Tutorial Tuesday: Rustic Herbed Cheese Bread

It's no secret that I love bread. Love it. There are a lot of bread recipes on here if you go through the archives. And most of them start with the same recipe/method, the no-knead method. This bread is no exception, but the taste is absolutely exceptional! This is a great dinner bread, but I recently served it hollowed out with an herbed sour cream dip as an appetizer and it was phenomenal!

Rustic Herbed Cheese Bread

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 5/8 cups water
1 1/2 tablespoons oil
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon yeast
Garlic powder
Sesame seeds
Onion powder
4 ounces sharpest provolone, shredded
Corn meal and additional flour for dusting/shaping


Mix all ingredients but cheese in a large bowl, just until combined. I didn't add the measurements for the spices because I don't measure. I like my breads strongly spiced, so I used approximately half of a small container of sesame seeds, and generous amounts (1 1/2 - 2 1/2 T) of garlic and onion powder.

There is no need to knead or over mix this dough. Simply combine the ingredients and that's it. Cover the bowl (this dough will double in size so make sure your bowl is big enough) and let sit overnight. I let mine sit for at least 12 hours, but have let it sit for 48 hours and the bread still comes out amazing.

After it has sat, place a dishtowel or paper towels in a warm place (I put mine on the stovetop with the oven on) and sprinkle generously with cornmeal. Using only enough flour so that the dough doesn't stick to your hands, ball the dough and place it on the prepared towels. Dust with more cornmeal or flour and cover with another cloth/paper towel. Let rise 1 - 3 more hours, until doubled again in size.

For the last half an hour, place a baking dish (it needs to have a cover) in the oven at 450 degrees to heat up. Turn dough out into the preheated baking dish, cover and bake for approximately 25 - 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake another 15 - 20 minutes until the bread is browned and sounds hollowed when you thump it.


Herbed Sour Cream Dip

Into 16 ounces of sour cream, mix 2T Healing Pixie's bread and cheese herb mix, 1T garlic powder, 1T onion powder and 1T garlic salt. Chill for at least an hour to allow hers to soften and flavors to meld.

from Bonnie, Holden's Landing

Tutorial Tuesday: Apple Spice Cupcakes

There is nothing I like better in the kitchen than baking with fresh ingredients. When A's parents brought over a ton of fresh apples from a local farm, I knew I had to whip up something sweet with them, but didn't want to go with the same old recipes, so I came up with this recipe for apple cupcakes with spiced brown cugar buttercream frosting. We had these at our Halloween party this year (along with vanilla and chocolate cupcakes with dark chocolate and peanut buttercream frostings) and they were the most talked about item that day!

Apple Spice Cupcakes
(makes 2 dozen)

Ingredients:
2 sticks butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 whole eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 fresh apples (I used Spencer apples), peeled and chopped into chunks
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional, but they really make these cupcakes!)
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (to taste)
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Disolve baking soda in buttermilk.

Alternately add flour and buttermilk, mixing well after each addition. Mix in vanilla and spices. I use my kitchen aid for this and let the batter whip for a minute or two to make it light and fluffy. Add apples and walnuts and mix to incorporate.

Bake in preheated 400 degree oven until toothpick comes out clean.


Spiced Brown Sugar Buttercream Frosting

Cream 1 stick of butter with 1/2 cup brown sugar. Add 2 1/2T cinnamon and 2 cups powdered sugar. Mix until the consistency of frosting (you may need to add 1-2 T milk to reach a good consistency). This frosting will be slightly grainy due to the brown sugar. Pipe onto cupcakes using a large star tip or spread over tops with a knife. This keeps very well in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Just let stand at room temperature and re-whip before frosting.

from Bonnie, Holden's Landing

Tutorial Tuesday ~ An Easy Crowd Pleaser: Mock Lasagna

This isn't any fancy foodie meal, but Mock Lasagna is a casserole I grew up eating and now I make for my own family. And everyone inhales it. It's an easy recipe, taking maybe 20-25 minutes to prepare and assemble everything before baking, and it's very easy to make substitutions to "healthify" or remove any ingredients you might not want in it. For example, I used only one pound of ground beef, added broccoli to the meat to get some more veggies into us, played with the spices a little, and made a separate dish without the noodles for myself since I'm currently grain-free. It's pretty hard to mess this recipe up!

