Valentine's Breakfast

So this year for Valentine's I made a breakfast for Daniel and Zachary (I was really proud, seeing as I just don't cook these days). I was inspired from a picture I saw to make heart-shaped English Muffins. Then I turned them into heart-shaped egg and bacon McMuffins. They were cool and it was fun to make the English Muffins. I also made a fruit smoothie that was awesome tasting. I would drink it every morning if I could.

English Muffins

This recipe is from Beth Hensperger's The Bread Bible. They don't taste like English Muffins from the store, but neither does homemade bread :) They are really good just off the griddle.

1/4 c warm water

1 TB yeast

Pinch sugar

4-4 1/2 c all-purpose flour

2 tsp salt

1 large egg

1 1/4 cups warm milk

2 TB butter, melted

Cornmeal

1. Pour water in small bowl. Stir in yeast and sugar. Let stand until foamy.

2. In a large bowl (not the Bosch, there is too little dough unless you double the recipe) place 2 cups flour and salt and make a well. Add egg, milk, buter and yeast mixture. Beat until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add remaining flour, 1/2 c at a time until soft dough is formed.

3. Turn dough out on a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and springy, about 3 minutes. The softer the dough, the lighter the muffin.

4. Place dough in greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, let rise until double.

5. Lightly sprinkle surface with cornmeal. Deflate dough and roll into a 1/2" thick rectangle. Cut muffins out with a 2 1/2 or 3 inch biscuit cutter or drinking glass (or heart-shaped cookie cutter). Roll out trimmings and cut out more muffins.

6. Preheat griddle to 325-350 degrees. When heated, lightly grease surface.

7. Immediately place muffins on griddle. Cook for about 10 minutes on each side, turning when quite brown. They take a while to cook and will puff up while cooking.

Fruit Smoothie

Recipe from Ina Garten (foodnetwork.com)

1 1/2 c freshly squeezed orange juice (I also put orange pulp that is leftover on the juicer into the smoothie)

1 c strawberries

1 TB fresh lime juice

1 or 1 1/2 bananas, frozen

Honey to taste

Place in blender and process until smooth. Sweeten with honey if needed. Tasty.

Skillet Chicken with Brocolli, Pasta and Parmesan

This used to be my favorite dish at "The Cheesecake Factory", until they changed it...:(
When I found this recipe I was so excited, and it's now one of my favorites! My family prefers the broccoli on the side, and I prefer fettucine noodles over ziti. Sharee and Andrea seemed to enjoy it when they were visiting. Hopefully you will too!

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch squares
Table salt and ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, minced
4 medium cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
12 ounces ziti (penne makes a great substitution - I've used both with great results)
4 1/4 cups water
2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
4-5 cups broccoli florets (depending on how much broccoli you want)
1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, rinsed and chopped coarse
3/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (asiago was the cheese in the original recipe and can be interchanged, but I always have parmesan on hand so I used that)
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add the chicken in a single layer and cook for 1 minute without stirring. Stir the chicken and continue to cook until most, but not all, of the pink color has disappeared and the chicken is lightly browned around the edges, 1 to 2 minutes longer. Transfer the chicken to a clean bowl and set aside.

Add the remaining tablespoon of oil, onion, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to the skillet. Return the skillet to medium-high heat and cook, stirring often, until the onion is softened, 2 to 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, oregano, and pepper flakes, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add the pasta, 3 cups of the water, and the broth. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook until the liquid is very thick and syrupy and almost completely absorbed, 12 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the broccoli, sun-dried tomatoes, and the remaining 1 1/4 cups water. Cover, reduce the heat to medium, and cook until the broccoli turns bright green and is almost tender, 2-3 minutes.

Uncover and return the heat to medium-high. Stir in the cream, parmesan, and reserved chicken with any accumulated juices and continue to simmer, uncovered, until the sauce is thickened and the chicken is cooked and heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve, passing more grated parmesan at the table, if desired.

Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff

I have already given out this recipe to most everyone but I figure that it deserves to be here for posterity's sake. I got this from my sister-in law Dawn a few years ago. It is the best to make for company or for Sunday. You can adjust it according to how many people you have but the original recipe serves about 6.

Crockpot Beef Stroganof

1-2 lbs stew meat

1/2 package aujus mix

1/2 cup water

1 can cream of mushroom soup

Mix together in crockpot for 8-10 hours on low or 5-6 on high. Stir in 1 cup sour cream the last 1/2 hour. I like to break up the meat with a whisk before serving but it is also great left in chunks.

Serve over rice or egg noodles.

Genene

Chocolate Majesty

This cake is one that is most requested by my kids for their Birthdays. I love to make this because not only is it delicious, it looks pretty and takes five minutes to make.......seriously, five minutes. I got this recipe a few years ago from my good friend Rachel M. For those of you who love a moist chocolate cake, this is the one.

