Seven Grain Honey Bread

I just tried a new bread recipe and I loved it.  It definitely won't replace my good ole whole wheat recipe- but it's a fun change.  Afterall- variety is the spice of life.  Just for fun, I placed in the picture these beautiful hydrangeas that Brigham gave me after Laini was born.  They are so beautiful!

Yield:  Three medium round, or two 9 X5 inch loaves.  (I actually ended up with three loaves- cause I had to keep adding extra flour- must have been a humid day.)

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1 cup seven grain cereal

1 1/2 Tbl active dry yeast

pinch sugar

1/4 cup warm water (105-115)

1/4 cup warm buttermilk

1/3 cup honey

3 Tbl oil

2 Tbl melted butter

3 eggs

1 Tbl salt

4 1/2- 5 cups flour-(I used whole wheat)

1.  In a small bowl, pour boiling water over the seven-grain cereal.  Let stand for 1 hour to soften and come to room temperature.

2.  In a small bowl, proof yeast and pinch of sugar in warm water.

3.  In a large bowl, using a whisk, combine the buttermilk, honey, oil, butter, eggs, salt and 1 cup of the flour.  Beat hard until smooth, about 1 min.  Add the cereal and yeast mixture.  Add the remaining flour until a soft, sticky dough is formed that just clears the sides of the bowl.

4.  Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and knead until a soft and springy dough is formed, about 3 minutes.  (  I just leave it in the Bosch for all of this.)  The dough will have a nubby and slightly tacky feel.  Place in a greased deep container, turn once to coat the top, and cover with plastic wrap.  Let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1-1 1/4 hours.

5.  Divide dough into round loaves or bread pans.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise til doubled in bulk- about 30-40 minutes.

6.  Preheat oven to 375, bake 35-40 minutes.  Cool on racks before slicing.

Fortune Cookies

In honor of the Chinese New Year celebrations- my Laurel class decided to get together and make fortune cookies( this is half of them). They were a hit- fun to make and delicious.
Ingredients:
3 egg whites
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons water
Directions:
1.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets, or line with parchment paper. Have fortunes ready to go on small strips of paper.
2.
In a large glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites and sugar on high speed of an electric mixer until frothy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low, and stir in melted butter, vanilla, almond extract, water and flour one at a time, mixing well after each. Consistency should resemble pancake batter. Spoon the batter into 3 inch circles on the prepared baking sheets. Leave room between for spreading.
3.
Bake for 5 to 7 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges begin to brown slightly. Quickly remove one at a time, place a message in the center, and fold in half. Fold the ends of the half together into a horse shoe shape. If they spring open, place them in a muffin tin to cool until set.

Kneaders White Chocolatae Chip and Cranberry Cookies

Kneaders White Chocolate Chip and Cranberry Cookies
INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 egg
1 Tablespoon vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ cup white chocolate chips
1 ½ cup dried cranberries
1 cup macadamia nuts chopped.
Preparation: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with pan release. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, white sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg and the vanilla. Combine the flour and baking soda and stir into the sugar mixture. Do not over beat as this will cause the cookies to be tough. Fold in white chocolate chips, cranberries and nuts. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto the cookie sheets. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes until slightly brown on the edges. Allow cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheets before placing them on a cooling rack.
Makes about 36 1.5oz cookies or Kneaders size 18 cookies

Chick- fil-A chicken recipe

We love Chick-fil-A chicken- and the main draw back to where we live is that the closest store is SLC. We think this comes in pretty close though. You can use it to make sandwiches or nuggets or just a great fried chicken recipe.
Ingredients
3 cups peanut oil
1 egg
1 cup milk
milk (for dipping chicken)
1 cup flour
2 1/2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon salt
4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Below are the directions for using a pressure cooker to make them. I don't have one- so I just fried them in a pan. I also used half the salt that it originally called for (2Tbl originally). The first time I made this recipe- it was extremely salty.- so we thought it was much better with less. I also like to double dip it. Once in the milk mixture- once in the flour- then back to the milk and back in the flour. I also don't use that much oil- just about 1/2 inch in the bottom of the fry pan. I would definitely use the peanut oil though- I have tried it with canola- and it just isn't as good.
Directions
1Heat the peanut oil in a pressure cooker to about 400°F.
2In a small bowl beat the egg and stir in the milk.
3In a separate bowl combine the flour, sugar, salt and pepper.
4Dip each piece of chicken in milk and roll in flour mixture until completely covered.
5Drop all 4 in cooker.
6When steam starts shooting through the pressure release, set timer for 3 minute.
7IMPORTANT: DO NOT CLOSE STEAM RELEASE.
8IT IS VERY DANGEROUS!
9When chicken is done, remove it from oil and drain on paper towels.

