Sourdough Bread

Have you ever tried to make your own sourdough bread? I tried years ago, but after two weeks, my started turned pink and smelled really funky, so I tossed it. Now that I have had lots of practice making yeast breads, I decided to take it on again. I am a total novice, but wanted to share with you my success. Finally, it worked! It took about a month of feeding and tending to my starter, but it finally turned out the way I wanted; sour flavor without being too sour and just enough of a rise and perfectly crunchy on top, chewy on bottom crust. Love it! I am soooo happy and it is worth all of the effort. I am just going to share with you the starter and bread recipe I used.

I don't need to try to recreate the recipe since there are actual experts out there.  Confessions of a   Bright-Eyed Baker had the recipe I found on Pinterest. I tried it because they didn't make you feed it more than once per week or two. I fed mine more than that sometimes and I made several loaves over the month, but none of them were sour tasting. After I refrigerated my starter for a week or so, it finally turned sour. Exactly as I like it. I used the San Francisco bread recipe at the bottom of this post. It takes a long time to raise it this way, but I love the flavor enough to keep doing it. I have some recipes that take NO time and NO kneading and barely any work, but sourdough is such an awesome flavor that I will continue on with this old-fashioned way of making bread.

Here is the link to the recipe I used. I hope you will try it.  Let me know how you enjoyed it (or otherwise!)

If you would rather start with a sourdough starter that is already started, you can always order one on Amazon or somewhere like that. I think even King Arthur Flour has one that you can order at their site.

Here is a link to an Amazon one...

Or this one...

Or... you can see there are lots of options...

And a few more that you may find useful...


I have this pizza stone and it works well for bread making if you don't want to use parchment and a cookie sheet like I do.



Tami

Super Healthy Pesto

Finally!  I am able to blog again!  My computer hard drive crapped out and I was without a computer for a while.  I had my tablet, but I cannot update my blogs on there.  It wouldn't let me upload pictures.

So, for my come-back, I thought I'd post about a delicious, nutritious pesto I made today.  It was so easy and quick and delicious that I had to share.  I served it as a spread on a chicken, cheese and pesto panini.  Sooo yummy!   I have been trying to add extra nutrition into everything I make lately, so this pesto includes chia seeds, flax seeds and hemp seed!  These additives add a few calories, but are worth it in the end.  You really can't taste them because the garlic and basil are so strong.

Spinach, Basil Pesto PLUS

6 cups Spinach, washed
1 bunch hydroponic basil (or two if you want more basily flavor!)
3-5 cloves of garlic
1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 cup olive oil (more if needed)
1 juice of one lemon
1/8 tsp pink sea salt (or any sea salt you have
1 tbsp. chia seed
1 tbsp. ground flax seed
1 tbsp. ground hemp seed

Pile all ingredients into your food processor or blender.  BLEND!  If your ingredients won't blend in the blender, add more olive oil and about 1/4 cup of water.  You can add water to the food processor too because chia seed absorbs liquid and will soak up any liquid in the recipe.  I added 1/3 cup of water and the texture turned out perfectly.

Enjoy!

How To Make Thai Spring Rolls

When I lived in San Diego, I found the tastiest treat EVER at Saffron on India Street.  I fell in love with this low-cal, low-carb treat.... really, a hand-held salad.  It was heaven.  I had my husband pick them up about once a week on his way home from work. 

Eventually, I moved to Upstate NY and could no longer get these yummy lunches/dinners, so I learned to make them myself.  It really is easy if you can find the spring roll wrappers at your grocery store.  I've found these at Wegman's in NY and hopefully you can find them at yours too.

These are the ingredients you need:

Spring Roll Wrappers

Roast Chicken breast sliced - Great from leftover roast chicken or you can buy a roast chicken at the grocery; Large leaf lettuce (mine is red leaf), cucumber sliced the long way, cilantro, peanuts (chopped or not)... I also sometimes add thin carrot sticks to the mix. Some people like fresh mint leaves in theirs too, but I'm not a fan.  I have also seen them made with cooked shrimp instead of the chicken.

Optional... but oh so good... a peanut sauce and a Thai Sweet Chili Sauce.  These are my favorite brands...

You can actually find them at our Walmart, but not sure about yours.

To assemble:

Take one of the Spring roll wrappers from the package.  They are hard and feel a little like plastic.

In a large frying pan, heat about a cup of water to simmering.  Turn off the heat.

Have a pair of tongs ready.

Put the wrapper into the water.  It will roll a bit, but use your tongs to keep it down

a bit.  Just after you get it wet, flip it over carefully.

