May 30, 2014

I survived a week of jury duty.  Thankfully it was a short week and I only had to go in two days, and I was not actually seated to serve on a jury for a trial.  It was a bit troublesome to plan for with the way my county does it, but all in all it was fairly painless, and now I am in the clear for 4 years!

In the world of cooking I learned a great tip this week.  Have you ever found yourself out of buttermilk when you are making pancakes, or cake, etc?  I stumbled across this tip in Cook's Illustrated: for every cup of buttermilk needed in a recipe, use milk and then add 1 1/2 tsp of Cream of Tartar per cup needed to the dry ingredients.  No off flavor because you've added vinegar to your pancakes and much easier and more likely to be on hand than a lemon to add to your milk!  We made pancakes one morning before school and I only had skim milk.  We tried this trick with fantastic results.  I will definitely do this again!

Over the long holiday weekend we found out that pizza dough works great for monkey bread.  I typically make a half recipe of our pizza dough each week, but this week I made the whole recipe.  Instead of freezing the extra portions, I used it for monkey bread the next morning (and of course thought of Molly the whole time!).  It worked fabulously well.

Speaking of pizza, the morning got away from me today and I didn't make my typical pizza dough in time for it to rest in the fridge for the minimal amount of time before using it.  We were still going to have pizza so I decided to try out some food processor recipes that we could use the same day.   I actually made two versions, and have included the keeper version here.  We didn't take a picture (it would just look like a ball of pizza dough), but the recipe is here if you want to try it.

There were two other keepers this week, homemade fish sticks and Spanish rice.  Not sure what I'll add to the meal plan for next week, but I still want to try out an oatmeal muffin recipe that's been out on my counter for a few days.

Happy Cooking!

New Recipes
Food Processor Pizza Dough
Panko Crusted Fish Sticks
Spanish Rice

Food Processor Pizza Dough

Ingredients
* 1 cup warm water (105-110 F), divided
* 1 package (7 g) active dry yeast (approximately 2 tsp)
* 1 tsp sugar
* 500 g AP flour
* 1 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
* 1/2 tsp salt

Directions
1. Combine 1/4 cup of the warm water with the yeast and sugar.  Mix well, then let it sit for 5 minutes.
2. Set the remaining water aside.
3. Fit your food processor with the steel blade.  Process the flour, oil and salt for about 5 seconds, just until well combined.
4. Add the yeast mixture to the flour.  Process until blended, about 10 seconds.
5. Through the feed tube, very slowly drizzle the remaining water in until the dough forms a ball that clears the sides of the work bowl.  Once it has cleared the sides and gone around a few times, turn off the food processor and let the dough rest for 2-3 minutes.
6. Turn the processor back on.  If you have any remaining water, slowly drizzle that in, and let the dough turn in the work bowl approximately 10 times.
7. Remove the dough and place in a greased bowl.  Cover, and let the dough rise at least 1 hour, or as much as 3.
8. When you are ready, use this pizza dough as you would any other dough.  Divide it for individual pizzas, or roll it for family style pizzas.  This should be enough for 2 family sized pizzas, perhaps more depending on how thin you roll it.

Notes
I forgot to make our typical pizza dough they requires at least 6 hours in the fridge and then 1 hour out on the counter before you can use it.  I made this at 2 in the afternoon and we used it at 5.  And the dough was so easy to work with!!! You will definitely want to use a pizza stone with this recipe if you have one as I felt the crust did not brown as well as our usual recipe.  But it is now great to have a second pizza dough recipe I can use when time gets tight! 

Also - you may need a little more water some days.  Occasionally I have needed 1 1/4 cups of water in total.  And I always put the warm water back in where you had the yeast proofing before drizzling it into the food processor.  That way, you get all the yeast into the dough!

Panko Crusted Fish Sticks

Ingredients
* 1 tbsp milk (I used skim)
* 2 large eggs, beaten
* 1+ lb tilapia cut into 1 inch thick strips
* 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
* 1/2 tsp kosher salt
* 1/2 tsp black pepper
* 2 tbsp canola oil, divided

Directions
1. Combine milk and eggs in  a large shallow bowl and stir with a whisk.  In another bowl, combine the panko, salt and breadcrumbs.
2. Heat 1 tbs of the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
3. Dip the fish in the egg mixture and then in the breadcrumbs to lightly coat.
4. Place the fish in the hot oil and cook for 4-5 minutes, turning occasionally to brown on all sides.   After the first batch is done, add the second tbsp of oil and cook the second half of the fish.
5. Serve with tartar or cocktail sauce if desired and enjoy!

Notes
The original recipe called for halibut and 2% milk, but I had tilapia and skim on hand so we went with those.  My kids loved these, and we adults thought they were good, too!  To keep the first batch of fish sticks warm while cooking the second batch I placed them on a cookie sheet topped with a cooling rack and put them in a 200 F oven.  This way I was able to serve them all at once without any of them getting cold, and using the rack keeps them from getting soggy.

