Spinach Parmesan-Peppercorn Bread

Since it happens to be St. Patrick's Day, I decided to try experimenting with some green bread made with spinach. I used my parmesan-peppercorn bread recipe with several changes. Here is the recipe:

3 cups hot water

4 teaspoons yeast

2 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 1/2 Tablespoons sugar

1 Tablespoon salt

4 cups all purpose flour

4 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 Tablespoon dough enhancer

2 Tablespoons vital wheat gluten

2/3 cups finely minced spinach

(I chopped this in the food processor. 2/3 cup is the measurement after chopped. It took about 3-4 cups of spinach leaves)

2/3 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese

2 teaspoons fresh ground peppercorns

and because it wasn't quite green enough for St. Patty's:

1/2 teaspoon green food coloring

First, proof yeast in the hot water with the sugar. Let rest about 5 minutes.

Dump flour and then all other ingredients in the mixer bowl and mix with the paddle mixer until well incorporated. Switch to bread hook and pour in yeast mixture. (I put the coloring in with the water right before dumping it in) Mix on speed 2, stopping occasionally to stir down the dough. Mix until you have a nice solid dough ball.

If you are using a bread machine, dump all ingredients in, then the yeast mixture and let it do its thing on the dough setting. I've recently switched to making bread with my stand mixer because I have more control over the dough consistency.

Let it rise covered with a cloth for one hour. Divide dough in half and knead it by hand for a minute or two, then shape it into the pan. Make sure to grease the pans really well because the cheese tends to stick a little.

Cover and let rise for another hour, then bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

This makes two 2-pound loaves. (quite large) If your mixer or machine can't handle this much flour at once, just half the recipe.

It has a really rich spinach flavor with a delicate taste of parmesan. It would make a fantastic sandwich and would be really delicious with a tuscan tomato soup.

Mmmm. Wish I had some fresh pesto to go on it.

Scalloped Cabbage with Ham and Cheese

I found this recipe online and decided to give it a go. It was simple, easy to make, and delicious. Two of the three kids gobbled it up. (My meat-eater just picked out the ham, but two out of three isn't bad around here.) I think I would have served it as a side dish rather than the main attraction, but it was a delicious recipe and I will definitely make it again.

Scalloped Cabbage with Ham and Cheese

Ingredients

• 1 medium head cabbage, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups cooked ham, diced
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
• Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• First: Steam cabbage and onion in a small amount of water until it turns just barely green.
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• Then layer in the ham:
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• Next: in a skillet, melt butter over low heat. Stir in flour until smooth. Add milk, stirring until smooth. Add salt, cheese and stir until melted. Pour over the cabbage mixture. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and dot with butter. Bake for 30 minutes at 300 degrees.

Delish!

Hamburger Roll-Ups

Or at least that's what we call them. Several summers ago, my mom was visiting family in Vermont so my older sister was trying to get creative with some ingredients for our dinner. She's an excellent cook and often gets inventive in the kitchen. She came up with these, and we all loved them. In fact, I loved them so much they've become a favorite with my own little family as well. I hope you all enjoy them too.

First, you make biscuits. My favorite biscuit recipe is Baking Powder Biscuits from an old Betty Crocker cookbook.

1/3 cup shortening (or softened butter)

1 3/4 cup flour

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup milk

(I often double this recipe, as these make for good leftovers)

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Cut shortening into flour, baking powder and salt with pastry blender until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in just enough milk so dough leaves side of bowl and rounds up into a ball. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead lightly.

Filling:

1 lb. ground hamburger, browned and drained of fat. Add some onion and minced garlic and saute a bit with the hamburger.

Add some Thyme, Rosemary, Oregano, salt, pepper (sometimes I use seasoned salt and sometimes some Steak Seasoning. It really just depends on your tastes. I don't really have an proportions, so I just suggest adding to taste.)

Optional: shredded carrots-cook in hamburger mixture until soft.

Roll dough out on cupboard, like you would with cinnamon rolls. Spread hamburger mixture onto dough, then sprinkle with either mozzarella, chedder or parmesan cheese. Depending on my mood depends on what I use, but my favorite is mozzarella or chedder, or a mix of both :)

Roll up, again, like you would a cinnamon roll and cut into 1-2 in. circles. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Top with your favorite white sauce or country gravy.

White Sauce:

I don't really have a recipe for this either, but it uses butter and flour and milk. melt the butter in a saucepan, then add enough flour that it makes a ball, then whisk in enough milk to make it smooth. Add a bit of salt and a bit of pepper and voila, you have your white sauce.

See, they even kind of look like cinnamon rolls, but believe me, these are far from sweet, although still quite savory.

Posole

I grew up in New Mexico. New Mexico is famous for green chilies. Famous like Idaho is famous for potatoes. To the locals, food is just not food without green chilies. All fast food restaurants - including McDonald's - carry a green chili cheeseburger on the menu. People even use green chilies as a pizza topping. It's good too. You should try it. I'm not really much of a hot and spicy kind of person, but the wonderful thing about green chili is you can have it hot or extremely mild. The flavor of mild green chili is really warm and yummy. One of my favorite green chili recipes is for Posole (you say it pa-sole-EEE) . It's actually a very traditional New Mexican Christmas soup. But, we like it any time of year. Especially during the winter.

