Bread...

I love bread. I could give up sweet before I gave up bread. I would never survive on the Atkins diet. The smell of fresh baked bread is one of my favorite smells. I think Scentsy should come up with that for one of their new scents. Just an idea. I felt like baking today, and as soon as my husband saw me pulling ingredients out of the pantry he didn't say a word...just rolled his eyes. There seems to be a lot of eye rolling in this household. I am a big fan of http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/ and also http://www.tastykitchen.com/. I found these rolls on the site, and just had to make them for myself. I changed a few things, just because that is what I do, and they turned out so good. It makes a ton of them, so there will at least be a few left for dinner tonight. I even took some pictures of them! Now, if you have a Kitchenaid mixer, use it. I usually use my bread machine, but I hadn't tried out the dough hook yet, and this was the perfect opportunity.

Oh So Yummy Crescent Rolls

Ingredients:

1 Cup water

1/2 Cup + 1 tsp sugar

2 Sticks of butter (Use the fake stuff if you must, but the REAL butter is just so much better)

1 Package yeast

3 Eggs

5 Cups bread flour

1 tsp salt

Dissolve the packet of yeast and 1 tsp sugar in 1/2 cup of warm water. Let sit for 10 minutes, until nice and foamy. In a small saucepan, dissolve 1/2 cup sugar in 1/2 cup water. Take off heat and slice up a stick of butter and drop in, allowing the butter to melt. Let cool a little. Beat 3 eggs, and mix in the butter mixture. Add the yeast to this and mix. Add 4 1/2 cups of the bread flour. This is where my Kitchenaid came in very handy. Mix well, but the mixture will be very sticky! Scrape the dough into a bowl that has been buttered. Turn over once so the dough is buttered on both sides. Cover with a cloth and let rise until doubled in size (1 1/2 - 2 hours).

Soften the second stick of butter, and butter your hands! Place dough on a lightly floured surface (this is where you use the rest of the flour) and knead 10-15 times. Divide dough into thirds, and work with 1/3 at a time. Melt some butter and brush it on a cookie sheet. Take 1/3 of the dough and roll out into a 12 inch circle. Rub the stick of soft butter over the dough, coating lightly. Using a pizza cutter, slice the dough like you are slicing a pizza into 12 slices. I did slice one into 8 slices, and the rolls turned out HUGE! Start at the wide end and roll towards the point. Place on the cookie sheet point side down and shape into a crescent, imagine that! Continue until all the dough is used. I had to use two cookie sheets. Melt the remaining butter and brush over the tops of the rolls. Stick the cookie sheets in the oven and let rise until almost double in size. Don't turn the oven on for this part. I just let things rise in the oven so my chocolate lab doesn't eat the dough!

Bake at 350 for 17-20 minutes.

As I type this, my husband and kids are eating the rolls. I'm going to be very upset if they don't save me one or ten.

Oh, Yum!

I rarely make the same dish twice in one week. That's just not how I roll. I happened to find a recipe for this stuff called "Tortilla Pie" on the internet this week. It looked good. It had cheese and tortillas in it, which are two of my favorite things. I figured, why not try it? If it didn't turn out I have a dog who will eat most rejects. As I usually do, I changed a few things around in the recipe. As soon as it came out of the oven the first night I made it, I was in love! I only made a 8x8 dish, and it was gone in no time flat. Well, I didn't get enough of it because my family had to eat as well. Two nights later, I made it again, this time doubling the recipe. This was enough to feed the boys next door and our friend, Matt #2, as the seven year old calls him. We also had some leftovers!!! Sorry I don't have a picture to post. I'll get better about that. I think I'll make this again soon.

Tortilla Pie

Ingredients:
1 T Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 Chopped onion (more if you like a lot of onion)
1 1/2 lb Ground turkey (you can use ground beef if you want, but you really can't tell the difference)
2 T Garlic powder
1 1/2 T Chili powder
1 T Ground cumin
1 t Paprika
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 Can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 Cups cooked rice (you can use either white or brown)
Flour tortillas
3 Cups grated cheese (Cheddar, Mexican blend, whatever you want, and as much as you want)
Salsa - it's best if you use the recipe I gave you in a previous blog
**optional - 1 Can corn, drained
1 Diced jalapeno if you want to add a little spice (Thanks, Bobby!)

