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Crock Pot Ranch Chicken

Lynnae

This is a super easy recipe, which is exactly what I need on a crazy busy day.  It takes me about 5 minutes (or less) to make it, and it’s ready at the end of the day.  On Sundays, I put it in the crock pot in the morning before church, and it’s ready when we get home.

Crock Pot Ranch Chicken

2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch powdered dressing mix
3 chicken breasts

Put chicken in the crock pot.  Pour cream of chicken soup on top.  Sprinkle ranch powder on top of that.  Bake in crock pot on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 5-6 hours.  Serve over rice.

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Kneaders Cinnamon French Toast

Lynnae

If you’ve ever eaten Kneaders Cinnamon French Toast, you’ve had a real treat for breakfast.  I came across this recipe for it a while ago, and have been making it ever since.  Delicious!

I’m not going to re-create the recipe, but here is my take on it.  I pour the entire egg mixture over the top and let it sit over night.  I use this cinnamon burst bread recipe, or you could buy a loaf of a cinnamon bread from Kneaders (if you live by one) or Great Harvest.  You do need pretty thick slices of bread.  NEVER use regular store bought bread.  (We tried that once.  Not pretty.)

Also, I use this Buttermilk Caramel Syrup recipe from Our Best Bites.  I don’t use the one from the recipe.  Seriously, it’s the best!

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Cinnamon Burst Bread

Lynnae

This is a copy cat Great Harvest Cinnamon Burst Bread recipe that I adapted from one I found on Food.com.  I use bread flour (King Arthur of course) instead of all purpose, and it makes a huge difference.  This is the first step in a bigger and better recipe to follow.  Trust me, you won’t be disappointed!

3 tbsp yeast
1/2 c. sugar
4 eggs, beaten
3 3/4 c warm water
4 1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp Canola oil
2 c. cinnamon chips
8 c. bread flour
1/2 – 1 c. cake flour

Combine 4 c. flour, yeast, and sugar in a large mixing bowl of a stand mixer.  Then add the water, eggs, and oil.  Mix with the paddle attachment until well combined.  Let it rest for about 5 minutes to allow the yeast to work.  Your dough should have bubbles in it.  Switch to the dough hook of your mixer, and then add the salt, 4 more cups of bread flour, and the cinnamon chips.  Knead the dough until it’s nice and smooth.  Add the cake flour a little at a time until the dough pulls away from the bowl, but be careful not to add too much.  Your dough should be slightly sticky and pliable.  You don’t want it too stiff.  Knead it for another 10 minutes.  Put dough in a greased bowl and allow to rise until double in size.  Grease four loaf pans.  Punch dough down, shape it into loaves, and put it in the pans.  Allow to rise until double in size.  Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

I usually freeze a couple of the loaves for later.

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Cinnamon Syrup

Lynnae

If your are looking for a change from boring old maple syrup for your pancakes, this recipe fits the bill.  It comes from my MIL, Lorinda.


Cinnamon Syrup

From the Kitchen of Lorinda Hymas

1 c. corn syrup

2 c. sugar

½ c. water

2 tsp cinnamon

1 c. canned milk

Mix together the corn syrup, sugar, water, and cinnamon, and stir to boil.  Boil for 2 minutes. Cool for 5 min.  Add canned milk and mix together.
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Guacamole

Lynnae

I LOVE guacamole; the straight up avocado kind, not the kind with all the extras.  I like it whenever I make any Mexican dish, so it’s a frequent part of Taco Tuesday.   Here is my simple recipe: 

 Guacamole

2 medium Hass avocados
2/3 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tbsp lime juice

Slice the avocado in half and remove the seed.  Cube it with a knife and scoop it out from the skin into a small bowl.  Mash up the avocado with a fork then add the garlic salt and lime juice.  Mix it in with the fork and serve.

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Homemade Yogurt

Lynnae

This past week, we tried making our own homemade yogurt.  It was well worth the effort!  It was delicious treat and so much more affordable than store bought.  We made a gallon on Saturday and it was completely gone by Wednesday.  Here is a link to the recipe we used. 

We did let our yogurt cure for longer than the recipe said. We tried an experiment and did it from 3-7  hrs (just because we’re nerdy like that).  The longer we left it, the more firm it was.  I’d say 5-6 hour would do the trick.   4 hours was the right amount.  We also left it overnight once, and it turned out pretty sour.

I will also add that the Yoplait starter was THE BEST that we have tried.  I honestly wouldn’t use any other brand.  After you get going, you can just use your homemade stuff for the starter.

We made the vanilla kind, with 2/3 cups of sugar, and then we added about a tablespoon of jam to a cup full to flavor it.  We used our strawberry and raspberry peach freezer jams we made over the summer.  It’s seriously good, and after you get your own yogurt starter, it’s the cost of a gallon of milk for a gallon of yogurt.  There’s a link on the recipe that talks about how much the cost savings is a year.  If you ate four quarts a week (that’s a lot, be we can definitely eat that much) you can save between $350 and $500 a year.  That’s no small change.

Enjoy!

