No Knead Bread

3 cups bread flour
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon active dry yeast
1 1/3 cups water (cool, 55 to 65 degrees)
Combine the flour, salt and yeast in a medium bowl. Add in the water and stir to mix. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and set the bowl at room temperature for about 12-18 hours. Remove the dough from the bowl, shape it into a round by tucking the edges of the dough into a seam, cover the dough in a floured tea towel and let rise again in a warm place for two hours. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Put a heavy pot with a lid (like a Le Creuset casserole or a Dutch oven) in the oven to heat. Carefully remove the hot pot from the oven and invert the dough into the pot, seam-side up.
Cover the pot and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and continue to bake an additional 15 minutes or until the crust is a deep brown color. Cool the bread before slicing into it.
Makes 1 10-inch round.

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/comfort-bread

Kathy's Chocolate Bundt Cake

1 pkg chocolate cake mix (I absolutely think that Betty Crocker is the best)
1 pkg instant pudding (vanilla or chocolate)
4 eggs
1 cup water
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Mix all above ingredients together. Beat for 3 minutes. Grease and flour a bundt pan. Bale at 350 for 45 minutes (sooner if your oven cooks hot, you don't want it to be dry). Cool.
Frost with chocolate frosting or buttercream frosting with chocolate shavings.
(Kathy)
 
VARIATIONS:
 
Too Much Chocolate Cake
from AllRecipes
1 pkg devil's food cake mix
1 pkg (5.9 ounce) instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
(Merideth)
 
Wendy's Variation
1 pkg chocolate cake mix
1 large package of instant chocolate pudding mix
2 cups sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
 
Glaze:
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 T. butter
1 T. corn syrup
1 t. vanilla
(Wendy)

Tortellini with Edamame and Smoked Sausage

This is super easy and tasty!!

Hands-On Time: 30 minutes
Ready In: 30 minutes
Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

1 pound frozen cheese tortellini
1 cup shelled edamame*
1 cup diced red pepper
1 pound smoked sausage
1/2 cup Italian dressing

Directions

1. Set 6 quarts of salted water to boil in a large pot.
2. Meanwhile, chop red pepper and slice the smoked sausage into 1/4 inch-thick rounds.
3. Stir-fry red pepper and sausage together until heated through -- about 5 minutes.
4. Add tortellini to boiling water and cook for 5 minutes.
5. Add edamame to water and boil for another 2 minutes. Drain tortellini and edamame well.
6. Toss everything together with the Italian dressing and heat through one final time.

I got this from Disney Family Go.

Sloppy Joes

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard
3/4 cup ketchup
3 teaspoons brown sugar
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1.In a medium skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef, onion, and green pepper; drain off liquids.

2.Stir in the garlic powder, mustard, ketchup, and brown sugar; mix thoroughly. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.


This recipe is super easy and tastes great!  It's almost as easy as opening a can of sloppy joe mix.  The recipe is originally from AllRecipes.

Canned Chicken

Our local stores have chicken breasts for $1.39 this week so I pulled out my never-used-before pressure cooker and tried canning chicken. I was a little nervous because of our infamous family story of my Grandma Coombs' pressure cooker blowing up while full of red beets.

I thawed the frozen chicken by placing it into a bowl of warm water for about 20 minutes. This is about five pounds of chicken. I did a total of 20 lbs. My 16-quart pressure cooker states that it will process 10 pints at a time, but it really only did 8 - maybe because I used wide-mouth jars. Each jar held about one pound of chicken.

When it was completely thawed, I trimmed off any fat on the chicken (which wasn't much). I then put the raw breasts into clean jars with about 1 inch of head space. I didn't add any water. I could have added a 1/2 teaspoon of salt, but because the chicken had already been injected with some broth, I choose not to add the salt.

After fastening lids and rings onto the pint jars, I placed them into my pressure cooker with 3 quarts of water and fastened the lid (the water amount will vary - see your own pressure cooker manual for specific instructions).

My pressure cooker manual states to cook meats at 13 pounds of pressure (adjusted for my own altitude of 5700 feet) for 75 minutes (90 minutes for quarts).

I think this was the hardest part of processing the chicken. Every pressure cooker works differently. I had to carefully read the manual several times. Make sure to read yours carefully for water amounts, pressure required, and processing times (always adjusting for altitude as described in your manual). I vented mine for 10 minutes, added the weight, processed for 75 minutes and then let the cooker drop pressure and cool. It required some watching to maintain the pressure at 13 pounds. By the third batch, I had a pretty good idea of where to set my stove top and was able to get some other things done.

This is the result! I did 20 pints of chicken (each pint is about one pound of chicken). Prepping the chicken was easy. Learning to use the pressure cooker was a little harder, but now that I've done it, I won't be hesitant to do it again!

