"Mama's Old Fashioned Bread"

- Paula Deen's The Deen Family Cookbook

Many thanks to Kat for physically coming over and reassuring me that bread is not as scary to make as I first assumed.
I've made this a few times this week already, and I eat way more than my share of it- it's hard to maintain self-control when it tastes to dang good.
ADVISORY:
This bread takes a few days to reach fruition, but it's worth it.

LESSONS LEARNED:
1. The late morning is a good time to start this recipe, as you'll end up baking it in the afternoon 2 days later.
2. Kneading by hand (at least with this recipe) is not bad, but keeping your hands and surfaces sufficiently floured is key to it's success.
3. Make sure you have THREE bread pans on hand, or you'll be running to your neighbor's in a panic looking to borrow one.
4. Don't bake this when you're home alone, otherwise you'll have eaten a whole loaf by yourself before your Hubby can come home to stop you.

(You see this?! Yeah, I made it all by myself!)

STARTER:
One 1/4 oz package active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1/2 cup instant mashed potato flakes
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp salt

In a small mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in 2 1/2 cups water. Add the remaining ingredients and stir. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and leave the starter out at room temperature for 24 hours.
Transfer 1 cup of the starter to a separate large bowl, cover loosely, and leave it out at room temperature for 12 hours more. Refrigerate the rest of the starter, covered, and feed it every 3-5 days.
(To feed the started combine 1 cup water with 3/4 cup sugar and 3 tbs potato flakes and stir. The starter will keep for years if you feed it regularly and keep it refrigerated.)

BREAD:
1 cup starter
6 cups bread flour, plus more as needed
1/2 cup oil (they say corn oil, I used olive) plus more for brushing
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbs salt

Lightly grease a large bowl. In bowl with starter, add 1 1/2 cups water and stir. Then add remaining ingredients. Knead once or twice in the bowl, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until a stiff dough forms, adding more flour as needed by the 1/4 cupful. (I found if you get it to the consistency where you can pull your hand out of kneading it without globs of dough sticking to you, it's ready.) Place dough in the greased bowl, brush the top with oil, and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Leave the dough out at room temperature for 6-8 hours, until it has tripled in size.

Lightly grease three 9x5 loaf pans. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into three equal pieces. Knead each piece once or twice, form into a loaf, and place in the prepared pan. Bursh tops of the loaves with oil and loosely cover with plastic wrap. Leave out at room temperature for 6-8 hours, until the dough has again tripled in size. he dough will be puffed over the tops of the pans.

Prehead oven to 350*. Bake the loaves for 25-30 minutes, until the tops are an even golden brown, with not light spots. Allow the loaves to cool in the pans for 20-30 minutes, then gently turn them out. Once the bread has cooled completely, cut into thick slices to serve.

Spinach Flatbread Pizza

-Taste of Home Magazine

This one is very easy. The hubster gave it 4 stars- I gave it 5 out of simplicity and yummy goodness. I don't follow the measurements with precision on this one. Be your own boss when it comes to making imitation pizza. :)


- 1 small onion, sliced
- olive oil
- 4 pita flatbreads
- 2 cups fresh baby spinach
- 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- Alfredo sauce (bottled or see below) OR hummus

Caramelize/saute onions in oil. Put pitas on baking sheet (line with foil to control mess level) and add ingredients like unto pizza. Bake at 425* for 6-8 min (or until cheese burns to your liking.)
Makes 4 small pizzas which can feed two ravenous people or four people with munchies.
Note: My pizzas tend to stick to the pan/foil. I tried sprinkling the underside of the pita with cornmeal this time, and it worked like a non-stick charm. Never understood why Pizza Hut did this, but now I finally get it. :)

** Alfredo sauce (if you want to make your own):
1/2 cup heavy cream (I used half & half)
1/8 cup butter
1/4-1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tbs parsley (give or take)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp. garlic powder (or a little more if you like it)

Melt butter in pan, add cream, and then everything else. It tends to be a little soupy, so I thickened mine up at the end with some cornstarch, but you could use flour as well, or just leave it as is. This amount makes enough for 4 pizzas.

Black Bean Hummus

If you can't tell, Mr. Picky is on a black bean crusade right now. Don't know where he got this recipe but he's experimented with many different versions and likes this one the best.

