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

Chocoate Zucchini Cake

One more yummy thing to do with zucchini!

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups regular all-purpose flour, unsifted
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3/4 cup soft butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 teaspoons grated orange peel
• 2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
• Glaze (directions follow)

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

1 Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon; set aside.

2 With a mixer, beat together the butter and the sugar until they are smoothly blended. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. With a spoon, stir in the vanilla, orange peel, and zucchini.

3 Alternately stir the dry ingredients and the milk into the zucchini mixture, including the nuts with the last addition.

4 Pour the batter into a greased and flour-dusted 10-inch tube pan or bundt pan. Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes (test at 45 minutes!) or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes; turn out on wire rack to cool thoroughly.

5 Drizzle glaze over cake.

Glaze: Mix together 2 cups powdered sugar, 3 Tablespoons milk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until smooth.

delicious, easy roast beef sandwiches

Ok, I made these for Nick the other night and he said he hadn't had a philly cheese steak sandwich that good since he ate one in San Francisco. They were SUPER SUPER easy and it only took about 10-15 min to make. Here's the recipe off the top of my head:

Hoagie Buns

4-6 Provolone cheese slices

3/4 lb of Roast Beef

Italian Dressing

1-2 medium yellow onions

Chop your onions (length way) so they are thin and round ( like onion rings)... you can slice them in half so they're not round. ( did that make sense?)

Spray pan with Pam and grill your onions. ( no need to season them really. Add a bit of salt if you want.)

Throw your roast beef slices in the pan with the grilled onions. ( Heat up meat for your sandwich).

In the mean time, get a cookie sheet, cut your hoagie buns down the middle.... Spread some Italian dressing on the bread ( like you'd make any other sandwich.) Place in oven on BROIL for about 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, place roast beef, onions, and a slice or two of provolone cheese on top of bread (per sandwich.) Place back in oven for about a minute until cheese is melted.

(you can add grilled bell peppers.... or tomatoes and lettuce if you wish!)

Serve and eat immediately. Seriously, SO good and SO easy.

love, Heather