Popovers

Popovers

Makes: 12 popovers

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1. In a large bowl, mix together flour and salt; make a well in center. In another bowl, beat together eggs and milk, then pour into well. Gradually stir egg mixture into flour until batter is consistency of heavy cream yet slightly lumpy; do not overbeat. Allow batter to rest for at least 30 minutes and up to an hour.

2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit. Place 1 teaspoon butter in each cup of  a 12-cup muffin tin or two 6-cup popover tins. Heat in oven until butter melts, about 1 minute. Divide batter among cups, filling each about three-quarters full. Bake until popovers are puffed and golden brown, about 20 minutes. Turn out popovers and serve warm.

Super easy with really simple ingredients! They taste really good right out of the oven with butter and are also perfect to eat along with soup.

(Recipe originally from Country Living Magazine)

Soft Prezels

These Pretzels won't last long...between Gavin, Emily and I they lasted approximately 24 hours. They are great! We found this recipie from annies-eats.com she has wonderfully good food. We tried some different toppings: cinnamon and sugar, and parmasean and dried basal. If you try these toppings they will be even harder to resist! These are by far a new favorite!

Ingredients:

For the dough:

1½ cups warm water (110-115° F)

1 tbsp. sugar

2 tsp. kosher salt

2¼ tsp. instant yeast

22 oz. all-purpose flour (about 4½ cups)

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, meltedVegetable oil, for greasing the bowl
For finishing:

Cooking spray10 cups water

2/3 cup baking soda

1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tbsp.

water

Pretzel (or kosher) salt
Directions:To make the dough, combine the water, sugar, salt and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed to dissolve the yeast. Add in the flour and melted butter and mix just until the dough comes together. Switch to the dough hook and knead on medium speed until the dough is smooth and clears the sides of the bowl, about 5 minutes. Transfer the dough to a bowl lightly greased with vegetable oil, turning once to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place, about 50-55 minutes or until doubled in bulk.
Preheat the oven to 450° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray. Bring the water and baking soda to a boil in a large saucepan or stockpot. In the meantime, divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Working with one piece at a time, roll a segment out into a 24-inch long rope. Make a U-shape with the rope and holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and onto the bottom of the U-shape in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.
Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 or 2 at a time, for 30 seconds. Remove from the water with a slotted skimmer and return to the baking sheet. Once all the pretzels have been boiled, brush the tops with the egg wash and sprinkle lightly with salt. Bake in the preheated oven until dark golden brown, about 12-14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Emily's Healthy Zucchini Bread (no, really, it is)

This is spin off another recipe i found to make it healthy so that I wouldn't feel guilty eating it. Try it, it's great!
You will need:
3 eggs
1 c. apple sauce
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 c. shredded zucchini
1/4 c. honey
2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
3 tsp cinnamon
1 c. raisins if you want(you could try choco. chips)
1 c. chopped nuts
1/4 c. oats or wheat germ

Preheat oven to 350. Combine eggs, apple sauce, zucchini and vanilla. Mix welll. Add flour and rest of ingredients. Stir in nuts and raisins. Bake for 60 minutes. makes one loaf

Homemade Pizza Pops

Hello Again!
Annie here. I just thought I would share with you a great recipe: especially for all those who are gearing up for a new school year and want some quick lunches! Since Josh is in Florida starting grad school, with a very busy schedule, and wifeless, I thought I would make him something he could pull out of the freezer every morning and have ready by lunch. So here they are:



Cast of characters: your favorite pizza dough recipe, pizza sauce, diced onions, hamburger, pepperoni, olives (yuck!), mushrooms, and cheese of course. You can make whatever kind you would like. With these ingredients I made Deluxe, Pepperoni mushroom, and Meat Lovers. I've also thought of Hawaiian, BBQ Chicken (use BBQ sauce instead of pizza sauce, and add some pineapple with the chicken and cheese and onions), Chicken Alfredo...so many choices!



