Here’s what I did:

• Decreased flour a bit. The recipe I quoted last time called for three and a half cups of flour, but I added a bit more to make the dough firmer. This time I did not add a teaspoon about three and a half cups, which made for a sticky and difficult-to-work with dough, but it seems to have worked.
• Let it rise longer. In this particular case, I let it rise in the fridge for about ten hours, then out of the fridge for another hour. After I shaped it into a loaf, it was another hour and a half before it reached the top of the loaf pan, and that’s when it went in the oven.
• Warmed the milk. Hard to tell how much of an effect this had compared to the other two, but I warmed up the milk in the microwave before adding the yeast. The yeast did seem a bit bubblier.

I’m really happy now with my recipes for risotto and penne alla vodka, but it took a number of tries to get them right; I’m sure the same will be true for bread. I’m starting with his basic Sandwich Bread recipe:

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast (or 2 teaspoons active dry yeast)
• 1 tablespoon sugar or honey
• 2 tablespoons softened butter
• 1 1/3 cups milk

Directions

1. Rehydrate/activate the yeast. Add the other wet ingredients and about half the flour and mix, then add the rest of the flour a bit at a time until it forms a slightly sticky ball.
2. Let rise in a bowl for at least 2 hours. Punch down into a ball and let rest 15 minutes, then form into a loaf and put in a greased loaf pan. Let rise for at least another hour.
3. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees F.

My first attempt: not bad. I have a tasty loaf of buttery white bread. The main problem is that it’s short, squat, and extremely dense, not soft and fluffy at all. I’ve researched some things to do next time and regretted some things I did this time, so here’s what I’m going to try with the next loaf:

• The milk I rehydrated the yeast in probably wasn’t warm enough, in retrospect. Some sites also recommend using water for this task even if the recipe doesn’t call for any, and cutting down on the amount of milk.
• I actually let the dough rise for almost 3 hours the first time ’round, but my kitchen is pretty chilly at the moment. I’ll let it rise for a ridiculously long time next time!
• Several sites recommended cutting down on the amount of flour and just using a stickier ball of dough, which makes sense.
• I may eventually try bread flour instead of all-purpose, but I have enough of the latter lying around that it won’t be with the next loaf, at any rate.

In a couple of weeks I will be trying again. ‘Til next loaf!

I know, I know, George already posted a risotto recipe, and mine is not that different from his, but it’s simpler, and has things in it I like. So there.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups arborio rice
• 6 cups liquid*
• 2 tbsp. olive oil or butter
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• extra things: mushrooms (about a cup, white and crimini), spinach (a couple handfuls, chopped), blue cheese (a couple tablespoons) in this case
• salt and pepper to taste

* You need about four times as much liquid as rice. I split mine up like this: 4 cups vegetable broth; 1 cup water; 1 cup wine. I’ve seen recipes that suggest only 1/2 a cup of wine, and all the rest broth… the main reason I put water in is because the easy-to-buy container of broth only has four cups in it. You could also, obviously, use chicken broth.

Directions

1. Heat up/melt the olive oil or butter in a big pot. Add rice and stir until coated.
2. If you’re using wine, add it now. Stir constantly until it’s mostly absorbed.
3. Meanwhile, cook the mushrooms and spinach separately.
4. Add the rest of the liquid about 1/2 cup at a time, waiting for each batch to be absorbed before you add more, stirring stirring stirring as you go. The rice should be
5. Mix in the mushrooms and spinach, stir around, cook for another couple of minutes.
6. Add the blue cheese and parmesan cheese and stir until melted. Add salt and pepper if you want them.

This recipe is deceptively simple. The drawback of amazing risotto is that it takes about an hour of constant stirring and pouring.

I have been trying to cut down on meat lately for health reasons, which will go one of two ways as far as you all are concerned:

1. Lots of yummy vegetarian recipes posted here!
2. I become lazy and eat a lot of peanut butter and jelly.

So far I’m still being relatively un-lazy, so I modified my mom’s White Chicken Chili to be veggie-ful. I love white chili because I’m not a big fan of tomato sauce, onions, or peppers, all of which are usually heavily present in traditional chilis. This chili is spicy but light, and as soon as I eat up a batch I want MORE.

Ingredients:

• 30-40 oz. vegetable broth (or chicken broth, if it’s easier to find and you don’t care about the “vegetarian” part)
• 4 cans white beans — I recommend Cannellini or Great Northern — or the equivalent of dry beans
• 1 can red or pink kidney beans, or the equivalent of dry beans
• ~1 cup fresh green beans, chopped into 1″ pieces
• ~1 1/2 cup fresh white mushrooms, chopped into quarters
• 2 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. ground cayenne
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Pour the broth and all the beans into a big pot (don’t forget to drain the beans to reduce sodium, and rinse them to reduce it even more), and simmer over medium heat for about an hour, stirring occasionally. The broth will get thicker.
2. Add vegetables, and cook until they’re beginning to get soft.
3. Add spices, and cook for about another half hour.
4. Serve plain or over rice. Excellent with Monterey Jack or cheddar (or both) cheese sprinkled over top, if you swing that way.

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup shortening
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups honey
• 2 tsp. lemon flavoring
• 5 ¼ cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. salt

Directions

1. Mix shortening, sugar, egg, honey and flavoring thoroughly. Measure flour and stir together with baking soda and salt. Blend in. Chill dough.
2. Heat oven to 375o. Roll dough out ¼” thick. Cut into desired shapes.
3. Place 1″ apart on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until no imprint remains when touched lightly.
4. When cool, ice and decorate as desired.

