Snacks: Crackers

I remember reading once that home-made crackers top store-bought crackers. I believed it, but not enough to take the time to actually make them myself until recently. I made the decision to try it. I found a basic recipe and tried it out. What did I find? Home-made crackers are indeed delicious and easier than I thought! Not to mention the taste combinations are limitless (well within reason.) I've only tried 3 currently - regular, Italian, and Chipolte Cheddar.All three are delicious, although I'm still working on some kinks with the Chipolte Cheddar. The crackers I made used olive oil. I made them with all white flour and extra virgin olive oil, and I've made them with half white and half wheat flour with a lighter olive oil. I like the lighter olive oil, I found the extra virgin had a bit too much of the olive oil taste (which would have been fine if I was going for that flavor.) The flour combination did not make much if any of a difference. Next time I make them I'm going to try all wheat to see how they taste. I'll let you know what happens. I also want to try butter crackers, I have some great ideas for flavor combinations with them...

Crackers - Basic Recipe (orginal recipe)
In a medium sized bowl, mix together 1 cup all purpose unbleached flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 tsp baking powder, and 1/2 tsp salt (you may want to add more if you are not adding any other flavor.)
Add 2/3 cup water and 1/3 cup olive oil,
stir until dough is smooth.
Add any of the following flavor combinations (I'll add more as I make more, if you find any great combinations - please leave a comment):
Italian: Add 1-1/2 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
Chipolte Cheddar 1 Tbsp Chipolte Hot Sauce and 3/4-1 cup sharp cheddar cheese (processed in a food processor, blender, etc) and 3 Tbsp more flour.

Divide dough into three pieces (you can also add flavor combinations after you divide the dough if you want a few varities without making a ton of crackers - just divide the amounts in thirds.)
Place one piece onto a greased baking stone and roll out using a rolling pin (I greased my rolling pin and the dough rarely stuck to it) until desired thickness. I like my crackers thin, mine were about 1/8" thick.
Use a pizza cutter to cut them into cracker-size pieces. The dough will seperate when cut, so you won't have to (a couple of them may not, but they are easily broken apart after baking.)

An alternative method (if you don't have a baking stone, for example) would be to roll the piece of dough into a log roughly the diameter you want your crackers (err on the smaller side) and wrap it in plastic wrap. Freeze until hard (about 8 hours). Using a sharp knife, cut the crackers as thick/thin as you like. If you can't cut them as thin as you want (I couldn't, but I didn't freeze mine that long) you can use a flat object (spatula, etc) to flatten them out to make them thinner.
Bake in a 400 degree oven for 16-17 minutes (10-12 if not using a baking stone.) Note: If your crackers are thicker, you will need to bake them longer. Bake until golden brown.

Remove from pan, let cool. Hot crackers are NOT that great... trust me on this one, I thought I'd flopped when I tasted my first one right after it came out of the oven. They need to be cool before they taste good. In fact they are usually better the next day.
Chipolte Cheddar Crackers
Enjoy!

Navajo Tacos

The house I grew up in was located close to a Native American Reservation. So close that we're not sure if we are technically on the reservation or not. Growing up we had Pow-Wows each year in Elementary and Middle School for all to attend. (What? That's not normal?) Some of my friends participated in their native dances during these Pow-Wows. It was awesome to see them dressed in their native outfits and doing these amazing dances (I really like the Jingle Dance and the Fancy Shawl Dance). On Pow-Wow days in Middle School, you could buy Navajo Tacos for lunch from a group of women who made them every year for this event. If you attend a traditional Pow-Wow they are also sold there.

