26 - Sweet Potato Hash (recipe 1)

Mixing it up a bit with a new recipe.  I used this recipe for sweet potato hash here from Two Peas in a Pod.  https://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/sweet-potato-hash/ I did NOT put it in the over I just fried an egg in the pan after cooking the ingredients.  I used peppers and sweet potatoes from my freezer.  

Mom and I liked it.  I especially liked how the egg made a sauce for it.  Thea like avocado (lol), but otherwise the kids were disinterested.  Sorry I didn’t get a better picture once I tossed the egg on top you couldn’t see all the pretty colors.  

30 - Make and Eat Salad 3:10 avocado egg salad

So I don't like mayo or mustard so I dislike egg salad so I thought why not try and make it myself with something else.  And boom it was successful and yummy.

So here's my salad:

3 chopped hard boiled eggs only one yolk (I removed the yolk of two for less cholesterol)

3 tablespoons guacamole (I used leftovers but it could have been made)

Salt and Pepper

Instructions mix 

Yep that's it.

I didn't have bread so I put it on a bagel. It was more than enough for two sandwiches.  And I rather enjoyed the mix.  Our Guac had salsa and cilantro and lime in it and I think that made it more interesting.

30 - Make and Eat Salad 1:10 Spinach Twist

So I put this on the list to experiment a little my salads are usually boring lettuce + carrots and Italian or vinegar dressing.  But I like salad.  So this is going to be experimenting with things I have on hand or bought for something else to make salad.  

Anyhow salad 1 is kind of a twist on a regular spinach salad.  

Ingredients:

Spinach

Chopped Onion 

Chopped green pepper 

Shredded cheese 

Crushed almond for crunch

Dried cranberries.

Fried egg yolks runny

I tossed everything into a bowl.  I used the yolk as dressing.

It was pretty good I wished for more crunch since my spinach was starting to wilt and my peppers and onions we softer since they were leftovers. But overall it was tasty. I liked the yolk as dressing it was pretty tasty paired with the spinach and cranberry.  

7:12 Sausage and Tortellini Soup

I usually make a chicken tortellini soup but we had sausage not chicken so I found another recipe.  We used this one from epicurious 

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/italian-sausage-and-tortellini-soup-2537 we didn't have zucchini or red wine and used chicken broth.  But we liked the soup maybe more than our usual tortellini soup, but we like spicy chorizo.  Next time we will probably add more broth as well.   

6:12 Pot Roast

I haven't made pot roast since my days at crackerbarrel and I am not ever sure why not.  It's super simple.  I am probably going to have to make it again soon.  I ended up following this recipe from QueenBee coupons... http://queenbeecoupons.com/slow-cooker-crockpot-coca-cola-beef-roast-recipe-simple/

True to form I did alter the recipe to use more coke (a whole can) and we didn't add potatoes although I ate the leftover roast with leftover mashed potatoes from another night.  (This is shown in said photos).  Our roast was super large too so I actually split it into two parts and cooked on in the oven at 275 for like 5 hours.  

Overall it was good.  I wished it had more flavor but it was better the next day.  And also the crockpot roast was by far superior to the oven one although they looked the same.  

5:12 Crockpot Potato & Corn Chowder

I have been trying to use the crockpot more (honestly sometimes it's not my favorite).  But I made this crockpot recipe http://damndelicious.net/2014/09/12/slow-cooker-potato-corn-chowder/? Naturally I added bacon, pork loin, carrots and onion to the mix as well.  The recipe wasn't as Chowdery as I thought it should be which was probably because of the crockpot.  It also needed some additional flavor or spice I peppered mine up and it still wasn't amazing.  But it was good I might try it again using more cream and perhaps more garlic or something.

4:12 Rolled Sugar Cookies

I have made Sugar Cookies many times before usually using the Betty Crocker Recipe or Julie's Recipe (a friend).  But since I am trying 12 new recipes this year I found an alternative recipe.  We cheated though and used store bought icing.

The recipe I used is here from Family Spice true to form I modified it and added 2 tsp of vanilla and 1 tsp of almond extract.  http://familyspice.com/recipes/recipe/?recipe_id=458. 

They cookies turned out pretty good, Dustin said he likes the usual recipe better because it's more doughy less cakey.  But I think these were good and soft and not to sweet.  I did make 1.5x the recipe because 4 of us were decorating seems we run out of creative ideas at about 3 cookies each so we could have just done the 1x recipe.  I also cut everything in circles because I don't have many Halloween shapes, but I think that worked perfectly.  

