No kneading, no rising Honey Wheat Bread

No kneading, and no rise time makes this bread fast and easy. Not to mention delicious!! This was a crockpot recipe that I adapted to conventional oven.

Ingredients:
2 cups warm (not hot) milk
2 TB canola oil (it's healthier than vegetable oil)
1/4 Cup honey
3/4 tsp salt
1 pckg active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
3 cups whole wheat flour, divided
3/4 to 1 Cup bread flour (or all-purpose flour)

1. Grease or spray bread pan. In electric mixer, combine milk, oil, honey salt, yeast, 1 1/2 cups wheat flour and 1/2 cup bread flour. Mix at medium low speed for 2 minutes.
2.Gradually add remaining wheat flour and 1/4 to 1/2 cup bread flour. Mix until completely combined. Unlike other bread recipes, this dough is VERY sticky. You may be tempted to add more flour, but you don't need to.
3. Transfer to prepared pan and cook in a 325 degree oven for 1 hour. If your crock pot is big enough, you can also put the bread pan with the dough in it, in the crock pot and cook it on high for 3 hours.

Restaurant Style Bread Sticks

I have been on a quest for the perfect bread sticks for a long time now. This one is my favorite! The dough makes two, it freezes well, so I make 1 half into bread sticks and freeze the other half for bread sticks later! I got this recipe from Lauren's Latest. Here is a picture of how mine turned out. I don't have a stand mixer so I do everything by hand and it works out the same.

Basic Pizza Dough
yield: 2-12 inch pizzas, approximately 1 lb. of dough
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Ingredients:
1 cup warm water
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon honey {or sugar}
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive or canola oil
3 cups bread flour {give or take 1/2 cup…depending on the heat & humidity}

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, preferably that of a stand mixer, stir yeast and honey into warm water. Sit for 5-10 minutes or until bubbles form and mixture starts to foam. This tells you that the yeast is alive and kicking. Pour in salt, oil and half the flour and mix.

Once that flour is incorporated, start adding flour in bit by bit until you get the pizza dough to the consistency you want: slightly tacky, but when you touch it it doesn’t stick to your hands.

Once you reach this stage, turn the mixer on high to knead for 6 minutes. Turn a timer on and walk away! Resist the temptation to stop earlier than 6 minutes! That seems to be the magical number. It should look something like this when it’s done!

The dough should be smooth and easy to work with. And the bowl should be clean!

Lightly grease the bowl & the dough so it doesn’t dry out, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise 1-2 hours. That’s it!

Cheesy Garlic Bread Sticks
yield: 1- 12 inch pie

Ingredients:
1/2 recipe Fail-Proof Pizza Dough
2 tablespoons softened salted butter
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese {use the real stuff!}
1/4 pound grated mozzarella cheese
{salt & pepper, if desired}

Directions:
Preheat oven to 500 degrees with pizza stone inside. {If you don’t have a pizza stone, use an upside down cookie sheet…a tip I got from Natalie!}
Mix butter and garlic in a small bowl and set aside.
Spread pizza dough out into a 12-inch circle on parchment paper. {This makes it easier to transfer to the pizza stone.}
Spread the butter and garlic mixture over dough and top with parmesan and mozzarella cheeses. Top with a light sprinkling of salt and pepper, if desired. {That step is totally optional!}

Bake 9-10 minutes or until bubbly and golden. Remove from oven and cool 1-2 minutes before cutting. Serve hot, with marinara.

Crunchy Pomegranate Salad

I need to stop telling you all my best recipes, so I have something good to make when you visit!! I'm getting really excited for the Holiday's and have to share one of our favorite, and most requested recipe. Oh yeah, and about visiting and holidays...mark your calanders because I am planning a BIG and FANCY, Thanksgiving 2012 since we'll be done with school and have a house (crossing fingers), most likely in Idaho. Everyone is welcome to come!

Anyways- on to the recipe...
This comes from Taste of Homes Holiday Celebrations 2009.

Crunchy Pomegranate Salad

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2-1/2 cups pomegranate seeds (about 2 pomegranates) * I only use 1 and it's plenty!!*
  
• 2 medium apples, peeled and cubed
• 1 cup chopped pecans, toasted

• In a large bowl, beat cream until it begins to thicken. Add sugar and vanilla; beat until stiff peaks form. Fold in pomegranate seeds and apples. Sprinkle with pecans. Serve immediately. Yield: 16 servings (1/2 cup each).

If you like this then you better come see us for 2012!!

Tortilla chips

Ok, maybe I'm the last person on earth to figure this out, but in case not, I thought I'd share. They turned out pretty good and saved me a trip to the store when I wanted them as a side dish.

Ingredients:

1 pkg corn or flour tortillas cut into wedges

1 quart of oil for frying

1. Heat oil in a large, heavy sauce pan to 375. (Try to keep it at this temperature to avoid oversaturating the chips, or burning them)

2.Fry the tortilla wedges in small batches until crisp. Drain on paper towels. Serve warm.

Partytime Beans

This is so yummy! A must try! We made this for Johnny's parent's, everyone loved it.

Makes a lot: 16 servings
good over rice the next day or put into a tortilla.

1-1/2 c. ketchup
1 med. onion, chopped
1 med. green pepper, chopped
1 med. sweet red pepper, chopped
1/2 c. water
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 bay leaves
2-3 tsp. cider vinegar
1 tsp. ground mustard
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 can (16 oz) kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (15-1/2oz) great northern beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (15-1/4 oz) Lima beans
1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (15-1/2 oz) black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained

In a 5 qt. slow cooker, combine first 10 ingredients. Add beans and peas; mix well. Cover and cook on low 5-7 hours (Ours was more like 3 hours) or until onion and peppers are tender. Remove bay leaves. Enjoy!

Creamy Chive Mashed Potatoes

I'm getting really exctied to have company this Thanksgiving. I've been trying a few new things and I really like this, mostly because I love mashed potatoes and chives. It's a nice twist.

5 medium potatoes, peeled
1 1/2 salt, divided
4 oz cream cheese, softened
2 Tbs. butter, softened
2 Tbs. chives
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4-1/2 cup buttermilk or sour milk

Boil potatoes with 1 teaspoon salt. Drain.

Mash potatoes until smooth. Add cream cheese, butter, chives, pepper and remaining salt; gradually beat in buttermilk. Yield 4-5 servings.

I only used half the cream cheese it asked for and still made it really creamy. I never have buttermilk or sour milk so I measure out milk and put a little lemon juice in it, let it sit for 5 minutes and it will sour.