Oven Fried Chicken Breast

This has a somewhat significant crust, but it's made from the end pieces of leftover whole grain bread that I ran through the food processor.  Everytime I (almost) finish a loaf, I grind up the last pieces and add them to my crumb bag kept in the freezer.  Read on, then add this to your dinner menu one night soon!

2 skinless boneless chicken breasts
1 egg white
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups whole wheat breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon butter

Pound chicken breasts, not to flatten, just to get them an even thickness.  Lightly beat the egg white in a small casserole dish (or quart size ziploc), add chicken and coat both sides.  Lightly season with salt and pepper.  Add flour, garlic powder and cayenne pepper.  Massage dry ingredients well onto chicken... get it nice and coated.  Add buttermilk and put in fridge for at least 4 hours, or overnight. 
Preheat oven to 350.  Preheat a cast iron skillet on the stove top over medium heat, add 1 teaspoon butter. Remove chicken from buttermilk and coat with breadcrumbs.  Add chicken to hot skillet and cook about 2-3 minutes.  When lightly browned and crispy, turn chicken over and put skillet in the oven.  Bake about 30-35 minutes or until no longer pink inside.  Chicken will be beautifully brown and crispy.

Serve with: buttermilk biscuits, steamed green beans with a light misting of olive oil and sprinkle of sea salt.

Buttermilk Biscuits

This is the first time I've made buttermilk biscuits from scratch.  We're just not biscuit eaters; on the rare times we have bread, it's generally a nice french loaf.  Since these oh-so-delicious biscuits are the result of having some leftover buttermilk, I may just have to keep a carton in the fridge all the time!  They were crispy on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside.  Oh, and there's no reason to have a fancy biscuit cutter, a drinking glass works just fine. 

2 cups flour (one cup whole wheat pastry flour, one cup all-purpose flour)
4 teaspoons baking soda
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cold butter, cubed
3/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425.  Put dry ingredients into a food processor fitted with the plastic dough blade.  Pulse just to mix.  Add cold cubed butter and pulse until it looks crumbly.  Remove to a bowl and add cheddar, incorporate.  Add buttermilk and mix until combined.  You can start with a spatula, but soon you'll just need to get your hands in there.  Once the dough is held together, turn it onto a floured surface and knead about 1 minute.  Pat down (or roll) between 1/2" - 1" thickness.  Use a glass to cut out biscuits.  Re-flatten dough and keep cutting until all (or most) dough is used.  Bake on a lightly buttered cast iron pan for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.  Lightly brush butter over tops and serve warm. 

NOTE: You can make the dough ahead, cut out the biscuits and refrigerate until you are ready to bake.  Just put the dough circles on a plate lined with parchment or wax paper... and if you need to stack them, place parchment or wax paper between the layers.  Keep them in the fridge while you are preheating the oven, take them out when you are ready to start baking. 

Enjoy!

Recipe from Kimberly Nuttall

Make Your Own Pizza

In my case, I make pizza for both of us.  The beauty of this dinner is that it's quick and simple, and they are individual sized pies since we each like ours with different toppings.  This is a great weeknight meal, fun family activity and everyone will love it! 

1. Tandoori Naan, usually sold in the fresh bread area of the store.
2. Simple marinara, reduced to pizza sauce thickness
3. 80/10/10 shredded cheese (mozzarella, provolone, cheddar).
4. Toppings of your choice.  Mine are: diced onion, diced bell pepper, italian sausage, pepperoni and chopped fresh basil.  My husband likes italian sausage, pepperoni, crushed red pepper and/or fresh sliced jalapeno, chopped fresh basil.

Broil on a preheated cast iron pizza pan.  Takes about 5 minutes, depending on how close to the element you place it.  Right when it comes out of the oven use a microplane to shave parmesan lightly over the top.  Let cool a few minutes so the cheese will set before cutting.

Enjoy!