1 Tbsp canola oil
2 lb pork loin roast, cut into 1" pieces
2 14.5 oz cans enchilada sauce (I use the green enchilada sauce)
2 15.5 oz cans white hominy, drained
1 onion, sliced
1/2 C green chilies, diced (or 2 4 oz cans will work too)
4 cloves garlic, minced (or 1/2 tsp garlic powder)
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste (I always leave this out because I like it really mild)
2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 C cilantro, chopped
1/2 tsp salt

Brown pork in canola oil in a skillet. Next, place the meat in a slow cooker. Add enchilada sauce, hominy, onions, chilies, garlic, cayenne pepper, and oregano. Pour in enough water to fill the slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 6-7 hours. Stir in the cilantro and salt. Cook on low for 30 minutes more.

Perfect Pizza

Lately, I've been on a huge pizza making experimenting kick.  I've wanted to find a really good pizza recipe. One that is tried and true and makes amazing pizza. Pizza that is even better (and of course cheaper) than take-out. Thanks to our friend Robyn, I think we've found not only a great recipe, but the right way to cook it.

So, I thought I would share some of our new found pizza making skills.

 

First of all, there are two huge secrets to making incredible homemade pizza - a baking stone (like the one's from Pampered Chef) and a pizza peel (those wooden paddle board looking things they have at those authentic brick oven pizza joints). Without those two things, you really can't get great pizza - trust me....I've tried.

Okay...with baking stone and pizza peel in hand, here is a recipe for super easy (and yummy) pizza dough:

1 1/2 C warm water

2 tsp yeast

2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

4 C flour

Put the warm water in a mixing bowl. Sprinkle in the yeast and stir until dissolved. Add sugar. Wait 10 minutes.  Add salt, then flour one cup at a time.  Knead for five minutes. Roll in olive oil.  Let sit 1 1/2 hours or until tripled in size. Punch down and let raise 15 more minutes. 

The next really important step is to preheat the oven WITH the pizza stone inside for 30 minutes.

Then, roll out the dough into round pizza shape. (The dough is enough to make two pizzas, but we do one at a time.) Once it's rolled out, transfer the dough to the pizza peel coated with cornmeal. Then, add sauce, cheese, and toppings. One secret we've found is don't add too much cheese. You really don't need more than about 1 1/2 cups of cheese. I put one cup on the bottom, then add the toppings and sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup on last.

When your pizza is ready for baking, carefully slide the pizza from the peel to the hot baking stone. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes.

Since the dough is homemade, this pizza is super filling. Our kids can rarely eat more than one slice. It's a really good and easy thing to share with friends. Another one of my favorite things about pizza is how versatile it is. Different toppings really make it a completely different experience every time. In addition to the regular fully loaded supreme style pizza, we also like chicken alfredo pizza. Instead of marinara sauce on the bottom, we put alfredo sauce. Then top with chicken, red onions, tomatoes, bacon and peppers. So yummy!!

Shredded Beef for Tacos

2.3# beef round roast
2 cloves pressed garlic
2 small cans green chilies
1/2 white onion, chopped*
2-3 t cumin
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 can beef broth**

Roast at 275F for 5+ hours***

And since this was just one of those "attempts" here are a few notes for next time:
*That's all I had, otherwise it would have been a whole onion.
**I would use additional fluid [water or beef broth], it was slightly dry, but still tasty.
***Though it was tender enough, if i had added more fluid, it could have cooked for another 45 minutes and been even more tender without being overdone.

To complete the taco add:
black beans
colby jack cheese
guacamole
salsa
lime juice
cilantro

Among the many things I love, I love shredded beef tacos. Pure Goodness.

Curried Butternut Soup

I found this recipe on THIS WEBSITE and decided to give it a try. I loved it. My family, not so much. But if you love curry, squash, or ginger you might like it too. I did tweak it a little bit.

Here are the ingredients:

1 large or two small butternut squash. Peeled and diced. Enough to make 6-8 cups.

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 Tb. fresh grated ginger root

6 cups chicken broth

1/2 teaspoon mustard powder

4 teaspoons yellow curry powder

olive oil

salt to taste

chopped cilantro and sour cream for garnish

1. Cut both ends off the squash and peel it with a vegetable peeler. I was skeptical that this would work, but it was actually really easy. Half the squash and scoop out the "guts" with a spoon. Then dice the squash into small cubes.

2. Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a fry pan and cook the cubed squash in batches over medium high heat. You want them to brown, but not burn. Stir away until the pieces are tender. Salt to taste, then set aside.

*Just a side note: If I took nothing else from this recipe, I would be happy in knowing a new way to cook butternut squash. These panfried pieces were SO yummy. I kept sneaking pieces. I'll probably never bake squash again.

3. Now add a little move olive oil to a thick bottomed stock pot. Heat it up and add:

the chopped onion

the minced ginger

curry powder

mustard powder

Stir those around until the onions are nice and brown. (Oops. Forgot to take a picture.)

4. Now add your chicken broth and the cooked squash pieces into the stock pot. Pull out your immersion blender.

You have one don't you? NO?!? Well you should! Let me know if you don't and I'll buy you one for Christmas.

Just kidding. But seriously, you really should have an immersion blender in the kitchen. We got one for our wedding and I never used it until about two years ago because I didn't know what it was for. Now I use it weekly if not daily. How on Earth did I survive without it? Once you have one, you'll never go back. Trust me.

If you don't have one you can use a regular blender and just pour it in small batches. Messy though.

ANYWAY, assuming you have an immersion blender, immerse it in your soup and blend away until the entire thing is smooth as... well... something smooth. It will look like baby food. Don't be afraid though. It's very yummy.

It's even better if you put a dollop of sour cream and some chopped cilantro on top.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I think I want to have some more right now.

Good thing, because no one else seems to be eating it....

*sigh*

Sometimes I wonder why I bother to experiment in the kitchen at all.

Oh well. Looks like I'll be eating curried butternut soup all week long.