Oatmeal bread with Cinnamon, without Raisins

I haven't been baking or blogging much lately.  I have too many balls up in the air, and the heaviest is grad school.  What does it say when you would rather bake bread than work on your papers?  Anyway, people were excited when I pulled out my scale last night.  

There are several delicious loaves for August's Mellow Baker's Challenge.  There are two Oatmeal Breads, one with cinnamon and raisins, one without.  I opted to make the cinnamon version but without the raisins since no one in my house likes their raisins cooked. 

It is an easy loaf.  Oatmeal is soaked in water and then high gluten flour, whole wheat flour, milk, honey, vegetable oil, salt, yeast and cinnamon are added.  The dough fermented over night, was shaped and baked.  Joe came down when the morning house was filled with aromas and the bread was still in the oven and wanted to know how long it had to cool. 

I love breads with oats.  I can't wait to try the non cinnamon version but this one is a keeper..

Cooking with Joe

Joe is home for ten days.  He has moved into an apartment in Pittsburgh with his brother.  They plan on installing an air conditioner in one of the windows but the kitchen is hot and will remain hot.  Until winter comes, and then it will be the place to be.  With thoughts of keeping the place cool, I thought we would try out some crock pot recipes this week and some old favorites

I've ordered another cook book.  If there is an intervention available for people who have too many cook books send it my way.  I really enjoy the slow cooker.  My husband cooks a meal at least once a week using it.  So, when I saw some reviews for Michele Scicolone's  The Italian Slow Cooker, I had to buy it. 

I can't wait for it to come.

Until it comes, we will have to try some other recipes.  So we started with Ultimate Cheater Pulled Pork from NPR's web site.  Disclaimer, this is not really pulled pork, no crunchy outside, no vinegar mop.  But it makes for some good sanwiches.

Joe made an easy basic dry rub.

1/4 cup paprika
2 T kosher salt
2 T ground pepper
1 T garlic powder
1T dry mustard

He cut a 6 pound boneless Boston butt into 3" chunks.  Rubbed the meat with 1/4 cup of the rub.  Put it in the crock pot and added 1/2 cup liquid smoke.  It cooked on low for 5 - 6 hours or on high for 10 - 12 hours.  Pull the meat apart and serve on buns with your favorite barbeque sauce.

Did you know that you could cook potatoes in the crock pot?   3 pounds of small new potatoes simmered in 1/2 cup of water for on high for three hours.  We covered them with butter, salt and pepper and some herbs. 

We made perhaps the best enchiladas.  I'll post that later.

Simple Slow Roasted Tomatoes = FFWD

This Friday's French Fridays with Dorie was a very easy recipe.  Cherry tomatoes were cut in half, sprinkled with some olive oil, salt and pepper.  Garlic and herbs were added and they were roasted in a 225 degree oven for three hours.  I have a similar recipe that we serve with goat cheese and baguettes.

This method brings out a sweetness in the tomatoes.  I mixed mine with some cannelloni beans, red onions and a vinaigrette for a salad for lunch.

Summer Salads

It has been over 100 here in Texas for more days than I can remember.  Our back lawn is dead, our front lawn is dying.  Water once a week really isn't working for the plants.

Salads are the way to go.  I love the coleslaw salad with broccoli flowerettes, cranberries, nuts, bacon, shredded cabbage.  Make a dressing out of mayonnaise, red wine vinegar, diced onions and sugar.

Whenever we have ripe avocados I make this, sometimes as a side, sometimes with tortilla chips. 

Black beans, red onions, avocado, cilantro, lime juice and s&P.  Quick, easy and delicious.

Skillet Eggs with Squash

Do you have too many zucchinis?  This is a delicious recipe.  A great way to use up some of those squash in a unique breakfast.  Think healthier hashbrowns, with a zing.

Food network posted the recipe from their magazine on their web page along with a nicer picture of gooey eggs, if you liked gooey eggs. 

I used half the squash mixture with four eggs.  Toms were gooey, mine stayed in the oven for a little longer.  Great way to start the day. 