I really love Navajo Tacos, they are almost like a comfort food for me. My family bought some a few years ago on a trip through Monument Valley, and I can tell you that authentic Navajo Tacos do not have enough flavor. I'm calling these Just Like A White Girl Navajo Tacos because that's what they are. They are a traditional dish taken and changed. I also heard that phrase growing up (just like a white girl). I miss hearing it, I would love for one of my old friends from grade school to say that to me. I don't keep in contact with them anymore, I occasionally see one or two of them when I go home to visit my parents, but not very often. Ah the nostalgia. Thanks for that trip down memory lane. Without further interruptions, here they are:

Just like a White Girl Navajo Tacos

For Fry Bread (Original Recipe and some history here: http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/NavajoFryBread.htm):
In a medium sized bowl, combine 1-1/4 cups unbleached flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 tsp powdered milk, and 1 tsp baking powder.

Mix in 1/2 cup water all at once. Stir with a fork until clumped, then use your hands to finish mixing. DO NOT KNEAD. Mix just until combined and forming a ball. Dough will be sticky (hence the lack of pictures of this part), use floured hands whenever handling it. Divide dough into 3 pieces. So a few differences I made from the original recipe - I added 1/4 cup more flour, and I had it divided into 3 pieces instead of 4. I felt that dividing the recipe in 4 made the fry bread too small. However, if you are making these for a family with young children, you may want to divide it unevenly into 4 and make 2 large and 2 smaller.

Heat 1" of vegetable oil (I used canola) in a frying pan until it reaches 350 degrees. Form each piece of dough into a rough circle and place gently into the frying pan. I formed them right before I put them into the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes and then flip and cook 1-2 more minutes.
Remove from pan and set on a paper towel.
Place the Fry bread on a plate, top with about 1/2 to 3/4 cup chili. (I made mine from a can of chili spiced tomatoes, kidney beans, hamburger, onions and some more spices. When I actually make chili, I will post a recipe but I figured that was cheating a bit. :)
The rest of the toppings are: salsa (unnecessary - but good), sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, tomatoes, lettuce. You can omit the sour cream and use Ranch like we use to in high school, but I'm all for the sour cream now.
The original recipe says that you can roll them up to eat them, but I've never had one that had that few of toppings on it that you could roll it up. Just a warning, this is a very filling meal, so save up an appetite for it, because it is DELICIOUS!
Enjoy!
Your plate may look like a mess half way through, and that is perfectly okay. Just enjoy every bite!

If you have left over fry bread, you can refrigerate it and heat it up in a 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes. It won't be as crispy, but it works well. Microwaving it is not a great idea.

If you want a great dessert with Fry Bread, you can serve it hot sprinkled with powdered sugar. You can serve it hot covered in honey, or you can serve it with honey butter. All three make excellent ways to use up any extra fry bread. I purposefully made extra so I could.

Tuesday Treats: Tips on Chocolate Chip Cookies

I will give my recipe on chocolate chip cookies but I also want to give some tips on how to choose a good recipe, at least what I think makes a great cookie. Chocolate Chip Cookies are such a tradition and they are super easy to make, there are tons of recipes out there with little variation. Here is what I have found makes a good Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe:

1. Ratio of granulated sugar to brown sugar. There should be twice as much brown sugar as regular sugar. It really does make a difference.

2. Salt, believe it or not, but salt adds to the cookie flavor. (However, if you want to just eat the cookie dough, leave out the salt. Also leave out eggs and then enjoy the cookie dough!)

The next two are about technique.

3. Take time to cream the butter before you add the sugar and creaming the butter and sugar together until airy.

4. About 30 seconds to a minute before the cookies are done, remove from the oven and let them finish cooking on the cookie sheet.

I hope that helps you make great Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

In a medium or large mixing bowl, beat 1 cup butter for 1 minute (I skipped this step because I was in a hurry.) Add 1 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated sugar.

Beat together for 2 minutes or until light and airy.

Add 1 tsp Vanilla, beat for 1 minute.

Add 1 egg, beat for 1 minute.

Add another egg and beat for 2 minutes.

Add 1 tsp salt. Beat for an additional minute.

Add 1/2 tsp baking soda, mixing just until combined. Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl as you go along.

Add 2-1/2 to 3 cups flour and beat until just blended. I added half wheat flour, and I really think that chocolate chip cookies need all purpose unbleached flour not whole wheat flour (but that is just my opinion...)

