All posts in Foodie Like Me

Half the Batch (The Making of Bread Process)

by admin on March 26, 2012 in Better Check Out Links, Domestic Damsel, Foodie Like Me with 2 Comments

~ PART TWO~
Directly below is the summery from the first post.  To read part one please link to the first post RIGHT HERE.

(Home made bread goes with everything!)
“Tired kinda day but need to make bread so I halved the batch and will work on four loaves.  Just didn’t feel up to wrestling eight loaves all day.  I had good company, my three year old is always happy to help with baking.
So, for fun, I decided to try capturing step by step shots of the process I  carry out weekly. “
1. Dough is done so let it rise and beat it down (kneading it) about three or four times during the course of the day.
(Ready to rise.)
(Risen.)
2.  Once it has had a few rounds of rising and kneading, you oil the pans (if they aren’t seasoned already).  These silver pans are my unseasoned ones (the seasoned ones have turned black).  My husband bought these lovely pans, for me, from a baking school in the States.
3. Dough is kneaded down for the last time then sliced into four lumps (since this is the half batch).
4.  Lumps are encouraged into loaf shapes.  I roll mine mostly.  It is done similarly to what you did when making snakes out of play dough as a child!
5. Loaves are placed in pans and again covered up is a cozy fashion.
6. They rise in about two hours. 
7. Pans of risen loaves of dough are put in 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.

8.  Once nicely golden they are popped out of their pans and set upon my cooling racks.  I then cover them with a damp tea towel.  This method, gleamed from my sister in laws Dutch mother (HELLO ANNA!), cools and keeps the bread from becoming too crusty.  My mother used to butter them, which is a delicious method to accomplish the same but I found got really messy with the amount of bread I make and with having to bag and freeze it as I do.

9. Step nine and ten are both very important.  Nine is to take a minute and bask at the beautiful domestic treasure that is fresh home made bread.  Pat yourself on the back 🙂

10. Step ten, is credited to my husband… for Pete sake don’t freeze all the loaves you just made!  Put one aside to be sampled immediately and to be enjoyed untouched by the freezer.

11. Once cooled nicely bag them.

12. Put the majority of your labor in the freezer to be sure it is stretched all week.  It thaws beautifully and is very nice if bagged well and placed in a large chest freezer.

So there we are, managed to make this into a twelve step process too.  From dough to bread, ta-da!  And now REPEAT, if you have a bread loving family as large as mine you will have to be faithful at this weekly (twice weekly when halved) process to keep your family amply provided for in the toast and sandwich department.  Have a beautiful day!
TTFN

Half the Batch (The Making Dough Process)

by admin on March 19, 2012 in Domestic Damsel, Foodie Like Me with 2 Comments

~ PART ONE~

 
Tired kinda day but need to make bread so I halved the batch and will work on four loaves.  Just didn’t feel up to wrestling eight loaves all day.  I had good company, my three year old is always happy to help with baking.

So, for fun, I decided to try capturing step by step shots of the process I  carry out weekly.

1.  It all starts with the yeast.  Warm water, traditional dry active yeast and waiting for it to wake up.

2. While the yeast is working I get the sea salt into THE bread bowl.

 3. Oil of choice is added and today it is grape-seed.  Often I add a mix of grape-seed and olive oil but not on a tired kinda day like today.

4. Water, warm water is added and whisked in with the oil and salt.

 5. Grains and cereals are whisked in.  My favorites of late are spelt bran or flakes, chia seeds and toasted wheat germ.

(Toasted Wheat Germ)

(Spelt Flakes)
(Chia Seeds)

 6. I add the specialty flours.  Flours of choice, of late, are chickpea (a long time favorite in my bread), a local produced oat flour, red fife and quinoa.

7. Mix all the grains and specialty flours together.

 8. Now that the yeast is happy I gently spatula all of it out into the still very wet dough and then carefully fold it in.

 9. Time to add the white bread flour.  Today I am trying out Roger’s unbleached and additive free flour.  I am expecting good things since I have used their dark rye for years and highly recommend it.  Usually I pick up, with much arm strength (wink), the 20 pound bags of bread flour from costco… but can you believe this long time bread maker forgot to grab some last costco trip?!

