Review: Make Ahead Bread

I received a free digital copy of the new cookbook Make Ahead Bread: 100 Recipes for Melt-in-Your-Mouth Fresh Bread Every Day by Donna Currie through NetGalley.

I have been baking bread for as long as I can remember, but I never get tired of looking at and trying new recipes, which is why I was happy to take a look at this book.  Just flipping through it and looking at the gorgeous pictures makes me want to try every single one of the recipes.

The book begins with a chapter on the basics of bread-making, including ingredients and equipment.  Even though I've been baking bread for ages, I learned a thing or two.

I love the premise of the book - breaking up the process of baking bread  into multiple parts, meaning that the bulk of the actual work - the mixing, kneading and forming - can be done whenever the baker has time.  It means that, no matter how busy your schedule may be, you can still make and enjoy homemade bread.  Mixing, kneading, and the first rise are done on the first day - Prep Day.  Then the magical step in the process is refrigeration - the dough is kept in the refrigerator for anywhere from 8 to 24 hours, or longer - which improves both the flavor and the texture of the bread.  As well as allowing the baker to bake the bread on his or her own schedule.  Baking Day is usually pretty simple - remove the bread from the refrigerator and bake it.  And then enjoy, of course!

I bake sourdough most of the time anymore, which requires a longer rise time than breads made with active dry yeast, so I know that extra time does something special to the bread.  The author does include a few sourdough recipes and a very thorough explanation of starting your own sourdough starter.  There are also a few gluten free recipes included.

Once I started paging through the book, I could hardly make myself stop.  Here are a few of the recipes that caught my eye:

• Page 30 - Fresh Corn and Cheddar Loaf
• Page 32 - Sauerkraut Rye
• Page 38 - Stuffing Bread with Dried Cranberries - because cranberries are definitely my thing.
• Page 80 - Cheesy Breadstick Twists
• Page 94 - Sourdough English Muffins
• Page 99 - Oatmeal and Orange Buns with Toasted Coconut

I'm sure I will be making some variation of several of these!

I also enjoyed all the pictures throughout this book.  While I can picture a lot of recipes just by reading through them, having gorgeous full-color pictures in a cookbook definitely take it to the next level.  I do wish there was a picture for every recipe and that the pictures were better labeled, (sometimes the picture is on the page before the recipe; sometimes on the page after) but it wasn't too hard to figure out which picture was for which recipe. 

It also would have been nice to see the book start with the most basic loaf - something for people who have never really baked bread to ease into it with - and for the recipes to be somehow labeled for difficulty, so those same people could easily pick some simpler recipes.  I don't think any of the recipes look terribly hard, and Currie does a good job of breaking them into manageable pieces and sharing handy information and tips for success, but I would hate for someone to be turned off of bread making because the recipe that was a bit harder than they were ready for.  For those of us who have been baking bread for a while or those who would bake bread if only they had the time, this book is an excellent resource.

Secret Recipe Club - so many recipes...

It's time again for  Secret Recipe Club (Secret Recipe Club) reveal! Unfortunately I had to sit out this month because we were out of town for a couple weeks, and with preparing to leave, being gone, getting back, etc. etc., I just didn't feel I had the time.

But, I know there will be lots of amazing recipes shared by my group - the Awesome Group A - so I am posting the blog hop here, because nobody wants to miss out on a great recipe, right?





Tune in next month when I will definitely be sharing another great Secret Recipe Club recipe.

Homemade Salsa

I have a couple other recipes for homemade salsa, but decided I better save this one too when I saw it on facebook today.  It looks really easy and good.

Homemade Salsa

Chop 5-6 Roma tomatoes,1 small onion and 1/2 cup fresh Cilantro. Mince 2 seeded Serrano or Jalapeño peppers and 1 clove of garlic. Add 2 tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice and salt and pepper to taste. Mix everything together and let sit overnight for flavors to meld.

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Mediterranean Marinated Cheese

Going through things for packing, sorting, tossing, etc. I found this Kraft foods calendar from (I don't know what year it's from), and I tore out just one page because the recipe looked so good.  I've been going through my Kraft Food & Family magazines and saving all the recipes I want to keep in my Kraft Recipe Box, so I can recycle the magazines instead of packing them.  I figured I could do the same with this recipe, but it's not there.  So, I'm typing it up here.  I even took a picture of the picture.  It just looks so good.