Beach Blanket - Quilt #2

I promised to write about the good and bad of my experiences.  This blanket has both, but I learned some new things and in the end I like the outcome quite a bit.  In this post I'll include my mistakes, accomplishments and the cutting/piecing directions.  This quilt is made up of 72 inside squares, 2 inner borders, an outer border and the binding.  It measures 47" x 50".

Good: I'm getting much better at lining up my pieces.  Almost all of the squares are on point!

Bad: This was supposed to be a four patch... but I got started cutting and stopped reading the directions.  Oh well, I moved forward and starting making it up as I went along.  That's the beauty of quilting - it's flexible and forgiving.

Bad: Originally I had 3 sets of squares.  The focus fabric, the browns (which I did use), and squares made of the 2 inner border fabrics.  I just couldn't find a placement where I liked that last set of squares so I put them in my scrap pile and made more of the browns.

Bad: Once the inside was built I found that the material had stretched in places so it didn't lay really smooth.  Not a deal breaker, but I knew it would be challenging to do the batting and backing.

Lesson: I don't usually pre-wash my materials, but I told Judi I was planning to use flannel as the backing and she said I would need to wash both the quilt top and the backing since they will shrink differently.  Something I didn't know at the time - if you wash a quilt top before it's put together with the batting and backing - the seams fray pretty bad, and even came apart in 2 places, so I had to repair it.  From now on, I will pre-wash my fabrics before I start cutting and piecing!

Lesson: When using a focus fabric that is single directional and is intended for both the inside design and a border - make sure you have enough fabric to keep that direction by cutting the pieces both length of grain and cross grain.  Fortunately, I did.  Or, piece your inner design in different directions so it doesn't matter which direction your border is going. 

Lesson: Starch your fabrics well before cutting.  This will eliminate having to press as often during the building process and the fabrics won't stretch as much.  My new process starts with washing the fabrics, then I steam press the fabrics.  Next I apply a good amount of starch to the whole thing, turn it over and press.  Repeat for the other side.

Ok, now to the good stuff -
Materials list:
Up to 7 fabrics (I used 5)
36 - Seashell buttons
1 - DMC Perle #5 yarn

Cutting measurements are assuming 42" wide fabric and include a 1/4" seam allowance.

Fabric	# Strips	Width	# yards
1 (part of square)	4	2.5"	3/8
2 (part of square)	4	2.5"	3/8
3 (focus fabric)	4	4.5"	5/8
4 (inner border 1)	4	3.5"	1/2
5 (inner border 2)	4	1.5"	1/4
6 (outer border)	5 *	4.5"	1
7 (binding)	5	2.5"	3/8
8 (batting)	1	50" x 53"
9 (backing)	1	50" x 53"

In my quilt, Fabric 3, 6 and 7 are the same.
* Alternate cutting option if you are using single directional fabric and you want it oriented correctly (and you have enough fabric): 2 strips, 4.5" wide (going length of grain) and 2 strips 53" long (going cross grain).

• Sew Fabric 1 and 2 strips together to make four 4.5" strips.
• Cut strips into 4.5" squares - you need 36 of them.
• Cut Fabric 3 strips into 4.5" squares - you need 36 of them.
• Lay out squares as shown (or arrange squares however you like) and sew them together by rows.
• Sew the rows together.
• You now have the inside built.
• Attach Fabric 4 left/right sides first, then trim and do the top/bottom pieces.
• Attach Fabric 5 the same as 4.
• Sew together Fabric 6 pieces for the left/right sides so they are long enough (skip this step if you are using the alternate cutting option).
• Attach Fabric 6 top/bottom sides first, then trim and do the left/right sides.
• Your quilt top is now finished!
• Cut your batting and backing, you want it larger than the top.
• Attach quilt top to the batting.  Smooth it starting from the middle and work your way out, pinning as you go.  When you've got it as smooth as possible, replace straight pins with safety pins (makes it easier for attaching buttons).
• Using DMC Perle #5, hand sew buttons to quilt top and batting.
• Attach top and batting to backing, smoothing the same as above.
• Stitch in the ditch around a few squares in the middle, and around at least one of the inner borders.  (This ensures your backing stays put during washing and heavy use.)
• Make your binding by stitching the strips together and pressing it in half. 
• Attach to the front of the quilt, raw edges together.
• Flip the folded edge over the raw edge and press (just makes it easier for hand sewing).
• Use a slipstitch to attach the folded edge to the backing.