Mock Lasagna
2 C uncooked elbow macaroni or rotini
1 1/2 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 8 oz cans tomato sauce, condensed tomato soup, or pasta sauce
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder (I always throw in extra garlic)
1/2 C milk
1 egg
1/4-1/2 lb shredded/grated mozzarella or cheddar cheese

Prepare pasta according to package directions, and drain. Brown ground beef and onion, drain fat, add tomato sauce, 1/2 tsp salt, and seasonings. Simmer for 5-10 minutes. Beat egg, milk and remaining salt together, blend into macaroni, and spread in greased casserole dish. Cover with meat mixture and top with cheese. Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Let stand for 5-10 minutes before cutting. Serves 6.

submitted by Lori, alfabette zoope 

Jelly Bean Love

Although Easter has neither come nor gone yet, I am already dreading the moment when jellybeans have to be peeled from parquet, carpet, and tile. Also, I have to admit, the squelch they make as they are being trampled underfoot is ... well ... not my favourite sound.

So this year I'm preparing myself psychologically for the sight of leftover jellbeans running amok in my house - and being proactive.

"But whatever can you do with jellybeans?" I hear you ask.

Apparently quite a lot.

*nods*

You can ...

Have your little ones sort them by colour (guaranteed to keep them occupied for a while). Older ones (if so inclined) can then take that information and make a bar graph.

Put them in a pretty glass container, ask guests to guess the number of beans as they walk through your door, and then force .. um ... reward them with the jar as they leave.

 Have a jelly bean hunt!

Assign a point value to the different colours and then hide the beans. Rarer colours should have more value, and all beans should be placed next to an item of like colour. Cheapo I spy .. but a pretty effective one at parties.

(my house is currently too messy to support photo-taking of that kind)

Guess-and-Gobble 
Place a jelly bean on top of a napkin and cover it with a cup. Have the child guess the colour, and reward said child with the bean. Plenty of variations on this, so let your imagination run wild.

Make Jelly Bean Fudge

I'll pass on experimenting, but here's the recipe (from Ms. Billings)

• 2 cups white chocolate chips
• 1 (16 ounce) container vanilla frosting
• 2 cups jelly beans

Line a 9-inch square pan with foil and grease lightly.

Melt the chips according to the package directions or in a heavy saucepan over very low heat, stirring constantly until the chocolate is melted and smooth. 

Add the frosting and stir until the mixture is smooth.

Remove from the heat and let cool slightly.

Add the jelly beans and stir well to incorporate evenly. 

Spread the fudge mixture into the prepared pan and cool to room temperature. 

Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. 

Remove the foil /fudge from the pan and place on a cutting surface. 

Carefully remove the foil and cut the fudge into small pieces.

Make (or simply admire) jelly bean art.

I picked President Reagan because he, reputedly, always had a bowl of jelly beans on his desk when he was in office - but there is some gorgeous jelly bean art out there.

Play Bean Run! 
This will work for older kids (and inebriated adults) - and here's how it goes.

Two teams.

Bowls full of jelly beans at one end of the room (or garden) and empty bowls at the other end.

Everyone gets handed a plastic spoon.

The objective is to get as many beans transferred within a set period of time.

Inebriated adults seem to favour playing with their hands behind their back and the spoon in their mouth ... but we won't go there.

And finally ...

Celebrate National Jelly Bean Day  - by putting all of your leftover jellybeans into small bags and handing them out to all the people who didn't know it was NJD!

Mark your calendars: April 22nd!