 10. I dump my dough out to kneed while it is still really sticky and messy.  Trying to avoid adding any more flour then I need to seems to keep it a lighter and moister bread.

 11. Kneading, such a beautiful process.  Pulling, rolling, twisting and shoving the goop into a lovely ball of dough.

(Ta-da!)

 12.  Well I guess this turned out to be a twelve step process 🙂  With the dough all nice and smooth, it then gets tucked into the bowl and some cozy towels to warm up and rise.

All tucked in and ready to rise and get a beating, then rise again, for most of the day.  This evening I will roll it into loaves and pan it.  Once it has risen one last time it will be baked, cooled and bagged.  If I have the chance I will capture this finally process of making the dough BREAD.  Have a beautiful day everyone!

 

TTFN

Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce (Recipe Request)

by admin on March 17, 2012 in Domestic Damsel, Foodie Like Me with No comments

(I ended up altering the original recipe a lot so I tried to just write out what I did here.  If it isn’t working for you feel free to ask me questions.)

2 1/2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 tablespoon butter
1/3 cup onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 apple chopped
1 cup fresh mushrooms chopped
1 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup milk
3/4 cup Italian cheese blend (Parmesan, Asiago, and Romano) or just aged cheddar
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cilantro or dill
salt and ground black pepper to taste

  1. Fry the onion, garlic and apple in butter till golden. Add mushrooms and warm them up in the onion mix.
  2. Be sure the squash is cooked till very soft, so you can mash it.
  3. While the squash is still hot mix the broth and milk into the squash.
  4. Heat the squash back up then mix in the cheese till melted then puree with a hand held blender.
  5. Add the onion mix and stir till it has reached desired thickness, about 5 to 10 minutes.
  6. Mix in the spices then season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Psst, I doubled the recipe and it didn’t thicken well for me so I added about a table spoon of flour to it before pureeing with the hand held blender..

TTFN

Black Bean Salsa Soup (Recipe Request)

by admin on March 15, 2012 in Foodie Like Me with No comments

2 2-19oz cans Black Bean’s (drain and rinse)
1  19oz can Chickpea’s (drain and rinse)
2 1/2 cups salsa (heat level of choice)
2 1/2 cups low sodium chicken stock
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp paprika
sea salt (to taste)

3 garlic cloves (peeled and finely chopped)
1 medium onion (finely chopped)
2 tbsps coconut oil

  • Fry the chopped onion and garlic in coconut oil till golden.  Move to large soup pot.
  • Once beans are drained and rinsed put about half in the blender with about half the chicken stock.  Blend well then transfer to the soup pot.
  • Place the rest of the beans in the blender with 1 1/2 cups of salsa and mix till smooth.  Add the remaining chicken stock to make smoother then once mixed well place again in pot.
  • Mix the soup together with the onion/garlic mix and add the remainder of salsa. 
  • Add spices and tweet amount to taste.
  • Warm soup up and add more stock, or salsa if you want it runnier.
  • Serve with taco chips or fresh warm bread on the side.
  • Top with cheese of choice and sliced avocados or sour cream and green onions.

TTFN

The Avocado

by admin on March 14, 2012 in Bits Of My Personality, Do I Call It Parenting Advice?, Domestic Damsel, Foodie Like Me with 1 Comment

No aversions to avocados in this house.  The kids have had little choice but to figure out how to enjoy it, as I keep introducing it in many different ways… and they have to cope and eat because Mom likes it so much.  We have enjoyed my ‘light quacamoli’ for years but this year I found a FAST fresh little side salad, that is so pretty and appetizing, even the kids enjoy.

AVOCADOS IN OIL

  • Slice up one or two avocados and spread out on a nice big plate.
  • Drizzle extra virgin olive oil gracefully over the fruit.
  • Squeeze some fresh lime juice over your salad.
  • Sprinkle with cilantro (fresh or dried) and sea salt to taste.