You're done!  Congratulations!

Homemade Pasta

This is pretty simple, in fact, I find homemade pasta much easier and less stressful than pie dough.  Ugh, pie dough, I still need to work on that.  Anyway, it's a little bit time consuming, but still possible to do on a week night if you get home a little early.  I use the recipe that came with my Atlas pasta machine (with one small addition). 

5 eggs
500 grams of flour
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

• Take the eggs out of the fridge a 1/2 hour before you will start making the pasta, you don't want fridge cold eggs.
• Measure out your flour.  I use 250 grams of Semolina flour and 250 grams of whole wheat pastry flour.  The wheat flour I sift so it's smoother, but it's not necessary.  The wheat flour is a little lighter, so the measurements come out to approx. 1 cup semolina and 1.5 cups wheat.  I highly recommend measuring via a scale.
• Make a well of the flour, gently wisk the eggs just until the yolks are broken up, and pour into flour.  Add EVOO
• Mix with a fork until combined, then get your hands in there and start kneading to finish combining. 
• Lightly flour the counter and continue to knead until the dough ball is smooth - about 3 minutes.
• Put the dough ball back in the bowl and cover it with a damp paper towel so it doesn't dry out.  Let sit about 10 minutes. 
• Meanwhile, get the pasta machine out and set up.
• Break off a small handful, about the size of a golf ball, knead about 15-30 seconds.

Flatten the dough ball into a thick disc so it will fit between the rollers.  Start with the machine on 0 and run it through each number until your desired thickness.  I usually stop at 6, but will sometimes go to 7.  Trim the pasta sheets down to a usable size, about 8-10".   Repeat until all dough is used.  You can start with larger dough balls, but your sheets of pasta will quickly become really long and tough to manage for one person.

Often this makes more pasta than I need for one meal, but I like having some leftover.  I very lightly spray olive oil on wax (or parchment) paper and put one sheet of pasta per layer.  You can do it without the olive oil, but the pasta will stick a little and when you pull it off later it will stretch.  I refrigerate the pasta until I'm ready to use it.  Use or freeze within 3-5 days.  You can use these sheets to make lasagna, ravioli, cannelloni (not cannoli), or cut into strands for tagliatelle (fettucini), spaghetti, etc.

Cook fresh pasta in salted boiling water.  Depending on how you are cooking it, and for what purpose, it's done in 30 seconds (lasagna) up to 3-5 minutes (ravioli).

If you don't have a pasta machine, you can use a rolling pin and pizza wheel, or any other kind of cutter.
If your dough is too dry, it will fall apart as it goes through the rollers.
If you dough is too wet, it will stick to the rollers.
~ Enjoy ~

1st table runners

When my friend Judi suggested I try quilting, and I was a little intimidated I might add, she had me start with the flying geese pattern.  It's pretty simple, just putting together a bunch of triangles. You know me by now, I didn't follow the directions because I wanted it as diamonds.  I also added some length so it would hang over the intended table.  This one took me a year to finish; the bug hadn't quite bitten yet. 