3:12 meatball Strongaoff

So we made this one several months back and enjoyed it.  We used this recipe http://menumusings.blogspot.com/2011/06/meatballs-stroganoff.html?m=1 

This time however we used turkey meatballs, chicken broth, and no cream cheese, I think we liked it better.  I might have also tossed in some extra spice too.   The first time I tossed in some frozen peas too which I rather liked.   Sorry I didn't take more photos.  Anyhow so that's recipe 3.  I guess I need to pick up the pace. 

2:12 best chicken soup ever

This technically is not recipe 2 but I never blogged meatball stroganoff.  So #2 I will blog that other one soon I am going to make it again first - the best chicken soup ever (no I did not come up with that title).  This recipe comes from Budget Savy Diva here's the link - http://www.budgetsavvydiva.com/2014/12/chicken-soup-recipe/

I followed the recipe for the most part - I tossed in like 1/2 cup of rice and also about 10oz more chicken broth because I cooked it in the crockpot for about 2 hrs rather than on the stove.  My guests seemed to like it and Jones also enjoyed it.  I liked it myself but I might have put in cilantro or peppers if They were here. 

My photo above is actually taken after I tupperwared it because I forgot since we had company.  But originally it had more broth before I left it on high for like an extra hour - DOH!  

1:12 Recipe: Zuppa Toscana

So my first new recipe was a soup - go figure it's January so don't be surprised if my next one is soup too!  Anyhow I saw this recipe on someone's blog and they commented on how easy it was so I was sold.  7 ingredients and 30 minutes. Done and done.

Well it was really simple.  I switched the gnocchi for potatoes and cooked the potatoes to soften in advance but it turned out find.  I would have used gnocchi but they didn't have any at my marsh (Jono substitutions are acceptable).  Anyhow it was well received lots of comments no leftovers in the bowl.

http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/easy-zuppa-toscana-recipe/

Sorry I didn't have better photos i forgot.  I also made the chili and we had both for game night.

Bread. # 7 - Beer Bread

This bread was a disaster.  The downfall was the mad matter IPA I used but it's what we had.  I do not recommend this beer for beer bread I would use something else.  

I used this recipe however I only used 1/2 cup bread flour and the rest was self rising flour.  http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2013/04/02/honey-beer-bread-recipe/ 

#babyburf helped me with the bread too. 

Hers the final product.  The texture of the bread was good it had a nice crisp outside and a soft middle but alas that IPA was over powering.  We tasted it and then sent it to Dustin's work for his coworkers. 

Bread #5 - Pretzel Bread

I am behind the game on breads, and Kathleen had been dying for me to make pretzel bread.  So since it was her birthday I made it.  The dough seemed to be waaaay to dry using the recipe I added about a 1/4 of a cup of extra milk to make it more dough like.  

And then when I boiled it - the boiling water was bubbling over.  

The bread seemed waaaay brown too.  

But you know what this was the best bread yet it was delicious!  

The recipe is so simple it's very forgiving, perfect for Easter.  

Everyone here tried different toppings with it and enjoyed it so much we have just a slice or two left.  I am pretty sure I will make this again maybe in bun form.

PS acceptable toppings include butter, ranch dressing, cream cheese, cream cheese and strawberries, and cheese.  Other toppings we wished for beer cheese, nacho cheese, honey butter, and garlic butter.

Here's the link to the recipe note I added the extra milk and used sea salt rather than regular salt.  

http://m.reviewjournal.com/life/food-and-cooking/pretzel-bread-twist-old-standard 

Bread #3 - Cinnamon Raisin Bread

So far I'm loving this project although it does take some planning to figure out when to make the bread if it needs to rise once or twice. 

This bread was by far my favorite bread so far - it's fluffy but not heavy, sweet but not too sweet, and I love the raisins. The bread can be made into runny egg sandwiches, or eaten as snack/dessert, I also think it would be good as grilled cheese although I have not done that yet. 

 I used this recipe almost exactly, except I only needed 6 1/2 cups of flour and then it seemed to be enough and I used only about 1/2 the sugar/cinnamon mixture. It still made three loaves two of which I wrapped in saran wrap and froze for later.  If I made it again I would absolutely have rolled the dough spiral tighter so the air bubble created was smaller but this does not impact the taste as much as cutting it, and appearance.  I also probably would have added in some cranberries or more raisins.  

Black Bean Burgers

Being pregnant it's essential to get enough protein.  I didn't think this was an issue for me when I was on the road however now that I work from home it's been more of a challenge, I was having a bowl of cereal or a grilled cheese but nothing with much protein especially since hot dogs and lunch meat are out.  So a few weeks ago I thought about bean burgers which are easy to fix - well I paid the $4.89 for a package of 4 once then decided I could make the much cheaper.  After checking out a few recipes I gave it a go.  And to my surprise I made 8 4-5oz burgers and I'm guessing they were less than $2.  Here's my recipe which was adapted from several others based on what was in the cupboard.

