My cousin is trying to get rid of a couple of tickets to a KT Tunstall concert for the evening of May 5. She got them for $65 (including fees) but she'll give them to someone for $40. It's at the Wiltern, a beautiful old Art Deco movie palace in LA. We'd probably go, but exams are calling...
Any takers? E-mail me!
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
Julia's Bread and Honey Butter
This recipe off of Julia's blog looked so good. I'll be trying it soon!
Recipe for Wheat Bread
1 12 oz. can of evaporated milk PLUS skim milk to equal 2 C total of milk
2/3 C water
1 stick of butter, melted and cooled
1/4 C honey
3 1/2 C whole wheat bread flour
3 C white bread flour
1 T plus 1 t of dry active yeast (or 2 packets)
4 t of salt
Dump can of evap. milk, extra skim milk, and water in a microwaveable bowl. Nuke it until it is warm to the touch (not just lukewarm ... let's not be pansies ... it will lose some heat when it hits your mixing bowl). Add to mixer with melted stick of butter. Add honey and yeast. Start mixer on low and add a cup of flour at a time until you get to 5 total. Once the flour is incorporated enough it's not going to fly all over the place, turn the mixer up to 2 or 3 (Kitchen Aid) and beat for 4 minutes. This is to get the gluten content up, and to avoid kneading. I'm lazy. I do this all with the paddle attachment. It should be like cookie dough consistency.
Then sprinkle salt and mix in. You can switch to your bread hook now, if you'd like. Add the rest of flour in cups, just a bit at a time at the end, until the dough pulls from the sides, forms a ball on the hook but it still stuck to the bottom.
Scrape bowl, forming dough into a ball. You can knead it a bit if you want, but I don't. Place in a greased glass bowl and place in a warm oven (about 100 degrees ... I do this by preheating the oven for about 2 minutes and then turning it off while I'm mixing the dough ... I know, I'm coordinated). This is cheating because it will raise in about 1 hour this way.
Once it's doubled, punch down. Then split into two and shape into loaves by rolling the dough from one side to the other, like a long tube. Then tuck in the ends and place in a greased pan. Let that rise until you have a nice hump above the pan, about an inch. Bake at 350 for 40 to 50 minutes.
Oh, and note, you can use regular flour for the whole thing. Or whatever floats your boat.
World's Second Best Honey Butter
1 stick butter
1/2 c honey
1/4 c powdered sugar
1/2 t vanilla
dash of salt
Beat everything together until fluffy. Enjoy liberally on all sorts of mediums, the best being homemade bread.
Recipe for Wheat Bread
1 12 oz. can of evaporated milk PLUS skim milk to equal 2 C total of milk
2/3 C water
1 stick of butter, melted and cooled
1/4 C honey
3 1/2 C whole wheat bread flour
3 C white bread flour
1 T plus 1 t of dry active yeast (or 2 packets)
4 t of salt
Dump can of evap. milk, extra skim milk, and water in a microwaveable bowl. Nuke it until it is warm to the touch (not just lukewarm ... let's not be pansies ... it will lose some heat when it hits your mixing bowl). Add to mixer with melted stick of butter. Add honey and yeast. Start mixer on low and add a cup of flour at a time until you get to 5 total. Once the flour is incorporated enough it's not going to fly all over the place, turn the mixer up to 2 or 3 (Kitchen Aid) and beat for 4 minutes. This is to get the gluten content up, and to avoid kneading. I'm lazy. I do this all with the paddle attachment. It should be like cookie dough consistency.
Then sprinkle salt and mix in. You can switch to your bread hook now, if you'd like. Add the rest of flour in cups, just a bit at a time at the end, until the dough pulls from the sides, forms a ball on the hook but it still stuck to the bottom.
Scrape bowl, forming dough into a ball. You can knead it a bit if you want, but I don't. Place in a greased glass bowl and place in a warm oven (about 100 degrees ... I do this by preheating the oven for about 2 minutes and then turning it off while I'm mixing the dough ... I know, I'm coordinated). This is cheating because it will raise in about 1 hour this way.
Once it's doubled, punch down. Then split into two and shape into loaves by rolling the dough from one side to the other, like a long tube. Then tuck in the ends and place in a greased pan. Let that rise until you have a nice hump above the pan, about an inch. Bake at 350 for 40 to 50 minutes.
Oh, and note, you can use regular flour for the whole thing. Or whatever floats your boat.
World's Second Best Honey Butter
1 stick butter
1/2 c honey
1/4 c powdered sugar
1/2 t vanilla
dash of salt
Beat everything together until fluffy. Enjoy liberally on all sorts of mediums, the best being homemade bread.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Ratatouille
I found a recipe for Ratatouille in my Betty Crocker book, and it made me think of the movie. So, for FHE last week we ate Rataouille while we watched the movie. It's totally vegetarian, so some husbands might appreciate some meat with it; I would suggest a steak or maybe plain grilled chicken. I thought it was plenty filling and satisfying all by itself. Anyway, it was a fun FHE, and I thought I'd put the recipe up.
Ratatouille:
1 med (1.5 lb.) 1/2" cubed eggplant (unpeeled or peeled; I peeled mine)
1 lb. zucchini cut in 1/2" slices
1 med. green bell pepper chopped
1 med onion finely chopped
2 med tomatoes cut into fourths*
1/4 cup olive or veg oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cloves garlic finely chopped*
cook all ingredients in 12" skillet 10-15 min on med heat (until zucchini is tender).
* I actually suggest cutting the tomatoes in 1/2" chunks and adding it 5 min into cooking. I cut mine into eighths and the pieces were still a pretty big mouthful. And I used 2 heaping tsp. minced garlic from a jar, instead of fresh garlic, and sauteed that with the oil 2 min or so before adding everything else.
Ratatouille:
1 med (1.5 lb.) 1/2" cubed eggplant (unpeeled or peeled; I peeled mine)
1 lb. zucchini cut in 1/2" slices
1 med. green bell pepper chopped
1 med onion finely chopped
2 med tomatoes cut into fourths*
1/4 cup olive or veg oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cloves garlic finely chopped*
cook all ingredients in 12" skillet 10-15 min on med heat (until zucchini is tender).
* I actually suggest cutting the tomatoes in 1/2" chunks and adding it 5 min into cooking. I cut mine into eighths and the pieces were still a pretty big mouthful. And I used 2 heaping tsp. minced garlic from a jar, instead of fresh garlic, and sauteed that with the oil 2 min or so before adding everything else.
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