Preheat oven to 350.
Heat olive oil in skillet. Cook onions until translucent. Add ground turkey and spices. Cook turkey until browned. Mix in black beans and rice. You can also add a can of corn and jalapenos if you'd like. In an 8x8 baking dish add about 1/4 cup salsa. Top with a layer of tortillas. Add a layer of cheese and top that with half of the ground turkey mixture. Add another layer of salsa, tortillas, cheese, and turkey mixture. Finish with another layer of tortillas and cheese. Bake for 20-30 minutes until heated through. Serve with sour cream, chopped green onions, and guacamole. It's like a fiesta in your mouth!

Just a tip...

I just had to toss this out there for ya'll. While at HEB the other day, I was looking for breadcrumbs. I stumbled across TORTILLA CRUMBS!!!!! I had to snatch them up. While making my Chicken Cordon Azul tonight, I used them instead of the breadcrumbs. If you can find tortilla crumbs, get them, and use them. It's still good with breadcrumbs, but the tortilla crumbs made the chicken to die for. Trust me on this one. I guess you could make your own tortilla crumbs by putting corn tortillas in a food processor. I think it's just easier to buy them. So there was my PSA for the day.

I just had to!

The Kitchenaid mixer was calling my name. It does that sometimes. I had found a recipe on the Internet for these muffins that sounded really yummy. They are supposed to taste very similar to snickerdoodles...one of my favorite cookies. So, I tweaked a few things on the recipe and voila...yummy goodness in my mouth! I suggest you try these. My seven year old son said they were thumbs up. Both the batter and the muffins!

Snickerdoodle Muffins

Ingredients:

1 3/4 Cup sugar

1 T Cinnamon

2 Sticks unsalted butter, softened

2 t Vanilla

2 Large eggs

2 1/4 Cups flour

3/4 t Baking soda

3/4 t Baking powder

3/4 t Cream of tartar

1/2 t Salt

1 t Nutmeg

1 1/4 Cup Sour Cream

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a large muffin tin or use muffin liners.

Mix 1 cup of the sugar with the cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cream of tartar, salt, and nutmeg. Now, if you have a Kitchenaid mixer, I suggest you use it. If you are one of the unlucky ones, you can mix by hand of use one of those nifty hand mixers. Cream together the butter and remaining sugar. Add the vanilla and eggs, mixing well. Add half the flour mixture to the mixing bowl, then add half the sour cream, continuing to mix. Add the rest of the flour and sour cream until mixed well. Don't forget to scrape the sides of the bowl! The mixture won't be very runny. Using an ice cream scoop, or just a spoon like I did, drop one scoop at a time in the bowl of cinnamon sugar. Roll around until coated and place in muffin tin. Repeat until all the batter is used. This makes 18-20 muffins. Bake at 350 for 20-22 minutes. Let your kids like the bowl clean. Enjoy!

Bleu or Azul.....

I've got some chicken thawing right now. I'm not too sure what I'm going to make using it tonight, but I've got a few ideas. The kids have already asked for "Mom's chicken strips". They are spoiled. I have two kids who refuse to eat chicken strips out of a bag. The kids can wait a few days for chicken strips. I don't feel like being splattered by hot grease tonight. I am thinking "Chicken Cordon Azul", my Mexican take on Chicken Cordon Bleu.
I guess I should also do some baking today. My husband loves it when I decide to bake in the middle of the day. Especially when the temperature outside is a cool 102, and the oven makes the house feel nice and toasty. The kids will be thrilled, though. That just means that they get to eat cookie dough. I am one of those moms who lets her kids eat raw dough. I ate it growing up, and never got sick from it. Well, maybe a stomach ache from eating two thirds of the bowl. I still scoop out a spoonful of dough and eat it along with the kids.