A few months later Judi suggested I try another table runner and brought me some patterns.  Since I have another table in view of the first runner I thought it would be good to make something out of the same fabric, and I had plenty left over.  I can't quite tell you why, or what happened, but all of a sudden it hit me.  I LOVE quilting.  I couldn't get enough.  Maybe it's being at the store, surrounded by so many great fabrics with ideas popping.  Maybe it's the joy of giving something homemade, with so much time, thought and care put into the gift, to someone else.  It could be the girl time spent with friends sewing together.  Might be seeing the finished project come together and look amazing.  Maybe it's adding a cool, custom decoration and everytime you walk by being able to say 'I did that, and I love it!'  Whatever it is, I'm unstoppable now.  :)

For the "square times" runner I used a light/medium/dark combination instead of a light/dark as the instructions say to do.  I would have preferred to use the medium fabric on the inside squares and the dark for the outside and ending triangles, but I didn't have enough of it left, and I couldn't find it anymore. 

These are the runners I use when I don't have holiday ones to display.

Be My Valentine Chocolate Cake

My husband loves chocolate, and I love him!  So, for Valentine's Day I made a chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling and chocolate buttercream frosting.  I topped that with shaved bittersweet chocolate.

In order to be sneaky and have it as a surprise I baked the cakes before he got home on the 13th and then baked cookies to cover the smell.  Valentine's morning before work I made the mousse and when I got home I did the frosting.  Whew!  It was worth it in the end.  So next time you have a craving for something so good you'd want it as dessert for your last meal, give this a try.

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour (I use whole wheat pastry flour instead)
3/4 cup cocoa or dutch processed (I use dutch processed)
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

1. Heat oven to 350, grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans
2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.  Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes.  Stir in water.  (Batter will be thin.)  Pour batter evenly into prepared pans.
3. Bake 30-35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks and cool completely.
4. Wrap the cakes in foil or plastic wrap and freeze for a day (frozen cakes are much easier to frost and they thaw out really well). 

Chocolate Mousse
8 ounces dark chocolate chips (or you can use the 1 oz squares of bakers semi sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped)
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup water, divided
3 egg yolks
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 cups whipping cream

In a double boiler melt the chips, butter and 1/4 cup water.  If you don't have a double boiler, place a heat safe bowl over a pan with 1" boiling water.  Remove and cool for 10 minutes.  In a saucepan over med-low heat whisk the egg yolks, sugar and remaining water.  Cook about 1 minute, stir into chocolate mixture.  Set over ice and stir frequently until mixture is cool.  Meanwhile, in a stand mixer, beat whipping cream until very stiff.  Go longer than you would for normal whipping cream.  It needs to be an almost whipped butter like consistency.  Fold into the chocolate mixture. 

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
1 cup butter, softened
2-3 cups powdered sugar (more or less to your taste)
3/4 cup dutch processed cocoa powder
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Put butter in mixer bowl, beat on medium to high speed.  Slowly add powdered sugar, cocoa powder and milk alternating between additions until everything is well mixed and the frosting is a nice whipped consistency.  Add more sugar or cocoa, if needed, to your taste.

Remove the cakes from the freezer, put the completely cooled mousse between the layers and frost.  Using the small holes on a grater, shave 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate over the top of the cake.  Refrigerate 6 hours or overnight before serving to let the mousse set up.

Enjoy!

Red Pepper Pesto & Chicken

Happy Valentine's Day!  On this special day, I made my husband's favorite meal.  It's my own creation and I almost hate giving this recipe out; it took me quite a long time to perfect, but since I'm food blogging, I have to write about all of it.  I've never written down amounts, but I've got it dialed in pretty good.  So, here we go!

Start by roasting the red bell pepper and garlic:
5-8 red bell peppers (I get them from Costco, way cheaper than the grocery store)
light olive oil
salt and pepper
whole head of garlic

Preheat oven to 400.  Place the peppers on a cookie sheet (might want to line with foil if you don't want to scrub), drizzle with light olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.  The head of garlic goes in the tin foil with a drizzle of light olive oil.   Cook about 20-30 minutes and flip.  Cook about 10-15 minutes more.  Note: you can also do this under the broiler (will cook less time and blackening of the skin is ok).  In the summer I do this on the grill.  When using the grill the garlic goes on the upper rack.

