When it comes to pizza, to each his own I say. There are tons of options: thick crust, thin crust, hand tossed, rolled, crispy cracker crust, tons of cheese options, sauce, no sauce, whatever sauce you want, and a million different toppings. I prefer deep dish, you need a knife and fork to get through this baby. It really doesn’t take very long to do and I’ve adapted a wonderful recipe to please the rest of my family as well.
I have to say, these were the best dinner rolls that I’ve ever had. Flaky like a biscuit with several layers and butter baked between each one. But they were still light and bready like a yeast roll. I copied this down from a late night re-run of an Alton Brown Good Eats episode. I tried to look it up on the Food Network website, but it wasn’t there. Good thing that I recorded that episode! 1) In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, combine together the following: 8 oz. warm milk 1/3 c. sugar 1 Tbl. + 1 tsp. active dry yeast 2 egg yolks 15 oz. all purpose flour (sifted) 2 1/2 tsp. salt 2) Let the dough rest in the bowl for 10 minutes. 3) Switch to the hook attachment and add in 2 ounces of room temperature butter. Increase the speed to medium and knead for 8 minutes. (Alton says “Not a minute longer!) 4) Move the dough to a lightly floured surface and form into a ball. Move it into a greased glass bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled (should take about an hour depending on the temperature in your kitchen). 5)...
In a word… YUM! In a few more words from Jason… There is a very good flavor to the chicken, but it’s not overwhelming. A nice warm heat, not overly spicy. Just right. Perfect for grilling out, baking in the oven, or just sauteing in a skillet. However you choose to finish your chicken, this is a fantastic place to start. 1) Mix the following together in a small bowl: 1 tsp. red pepper flake 1 tsp. garlic powder (or you could use 1/2 tsp. fresh minced garlic) 1/2 tsp. oregano 1/4 tsp. ginger 1/4 tsp. cumin 1/8 tsp. salt 1/4 cup lime juice 2) Warm up a few teaspoons of oil in a skillet and add in the marinade mixture. Lay 4-5 chicken breasts in the pan and cook on one side until they are half done. 3) Flip the chicken over and finish cooking. This is super simple and I like how all the flavors play nicely together. This is definitely a nice way to change up the usual chicken-cooked-in-butter that I fall back on when dinnertime sneaks up on me. I hope you like it too!
To expound on my cryptic and weird Facebook status from this morning… Today is not Saturday, it’s Friday again. Tomorrow is Sunday and Monday is Saturday. Don’t question it, I understand but don’t get it either. I’m tired. Can you tell? Reading that again I feel like I said “I am, He is, You are, He is, You are me, and we are all together. Hohoho Hehehe Hahaha” Remember when I wrote about Jason being amazingly lucky in his work scheduling not long ago? Yes, that was a really awesome week and a half. Well, he told me it would come around and bite us in the butt and did it ever! This past week has been harsh. Him Me/Kids Family Time Monday Regular work day. Get up early, take Jeremy across town to day camp. Get home just in time to have an hour for lunch and turn around to go pick up Jeremy. Adopt a new dog. More on that in an upcoming post. Tuesday Oncoming overnight ready crew duty. Goes in later in the afternoon, but doesn’t get to come home for dinner. Goes to class on base. Sleeps at work. Get up early, dog to...
These started as an accident and since they worked out better than I thought they would, I experimented until they were what I thought they should be. Cranberry sauce is a favorite condiment in our house at Thanksgiving but rarely is it seen at any other time of year. My MOPS group had a stock swap a while back and among other useful items, I picked up a can of cranberry sauce. I decided that it would be interesting to try that in place of the usual grape jelly and bbq sauce that I smother my meatballs in. It was good, but needed more oomph. I scaled back the bbq sauce to just a little bit because it completely overwhelmed the zingy cranberry flavor and then I added back just a touch of grape jelly to give back some of the sweetness. Bingo! 1) Follow my recipe for the meatballs, or use your own. This time I swapped out the sage for dried parsley. 2) While your meatballs firm up in the freezer, assemble the following for the sauce: 1 (14 ounce) can of whole berry cranberry sauce 1/3 cup grape jelly 2 Tbl. barbeque sauce or ketchup 1...
