I haven’t made bread since I was 10 years old and in 4-H, my mother’s answer to Girl Scouts (not same btw).  But I digress.  It’s not that I don’t like bread, I do.  In fact, the smell of baking bread is one of my most favorite smells in the world.  I’m pretty sure that if they bottled a perfume called “Fresh Baked Bread” they’d sell out in minutes.  And just think of all of the romantic possibilities this fragrance could start…your significant other slathering some butter or jam on to your neck and going from there (digressing again – sorry).

I had heard lots of rumblings about no knead bread recipes lately, it seems that there is a new book out called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, but I was motivated to actually try this when I was over at Hannah’s Honey and Jam website.  If your only familiarity with bread is the kind that is pre-sliced and encased in a plastic bag, you have no idea what you are missing.  Making this bread may take a bit longer than running down to your local supermarket, but it isn’t any more difficult.

Since my parents were coming to stay with us for a few days, I decided to whip up a batch.  Of course I timed it so that they got to smell the aroma of freshly baked bread wafting through the house.  Since they hear that I’ve been cooking, what better way to impress them than this?

Not content with leaving a perfectly good recipe alone, I split the dough in half to make two different kinds of bread.  I got 4 6″ round loaves from this recipe.  Two of the loaves were of the plain variety and two of the loaves received an addition of dried apricots and manchego cheese.  The apricots and manchego cheese loaves were perfect by themselves, but went especially well with beer and wine.

Relationship Advice

Sometimes doing simple things impress the people you care about most.  It doesn’t always require grandiose gestures to get someone’s attention or to impress them.  In fact, the simpler something is the more it shows you care.  If you haven’t noticed, in your day to day life, people don’t pay attention to the little things.  How many times has someone walked through a door, ahead of you, and actually held it for you?  How many times have you said “have a nice day” to the person behind the counter at your coffee shop?  It’s those kinds of things that make you a memorable person.

Makes 4 6″ Loaves

Ingredients

• 3 Cups Lukewarm Water (more water needed for cooking)
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Active Dry Yeast (roughly 2 packets)
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Kosher Salt
• 6 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 Cup Dried Apricots (diced)
• 1/2 Cup Manchego Cheese (diced)
• Cornmeal (for dusting)

Directions

In a large mixing bowl mix water, yeast and salt.  Let sit for 30 minutes.  You’ll see some foam on top of the water.

Add all of the flour to the wet ingredients and stir to combine.  I used a long handled wooden spoon to thoroughly combine the flour.  You only need to mix the flour until you don’t see any more flour streaks running through the dough.  If you are having trouble combining all of the flour, you can add more water (a tablespoon at a time) and keep stirring.

Leave the dough in the bowl and cover loosely with a non terry cloth towel.  Sit the bowl in a place that is warm and not drafty.  Let dough rise roughly 2 hours.

Separate the dough into 2 halves.  With the first half of dough, cut dough in half again.

Cover your hands, lightly, in flour.  Take 1/4 of the bread and pull edges under, to the bottom of the dough so that you have a smooth dome.  Repeat with remaining 1/4 of dough.  Sprinkle cornmeal on cutting board and put both dough domes on board.

With remaining half of dough, mix in diced apricots and manchego cheese.  This is easily done by working the apricots and cheese into the dough with your hands.

Split this dough in half and turn out domes as with the plain dough.  Sprinkle cornmeal on cutting board and put both dough domes on board.

Let dough rest for 40-60 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Farenheit.

Place a pizza stone, or cast iron skillet, on the middle rack of your oven.  On a lower rack place a broiler pan or half sheet pan (you’ll be adding water to this pan so make sure the pan has sides on it).

Lightly dust the top of each loaf and slash the top 1/4″ deep.

Place a loaf (or loaves) on the pizza stone or skillet.  Pour 1 cup of hot water into broiler pan/half sheet pan and quickly close the oven door, so that the steam stays in the oven.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until top is nicely golden brown.

Remove from oven and let cool.