Liege Waffles

This is a Liege Waffle. We were introduced to these at Bruges in Salt Lake City. I got a Belgian Waffle Maker for Christmas so tonight we gave it a try. These are NOT a traditional batter waffle. Instead, they use yeast and rise like a bread dough. Pearl sugar, which is not easy to find, adds a caramelized crunch. These are more of dessert than a breakfast. Divine!

Liege Waffle Recipe:

2 1/4 teaspoons of active dry yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
3/4 cup lukewarm milk
3 eggs
1 cup melted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups pearl sugar

1.Sprinkle the yeast and white sugar over warm milk in a small bowl. The milk should be no more than 100 degrees F (40 degrees C). Let stand for 15 minutes until the yeast softens and begins to form a creamy foam.
2.Whisk the eggs, melted butter, and vanilla extract into the yeast mixture until evenly blended; set aside. Stir together the flour and salt in a separate large bowl, and make a well in the center. Pour the egg mixture into the well, then stir in the flour mixture until a soft dough forms. Cover with a light cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes. Gently mix in the pearl sugar.
3.Preheat a waffle iron according to manufacturer's instructions.
4.Place a baseball-size ball of dough on the preheated waffle iron. Cook waffles until golden and crisp, about 2 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough. Allow waffles to cool for 2 to 3 minutes before serving.

Source: All Recipes

Artichoke Dip

1 can artichoke hearts (not marinated)
1 cup mayo (or less if desired)
1 can green chilies (drained and rinsed)
1 cup Parmesan cheese.

Mix together and bake in 9x13 at 375 for 20 minutes.

OG Chicken and Dumpling Soup

If you like soup, here is a recipe that I served at quilting and everyone really liked it. There is no official chicken and gnocchi soup recipe on the Olive Garden site, but by goggling, I came up with this one. There are many other very close but I chose to go with this one. I will add in red the actual things I did. This soup when served at Olive Garden is not a really thick with vegetable soup, but you can add whatever amount of chicken and vegetables you want. The first time I made it I concluded that I had added too much. The 2nd time I definitely cut back on the chicken to the amount listed below and liked it much better. You decide how you like it. I hope you enjoy it! Love, Mom

Olive Garden Chicken and Gnocchi Soup – non official recipe
http://www.food.com/recipe/olive-garden-style-chicken-and-gnocchi-soup-348802
Serves 8 to 10 – I doubt it, more like 4 to 6

3 -4 chicken breasts, cooked and diced – 1 to 1 ½ c. – diced is important – and not big chunks – tiny!
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups half-and-half
1 stalk celery, diced - extremely thin and small
1 garlic clove, chopped
1/2 carrot, shredded – extremely thin (first time a tried it I used some grated from the store – but they were too thick and didn’t cook well. I grated my own the 2nd time)
1/2 onion, diced - fine dicing
1 cup fresh spinach, chopped – don’t use canned, and chop very small – about the size of parsley flakes
1 tablespoon olive oil - I didn’t think that was quite enough, so the 2nd time I added some butter to the olive oil
1 teaspoon thyme - I used about ¾ tsp., but just because I was just being hesitant
salt and pepper - about ½ t. of each – the chicken stock already has salt in it, and I boiled the chicken for about an hour and a half in salt, bullion, garlic and onion flakes
16 ounces potato gnocchi - I used Danish dumplings – probably a half recipe, I used a melon ball spoon, and I cooked them in a separate container of chicken bullion broth. When they were done, I drained the juice off and hopefully much of the little pieces that had broken off, and put them out on a separate plate. I added them to the soup the last couple of minutes. I tried to cook them right before I was able to serve the soup
1 tablespoon cornstarch (optional) mixed with 2 or so tablespoons of water. (This is not a thick soap – like – chowder, but I would used 1 ½ to 2T. cornstarch)

Directions:
Prep Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 35 mins
Saute the onion, celery, and garlic in oil (butter) over medium heat until onion is translucent or 3 or 4 min. – in the same pan you will cook the soup in. Add chicken stock, half and half, salt and pepper, thyme and carrots (stirring frequently and not doing it so fast that it curdles the milk). When it is about to boiling, thicken with the cornstarch. When thickened to desired thickness – remember it is not a thick soup, add the chicken. Heat to boiling and simmer for 10 min. (This is where the regular recipe has you add gnocchi. It says gently boil for 4 minutes, then turn down to a simmer for 10 minutes.) During this time I was doing the dumplings. Add the pre-cooked dumplings and spinach and cook for another 1-2 minutes until spinach is wilted. This is where their recipe says to thicken it but I prefer thickening it before.

You can serve with Romano cheese, Parmesan cheese, or mozzarella cheese sprinkled on top. We used the Romano and Parmesan.

Serve with hot roll, bread sticks, or whatever and tossed salad with Olive Garden dressing.

