Breadsticks

We are having frozen pizza tonight, but DH and I both wanted pizza Hut. We are resisting for multiple reasons. Therefore, I took it upon myself to make some breadsticks. I was searching for a good recipe that wouldn't take too long because I was hungry and I found this one on recipezaar.com

Yummy Breadsticks
makes 32 HUGE breadsticks

2 tablespoons of dry yeast
3 c. lukewarm water, divided
2 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs salt
1/4 c. oil
8 c. flour
1/2 c. butter melted (1 1/2 t garlic salt may be added to butter depending on variation used)

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 c. lukewarm water
2. let stand for 5 minutes
3. Add rest of ingredients (except butter) -- I used my stand mixer
4. Stir into dough and knead until smooth and elastic and slightly sticky (I used my stand mixer here too)
5. Place in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled, about 1 hr.
6. punch down and divide in half
7 . roll out one half of dough into a 12x8 inch rectangle on a floured surface
8. brush with melted butter
9. cut dough in half vertically and then cut horizontally into 8 strips (16 sticks from 1 half of the dough)
10. repeat step 9 with the other half of the dough (now you should have 32 sticks)
11. Now add the variations:
1. Cheesy breadsticks: press buttered side down into freshly grated parmesean cheese.
Twist multiple times
2. Garlic breadsticks: Use butter and garlic mixture. twist breadsticks multiple times
3. Herb and cheese: use plain melted butter, then sprinkle on parmesean cheese and salad
supreme. Twist.
4. Pizza breadsticks: let breadsticks rise on baking sheet for 30 min. spread with pizza
sauce and place pepperoni on top. The last 5 minutes of baking add chese
5. Cinnamon sugar: DIP breadsticks in 1 stick of melted butter (skip brushing them). Roll in
a mixtue of 2 c. brown sugar and 1 Tbs of cinnamon. Twist
12. Place on a lined baking sheet (lined with parchment paper)
13. Allow to rise for 30 min covered
14. Bake 35o degrees for 15-18 minutes or until brown.

kitchen upsdate

We've been remodeling our kitchen for the last 4 months or so; therefore, I haven't done any exciting cooking. We've been eating out and eating sandwiches/crap food since April. It's just about done so I here I am bringing back the blog. I plan to actually USE my new kitchen and I want to experiment and use new recipes. I will do my best to post them here and be good about updating this regularly.




The before picture:





And the after picture:

We are currently in the process of moving stuff back into the cabinets and fridge now. This pic is actually a lil outdated (we have the faucet in now!)

One year! :)

Ken and I have been married officially for a year today! We went to Toronto for the weekend to celebrate. K is such a romantic, but he will never admit it. He bought be a beautiful green amathyst ring and he decorated the hotel room with rose petals and flowers and candles. It was amazing! I cant believe how fast time has flown.

Here's to many more years to come!

back again.....

I'm back...after a nice long blogging break. Things have been crazy at work and I'm almost done with the Thesis, but I'm really going to try to keep up with this thing.

Christmas cookies

So it's been a while since I last blogged! Today I started the Christmas cookie process. I decided to make cookies as gifts for my work friends so i had to get busy because Friday is the last day of work for 2 weeks!

I decided to make:
*coconut macaroons
*hershey kiss cookies
*peanut butter bars
*sugar cookies
*chocolate mint cookies
*molasses cookies
*lemon cookies for my FIL

I'll post the actual recipes later.

Marshmellow salad

Speaking of Thanksgiving food, my mom makes the BEST salad!!! It's been a family speciality for years and kind of resembles an ambrosia salad, but more kid friendly!

Mom's Marshmallow salad

1 bag of grapes
2 bags of mini-marshmallows
2 pints of heavy cream
2 cans of pineapple, drained
1 bag of chopped walnuts

1. halve and pit (if necessary) the grapes, place in LARGE bowl
2. Add pineapple
3. Add walnuts
4. Add marshmallows
5. Whip heavy cream until thick (homemade whipped cream) and add to salad mixture.
6. Mix well and serve!

Thanksgiving

Well, Thanksgiving is coming very quickly. I only have 1 more day of work and will be busily cooking on Wednesday and Thursday. My favorite Thanksgiving food, well, that's hard. I love it all, but then again I just love food!

Luckily our house is a mess because of moving so we are going to my mom's house, but I'm in charge the stuffing. Apparently, according to my family, I make the best stuffing!!!

Thanksgiving stuffing stuffs 1 12-14 lb turkey
16 oz bread (cubed) -- stale
1 -- 12oz pkg of ground prok or breakfast sausage.
1 c. (1 large stalk) chopped celery
1 c. (1 small-med) onion chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 apples (or to taste)
1 3/4 - 2 c. of chicken broth
1/2 stick butter
1-2 tsp. sage
2 tsp poultry seasoning

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees
2. Crumble or chop saussage and fry in a pan. Drain and set aside.
3. In a large fry frying pan saute onion, garlic and celery in butter
4. Add spices and chicken broth and bring to a boil
5. Reduce heat to low
6. In a large bowl combine bread crumbs, vegetables, broth, and sausage
7. Turn into a greased casserole pan
8. Bake covered for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees
9. Take off cover and back an additional 5 minutes to brown

Baked Chicken

This is one of my favorite recipes that we make. It comes originally from DH's dad, but we have modified it to fit our liking. It's super easy, healthy, filling, and yummy!!!!

