Jane's French Bread

Here is my aunt Jane's recipe for easy white french bread. I just made it for my first time and it was delicious!

1/2 C warm water mixed with: 2 T yeast, 1 T sugar

Stir together 3 C white flour, 1 T salt, and 2 C hot water with a wooden spoon. Then stir in the yeast mixture and add 3 more cups flour. Stir until the flour is all incorporated and then lest rest in the bowl. Leave the spoon in the dough and let rest, covered. Stir down the dough after it has risen, let it rest again and repeat 4 more times.

Preheat oven to 450. Divide dough into two rectangles and roll like jelly roll. Place loaves on a greased cookie sheet. Let rise until double in size. Slash tops and brush with beaten egg white, then sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake 25-35 minutes.

I would keep an eye on it a rotate the pan so the loaves brown evenly. It only took about 20 minutes for my loaves to bake, so be aware that you may not need the full time.

Double Whammie

First order of business: Gwyn did me right. Her chicken and potatoes recipe was a hit (see her video a few posts down). Loved by me, by Jared, and, most importantly, by our dinner guests. I didn't have fresh herbs, but it was still super flavorful. To compensate I put extra rosemary on top of the chicken. Amazing how much cutting the spine and thigh bones out quickened the cooking time. Can't wait to make this again soon.

Secondly: wanted to spice up our routine and do something a little bit different with our chicken. So I made these chicken nuggets from allrecipes.com. They were super good and besides the butter (which could be substituted for olive oil) they are pretty healthy. Two favorite things about this meal - one, I made bread crumbs from leftover dinner rolls from the night before and, two, you can calculate the recipe for any amount of servings on the allrecipes website: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baked-Chicken-Nuggets/Detail.aspx I will definitely be using this one again.

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 2/3 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 1/3 cup butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Cut chicken breasts into 1 1/2 inch size pieces. In a medium bowl, mix together the bread crumbs, cheese, salt, thyme and basil. Mix well. Put melted butter/margarine in a bowl or dish for dipping.
3. Dip chicken pieces into the melted butter/margarine first, then coat with the breadcrumb mixture. Place well coated chicken pieces on a lightly greased cookie sheet in a single layer, and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.

xoxo, elle

Bajio Chicken

Bajio Chicken

5 chicken breasts
1/2 cup salsa
1 Tbsp cumin
1/2 cup brown sugar (more to taste, I added at least an extra 1/8 cup)
1 4 oz. can diced green chilies
6 oz. Sprite (1/2 can)

Combine all ingredients in a crock pot. Cook on low for 5-6 hours. Remove chicken and shred. Return to crock pot and cook 1 more hour. Thicken the juices with a little cornstarch mixed in water.
Serve with flour tortillas, lettuce, cheese, black beans and any other taco fixings.

If you want it spicier rather than sweeter add a hotter salsa and more green chilies.

love, Heather

Yum

I canned a batch of apple butter a week or two ago, and the result is so good, I want to share the recipe. It made 12 half-pint jars for me. All that is needed is a 5 minute dunk in a waterbath canner, so this is not difficult to can. I am planning on giving this out as Christmas gifts...

Appalachian Apple Butter

6 lbs unpeeled granny smith apples, cored and cut into eights
3 C apple cider
3 C firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp salt

In a large stainless steel pot, combine apples and cider. Boil reduce heat and cover. Simmer til apples are mushy, about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain liquid and puree. I used an immersible hand blender for this part, but you could use a food processor or normal blender. Make sure your blending obliterates all of the peels. In a clean pot, add the pureed apples the brown sugar, spices and salt. Stir well and simmer over very low heat, uncovered til quit thick, about 1 1/2 hours, stirring often. Remove from heat and ladle into hot jars. wipe rims, seal with two part lids and process in a water bath for 5 minutes each batch.

The recipe says to wait a month before eating, but we opened them right away. It was still really yummy but next jar it had been about 2 weeks and it definitely tasted better so I recommend waiting!

Recipe By Gwyneth

Our guest celebrity chef will be my dear, wish-she-was-my-friend Gwyn. For some reason I have always trusted Gwyneth Paltrow and so even though I have not yet made this recipe I wanted to share. It looks so fresh, easy, and yummy. She has some other great recipes on her website goop.com. I am making this dish this week for some friends so I will report back.




xoxo, elle