Pita Bread

Ingredients

• 1 1/8 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

[With a bread machine simply combine everything and have it mix it as well as a rise in the machine]

For us normal folk....

Mix water with yeast and sugar.
Add oil to water/yeast/sugar.
Combine salt with flour.
Begin mixing flour/salt into the liquid mixture.

Kneed until smooth and elastic. [Kitchen Aid can speed this up a bit]

Place in a greased bowl and allow to rise for 1-3 hours OR until doubled [OR until you've lost patience ;-) ]

On a floured surface:
Roll into a snake/rope and cut into same size pieces. I'd suggest 8...cut it in half and then each half in half and in half again.

Roll into 6-8 inch circles [and if you're Simon as thin as you can make it :-) ]

Allow to rest for 20 minutes on a floured surface while the oven is heating.

Preheat to 500 degrees F. (260 C)

Either bake on a (preheated) tray or on the rack directly. (rack toward the bottom of the oven)

Bake three or so at a time.

Bake 4 minutes, flip and bake 2 min.

Gently push down puff when pulled out of the oven.

Cover with a damp paper towel, or place in a bag (this allows them to soften slightly).

Store in the fridge or freezer to increase longevity (a few days-- a couple months in the freezer)
[I've never tested long-term storage...we ate them too quickly.]

Fresh Tomato Salsa

Tomatoes, finely chopped (6-8 roma tomatoes or equivalent of tasty tomatoes)

Onion, finely diced (1/2 or a whole onion--depending on how strong a flavor the onion has--if too strong, rinse onion lightly with water)

Jalapeño, (one is sufficient if it's spicy and be careful of the HOT seeds )

Cilantro, fresh and finely chopped, to taste (1/2 cup-ish)

Lime juice, to taste (1 tbsp or two-ish)

Salt and pepper to taste

Rolls

The New Era, Nov. 2004

Grandma’s Rolls

In a saucepan, combine:
2 cups milk
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
Bring to a boil, then cool.

In a small bowl, combine:
1 cup lukewarm water
2 heaping Tbsp. yeast
2 tsp. sugar
Set aside and let dissolve.

2 1/2 tsp. salt
3 beaten eggs
7–9 cups flour

When the milk mixture has cooled to lukewarm, pour into mixer. Add a cup of flour, all of the yeast mixture, salt and three beaten eggs. Beat until smooth. Add flour a little at a time while mixing until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl but is not stiff.

Place dough in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap that has been sprayed with cooking spray, and let rise in a warm place until dough has doubled in size. Punch down, cover, and let rise again until doubled in size.

After dough has risen a second time, divide in half. Place on a floured board or counter. Roll out until 1/2 inch thick, and cut into circles. Place on a greased cookie sheet so rolls are almost touching. Let rise about 30 minutes.

Bake at 375° F for 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown.

Janet Thomas, "The Family Secret," The New Era, November 2004.

http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=024644f8f206c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=ad7f85f10e6fb010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____

Bagels

Bagels are actually pretty easy, a little time-consuming to make. Although they take a while, here is a great recipe we found online. The web address is at the bottom of this post. I annotated it with my thoughts placed in brackets. We've enjoyed a few Sundays together making bagels. We hope you enjoy a similar experience! For the history of bagels, see wikipedia or google history--very interesting.

And now, Bagels!!!

4 cups bread flour [Regular flour works too]

1 Tbls sugar

1 1/2 tsps salt

1 Tbls vegetable oil

2 tsps instant yeast

1-1/4- 1-1/2 cups of warm water.

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. You don't have to worry about soaking the yeast when you use instant yeast (most yeast sold these days is instant yeast). The dough should feel stiff, but add the extra water if it's really stiff, or you can't get all the dry flour incorporated.

Plop the dough down onto the counter, and knead for about ten minutes, or until the dough is uniform and smooth. [You can kneed for about half the time using a Kitchen Aid.]

Cut the dough into 8 equal sized balls, and let rest for 10-20 minutes. [Or cut into more balls if you want smaller bagels.]

Preheat your oven to 425.

Now, take each of the dough balls and using two hands, roll it into a little snake on the counter. When the snake is longer than the width of your two hands, wrap it around your dominant roiling hand. The dough rope should be wrapped so the overlapping ends are together at your palm, near the start of your fingers. Now take the two overlapping ends, and use your palm to squish/roll these two ends together. Once the dough is fused, you should have a perfectly circular bagel-to-be! This is the only part of the process that can take a little practice before your bagels will look really professional. Don't get discouraged if they don't look perfect, it just takes practice!

Let your bagels rest on the counter for about 20 minutes, and meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil, and grease a large baking tray lightly. You can just rub a splash of vegetable oil and rub it around.