Chicken Cordon Azul
Ingredients:
4 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 Stick of butter, melted
1 Package taco seasoning
1 1/2 cups Plain bread crumbs
1 Can peeled, whole green chiles (you can also use the diced ones)
6 Slices Monterrey jack or pepper jack cheese

Preheat oven to 350.
Pound the chicken breasts until they are 1/4 in thick, or all your pent up anger has dissipated. Add about 1/3 package taco seasoning to the melted butter and stir. Mix the rest of the taco seasoning into the breadcrumbs. In the middle of each chicken breast place a green chile and a slice of cheese. Roll up the chicken then dip it into the butter. When coated, roll the chicken in the breadcrumbs until coated. Repeat with the remaining chicken breasts. Grease a 9x9 glass baking dish and arrange the chicken in the dish seam side down. You can sprinkle any leftover breadcrumbs over the chicken and also pour the rest of the butter in the dish. Bake for 40 minutes. Take out of oven and place half a slice of cheese on top of each piece of chicken and bake for 5 more minutes or until cheese is melted.

Top with salsa (home made is the best!), sour cream, and guacamole. Serve with Spanish rice and black beans.

Salsa

Salsa...it should be it's own food group. I won't buy the stuff they sell in the grocery store. Why buy it when I can make my own, and in my opinion, mine is so much better. I'm not cocky, that is just my opinion. So when any recipe calls for salsa, I'll just whip up a batch and use that. look in our fridge at any given time and you can usually find my salsa. It's super easy and cheap, too. You can also adjust it to your own taste. Just keep in mind that I really don't measure anything when it comes to making salsa. Make some today. You'll thank me later.

Ingredients:
1 large can whole peeled tomatoes, drained
1/2 - 3/4 onion, cut into chunks
1 - 2 cloves chopped garlic (I buy the minced garlic in a jar. I don't want my hands to scare away Edward the vampire.)
2 - 3 jalapenos, seeded and deveined
Cilantro, as much or as little as you like
Juice from 1 lime

Dump all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and give it a whirl. It's best served with Milagros tortilla chips. Store in the fridge.


Now, if you are going to have chips and salsa, you must also have guacamole. So I'll throw my recipe in for that as well.

Ingredients:
2-3 ripe avocados
Garlic salt
Salsa, made from scratch, of course
Juice from 1 lime

Peel the avocados and roughly chop them, saving one avocado pit. In a dish add the avocados, several spoonfuls of salsa, garlic salt to taste, and lime juice. Mash all together until it is a consistency you like. I like mine with very few chunks. Add more salsa and lime juice if needed. When storing in the fridge, drop the avocado pit in the guacamole. It will keep it from turning black.

Here we go.....

I absolutely love to cook. Sometimes my kids won't eat what I cook, but I am OK with that. My husband usually eats what I've whipped up in the kitchen. The bachelors next door are always more than willing to have a bite or two. Thanks to my husband, I have fed more musicians than I can count. My daughter's friends want to spend the night just so they can have "Jenn's food". My son is picky, but he sure likes to turn on my Kitchenaid mixer and eat cookie dough.
My knives aren't as sharp as they should be and I don't always measure the ingredients or follow the recipe. My husband rolls his eyes when I tell him I just need to make a quick trip to the grocery store or Costco. I just tell him it's because we never know who is going to show up for dinner. We have an open door policy in our house. If you are a friend, and you are passing through town, then you ARE having dinner with us. No questions asked.
A friend suggested that I start this blog, so here it is! You will hear tales of my kitchen mishaps, endless shopping lists, and the results of my forays into the kitchen. I'll share recipes, too. I used to be stingy when it came to giving out a recipe, but then I decided that the rest of the world should be able to taste just a little of what comes out of my oven or bread machine. You get the point. Enjoy...but don't ask me to come do the dishes. I am still trying to get my husband to do mine.