Mediterranean Marinated Cheese
from Kraft Foods

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg. (8 oz.) Philadelphia Cream Cheese
• 1/2 cup Kraft Sun-Dried Tomato Vinaigrette Dressing
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 3 small sprigs fresh rosemary, stems removed
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme, cut into pieces
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns
• Peel of 1 lemon, cut into thin strips

Directions:

1. Cube cream cheese into about 36 pieces. Place in 9-inch pie plate.
2. Add remaining ingredients; toss lightly. Cover
3. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.
4. Serve with crackers, crusty bread or pita chips

Makes 18 servings, 2 pieces each.

Only 2 pieces each?

Beef Jerky

One of my friends posted this picture on facebook and said that she's starting a batch of beef jerky.  Why have I not tried this before?  We love beef jerky.  So, of course I asked what she marinates it in and how long it takes. (I've pretty much only used the dehydrator to dry apples so far - which are really good, and I need to do some more)

Here's her recipe:

‎
Beef Jerky

• Marinate 1 lb. thin sliced ribeye in 1/2 C soy sauce, 1 tsp liquid smoke, 1 tsp onion juice,1 tsp chopped garlic, 1 tsp salt. 
• Shake on cayenne pepper when you put it in the dehydrator. 

It can take anywhere between 4 -12 hours to dry depending on your dehydrator and how many layers you put it in. Drying it overnight works well.

And some other recipes to look at and try:

Dehydrator Beef Jerky - recipes and instructions.

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• Boeuf Jerky

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Honey Garlic Lemon Chicken

My brother made this yummy-sounding chicken and posted this video - so I thought I'd share.

I am going to have to try this! All those flavors sound like they will be really amazing together. I'm just wondering if I can bake it and perhaps brown the chicken a bit. I don't think it needs it for flavor, but it will look prettier.

Free eCookbook - Salads for Every Season

Earthbound Farm is celebrating 25 years of pre-washed, packaged organic salads by giving away a free ecookbook - Salads for Every Season.

Salads for Every Season: 25 Recipes from Earthbound Farm by Myra Goodman (who’s been called “The Queen of Greens”) is 83 pages of delicious salad recipes from Myra’s first two cookbooks, Food to Live By and The Earthbound Cook.

The cookbook is available in several formats - Kindle, Nook, Google eBooks, etc. - so you can download the one that's right for you.

Enjoy!

Make Your Own Taco Seasoning

I buy my Taco seasoning in the big containers from Sam's Club.  It's definitely cheaper than buying the packets at the grocery store, and there isn't much chance of running out.  Still, it doesn't hurt to have this recipe on hand, just in case. 

Taco Seasoning

• 1 T chili powder
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp. onion powder
• 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 tsp. oregano
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1-1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 1 tsp. black pepper

1. In a bowl, combine all ingredients.
2. To make tacos, use half the batch of seasoning with 1 pound ground beef and 1/4 cup water.

Even though I have plenty of Taco Seasoning, I'll probably have to try this just to see how it turns out.  (and if my taco seasoning has some of the ingredients mentioned in the related article (must read label), I may have to start making it all the time!)

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Free Martha Stewart Thanksgiving Cookbook

Make this year’s Thanksgiving feast your most memorable ever with help from Martha Stewart and an esteemed group of our nation’s top chefs, including Emeril Lagasse, Sara Moulton and Eric Ripert. 

Download your FREE copy of the cookbook from Martha Stewart Living Radio on Sirius XM Satellite radio.  You can get the entire cookbook or download each chapter individually.

There are some really yummy-looking recipes in here!  The Sweet Potato Turkey Chowder and the Butternut Squash Lasagna are two that caught my eye.

I'm a Recipe Nut

Image by pirate johnny via FlickrI collect recipes, from everywhere.  I cut them out of the Sunday paper, out of magazines, out of the coupon section of the paper.  I have some of them organized in one of those 'magnetic' photo albums, and I use a lot of those recipes over and over.  I have a whole bunch more in a shoe box and some organized in envelopes - according to recipe type - and more in a large envelope, and...  Well, I have recipes all over the place and, even though I cut them out originally because I really wanted to try them, I usually never do get to try them - because I can't find them again!  Or, even worse, I try a recipe that we really like but then I can't find it again!

And that's just the printed recipes.  There are so many recipe sources online.  Sites where you can find recipes for just about anything and even save those recipes for later use.  The problem is that there are so many sites - and I've signed up for and saved recipes at most of them.  But finding those recipes later?  Not so easy, because who can remember where a particular recipe came from?  That's why I'm loving RecipeNut.  It's a site for gathering, collecting, and sharing recipes from anywhere.  Adding a recipe from another site is as simple as pasting in the URL.  RecipeNut finds the recipe info, you add some tags, select some categories to make the recipe easier to find on the site, and save it.