Gingerbread Waffles

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour ( I used whole wheat)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup molasses
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted ( I just used oil)
Mix it all up and bake in waffle iron. We ate it with whip cream and banannas. Yum!

Cranberry Mustard Pork Tenderloin

I used a pork boneless loin roast and it turned out so tender and juicy. It was so easy to put together and everyone really liked it. An easy sunday dish.
1-16 oz. can whole cranberry sauce
1/3 cup dijon mustard
1/2 cup brown sugar
juice of 1 lemon
1 TBSP salt
2- 1 lbs. pork loin roasts
Mix all ingredients except pork roasts together in a medium bowl. place roast into a crock pot, pour cranberry mix over the the roasts. cook on high for 1 hour. turn down to low & cook an additional 4 hours. let cool 10 minutes before cutting.
You can easily substitute with chicken breasts.

PF Changs Chicken Lettuce Wraps

We had these on New Year's Eve- they were very good. Maryelle, said not to use the hot mustard- cause it was too hot the last time she made them. Brigham says we should have added pine nuts- cause the Mandarin does and they are better that way, and he thinks he would have liked to have added at least a little hot mustard. :)

Ingredients
3 tablespoons oil
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup water chestnut
2/3 cup mushroom
3 tablespoons chopped onions
1 teaspoon minced garlic
4-5 leaves iceberg lettuce
Special Sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon hot mustard
2 teaspoons water
1-2 teaspoon garlic and red chile paste
Stir Fry Sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
Directions
1Make the special sauce by dissolving the sugar in water in a small bowl.
2Add soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice and sesame oil.
3Mix well and refrigerate this sauce until you're ready to serve.
4Combine the hot water with the hot mustard and set this aside as well.
5Eventually add your desired measurement of mustard and garlic chili sauce to the special sauce mixture to pour over the wraps.
6Bring oil to high heat in a wok or large frying pan.
7Saute chicken breasts for 4 to 5 minutes per side or done.
8Remove chicken from the pan and cool.
9Keep oil in the pan, keep hot.
10As chicken cools mince water chestnuts and mushrooms to about the size of small peas.
11Prepare the stir fry sauce by mixing the soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar together in a small bowl.
12When chicken is cool, mince it as the mushrooms and water chestnuts are.
13With the pan still on high heat, add another Tbsp of vegetable oil.
14Add chicken, garlic, onions, water chestnuts and mushrooms to the pan.
15Add the stir fry sauce to the pan and saute the mixture for a couple minutes then serve it in the lettuce"cups".
16Top with"Special Sauce".

Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce- for lettuce wraps, Maryelle

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1/4 cup hot water
2 Tbsp sugar
1 lime juiced
1 tsp garlic minced
1 tsp red chili paste

Blend until smooth

Naan

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup white sugar
3 Tbl milk
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp salt
4 1/2 cups bread flour
2 tsp minced garlic
spoonful of plain yogurt
1/4 cup butter melted
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg salt and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6-8 minutes on a lightly floured surface or until smooth. ( just use my Bosch) Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.
Punch down dough and knead in garlic. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls and place on tray. Cover with a towel and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
You can grill these. I prefer to use a cookie tray. Scatter tray with kosher salt. Roll out dough balls and place on sheet. 450 degree over for about 10 minutes. Brush with butter when removed from over.
I prefer the texture of these with 1/2 bread flour and 1/2 spring wheat- but you can make them with whole wheat- they are just a lot heavier.

Moroccan Chicken

For the Marinade:
2 Lemons
6 cloves garlic, peeled
2 1/8 inch thick slices peeled fresh ginger ( I forgot these when I made it- but I love ginger- so I'll try it next time.)
1 tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch saffron threads
1 tsp light brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbs. olive oil
For the Yogurt-Lemon Sauce:
1 seedless cucumber, cut into 1/2 inch cubes- or grated
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 cups plain whole- milk yogurt
kosher salt
2 Tbl marinade
Mix well.
Make the Marinade:
Cut a deep lengthwise gash into each lemon. Put the lemons and garlic cloves in a small microwaveable container. Cover and microwave on high until the lemons are soft and juice has exuded from them, about 4 minutes. Let them cool. When the lemons are cool enough to handle- squeeze all the juice out. Put the juice, garlic and remaining marinade ingredients in a blender and puree. Set 2 Tbs. aside to use for the yogurt sauce. Marinate the chicken for 2-4 hours in the refrigerator. Grill when ready.