Clementine Obsession

Really, seriously, I can not stop wanting to put these little lovelies into EVERYTHING. As promised I have some recipes. Well one recipe, one just suggestion of one. The quinoa salad was really good. If you don’t like cilantro, I think you could substitute basil and it would be great.





Quinoa Clementine Salad


2 cup uncooked quinoa (I used red, but any would do)
1 bunch of green onions cut
½ C almond slices toasted
6 clementine’s peeled and sectioned
1 c. (aprox) of loose cilantro leaves
Juice of 3 clementine’s (about ¼ cup)
2 TBS olive oil

Make Quinoa and let cool. Add other 4 ingredients and stir. Add the juice and olive oil, if possible right before serving.

So we went back to get our third bag of clementine’s at Trader Joes. I mean they are so good I can’t stand it. They are sweet with a bit of sour. Mmmm. So today, Joel came home for lunch so I came up with this. I figured he would lover it or hate it. He moaned and gave every impression of deep love. I knew, however, I really struck a cord when he came in a minute ago an told me he was still thinking about the sandwich. Score!




I had a nice multigrain crusty loaf that I got at Trader Joes, but use whatever bread you like. I made a pesto mayonnaise and spread that on both pieces of bread. Then on one side I laid two pieced of bacon, the other one Clementine (peeled and sectioned) and in the middle a ton of arugala. It was really, really good. However, I am a sucker for a salty/sweet or savory/sweet combo and this had all of it, salty, sweet, savory and bitter. Mmmmm. The one thing I would try is a bit of goat cheese. It was wonderful as it was but I always have tendency to want to add cheese (in more ways than one:)


So the real question is… do you think there is a Clementine detox??

Kale Soup

I made this yesterday for lunch. I was having competing desires for a warm meal and something leafy and bright. This was my odd compromise. It hit the spot though and hubby loved it that night. Today I pulled it out. It is a gloomy day with snow threatening us again. I am a great lover of snow, but just this weekend it was brilliant and beautiful and I started on yard work and mentally made the leap to spring. Sigh. So with the new gloom in the air I had this for lunch but added a dollop of greek yogurt. Double yum. Plus, it is low cal, fast and cheap. Trifecta!


½ onion sliced
½ bag chopped kale (or about 3 cups??)
2 cartons of beef stock (could used veggie, chicken, or broth if you prefer)
1 can chick peas
2 tbs sweet curry
1 tbs olive oil.


Heat olive oil, sauté the onions until soft. Add stock, kale and chickpeas and bring to simmer. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Add curry and any salt you want. Viola!

Bacardi Wants Your Money, However Leave Your Opinions at the Door

Okay, I will come back, at some point to tell you about the eggplant parm, trimmed down, however (It was very good) I am taking a moment to “share.” Please indulge my little rant and do with it what you will.

Let me give you the back story… my husband received, as a gift, for Christmas a bottle of Disaronno. Disaronno is typically too sweet of a drink for me, but I thought it would make an interesting modification on a Manhattan. I was right. I am not sure what possessed me but I thought I would e-mail them and share my idea. I sent an e-mail simply requesting information on how I could send a recipe idea I had using their product. Silly, I know, but I guess I was (pardon the pun) full of the spirit.

Here is the response I got back:

01/17/10


Dear Vanessa,

We are frequently received information, ideas or inventions (“Information”) from people who are not our employees. It is our policy to return, unopened, all identifiable unsolicited Information. If, due to inadvertence or due to lack of knowledge of contents, an envelope is opened, it is our policy to forward the Information to our Legal Department who then returns it to the sender with out giving it any consideration.

Should you want to submit your information to us, please write to:

Bacardi U.S.A., Inc.
Legal Department
Attention: Advertising & Trade Practice Counsel 2100 Biscayne Blvd Miami, FL 33137

and request a copy of our “Unsolicited Information / Idea Submission Policy” (Policy) for completion before submitting your information. Information received before compliance with our Policy with be return without consideration and we assume no risk, obligation or liability whatsoever regarding the reception, retention, confidentiality and consideration of you Information.

Best Regards,


I am leaving the customer service representatives name off, because she was just doing her job and should not be included in my disgust. So follow me on my ride of logic.

