Swedish Rye Bread

This is a bread my mother used to make when I was a child. I remember fondly the wonderful smells that this bread produces and the Melody of flavors this bread brought to the table.
I have not had this old fashion bread since my mother passed away almost 15 years ago and I thought that the recipe had been lost back then; however, my sister recently surprised me with the very recipe card that had been my Greatgrandmothers and the very one that my mother would use to make this bread.

1 Pint Milk (2 cups)
1 cup Shortening
3 T Dark Molasses
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 t. salt
2 packages active dry yeast
1 1/2 T. orange zest
1 t. anise seed
1 1/2 cup rye flour
3 cups all purpose flour, approximate

Scald milk, add shortening, molasses, honey, brown sugar and salt. Stir to dissolve sugar and melt shortening. Let cool. Add yeast, orange zest and anise seeds. Stir in rye flour . Let rise 1/2 hour. Then add enough white flour to make a stiff dough. Turn onto lightly foured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.

Put into a greased bowl and turn once to gease top of dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour of double in size. Punch down and turn onto lightly floured surface. Divide in half, knead each half, place into 2 greased bread tins.

I have to say that I am not very excited about the fact that this bread takes a whole cup of shortening; however, I plan to play with it and maybe replace the shortening with olive oil, I know that olive oil is not very Swedish, but is shortening.

Making this bread also gave me a chance to start to teach the kids how to knead bread. We all had a blast squishing the dough down and pulling it up again; however, the kids got tired very fast.

A 64 SQ FT Kitchen is the Best Place to Eat

I do crazy things all the time and today was no exception. I packed up the kids and drove a little more then an hour to have lunch with Rose, a fellow food blogger. We met at the coffee house as planned and my 2 year old son saw Rose and her daughter walk into the shop and he pointed at them and said there they are, as if he knew them all of his life.

Like Rose I was nervous but my way of hiding my nerves is to talk and I will talk a LOT. I have to say that when I left I kept saying to myself that I should not have talked so much! And I am even a little nervous now afraid I may even write too much. Once I got over the fact that I talked too much I called my husband to tell him how wonderful lunch was, I had to share my enthusiasm with someone.

Rose first served a soup called Harira that was so wonderful, full of flavor and spice; however, I didn’t get to eat much of it because my 3 year old daughter took the bowl of soup from me and ate it up saying this is delicious (you know it is good food when a 3 year old says so) there was also roasted red and green peppers with tomatoes and garlic, a green salad, carrots that I have to try to make this week, and savory crapes stuffed with roasted chicken, tomato and olives they were so good. To end the meal, my first fresh mint tea, I had never had fresh mint tea before (only that dried stuff), but at I watched Rose prepare the tea with my daughter I was more and more intrigued and it too, with the cardamom madeleines, was out of this world.

I can’t wait to see Rose and her gorgeous daughter again! I enjoyed her company and watching the kids play together, it was an afternoon to remember. Thank you!

Going to a 64 SQ FT Kitchen

I am meeting Rose from 64 SQ FT Kitchen for the first time on Monday for lunch and I am getting so excited. I don't get an opportunity to talk with other foodies so this is something that I am looking forward to, I hope I don't embarrass myself and the kids behave.

Can't do better then this

On a hot late summer afternoon there is nothing better then a BLT. I just love them and they were my salvation when I was pregnant with my son.

My BLT starts with toasted Milton's Multi Grain Bread (4 grams of Fiber per slice), fresh ripe tomatoes straight off the plant, crisp Boston Bib lettuce (or Romain), fried turkey bacon and a slathering of mayo on each slice of toast. A sandwich that you feel good about; healthy and tasty.

Wild Apple Butter

First you need a beautiful basket full of wild Apples.

Then you will need to wash them and cut every apple in quarters and core them and check for worms. Once they have been cleaned put them in a pan and cook over medium heat, covered, stirring often until they are just soft. you may have to do this is batches, I had to do 3.


Next put the cooked apples in a "straining pan" (I really have no idea what it is called). and I squish the apples through this and I get apple in the pan underneath and the skins stay in the "straining Pan" This is so much better then peeling every apple.

once all the apples have been pureed return the apple to the stove (there was about 10 cups) and add 1 cup sugar (taste and adjust for tartness of apples) the juice of one juicy lemon, 2 teaspoons of vanilla, and 3 tablespoons of cinnamon. and heat up until it is hot. place into canning jars that have been in boiling water to heat and sterilize them and the lids. This is where asbestos hands comes in handy, with tongs pull out a jar fill it with apple butter using a canning funnel, tong a lid and ring from the boiling water and place the lid on top of the jar (be sure that the top of jar was clean) and screw lid on tight. Set filled jars aside and do not touch them until they are cooled. You will hear the thunk, tink sounds as the jars seal.

Oatmeal flax seed cookies

Cookies are by far the best thing to make with kids, they get to use the mixer and scrap the bowl and lick the beater. Life is grand.

As you can see my DD loves to get out the mixer and for some special Mommy Daughter time she chose to make cookies while Daddy and baby brother went for a bike ride.
1 3/4 cup all-Purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 cup room temperature butter
1 cup brown Sugar
1/4 cup flax seed
1 t. vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chunks
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375F

In a small bowl, combine the flour, oats, soda, flax, and salt. in a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream the butter, add the sugar and cream together until light a fluffy add the vanilla and the eggs one at a time beating well after each. Add the flour mixture, a little at a time, and beat until incorporated. Stir in chocolate and nuts.