Baked Chicken

Ingredients:
about 1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts
potatoes -- peeled and cut to your liking (we cut them slightly smaller than quarters)
4-5 celery stalks
1 bag of baby carrots
about 8 circles of thinly sliced onion
olive oil
garlic salt
poultry seasoning
parsley
onion powder
pepper

If desired:
tomato
olives
and any other veggies

1. Preheat oven to 400. Coat a roasting pan (or a glass casserole dish) with a small amount of oil. Just enough to cover the bottom of the pan
2. Prepare chicken with poultry seasoning, garlic salt, onion powder, and pepper (and any other spices you like)
3. place chicken in pan spread out
4. Add potatoes to pan. Try to NOT cover the chicken with the potatoes.
5. Add carrots, celery, and any other veggies
6. Season with a small amount of pepper, garlic salt, onion powder, and lastly parsley.
7. Cover with foil and bake for about 1.5-2hrs. Turn the mixture every 30-45 minutes. (the baking time really depends on how you like your food and how much you make) Cook until potatoes are soft.
8. Take off foil and bake for about 10-15 minutes uncovered to brown.
9. Cool and serve.

Serves: 3-4

Chicken Enchiladas

So I was feeling Mexicano today and decided to try my hand at some Chicken Enchilada recipe that I found at Elly Says Opa.

Chicken Enchiladas with Chipotle Sauce
1 Tbsp. canola oil
1 lb. chicken, cooked and shredded (I used montreal chicken seasoning on the chicken)
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. cumin, salt, and pepper
12-14 corn small tortillas
canola oil or cooking spray
2 cups Mexican blend or cheese of your choice, shredded
2 bottles of enchilada sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Spray a large baking/casserol dish with cooking oil and then pour about 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce into the baking dish, barely covering the bottom.
3.In a large pan, heat the oil.
4. Then add the onion and cook until translucent.
5. Add the garlic, chicken, oregano, cumin and salt and pepper to taste.
6. Cook for a little while over low to combine the flavors.
7. Heat another pan over medium heat and either spray with cooking spray, or add canola oil to the pan.
8. Add the corn tortillas one at a time, leaving in the pan for about 2 or 3 seconds per side - enough to make them pliable and have a little taste of oil.
9. Add half the cheese to the chicken filling, or just put about 1 Tbsp of cheese in each tortilla.
10. Fill each tortilla, roll, and place seam side down in the prepared dish.
11. Repeat with remaining tortillas.
12. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the rolled tortillas, making an even layer and coating all enchiladas.
13. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup of cheese.
14. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.
15. Remove foil and bake an additional 5.

Well I haven't had much time to blog lately. I promise I will try to make it a daily routine. While I'm here waiting for dinner to cook, I thought that I'd post tonight recipe among other things.



Work has been kicking my butt lately. We are 1/4 of the way done with the school year, I'm kinda psyched about that. I just can't believe that Thanksgiving is like 3 weeks from today. I'm so busy with 4 preps that I can't keep my head screwed on straight. Then there is school. I'm 1/4 of the way done with my thesis. I have the first 2 sections written and I didn't get any bad comments from my advisor. Yay!!



I'm not super happy about our choice of President, but I will support him. I fear a turbulant future and his policies and ideas scare me a lot. Granted McCain worried me too, just not as much. I fear that things will get out of control and big things are going to cause problems. Oh well, Obama is our President and there is nothing I can do except support him and hope and pray for the best.



Tonight's dinner is Baked BBQ pork chops. It was super easy



Easy Bakes Barbeque Pork Chops



4 pork chops 3/4-1" thick

1 med onion halved and thinly sliced

1/4 c. red wine vinegar

3/4 c. water

1 tablespoon brown sugar (or honey)

1 tablespoon Wocestershire sauce

1/2 c. ketchup

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp peper

dash of cayenne (I did not use)



I added: garlic and onion powder



1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Trim pork chops

3. Place pork chops in 13x9x2 baking pan

4. Place sliced onion on pork chops (I did not use a full half an onion)

5. Combine remaining ingrediants and pour mixture over pork chops

6. Bake for 1 hour or until tender



Although the recipe calls for 6 pork chops I made it with 4 and kept the proportions the same. It just left the sauce on the pan which was good to pour onto the pork chops later.



I served this with chive mashed potatoes and peas.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake

This is my mom's FAVORITE cake ever and I tend to agree. The only time we eat it is for her birthday which coincedently is on Wednesday, but we are celebrating tomorrow night at her house. So I got roped into cooking both the cake and dinner....how did that happen?? It's not even at my house! WTF??? Anyway, I thought I'd share my cake recipe....




Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake with Cream cheese frosting




Ingredients

4 eggs

1 c. oil

2 c. sugar

3 c. flour

2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. cinanmon

2 c. pumpkin (Not pie mix!)

1 c. chopped nuts

6 oz chocolate chips (I usually use a little more that 6 oz)





1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Mix all (I used my kitchen aid) ingredients. Adding the pumpkin last

3. Mix in nuts and chocolate chips

4. Pour into greased tube pan (either a bunt pan or an angel food cake pan)

5. Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes at 350 degrees on the lowest rack




Cream Cheese Frosting

3 oz. cream cheese

1/2 c. butter

1 tsp. vanilla

2 c. confectionary sugar





1. Mix all together

2. frost cake when cool