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posted by Donald on 03/21/12

Fragrant with herbs, this rich bread, along with salad and/or soup, makes a wonderful meal. By the way, the thinner variety makes delicious turkey sandwiches!

Normally, in the process of making six loaves of our regular bread, we use one loaf’s worth of dough (flavored optionally with 1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes) to make either:

• one 10 x 15 jellyroll pan, or
• two 8 in. round cake pans, or
• three cake pans for the thinner variety.

Alternatively, you can experiment with your own favorite bread recipe.

1.  Press dough evenly in well-oiled cake pans, sprinkled with cornmeal. (Cornmeal is optional.) Cover with damp cloth and let rise 20 or 30 min.

2.  If you opt for black olives, make an indentation for them in dough for every square inch with spoon handle or fingertip and insert an olive in each hole. Brush dough with olive oil. Sprinkle entire amount with:

• 2 tsp Rosemary Leaves crushed,
• 2 Tbsp Parmesan Cheese,
• 1/2 cup Mozzarella Cheese, and
• 1 clove Garlic, finely minced (or 1 t. Garlic Powder—not garlic salt!)

3.  Bake at 400 for 12 minutes or until nicely browned.

Serve warm and enjoy!

4 Comments » | posted in Recipes

posted by Donald on 04/14/11

Follow bread recipe, adding Rosemary (1/4 tsp per loaf) for extra flavor

1. After dough has risen, divide each loaf into 4 balls
2. Place on cookie sheets and flatten slightly
3. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes
4. Lightly beat 1 egg white with 2 Tbsp of water and brush mixture onto risen loaves.
5. Bake at 375 for 40 or 50 minutes
6. Remove from oven and let cool
7. Cut a circle out of the top of each loaf, and  remove that part of the crust
8. Either remove the soft bread at the center or compress it to form a bowl

Now the bowl is ready to be filled with your favorite soup. For starters, try . . .

Broccoli Cheese Soup – 6 servings

1. In a saucepan, heat:
   3 cups Water, and 
   1 Tbsp Chicken Bouillon
2. Add:
   3/4 tsp Salt
   3/4 tsp Seasoning Salt
   1/8 tsp Pepper, coarse
   1 pinch Nutmeg
   14 oz. Fresh or Frozen Broccoli Cuts
   1/3 cup Diced Onion
3. Bring to a boil
4. Reduce heat to very low and simmer ten minutes or until vegetables are tender
5. In a separate saucepan:
   Melt 1/3 cup Butter
   Add 1/3 cup Flour and whisk
   Cook on very low heat for 5 minutes
6. Add to broccoli mixture and whisk until smooth
7. Add 3 cups warm Milk
8. Bring to a boil
9. Immediately decrease heat and simmer two minutes
10. Add 1 1/2 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese
11. Cook until cheese is melted and soup is hot!

Then pour into bread bowls and enjoy. It definitely isn’t as difficult as it sounds. If you’re like us you will end up wanting to make it again and again. You might even have less dishes to wash.

For other excellent recipes see Kim Cahill’s No Guesswork Cookbook

5 Comments » | posted in Recipes

posted by Michael on 09/27/10

This bread has always been a defining characteristic of our family. We use this recipe for all the bread we make, whether pizza crusts, cinnamon rolls, buns, or raisin bread. Below are some important factors that may significantly change the process for others who use the recipe. Of course experience is important so that you get the feel for what texture the dough should be, because many other variables can change the exact amount of flour used on any given day.

1. We grind our wheat and have no experience using any other kind of flour, so if you buy whole wheat flour, it may make some differences. Our stone grinder is able to grind finer than some hand-grinders.

2. We use a Bosch mixing bowl with kneading hooks that knead the dough so that we do not have to knead it by hand. This bowl has two lids; the first is like a ring. It is about 2 inches wide and keeps the dough in the bowl while kneading. The 2nd lid is for covering completely, helpful for keeping warmth and humidity in the bowl while it is rising.

3. We use hard white spring wheat. Different kinds of wheat do make a big difference in the resulting bread’s color and density.

4. Since we have a “large family”, we always make a large batch; about 6 lb. of dough each time. Actually we have to bake bread one to three times each week depending on how much of the family is in. Any bread that will not be eaten in 24 hours can be frozen in plastic bags. We slice it before freezing it. That way we can bag it into portions that we will need at one time, such as two slices per family member, and remove one portion from the freezer at a time. By the way, it greatly improves the quality of the bread to double bag it when freezing. We like to put a number of portions, each in its own bag, into a large bag which can be marked with the date that batch was made.

