Over the past couple of weeks we have tried SourDough Bread, a Souffle, and Bourbon Chicken. All of them went over really well. The Sourdough was one that I had to be very patient with. It took over a week just to get the starter ready to make dough, and then that was an all day process. Here they are, I hope you try some and enjoy them.


SOURDOUGH STARTER:
1 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup milk
1 cup all-purpose flour

Disolve yeast in warm water. Stir in milk. Gradually stir in flour. Beat until smooth. Cover and let stand in warm place until starter begins to ferment, about 24 hours ( bubbles will appear on surface of starter). Stir well, cover with plastic wrap and return to warm draft free place. Let stand until starter becomes foamy. At this point you sould probably feed it (3/4 cup milk and 3/4 cup flour). Let it sit in warm area again until it doubles and then goes back down in size. Let it sit for a few more days feeding occasionally until it has a nice sourdough smell (very similar to a sourdough bread, it took mine about 10 days total to get to this point). Now you are ready to make bread. When you are making bread, you will use 1 cup of your starter, be sure to feed it after this so you will not deplete it. You can now feed it with 1 cup of your finished dough, or the same as you were before.


SOURDOUGH BREAD:
1 cup sourdough starter
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups warm water (105-115 F)
3 3/4-4 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3 Tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
vegetable oil
water

Mix starter, 2 1/2 cups flour, and warm water until smooth. Cover, and let stand in warm,draft free place for 8 hours.

Add 3 3/4 cups flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and oil to mixture. Stir until smooth (dough should be firm enough to gather into a ball, if not add flour as needed).

Turn dough onto heavily floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 min).Place in greased bowl; turn greased side up. Cover and let sit in warm draft free place until double (about 1 1/2 hr). (Dough is ready when you make and indentation and it remains).

Punch dough down; divide into halves. Shape each half into a round sightly flat loaf. Do not tear dough by pulling. Place loaves on apposite corners of greased cookie sheet. Make three 1/4 inch-deep cuts into tops.Let rise until double (about 45 min).

Heat oven to 375. brush loaves with cold water. Place in center of oven without sides touching. Bake, occasionally brushing with cold water, until loaves sound hollow when tapped (about 50 min).

SPINACH AND CHEESE SOUFFLE:
1 1/2 tablespoons plus 4 tablespoons softened butter, divided
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 lb. spinach, stemmed and chopped
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
3 eggs, separated

Brush the inside of a large soufflé or deep casserole dish with 1 1/2 tablespoons of softened butter. Sprinkle the buttered surface evenly with Parmesan cheese and set aside the dish.

In a large saucepan, sauté the spinach until it wilts and the juices have evaporated. Preheat the oven to 375F. In a separate medium saucepan, melt the remaining butter over medium heat and stir in the flour and salt. Cook the flour, whisking constantly, for 30 seconds. Add the milk to the flour and cook, still whisking constantly, for about 4 minutes, until the mixture thickens. Add the spinach and continue cooking over medium heat for 1 minute. Season the mixture with black pepper and nutmeg.

Whisk ½ cup of the hot spinach into the egg yolks, and then add the egg yolk mixture back into the hot spinach, stirring to completely incorporate. Beat the egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form. Stir one-third of the egg whites into the spinach, and then fold the remaining egg whites into the mixture. Spoon it into the prepared dish and bake for 30 minutes, until the soufflé is puffed up and cooked through.

BOURBON CHICKEN:

• 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1-2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup apple juice
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup soy sauce

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add chicken pieces and cook until lightly browned. Remove chicken. Add remaining ingredients, heating over medium Heat until well mixed and dissolved. Add chicken and bring to a hard boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve over hot rice.

Enjoy.

* Keep in mind that none of these recipes are my own, I got them from friends, family, cookbooks, and just off the web.

Okay, it's been a while. Sorry. I have been keeping busy getting back in the grove with the new school semester. So I have tried a few new things. I made Chicken Noodle Soup and Turkey Chili. We also had a family favorites that I would like to share; Frickadelin. I am not sure if I spelled that correctly, but it is a German food that is similar to meatloaf in the shape of a hamburger patty. The great thing about this is that you can have meatloaf in about a half hour instead of two hours. Everyone loved all three of them, so take one and try it, let me know what you think.


CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP:

4-5 Chicken breast tenderloins
1 stick of celery
1-2 medium carrots
1 small onion
4-5 chicken bouillon cubes (to taste)
salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)
parsley (just because I like to add green)
3-5 quarts of water
egg noodles (any shape you prefer)

1) Cut chicken into cubes (this is easier if you do it while they are still frozen).
2) Put the chicken in about 3-4 quarts of water, and let it boil.
3) Meanwhile, cut your celery and carrots into small bite size peaces. I like to cut the carrots in
quarters length wise and then slice them thinly, and I slice the celery in half length wise and
then slice it thinly as well.
4)Chop the the onion, and now you can add all the veggies. The longer they cook together the
better it will taste.
5)Add you bouillon cubes, salt, and pepper to taste.
6) The parsley you can just cut up with kitchen scissors and add in.
7) Let all this cook and add water as needed to get the desired ratio.
8)About 10 minutes before you are ready to eat add about 2 hand fulls of noodles ( I used really
thin little German noodles that I picked up in the international section at Meijer's)


TURKEY CHILI

I really cheated on this one. I just got 2 packets of chili powder, and basically followed the direction using ground turkey in place of ground beef. The kids and I did not notice the difference, but Brian said he could tell. The one thing I did do differently is use small cubed tomatoes in combination with tomato sauce. I also added additional tomato sauce because I like my chili a little bit thinner. I also made a couple of boxes of Jiffy corn muffins to go with it.


