease a loaf pan, either 9x5x3 or 8 ½ x4 ½ x2 ½ inches.
Mix sugar, bananas, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and nuts, if you are adding them. Combine dry ingredients with wet ingredients until well mixed.
Pour into pan.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of the bread comes out clean, 60-70 minutes.
Let cool 10 minutes, then loosen sides of loaf from pan and remove from pan.
Let cool completely before slicing with a serrated knife.

Printable Recipe:
Banana Bread

Mom's Banana Bread

I can't believe this recipe is not on this blog ! I've searched and searched and can't find it though, so it mustn't be. Rory made this yesterday and after my facebook status update about it, I got a couple requests for the recipe. I was certain it was on the blog but ... not so ! Well, it needs to be ! I love this banana bread, especially when Rory makes it for us !!

2.5 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 TBLS salad oil (we use canola)
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
At least three bananas (we always use the ones with black skins that we keep in the freezer)
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, optional (we never add nuts)

Preheat oven to 350F/175C. Prepare pan(s) with baking paper, or by rubbing with oil/dusting with flour. Mash the bananas with a fork on a plate. Throw all the ingredients except the bananas and nuts into a bowl. Mix on medium speed for about a minute, scraping the bowl constantly. (If mixing by hand, beat it vigorously till all the lumps are gone.) Mix in the bananas, then stir in the nuts. Bake for 45-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center come out clean.

Cool in the pan for a short time, them remove. Consume immediately if you want big bunks and melted cream cheese or butter (or both !) on it. Cool thoroughly if you want to be able to slice it properly.

Wrapped in foil, banana bread freezer beautifully.

My favorite focaccia bread

INGREDIENTS:
2 teaspoons yeast
1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons sugar
3 1/2 to 4 cups flour
1 tablespoon coarse salt
1/4 cup olive oil

TOPPING:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan
1 tablespoon coarse salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary or any other rustic italian seasoning you might have on hand.
optional: green olives, caramelized onions (i like to use red), roasted garlic on the side.

In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix warm water and sugar with yeast. Let stand about 5 minutes. Turn mixer on low and slowly add the flour to the bowl. Dissolve salt in 2 tablespoons of water and add it to the mixture. Pour in 1/4 cup olive oil. When the dough starts to come together, increase the speed to medium. Mix until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Add more flour if necessary.

Turn the dough out onto a counter and knead a few times. Form the dough into a round and place in an oiled bowl, turn to coat the entire ball with oil so it doesn't form a skin. Cover with plastic wrap or damp towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes - 1 hour.

Coat a sheet pan with a little olive oil. Once the dough is doubled and domed, turn it out onto the counter. Roll and stretch the dough out to an oblong shape about 1/2-inch thick. (a rolling pin works best.) Lay the flattened dough on the pan and cover with plastic wrap. Let rest for 15 minutes.

Preheat your oven 400 degrees. Brush the dough with olive oil before adding your toppings. Bake 15-20 minutes.

Fancy Toasted Sanga

So ... some nights, due to our crazy schedules, we need to all eat at different times. I hate cooking twice, and I hate serving Rory (who is usually eating last) something cold or re-heated. I mean, that's ok for leftovers but I have this thing about the first serve of something being totally amazing but that's just another of my oddities ... let's move on.

I have been trying to plan not only meals but specifically for our crazy schedule. So ... on this particular night, we did toasted sandwiches ... aka, grilled cheese. The kids had grilled ham and cheese and then later, much later !, Rory and I had these ...

I liked them, although the basil I chose was a bit strong. Next time I'm going to try the Opal Basil. We have about 4 varieties of basil growing in our garden so I'll give them all a go maybe and see which one I like best for this ...

Super simple. Heat up your sandwich press.

Between two pieces of bread ... Sliced Tomato. Basil Leaves. Thinly Sliced Red Onion. Salt and Pepper. Provolone Cheese.

Toast til it's Toasted.

And I served it with a handful of plain Kettle Chips. My favorite.

Blueberry and Zucchini - Together ??

So, I saw this Blueberry Zucchini Bread recipe over at Closet Cooking ~ one of my all time favorite cooking blogs. At first I was like Blueberry and Zucchini ? Really ? Together ? But, I just HAD to try it. And I'm so glad I did ! I've made it a few times now and it's delicious. We all love it !! LOVE IT !! Try it ... you will be glad you did !!

I modified it a tiny bit ...

1 1/2 cups zucchini (grated, squeezed and drained)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup greek yogurt & 2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 & 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup pecans (chopped)

How to make it ...

Mix the zucchini, sugar, oil, yogurt and egg in a bowl. Sift the flour. I don't know why because I know very little about baking, but I've found sifting the flour to be a good idea when I use straight whole wheat. It seems to lighten it somehow. Mix the sifted flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients. Fold gently. Add the blueberries and pecans. Pour the batter into a lined meatloaf pan. Bake in a preheated 350F / 180C oven until a toothpick pushed into the center comes out clean, about an hour or so.