Spanish Rice

Ingredients
* 2 tbsp vegetable oil
* 1.5 cups uncooked brown rice
* 1 onion, minced
* 3 cups water
* 1 (14.5 oz) can of petite diced tomatoes (see note)
* 1 tbsp chili powder
* 1.5 tsp salt

Directions
1. Heat the oil in a deep skillet over medium heat.  Saute the rice and onion until the onions are tender, about 7-8 minutes.
2. Stir in the remaining ingredients.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and cover the pot.  Simmer (checking occasionally) for 45-55 minutes, or until the rice is to your liking.  The majority of the liquid should be absorbed.
3. Serve and enjoy!

Notes
We were having turkey tacos for dinner (using this taco seasoning) and I felt we needed a new side dish.  Sometimes we have black beans, but the kids were in the mood for rice.  I looked up a few Spanish rice recipes, but none fit my needs (and current pantry items).  Finally I decided to make up my own based on what I had seen in the various recipes, and lo and behold this was born.  I think what really makes it delicious was the Red Gold Petite Diced Tomatoes with Lime Juice and Cilantro.  I hadn't noticed that version of tomatoes before, but it was amazing in this rice dish.  Feel free to use whatever kind of diced tomatoes you have on hand (we are anxious to use homegrown later this summer!), but if you have to pick some up, look for these.  It was great!  If you are nervous about it being a little too spicy, feel free to cut out or cut back the chili powder; I think you will still have tasty results!

May 23, 2014

Wow - we tried a lot of new things this week!  One night we had a new slow cooker pork recipe, new rolls and new side dish.  The pork was lackluster (edible, but just not that flavorful). The rolls were super dense (but Hannah loved them and wants me to make them again!) so in my mind definitely not a keeper.  The side dish was a mashed potato casserole and we all enjoyed it and it earned keeper status! We even used the delayed time bake feature on our oven and it came out great. 

One of the recipes we tried for the first time this week we have already made a second time!  A definite keeper if ever there was one.  :)  I have tried a few granola recipes over the years, but they all seemed to require constant monitoring, stirring every few minutes, or some ingredient that I didn't like or didn't have on hand.  Well I saw America's Test Kitchen had a granola recipe that looked easy.  It absolutely was easy, and is DELICIOUS!  What a combo - easy and delicious.  This is why we've already made it twice this week!  I think this will be a regular at our house.

I've been drinking a lot of ice tea lately, so I thought I'd share the recipe.  You can make it as lemon-y and sweet as you'd like.  We add lots of lemon juice and barely any sugar to our pitcher, but you can customize it to your liking.

The other keeper for the week I made for our end of the year pre-school picnic.  Disappearing marshmallow bars.  I thought they meant disappearing because everyone loved them, but it turns out that the marshmallows melt into the bars and they disappear!  But, these were so good that it could easily be named this because of the former reason. 

We tried a few other new dishes this week, but they weren't good enough to be made again.  We'll see what this next week brings!  Enjoy the long weekend, and the unofficial start to summer.  We are expecting great weather here (finally) and I hope you are, too!

Happy Cooking!


New Recipes
Disappearing Marshmallow Bars
Easy Granola
Baked Potato Casserole

Tried and True
Ice Tea

Easy Granola

Ingredients
* 1/3 cup maple syrup
* 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
* 4 tsp vanilla extract
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 5 cups old fashioned rolled oats
* 2 cups (10 oz) raw almonds, chopped coarse
* 2 cups dried fruit (optional)

Directions
1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat to 325 F.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Whisk maple syrup, brown sugar, vanilla and salt in a large bowl.  Whisk in the oil.  Fold in the oats and almonds until everything is coated.
3. Transfer the mixture to the lined baking sheet.  Spread into a thin layer, and press with a spatula or potato masher until compact.
4. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until lightly browned, turning once half way though the cooking time.
5. Let granola cool for 1 hour, then break into desired size and store in an airtight container.  If desired, mix in the dried fruit with the cooked granola.

Notes
Wow!  How easy is this granola recipe (originally from America's Test Kitchen)!!!  No stirring required, and very few ingredients.  We made it twice this weekend, and have been enjoying it over yogurt with fresh fruit.  We opted out of adding the dried fruit, though a few of us have mixed in craisins.  This is really fantastic granola - and I just can't get over how easy it is to make!

Ice Tea

Ingredients
* 8 cups water
* 2 tea bags
* 1/4 cup (or more) lemon juice
* sugar, to taste (optional)

Directions
Bring water to a boil.  Remove from heat.  Let two tea bags steep for 2 hours.
2. Pour the tea into a pitcher; stir in the lemon juice and sugar (if using).
3. Refrigerate, or pour over ice!  Enjoy!

Notes
I recently came across this method for making ice tea.  The original recipe called for 3/4 cup of sugar, to make it taste like Lipton Lemon Iced Tea.  But yikes...way too sweet for us!  We put in about 1/8 cup of sugar, or leave it out entirely.  No picture here, but just wanted to make sure to share this great and easy (and frugal) way to make ice tea.