Using a tablespoon, drop the dough onto 2 ungreased baking sheets, spacing each 2" apart.

Bake 10-13 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and let cool on sheet for 2 minutes and transfer to rack to cool completely.

Banana Bread

1 ½ cups all Purpose flour
2 t. baking powder
½ t. baking soda
¼ t. salt
1/3 cup wheat germ
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup flax seed
½ t. cinnamon
¼ t. ground cardamom
2 large eggs, beaten
¼ cup buttermilk
¼ cup oil
1 cup mashed, very ripe bananas
½ cup walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter an 8 ½ x 4½ x 3 inch loaf pan.

Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl combine eggs, buttermilk, and oil; stir well. Stir in mashed banana. Add Flour mixture, and walnuts; stirring just until moist.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 45-55 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes and remove from pan.

Approximate Nutrition Fact: per slice (16 per loaf) Cal. 155, Fat 8, Carbs 19, Fiber 3, protein 4,

"Cuban" Burgers

There is a sandwich/pizza shop a few miles from where I live that has a Cuban sandwich that is so yummy. This sandwich is stacked with ham, swiss cheese, and pickles with lots of mayo and mustard. I got to thinking that a Cuban Burger would be really good so I googled it and Bobby Flay thought that a Cuban Burger was a good idea too. In the end I took the information and came up with my own Cuban burger.

3 oz ground beef
3 oz ground pork

3 oz ground veal

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 t. Ground Cumin (optional)

Salt & pepper

8 slices of ham

4 slices of swiss cheese

1 cup sliced (sandwich) pickles

Mustard

Mayo

Hamburger buns

In a bowl place the ground meats, onions, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and mix together, do not over mix. Divide the mixture into 4 equal portions and patty them and place them on a hot grill and cook to medium.

On 4 buns place 2 slices of ham, a slice of swiss cheese, medium cooked burger and pickles. Wrap each in aluminum foil and return to the grill with a weight on them. I used a jelly roll pan and cast iron pans. Cook for and few minutes and turn and cook for a few more minutes. Remove the burger from foil open and add the mayo and mustard. Enjoy.

Sanita at http://sunitabhuyan.blogspot.com hosts a monthly spice event and I have decided to enter my burgers in the August event for Cumin.

Menu

Lavender Pork with brown rice and veggies

Spicy Chicken stir fry

Onion Tomato tart of some kind

Seared scallops and shrimp with zucchini pilaf

Cuban burgers with grill roasted potatoes

Left overs

Happy Birthday My Little Boy - 2 years already

My son is not big on chocolate fan; however, I did not want to do a boring cake for his Birthday, so I chose to do a spice cake. I confess spice cake is one of my favorite and when you are turning two choosing a cake is not much more then “I want it to look like a car”. In the end he liked the cake very much eating more then the other kids at his party.

3 cups flour

1.5 t. cinnamon

1.5 ground ginger

1 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1 cup butter, softened

½ cup brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1 cup molasses

2/3 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 9x1½ inch round baking pans; set aside.

In a bowl combine flour, cinnamon, ginger, powder, soda and set aside

In a large mixing bowl beat butter at medium speed for about 30 seconds. Add brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the molasses and eggs; beat for a minute add flour mixture and water, alternating on low until just combined. Divide batter among the 3 pans.

Bake for 18 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in pans, remove cake from pans and cool completely.

I had to adjust for car cake pan so baking time was 70 minutes and I had to multiply recipe by 1.5

No fail Pizza Crust

Every time I make this Pizza crust it turns out wonderfully. I have tried making about 8 different crust recipes over the years and this is the one that keeps coming out great for thin crust pizza, thick crust pizza and everything in between. there are several ways that I will make pizza. It could be on a stone, in a cast iron pan, one a screen or in a jellyroll pan (pictured above) they are all different and the crust stands up to all of them.


In small bowl add 1 cup warm water, 4 t. yeast, 2 t. sugar 2 T. olive oil. let set for 10 minutes to get nice and frothy. Mean while in a bowl to the kitchen aid, with mixer set with dough hook, add 3 cups flour and 1 t. salt. Once water is ready add to the flour and mix for about 5 minutes, checking Constance of dough while mixing. Dough should be soft but not sticking to side of mixing bowl.

Cover dough and let rest and rise for about an hour or until it is doubled in size (I just let it go until I need it, up to 2 hours) press or roll dough out and place in or on desired baking "pan". top with what you like or have and bake at 450 until it is done about 15-30 minutes depending on how thick the crust is.

Zucchini Boats

2 medium to large Zucchini

1 pound Italian sausage

1 medium onion, chopped

½ red bell pepper, chopped

2 cups cooked brown rice

1 14 oz can whole tomatoes, crushed with your hands

1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

Salt & pepper to taste

1 T. olive oil

Brown the sausage with the onion. Add the garlic and cook for a minute then add red pepper and tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes on medium. add the rice and parsley and stir through cooking for a few more minutes adding salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375. Cut Zucchini in half and scoop out the seeds with a spoon to make a well in the zucchini to put stuffing in. salt, pepper, and brush olive oil on the zucchini. Place the rice sausage stuffing in the well in the zucchini and bake on a cookie sheet for about 30 minutes or until it reaches desired doneness. Serve with plain yogurt.