Italian Herb Bread

I will eventually remember to take a picture of this bread.  We've had it probably four times since I originally wrote this entry, and I keep waiting until I remember the photo to post it, but that may never happen.

1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup dry nonfat milk
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp shortening or vegetable oil
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1/4 cup snipped parsley
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp bread machine yeast

1. Place ingredients in bread maker's loaf pan in the order above or the order prescribed by the machine's manual, except for yeast, which should go in the yeast dispenser.
2. Set machine to regular (basic) cycle.

Recipe from 250 Best American Bread Machine Baking Recipes.

WHAT I CHANGED:

• I didn't have many of the spices, so I used a combination of Italian seasoning and Rosemary and Herb seasoning.  I also didn't have parsley, so I just omitted that.  I'm sure the bread is even better as written, but it works out well with my substitutions.

WHAT I LEARNED

• Not much, other than reasonable substitutions taste just fine.  Bread machine bread is easy, so there isn't much to learn.

OPINIONS:

Everyone liked this bread.  We had it the first time with an alfredo pasta dish, and the second time we had it with lasagna.  Really, really good either way.  Love it.

Soft Cut-out Sugar Cookies

No photo.  Sorry about that.  Maybe I'll make them again for Valentine's Day or something...

1 cup margarine
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

 

1.  Cream the margarine and add the sugar gradually. Beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at time, mixing well after each addition.

 

2.  Stir in the vanilla. Add the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt gradually to the creamed mixture, stirring in by hand. Cover and chill dough overnight.

 

3.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

 

4.  Roll dough out on a floured surface to 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick and cut into your favorite shapes. Place cookies onto the prepared baking sheets.

 

5.  Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 6 to 8 minutes or until cookie has a golden appearance.
 
THINGS I CHANGED:

• I don't believe I made them thick enough.  They were softer than the cookies I usually make, but they still weren't as soft as I would like. 

THINGS I LEARNED:

• The thickness of the dough is really important.  I am typically stingy with dough, and I tend to roll it out too thin in order to make more cookies.  I need to stop that.  My cookies would be softer if I made them thicker.
• Cookies soften themselves under royal icing.  While they weren't as soft as I would have liked the night we made them, after a night of being stored decorated, they were very soft and wonderful.  And the frosting wasn't rock hard; it was just right, too.

OVERALL OPINIONS:

• We had these at Christmas, and while I think my immediate family liked them the most, everyone seemed to enjoy them.  My goal in cut-out cookies is to be less stingy.

Two-Fer (Pennsylvania Dutch Apple Pie)

CRUST
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
3 tablespoons granulated white sugar
1/4 cup vegetable shortening, cold
12 tablespoons butter, cold and cubed
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup ice water

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, salt and sugar. Add the shortening and break it up with your hands as you start to coat it all up with the flour. Add the cold butter cubes and work it into the flour with your hands or a pastry cutter. Work it quickly, so the butter doesn't get too soft, until the mixture is crumbly, like very coarse cornmeal. Add the ice water, a little at a time, until the mixture comes together forming a dough. Bring the dough together into a ball.

When it comes together stop working it otherwise the dough will get over-worked and tough. Divide the dough in half and flatten it slightly to form a disk shape. Wrap each disk in plastic and chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. On a floured surface roll each disk out into a 10 to 11-inch circle to make a 9-inch pie.

 Recipe from http://www.foodnetwork.com/ (Paula Deen).

PIE

7-10 apples, peeled, cored and sliced

 Place sliced apples in 9 inch unbaked pie shell. Mix and sprinkle over apples:

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cloves

 Sprinkle 1 tablespoon water (or fresh lemon juice if you have it) over top.

CRUMB CRUST:

1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1 stick butter

Mix together sugar and flour. Cut the butter into the sugar and flour mixture using a fork, pastry blender or food processor.  Sprinkle over top of pie.

Bake at 400°F for 40-45 minutes. If the pie begins to brown too rapidly, cover lightly with foil.

Served every Fall in Pennsylvania Dutch country. A combination of green (such as Granny Smith) and red (such as Cortland or Mcintosh) works best. A few drops of vanilla can be mixed into sugar.

Recipe from http://www.cooks.com/ under Pennsylvania Dutch Apple Pie.

 
WHAT I CHANGED:

• For the crust, nothing. I had never done a pie crust from scratch before, so I followed the directions.  It was hard to follow directions, but I managed.
• I doubled the pie recipe.  Since the crust recipe made two crusts, I decided to make two pies.
• Instead of cinnamon, I used an apple pie spice blend I have.  I did add the cloves, though, as my spice blend doesn't include cloves.  I used 3 tsp of the apple pie spice and a couple of shakes of the cloves. 
• I tripled the crumb topping part of the recipe instead of just doubling it.  The crumb topping is my favorite part, so I wanted extra on the pies.  This was an excellent idea.