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Navajo Tacos

Lynnae

I had planned to make to make Navajo Tacos the day after we had chili, because then I could use the left over chili for the tacos.  However, we are having the missionaries over tonight, and chicken noodle soup (what I had originally planned for today) just didn’t sound good on this unseasonably warm day. 

So to make them, you need fry bread as your base.  Really any dough will do.  I have used Rhodes frozen rolls, which work great.  I also have used the sour dough pizza crust dough.  Flatten or roll out your dough and make it into the size you want for your base.

Heat up your oil in a skillet or stock pan (the higher sides keep the oil more contained so there is less splatter on the stove top) over medium high heat.  If you flick a little water into the oil, and it sizzles, your oil is hot enough. Drop your dough into the oil.  When that side is a golden brown, turn it over with a pair of tongs and repeat. 

Then top with heated Chili (you can use homemade or a can of Chili with Beans also works fine).  and your favorite ingredients–cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, black olives, onions, guacamole, sour cream, and/or ranch dressing.

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Chicken Alfredo

Lynnae

One of my very favorite food blogs is Our Best Bites.  They have some amazing recipes.   For this meal, I use their Guiltless Alfredo Sauce.  It’s fast, easy, low fat, and full of flavor.  Win, win, win, win.

First, I marinade 2-3 chicken breasts in equal parts of balsamic vinegar, lime juice, and 3 cloves of minced garlic for about 4 hours.

Then, I prepare a rub that I put on:

Rub:
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp parsley

I put the rub on both sides of the chicken breasts and grill them for 7-10 minutes per side.

I the mean time, I boil some fettuccine noodles in salt and a small amount of oil, and make the Alfredo sauce.

When everything is done, I slice the chicken into small strips and serve it on top of the noodles and Alfredo sauce.  Good stuff!

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Deep Dish Pizza & Pizza Sauce

Lynnae

Thursdays are pizza night, and again, I like to mix it up with a variety of pizzas.  This week is a deep dish.

Coat the bottom of a deep dish baker stone with olive oil and then place your crust in the pan.  You made need to let it relax for a minute before it will stay in place, depending on what pizza crust recipe you use.  I used a frozen ball from the more complex recipe that I sat in the fridge the night before and then let raise all day. 

Bake at 425 for 8-10 minutes until lightly done.  Remove and add pizza sauce, cheese, and your favorite pizza toppings. We love pepperoni, bacon, ham, mushrooms, black olive, fresh tomatoes, pineapple, or sausage.  We also really like slices of Johnsonville Garlic and Irish Sausage on top.  They are delicious!  Bake at 425 for an additional 30-35 minutes.

Here is the recipe I use for my pizza sauce:

Pizza Sauce

8 oz tomato sauce
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tbsp dried parsley
1/2 tbsp dried basil

Mix together.

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UPDATED: Pizza Crust

Lynnae

UPDATED

I have two recipes for pizza crust.  This first one is easy to mix up on demand, and doesn’t take a lot of prep work.  Here is my simple pizza crust recipe:

Pizza Crust

 1 c. water
2-3 c. flour, divided
1 tbsp yeast
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Mix 1 cup of flour along with all the other ingredients in the mixer using the paddle attachment.  Change to the dough attachment on the mixer and add flour until the dough looses most of it’s stickiness, but is still soft and pliable.  This is enough dough for 1 large pizza.

The second recipe is a more complicated sour dough recipe, but well worth the effort.  Along with the discovery of King Arthur Flour, came this recipe for pizza crust, all from my husband’s attending (boss) last month, Dr. Kenneth Kernen.  My husband is the one who makes the dough, and then we freeze 3-4 balls for the next time.  This recipe is in weight, NOT in volume.  For your convenience, we have converted this to volume measurements in parenthesis, but we HIGHLY recommend weighing the flour.  Dr. Kernen said the reason is that it’s much more accurate and consistent, since the ingredients tend to be inconsistent in how tightly they’re packed.

Also of note, the bread flour/cake flour combo in here is important to get the consistency right, and King Arthur flour is the way to go.   King Arthur also has a sour dough starter if you don’t have one or can’t get a hold of one.  We also recommend Saf-instant yeast.

Sour Dough Pizza Crust

100 ml water (1/2 c.)
1 1/2 tsp yeast
15 ml honey (1 tbsp)
1/4 c. sour dough starter
700 ml cold water (about 3 cups)
35 gm salt (2 tbsp)
45 gm extra virgin olive oil (1/4 c.)
1000 gm bread flour (approx 6 3/4 c. scooped and leveled)
250 gm cake flour (approx 1 3/4 c. scooped and leveled)

In a mixing bowl, mix the 100 ml water, yeast, and honey together.  Then add the sour dough starter, cold water, salt, olive oil, and flour to the mixer with the dough hook attachment.  Knead for 10-15 minutes.  The dough will be pretty sticky and wet.  Transfer to an oiled bowl and cover.  Let it sit or proof at least 24 hrs, but longer is better (2-4 days).  It develops the flavor.   This recipe will make 4-5 pizza crusts.

NOTE:  This recipe also makes GREAT fry bread (scones, elephant ears, or whatever you want to call them).  We just made a sandwich from a left over piece of fry bread and it was OH SO GOOD!