Add 2 cups chocolate chips. I used 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips. One tip is if you like semi-sweet and your Hubby likes milk chocolate (as is our case) you can use 1 cup of each and they turn out great and satisfy both of your tastes! (We happened to only have 1 package of chocolate chips as the milk chocolate chips got eaten before I made anything with them...)

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes in a 350°F oven.

Remove from oven about 30 seconds to 1 minute before the cookies are totally cooked. Let them finish cooking as the cookie sheet cools off. Do not put the cookie sheet on the oven over the oven vent or they may overcook.

Enjoy with a large glass of milk!

Printer Friendly

Meals - August 31-September 6

This past week and the next week and a half I'm focusing on foods that I use up items in the pantry/freezer/fridge. Next to each recipe I'll post what pantry item I used. The reason I'm doing this is because we're moving on the 17th and I wanted to use up as much food as I could before we did. I'll be posting more about what the move means for the blog posts next week when I have a better idea myself. For now, here is are the meals we had last week:

Monday:
Shepherds Pie with juice
Used: canned green beans, hamburger from the freezer (bought on a great sale), a can of tomato soup (don't know why I bought it, I rarely use tomato soup) and potatoes.

Tuesday:
Shepherd's Pie

Wednesday:
Shepherd's Pie

Thursday:
Baked Potatoes - don't forget to enter the giveaway for the potato bag. Anyone who enters this giveaway will be able to enter all future giveaways with one extra entry. (That is my little bonus for those of you who were here at the beginning of my blog when my giveaways are small. They will eventually get larger.)
Used: potatoes and frozen broccoli.

Friday:
Navajo Tacos
Used: dry red beans, flour (I'm also trying to use that up as well!), the last of the hamburger, and a can of chili spiced tomatoes (also don't know why I bought this can of tomatoes, I may have grabbed it by accident - it was the type that you add the hamburger and beans to get chili).

Saturday:
Navajo Tacos

Sunday:
Navajo Tacos

Ready, Vote for which of the two recipes you want to see posted on Wednesday!

May Be Foodless Friday: Giveaway, small & simple - Closed

A few weeks ago, I posted about Potato Bags, and how much I loved them as well as how to make them. Let me tell you, I still love them and I have an extra one that I would love to give away to one of you. In reality I would love to give away something huge, but since my husband is still finishing his Master's Degree it is not in the budget, hopefully some day it will be (and when it is, I will remember those of you who followed this site when it was beginning... Any entrant to this contest will be able to comment on future contests that they were here for the first contest and get an extra entry just for being here now). For now though, this is what I have to give away. I made this potato bag (it has sentimental value, at least for me), it is a left over from last Christmas... Last Christmas when I tried to find potato fabric to make these... but couldn't - maybe I should have been living in Idaho. I'm sure you would be able to find potato fabric in Idaho, right? I got sidetracked... where was I, oh yeah the giveaway.
The bag sent to the winner will look exactly like the one above. For those of you who have never used one of these, they are wonderful. They cook baked potatoes in the microwave in minutes and taste like they came out of the oven (Or pretty close, I'm sure if you made one in the oven and on in the microwave and did a test the oven made potato would be a bit better, but take 6 times as long.)
For those of you who weren't here for the post, or didn't click on the link above to refresh your memory, this bag can also be used for: Day old rolls, Acorn Squash, Carrots, String Beans, Sweet Corn and Sweet Potatoes.

So here's the deal. You can enter more than once, but you have to follow these rules:

Entry 1 - Leave a comment and let me know your favorite way to eat potatoes

Entry 2 - You can follow/subscribe to feed on my blog and leave me a comment (if you are already following me/subscribed just leave me a comment telling me)

Entry 3 - You can become a fan of my new Facebook Page

Entry 4 - You can follow me on Twitter (again if you are already following me just leave me a comment telling me)

Entries 5+ - You can promote this contest via Facebook, twitter (use http://bit.ly/vYg8Y for the shortened link), blogging about it, emailing your friends, sharing it with your friends in Google Reader (or some other such tool). For each different way (I will not accept you tweeting about it 20 times, or even 2. You can tweet about it as many times as you want, but I will only accept one entry.) you promote it you can leave me a comment telling me.