After the 20 minute wait, your bagels will start to look puffy, and it's time to get them boiling! Add them as many at a time as you can to your boiling water without crowding them. Boil for about a minute, turn them over, and boil for another minute. Take them out a let dry for a minute and then place them on your oiled baking tray. Repeat until all the bagels are boiled.

Add the tray to the oven, and after 10 minutes, flip the bagels over, bake for another ten minutes; and they're done!

Let them cool for at least 20 minutes, get the cream cheese ready, and feast on what's got to be one of the best weekend brunch treats possible!

You can add any toppings you like to these. To make sesame, onions, poppy seed, caraway etc. etc. bagels just have a dry plate ready with the seed or spice topping spread out on it. After the bagels have come out of the boiling water, place them face down onto the seeds, and then place the seed side up onto the baking tray. Bake and flip as for plain bagels.

[My favorite toppings include cheese, crushed garlic, and sundried tomato. For cheese and the sundried tomato bagels, incorporate into the dough before letting sit as a ball (or right afterward).]



Credit:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Homemade_bagel_recipe_Make_great_nadrolled_water_bagels__its_as_easy_as_baking_a_loaf_of_bread

French Peasant Bread

1 package dry yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp.)

2 Cups warm water

1 Tbsp. sugar

2 tsp. salt

4 Cups flour

Oil

Corn meal

Melted butter

Oregano (and thyme? Or basil?…I probably added thyme. Yum)

Place yeast, water, sugar and salt in warm bowl and stir until dissolved. Add flour and stir until blended. Do not knead. Cover and let rise one hour or until doubled in size. Remove dough from the bowl and place in 2 rounds on an oiled cookie sheet sprinkled with corn meal. Let rise an additional hour. Brush the top with melted butter and bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temp. to 375 degrees and cook an additional 15 minutes. Remove from oven and brush again with butter. Serve hot out of the oven.

This bread has also been dubbed as the "Macaroni Grill Bread"- if you've been to the restaurant you know what that means....this bread is delish!

(Or just brush with butter before and put on seasoning on and then bake)

San Antonio Rice

San Antonio Rice
Add a Southwest kick to your rice.

Prep: 5 Minutes Total: 30 Minutes
1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
1 12-ounce jar fresh salsa, mild or hot
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup fresh or canned corn kernels
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
- Fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 1/4 cups water
- Minced fresh cilantro, for garnish (optional)

Add all ingredients, except cilantro, to the inner pot, stir, close the lid and press the White Rice button. When rice cooker switches to Keep-Warm mode, open the cooker, quickly stir and re-cover. Allow to stand for 8-10 minutes before serving. Spoon onto a serving dish, garnish with fresh cilantro and serve.

Makes a flavorful supper or side dish for grilled chicken or fish.

Apple Pie

Apple Pie
-Make crust
-Add Filling
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg OR less than a pinch of cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
8 medium sized apples (a medium apple = about 1 cup) [I like Gala—sweeter apple]
2 tablespoons margarine

* Heat oven to 425 degrees.
* Peel, core and slice the apples. Try to keep the size of the slices even.
* Mix sugar, flour, nutmeg/cloves, cinnamon, and salt in large bowl.
* Stir in apples.
* Pour into pastry-lined pie plate.
* Dot with margarine.
* Cover with top crust and seal the edges. Cut slits in the top.
* OPTIONAL: Cover edge with 3-inch strip of aluminum foil to prevent too much browning.
-Remove foil during last 15 minutes of baking.
* Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust.


PIE CRUST

3/4 cup shortening

1/4 cup boiling water

1 tablespoon milk

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt


Pour boiling water and milk over shortening.

Whip until like whipped cream.

Sift flour and salt over mixture.

Stir with fork around the bowl until it is clean.

Press into ball.

Roll between waxed paper.

Makes a 2-crust pie or 2-3 pie shells.

Bake at 450° F. for 8 minutes.




(My favorite apple pie recipe).

Enjoy!

Yummy, easy Fried Rice

This took me longer than time alloted...like an hour to make total.
And I threw in frozen mixed veggies instead of everything it called for because that's what we had.
Yum Yum

Original Recipe Yield 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

* 1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
* 1 onion
* 1 1/2 pounds cooked, cubed chicken meat
* 2 tablespoons soy sauce
* 2 large carrots, diced
* 2 stalks celery, chopped
* 1 large red bell pepper, diced
* 3/4 cup fresh pea pods, halved
* 1/2 large green bell pepper, diced
* 6 cups cooked white rice
* 2 eggs
* 1/3 cup soy sauce

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and saute until soft, then add chicken and 2 tablespoons soy sauce and stir-fry for 5 to 6 minutes.
2. Stir in carrots, celery, red bell pepper, pea pods and green bell pepper and stir-fry another 5 minutes. Then add rice and stir thoroughly.
3. Finally, stir in scrambled eggs and 1/3 cup soy sauce, heat through and serve hot.