I can eat this as a meal unto itself it is so tasty.  It sure went nicely with the ‘Black Bean Salsa’ soup we had for supper tonight (see picture below).

Enjoy and eat!

TTFN

The Chia Seed

by admin on March 10, 2012 in Foodie Like Me with No comments

Who knew that THE seed popularized by the infomercial sold ‘chia pet’ has so many health benefits and is a great addition to a persons diet?!

Well, someone filled me in so when I spotted it in bulk at a grocer I grabbed it.   Now the experimenting has begun as I find favorite ways to use it.  Garnet, my husband, is a seed and yogurt nut.  Between his hemp seeds and now his chia seeds on his daily dose of yogurt he is eating bird food!  I tease because he always said that was how I ate.  I am enjoying adding this lovely little seed to my weekly batch of bread.  The seed softens up nicely so it isn’t hard on the teeth to just add to your baking.  Apparently it is great on salads and soups too, will have to try that.  We enjoy just munching on it raw and at some point plan to make the porridge recipe listed on the bag.

So it is good for you… because of high calcium, protein, fiber and amino fatty acid 3.  There is probably more to learn about it and fill me in on what you know or what you have read about it.

Have a try and tell me what you think!

TTFN

On A Quiet Day

by admin on March 8, 2012 in Bits Of My Personality, Foodie Like Me, Life Keeps Changing, Little Things, Mama Heart Mushings, People In My Heart with No comments

Rough start to the day, but these chocolate drop cookies, I had whipped up last night, where a slightly sweet invite back into the world of appetite.

The recipe is from my ‘Salem Church’ cookbook… a book that means so much to me personally (used to be my home church). Each recipe holds a name I usually recognition, a woman I know or knew of, this makes me smile and feel like they have shared them just with me… Never do the recipes taste as good, prepared by myself, as they did at the church functions, prepared by THE holder of the recipe…
It is a not much kind of day.  My littlest guy and I are in our pj’s and I am working on feeling better.  

Iron-man is keeping him company.  He is a big superhero fan and although we have cut down on most of the toys around here he sure enjoys the ones we kept.  His iron-man toy used to be his big brothers, but my bigger guy never was as into the whole superhero thing.   

So my boy and his toy have been doing everything together.  Morning cartoons, ‘iron-man armored up’ of course.  Breakfast was together.  They wanted oranges, yogurt and honey toast.  If I ask my little guy to come up stairs he has to fly iron-man the whole way, with sound effects and all.  Iron man has been really busy shooting the bad guys all over my house and I appreciate that, gotta clean out the riff raff.


You can’t find better company then a boy and his superhero.


Such a different time of my life this is.  I choose the do nothing days, slowing things down is up to me.  Used to be with babies and toddlers all around slow and not much was the normal kind of day.  Now the nothing days are the special days.


TTFN

A Week of Meals In February (Recipe Request)

by admin on March 1, 2012 in Domestic Damsel, Foodie Like Me with 1 Comment
Haven’t done a post like this in a while!  Always enjoy a collection of photos of successful meal. So fun to have a camera again that can take such lovely pictures of my suppers.
I was my husbands hero this night! All natural BACON, hard boiled free range eggs and roasted, olive oil, cilantro, paprika, garlic vegetables.
 

Another winner with my man. Aged cheddar cheese toast (on home made bread), a cranberry/orange dressed salad and cilantro garlic wild salmon. I don’t think we can go back to farmed now that we have tasted wild, so tender!!

Needed a low effort supper as I was wiped. Here we have steamed Jamaican black rice mixed with a sprouted brown rice that is dressed with lime juice and sea salt and pepper. Next is some boiled sweet organic veggies and steamed chicken with cilantro and salt and pepper on top. Of course the kids liked it enough to go back for seconds and thirds… good old chicken and rice…  I napped while everything steamed or boiled so it was a winning meal for me too.

Italian Venison Sausage with cilantro and olive oil carrots and buttered cabbage. My man is nuts about cabbage. Finished off with some veggie infused chips.