FRICKADELIN

1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1/2 sweet onion(medium)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 Tbs Paprika
3 eggs
3-4 slices of bread and/or bread crumbs
oil of Pam

This one is simple.
1) Put everything in a bowl, mix well, and then form into patties.
2) Lightly spray you pan with Pam (I use olive oil) or just poor about 2 tsp of oil in the pan and
spread it around.
3) Once the oil gets hot, lay some of the patties in the pan.
4) When the sides begin to brown, turn them over and let them cook until you can not see
anymore pink around the edges. (At this point they should be cooked through, but you can cut
one open to double check if you like)
5) Serve hot with ketchup, mustard, BBQ Sauce, or anything you like, or just eat them plain. James likes to make a sandwich out of them.

Enjoy!

My son Gage has been asking me for artichokes lately, so i decided to make them tonight. I wanted to try something other than butter with them, so I decided to try my hands at hollandaise sauce. It took me two tries, and I got it, it looked and smelled great. When I tried it it was a whole different story. Gage was the only one who liked it (I'm starting to think that boy will eat anything). The combination of the eggs and the lemon juice just did not go well in my opinion. Here is the recipe just in case you decide you would like to try it anyway.


HOLLANDAISE SAUCE

1/2 cup butter
2 Tbsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp Water
3 egg yolks
salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)

First melt and clarify the butter. Then whisk the egg yolks, water, and lemon juice in a double boiler until they become thick enough to make a ribbony pattern in them. Now whisk in the butter one tsp at a time. The sauce should be thick, fluffy and shiny looking. At this point you can add salt and pepper to taste.

We went sledding today, and for me it is a tradition to have a cup of hot coco when we come back in. Well I decided to try making it instead of just adding an instant package to hot water. I used the Creamy Hot Coco recipe I found at AllRecipes.com. Everyone loved it! No contest it was the best Hot Coco I ever had.


HOT COCO

1/3 cup unsweetened coco powder
3/4 cup white sugar
1 pinch salt
1/3 cup boiling water
3 and 1/2 cups milk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup half and half cream

Combine coco, sugar, and salt in pan. Blend in the boiling water. Bring this mixture to an easy boil while you stir. Simmer and stir for about 2 minutes. Watch that it doesn't scorch. Stir in 3 1/2 cups of milk and heat until very hot, but do not boil! Remove from heat and add vanilla. Divide between 4 mugs. Add the cream to the mugs of cocoa to cool it to drinking temperature.

Enjoy!

So in the past week we have tried three new recipes: Borscht, Ramen Stir Fry, and a new version of French Toast. Gage and I loved them all. Brian loved the Ramen Stir Fry and French Toast, but he did not like the Borscht so much. He said he could taste the beets in it, and he does not like beet. He did however eat it. Sophia and James did not really seem to like any of them. How any kid could not like something smothered in syrup with a dab of whipped cream is beyond me, but they would only eat the cream.

Here are the recipes if you would like to try them. Keep in mind that none of these are "my" recipes, I found all of them in cookbooks and online.


RUSSIAN BORSCHT

Layer ingredients in slow cooker as follows:
4 cups thinly sliced green cabbage
1 and 1/2 pounds fresh beets, shredded
5 small carrots, peeled, cut lengthwise into halves, then cut into 1-inch pieces
1 parsnip, peeled, cut lengthwise into halves, then cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup chopped onions
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound lean beef stew meat, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
3 cans (14 oz each) reduced sodium beef broth
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 table spoon sugar

Let this all cook for 7-9 hours, then stir and serve with a bit of sour cream and parsley.


RAMEN STIR FRY

In 12-inch pan heat oil and brown 1 pound beef boneless sirloin, cut into thin strips. Drain and set aside. Heat 2 cups water to boiling, and add 1 package broken up Oriental-flavor Ramen noodles (save seasoning for later). When noodles are slightly softened add about 1 pound of fresh or frozen stir-fry vegetables. Bring to boil for 5-7 minutes. Stir in seasoning packet, 1/4 cup stir fry sauce, and beef. Cook 3-5 minutes until everything is hot. Serve with egg rolls or any thing you like.

The recipe for French toast was found at foodwishes.com

Enjoy!

The Begining!

So we (my family and I) are tired of eating the same foods over and over. So I decided to start trying new foods and recipes. I decided to start a blog about it for three reasons. One I want to be able to document all the my family's reactions to different foods. Two I want to create a place where I can keep all these recipes in one spot, pictures videos and all. Finally, to share the adventure, recipes and responses with my friends and family.