Here is basically what she said, if anyone ever wants to contact our company via mail, they are required to write and ask for permission to write to us, once and only once that permission is granted, they may then write. Furthermore, lets say I purchased their product and had a problem with it, and I wrote them to address my grievance. Lets also assume, I didn’t know I had to write and ask permission to write (ughhh…duhhh), they would just send my letter back unread and unopened. Really. Really???

It seems to me the proper response to my question was:
Dear Vanessa,

Please don’t bother, we really don’t care at all about our customers. Your satisfaction, is really and totally irrelevant to us Really. I mean seriously, we are not joking about this. If you have a problem with it, please write us and ask for permission to complain. If permission (oh, and this is such a LONG shot!) is granted, you must twirl around twice prior to licking the stamp or we will not be able to give consideration to your complaint.

Stuff it sucker,

Bacardi.



Grrrr. Look let me make it clear that if they simply responded, that they don’t accept recipes, I would have no issue. I get it, they probably get thousands of recipes from silly girls like me that think they stumbled on to some great new drink. What I have an issue with is that this is their policy for ANY UNSOLICATED mail. Really. Really? Wow. It is sad to me. Maybe I am just sick of companies that seem to have forgotten that they need customers to make money, and that possibly it would behoove them to treat their customers decently. However, I can’t blame them because, we seem to have forgotten the ultimate power we have as consumers, not to purchase their product.

So on that note, I will in no way be a consumer of Bacardi products. The list includes:

Bacardi Rum (that was a surprise huh!)
Disaronno
Martini and Rossi
Dewars
Bombay Saphire (the most overrated martini gin in this girls humble opinion)
Cazadores
Grey Goose
42 below
Havana Club Drambuie
Eristoff Vodka
B&B and Benedictine Liquores


Maybe I should send them a letter letting them know I am not a customer any longer.

Porcini Porcine

It is not a great picture, but we were hungry and I didn’t have the willpower to take too many shots. Once, I saw a brief snippet of show in which the chef, pulverized dried porcini’s to make a crusted meat. I have been intrigued ever since, but just finally got around to trying it out.

I started with about a 2.5 pound pork loin and marinated it for 4 hours. The marinade was equal parts Dijon, white vinegar, and soy sauce (I used about ¼ c. each). Before I was ready to cook the meat, I turned the oven to 425 degrees. I coated the meat slightly with some oil (I used olive, but any would be fine). While allowing the oven to come up and preparing the curst, let meat sit at room temperature.

Start with 1/3 cup dried mushrooms (I used porcini) in the food processor. Pulse it to get a course meal like consistency. You will have some larger pieces in there, don’t worry about it.

Add to the processor

3 garlic cloves (less if you like less garlic)
¼ cup bread crumbs (I used Italian)
1 TBS onion salt

Pulse to combine. Roll loin in mushroom crust and place in a baking dish. Add any leftover mushroom to the bottom of the pan and sprinkle a bit of oil over (or you can deglaze with a bit of stock once the meat is done), it will form a nice gravy/sauce.

Cook covered for 15 minutes, then remove foil and cook for an additional 15 or until done (meat should feel firm to the touch).

Let stand for about 10 minutes and serve.

This Simply Will Not Do

Okay I feel like I am in blog black hole! My current dilemma preventing me from blogging is an ever looming yard sale. The yard sales was necessitated when finally my attic reached maximum capacity and threatened to bring the ceiling down on us!

I am still cooking (of course) but I just haven’t had time to document it at all. Woe to me! I will eventually get back on track…eventually.

So for now the results of the poll. Clearly everyone is looking for simple and fast, because the 5 ingredients recipes won hands down.

Here is my first installment. I do not have a picture, so you will just have to make due with me telling you it is fabulous. It is a couple more than 5 but bare with me, because it is too easy.

In a foil pouch place

1 lb of cut up lamb or chicken (beef does NOT work)
2 cut up tomatoes
1 sliced up onion
8 oz of feta (give or take…I personally like to give)
Juice of one lemon
1 tbs olive oil
Salt/Pepper to taste

Close pouch place in a 350 oven fro 30-35 minutes. Serve over cous cous or rice. It is one of my very favorite meals. Really.