Chocolate Majesty

Duncan Hines Deluxe Devil's Food Chocolate Cake mis

3/4 cup oil

16 oz sour cream

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1 small box chocolate pudding

1/3 cup chocolate syrup

4 eggs

Heat oven to 350. Mix all except choc chips. Blend well, mixture will be thick. Fold in chips. Pour into greased bunt pan. Bake at 350 for 50- 60 minutes. I always check it with a toothpick at 50 minutes and it is usually done. Cool slightly for 10 minutes. Invert onto platter. Drizzle with glaze.

For glaze

Melt 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips with 1/3 cup whipping cream. When desired consistancy drizzle over top.

PIZZA!

I haven't been cooking lately, but I thought I would share this pizza recipe. We had a Pizza Throwdown with some friends a while ago, and this was the recipe that won. It is from a blog called www.ohsweetbasil.blogspot.com. A lady that moved out of our ward does this blog, and the recipes on there look pretty good. Anyway, this pizza was really really good. Obviously, because it won.
Four Cheese Margarita Pizza

This pizza is so easy and so delicious! Actually, this is our favorite. We pretty much only eat margarita and while we love a traditional this one is packed with so much flavor it's hard to not make it.

The dough is a Neopolitan crust which means super thin. We prefer thin, but if you like more crust probably dont use this recipe or use two quarters of dough instead of one for each crust.

*If you love tomatoes try slicing them. I am learning to like them so I chop them into smaller bites. (I actually love them on this pizza, but don't tell my hubs or he will make me eat them in my salad! haha)

Margarita Pizza
Dough from MangiaBenePasta.com under pizza

Neopolitan Crust (4, 9-10 inch pizzas)

1 teaspoon dry active yeast
1-1/4 cups warm water
1 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
2-1/2 to3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
Olive oil

Add the yeast to the warm water and allow it to sit for 10 minutes.


In a large bowl, combine the cake flour, 2-1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, and salt.
Add the yeast mixture and stir to form a soft dough.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface.
Knead until smooth and elastic, adding more flour as needed.


Coat a bowl with olive oil.
Place the dough in the bowl, turning it once to coat with oil.
Cover and let rise in a warm place.
The dough should double in volume in about 1-1/2 hours.

Flatten the dough and cut into 4 equal size pieces.
Shape each piece into a ball.
Place the balls on a lightly floured surface and cover.
Allow to rise about 1 hour, until doubled.

Shape pizza and top.

Topping

1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
4 Roma tomatoes, chopped
8 ounces shredded Mozzarella cheese
4 ounces shredded Fontina cheese
10 fresh basil leaves, washed, dried
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

Stir together olive oil, garlic, and sea salt; toss with tomatoes, and let marinate for 15 minutes, but no more than 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400.

Brush each pizza crust with some of the tomato marinade.

Sprinkle the pizzas evenly with Mozzarella and Fontina cheeses.

Place tomatoes on top of cheese, then sprinkle with shredded basil, Parmesan, and feta cheese.
Place baking stone in 6 min before and then remove and place pizza on stone and into the oven.

Bake 10-12 min or until slightly golden and bubbly!

Panang Curry

My friend, Rachel Nelson, makes the BEST curry and passed on the recipe:

Panang Curry

2 cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 cup shallots, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped or julienned
1 yellow pepper, chopped or julienned
1 can bamboo shoots
1/2 can panang curry (this is spicy so add to taste if you are wary of the pleasant burn of curry)
1 can coconut milk
2 breasts chicken, cooked and cubed
1 tsp ginger, grated
10 thai basil leaves, chopped
2 kaffir lime leaves
1 T fish sauce

Saute peppers and shallots in a little bit of water. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 30-40 minutes. Pull the lime leaves out before serving.

*I tried something new with this on Sunday. I put all of the ingredients in a crockpot, raw chicken and all. It was done in 4 hours and tasted awesome. Give it a whirl some Sunday-it is the perfect Sunday meal.*

Welcome Fellow Food Snobs!

We have so many fabulous recipes floating around in this family, that Genene thought it would be a great resource to have a recipe blog. Rachel and I concurred that this was a fantastic idea, so here we are! We tried to be innovative and creative with the blog title but, alas, most of the good names were taken. So we decided on www.food-addicts.blogspot.com. Because really, aren't we all slightly addicted to food??? Just slightly???

So without further ado, here is our blog. Mom, Genene, Rachel, Cheryl, Colleen, Maren, Kim, Heather and Andrea are all listed as contributors. If anyone else in the family wants to join, we will add them. Obviously David, Shaun, Darrell, Daniel, etc can contribute via their wives' accounts.

Bon Appetit!