Half Whole Wheat Bread

Please excuse Ethan's shadow. He insisted on being a part of the photography process.

Back when I made all of our bread, this is the recipe I used. I'm hoping to be able to do it again, so today I pulled out the recipe and made a loaf. It's just a good as I remembered. Chewy, but not dense. Just a little bit sweet. And perfect for cutting sandwich slices.

This recipe is simple and has never failed me. Even the first time when I'd never successfully cooked with yeast before. So if you're afraid of bread, try this recipe.

Bread tips and information can be found here.

Half Whole Wheat Bread
Yield: 1 loaf

1 cup warm water (almost hot)
1 Tbsp milk
2 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp yeast
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

2. Add flours and yeast, and knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let rise until doubled.

3. Punch dough down. Knead a few times until smooth and form into a loaf. Place in greased loaf pan and cover. Let rise until doubled, about 1" above top of a typical loaf pan. (It will rise a little more in the oven.)

4. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes. Allow loaf to rest in the pan for a few minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cover with a cloth to cool.

Poor Man's Potato Soup

This was a recipe my mom whipped up when I was a kid. No money for food that week, so she had to use what she had. This recipe could not be more basic and is a great jumping off point to add things and make it your own. Our family eats it with monteray jack cheese and fresh tomatoes thrown in just before serving, because that's what my mom had in the fridge the day she first made this. The melty cheese and cold tomatoes are an amazing compliment to this soup. Try it!

This recipe is incredibly easy to scale. Halving it gives plenty to feed a family of 4. It's incredibly filling. Doubling it feeds a crowd without much additional work. Leftovers will thicken, so additional liquid may be needed when reheating.

Poor Man's Potato Soup
from Linda M.

5 lbs red potatoes
32 oz chicken broth (or vegetable stock to make it vegetarian)
2 Tbsp butter or margarine
2 Tbsp flour
2 cups milk

Wash and cut up potatoes into 1 inch chunks, leaving skins on. In large pot, add potatoes and chicken broth. Add enough water to completely cover the potatoes. Boil until potatoes fall apart when poked with a fork. Remove from heat. Once cooled slightly, blend potatoes into the liquid using a hand mixer. Leave it a bit chunky for texture. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Whisk the flour into the butter and stir over low heat until slightly browned. Whisk in milk and continue to stir over medium heat until just beginning to boil. Remove from heat and add to the potatoes. Add water or chicken broth if more liquid is needed.

Menu Jan 4th-10th

I'm aiming for an easy week to ramp myself back into cooking mode.

Mon - Kids: Ramen & Green Beans, Parents: Out with friends

Tues - Potato Soup w/ Monterey Jack and Tomatoes

Wed - Pasta w/ Meat Sauce, Salad, and possibly Homemade Bread

Thurs - Baked Potatoes in the Crockpot w/ Chili and Cheese

Fri - Kids: Corndogs and Apples, Parents: Sandwiches/Leftovers (Work night, so boys will eat in the car.)

Sat - Chicken Adobo w/ Rice and Veggies (John makes this by memory and it was a little too strong this time. Hopefully next time I'll have a recipe to share.)

Sun - Mom's Roast in the Crockpot (Can't share this one. Mom has declared it a secret.)

On My Way Back to Normal

After this last year of craziness, it's time to get back to normal life. Part of that means regular meals. We've spent most of the year feeding the kids whatever was easiest and grabbing junk for ourselves when we could. No more!

This year, I intend to get back to regular menu planning. I'll probably include one new recipe a week, but I'm not going to hold myself to that. Jumping back into cooking after being out of the kitchen for so long is going to take a little warming up.

To try to be accountable for what we eat, I'm going to post our menus here. I'll link to any recipes I already have on here, and try to add the others as I go. This week's menu sometime this afternoon!

Macarons (attempt)

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

These are not the coconut chewy macaroons most of you are thinking of. These are french macarons. A light cookie, essentially a meringue with almond flour added. And they are difficult. I did some research before the attempt and discovered that she chose the most difficult recipe. One site stated that it only has a 50% success rate.

Mine failed. So miserably I didn't even take a picture.

Life conspired to not allow another attempt this month. When I try this again, I'll use a recipe with a better success rate. For now I'm on the hunt for a local bakery that makes them. I'm hoping to taste one!

Savory Pumpkin Seeds

One of my favorite benefits of cleaning out pumpkin guts is the seeds. I love roasted pumpkin seeds. This year I went for a recipe similar to what mom made us as kids. They're almost worth cleaning out pumpkins more often.

Mia's Savory Pumpkin Seeds

2 cups pumpkin seeds
1 1/2 Tbs butter, melted
2 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1 1/4 tsp salt
Dash of garlic salt
Dash of onion powder

Preheat oven to 250. Mix it all together. Spread on ungreased jelly roll pan (cookie sheet with sides). Bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, stirring every 15 min. Seeds are done when dry and starting to brown.

Puff Pastry (attempt) and Sparkling Apple Syrup

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Puff pastry is much more difficult than I had hoped to start out with this group. But not impossible. The only attempt I could fit in this month was not a success, but I can list two big things that contributed to my flat, less than tasty puff pastry.

-Whole grain pastry flour is nothing like regular pastry flour. If unable to find cake flour again, I would use the 2tbs removed method to reduce the gluten in all-purpose.

-A warm kitchen means that the dough will need significantly more chilling time, much more often. Butter leaked between my layers too quickly.

That being said, I'm not sure I'll try it again. Even if it came out beautifully, the time it took wasn't worth it. I'll buy the frozen stuff next time.

Below are the pictures of how mine came out. Thin, chewy, and not at all tasty. (The filling is Sparkling Apple Syrup from Conversations with a Cupcake. It was delicious.)