I've been saving all the online recipes I want to try at RecipeNut for a while.  So now I always know where to look!  Now I just need to get around to all the recipe sites and save the recipes I liked over there to RecipeNut so I can find those too.  And all those printed recipes?  I'm either going to have to start finding them (or something similar) online so I can save them to RecipeNut, or I'm going to have to add them myself.  You can add your own recipes, too by manually entering measurements, ingredients, and instructions.  Personal recipes can either be shared with everyone else who visits RecipeNut, or you can keep them private.  So, if you want to save your grandma's secret chocolate cake recipe, you can keep that to yourself.

Besides being a great place to save recipes, RecipeNut is a great place to find them too.  All the recipes there are recipes that people thought were worth saving and sharing.  I usually end up saving one or two from the front page where they always show the most recently saved recipes.  It's easy to save them, just click 'Save' and it's added to your recipe box.  You can also browse through the categories such as Main Ingredient, Meal/Course, or Occasion to find recipes.  I haven't done that a lot because I'm still saving all these other recipes - I'm afraid I'd never stop!
 

Related articles

• Best Way to Organize Recipes from Many Sources? Good Questions (thekitchn.com)
• KeepRecipes Is a New Recipe Manager for Food Lovers and Chefs [Video] (lifehacker.com)

Lots of Hots

I got lots of hot peppers from my garden this year. I've mostly just been letting them grow and ripen on the plants and picking as I wanted some for salsa or something, but they were calling for a possible frost last night, so I went out and picked a bunch yesterday.   And now I have to figure out what I want to do with them.  I found a couple options at Gardeners.com:

To Freeze Peppers: Halve sweet peppers (green, red, yellow or purple), remove the core and seeds, and slice into julienne strips or small 1/4" chunks. Pack them into a freezer bag, squeeze out the air and throw them in the freezer. That's it! Frozen peppers are best used in a dish that gets sauteed, such as a stir-fry, or added to onions and potatoes for a tasty omelet.

To Pickle Peppers: Prepare peppers as above. Fill a clean pint or quart jar to within an inch of the top with the chopped peppers. Pour in white vinegar to cover all peppers. Cover with a plastic lid if possible, as the vinegar will gradually corrode metal lids. Store the jar in the back of your refrigerator for up to 12 months. The peppers will stay crunchy for a few months but will gradually soften. Spoon them out of the jar as you need them. The vinegar is flavorful, too. My favorite pickled peppers are a colorful mix of yellow, orange and red Hungarian hot wax peppers. They're great on sandwiches or mixed into pasta and bean salads.

and another option at My Daily Bread Body and Soul:
 

Hot Pepper Sauce 

Ingredients

• Hot peppers, any variety and amount* 
• White Vinegar 
• a few peppercorns (optional) 
• Garlic (optional) 

Directions 

1. Clean the jars you are going to be using in the dishwasher or boiling water. 
2. Bring vinegar to a boil. 
3. Wash peppers and either chop then to fit in your jar or put a little slit in them so that the vinegar penetrates them, which is what I did. 
4. Add peppers, garlic and peppercorns to a decorative bottle or jar. Pour boiling vinegar over peppers. Make sure peppers are completely covered with vinegar. Leave a little head-space, airspace in between the peppers and vinegar and the lid, and close the lid. Let it sit for a few weeks and enjoy. 

I always store them in the pantry, if it make you feel better, store in the fridge. *Amount of peppers used depends on how hot you want your sauce and what type peppers you have on hand and how big of a bottle you are going to use. Cayenne peppers are HOT and just after a couple days my sauce was hot and ready to be used.

And, of course, I could dry some of them. I did that once when I grew habaneros - just strung them with a needle and thread and hung them in the kitchen.  I had a lot of sweet peppers last summer, and I froze a bunch of those.  I chopped them into the 1/4" chunks, spread them on cookie sheets and froze them.  Once they were frozen, I put them into zipper bags.  That works really well and makes it easy to grab just the amount of peppers I need for a recipe - so some hot peppers like that will be nice to have.

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Chocolate Fudge Sauce

Posted on facebook this morning, and I'm thinking I must try this.

Chocolate Fudge Sauce
Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook Revised and Updated, pg. 252

Makes 1½-2 cups sauce
Prep Time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking Time: 1½ hours
Ideal slow-cooker size: 4- to 5-qt.

Ingredients:

• 5 squares unsweetened baking chocolate
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, cut in pieces
• 5.3-oz. can evaporated milk
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1½ tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients in slow cooker.
2. Cover and cook on High 30 minutes. Stir.
3. Cover and cook up to another hour, or until chocolate and butter are melted and sauce is smooth.
4. Store in refrigerator.