Technorati Tags: Bread, Bread Recipes, Easy Cooking, Easy Recipes, No Knead Bread Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes

I just could not come up with a pithy or cutesy title for this post because this sandwich (and oh so easy recipe) is just too close to my heart to even slightly mock it in any way, shape or form.  I first had this sandwich on a bitingly cold and wet morning in Amsterdam back in 2002 at a little cafe called Tisfris.  Unlike here in the United States, Amsterdam restaurants stick around longer than 6 months.  (It’s still there.)  Anything or anyone that can save me from turning blue and being utterly miserable from being cold – is my hero.

Last week was spent back in Cleveland, with my family.  I’m not sure if anyone saw the weather for Cleveland, but it was beyond cold the entire week we were back there!  Of course, living in Southern California for the past 14 years affects my judgement on what’s really cold (but let’s just say that the windchill was in the negative digits while we were there – that’s cold).

My first day was spent at the West Side market picking up all of my favorite Polish foods (pierogi and sausage…to name a few).  But then I saw it…a beautiful vision of white, no not a Currier and Ives-esque snow drift, but a perfectly formed log of Boucheron (aka bucheron) cheese, the loveliest of goat cheeses,  and I had to get my hands on a chunk of it.  Then I went over to the baker and picked up a dark hearty loaf of whole wheat honey and sunflower seed bread.  The final purchase was a large piece of ginger.

The next morning was my glorious breakfast – I had a hot cup of tea with warm rich bread, gooey cheese and pears all bathed in a warm sweet ginger syrup and my belly was really happy, and not so cold anymore.  Oh, and what about “my man’s belly”?  He slept in too late and didn’t get any.  Hey, you snooze you lose!

Relationship Advice

You can lead a horse to water, but you can not make him drink.  You can lay the groundwork for the perfect meal or moment, but if your significant other has other things that they would rather do, then there is nothing else you can do to change their mind or actions.  So if you’ve already done everything, you shouldn’t let it go to waste – enjoy it yourself!  Don’t wait for somebody else to make you happy.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 Loaf Dark Bread
• 1/2 Pound Boucheron (sliced into 4 pieces)
• 2 Pears (peeled and sliced thin)
• 1/2 Cup Ginger Syrup – Warmed (recipe to follow)

Directions

Slice and toast dark bread.  If the loaf is not large use 2 pieces of bread to accommodate the diameter of the bucheron.  After toasting the bread, lay them side by side on a large plate.

Place slice of boucheron in center of the 2 pieces of toast.

Arrange slices of pear on top of boucheron.

Drizzle liberally with warm ginger syrup.  Serve

Ginger Syrup

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Water
• 1 2″ Piece of Ginger (peeled and sliced into rounds)

Directions

Pour sugar, water and ginger slices into small saucepan.  Over medium high heat, completely melt sugar into the water.  Do not let water boil.  Once melted, leave pot on heat for 2 minutes longer.  Remove from heat and remove ginger pieces.  Syrup is ready to serve.

*You can then put the ginger pieces onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet and put in an oven set at 150 degrees Farenheit for 2 hours for crystallized ginger.

Technorati Tags: 30 Minute Meals, Breakfast Recipes, bucheron cheese, Candied Ginger Recipes, Easy Cooking, Easy Recipes, Ginger Syrup, Goat Cheese Recipes

Mmmmmm…cinnamon rolls.  Fresh, hot cinnamon rolls are one of those few things that you can make that get you drooling from their smell as as much as they do from their taste (chocolate chip cookies being the other one).

However, unlike the aforementioned cookies, cinnamon rolls usually require you to plan ahead in order make the dough, let it rise, then finally bake them – ugh!  Who has time for that?  I’ll admit, that when I am in one of my “happy homemaker modes” (which doesn’t happen that often) I have been known to bust out the stand mixer and yeast to make overnight cinnamon rolls.