Ingredients - 

1 can black beans drained and rinsed

1 can of corn drained

1 cup of bread crumbs

1/4 onion (I would have added more but it was all we had)

1 egg 

1/2 cup of cooked rice (or really whatever was in the leftovers in my fridge)

2 garlic cloves chopped

1 tsp of cumin (I might have put in 2 but I know at least 1)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp paprika

Coconut oil for frying (you could use olive or butter if you didn't have coconut, but we love Louanns)

Directions:

1. In food processor mix beans, egg, onion, rice, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, garlic and blend until smooth. (If you have a small food processor you might do half at a time).

2.  Add in half the corn and blend again.

3.  Remove blade add in remaining corn and bread crumbs and mix with spatula/spoon.

4. Shape into patties with your hands.  It will be sticky add more bread crumbs if they stick too much.

5. Fry in pan with coconut oil to prevent sticking and so the crisp up.

6.  Eat and enjoy.  

I ate mine the other day with pickles just on a plate but I think the would be good on a bun and/or with avacodo, cheese, onion tomato etc.  I froze the extras individually wrapped so I could pop them in the microwave or on the stove.

Bread #2 - Artisan Bread

For bread #2 I had originally planned to make Irish brown bread, but I was missing a few ingredients.  So instead I went with Artisan no knead bread (ps I did knead it).  It was a simple bread however the cook time was long and my bread came out looking like vintage footballs (or so says my husband).  I was so sad and almost decided to toss them in the trash and make a second bread #2.  But we opted to slice it anyway and eat it with our beef stew.  And you know what when dipped in stew the extra crispy crust is not noticed.  The insides were moist and delicious.  So it wasn't such a fail after all. 

Ingredients: 

3 1/2 cups flour 

1 package yeast 

1 tsp salt

1 tblsp sugar

1 1/2  cups warm water (I ended up needing like an extra 1/2 cup because the dough was so dry)

Directions: 

1. Mix water and yeast allow to dissolve for a minute.  Meanwhile mix all dry ingredients, then add water and yeast.  Mix together until a dough is formed. I had to go ahead and get my hands in there and add that extra water.

2. Cover with Saran Wrap and let rest for 8-24 hours.

3. The dough will be sticky and moist when you uncover it.  Add flour and divide into two equal portions, formed into loaves.

4. Place on baking sheet or warm cooking stone (I think I was supposed to grease or flour this but since it good and slick I avoided that).  Cover with a towel and let rise 1-2 hours in warm spot.  

5.  Preheat oven 450.  In a baking dish add 1-2 cups of water place on bottom shelf (I used a lasagna pan).  Then put bread on the higher rack.

6.  This is where I should have been paying attention and I cooked it for 40 per the recipe and thus the dark crunchy crust.  I think perhaps next time I will check it at 25 and 30 minutes.  Remove from oven when crust is Golden Brown cool and serve. 

 

Bread #1 - Homemade White/wheat Bread

So this year I'm experimenting in baking. I'm pretty excited to do this. I haven't spent much time baking other than cookies/cakes so I thought breads might be a good alternative.  I started out by baking a simple bread although I did change it up a bit.  Here's the recipe... 

Homemade half white/wheat bread 

Ingredients: 

6 1/2 cups white bread flour

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tblsp salt 

3 1/8 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 packages of yeast
2 eggs 

1/3 cup oil 

Butter

 

Directions: 

1. Mix 2 1/2 cups white flour and wheat flour, 1 cup of sugar, and the salt in a mixing bowl.
2. Heat milk (to not quite boiling).  Cool about 5 minutes.  Mix in yeast and remaining sugar.  
3. Set milk and yeast aside for 5 minutes until the yeast dissolves.  
4. Mix milk and flour mixture together (I used my dough hook and kitchenaid). 
5. Add in 2 eggs and oil.
6. Gradually add in the remaining white flour. 
7. Knead bread until texture looks smooth and ingredients seem mixed. 
8. Let rise in a a warm place covered for about 1 1/2 hours. 
9. Punch down.  Divide into 3 pieces let dough rise another hour or two in the pan.  
10. Bake at 325 for about 30 minutes or until done in the middle. 
11. Butter top when removing from oven. 
12. Let cool and remove from pan.

The bread turned out good however the wheat flour I think made the dough a little bit doughier and the texture different than I planned on.  However it tastes good and we like the crust.