This contest has ended. Winners will be announced Friday at 9AM.

French Toast Bites

I just realized that every time I have started to write a post lately, I wanted to start out with 'So'... I think I have started at least half of my posts with that word in the past two weeks. It must be my pet word currently. Or I feel I must explain myself. I am going to try not to do that in the future... We'll see if it works.

Do you ever wonder what to do with the crusts from bread? If you're like me, you don't like to eat them plain or in a sandwich. There is the alternative of using them to make croutons or home made stuffing. I tend to stick mine in the freezer and forget about them until they are freezer burnt. Or I forget to stick them in the freezer and they get moldy. When I do remember to put them in the freezer and am not in need of croutons and am not going to make home made stuffing - wait, who am I kidding, I have never made home made stuffing - I make French Toast Bites. These are a really fun way to have french toast.

French Toast Bites

In a medium or large bowl (yes I realize that this bowl is not medium or large, but trust me it was a mistake), beat 3 eggs and 2-3 Tbsp milk together.
Add 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, and 1 Tablespoon brown sugar beat until combined. Set aside.
Using the ends of loaves (I actually have a couple of regular pieces of bread as well),
cut 6 pieces of bread into strips.
Next, cut into cubes, then (this is where the bowl size matters) toss them into the egg mixture and toss to coat.
Melt 1 Tbsp butter in a non-stick skilled over medium-high heat.
Place cut up bread coated in egg mixture into the pan and cook until heated through. If desired, melt more butter over these while in the pan (it is a little hard to butter them individually.) Pour maple syrup over them and toss to coat. Serve immediately with a tall glass of cold milk.
Enjoy!

Printer Friendly

Slow Cooker Black Beans

This weeks recipe is Slow Cooker Black Beans (served with rice.) So Hubby and I like black beans, we're not so much pinto bean fans... Recently I wanted to get away from canned beans and try using dry beans. Why? Who knows? Maybe I wanted this new challenge, because I've never really cooked with dry beans before. I made some black beans a few weeks ago, and they were okay, but nothing special. This past week when I made them, they were TONS better, and so I'm going to share this recipe with you. I will be making beans again, as during the next 2-3 weeks I'm on a purging my pantry menu plan. I want to use what I have in my cupboards with buying a minimum amount of other stuff (fresh produce is a must, although I also need to use some stuff in the freezer). I am going to try one or two things different next time I make it and I'll let you know if it changes that much.

Slow Cooker Black Beans

Place in 3 1/2- to 4 1/2-quart slow cooker (You can use a larger one as well, but not a smaller one, unless you cut the recipe in half): 1/2 cup chopped onion, 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper, 3 cloves garlic - minced, 1 jalapeno finely chopped and 1 cup dry black beans, rinsed.
Add 1 bay leaf, 1 tsp chili powder, and 2 tsp ground cumin.
Add 2 cups tomato juice (you can use water if you don't have tomato juice), 1 can(14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, and 1 cup cooked ham (left over from a ham that was on sale for $0.99/lb - it was a large ham, we had it for dinner a few nights and then I chopped up 8 cups to freeze for meals such as this. Tip on buying ham - don't buy shank! Butt Portion usually has less bone and more meat). Stir well.

Cook on high heat for 6-8 hours or until most of the liquid is absorbed and beans are tender.Serve over a bed of rice. You'll want about 3-4 cups of cooked rice. I use brown rice as it is whole grain and I like the taste better. If you prefer white rice, but want the health benefits, I just learned that basmati rice is whole grain and still white. I have not tried it so I don't know how it compares to white or brown rice.
You can top with cheese as well.

Enjoy!

Printer Friendly