Anyway, here’s the recipe:

(more…)

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posted by Staddon Family on 08/12/10

One of the things the Staddons have always done is make their own granola! It’s great as a topping, as a breakfast cereal, or even a special gift. Our method of making it has changed in small ways many times and we have tried many different varieties, some of them unforgettable! At the present time we make a no-bake variety (technically called “muesli”) that will keep just fine for a week or more. We double the recipe below and it feeds seven of us for almost one week. The recipe can change depending on what ingredients are available, so we will include our recipe here and let you experiment and come up with your own favorite!

Combine dry ingredients and mix well:
6 cups rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup sweetened or unsweetened coconut
1 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup raw or roasted wheat germ
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds or raw chopped walnuts
1/2 cup oat bran (optional)
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

Add and stir in wet ingredients:
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup local raw honey
1 1/2 Tbsp molasses

We’ve never used a processor to mix the thick wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, so we get a healthy work-out doing it with a big wooden spatula. Try to chop up the clumps and mix in the loose powder from the corners of the bowl. If you would like to bake it, you can bake it in an ungreased casserole dish at 350 degrees until it reaches the desired doneness, perhaps 1/2 hour, but be sure to take it out of the oven and stir it once about every 10 minutes. When using it for breakfast cereal, we like to top it with fresh or dried fruit.

Other ingredients to try in place of or in addition to similar ingredients above include: dry milk, grape nuts cereal, chopped walnuts, peanuts, or other nuts, pumpkin seeds or other seeds, vanilla flavoring or other spices, flavorings, and extracts. It is fun to make “theme” granolas such as “pumpkin granola” using pumpkin seeds, pieces of pumpkin leather, and pumpkin pie spices like ginger and nutmeg.

6 Comments » | posted in Recipes

posted by Mom on 10/10/09

I am thankful that God  gave us taste buds. I’m also glad He gave us good-tasting things to eat–and herbs can make them taste even better!

My family did not use herbs very much when I was a child, at home, so I’ve had to learn this art from talking with others through the years. Here are some of the questions I asked and the  discoveries  I made.

1. Do I have to use pork in my soup beans to make them taste good?  After all, the less pork you eat the better.

2. What did you put in this stew? Mine always tastes so bland!

3. Can canned green beans taste good without adding oil or butter?

The answers, I’ve found, to each one of these questions involves using the right herbs and spices.

1) When Esther (now age 23) was three months old I found myself in the “nursing mothers’ lounge” in Knoxville while Don and I were attending the home school seminar. I asked one of the ladies, who was also there in the lounge, question number one, and this was her reply: “bay leaf”. She was right! After experimenting a bit, I discovered a very delicious recipe. This recipe is for one pound of dry beans (all kinds of dry beans will work).

Let beans soak overnight. Add one teaspoon of salt, one teaspoon of bouillon, 1 bay leaf, 1/2 cup of onion, and one clove of garlic (minced). Cook until desired softness. We have soft water so they are done after about `1 1/2  hours. Harder water will take 2 1/2 hours.

2) At a covered dish dinner, I tasted the best beef, potatoes, carrots, and onion I had ever eaten. I asked the one who brought it what herbs she used, and she said. “My brother actually made this, but I think he used  ‘rosemary’.” What a revelation! After experimenting a bit, I came up with this recipe for two pounds of stew meat,  two pounds of potatoes, one cup of onion, and three carrots. Add  1/2 teaspoon of rosemary (don’t overdo it–you can get too much!), one bay leaf, one clove of minced garlic, one teaspoon of bouillon, salt & pepper to taste.

3) This one is the best yet. Once, While waiting on our children, another mother and I were talking about menus. I asked her what she liked to fix, and she told me about adding Cajun spice to her green beans! After I warm  up the can of beans, I pour off the water, sprinkle on the Cajun spice, stir it up, and serve. You will have to experiment to see how much you like. I use quite a bit. Cajun tastes great on beans fresh out of the garden too.

One more little tip. If you grow your own herbs, they will usually dry just fine if picked and left on the counter for a few days. Just put them in a glass jar and keep them all winter. I found this out after accidentally leaving some raspberry leaves (for tea) in the car one summer.

4 Comments » | posted in Recipes