WHAT I LEARNED:

• Making two Dutch apple pies from scratch uses a TON of bowls, measuring cups and spoons, mixing implements, and so on.  My nearly empty dishwasher was completely full when I finished.
• Homemade pie crust is much better than refridgerated store-bought crust.  Mmmmm...
• Blending cold butter with a pastry blender is really tough work.  My arms may be sore tomorrow.

OVERALL OPINIONS:

As of this post, only Becca and I have had any of the pie, but it sure was awesome!  LOVE IT!

Update:  Anumber of people have now had the pie, and the unanimous verdict is that it is amazing.  I made two more the following Friday.  Mmmmm...

Rockin' Sour Cream Cookies

1 cup shortening (I always use butter; Grandma did)

2 cups sugar (it says you may use brown; I never do)

     Cream together thoroughly

4 eggs
2 tsp. lemon flavoring  (I have never used this; it would change the
flavor, but probably be nice; I use vanilla)

     Add to butter/sugar; beating until fluffy

5 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. salt

1 cup thick sour cream

Sift dry ingredients together and add alternately with cream - really,
really important that you sift well.

Chill dough in refrigerator overnight. Use spoon and roll into balls.

Drop onto greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 8 - 10 min. You
can roll in colored sugar, or sprinkle RIGHT as cookies comes out of
oven. My Grandma always said to test the cookies for "doneness" by
touching them with finger and they should "spring" back. Don't
overbake. They are better if not overbaked.

Recipe from my good friend Christa, who also provided all the commentary.

WHAT I CHANGED:

• Surprisingly, nothing.  I used all the suggestions in parentheses, though.
• Oh, wait.  I did try to Chill the dough for just a few hours, and that didn't work out so well.  It really wasn't firm enough.  I had kids doing the rolling in sugar, and it was an absolute mess.  The next day was better.

WHAT I LEARNED:

• The recipe is really important.  I don't know this from screwing up the recipe (how I normally know), but Christa told me that the ingredient HAVE to be sifted or it doesn't come out correctly.
• Sifters are really cheap at Wal-Mart.  $5.  I use it a lot now. 
• These cookies are pretty good even if you overcook them a bit.  They are better when done perfectly, but still godd when overcooked.

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Bill: Really, really likes them.  He especially likes them in the large decorative sugars.

Emma:  It's a cookie.  Duh.

Georgia:  See Emma's response.

Me:  I really like these a lot.  I'm a big fan of soft cookies. so these are wonderful for me.  And they're not too sweet.  Normally that would be a downer for a cookie with me, but in this case, it's terrific. 

Pasta and Peas

Let's not think about how awful this looks. 

1/2 pound spaghetti, linguine, or macaroni

2 tbsp butter

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 tbsp flour

1 1/4 cups milk

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

2 cups frozen peas

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. 
   
   Make the sauce while bringing the pasta water to a boil and cooking the pasta
2. 
   
   In a small saucepan, over medium heat, heat the butter and saute the onion until tender, about 5 minutes.
3. 
   
   Blend in the flour and cook 2 or 3 minutes more, without coloring the flour.
4. 
   
   Remove from heat and when the sizzling subsides, stir in the milk.
5. 
   
   Return to heat and, stirring consistently, bring to a simmer.  Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, then simmer gently 3 to 5 minutes.
6. 
   
   Add the peas and return to a simmer.  Cook until peas are just done, another 2 to 3 minutes.
7. 
   
   Drain the pasta, toss in a bowl with the sauce and half the Parmesan cheese.
8. 
   
   Serve immediately, sprinkling each portion with the remaining cheese.

WHAT I CHANGED:

• 
  
  Um, most of the recipe.
• 
  
  I used jarred alfredo sauce instead of making my own sauce.  I was tired, and I had the jarred sauce.  Worked beautifully.
• 
  
  Bacon.  The recipe says you can garnish the dish with bacon, but I crumbled it into the pasta after I had added everything else.  I used a half pound because I really like bacon.
• 
  
  Subsituted penne for the other recommended pastas.  Next time, though, I will use linguine.  It had been my intention, but I discovered after starting everything that I didn't have enough.  Meh.

WHAT I LEARNED:

• 
  
  Simple can be very delicious and filling.  This recipe makes a lot of food, and we had very little leftover.
• 
  
  A jarred sauce really saves a lot of time.  I had all the ingredients to do the sauce from scratch, and I will probably try it sometime, but this worked out very well and took very little time.

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Bill: Enjoyed it a lot.  Broke his New Year's resolution about not going back for seconds.

Emma:  Loved it.   She ate three servings.  She also finished off the two servings of leftovers the following night.

Georgia:  Liked it.  Yeah, really.  She avoided the peas and only ate as many as I dictated, but she ate a lot of pasta and all the bacon.

Me:  I really enjoyed it.  I don't like it as much as Papa's Pasta (my own recipe) or Pasta Primavera, but it's much easier and less time-consuming to make, so I'll probably make it more often.  It was really good.