Skillet Eggs with Squash  Food Network Magazine July/Aug 2011

Ingredients

• 3 pounds (6 medium) summer squash and/or zucchini
• Kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts separated
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 6 large eggs
• 1/2 cup grated pepper jack or sharp white cheddar cheese

Directions

Grate the squash into a colander using the large holes of a box grater (or use a food processor fitted with the shredding attachment). Toss with 1 tablespoon salt, then let drain in the sink, 30 to 40 minutes. Squeeze the squash to remove as much liquid as possible.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Heat the olive oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Set aside 3 tablespoons scallion greens. Add the remaining scallions (white and green parts), the jalapeno, and salt to taste and cook until the scallions are soft, about 3 minutes. Add the shredded squash and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 7 minutes. Stir in the parsley, nutmeg, and pepper to taste. Cook until the mixture is slightly dry, about 1 more minute. Remove from the heat and let cool, 5 minutes.
Spread the squash evenly in the skillet. Make six 2 1/2-inch-wide indentations in the mixture with the back of a spoon; put 1/2 teaspoon butter in each one. One at a time, crack each egg into a small bowl and pour into an indentation. Season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with the cheese.
Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake until the egg whites are set and the yolks are cooked to desired doneness, 10 to 12 minutes. Scatter the reserved scallion greens on top.

June - French Fridays with Dorie

Things fell apart in June.  My mother went into the hospital in the end of May with hip problems.  And then on to rehab where she said that she had no desire to exercise, none.  Not at all.  And she fired everyone...She wanted me to find her "some place Catholic to die."  Fascinating thought, but as far as I can tell, she isn't dying any time soon.  But, she has moved in with the grey habited Polish nuns, going to Mass every day and seems to be a little higher on the happiness continuum.  Still enjoying a good piece of cake.

Scout and I are tackling my summer to do list.  She is incredibly supportive.  I had a list of things a mile long that I intended on doing this summer while I was off from school.  I am now playing catch up.  How many can I do in the few weeks remaining before school starts?

My husband walks around and talks about bread longingly.  You used to bake bread, I hear him muttering.  It has been a sad month or two.  My starter is a little grey.  I'm sure it will come around.

One day in June, I decided to make the majority of the French Fridays with Dorie's recipes for June.  We started with the tomato strawberry salad.  I knew that I had some delightful mozzarella in the fridge, my husband knew that he had eaten it.  Oh well.  This still was a great salad.  Ripe tomatoes, strawberries, basil and mozzarella combined with a smidge of olive oil and a bit of balsamic vinegar.

We moved on to the ribs with jam and Coke.  So, here in Texas, Tom cooks ribs.  In the backyard.  Maybe in a smoker, maybe the edge of a mountain of charcoal, maybe on a gas grill.  Not in the oven.  Not with jam.  I tried to hide the ingredients from his prying eyes.  But he was onto me the night before when I rubbed the ribs with the spice rub.  Five spice powder, ginger and salt and pepper are rubbed onto the spareribs.  Then they are covered with a mixture of apricot jam, orange juice and the juice of a lemon.  They are the refrigerated for several hours. 

Into the oven in a roasting pan with a few tablespoons of water.  They are cooked, basted every so often for an hour and a half.  Then the Coke is poured around the ribs and they are basted every five mins for another half hour.

These were delicious.  An oriental flavor, fall off the bone tender.  #2 son would love these.

For dessert we had roasted rhubarb over ice cream.  Rhubarb is trimmed and cut into piece, tossed with sugar and zest of an orange.  Covered with foil and roasted in a 400 degree oven for 20 mins.  When it had cooled, we put it on ice cream.

I grew up eating rhubarb.  I love it.  I had never roasted it.  It is my new favorite way to prepare it.  Not that I see it much here in Texas.

In the beginning of July, I went to DC for a school nurse conference.  I stayed an extra day and we went to the Newseum.  A new museum in DC that is not free, sad to say.  But it was fascinating.  Below is a picture of world.  The green indicates countries with freedom of the press.  Something that we tend to take for granted here in the US. 

Healthy Potato Salad - Daring Cooks

Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!

We have a couple of potato salad recipes that we like, but I have been intrigued for some time by the idea of a french potato salad.

French potato salad is made by boiling sliced potatoes and coating them with a dressing while the slices are still warm.


I used a recipe from The New Best Recipe Cookbook.   Red potatoes were sliced and boiled in salted water.

When they came out of the water, they were coated with a dressing made with mustard, wine vinegar, 1/4 cup of the water from the boiling potatoes, olive oil, garlic and pepper. 

The potatoes were left to soak up the dressing for 10 minutes

and then tossed with parsley, chives and shallots.

This was a delicious, easy recipe.