Get the entire other side wet.  You don't want to keep it in too long or it will get too soggy and rip

easily.

Remove from the pan to your work surface.  Try to keep it from doing this!

In order to do so, while you pick it up with the tongs, grab the other side with

your fingers.  It will be hot, so be careful.   If it does turn out like this, throw it

out and start over.  I guarantee one will do this.

This is what it should look like. 

 Add one leaf of lettuce in the top middle.

 Cilantro on top of that....

 Cucumbers on top of that...

Chicken pieces on top of that...

 Peanuts on top of that.  I like mine whole, but you can chop them if you like them less chunky...

I add the peanut and chili sauces right inside so I don't have to dirty a dish to dip in, but you can dip them if you like!

Next, fold the bottom half of the wrapper up over the filling....

Fold the left side over the fillings and roll it all up to the right side.

 In the end it will look like this...

I generally eat 4 of them for a meal.  Hope you enjoy this tutorial and love these as much as I do!

If you can't find the wrappers at your store, you can order them online at Amazon... Same goes for the sauces... but they only hvae a 6 pack of peanut sauce on there.  I'm sure you can find the single bottle online somewhere....

 Spring roll wrappers (rice paper)- 12 oz
  House of Tsang Bangkok Peanut Sauce, 11.5-Ounce Bottles (Pack of 6)

 Sweet Chili Sauce - 25 oz

Mini Cheeseball Pumpkin Appetizer

Awe... aren't they sweet?  These are such a simple appetizer that anyone can make them!  They were a big hit in both flavor and  cuteness.  Because I had some very picky eaters eating these, I made some {the darker pumpkins} with a spicy mixture on top, but I also made some plain for those who don't like things spicier.

Mini Cheeseball Pumpkin Appetizer

8 oz block of cream cheese
6 oz finely shredded orange cheddar cheese
sesame stick snacks
Equal parts {approx. 1/4 tsp each}
paprika
chili powder
ceyenne pepper
cumin
black pepper
Mini toasts or crackers

Mix 8 oz cream cheese with 3 oz orange cheddar in your mixer bowl.  Roll 1 tsp (more or less depending on the size you'd like) of the cheese mixture into balls.  Roll all of the balls in the remaining shredded cheddar to coat.  Roll half of the balls in the spice mixture to create the darker, spicier pumpkins.  Place one sesame stick into each pumpkin to create a stem & flatten the ball slightly.  Serve on small toasts or crackers.

These are the mini toasts I used.  So adorable!

Whole Wheat Mini Toasts (3.1 ounce)

Homemade Hot Pretzels & Deep-Fried Fettuccini Knots

Oh yum.... Today I made homemade whole wheat hot pretzels.  They are yummy!  The boys covered them with Easy Cheez.  I dipped mine in mustard. 

Here's the recipe....  adapted from Alton Brown by Kirbie's Creations.

The pretzels are soft inside, chewy and tough on the outside just like a good pretzel should be.  I put
Celtic Grey Sea Salt on mine.  It is subtle, but adds a lot to the flavor.

How about this for a fun party food?  Deep-fried Fettuccini!  Really!  It is awesome!
I found the recipe at Ceramic Canvas and their recipe tutorial is very nice and the pictures prettier than mine!
Go  check it out.  It is SO easy... but beware, it makes your house smell like a doughnut shop.  I think these would also taste great with some powdered sugar sprinkled on them... or maybe some cinnamon and sugar.
Oh... and I did not put the wasabi powder in them.  They were perfect for the poker party we had.

How To Shuck Corn (ie Peel Corn!)

This may seem like an inane thing to blog about, but when I was young, my mom would buy corn by the dozen and I would get the annoying job of  shucking the corn. Bleck.  I would peel it one piece of husk at a time and it was so annoying!  No one ever told me how to do it this way.... I saw this technique somewhere.... maybe on Food TV?  Perhaps Emril Live or Martha Stewart Living. 

On the stalk end of the corn, feel for where they corn ends and the stalk starts.  Cut here.

It should look like this....

Now turn the corn and feel for where the tip of the corn is and cut there.

Now slice through the husk the long way.  Don't worry about cutting through the corn itself.  It isn't going to hurt the corn at all.

Turn it over and do the same thing on the opposite side of the cob.

Now you can just pull the husk off easily!

To take all of the silk off, I run it under cold water against the

way the silk is growing.  It takes most of it off.

If you have any other easier methods, let me know! 

I'm always interested in making things easier!

Tami