Easy Homemade Sandwich Bread!

"Keep calm and bake on!"

That's what we did during Typhoon Trami and there's nothing like the smell of fresh homemade bread in the home...can you smell it now? Happiness!

A lot of work went into this lovely loaf of bread. I mixed all the ingredients together and then my youngest got to work kneading it. He did a great job! I usually put it in my kitchen aid and let that do the work, but the bread came out dense. My 7yr. old wanted to help knead it so I should him how and he ended up giving it a few too many punches and then folding. It turned out to be a great method!!

It wore him out a little bit and he had fun! Plus the dough came out nice and soft and rose perfectly!!

So glad my kids love to help out in the kitchen. I certainly love teaching them the importance of cooking!! 

They love love this bread and I love that they love it!

Happiness is definitely homemade!

I've been using King Arthur's Bread Flour and it's been great....

*This recipe is for a bread machine. I don't have a bread machine, so I do it a little differently. If you have a bread machine then add it all together in the machine and press start. If you don't follow my directions.

Easy Sandwich Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 1/3 cup lukewarm milk 
• 3 tbsp. butter
• 3 3/4 cup bread flour
• 3 tbsp. sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast or instant yeast

Directions:

• Put lukewarm water in your mixing bowl and add sugar and instant yeast. Let it rest for 5mins.
• It should be foamy and bubbly, add the rest of the ingredients and mix together.
• Knead it for 10-12mins until nice and soft.
• Oil a loaf pan and shape the dough for the pan. 
• Let it rise for 1 hr. and don't forget to set your oven at 350 degrees.

For the small 1lb. loaf use this...

• 2/3 cup lukewarm water
• 1/4 lukewarm milk
• 2 T butter or I like avocado oil
• 2 1/2 cups bread flour
• 5 tsp. sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1tsp. active dry yeast or instant yeast

• I let it rise for 2.5 hrs. I turn the oven on about the last 30 mins of the rising time to 350 deg. and then bake for 33 mins in a glass baking dish.

• After it's done rising put into the oven for 40-45mins until golden brown..... 

Let it cool and enjoy with some fresh butter and smile :) 

Pressure Cooker New York Cheesecake!!

So. Cheesecake. Who doesn't love it?!

I would have never made cheesecake had I not joined an Instant Pot group on Facebook. Lots of people make all kinds of different cheesecakes in this pressure cooker and I just had to try it!

I used This Old Gal's New York Cheesecake recipe! So try it out. If all goes well and you don't end up over mixing the eggs everything will cook and set up just right and I'm super happy that mine came out!...

 The true test is if people like it. We had some friends over for dinner, so they got to decide! And they loved it. Them and my Fish Fam said over and over how good it was. Whew! Then my husband took the last of it to a family he went to visit after dinner. He came back saying how much they loved it and couldn't stop saying how good it was. I was glad to hear that because you all know cheesecake isn't something on my menu, so I didn't know how it tasted! It's definitely something my food intolerances will not tolerate. Too bad so sad! But honestly after seeing all the dairy and sugar that went into this thing, I'm not sure I could eat it even if I could eat it! Lol!! I'll stick to my raw paleo cheezcakes! 

If you want to make cheesecake in this pressure cooker you need to have a few specific things...

This 6in cheesecake pan that will fit into the pressure cooker. I bought this recommend springform pan at amazon... https://www.amazon.com/Fat-Daddios-Anodized-Aluminum-Springform/dp/B001VEI05G/ref=sr_1_3?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1478696303&sr=1-3&keywords=fat+daddios+6+inch+cake+pans

 The pan needs to be on top of a trivet... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H3CXWW6/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1SJABPS7VUUEM or this steamer is also recommended because it has these handles so you can pull out the cheesecake...https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A2KD8IY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. These two things are needed so the pan isn't submerged into the water.

*The green steamer is nice to use for making hard boiled eggs and I've used it for making banana bread and this cheesecake in the spring form pan, but because it's silicone and the springform pan fills the pot pretty good and us heavy from the bread or cheesecake the silicone rubs on the sides and makes it harder to pull it out. So I will try the trivet and her hand made foil sling next time!

Follow her directions closely and you're good to go!

Enjoy!!

Tomato Cream Sauce

The Fish Fam LOVED this Tomato Cream Sauce.

It's from the Pioneer Women, which I love pretty much all of her recipes!

I changed this one up a bit though because we limit cows milk as much as possible, so instead of using the heavy cream I made a white sauce with butter, flour, and coconut milk. Very easy. Directions here.

I've also got lots of help in the kitchen! My little one opens the cans of organic tomato sauce and while another grates the parmesan cheese. Very helpful!

