Bread and Simple Dinners

Saturday Baking Trend

For the last three Saturdays I've baked bread.  It's been such a great way to start the weekend.  There's something to be said about taking the time to mix the dough, knead it, and fill the house with the smell of it baking.  We even shared a loaf with the neighbors who brought us cookies to welcome us to the neighborhood!

I've done three recipes too...this weekend was a winner for the standard loaf though.  I managed to make a killer "gluten" loaf that is super soft and super delicious.

This summer I plan on experimenting with sourdough recipes and rye recipes.  Yum!

Kitchen Time

Everyone has as sanctuary in their home, I think.  For some it's their bedroom, others it's their office.  For me, it's my kitchen.  I stream Netflix or watch DVDs or play music while I commune with the cooking gods and try my hardest not to submit any burnt offerings, food or otherwise.  There's just something special about putting your special touch into a recipe, that extra stir for luck or kneading dough to the beat of the music playing on your speakers.

I know a lot of people see cooking as a chore, something you have to do because it's required.  In a lot of ways it is, especially if you're on a budget and eating out every day is not an option, it is necessary.  It's really in how you look at it though.  We're on a budget; but cooking is like an adventure every night.  I can express my creativity and play.  I can decompress from work...which, let's be honest, chopping things with a really big knife is great for stress...and do something special for us.

I love my kitchen time, and I love my kitchen.  It's the best place in the house for me!

Simple Dinners

Tonight, despite being a Sunday, wasn't really a day to inspire lots of cooking.  I know, crazy after the shpeal before this section.  Sometimes being lazy is just how it is.  That being said, I still cooked dinner.

Lazy fallback #1?  Pasta with marinara.  Seriously.  You want to make it even easier?  Use jarred marinara that's pre-seasoned (I personally think it's still bland...but to each their own), or used pre-seasoned meat.  Tonight's lazy dinner was with Harmon's Spicy Italian Chicken Sausage and plain tomato sauce and those twirly pastas that I don't remember the name of.  Oh, and some of that homemade bread...from last week...it was the last of the loaf, so it was perfect for Texas toast garlic bread.  The pasta dish had no creativity (but you don't mess with perfection, and the sausage we used is perfect); the garlic toast though...oh my...softened vegan butter, garlic powder, basil (jarred in oil), and shredded goat gouda.  Baked for 15, broiled for 4.  Yeah.

This dinner is better than most dinners you'll pay for at cheap diners, and it's less guilt ridden too; based on my rough estimation, it was about, oh, $10 total.  For four servings.  Take that, budget.  I can win sometimes too!!

Have a great week everyone!!  Eat Happy!!

Soul Cooking

Bread

It's amazing how baking bread can make a kitchen smell like home.  There's just something about fresh bread that makes everything seem right.  I've heard some real estate agents will even get the oven ready breads and bake them before showing houses to make them seem homier to the people who view them.  Genius, if you ask me!

Nothing says home to me like bread; when I first moved out I had just learned making bread in my parents' bread maker.  After moving out, I learned the simple pleasure of making bread by hand.  By the time we got our stand mixer a few months later, I had developed muscles I didn't know where there from kneading dough and had an entirely knew respect for those who made bread without machines.  I develop my dough in the stand mixer these days but I do the final knead by hand; it lets me know if I need to adjust the flour or water, and no matter how chaotic my life is kneading bread grounds me and gives me a sense of peace.

Yesterday was the first time I've made bread since we've moved and it was overdue.  I feel like my kitchen is finally broken in.  Not to mention the yeast so was spectacularly active I ended up with three loaves instead of the recipe promised two...no complaints here!

Soup

Today was rainy and dreary outside; I'm torn on the rain though.  I love rain, and it clears out the inversion (nothing quite like tasting your air...yuck); not to mention it wasn't snow, and after the feet upon feet of snow we've gotten this winter, I'm all for a break.  The catch is our new yard is no longer frozen, and we're finding mud patches as the snow melts...which the dog is fond of.

Anyway, in honor the weather and at the request of my main cooking audience, my wonderful hubby, I made bean and pasta soup.  This is a great soup to kill off the random little bits of uncooked pasta that are left; you know the ones where there's just enough you can't bear throwing them out, but not quite enough to actually be a serving?  It's also great for those bits of bacon that won't go very far on their own (four pieces for four people? If you're creative, yes!).

The soup in the recipe below make 8 servings.

Eat Happy!

Bean and Pasta Soup

1 cup bacon, raw and cut into small pieces
1 small onion
3-4 cloves garlic
4 stalks celery, chopped
salt
oregano, basil, onion/garlic powder (if not using fresh) to taste
2 cans great northern or cannelloni beans, rinsed
8 cups beef stock
3-4 springs thyme
1/3-1/2 cup pasta

1. Cook bacon in a stock pot until cooked through and starting to crisp.  Remove from pan and drain on paper towel.  Drain all but 1 tbs grease
2. Cook onion until fragrant; add garlic and celery.  Season with salt and saute until onions are transparent and the celery beings to soften
3. Add beans to the pan and mix well
4. Season with oregano, basil and onion/garlic powders if not using fresh
5. Add stock and sprigs of thyme
6. Bring stock to boil and add pasta
7. Simmer until pasta is cooked
8. Serve hot and garnished with Parmesan (or asiago, or goat cheese.....)