Grilled Peaches in Vanilla Ricotta

This is another recipe were there is not a lot of recipe. I have to say, this knocked my socks off. I used yellow peaches for this, I don’t think white would work. Just this gals opinion.

I made my own ricotta for this, however, the store stuff will work just as well. For about a cup of ricotta I added 1 tsp of vanilla and 1 tbs of sugar (add more or less depending on how sweet you like things.)


I halved and pitted the peaches. I mixed equal parts honey and balsamic vinegar. I dipped the peaches cut side down in the mixture and then grilled them for about 10 minutes. If you let the peaches set a minute or two they will seep this lovely syrup. Put a little ricotta on the plate, put the peach on top, a dollop more ricotta and a spoonful of syrup…slurp.

Beef and Asparagus Rolls

Okay folks the lackluster name does not do the outcome justice. I was really, really pleased with this. I used a marinade that my mom has used for asparagus for years. Oddly I did not marinate the asparagus in it, just the meat. However, I am sure if you did both in the marinade it would be great. You might find, as I did, most flat iron cuts will be too thick to roll, if so take a knife and cut the piece to have thickness down the length of the meat.


2 lb flat iron steak
2 lb asparagus cleaned and partially cooked

For the Marinade

¾ c. oil
½ c wine vinegar
2 tsp dry mustard
2 tsp parsley
2 tsp chives
1 tsp salt
2 tsp tarragon
1-2 clove of garlic grated or minced
1/4 tsp pepper


Combine all ingredients for marinade in a bag and let meat marinate for at least 8 hours.

In salted water cook the asparagus until it is mostly done.

Depending on the size of the asparagus use about 3-6 per bundle. If you need to cut the meat to ½ thickness. Using the bundle to measure the cuts, cut the meat so that there is enough to easily wrap the bundle but with little overhang. Secure with a toothpick.

We did them on the grill. It took about 15 minutes on medium heat, however you need to turn it once so check half way through. Eat and enjoy!

Just a note, if you are note a beef fan, I think this would be great with chicken or pork. I think also I soy, ginger sesame marinade would work great too.

Kung Pao Salad A La Cinnamon and Spice

First, Muneeba at http://anediblesymphony.blogspot.com/ awarded me with the One Lovely Blog award. My task it to pass this on to 10 new blogs I have found! So I will be gather my list of folks over the next few days, until then please go to An Edible Symphony and check it out!

Let me start by saying this makes a big salad. It easily serves 4 people very hearty dinner sized salads, VERY easily. You can use whatever veggies or lettuces you want, this is just what I used. Also, if you don’t eat meat I think if you used tofu for this it would be amazing.

The original Kung Pao recipe came from Reni over at Cinnamon and Spice, http://cinnamonspiceandeverythingnice.blogspot.com/ . I can’t tell you how much I love this recipe. I have made it about 4 times now. The other night I had everything I needed but the rice….go figure. I did have soba noodles, but that wasn’t quite doing it for me. You guys know I have been on a crazy salad kick… well I thought… why not. It was wonderful. Actually so good the first time I made it we ate it up like little piggies (I had brought ½ over to my folks for dinner…so don‘t judge!) and never got a picture. Sigh…I guess this just meant I had to make it again. Another side, is if you want to cut calories or cut hassle you can bag the soba noodles (they are surprisingly calorie dense). They don’t add a lot, but are good flavor catchers, but not necessary if you are trying to simplify.


Salad
1 zucchini ribboned
2 small carrots ribboned and chopped
1 bunch of green onion
½ bunch cilantro (remove the stems just add leaves)
½ head of broccoli blanched
2 heaping handfuls of spinach chopped
¼ package soba

Boil water and add soba noodles and cook to package directions, drain and let cool. Add all veggies to a bowl and toss.

Chicken
1.5 lb of chicken diced
3/4 cup roasted peanuts
4-6 fine slices ginger, each cut into quarters
3-4 cloves garlic, sliced
1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns(I use red pepper flakes)
1 tbs oil

Heat oil add pepper and fry the peppercorns for a few minutes until fragrant. Add the chicken, garlic, ginger, and onion. Stir-fry these to allow the flavor to come out, then add the peanuts. Take of heat and allow to cool.

Once chicken and soba are cool add to salad.