Whole Wheat Brioche Bread Maker Rolls

This one is made from the last of the dough .... I just rolled it into a ball and it came out like this.
The others were round ... but you'll see that in the coming cheeseburger recipe !!

My inspiration for this recipe comes from here.
Of course, I had to make it fit our unprocessed specifications ... here's how I did that.

1/2 cup milk
4 eggs, large, at room temperature (I just sat them in a cup of hot water for a few minutes)
1/2 cup butter
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons powdered milk
1 & 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 & 3/4 cups whole wheat flour (I sifted mine)
3 teaspoons yeast

Put all of the ingredients in your bread maker and run on the dough cycle.

Roll it out and cut or shape into whatever you like. I used large biscuit cutters to make hamburger buns ...

Let rise for 1/2 an hour in a warm place.

Brush the rolls with an egg wash of one egg beaten with one tablespoon of water.

Bake in a 350 F/ 180 C pre-heated oven until the bottoms are browned. I think mine only took about 20 minutes ...

Whole Wheat Foccacia

I just replaced the sugar and flour used in this recipe with honey and whole wheat flour and voila !

Water ~ 250ml
Olive Oil ~ 2 TBLS
Salt ~ 1 tsp
Honey ~ 2 tsps
Whole Wheat Flour ~ 3 cups
Yeast ~ 2 tsps

Add ingredients to bread maker in order listed and use the 'dough' setting.

Press dough into a lightly greased pan. I used baking paper.

Cover and stand in warm area for 30 min or til doubled in size. (I always fill the sink with hot water and stand my doughs on top of that to make it warm ... works well)

Remove cover, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with rock salt.

Bake in pre-heated oven 200C (400F) for 30 (mine only took 20 minutes) minutes or until golden brown.

A Good Whole Wheat Bread

Pay no attention to the fact that this sinks in at the top.
Other than that, which made no difference at all, this bread was great !!

I used a few different recipes and modified this to our specifications.

Here's what I did ...
Add the following to your bread maker.

1 & 1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons honey
4 teaspoons olive oil (I might try canola next time)
4 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 & 1/4 teaspoon yeast

Turn on the bread maker. Select the wheat bread setting. I'm not sure how big of a loaf this would be but I think I selected the medium size. And I always select light crusts ...

Come back in roughly four hours to find a freshly baked, healthy, delicious loaf of whole wheat bread !!

Nut Butters

So ... one thing I've been experimenting with is making my own nut butters.
My first attempt was with almonds. I made a yummy almond butter that we spread on crackers.

Then, last night ... after I came home with a new high power blender, I tried another. I had intended to make peanut butter but have discovered that it is better to use LOTS of nuts so added a bag of cashews as well and made peanut/cashew butter and it was quite nice. I toasted some bread, spread on the peanut/cashew butter and topped with sliced bananas.

Making the butters was pretty simple.
Just pour your nuts into a blender or food processor.
Turn it on.
It takes quite a while, and you will need to turn it on and off.
Scrape down the sides, give the blender a rest.
Eventually, the nuts will break down so much that the oils in them are released.
Blend/process to your desired consistency.
That's it.
Just don't kill your blender by working it too hard.
Let it rest.
My blender book says don't go longer than 30 seconds in one hit with nut butters.



Kid tested and approved !!

Fun Buns

I love baking bread...but these rolls are a bit involved. But oh, so good with a nice bowl of stew. Worth the wait...if you have the time!

Ingredients.

2 1/2 t dry yeast

1 cup milk

4 T butter, melted.

2 T sugar

2 eggs, beaten.

4 cups flour

2 t salt

1 egg yolk and 1 T milk mixed for glaze

Handful of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, sea salt, or spices for top of rolls



Directions.

Sprinkle yeast into 1 cup of the milk. Let set for 5 or so minutes.

Stir to dissolve.

Warm remaining milk in saucepan with butter and sugar.

Stir until the butter is completely melted.

Cool until lukewarm.

Beat in the eggs.

Mix flour and salt in large bowl.

Stir in dissolved yeast and butter mixture.

Mix until forms soft, sticky dough.

Knead until smooth and elastic. About 10 minutes.

Put dough in buttered bowl and cover. Let rise until doubled in size (1 1/2 - 2 hrs)

Punch down. Let rest a few minutes while you butter rounded 9in cake pan.

Divide dough into 18 or so pieces. Place in buttered pan.

Cover and let double in size. Around 40 minutes.

Mix 1 egg yolk with 1 T milk to make glaze

Brush top of each roll with egg glaze. and sprinkle alternately with seeds and spices. I just used what I had which was sesame seeds, sea salt and rosemary.

