Cinnamon Syrup

If your are looking for a change from boring old maple syrup for your pancakes, this recipe fits the bill.  It comes from my MIL, Lorinda.

Cinnamon Syrup

From the Kitchen of Lorinda Hymas

1 c. corn syrup

2 c. sugar

½ c. water

2 tsp cinnamon

1 c. canned milk

Mix together the corn syrup, sugar, water, and cinnamon, and stir to boil.  Boil for 2 minutes. Cool for 5 min.  Add canned milk and mix together.

Guacamole

I LOVE guacamole; the straight up avocado kind, not the kind with all the extras.  I like it whenever I make any Mexican dish, so it's a frequent part of Taco Tuesday.   Here is my simple recipe: 

 Guacamole

2 medium Hass avocados
2/3 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tbsp lime juice

Slice the avocado in half and remove the seed.  Cube it with a knife and scoop it out from the skin into a small bowl.  Mash up the avocado with a fork then add the garlic salt and lime juice.  Mix it in with the fork and serve.

Homemade Yogurt

This past week, we tried making our own homemade yogurt.  It was well worth the effort!  It was delicious treat and so much more affordable than store bought.  We made a gallon on Saturday and it was completely gone by Wednesday.  Here is a link to the recipe we used. 

We did let our yogurt cure for longer than the recipe said. We tried an experiment and did it from 3-7  hrs (just because we're nerdy like that).  The longer we left it, the more firm it was.  I'd say 5-6 hour would do the trick.   4 hours was the right amount.  We also left it overnight once, and it turned out pretty sour.

I will also add that the Yoplait starter was THE BEST that we have tried.  I honestly wouldn't use any other brand.  After you get going, you can just use your homemade stuff for the starter.

We made the vanilla kind, with 2/3 cups of sugar, and then we added about a tablespoon of jam to a cup full to flavor it.  We used our strawberry and raspberry peach freezer jams we made over the summer.  It's seriously good, and after you get your own yogurt starter, it's the cost of a gallon of milk for a gallon of yogurt.  There's a link on the recipe that talks about how much the cost savings is a year.  If you ate four quarts a week (that's a lot, be we can definitely eat that much) you can save between $350 and $500 a year.  That's no small change.

Enjoy!

Navajo Tacos

I had planned to make to make Navajo Tacos the day after we had chili, because then I could use the left over chili for the tacos.  However, we are having the missionaries over tonight, and chicken noodle soup (what I had originally planned for today) just didn't sound good on this unseasonably warm day. 

So to make them, you need fry bread as your base.  Really any dough will do.  I have used Rhodes frozen rolls, which work great.  I also have used the sour dough pizza crust dough.  Flatten or roll out your dough and make it into the size you want for your base.

Heat up your oil in a skillet or stock pan (the higher sides keep the oil more contained so there is less splatter on the stove top) over medium high heat.  If you flick a little water into the oil, and it sizzles, your oil is hot enough. Drop your dough into the oil.  When that side is a golden brown, turn it over with a pair of tongs and repeat. 

Then top with heated Chili (you can use homemade or a can of Chili with Beans also works fine).  and your favorite ingredients--cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, black olives, onions, guacamole, sour cream, and/or ranch dressing.

Chicken Alfredo

One of my very favorite food blogs is Our Best Bites.  They have some amazing recipes.   For this meal, I use their Guiltless Alfredo Sauce.  It's fast, easy, low fat, and full of flavor.  Win, win, win, win.

First, I marinade 2-3 chicken breasts in equal parts of balsamic vinegar, lime juice, and 3 cloves of minced garlic for about 4 hours.

Then, I prepare a rub that I put on:

Rub:
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp parsley

I put the rub on both sides of the chicken breasts and grill them for 7-10 minutes per side.

I the mean time, I boil some fettuccine noodles in salt and a small amount of oil, and make the Alfredo sauce.

When everything is done, I slice the chicken into small strips and serve it on top of the noodles and Alfredo sauce.  Good stuff!

