Category Archives: Baking

Recipe: Balsamic Chicken and Tomato Pasta

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Tonight was a “What on earth should I make for dinner?” kind of night. After a weekend of everyone in the house having colds and not making it to the grocery store, options were limited. So, I improvised and made up a new recipe. The husband says it’s worthy of sharing since to get a similar dish, you would have to go to a restaurant  and pay a small fortune.

Balsamic Chicken and Tomato Pasta

You will need:

4 fresh tomatoes diced
1 chicken breast (cut into small pieces)
Aprx.  1/2 cup olive oil
8 oz (uncooked) pasta
1 1/2 tbsp. Pesto
Handful of olives (kalamata’s taste best, but regular old black olives will do)- diced
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
dash of thyme

1. While pasta is cooking,  cook chicken with some of the olive oil, some of the balsamic vinegar, and the thyme. Then, over low heat, add tomatoes, pesto, remaining olive oil, remaining balsamic vinegar, parmesan cheese and olives. Heat just until hot enough to serve.

2. Pour sauce into drained pasta, mix, and enjoy! Serves two adults and two children with healthy appetites :-)

I didn’t get a picture before it was gone, so if anyone else wants to send a photo of theirs, that would be cool, otherwise, it will have to wait until I make it again :-)

Recipe: Chicken and Veggie Gravy over Biscuits

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You will need:

1 lb chicken (dark meat)
2 1/2 cups of veggies (I use brocoli and carrots, but you can add whatever you like!)
1/2 of a sweet onion (Vidalia or Walla Walla) chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
dash of rosemary
dash of thyme
2 tbsp flour
1 cup water
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt (to taste)
2 tbsp olive oil

1. Cook chicken in olive oil with garlic. Drain drippings into pan for gravy.
2. Steam veggies and onion together while making gravy.
3. Add water and cream to drippings over medium heat, stirring frequently. Then add seasoning and allow to simmer on low heat for a few minutes, still stirring frequently. Slowly add flour to thicken. Check taste and season accordingly.
4. When gravy is finished, mix gravy, chicken and veggies together. Serve over fresh biscuits.

Recipe: Cranberry Orange Scones with Orange Icing

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Cranberry Orange Scones


Ingredients:

2 cups flour
7 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp grated orange peel
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup cold butter
1 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 egg
1 tbsp milk (to glaze tops before baking)

1.Combine all dry ingredients (minus cranberries) and cut in butter
2.Mix wet ingredients including cranberries and then combine with dry mixture
3.Knead 6-8 times then pat into a long rectangle (as wide as you’d like them to be when they are done) approximately 3/4″ thick
4.Glaze top with milk, then pre-cut triangle shapes
5. Bake at 400 degrees F for 12-15 minutes until lightly browned. Allow to cool a few minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

Icing: Powder sugar, a pinch of grated orange peel, and orange juice. Mix to preferred consistency and drizzle on tops of scones while they are warm

Each batch makes 8-10 scones

Poor People, Rich Food! -Crepes

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Who says you have to eat ramen noodles and corn flakes because you live on a tight budget? Put a little pride in your cuisine and challenge yourself to make something fantastic out of kitchen staples! Continue reading →

Summer Treats: Orange Strawberry Layer Cake

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My husband came home last week raving about orange cake a co-worker’s wife had made
and brought to work. While I’m glad Continue reading →

Survival 101: Making bread starter from scratch without yeast

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There are some things that I think everyone should know for the sake of knowing, and how to make bread without more than very basic ingredients is one of them. These days everyone relies on store-bought goods, but whatever happened to the methods used by ancestors in the past? Making your own bread may sound like a challenge, but it is not really rocket science. What would you do if you could not go to the store and buy bread? What if you can’t find dried yeast, or you do not have refrigeration to keep your yeast? I have been doing a little web surfing and wanted to share this information on how to grow your own yeast.

I learned that even though most people buy powdered yeast from the store, there is wild yeast on wheat and in the environment that can be utilized for bread making. Once the yeast has grown well enough, it will eat up any other bacteria growing in your starter. What a great science experiment, right? I think everyone should try this at least once, and it could be a great science project to do with your kids! If you enjoy it, you keep some of your starter and make more bread each week. Starter dough was precious to people in pioneer times and often families were using the same starter generation after generation.

The website I found with the simplest and most complete instructions was http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/blueroom/sour.htm. I am following this method for my starter. Today is day 1. I just mixed my day 1 starter half an hour ago. I’ll keep you all posted on how it turns out.

Basically, you take equal parts of warm water (not hot) and wheat flour, and mix in a glass jar. Then, each day, you “feed” your pet (starter) equal parts of warm water and flour until it becomes frothy and bubbly (approximately 7-10 days on average). After your starter is formed, you are ready to make bread! Left over starter can be refrigerated to slow feedings after your first loaf of bread. I have even seen recipes that state you can freeze your starter and then when you are ready to us it again, just thaw it out for 3 hours before use. Comment below if you decide to give this a try! Good luck!

Baking: The messy craft.

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Sometimes in my whirlwind of crafting, I feel inclined to do a little baking. These are the moments my husband both loves and dreads the most. While I can turn out some tasty treats, I am not fond of the cleaning up portion. By the end of a good baking spree, the kitchen looks like Siberia in a snowstorm from all the flour and I have dirtied pretty much every utensil I own.

The last little baking spree I went on was for a bake sale to support an FRG event. Here is how it went…

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