Monday, January 11, 2010

Cheesy Mashed Potato Soup and French Bread

Cheesy Mashed Potato Soup

3 tsp. Chicken Bouillon
1 tsp. Salt
2 C. Water
3 Carrots
3 Stalks of Celery
3 Scallions

Bring water, salt and bouillon to a boil, add vegetables until soft.
Add:

2 C. Mashed Potatoes
1 - 2 C. Ham

Whisk 2 Tbs. of flour into 2 1/2 C. Milk and add to the soup when Potatoes are all incorporated.

Bring soup to a simmer then take off heat and add:

2 C. Grated Cheese

French Bread

1/2 C. Water
2 Tbs. Yeast
2 C. Hot Water
3 Tbs. Sugar
1 Tbs. Salt
1/3 C. Shortening
6 C. Flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water. In a large mixing bowl combine hot water, sugar, salt and shortening and allow to stand until lukewarm. Add yeast and 3 C. Flour. Beat until smooth and well blended. Add remaining flour to make a soft dough that can still be mixed with a spoon. Allow to rest 10 min. Stir batter down. Rest again. Repeat 5 times.

Form dough into balls for bread bowls or shape into 2 loafs. Let it rise for 30 min. Bake at 400 for 35 min. or until done.
Megan Murdoch

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Wheat Berry Stir-Fry

This is a very healthy, and very delicious recipe:

WHEAT BERRY STIR-FRY
(double this recipe if you want to eat it all week)

4 C. Prepared Wheat Berries (chilled)(see below recipe for wheat berries)
2 T. Butter
2 t. Olive Oil
1/8 t. Pepper
1/8 t. Garlic salt
1/4 C. chopped onion
2 C. Chopped Mushrooms
3 Eggs
1 C. Broccoli cut
1 C. Sliced Carrots
1 C. Corn
1 C. Green Peas
1/2 C. Ham (I used chicken for a healthier protein, but you could also omit this for a veggie meal)
3 T. Soy Sauce

1. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium high het.
2. Scramble eggs in small bowl, pour into hot oil, and sprinkle with pepper.
3. Cook eggs until they are firm enoug to flip- flip over and cook the other side.
4. Remove cooked eggs (large pancake shape about 1/4" thick) from pan and cut into 1/2" squares.
5. Saute mushrooms and onions with butter and garlic salt. Drain the liquid and set aside.
6. Heat vegetables in the preheated frying pan.
7. Add Chilled whea berries and mix ingredients together.
8. Combine the egg and mushroom/onion mix with the other ingredients in the pan.
9. Add your pre-cooked protein.
10. Drizle mixture evenly with soy sauce and stir in.
11. Season with salt, pepper and additional soy sauce if needed.

I got this recipe out of the book "Discover Wheat and Other Grains" by Cary Ruggles. The book has about fourteen other recipes, but tells you how to make the wheat berries in other ways, and how to also make creamy wheat berries, which have a cooked oatmeal consistency.

How to make "Wheat Berries":

4 C. White Hard Wheat
8 C. Water
1 t. Salt

Put all of these in a large pan (at least 5 qts).
Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
Once you have reached a boil, place lid on pot, and simmer for 1 hour and 5 min. (or until the berries have a soft chewy consistency similar to brown rice. Some may be slightly cracked and open.)

This amount made me about 14 C. of wheat berries!

ENJOY
-Lindsay Kirby (smilelifeaway.blogspot.com)

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Corn Bread

The best homemade corn bread I have tasted. Got it form my sister-in-law while in Utah.

Corn Bread

3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 c. sugar
3 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs
2 1/4 c. flour
1 1/2 c. cornmeal
1 c. milk
1 can cream corn
1/2 c. sour cream

Preheat oven to 350* Cream together butter & sugar in a plastic bowl. Add eggs, mix in. Add rest of ingredients & mix. Pour into a greased 9x13 glass baking pan & bake for 40-45 min, or until golden brown. Serve with honey & butter. (recipe by Jenny Bates)

-Rebecca Fluhman