If you like cinnamon rolls, you’re really going to like these because you don’t have to make the dough – that part has already been done for you.  The dough is a tube of Pillsbury Grands Buttermilk Biscuits.  The only parts you have to make are the filling and the glaze.  Then you can sit back and take all the credit for suffering over making a yeast dough and all the time it took to make and rise then roll it out.  For added drama, you could smear a little flour on your face or on your clothes.

Words of Wisdom

These cinnamon rolls are perfect for either 1 – a breakfast the morning after the first time he spends the night at your place or 2 – if one of his relatives or good friends (if you don’t like his friend that spent the night, don’t make him breakfast – go out for food) stays over.  You will get loads of kudos for spending the time to make homemade cinnamon rolls in the morning.

The beautiful thing with these rolls is that you actually get to use dough from a can, but because they aren’t those perfectly round pinwheels of brown sugar and cinnamon with the thick and gloppy glaze that you get from a can of cinnamon rolls, no one will ever know that they were almost as easy to make.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 7.5 Ounce Can Pillsbury Grands Buttermilk Biscuit Dough
• 3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
• 2 Teaspoons Cinnamon
• 2 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter (1 Tbl melted & 1 Tbl solid)
• 3/4 Cup Powdered Sugar
• 1/8 Cup Cream Cheese
• 1 Tablespoon Orange Juice (preferably fresh squeezed)
• 1 Tablespoon Milk
• Flour
• Orange Zest (from 1 orange)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.

Lightly grease and 8″x8″ baking pan with butter and set aside.

In a bowl mix brown sugar, cinnamon and melted butter.  Mix thoroughly and set aside.

In another bowl mix powdered sugar, cream cheese, orange juice and milk.  Mix to combine. Try to eliminate as many lumps as possible.

Separate the biscuits.  Lightly flour work surface and roll out the biscuits to 1/8″ thickness.  (Shape should be slightly oval to rectangular)  Use a sharp knife to slice dough in half lengthwise.  Cover dough with generous tablespoon of brown sugar cinnamon mixture.  Starting with one corner from the long end, snugly roll the dough and pinch the remaining corner to seal the roll.  Place into buttered baking pan and space 1/4″ apart.

Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes.  After 25 minutes, start watching tops of rolls.  The tops should turn a nice golden brown and the sugar and cinnamon should be mostly melted.

Remove pan from oven and drizzle with powdered sugar orange glaze.  Top with grated orange zest.

Let rolls sit for 15 minutes to cool a bit and make it easier to serve.

Technorati Tags: Baked Goods, Breakfast Recipes, Cinnamon Roll Recipes, Easy Cooking, Easy Recipes, homemade cinnamon rolls, Semi-Homemade

While my detox/cleanse is officially done, I’m still obsessing over creating new dishes with some of the different ingredients the cleanse included.  Since wheat was off the radar for a few weeks, I we ventured into new flours.  While some weren’t “openly” accepted by Craig, I have to say that he was a real trooper through it all.

One of the favorites from the detox is an Italian dish called Farinata.  Although, you will find a similar dish in many different cultures.  Each has their own version of this chickpea flour pancake.  The basic formula for the dish is the same with the differences coming from the spices that are used.

In Italy, you’ll find savory slices of farinata in bakeshop windows waiting for people to buy and eat them like a slice of pizza.  At home, you can make it for the same purpose or you can serve it topped with sauteed vegetables, or topped with cheese and a drizzle of honey.

This recipe is so easy, you won’t believe the flavors you get out of something that is so simple to make and has so few ingredients.

Serves: Depends on how it will be served

Ingredients

• Olive Oil (enough to cover bottom of oven proof skillet)
• 1 1/2 Cups Water
• 1 1/4 Cups Chickpea Flour
• 2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
• 1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1/4 Teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
• 1/2 Thinly Sliced Onion
• Paprika

Directions

In a bowl, thoroughly mix chickpea flour, salt, garlic powder, pepper, lemon juice, and water.  Let mixture sit for at least 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Farenheit.

In an ovenproof skillet (preferably a well-seasoned cast iron skillet), pour enough olive oil into the pan to generously cover the bottom.