Deep Dish Pizza & Pizza Sauce

Thursdays are pizza night, and again, I like to mix it up with a variety of pizzas.  This week is a deep dish.

Coat the bottom of a deep dish baker stone with olive oil and then place your crust in the pan.  You made need to let it relax for a minute before it will stay in place, depending on what pizza crust recipe you use.  I used a frozen ball from the more complex recipe that I sat in the fridge the night before and then let raise all day. 

Bake at 425 for 8-10 minutes until lightly done.  Remove and add pizza sauce, cheese, and your favorite pizza toppings. We love pepperoni, bacon, ham, mushrooms, black olive, fresh tomatoes, pineapple, or sausage.  We also really like slices of Johnsonville Garlic and Irish Sausage on top.  They are delicious!  Bake at 425 for an additional 30-35 minutes.

Here is the recipe I use for my pizza sauce:

Pizza Sauce

8 oz tomato sauce
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tbsp dried parsley
1/2 tbsp dried basil

Mix together.

UPDATED: Pizza Crust

UPDATED

I have two recipes for pizza crust.  This first one is easy to mix up on demand, and doesn't take a lot of prep work.  Here is my simple pizza crust recipe:

Pizza Crust

 1 c. water
2-3 c. flour, divided
1 tbsp yeast
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Mix 1 cup of flour along with all the other ingredients in the mixer using the paddle attachment.  Change to the dough attachment on the mixer and add flour until the dough looses most of it's stickiness, but is still soft and pliable.  This is enough dough for 1 large pizza.

The second recipe is a more complicated sour dough recipe, but well worth the effort.  Along with the discovery of King Arthur Flour, came this recipe for pizza crust, all from my husband's attending (boss) last month, Dr. Kenneth Kernen.  My husband is the one who makes the dough, and then we freeze 3-4 balls for the next time.  This recipe is in weight, NOT in volume.  For your convenience, we have converted this to volume measurements in parenthesis, but we HIGHLY recommend weighing the flour.  Dr. Kernen said the reason is that it's much more accurate and consistent, since the ingredients tend to be inconsistent in how tightly they're packed.

Also of note, the bread flour/cake flour combo in here is important to get the consistency right, and King Arthur flour is the way to go.   King Arthur also has a sour dough starter if you don't have one or can't get a hold of one.  We also recommend Saf-instant yeast.

Sour Dough Pizza Crust

100 ml water (1/2 c.)
1 1/2 tsp yeast
15 ml honey (1 tbsp)
1/4 c. sour dough starter
700 ml cold water (about 3 cups)
35 gm salt (2 tbsp)
45 gm extra virgin olive oil (1/4 c.)
1000 gm bread flour (approx 6 3/4 c. scooped and leveled)
250 gm cake flour (approx 1 3/4 c. scooped and leveled)

In a mixing bowl, mix the 100 ml water, yeast, and honey together.  Then add the sour dough starter, cold water, salt, olive oil, and flour to the mixer with the dough hook attachment.  Knead for 10-15 minutes.  The dough will be pretty sticky and wet.  Transfer to an oiled bowl and cover.  Let it sit or proof at least 24 hrs, but longer is better (2-4 days).  It develops the flavor.   This recipe will make 4-5 pizza crusts.

NOTE:  This recipe also makes GREAT fry bread (scones, elephant ears, or whatever you want to call them).  We just made a sandwich from a left over piece of fry bread and it was OH SO GOOD!

King Arthur Flour

Flour.  Exciting topic, huh?  But, I have recently discovered what a difference it makes.  When we lived in Utah, I used to buy Lehi Roller Mills flour.  I thought it was pretty good stuff, and I could buy it for cheap at Costco.  I was a little sad when we moved to Michigan, because I was going to miss the stuff.

Well, I've just been using the cheap Costco brand here, but a few weeks ago, my husband came home with a discovery--King Arthur Flour.  He got a sour dough starter, a few recipes, and a flour recommendation from a fellow foodie at work.  He came home and started baking pizza crust and ciabatta bread.  And, we could tell a difference with the King Arthur Flour  (I feel like I'm in a commercial, but I'm completely serious).