This is when I start the brown rice since it takes about an hour.  Take the peppers out of the oven (or off the grill), put them in a bowl and cover tightly for about 10-15 minutes.  This lets them steam so it's easier to pull the skins off.  At this point, I open the foil on the garlic and put it in the fridge until I'm ready to use it.  Remove the cover from the peppers, start sliding the skin off when they are cool enough to handle. 

While the peppers are roasting I start adding the other ingredients to the food processor.

• 1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted in a small skillet.
• About 1 cup fresh basil leaves (a little more or less depending on your taste)
• 5-10 olives - this kind specifically (secret ingredient) - I buy them at Costco, they only carry them about twice per year so I stock up. If you can't find, or don't have this brand, leave the olives out.
• About 1/4 cup balsamic vingear
• About 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup grated parmesan
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Add bell peppers after skinned
• Squeeze in all of the roasted garlic

Pulse about 10-15 seconds, then taste for seasoning

Pulse another 10-15 seconds

Put the pesto in a skillet, warm on low heat while the chicken cooks.

For the chicken:

2-4 boneless skinless chicken breast

Light olive oil

salt and pepper

Season chicken breast with oil, salt and pepper - grill until cooked through, about 10 minutes.  Serve topped with grated parmesan

Notes: some of the oil in this recipe is light olive oil, since extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) has a lower smoke point it burns easily which is why I use the light oil in higher heat situations such as grilling and broiling. 

For my vegetarian friends, this is really good without the chicken.

Enjoy!

Oatmeal Raisin Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

The title alone probably got your attention.  These cookies have developed their own little cult following.  I can pretty much get whatever I want, as long as I show up with a bag of these bad boys.  Enough said... here's the recipe:

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) - room temperature

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups old fashioned oatmeal (quick cook works also, but I always use old fashioned)

1/2 cup raisins (or a little more)

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (or a little more)

1/2 cup chopped walnut or pecan (optional)
1/2 teaspoon medium or coarse grind sea salt

Heat oven to 350

Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and 1/2 tsp salt, set aside

Beat butter and sugars until creamy 

Add eggs and vanilla, mix well

Add combined flour mixture, mix well

Stir in oats, raisins, chocolate chips and nuts (if using)

Use a 3 tablespoon scoop and drop onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  Leave dough as a mound.  Sprinkle a small pinch of sea salt on top of cookie.  Bake about 13 minutes, or until cookies are golden brown.  Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack.  Cool completely before putting in a bag.  Eat within 2-3 days.

Make sure your butter is room temperature.  Using a microwave to soften the butter often makes it slightly melted & your cookies will spread and flatten out more.  I like a good puffy cookie so I make sure to take my butter out a day before I will make them.  I let the mixer do the work with creaming the butter, and it usually takes at least a few minutes.

Enjoy!

Recipe adaped from: Quaker oatmeal 

Gwen's blanket

I've been posting mostly recipes, so I'm due for something about sewing.  Since my current project is still a few days away from completion, I'll show my first baby quilt.  A friend in Arizona has a three year old and I've wanted to send her something for awhile... but it had to be meaningful.  Now that I've learned how to quilt, a little blanket seemed the perfect thing.  My friend (and mentor) Judi suggested a rail fence design to start off with.  My friend Dionne and I went shopping for materials and she's amazing at putting fabrics together.  Between the two of us we came up with some great ideas.  I was so excited to see it put together, I worked feverishly to get it done - even through power outages!  (My husband hooked up a deep cycle battery and power inverter.)

Little Gwen's room is done in fuschia, brown, dark aqua and dark lime green.  The picture just doesn't do this quilt justice - it is so much cuter in person - the colors aren't quite right in the photo either.  The pink border has little polka dots, the inner dark color is actually brown, even though it looks black from here.  Click the pictures to see them larger...