Pour batter into skillet then place rings of thinly slice onion on top.

Bake for 30-35 minutes.  Pancake is done when it pulls away from the sides of the skillet and has a nice golden brown color.  Remove from oven, sprinkle with paprika and slice into pieces.

Serve farinata while  still hot.

Variations

• You can replace the garlic powder with thinly sliced or minced garlic.
• Add chopped rosemary
• Saute onions and mushrooms in olive oil, cut farinata into squares and top with mushroom mixture and top with shredded parmesan cheese and serve as an appetizer
• Prepare original recipe and top with ratatouille
• Cut farinata into squares and top with a dollop of ricotta cheese, and a drizzle of honey

Technorati Tags: chickpea flour, clean detox recipes, clean recipes, Easy Recipes, gluten free recipe, Italian recipes, vegan recipes

Ah, puff pastry…what’s not to like about it…butter, flaky dough and more buttery taste.  And what’s  more summery than a plethora of tomatoes fresh from the garden.  Okay, plethora is making it sound rather delicate.  We’re being overrun with tomatoes.  I’m not really complaining so much as I am getting overwhelmed with all the things to do with them.  Besides, eating tomatoes fresh out of hand…er garden.

Craig has been dunking them in hummus and I’ve been making tomato sauce as fast as it can be inhaled.  But I needed something else.  So I cracked open The French Laundry Cookbook by Thomas Keller.  If you think Julia Child’s cooking is difficult, you should check out some of the recipes in here.

So I found his version of pizza in: Heirloom Tomato Tart with Nicoise Olive Tapenade, Mixed Field Greens, and Basil Vinaigrette.  Sound fancy and delicious?  Not to worry, I’ve simplified it but it still tastes great.  I’ve also changed out the olive tapenade, mostly because I’m not an olive fan.

If you and your guy are pizza fans, this is something you’re going to make over and over.  It’s that good.  Plus, it’s a little lighter in the belly than the usual slices you get from your usual pizza place.

Words of Wisdom

If your guy is a huge pizza fanatic, and you are trying to get him to slim down or at least not eat so much of the pie – don’t nag him to stop eating it.  He’s not going to stop.  In fact, the more you ride him to quit eating it, the more he’s going to do it.  Kind of like when you tell a child that they can’t see something, they will do everything in their power to sneak a peek.  Instead, serving him some different kinds of pizza, like the one below, can help satiate his need for the pie, but it will be at least a bit healthier.  And you can partake as well.  I’m not saying this is uber health food, it’s not, but at least you know what’s going into it and it’s not as fat laden as a meat monster double cheese takeout.

Ingredients

• 1/2 Cup Olive Oil (divided)
• 5 Medium Heirloom Tomatoes (2 peeled, 3 unpeeled – although you don’t have to peel the tomatoes)
• Kosher Salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 2 Teaspoons Thyme Leaves
• 5 Ounces Herbed Goat Cheese
• 3 Tablespoons Fresh Tarragon
• 1/4 Cup Toasted and Roughly Chopped Hazelnuts
• 1 Small Clove Garlic
• Juice From 1/2 Lemon
• Hazelnut Oil
• 1 Sheet Puff Pastry

Directions

For The Tomatoes:

Preheat oven to 250 degrees Farenheit.

Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly brush it with olive oil.  Slice 2 of the tomatoes into 1/4 inch slices.  Place the slices on the lined baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, black pepper, and thyme leaves.  Roast the tomatoes for 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Tomatoes should be slightly dried but still be moist.  These can be done a day ahead of time.  Just store them in a sealed container and put them in the refrigerator.

Slice the remaining tomatoes into 1/8 inch slices and put them on a baking sheet lined with a kitchen towel (don’t use terry cloth or you’ll be picking fuzz off of your tomatoes).  If you chose to only peel some of the tomatoes, these are the tomatoes you should be slicing and placing on the towel.  Drizzle these tomatoes with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Put them in the refrigerator for 1- 5 hours.  You’ll see that these too have slightly dried a bit.