Dressing

2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons red rice vinegar
1 table spoon cooking wine


Wisk together and toss with salad. Eat…yummy.

Grilled Salad

I have been on a salad kick here for a while now. The other day I had some eggplant and zucchini and corn that needed to be used and viola this salad was born. I have to say, it was luscious. The eggplant didn’t add much for me, which was surprising since that is really the veggie that kick started the whole concept for me…but it didn’t hurt wither.


2 ears of corn
2-3 zucchini sliced
1 eggplant thinly sliced
1 lb flat iron steak
Then whatever else you like in your salad we had tomato, onion, cucumber, lettuce



Season everything, I used a grinder mix of garlic, sea salt and red pepper. Grill. Slice your meat thinly, and cut the corn off the ears and assemble your salad. I used a Greek yogurt dressing that could not have gone better with it all (below). We had some grilled flat bread to sop it all up, got to love summer!


Dressing

½ c. Greek yogurt (I use Fage)
Juice of one lemon
1 clove of garlic grated
1 tsp fresh oregano chopped super fine
Salt and Pepper

Mix all and chill

Radish Salad

First, thank you to everyone that commiserated with me over the less than stellar birthday dinner. It however, did not ruin my birthday (after all I had a couple drinks on what ended up being an empty stomach… how bad can a girl feel after that?).

I saw some radishes at the market the other day and they just looked so pretty and that is where this was born. It is really fresh and despite the mayo really light.

5-6 large radishes
1 medium yellow squash
½ small jicama
½ green pepper
½ c Lettuce mix chopped
Fennel top
2 tbs mayo
Juice of ½ large lemon
Salt, pepper



Chop first 4 ingredients finely. ( I will note, what would have been really good in this were some spicy micro greens that friends of ours sell at the farmers market, that said, I just used a nice lettuce mix that had beet greens and such in there. ) I chopped the lettuce very “loosely” you could forgo the chopping, it really is up to you.

Here is another note. The night I made this salad we were also having fennel for dinner. I chopped some of the fennel green and put it in the salad. I put in about 2 chopped tablespoons. I don’t know that it made a difference. Next time I would try more. I also think dill or as my husband suggested fresh mint would be outstanding.

Finally toss with mayo and lemon and salt and pepper. If you feel particularly inspired grate some fresh lemon peel on it, one or two stokes should do.

Happy Mother’s Day Bagels

Joel ordered some pictures for me for mothers day. I had totally forgot about this day a while back when I made my own bagels. I have to say they were really easy and so very good. I did nothing fancy, but next time I am going to break bad. The kids could not get enough of them.

I love these pictures because we are playing around and having fun. Joel had had them out in their little pool while I made the bagels. They came in naked and hungry. Both crawled up into my lap to get closer to the bagels and thief one. I had to punish them with tickles and kisses. Something I don’t feel I get to do near enough for them.




So here is wishing you yummy bagels and lots of laughs on mothers day.




Oh and if you want to make some bagels this is the recipe I used http://www.melindalee.com/recipearchive.html?action=124&item_id=423

Fun with Butter

I made this a while back so I don’t remember all the details, however, I do remember it all started with leftover cream. I had bought some cream to use form some dish (that is a lost detail, now) and had about half the container left. What is a girl to do? Make butter! Okay, honestly most folks would not typically come to that conclusion, but I heard it was really easy and I was curious. I used my bread machine but as I understand you can use a blender too. My bread machine has a butter setting (how useful huh!). So in with the cream, some salt, a pinch of pepper and some porcini oil and a pinch of tarragon and out came butter. It was pretty wild.

So I seared some salmon, and slapped some butter on top. It was really good. Oh, and just as a side note, the beer in the background was righteous as well.

Kung Pao

I don’t know what else to say about this other than, really folks you have to try it. It was so good, I had to beg my husband to leave me just a cups worth to have for lunch the next day. He did. I ate it for breakfast. I swear I couldn’t wait for lunch!!