You can’t really see under the Santas here, but this year I debuted some new Hanukkah shapes as well: a menorah and a dreidel. We’ve also been making Stars of David for a while. Cookies for everyone!

You can make a ginger bread version by substituting brown sugar for granulated, molasses for honey, and 2 tsp. cinnamon plus 1 tsp. ginger for lemon flavoring.

I stole this tin from my mom because I thought it was pretty.

Next up: THE DECORATENING.

Joy the Baker‘s recipe for Super Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies showed up on the blog of someone else I read (can’t remember who), and I couldn’t stop staring at them until I made them.

You guys, these cookies are amazing. I am a fan of chewy and soft cookies and never seem to get mine to come out that way, but these are like little pumpkin cakes in cookie sizes.

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup canola or corn oil
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup chocolate chips

I actually made a double recipe, since I have several events in the next few days to which I’d like to take cookies, especially if they turned out well, which they did. I actually ended up with not quite enough pumpkin, because the can I bought held only 1 3/4 cups, but it didn’t seem to make much of a difference.

Kitty wants to help.

Directions

1. Stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices together in a medium bowl and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until smooth and lightened in color, about 1 minute.
3. Mix the oil, pumpkin, and vanilla until blended. Mix in the flour mixture. Mix in the chips. The dough is very soft. I had to restrain myself from adding more flour, and it’s good that I was successful.
4. Bake at 325 degrees for 16-20 minutes (I found that it took longer than Joy’s recipe says, but maybe it’s just my oven), until the top is firm.
5. Just try to keep your roommates away.

Chicken soup!

Chicken thighs, water, a bit of rice, chopped cilantro.

Sushi!

Seaweed, sticky rice (<– measured this!), avocado, salmon.

I like this recipe because it starts with lettuce and tomatoes. It’s a salad. Therefore, healthy!

The lettuce is easier to eat if you chop it. Likewise the tomatoes. Serve yourself a generous helping; you’ll forget that these things are in there, anyway.

Part 2: BEEF

Actually, you could make this just as well with ground turkey or ground veggie burger, but I am a beef fan, personally. Brown the beef (or turkey or veggie burger), get rid of the extraneous fat if necessary, and add one packet of taco seasoning. I usually use Old El Paso.

Part 3: The Good Parts

Guacamole. Cheese. ‘Nuff said. Well, I guess I could also say that I usually use either shredded cheddar or a shredded Mexican mix for the cheese. You could also add olives or onions or whatever else you like on your tacos and have handy.

Part 4: The Purpose of This Whole Endeavor

Like my taco dip, the main reason you make this is because it gives you an excuse to eat corn chips. As with taco dip, I favor the Hint of Lime Tostitos variety. Spread them over the salad and crunch them up with your fork.

The best thing about this recipe, aside from the excuse to eat corn chips and pretending to be healthy, is the variety: cold tomatoes and hot ground beef. Soft guacamole and crunchy chips. It’s also colorful, and every successful ’50s housewife knows that a colorful meal is a nutritious meal.

I had never heard of swai before, but sure enough, it was stocked right next to the tilapia and was cheaper, so I gave it a try. Apparently the proper name for it is “iridescent shark” (even though it’s a catfish, not technically a shark), which makes it even better. I don’t think I like it better than tilapia, as Gloria, did, but I certainly liked it an equal amount.

I don’t like onions, so I threw some fresh chopped garlic and dried basil (my fresh basil had gone off) and a couple tablespoons of olive oil into the pan. I added a splash of apple cider vinegar to the mix, which added a nice tang to the smell, though it didn’t taste especially strong on the fish. Then I rubbed salt and white pepper on the fish, and cooked it for about three minutes per side, following Gloria’s directions.

I sprinkled some rosemary and tarragon on the fish, and then thought, “What the heck?” and added a dash of ground cloves. Then a generous amount of white wine, since that was what I had handy.

Meanwhile, I was cooking some white rice on the back burner, and steaming some mushrooms and broccoli over the rice. When the fish was done, and the mushrooms and broccoli were starting to get there, I flipped the fish onto a plate and added the veggies to the pan I’d cooked the fish in, adding some more olive oil, wine, and spices.

Next time I think I might plan ahead a bit more about the sauce for the veggies — compared to the fish, they and the rice were a bit bland. The fish, though, turned out perfectly.

• 8oz thin spaghetti noodles
• 3 tbsp peanut oil
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 1/2 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp sesame seeds
• 2-3 fresh cloves garlic, chopped
• red cayenne pepper
• 2-3 scallions, chopped (optional)

I’m not a big scallion fan, so I left those out.

1. Cook noodles and toss with 1 tbsp peanut oil.
2. In a bowl with high sides, mix together the soy sauce, red wine vinegar, peanut butter, sesame oil, sugar, ground ginger, and salt. Beat with a fork or whisk until creamy.
3. In a large skillet, roast the sesame seeds (dry) until they are golden brown and fragrant. Let them cool on a small plate. Then use the same skillet to roast the chopped garlic in the 2 tbsp peanut oil, along with red cayenne pepper to taste.
4. When the garlic is roasted, add the noodles and sauce to the skillet. Mix and cook over low heat for 2 minutes or until sauce has started to thicken around noodles. Remove from heat and mix in sesame seeds and scallions.

This is probably obvious to anyone but me, but after you cook the sesame seeds they are hot. I tried to spread them around on the plate and burned my fingers. Whoops.

It’s good warm or cold, so make lots and have leftovers. (The pictures are actually of a double recipe, because a package of spaghetti is usually 16 oz., not 8 oz., and it seemed silly to only cook half of it.)