Mine didn't turn out so orange, but the family said it's super super good and we've had it quite a few times these last few weeks with organic pasta.

Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

The Pioneer Women

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 whole Medium Onion, Finely Diced
• 4 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 2 cans (15 Oz. Size) Tomato Sauce Or Marinara Sauce
•  Salt And Pepper, to taste
•  Dash Of Sugar (more To Taste)
• 1 cup Heavy Cream
•  Grated Parmesan Or Romano Cheese, To Taste
•  Fresh Basil, Chopped
• 1-1/2 pound Fettuccine

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta water.

Heat butter and oil over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and saute for a minute or so. Pour in tomato sauce and add salt, pepper, and sugar to taste. Stir and cook over low heat for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and stir in cream. Add cheese to taste, then check seasonings. Stir in pasta and chopped basil and serve immediately. (Thin with pasta water before adding basil if needed.)

*Switch out the wheat noodles for gluten-free to make it gluten-free!

Thanksgiving Dinner!

What else could be better than Pumpkin Pie at Thanksgiving?!

Well, I guess the Turkey, surfing, rolls, vegetable dishes, cornbread, and other pies too :)

But, this pumpkin pie was special because I was able to eat it!

It's a Paleo pie and was awesome.

Onto the main event!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

I cooked just about everything from scratch and was in the kitchen from morning 'til late afternoon.

Whew! It's a good thing my hubby took care of our yummy organic turkey!

I had lots and lots of help from my kids and family too, thank goodness.

I made this Sourdough, Wild Mushroom, & Bacon Stuffing.

I bought an organic rosemary sourdough loaf at Wholefoods and wow,

it smelled delicious!

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 pounds sourdough bread, crusts trimmed, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 12 cups)
• 1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 pound oyster mushrooms, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 pound cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 4 tablespoons canola oil, divided
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 pound slab bacon, cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 1 large Spanish onion, finely diced
• 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 3 to 5 cups homemade chicken stock or low sodium canned chicken broth
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

• Spread the bread onto a large baking sheet (or 2 smaller baking sheets) in an even layer and bake, stirring a few times, until lightly golden brown, about 12 minutes. Remove and let cool. Once cooled, put the cubes into a very large bowl.

• Increase the heat to 375 degrees F. Combine the mushrooms in a large baking dish or baking sheet, toss with 3 tablespoons of the oil, and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven, stirring several times, until soft and golden brown, about 25 minutes.

• While the mushrooms are roasting, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of the canola oil in a large high-sided saute pan over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and the fat has rendered, about 10 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to a plate lined with paper towels.

• Remove all but 2 tablespoons of the rendered fat in the saute pan and place back on the stove over high heat. Add the onion and cook until soft, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add 3 cups of the chicken stock and the herbs, season with salt and pepper, and bring to a simmer.

• Add the mushrooms to the bread, and then add the onion/stock mixture, egg, salt and pepper, and gently stir until combined. The dressing should be very wet, add more stock as needed. Scrape the mixture into a buttered 13 by 9 by 2-inch glass baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil, and continue baking until the top is golden brown, about 30 to 40 minutes longer. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Recipe courtesy Bobby Flay

My father in-law did the brussels sprouts, I don't know what he put in it, but it was good!

Here's a recipe from my previous brussel sprout dish...

I threw together this dish by chopping up...

Fresh Garlic, minced

Onions, diced

Potatoes, peeled and cubed

Brussel Sprouts, bottoms cut off

and cut in half

I started to pre cook the sausage in a pan on the stove, but didn't cook all the way because it would cook longer in the oven.

I put everything in a big bowl and added sea salt (I like Redmonds), peppercorn (from the pepper grinder), and Italian Herb Seasoning, and then drizzled plenty plenty of oil all over and mixed it all together.

Preheat oven 400 deg or so for 30-40 mins.

Can't forget the cornbread and rolls!

I just used an easy cornbread recipe here and oh my goodness the rolls...

This was my first time making rolls, quite daunting, and after all the…

Mixing

Kneading

Rolling

Etc.

There was lots of time waiting for them to rise.

And hoping they'd turn out!!

I had the help of my little sous chef, so all in all they didn't turn out bad, but I'll get it right one day!

Can you guess the secret ingredient in just about every dish?

Ryan says, "It starts with "B" and ends with "utter"!"

Yep....

B-U-T-T-E-R

And lots of it!

Lots of healthy organic grass-fed butter that is.

In the pie crust along there is 4 sticks of it!

Luckily, my littlest was my apple pie helper!

He was so cute slicing the apples, juicing the lemon, and mixing the sugar.

We named it after him :)

Sadly the pie didn't turn out like I was hoping for due to various reasons, but just throw down some vanilla ice cream and it's all good!!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!