WOW, this butternut squash pasta sauce was thick and cheese-y. Stuck to the whole wheat pasta beautifully. It had dill, garlic, sweet onions, an apple, mushrooms and aged cheddar chopped up in it.  This meal resulted from being almost totally out of groceries so we had dried seaweed and carrot sticks on the side.  We all enjoyed seconds!

~~~

To top it all off I found a fabulous recipe for a giant chocolate chip cookie!  You eat it like cake.  It makes a large 14″ cookie or two smaller ones made in 8×8 circular pans.  The smaller ones work great to stack and ice together!  So fun to try to decorate them differently each time!


Here is my altered version of the recipe:



THE Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup organic sugar or coconut sugar
  • 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/4 cup chickpea flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts or shredded coconut (use the coconut when making this for school as our school is a nut free zone)

Directions

  1. Blend butter and sugar together in a big bowl.
  2. Beat in vanilla and eggs till fluffy.
  3. Add flour, salt and baking soda and mix in well.
  4. Fold in chocolate chips and the nuts or coconut.
  5. Spread in greased 14 inch cookie sheet or 2 round 8×8 cake pans.
  6. Bake at 375 degrees for about 15 -25 minutes.
  7. Cool in pan on rack.
  8. Flip out of pan and decorate.

 TTFN

Happy Valentines!

by admin on February 14, 2012 in Better Check Out Links, Foodie Like Me, Holiday Messages, Little Things, My Romance with No comments

Garnet surprised me with this valentines gift last night, right at midnight.  It was a surprise because he doesn’t do this sort of thing.  I giggled as he shared how a concerned coworker had took him under his wing and reminded him about Valentines.  He spotted the perfect and unique gift for me last week in our favorite shop and had to share it.

It is a South American tea but also a style of tea drinking all its own so we are very excited to share it together.  Drank with a metal straw, that works as the tea dispenser/filter, in a hollowed out gourd and shared from the same cup.  It is packed with tea so should be good and strong.

This version of mate is supposed to taste like chocolate, have the kick of coffee but is a tea.  It is said to have superior health benefits to other hot drinks and other teas specifically.

We are such a couple of crazy and dedicated tea drinkers!

To have a closer look, or to order you own, link HERE FOR MORE DETAILS!

TTFN

I Think I’m In Love (Still)

by admin on January 25, 2012 in Feeling It (Thankful), Foodie Like Me, Four Little Eggs In My Nest, Little Things, My Romance with No comments

This man knows me well and the regular dinner and a movie date is not for me.  We got some time off last Saturday and decided to go with an afternoon date so we would get home in time to snuggle up, after the kids where in bed, and watch an episode of our favorite show together.  I would take an hour on the couch watching our show together over two hours in a movie theater any day. 

Talking is largely what our dates are all about, uninterrupted talk time!  No censoring it for little eager ears who don’t need to know everything yet and no being interrupted by chatty little attention hogs.  The eager ears and attention hogs happen to be the same four kids. 

Our date consisted of going to a tea shop and picking out some new flavors (we are both big tea drinkers).  This took plenty of time, pomp and ceremony really, and we really cherish having enough time to fuss at a fuss kinda shop.  He does the smelling (since I can’t) and I do the reading and humming over the styles of tea.  We walked up and down the mall after that just to talk and hold hands. 

We drove across the city so we could continue our conversation and then he took me out to WOK BOX.  I just can’t move past this simple little chain restaurant, there is so much to like about it.  Fast, fresh, noodles and loads of veggies.  Mostly I can’t get over their sauces and tofu!  It ain’t fancy but he knows it makes me smile.  We laughed and teased and sucked up our noodles like a couple of teenagers.

(There’s my man!  Taken last summer.)

When it was time to go home he let me drop him off and take our sitter, my sister, out to a movie!  Ha ha ha, this may sound like a rip off to some or very unromantic to others but he knows I need away time, girl friend time and me time and that took years to teach him.  He knows I will be home around ten, just in time for tea and our show.  He knows he makes me so darn happy because we aren’t overly clingy with our time and yet totally into one another still.

He is such a prize!

TTFN

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