Divide your pizza dough into equal pieces. I separated mine into eight pieces, which is how many pieces of pizza it makes. Roll out one of the sections into a circle. Spread sauce on both sides and then deck out half with the ingredients you want inside. Be generous with the pizza sauce so that it doesn't end up being dry. Moisten the edge of half the dough circle with dabs of water. Fold over the dough so that the moistened side lines up with the dry side. This will help seal the dough. Pinch it tight and place on cookie sheet.



Cook at 400 for about 15-20 minutes until crust is golden.
Let cool. Put in Ziplocs and throw in the freezer.
They will thaw during the day so that by lunch all you have to do is toss them in the microwave for about 3 minutes.
Enjoy!

Chicken, Chicken...Scones

Hello All!

Its Annie here. I have some great recipes that I have found over the last couple of weeks to share (and they aren't sweets -that seems to have been the trend so far. Clearly we Allred girls like our sugar!) I apologize that they aren't fancy with step by step pictures- I've been pretty busy lately, so when I'm cooking I'm usually multi-tasking. Either way, just wanted to share these recipes!

First up is Salsa Chicken. I made this last night and it is so easy. You really don't need a recipe for it, but just for kicks, here it is:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

4 teaspoons taco seasoning mix

1 cup salsa

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons sour cream (optional)

Preheat to 375 degrees. Place chicken in a lightly greased 9x13 inch pan, sprinkle taco seasoning on both sides of chicken breasts, and pour salsa over all.

Bake at 375 for 25-35 minutes, or until chicken is tender and its juices run clear.

Sprinkle chicken evenly with cheese, and continue baking for 3-5 more minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Top with sour cream if desired.

Serve with rice and corn.

* I made a few changes to this recipe: I did my own taco seasoning with chili powder, cumin, garlic powder and seasoning salt. I cut down on the cheese and just sprinkled a little bit on top of the chicken, and I used mango salsa, which I highly recommend! It was delish.

Next up is Baked Honey Mustard Chicken ( I went a little crazy with chicken the past couple of weeks). This is another really simple, but good recipe.

6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup prepared mustard

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon paprika ( I omitted this)

1/2 teaspoon dried parsley

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper to taste, and place in a greased 9x13 inch pan. In a small bowl, combined honey, mustard, basil, paprika and parsley. Mix well. Pour 1/2 of mixture over the chicken and brush to cover.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Turn chicken pieces over and brush with the remaining mixture. Bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until juices run clear.

*I served this with a garden salad and savory scones (recipe below).

The last recipe I wanted to share is Savory Scones. I had never tried them before, but for some reason had a craving for them the other day. I found a recipe on Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen, and altered it a bit to my liking. Here is my version of the recipe. Enjoy!

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1/4 cup butter, cut up

1 egg

2/3 cup buttermilk

dried rosemary

Preheat oven to 425.

Mix flour sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, rosemary, and cheddar cheese.

Add cold butter to dry mixture and, using a fork, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles course crumbs.

Light beat egg with buttermilk. Add to mixture and stir with a fork until the mixture comes together. Turn out onto a floured board and knead the dough 5 or 6 times.

Place the rounded dough onto a greased baking sheet, and press into a circle. Cut into 8 pie-shaped segments.

Bake at 425 for about 15 minutes or until golden.

*TIP: Buttermilk can be substituted. 1 cup milk + 1 tablespoon vinegar. Let sit for 5 minutes. Voila!

Who will Help me Grind the Wheat?

We have a bunch of wheat down in our food storage, so I decided to be "Henny Penny" for the day. So I ground the wheat and made yummy, yummy bread!

6 cups warm water

2 Tbsp yeast

2 Tbsp salt

1 cup oil

2/3 cup sugar or honey

1/3 instant potatoes

2 Tbsp gluten

2/3 wheat germ

8 cups whole wheat flour

5 cups white flour

1/3 cup flaxseed

1/3 cup sunflower seeds

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add everything, except flour. Add flour. Knead for 10 minutes. Allow to rest for about 20 minutes. Shape into 4 loaves and place in greased loaf pans for 45 minutes or until double. Bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees F. Let cool. Hide Bread.