Cover via Amazon
Serving suggestions: Serve over ice cream and cake! Or use it as a fondue for fruit!

Variation: Add ½ cup smooth or chunky peanut butter to Step 1.

Looks yummy, huh?
 

Free Cookbooks

Here are some free cookbooks I found this evening.  The first two are in .pdf format so you can download them to your computer or upload them to Google Docs, like I did.

• Betty Crocker Best of 2011
• Betty Crocker Spring 2011

and I don't know if you can download it, but this one is just very cool! Gold Medal Whole Wheat Baking.

The recipes in all of them look really good!  I am definitely going to have to try some of them.

This recipe for Mojito Bars from the Spring Cookbook really looks yummy - and appropriate, too since I read somewhere that today is National Mojito Day.  Did you even know there was such a thing?  It's a shame I almost killed my mint plant and don't have enough leaves to actually make a mojito today!
 

Jack Black Bean Dip

This sounds really good!  I'll just have to see if we have any Jack Daniel's® around here...

Jack Black Bean Dip

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cans (about 15 ounces each) black beans, drained
• ¼ cup Jack Daniel's® Tennessee Whiskey
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• Hot pepper sauce, to taste

Directions:
Heat oil in a large saucepan. Stir in onion and garlic, and cook over medium heat until onions are tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in beans, Jack Daniel's®, and cumin. Cook until bubbly and heated through. Mash beans lightly with a wooden spoon or a fork. Stir in lemon juice and hot pepper sauce. Serve warm or at room temperature in a serving dish topped with your choice of the suggested toppings. Makes about 2 ½ cups.

Suggested Toppings: sour cream, chopped avocado, chopped tomato, sliced green onions, jalapeño peppers, chopped cilantro.

from Cooking with Jack

 

Gourmet Chicken Garlic Pizza

Our favorite pizza at Papa Murphy's is the Gourmet Chicken Garlic Pizza, so when I found this recipe at Babblelots, I had to grab it.  I must try this!

Knock off pizza recipe of
Gourmet Chicken Garlic Pizza 

Sauce

• 2/3 cup ranch dressing
• 1/2 to 1 tablespoon minced garlic

(mix together)

 
Toppings:

• 12 ounces (3 cups shredded) mozzarella cheese
• 2 ounces (1/2 cup shredded) cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 grilled chicken breast, sliced
• 2 Roma tomatoes, diced
• 1/4 cup (packed) coarsely slice green onion tops

Make your dough and put the sauce over then add half of cheese then the toppings
Last add the rest of cheese
There ya go!

Yum! 

Fudgsicles

I found this recipe on Baking Bites a while back, but I couldn't make them because I was almost out of cocoa. And then I forgot - and couldn't find the link I'd shared on facebook. I went searching tonight and found the recipe again. I'm not trusting facebook this time.

Homemade Fudgsicles

• 2 cups low fat or skim milk
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp corn syrup or agave syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, combine milk, cocoa powder, sugar, corn syrup (or agave syrup) and vanilla extract. Bring to a simmer, stirring frequently, and cook just until all of the sugar and cocoa powder is dissolved. Pour hot mixture into popsicle molds and freeze overnight, or until solid.

Makes 6-8 large popsicles (depending on the size of your molds)

I have cocoa now.  Time to dig out the Tupperware popsicle molds - even if it's not summer yet.
 

Sweet Potato Fries

Image via Wikipedia
I had sweet potato fries with my chicken sandwich the other day at TGIFridays, and they were so good, I want to make some of my own.  I found this recipe today, and it sounds pretty easy - and yummy.

Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients:

• 1 large sweet potato
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 gallon zip top bag

Directions:

1. Cut sweet potatoes into sticks that are fry sized making sure that no stick is more than about 1/4 inch thick in either direction.
2. Put fries into zip top bag then add oil and salt. Squeeze out all the air and zip the bag. Squish potatoes around until they are well coated with oil and salt.
3. Pour potato sticks onto a cookie sheet or baking dish in a single layer then roast for about 30 minutes at 350° turning sticks over half way through cooking.

ETA 3/15: The original recipe called for 1 tsp. of salt, but when I used that much, they just seemed too salty.  So I'm reducing the salt to 1/2 tsp.  Hopefully that will be better.  Otherwise, these were really yummy.  I did have to cook them longer, but that might be because my sticks were bigger than they should have been.  Just check them often and judge for yourself.
 

