Perfect Homemade Bread

1 cup warm water (not too hot, otherwise it will kill the yeast!)
1 TBSP. milk
2 TBSP. oil (I use olive oil as opposed to veg. oil since it’s healthier and it still turns out great! No residual olive oil-y taste, so you can even spread peanut butter on it and it’ll taste great!)
3 TBSP. honey
1 tsp. salt
1.5 cups of unbleached all purpose flour
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp. active dry yeast

*What You Do:

Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Stir together.

Add the flours (I find that adding the flours slowly helps with the stirring!), and the yeast. Stir together for awhile, and then once it starts to get hard to mix with a spoon (I use a wooden one), start mixing the dough with your hands. Once it’s pretty mixed, I throw it out on the counter (make sure it’s clean first!) 🙂 and start kneading it by hand. You could probably use a stand mixer, but hand kneaded dough seems to come out better. It can take anywhere from 5-10 minutes to knead. You just want the flours well incorporated with everything else. It will be pretty sticky, sometimes I’ve had to add a little more flour.. it just depends. But it will be quite sticky either way! Next, place the dough in a large greased bowl (I grease my bowl with olive oil), and cover. Allow it to rise for 40 mins or ’til doubled in size.

After that, place the dough back on the counter, knead it just a bit (1-2 mins at most), and shape it into a loaf shape. Place the loaf in a buttered loaf pan and cover.Allow it to rise this time for 30 mins or ’til doubled in size. Preheat oven to 350’F.

Bake the bread for 25 mins. Check it and see if the top is getting too brown. If it is, cover the top of the loaf loosely with aluminum foil. Bake for another 5 mins. Let the loaf rest for about 5 minutes in the pan, before taking out and placing on a cooling rack. Let cool for a good 15 mins before slicing.

This is such a delicious bread, and it really isn’t that hard once you get the knack for making homemade bread. Hope you guys enjoy! 🙂 ❤ Christina Kirtley

Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash

3 medium acorn squash,
1 tsp salt,
1 pound bulk pork sausage,
1 small onion chopped,
3 small or 2 large apples diced small,
3 TBS butter,
sprinkle of cinnamon

Cut squash in half lengthwise, spoon out seeds, sprinkle with salt.
Place cut side down in baking dish and add 1/2 inch boiling water.
Bake, uncovered at 375 for 35 minutes and drain water.

In the meantime, cook sausage in large skillet over medium heat and add onion. Cook until sausage is brown and onions are a bit soft and cooked. Remove from heat, drain.
Mix softened butter with diced apples and add to sausage. Spoon sausage mix into squash halves. Sprinkle cinnamon lightly on top.
Bake uncovered, at 350 for 25 minutes or until tender.

TIPS: to cut the acorn squash more easily, pierce the uncut squash a few rimes with a fork or knife, place on microwaveable plate, and micro for 2 mins. This will soften the hide & make it easier to cut.

To eat, you can scoop out the squash & sausage mixture out of the shell and mash it/ mix it all together.

(Recipe from Mary G. with a couple modifications.) ❤ Christine Kasper

Guacamole and Hummus

Guacamole
Combine the following In a blender:

3-4 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
flesh of 2 avocados
8 Tbsp (1/2 cup) good olive oil
6 Tbsp lemon juice – best to use bottled lemon juice – sometimes fresh lemon juice is too acidic and the mixture won’t blend well.

Blend everything until very smooth – scraping down the sides of the blender frequently. If too thick, blend in more olive oil a little at a time, or use avocado oil for truly decadent richness!

Hummus
Warning: this is NOT a diet dish!

Place the following in a food processor:

2 cans garbanzo beans, drained
garlic to taste – I use lots (10-12 cloves) because I love it! You may want to start with 3-4 and work your way up…
1/2 cup good olive oil (extra virgin, first cold press is best – this is important for the overall taste)
1/2 cup orange juice
3 Tbsp tahini *
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp tamari **

Heaping 1/4 tsp of each of the following:

ground corriander
ground cumin
ground ginger
paprika
ground mustard
ground tumerric
1/8 tsp garam masala or 5-spice powder (be careful with this stuff – it can overpower everything easily)

Blend all of the ingredients very well, stopping to scrape down the sides of the container occasionally. Try to make the mixture as smooth as possible… you can add more olive oil as you mix – drizzle it in through the top opening of the container as the processor is running.

Pour the mixture into a plastic tub, cover and let it sit in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight to firm up a little. Or not… it’s okay if you’re in a hurry and don’t have time for this.

To serve, place in a flat bowl. Decorate with lots of pitted calamata olives and crumbled Feta cheese, and drizzle lots of olive oil over everything. Serve with pita bread wedges, pita chips, or other firm crackers, and encourage guests to scoop up the olive oil, olives and cheese in the process!

* Tahini is sesame seed “butter” – usually found with other nut butters in natural food sections. It can also be found in the Jewish or Mediterranean sections.

** Tamari is good quality soy sauce – much richer and stronger than ordinary soy sauce.

❤ Shelley Nordine

Pop-Overs

2 eggs
1 cup milk
¾ cup flour
½ teaspoon kosher salt (or half as much table salt)
3 tablespoons salted butter

Preheat oven to 450, then place a nonstick 12-well muffin tin on a middle rack to heat for five or so minutes while you mix the batter. Whisk together the eggs, milk, flour, and salt until it’s all mostly mixed (a few lumps are fine). Now cut the butter into 12 slivers, pop one piece into each well of the hot muffin tin, and return the tin to the oven until the butter is melted and foamy. Fill each cup half full with batter (use all the batter), then bake for 15-20 minutes (don’t open the oven door to peek before then) until the popovers are puffed and brown. Serve immediately, either alone or with more butter and syrup.

(I also wonder if a little cinnamon mixed in the batter would be good? or cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on top once they come out? could add herbs too to make them less breakfast-y and more dinner-y — mayble garlic? oregano? basil?)

❤ Kate Sherwin

Crunchy Romaine Toss

Crunchy Romaine Toss:
Serves 10-12

1 cup walnuts, chopped
1 pkg Ramen noodles, uncooked, broken up (discard flavor packet)
4 Tbs unsalted butter
1 bunch brocoli, coarsely chopped
1 head romaine lettuce, washed and broken into pieces
4 green onions, chopped
1 cup sweet and sour dressing

Brown walnuts and noodles in butter; cool on paper towels.  Combine  noodles and walnuts with brocoli, romaine, and onions.  Pour Sweet and  Sour dressing over and toss to coat well.

Sweet and Sour Dressing:
Yields 2.5 cups

1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup wine vinegar
1 Tbs soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Blend all ingredients

❤ Kristin Lebon