Recipe from:
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/chinese-chicken-fried-rice-i/Detail.aspx

Pickling Cucumbers

Simon's mom's recipe. She says:

This is the recipe we used from my 40 year old cookbook.

Wash small, firm cucumbers, pack closely but not "squished" into wide mouth quart jars. (You can slice them but I prefer them whole.)
Place a clove of peeled garlic and a head of dill into the jar. (We used to grow our own dill and use that. I don't know if you can get heads of dill out there. You could probably use a teaspoon of dill seed in place of a head of dill, or seed mixed with dill leaves?)
Mix 3 quarts of water, 1 quart of cider vinegar and 1 cup of salt together and bring to a boil.
Pour boiling mixture over quart jars, enough to cover cukes and come within 1/4 inch of top of jar.
Seal with lids tightly.
Store in a cool, dark place (you can cover with a paper bag or under a counter etc. I actually usually just put them in my hallway and they seemed fine.)
Takes about 4 weeks to cure, will last unopened 6-8 months. Once you open a jar, refrigerate.

CHICKEN POT PIE

Crust
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves – cubed (1 chicken breast)
1 cup sliced carrots (or a bag of mixed frozen veggies)
1 cup frozen green peas
*olive oil
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 3/4 cups chicken broth (made with bullion is good)
2/3 cup milk
*cubed potatoes

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery. Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.
3. sauté onions in olive oil until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.


Crust Recipe:
PIE CRUST



3/4 cup shortening

1/4 cup boiling water

1 tablespoon milk

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt


Pour boiling water and milk over shortening. Whip until like whipped cream. Sift flour and salt over mixture. Stir with fork around the bowl until it is clean. Press into ball. Roll between waxed paper. Makes a 2-crust pie or 2-3 pie shells. Bake at 450° F. for 8 minutes.

Paella valenciana

Large chicken breast--cubed
3-6 cloves garlic--chopped
4-6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or best available)
1 large onion
1 red pepper--chopped
3-4 large tomatoes--chopped
2 cups Uncle Ben's converted rice
4 cups water
4 teaspoons chicken bouillon (or 4 cubes)
large pinch of spanish saffron (for yellow color and flavor)
1 lb bag of frozen green peas

(I use a chinese wok to cook this)
Cook chicken, garlic, and olive oil until browning
Add rice, water, and all other ingredients except green peas
Stir occasionally to prevent sticking and scorching on bottom of pan
Cook until water is almost completely absorbed
Add frozen peas and stir until they are thawed and remaining water is absorbed by the rice

Serve with lemon wedges, french bread, olive oil for dipping bread, tomato salad.
Typical dessert would be fresh fruit such as apples, oranges, or pears.

Enjoy! (Dad's)

Easy Chicken Soup

Really easy and fairly quick delicious meal.


-Chicken bullion accented with beef bullion

-Boil cubed chicken in bullion mixture

-Season with:
a bay leaf,
oregano,
pepper,
garlic powder
etc to taste

-Add vegetables, (carrot slivers, celery, peas, onions etc)

Later, you can add cooked noodles or cooked rice to it (or dish soup onto either and eat it with both for different meals)
(adding noodles and rice afterwards enables non-mushy leftovers.

Chicken Veggie Cabbage Stir Fry

olive oil 1-2 tbs (add more oil as needed)

add garlic 3 cloves and saute 30 sec or so.

Add:
*diced onion (or onion flakes) (if real onions saute for a minute alone)
diced red peppers
diced celery,
slivered carrots,
peas
diced tomato
*chopped up chicken chunks (I already had chicken) (if using uncooked chicken, saute with garlic until cooked before adding the rest)

Add a little chicken bullion in water (1/2 c?)

Add in 1 tsp ginger or so (I based this on smell...I probably didn't add an entire tsp)

Add 1/4 cabbage head (chopped/diced) and cook to desired tenderness, stirring occasionally.

Add soy sauce (2 tbs or as desired for flavor)

Add a tiny drizzle of sesame oil as desired for flavor

**Serve with Rice








Below was the easiest recipe...which then I tweeked and threw in extra stuff and such.

* 2 teaspoons canola oil
* 1 small onion, sliced
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* 1 teaspoon minced ginger
* 1 head napa cabbage, cleaned and sliced
* 2 tablespoons soy sauce
* 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
* 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

Directions

In a large saute pan over medium-high heat, add the canola oil and heat. Add the onion, garlic and ginger and saute, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the cabbage and cook until just starting to wilt, about 2 minutes. Add the soy sauce and rice vinegar and stir well and cook just until cabbage is wilted, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and drizzle with the sesame oil.