I stole this from Cinnamon and Spice, you really MUST go see her http://cinnamonspiceandeverythingnice.blogspot.com/


I had been dying to make this recipe for weeks and kept forgetting to get certain things I needed. I finally got most of it and decided to make do with what I had on hand. That said, I used about ¾ of a teaspoon of red pepper flakes instead of the chilis and Sichuan. For me, my dish was great, but could have had more heat, so do what you want. Also I used regular onion, 1 bell pepper and 2 medium carrots diced. I just wanted some more veggies. Since I had more volume I doubled the sauce. I think however you could use a banana peel and this would still be amazing (yes it really was that good, don‘t know why, just good). So give it a try.

http://cinnamonspiceandeverythingnice.blogspot.com/2009/04/spicy-chicken-with-peanuts-or-kung-pao.html

Kung Pao Chicken
Spicy Chicken with peanuts
Gong bao ju ding
(adapted from Why the Chinese Don't Count Calories by Lorraine Clissold
page 109)

For the chicken
2 cups chicken breast
3/4 cup roasted peanuts
2 teaspoon beaten egg or egg white
3 teaspoon corn flour or cornstarch
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon white wine

Supporting vegetables
1 tablespoon spring/green onion(we added extra), cut in 1/2 pieces
3-4 cloves garlic, sliced
4-6 fine slices ginger, each cut into quarters
3-6 dried red chilies, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns(we used black)

For the sauce mix
2 teaspoon soy sauce
2 teaspoon sugar
3 teaspoon red rice vinegar
1 teaspoon cooking wine
1-2 tablespoon of a 1-2 cornflour and water mix(we used cornstarch)
1-2 tablespoon additional water
salt to taste
1 and 1/2 tablespoon oil

Brown rice, for serving over

Cube the chicken breast in small pieces a little bigger than the peanuts. Sprinkle them with
salt and wine and mix well with egg/egg white and cornflour. Make sure they are coated but not
sloppy.

Mix together the sauce ingredients.

To cook, heat the wok to a high heat, add the oil, swirl around, and fry the chilies and peppercorns
for a few minutes until fragrant. Add the chicken, garlic, ginger, and onion.
Stir-fry these to allow the flavor to come out, then add the peanuts.

Add the liquid ingredients (stirring first to dissolve the cornflour) and allow it to come to the boil stirring
gently. Let the sauce simmer for a few minutes, to thicken, and then add additional liquid until the sauce
reaches the desired consistency. Add extra salt to taste, mix well, remove from heat, and serve over rice
if desired.

Just Kebabing Along

There is not a lot of recipe in this, but I will do my best. I love spring. I do! However, this spring has been an odd one here. It gets warm, I get all excited with thoughts of fresh tomatoes, and lettuce, and squash, all from my very own yard. I just can’t tell you, it makes me so happy. Then, low and behold it gets cold again. Grrrr. This is not too atypical of Virginia weather, however it has been going on for about 6-8 weeks and typically by now it is warm and has been for quite a while.

Warm weather also means patio and dinning outdoors…and of course the grill (yippee!). There are so many things I look forward to on the grill and shish kebabs is definitely one. I made this with chicken because it is what I had. The reality is, you could use whatever, just veggies, fruit, really anything, so I am just going to give the marinade recipe and you figure out what to marinade!


1 large container of Greek yogurt.
2 cloves of garlic minced or grated
¼ c. lemon juice
3 tbs Penzeys Italian dressing base (if you don’t have this use 3 tbs of any dry seasoning Italian)

Mix in a bowl, put in meat and/or veggies and let sit 2-4 hours. Grill.

Just a note, I have not tried this, but I think mango, and pineapple in Greek yogurt and honey (maybe a touch of fresh mint?) then grilled would make an awesome dessert. Maybe some fresh soft goat cheese to serve with it???? Just an idea.




We had some non traditional tabouli, another summer favorite. As we can’t get good tomatoes yet, I used some red pepper. Also, I had a huge basil plant I had to use, so I used basil instead of parsley. It was good, but I missed the tomatoes!!




Luckily we got to enjoy it all on our patio with some wine, so all was not lost…and we will have tomatoes soon enough!!

