Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Whole Wheat Bread

So - a slight whole wheat bread obsession - compliments of my husband - has overtaken me. He doesn't like the white bread I make. It's too dense and too white for him. (one of his solutions? Yellow food coloring. Really.)

So - I started with this recipe from Smitten Kitchen. Six or so loaves later I think I've got it.

I used this yeast. I had the thought on about loaf 4 to use more yeast. This caught my eye at the grocery and I like the brand.

I proofed the yeast according to the package (1/4 cup warm water, 1/4 t sugar) BEFORE I added it to the flour mixture.

I used this whole wheat flour and added it first so that I would be sure to get the full amount in the bread.

I used this white flour and only added about 2 1/4 cups. But that always varies.

Wow - a whole wheat dough that actually rose! It responded to the second rising (a problem I'd been having) and baked up wonderfully. The loaf is almost gone - I made it Sunday and it's Tuesday.

Success!

Monday, February 23, 2009

Kale Soup

Lisa's making Kale soup on the WILL show and I've been thinking about it ever since she mentioned it. At Wal-mart on Saturday they had HUGE bags of triple washed kale. HUGE. about 16x12 inches. And I had a turkey kielbasa in the freezer so....

Smoked Turkey Kale Soup

1 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic - mashed
1 T olive oil
3 medium potatoes diced
1 cup white wine
2 cans chicken stock
1-2 cups water
1 Turkey Kielbasa (1 lb?) chopped
a lot of kale
salt
pepper

saute onions and garlic in olive oil. Add potatoes and saute the whole mess for a while. (I don't know why - but sauteing the potatoes in soups first makes them more palatable to me.) Add kielbasa and brown a bit.

Add white wine, and start ripping up and adding kale (I had about a 6" long piece of kale in soup at a restaurant recently and it was NOT GOOD.) Let kale cook down a bit. Add some more kale, the chicken stock. Cook down. More kale. Water. Cook down. More kale. I would guess I used about 1/3 of the bag of kale. Let kale simmer and cook down. It really doesn't ever get mushy (a la spinach).

I just had some for lunch. Tasty.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Exciting pieces of news:

Scott reports that Papa Del's now has signage up & equipment inside at their long-awaited restaurant at Village at the crossing.

Secondly - Seth won! Seth Won!! Seth will be cooking live on WILL TV, 3/9/09. He submitted his beef stew recipe and was the only child selected. I have never seen him so excited! Details to follow.....