Next, I tried some of our favorite recipes--cinnamon rolls and pretzel bites--with the King Arthur Bread Flour.  They turned out better than they ever have before.  I'm really blown away by the difference.  So, now, I pay almost $1 a pound for our bread flour (which I figure really only costs me a couple extra dollars a month), and see it as money well spent!  Check out their web site.  It's really informative and has lots of great recipes and products.

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pita

The hubby had requested Pepper Steak Sandwiches for dinner, and I scheduled them for tonight, but, he decided to skip dinner because of the diet, so I will make them another time.  Instead, I made Chicken Bacon Ranch Pitas, similar idea to the Pepper Steak Sandwiches.  Here is the list of ingredients.  The amounts are just guidelines to get you started. 

2 chicken breasts
4 strips of bacon
1/2 c. cheddar cheese
4 pita pockets (the fresher and thicker the better)
Ranch dressing
chopped lettuce
cubed tomatoes
cubed half of an avocado

First, I cooked the bacon.  I cook mine in the oven at 425 degrees in an aluminum foil lined baking sheet for about 15-20 minutes.  Way less mess and fuss.  If you haven't tried it, it's worth your time.  While the bacon was cooking, I cubed and then browned the chicken in a frying pan.  When both were done, I crumbled up the bacon in the frying pan and added the cheddar cheese to melt.  I also put my pitas in the now warm and turned off oven to warm for a few minutes.

Then, I use pita like a soft taco shell and load up with my favorite toppings--the meat, lettuce, tomato, avocado, and ranch dressing.  Enjoy!

Taco Tuesday

Tuesday nights are taco nights around here.  We try to mix it up by having a different kind every week.  This week we had hard tacos with ground beef.  Not much of a recipe to share with this one, but I saw an idea on pintrest, and thought I'd try it.  I broiled my shells in the oven after a put in just the meat and cheese.  Then I added the fresh ingredients.  Two thumbs up from the taco lovers in our family.  Here's a picture:

Pepperoni Mac N Cheese

We recently made a tasty discovery with our mac n cheese.  Instead of topping with bread crumbs, we started topping with pepperoni, a little pizza sauce, and mozzarella cheese.  Yummy!

4 tbsp butter

2 ½ c.  milk

¼ c. flour

1 tsp salt

⅛ tsp nutmeg

⅛ tsp ground black pepper

Dash of cayenne pepper

2 ½ c. mild cheddar cheese

½ - 1 c. pecorino Romano cheese

½ lb pasta shells

½ head of cauliflower, cut into florets

15-20 pepperoni pieces

1c. pizza sauce

1/2 c. grated mozzarella cheese

Heat oven to 375° F.  Butter a 9x13 pan.  Using a flatter pan with increased surface area increases the pepperoni to mac n cheese yummy factor.  In a large pot, bring water to a boil, adding a dash of salt and a small amount of oil.  When boiling add pasta.  Cook until just underdone.  At the same time, in a separate pot, bring water to a boil and add the cauliflower.  Cook until tender. 

In the mean time, heat milk in microwave for 2 minutes.   Melt butter in a medium sauce pan and add flour.  Cook, stirring for 1 minute.   Slowly pour milk into the flour mixture while whisking.  Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until mixture thickened and bubbling.

Stir in salt, nutmeg, pepper, and cayenne pepper.  Slowly add the cheeses until melted.  Drain pasta and add to cheese sauce.  Drain the cauliflower and blend in the blender or food processor to a slightly chunky texture. 

Add to the cheese sauce.  Fold the cauliflower and pasta into the cheese sauce.  Pour the mixture into the baking dish. 

Drizzle pizza sauce on top, and then top with pepperoni and mozzarella cheese. 

 Bake about 30 minutes.

Tip:  You can double the recipe and freeze half for a future freezer meal.