Creamy Asparagus Cavatappi Pasta

I have to say upfront, once again, punch photo helped me with these pictures, and by help I mean... he took them http://blog.punchphoto.com/2009/

This month on the Foodie BlogRoll joust the ingredients were Asparagus, Lemon Grass, and Almonds. It is my first "joust" and this is what I came up with. Go by and see what everyone else had to do and vote for who you like best http://www.leftoverqueen.com/forum/index.php/topic,1218.msg10058.html#msg10058t

1 lb pasta
3 tbs butter
1/4 lb prosciutto diced
1 onion minced
1 clove garlic grated
1 lemon grass stalk, cut into several pieces
2 tbs flour
1c. dry white wine
2 tbs flour
¼ milk
2 c. of cream
½ c. of grated parmesan
1 cup almond slivers toasted
1 pound chopped asparagus blanched


Heat oven to 350 and start water for pasta.
Once oven is ready put the almond slivers on a baking sheet and toast for 7 minutes. Set aside.
Chop about ¼ of the prosciutto, and put in a very hot skillet. Cook until just a bit crisp. Set aside.
Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a pan and wilt onions.
Add the garlic, lemon grass, last tablespoon of butter and ¾ of the prosciutto and cook another 3 minutes.
Sprinkle flour in the pan and mix until everything is coated and a paste is formed.
Slowly add the white wine (I prefer a super dry wine)
Let this cook over low heat until sauce has thickened to the consistency of a pudding.
Meanwhile, blanch the asparagus and put the pasta in to cook..
Once the wine has thickened add the milk and again let thicken to the consistency of a pudding.
Finally slowly add the cream mixing well. Cook until just slightly thickened (about 2 minutes).
Throw blanched asparagus (make sure to dry it) and parmesan in the sauce and toss .
Once pasta is done and drained, toss with sauce, top with the fried prosciutto and almonds and serve.

Serves 4




Okay yet again, I have to implore you to go to visit these blogs:


Cate at http://tribecayummymummy-cate.blogspot.com/ . She has a carrot-apple-ginger spread you don’t want to miss!

Five Star Foodie http://fivestarfoodie.blogspot.com/ she has a poblano, and cheddar cheese soufflé that looks and sounds do good I can’t stand myself right now.

Finally, Joie De Vivre at http://joiedevivreanamateurgourmetsguide.blogspot.com/ . She has to recent posts you don’t want to miss, clams in a red sauce and some sourdough that looks…. mmm,mmm good!

I Finally Have Great Buns!

I have this weird affinity for a good yeast roll. Now, I know some of you are wondering what a yeast roll is and the best way I can describe it is, like a parker house roll, but lighter and with a distinct yeast flavor. If you have ever ate at a southern diner or cafeteria and had a roll there… you have had them. I love them. Love ‘em.

However, I have never been able to make them. They mock me… really. I have tried tons of recipes to no avail. Cue the new neighbors. Can I just tell you I love them, for many reasons. They are fun, the are good spirited, they are community builders. They are good folks. However, I simply knew that I had to make them my friends when at Christmas they dropped of some homemade fig jam and a loaf of bread. Why did this endear me to them so much you wonder?? Yes, I am getting to it. Besides being kind and neighborly, that loaf of bread they brought, was none other then my sought after yeast roll, but in a loaf form. Joel and I polished the loaf off in 1 day. No, sadly, I am not joking. So I asked her for the recipe and she gave it to me!! The one thing that struck me about it was, “Man this dough would sure make a good base for a sticky bun.”

I love a good sticky bun (Donna, I can feel you mind in the gutter already) or cinnamon bun. However, they are very, very hard to find. The best I ever had was on my honeymoon in NYC at this little pastry shop off of Amsterdam (I think it was Amsterdam, that or one block up towards the park). ANYWAY, my problem is the dough typically is to dry or tough, that is why I thought this dough would be so good for it. It is soft and gooey.

I was right, so very, very, very, right. These came out so soft, and tender and oooey and gooey…and well YUMMY. Joel ate 4 yesterday, and that was him restraining himself (how he stays so slender….it kills me).

If you just want to make the bread just follow the recipe, I will let you know when I break away from it to make the cinnamon rolls. If you want to make rolls as opposed to a loaf, I would try a muffin tin??? Just a thought.

Starter
1 package of yeast (2 ½ tsp of bulk yeast)
1 c. sugar
3 tbs of instant mashed potatoes (you read that right… just come on the ride with me folks… really)
2 c. of room temperature water

Combine all ingredients in a mason jar, mix together and cover with tin foil with holes poked in it (it must have holes or you will have a mess on your hands). Let starter stand for at least 8 hours or up to 7 days.