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Apricot Pecan Oatmeal Muffins

I saw this on Doctor Oz today and thought they looked really yummy. I also adored the cute little blue ribbon baker, Marjorie. She was adorable.

Apricot Pecan Oatmeal Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 cup quick cooking oats
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking power
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

Directions

1. Place oats and buttermilk in a bowl. Stir to combine. Cover and let stand for 20-30 minutes. 
2. In a large bowl sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in apricots and pecans. Add oil, egg and brown sugar to the oatmeal mixture and combine well. 
3. Pour the oatmeal mixture into the flour mixture. Stir just to moisten the dry ingredients. It will look lumpy. 
4. Divide batter into 12 greased muffin cups.  Bake in a preheated oven at 375°F for 20 to 25 minutes. 
5. Remove muffins from muffin tin and cool on a wire rack.

Recipe courtesy of Marjorie Johnson. For more healthy recipes, purchase On the Road to Blue Ribbon Baking with Marjorie.

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Recipes from Dannon

I'm copying a few recipes from The Dannon Kitchen so I can toss the (what do you call those? the foil seals from the top of the yogurt containers?) - anyway, so I can get those off my kitchen counter.

A couple recipes I want to try:

Banana Nut Winter Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1 banana, frozen
• 1 cup Dannon® All Natural Vanilla Lowfat Yogurt
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. honey (optional)
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

Directions:

1. Cut the frozen banana into 3 or 4 chunks and peel. Place in blender with Dannon® All Natural Vanilla Lowfat Yogurt, walnuts, cinnamon and honey (optional).
2. Blend on high for 2 minutes or until smooth. Pour into glass and top with a dusting of ground nutmeg. 

 Creamy Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1 large sweet onion, sliced
• 2 tsp. ground cumin
• 3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1-1/2 qt. chicken broth
• 1-3/4 cup Dannon® Plain Yogurt
• 2 Tbsp. chopped parsley or cilantro
• 1/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds

Directions:

1. In a soup pot heat oil. Add onions and cumin and sauté 3-4 minutes. Add potatoes and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer soup 20-25 minutes.
2. Puree soup with 1-1/2 cups Dannon® Plain Yogurt and parsley or cilantro. Serve each portion of soup with a dollop of remaining yogurt and a sprinkle of pumpkin seeds.

and a recipe I've tried:

Layered Mexican Dip

Ingredients:

• 1 16 oz. can refried beans or black beans
• 1 cup chunky salsa
• 2 cups DANNON® All Natural Plain Yogurt
• 1 cup sliced olives (black or green)
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup shredded lettuce

Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine beans with 1/3 cup salsa. Spread half of mixture into a flat serving dish.
2. Spread 1 cup DANNON® All Natural Plain Yogurt over the bean mixture, followed by 1/2 cup olives, 1/3 cup salsa, 1/2 cup cheese and 1/2 cup lettuce.
3. Repeat layering. Cover and chill until ready to use.

I liked the dip. I think everyone else would rather I made my regular Taco Dip, but it's good to have options. Also, while looking up these recipes, I saw several other recipes I'd like to try.  So many good-looking recipes on that Dannon Kitchen site...

Curried Lamb

I was going to make this Curried Lamb and Lentil Stew today, or a variation anyway.  I have some cooked lamb in the fridge I was going to use.  Then I discovered I don't have any lentils - so it's back to the drawing board.  I'm searching for a curried lamb recipe without lentils.

Why curried lamb?  It was mentioned in the book I'm listening to, and it just sounded good.  There's a whole lot of food in the book that just sounds nasty, but this sounded really good.

I ended up putting together this recipe for Easy Lamb Curry and this one for Leftover Lamb Curry and came up with something that turned out pretty good.

Lamb Curry

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• Large onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small hot pepper, finely chopped
• 2 T curry powder
• 1/2 t. cumin
• leftover lamb, cut into strips (about 2 cups)
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 15-oz can diced tomatoes
• 2 T tomato paste

Directions:

1. Saute onion, garlic and hot pepper in olive oil until softened and starting to brown.
2. Stir in curry powder and cumin; add meat.
3. Stir in broth, tomatoes and tomato paste and bring to a boil.
4. Cover and bake at 300°F for 2 hours or so.
5. Serve over rice.

The original recipe I used said to bake at 150°C, so I had to figure out what that meant for my oven.  I found this handy site for converting Celsius to Farenheit and just plugged the 150°C in to get the 300°F I used.

I thought this turned out really good, but it was a little spicy so I knew my husband wouldn't appreciate it.  I just heated up some of the leftover lamb I didn't use in the curry and gave him that with some leftover potatoes.  And there's plenty of curry to last me for several days.

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