Mom

Grape Juice

1. Pick grapes.
2. Prepare quart bottles. I washed mine in the dishwasher on a sani-rinse. Mom just cleans hers and doesn't do anything extra to sanitize them.
3. Fill basin of steamer approximately 3/4 full of water.
4. Rinse grapes, picking out leaves or debris. Leave grapes on the stems.




5. Place grapes into steamer. Pack, but don't press.
6. Bring water in basin to a boil. Turn down to medium heat.
7. After about 50 minutes, you will be able to fill one or two quart bottles.
8. Place flats on full bottles and finger-tighten the rings. Mom preheats water to sterilize the flats, rings and jars.
9. Check water in basin. Refill if necessary.




10. After an additional 20 to 40 minutes, you should be able to fill approximately three or four more bottles. Place flats and rings.
11. The USDA says to process in a water bath. They also add sugar and an additional step of refrigerating, straining and reheating the grape juice in order to reduce the tartaric acid. Here is a link to official water bath times: UGA - Grape Juice. Mom does not do this.

Also:

A. Don't stir or push the grapes or you will get debris in your bottles.

B. After filling my quarts, I did stir the grapes in the pot and then let it cook a little longer. I saved that juice to strain and serve. Approximately two total quarts were taken after the grapes were stirred and needed to be strained.

C. I had an apple box and a full shopping bag full of concord grapes. It yielded about 20 total quarts.
D. I typically got 5 1/2 quarts per batch.  I saved the extra 1/2 quarts into two bottles and served grape juice that night.

Fruit Leather

Basic Instructions
Cut parchment or freezer-wrap paper (glossy side up) into the shapes of your cookie sheets or Pyrex cake pans (do not use plastic wrap or waxed paper – they will melt and stick). For fruit leather, cut the paper to overlap up the sides of the pan. It's helpful if you lightly spray (and wipe to spread) a little vegetable oil spray to coat the paper. The dried food doesn't store as long, though, if you use oil. [In a pinch, when I didn't have any paper to line my trays with, I've used vegetable spray directly on the cookie sheet. The leather didn't peel off neatly, though.] Thinly slice fruit or vegetables or puree for leather (recipe below). Place slices or fruit puree onto the trays and place in your car or in the dehydrator (see below for instructions).

Easy Fruit Roll-Ups
Blend any combination of fruit in blender.

Optional:
berries (for color)
applesauce (for sweetness or to extend your fruit)
lemon juice (to keep fruit from browning)
honey (to balance the tartness of the lemon juice or to add sweetness)

Pour into pan or trays (at least ¼ inch thick). You want it to be thicker than you think! Wrap finished fruit leather in plastic wrap. Store in a dark, cool place. (Mine never makes it to storage – my family loves it!)

Car Drying Method
Trent thought I was crazy the first time that I did this – but he’s a believer now. He laughed as I made apricot fruit leather and carried the trays out to place in the back of our old yellow Toyota Celica. He laughed until I carried beautiful trays of perfectly dried apricot leather into our house the next day. I remember Mom doing this in our old brown Subaru. It MUST be a completely sunny, warm day to do this (85 or above). If it is overcast at all, it won’t work. Move your car out into a sunny place on your driveway or in the street. If your car has tinted windows, then make sure you put the trays in the front seats. The trays do not have to be in the sun. Leave your windows up and leave the trays alone. I've even driven around town with trays in the back. Your car will smell wonderful! It can take up to 2 days for items to dry. If after 2 days, items are not done, then move to oven method to “finish.” This method doesn't work in very humid climates.

Oven Drying
Set your oven on the lowest temperature. The ideal temperature is 130 to 150 – any higher will cook it more than dehydrate it. Open your oven door slightly. Place oven-safe trays inside oven and check regularly. Oven drying can take many hours. Several times I've had to turn my oven off while I go to bed and turn it back on the next morning. I only use this method to “finish” dehydrating if weather turns overcast with other methods.

Dehydrator
Mine cost about $45 and came with 4 trays. I have added trays and have purchased “fruit roll trays” because we use them so much. Instructions are included. This is an easy method – but has more upfront cost.

Puree any variety of fruit in your blender. Spray or wipe fruit roll-up trays with Pam or vegetable oil. Pour fruit into trays until full. Turn on dehydrator to recommended temperature. It takes about 24 hours until they are dry. Don't bother to roll and wrap with plastic wrap if your house is like mine. I made my first batch two days ago and it's already gone.

These trays have (clockwise from the top) peaches mixed with applesauce, only peaches, and strawberries mixed with applesauce. I added 1 T. of lemon juice per blender-full of puree to help slow browning. Applesauce is a great extender. I buy it in #10 cans at Costco for about $4.

I dried this batch too long and it crackled apart. It still tastes good, but is harder to roll onto plastic wrap.