Bake in preheated (400F) for 45 minutes. Golden.

Turn out onto wire rack to cool a bit.

Serve warm.

BLT

I'm sure you all know how to make BLT's but just in case ...

cook bacon
chop tomato
tear lettuce
toast bread
or not
spread with mayo
add lettuce
tomato
bacon

Eat and enjoy.
You might as well make yourself two ...
We usually do !

Chunky Spanish Garlic Bread

I thought I had posted this previously but when I went to find the link for a friend I discovered that I had, in fact, NOT posted this here at all. It's a crime, really. The world needs to know about this bread. I learned how to make it from my Mom ... I think there is a story about how she learned to make it but I can't remember it right now.

Mom ... is there a story ?

All you need for this is ... some yummy bread.
I usually use a french stick but that
wasn't available this time so I
used a loaf and man
was it good !
We will
use
it
from
now on ! As
well, you will need
heaps and heaps of garlic.
Seriously ... heaps and heaps and heaps.
Also ... olive oil, and butter. I used both but you
could use one or the other ... it's totally up to you and your
taste buds. So ... chop up your garlic. Then heat your butter/oil in
a small fry pan. Cook up the garlic til it's a soft brown. Don't burn it.
Pour the butter/oil and the garlic onto the bread that you have
chopped into big fat chunks and placed on a baking tray.
Put the tray into a pre-heated oven. I think I had it
on about 180 since I'd just pulled the lasagnas
out. You don't need to leave it in too
long. Just long enough to make
the bread go a bit crunchy
on the outside and
warm on the
inside !!

mmm, mmm, goood !

you can see we
don't put as much
garlic on the kids as we
do on ours. they pick it off
and we figure ... no use wasting
good garlic when we could be eating
it ourselves !! when you are ready
to eat the bread, get your fork
and push the garlic and
yummy butter bits
down into the
bread !!

Strawberry Bread

A couple girls came over last Sunday for an afternoon of baking. We made three different kinds of bread: Strawberry, pumpkin, and cinnamon. They were all YUMMY, but I only have time to type up one of the recipes for now...so here is my favorite! (one of the college guys that came over after sledding to sample our baking proclaimed that the strawberry bread was "stupid good"...I think that is a good thing :-)

(the strawberry bread is the two loaves on the left and the one on the right is pumpkin)

Strawberry Bread
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 – 10 oz packages of strawberries, thawed
(either get the sliced kind or I used whole ones and rough chopped them)
1 cup oil
4 eggs, well-beaten

Combine all dry ingredients; mix well. Make a well in the center, pour all liquids into the well and mix by hand with a wooden spoon (probably doesn’t matter what kind of spoon, I just prefer the wooden ones). The batter will seem to thick, but it will be soupier when you add the strawberries. Add strawberries. Grease and flour (I use sugar instead of flour) 2 – 8 by 4 loaf pans. (or a bunch of little loaf pans) Pour batter into pans. Bake at 350 for ~40 minutes. I let it cool in the pan because it's sometimes hard to get out until it is cooled a bit.

Rosemary and Sea Salt ...

I wanted to make Andrea's Rosemary and Sea Salt Bread last week but was out of butter.
Since we weren't shopping I had no choice but to not make it.
Grrrrrrr ... (that's me growling in disgust !)

Instead, I stuck to what we had planned and made foccacia.
But, I added Rosemary and Sea Salt to the top and it was AMAZING !!



~ Rosemary Flower ~

Rosemary and Sea Salt Bread

I love Trader Joe's Rosemary and Sea Salt Bread. But since moving to Richland, Wa. (where there is no Trader Joe's I haven't had much. I found this recipe though and thought it turned out pretty close to what they sell at the store...pretty tasty!

I got the recipe from here on RecipeZaar

• 1 T yeast
• 1 T sugar
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 1/2 cup flour
• 1 t salt
• 2 T Rosemary (fresh if you have it)
  
• 2 T butter

1. Mis yeast, sugar and water in large bowl, allow to bubble. About 5 minutes
2. Mix in 1 T butter, salt and 2 cups flour
3. Add 1 T Rosemary
4. Knead until smooth
5. Add more flour if need be
   
6. Oil a bowl and allow to raise for 1 hour or until it has doubled in size
7. Punch and divide in 2
8. Rest 5 minutes (you and the bread)
9. Spray baking pan (stone or cookie sheet)
10. Shape into two oval loaves
11. Sprinkle with remaining rosemary and press it in
12. Sprinkle with Sea Salt
13. Rise 45 minutes
14. Pre heat oven 375F
15. Bake 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. (I took mine out a little earlier than I would have liked since my son was demanding my attention and I didn't want to walk away and forget about it. It was done but next time I will let it get a bit darker.)
    
16. Brush with butter
17. ENJOY!