Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Cheese Batter Bread

So here was my foray into loaf making for the week. This is a batter bread, which my TOH cookbook instructs me is "beaten with an electric mixer to help give the bread a better texture. Because these breads are not kneaded, it is important to beat them until the batter comes away from the bowl and appears to be stringy." There is your bread-making lesson for today. Oh also it says they are best served the day they are made. So I was already planning to make this for this week, we were going to have it with soup, but then we had people coming over last night for dinner so I made chicken and potatoes and we had this bread to go with it as well. It smelled so so so good while it was baking. I was concerned when it didn't rise in the pan the way bread usually does, but when it was baking it finished up and came out perfect-o. The recipe is from TOH pg 458 (if you are mom or Jess who have this cookbook).

Cheese Batter Bread
1 pkg (1/4 oz) active dry yeast
1 cup warm (110-115 degrees) chicken broth
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
1 egg, beaten
3 cups flour, divided
1 1/4 cup finely shredded cheddar (I just used regular shredded because that's what I had and it was fine)
onion salt, optional

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm broth. Add the sugar, butter, salt, poultry seasoning, egg, and 1 cup of flour; beat until smooth. Add 1 cup of the cheese and the remaining flour, stir for 1 minute. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes. Stir the batter about 25 strokes. Spread evenly into greased 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and onion salt, if desired. Bake @ 375 for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan to wire rack. Serve warm. Refrigerate leftovers.

So this was pretty good. Our friend Josh had 2 pieces, so you know it wasn't just to be polite, because if you're just being polite you just eat 1 piece. So that was good. I must say the texture wasn't exactly what I had been hoping for, it seemed a little dense. But it did have a good flavor, and my piece was cold by the time I started eating it so maybe if it was warm it would have been better, I don't know. So I will keep this one to try again, with soup for real, next time.

Apple-Glazed Pork Chops

We had this for dinner on Monday night. It was in a section of the Simple & Delicious magazine for indoor grills. Well, we have a George Foreman grill that I got at a yard sale when I was pregnant with Nathan and we hadn't used it yet (so it's been 3 years in my cupboard). So I thought this would be a good recipe to try it out on. It's from S&D Jan/Feb 2009.

Apple-Glazed Pork Chops
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp pepper
4 boneless pork chops
2 tbsp apple jelly

Combine the first eight ingredients; rub over both sides of pork chops. Cook in batches on an indoor grill coated with cooking spray for 5 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 160. In a microwave-safe bowl, heat jelly until warmed; brush over pork chops. 4 servings.

So Steve really liked these, I thought they were okay. They were just too seasoned for the kids. They weren't spicy, just extremely flavorful. The kids thought they were spicy; I think the paprika that turned the chops red made them think it was spicy. And let me tell you why this George Foreman grill was in a yard sale: They are awful to clean. I sprayed it with cooking spray like it said to do...still the stuff got so caked on it was ridiculous. Oh, and by the way you cannot immerse it in water because of the cord. So you just have to tilt it over the sink and try to scrub it that way. I almost threw it away. If Steve hadn't been right there I would have. It would have been a disposable grill. We throw away stuff more sophisticated than that after just one use at the hospital, plus I got the grill for free so we would have been out nothing. But it goes against Steve's nature to throw away anything (really he is such a packrat) that there was no way he was going to let me throw away a working appliance. He even tried to be helpful and chip off the black stuff with one of those pampered chef scrapers. All that did was get black chips all over the counter and the floor that I had just mopped. I told him to stop stop STOP and he did and just let me finish it. I will keep the grill, until he is not looking, but I will not keep this recipe.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Fried Chicken Tenders with Garlic Mashed Potatoes

We had this for supper tonight. I was hopeful that it would be a way to get Nathan to eat actual chicken, rather than chopped/pressed/formed chicken nuggets, even if they were fried. Plus the picture made them look really good. It's from S&D Jan/Feb 2009.

Fried Chicken Tenders
2 eggs
1 tbsp water
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-in. strips
1 pkg (8oz) sesame crackers, crushed (about 4 cups)
1/4 to 1/2 cup canola oil
1 envelope chicken gravy mix, optional

In a shallow bowl, combine eggs and water. Dip chicken in egg mixture, then coat with cracker crumbs. In an electric skillet, heat oil to 375 (I don't have an electric skillet, I just used my regular skillet on medium heat). Fry chicken strips, a few at a time, for 5-6 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Meanwhile, prepare gravy mix according to pkg directions, if desired. Serve with chicken strips. 4 servings

Garlic Mashed Potatoes
2 cups water
3 tbsp butter
1/2 to 1 tsp garlic powder (I hate ranges like this. I used 3/4 tsp)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3/4 cup milk
2 cups mashed potato flakes

In a large saucepan combine water, butter, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil; remove from heat. Add milk. Stir in potato flakes with a fork. 4 servings.

So make sure you crush the crackers to a powder (kinda like that Bible verse) because if you keep big chunks, they will not stick to the chicken. This was one problem I had. Another one is that my chicken wasn't all the way defrosted, so I think that may have had an impact on how well the crumbs stuck. I would say only about half of each piece actually had cracker stuck to it. As for the frying, of course it was an unhealthy option, but I thought if the kids would eat it, it would be protein, and you can't take that away from it, regardless of what you are adding to it. But of course, Emma and Nathan wouldn't eat it. Samuel did, but he eats almost anything anyway so that doesn't even count. So the chicken recipe I won't save because it was a lot of work, plus I had to buy the crackers special for it, and the 2 little ones didn't even like it. The potatoes were pretty good, for fake potatoes. I will keep that recipe to use as a last minute thing, or when I don't know what to make for supper, or something. Because I usually do have those flakes on hand. And I actually really like fake potatoes, even though that is a little crazy of me. My sister and I used to make huge portions of fake potatoes and fake gravy for lunch when we used to be home alone at lunch times, like during the summer and stuff. So yummy. So it's like comfort food to me. Anyway that's the story for tonight. And can you believe I got it posted within 2 hours of eating it?

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Mostaccioli Casserole

We had this on Sunday after church. I just like pasta (except not spaghetti) so that's why we tried this one. Also I liked that it made 2 casseroles, so I could put one in the freezer for them while I'm gone. It's from S&D Jan/Feb 2009.

Mostaccioli Casserole
1 pkg (16 oz) mostaccioli (I used Ronzoni Smart Taste penne rigate, because it looked almost like mostaccioli but with lines, and had more fiber and calcium than plain pasta)
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 1/4 cups chopped green pepper (I left this out)
1 cup chopped onion
1 jar (26 oz) spaghetti sauce
1 can (10 3/4 oz) condensed cheddar cheese soup, undiluted
1 1/2 tsp italian seasoning
3/4 ts pepper
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

Cook pasta according to pkg directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook the beef, green pepper, and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the spaghetti sauce, soup, italian seasoning and pepper. Drain pasta. Add pasta and 1 1/2 cups cheese to beef mixture. Transfer to two greased 11x7 in baking dishes. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cover and freeze one casserole for up to 3 months. Cover and bake remaining casserole @ 350 for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake 5-10 minutes longer or until bubbly and cheese is melted. To use frozen casserole: thaw in refrigerator overnight. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Cover and bake @ 350 for 50-60 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted. Yield: 2 casseroles, 6 servings each.

So anyway this was very easy. It's pretty hard to mess up a pasta dish like this, I think. Of course Nathan was not interested but the other two kids ate theirs. Steve and I had the leftovers yesterday at work. So it's a keeper. Not that it's really a unique recipe, but it was yummy. The cheddar cheese soup, although an unhealthy addition, was tasty. We had this with garlic bread as well.