Bread

1 c. of starter
½ c. of vegetable oil
¼ c. of Sugar
1 tbs salt
1.5 c. of water
6 c. of bread flour

Combine all in a pam sprayed bowl and mix well with bread kneader or hands (you might want to put some grease on your hands)
Cover with greased wax paper.
Let rise overnight.
Punch it down and divide into 2 loaf pans and let rise for 4 to 8 hours (this is where I break away for the buns go below)
Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes
When you take them out of the oven take the loaves immediately out of the pans and place on a bakers rack to cool.



For Buns

Filling (this is if you make the full dough recipe, it will make about 20-24 buns)
1 sticks of butter
2 cups brown sugar
1.5 cups of walnuts roughly chopped
2 tbs cinnamon ( I like a lot, but you can use less if you like)


After you punch dough down, still divide and take a coated rolling pin and roll out each of the two sections of dough.
Use half the filling for each and sprinkle over the rolled out dough. Then roll the roll up to from a long log (think jelly roll).
Cut in 1.5 sections and put in buttered baking dish. Let rise 4-8 hours.
Put a pat of butter on each bun and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until it begins to brown on top.

Immediately remove from baking dish and let cool on bakers rake.

Try not to eat them all at once.

And don't forget some ladies that have some pretty nice buns of their own...

Donna http://mytastytreasures.blogspot.com/ She just make a kielbasa soup that looks good… you know how this women loves some kielbasa and if you don’t… you need to go find out why…


Chef E http://cookappeal.blogspot.com/ Please go check out her Ethiopan dishes. Man alive!

Bunny Trails at http://bunnytrailthoughts.blogspot.com/

Asian Noodles on the Cheap

Over at the Alchemist Chef http://alchemistchef.blogspot.com/2009/03/call-for-submissions-recession-proof.html they are calling for some recession proof dinning. Seeing how I started family meals for less, (but never did much with it) I thought it was a great idea. Money is tight for some many of us, and the reality is you can still eat great food that is healthy on a dime. So for this post I also included the price of the items and the number of servings.

The other day the grocery store had a ton of veggies on sale and that is what inspired this. I think you could put any you like in (I thought asparagus and tomato would also be great)but this is what I did.

1 bunch of broccoli broken into small pieces ($1.65)
1 bag of matchstick carrots ($1.25)
1 zucchini (I used a peeler to ribbon mine, but you can chop it too) (.75)
1 bunch of green onion chopped (.75)
1 lb chicken (1.99 on sale, 3.99 otherwise)
1 package of soba noodles (1.75)
2 tbs sesame oil (.50?)
4 tbs soy sauce (.25?)
¼ c. of sweet chili sauce ($1)
Salt and pepper
1 clove of garlic
Pinch of red pepper
1 tbs olive oil

Serves 6
The total cost if you get the chicken on sale is $8.99 it is $10.99 otherwise


I started by seasoning the chicken breasts with salt, pepper, and a pinch of red pepper. I heated the oil and added the garlic to pan and cooked the chicken. Set aside and let it cool.

Meanwhile cook the soba noodles and drain.

Toss the soba with the vegetables and shred or chop the chicken and add. In a small bow add the sesame oil, soy and chili sauce and mix. Pour the sauce over the noodles and toss.

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Tuna with Corn Cucumber Mint Relish

As my husband noted, this recipe was very summery. Too bad, the weather had taken a cold turn and it was 40 degrees and rainy outside. Ahhh Virginia weather, I give up!


1-2 lbs tuna (4 tuna steaks)
1 cucumber chopped
½ red pepper chopped
½ c. corn
¼ onion chopped
1 tbs mint chopped
¼ c. rice wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
Pinch of red pepper

Mix together and set aside for an hour. The longer the better though.

For the tuna, I seasoned it with salt and pepper and rubbed it with a bit of cut garlic. I heated about 2 tbs of olive oil and got it nice and hot. Then I laid the steak on and let it cook for about a minute on each side. At that point turn the heat down to medium and continue to cook for about 2 minutes each side (give or take on thickness and how done you like them).