1 clove garlic (smaller one)
1 can black beans (drain & reserve liquid)
2 tbs lemon juice
1 1/2 tbs tahini
3/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or 1/2 tsp black pepper)
1/4 tsp paprika
olive oil

Put all in blender and blend. Accentuate with olive oil when serving.

Black Bean Soup

- Food Network, Dave Liberman

Attention everyone... attention....
We have a 5 STAR recipe here.
My Mr. Picky ate this for dinner, and then breakfast and lunch the next day. A very good sign indeed. The only thing I'd do differently is experiment with how they added the bacon, or try it with no bacon at all. Still a little too fatty for our taste (the fat cooked but didn't dissolve, so rather chewy if you know what I mean...) but that didn't stop us from eating it. Smells awesome too.

10 slices bacon, finely chopped
2 medium onions, chopped (about 2 1/2 cups)
6 garlic cloves, pressed
1 can chicken broth
1 1/2 c canned chopped tomatoes
2 tbs ketchup
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbs chili powder
4 cans black beans (drained but not rinsed)
salt & pepper
1 bunch cilantro
juice of 1/2 lime (about 1 tbs)
thin sliced scallions (garnish)
sour cream (garnish)
grated cheddar (garnish)

Cook bacon in large pot (about 4 min) then add onions and cook til transparent (about 4 min?). Add garlic and cook til you can smell it (1 min).
Add broth, tomatoes, ketchup, worcestershire sauce, and chili powder. Stir.
Add beans and bring to a gentle boil for about 10 min.
Season with salt & pepper.
Cut stems off cilantro, wash and shake dry. Chop coarsely and add to mix. Cook til thick (5 min). Stir in lime juice. Serve with garnishes.

Serves 8-10

White Chili

- Fix-it and Forget-it Cookbook, Esther Martin

3 15 oz. cans Great Northern bean, drained
8 oz. cooked and shredded chicken breasts (I used one 5 oz. can of chicken breast)
1 cup chopped onions
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow, red, or green bell peppers (I used one red)
2 jalapeno chili peppers, stemmed, seeded, and chopped (opt) (Skipped this entirely so I could enjoy it.)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
3 1/2 cups chicken broth (essentially two cans worth)
sour cream
shredded cheddar cheese
tortilla chips

1. Combine all ingredients except sour cream, cheddar cheese, and chips in a slow cooker.
2. Cover. Cook on Low 8-10 hours or High 4-5 hours. (I did the Low version).
3. Ladle into bowls and top with sour cream cheddar cheese, and chips.

The little white floaty things in it are cottage cheese bits. Hope I didn't gross any of you out, but we were drastically low on sour cream and I had to improvise. Still quite good.

SO good. 4 stars from the Hubby AND my Dad and brother (I would personally give it 4.5). It makes 8 servings but there was only one spoonful to scrape out of the bottom for leftovers... I take it that means they all enjoyed it.

Winter Squash and White Bean Stew

A Crock Pot Recipe!!
-From the "Fix-it and Forget-it Cookbook"

1 cups chopped onions
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 garlic clove, minced
3 cups peeled butternut squash, cut into 3/4" cubes (or smaller!)
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
19 oz. can cannellini beans, drained
14 1/2 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

1. Combine all ingredients in slow cooker
2. Cover Cook on High 1 hour. Reduce heat to Low and heat 2-3 hours (I say 3-4 hours. I don't like crunchy onions...)

This smells so dang good when it's done. I learned from this experience that I don't HATE cilantro, as long as it's cooked.
Quite good with cheese, and I'm sure it'd be rockin' with some sour cream.

Hubby and I both gave this 4 stars. Baby was quite fond of the cubes of squash.

Key Lime Trifle

I will try to be specific, but please note that I just kind of threw a bunch of stuff together that I thought would taste good.

1 pan of brownies*
6 key limes, juiced
1/2 tsp lime zest
1/2 carton of sour cream
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 large carton of whipping cream
1/2 c sugar plus some for the whipping cream


press the brownies on the bottom of the trifle dish (it works the best if you do this right after they come out of the oven).
Whip the cream, adding sugar to taste.
In a separate bowl, combine 3/4 can of sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, lime zest, 1/3 carton of sour cream, and 1 C of whipping cream.
Layer brownie, lime mixture, and whipped cream. Repeat if needed.

*If making one giant trifle instead of individual trifles, two brownie pans will be needed.

Tyler gave this 5 stars, but that is because it has sugar.