For The Chimichurri:

In a food processor (or blender) puree the tarragon, garlic, lemon juice and add enough hazelnut oil to allow the mixture to become the consistency of pesto.  Scoop mixture into a bowl and stir in chopped hazelnuts to combine.

For The Puff Pastry:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Farenheit.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out one sheet of the puff pastry to roughly 1/8 inch thickness.  If it’s warm, place the pastry on a baking sheet and put it in the freezer for 15 minutes (the dough is easier to cut when it’s cold).  Cut pastry into 3-6 inch rounds.  Place each round on a baking sheet and prick several times with a fork.  Top each pastry round with a slice of roasted tomato.  Bake for 25 – 35 minutes or until the tops and bottoms of the pastries are brown and crisp.

To Assemble:

While pastries are still warm, top with a slice of goat cheese and 1 or 2 slices of the chilled tomatoes.  Finally spoon some of the tarragon hazelnut chimichurri over the top.

Technorati Tags: Puff Pastry Pizza with Roasted Heirloom Tomatoes Goat Cheese and Tarragon Hazelnut Chimichurri

Hmmmm…..a bowl of bruised up nasty looking bananas one day away from the grand opening of a fruit fly carnival…what to do?  What to do?  Banana bread!

The husband is on a pseudo health kick right now.  I say pseudo because he thinks if there is a full fruit bowl in the house, that he can walk by and look at, and he’s being healthy.  Notice that nowhere in that sentence did I say anything about him eating said fruit.  He looks at it every morning when he’s pouring his coffee and every evening as he makes the brain cramping decision of whether to have a bowl of ice cream or inhale half a bag of potato chips.  Of course, being a guy, he can do these kinds of things without looking like a horse after a couple of days.  I am not that fortunate…I am the one who eats the fruit.

So the other day he’s complaining to me about the “gnarly looking bananas” in the fruit bowl.  The reality hits him pretty hard that real bowls of fruit don’t always look like a still life by Paul Cezanne.

So this is how I made the “gnarly looking bananas” disappear and turn into that night’s dessert: Banana Bread.

Ingredients

• 2/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 5 Tablespoons (1/3 cup) Unsalted Butter at Room Temperature
• 2 Large Eggs
• 2 Ripe Bananas (aka gnarly looking bananas)
• 2 Tablespoons Milk
• 1 3/4  Cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1 1/4 Teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/4 – 1/2 Cup Chopped Nuts (walnuts, pecans, or hazelnuts work best)
• 1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon (optional)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan.

Technorati Tags: Baked Goods, Baking, Banana Bread Recipe, Bread, Easy Recipes

Sometimes a little corn bread is all you need to make a dish complete and to impress your man.  Plus, when you get takeout, there aren’t too many places that offer it as a side anymore.  You really don’t have to have a bag of cornmeal, flour, and a cast iron pan to make corn bread anymore.

You’ve probably seen these little boxes of corn muffin mix at the grocery store and walked right past them on your way to the tubs of cake frosting.  They’re less than $1 and are the best things to have around to pretend like you’re a regular cook.  This brand, Jiffy, has been around for more than 100 years (I’m not exaggerating) and they have everything from pizza crust mixes to pancake mixes.

Ingredients

• 1 Box Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
• 1/2 Can Creamed Corn
• 1/2 Can Green Chili’s
• 1/4 Cup Half & Half/Cream/Milk
• 1/2 Cup Grated Cheddar Cheese*

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 400° and grease an 8″x8″ pan.

Mix all ingredients, except cheese, together in a medium sized bowl.  Make sure that you mix everything thoroughly.

Pour the ingredients into your greased pan and spread batter out evenly.  Sprinkle with Cheddar Cheese (*Cheddar Cheese is optional).

Bake for 15-20 minutes.  Edges will turn golden brown and a toothpick, inserted in the middle, will come out clean.

Technorati Tags: Bread, cheese bread, chili cheese bread, corn bread, One Dish Wonders, Semi-Homemade, Side Dish