Everyday French Bread

• 1 cup warm water 
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2½ teaspoons yeast
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1½ teaspoons salt
• 3 cups flour

Instructions

In the bowl of your stand mixer with fitted with the dough hook add sugar and water. Stir to dissolve sugar and sprinkle with yeast.

Add oil, salt and flour then turn on your mixer. Let it incorporate the ingredients and knead until your dough seems smooth.When you are satisfied, place in greased bowl flipping to cover both side.

Cover and let rise 1 hour.

Punch down and let it rise again... about 30 minutes.

Pull out and flatten out into a rectangle. Roll it up and tuck the ends under pinching gently. Place on greased baking sheet, cover and let rise 30-60 minutes.

At the end of that time, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush with egg was for harder crust.

Give it a couple quick swipes with a serrated knife.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Macaroni and Cheese

I've tried so many scratch recipes for macaroni and cheese. I was raised on Kraft rather than the old fashioned baked stuff so I could never come around to really liking it.

We found a brewery around here that the hubster and I love to frequent when we get boy-less time (which is hardly ever, but still). They serve a macaroni and cheese with smoked gouda and ham. We liked it so much we were trying to go back just for that so I started trying to find a recipe to make it at home so we could all enjoy it. 

This is where I ended up.
I vary this recipe with different types of cheese and different add-ins. It's been a hit every time. Most often it's ham with smoked gouda but I add in steamed broccoli at the end. 

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
2 cup heavy cream
2 cup shredded cheese (we have used cheddar and smoked gouda)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp dry mustard
1lb, pasta


Start cooking pasta according to package directions while you work on the sauce. When it's ready, drain and set aside.
In a large pot on medium high heat, add butter until melted. Whisk in the flour and cook for about one minute. Reduce heat to medium and add milk, heavy cream, salt, dry mustard and pepper. Continue whisking until it begins to bubble. Reduce to low and add white cheddar. Stir until melted.
Add cooked pasta and whatever extra add-ins sound good at the moment.

Vanilla Donut Holes

Who doesn't like a sweet breakfast? We've made these quite a few times in the past. They came back around because we're on spring break from homeschooling this week! This mama has been sleeping in and feeling much more indulgent with our breakfasts. Yum!

Donut
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Glaze
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons milk (more or less to desired consistency)

Mix together all the dry ingredients then incorporate the wet until well blended. Put tablespoon size drops into your cake pop/ donut hole machine.
While they're cooking, stire together glaze ingredients. Dip warm balls into the glaze and dry until crusted.

Nutella Cupcakes

I teach cake decorating at our local craft store. It's a pretty fun little side job that gives me a reason to get me out of the house for a little bit each week. Part of the curriculum I teach requires me to make cupcakes one week and a cake the next week. Being generally opposed to settling for cake mixes and bored of the usual vanilla and chocolate options, I am often on the look out for new recipes to take to class with me. This week was no different. I got it into mind that I wanted to have Nutella cupcakes to take with me. Who doesn't like Nutella, right?
After much searching I didn't find anything I was satisfied with so I revamped a recipe myself and got this! Oh my goodness! You have to try them! For class I covered them with the class buttercream but at home I just put a dollop of extra Nutella on top. Amazing! Try them! You'll love them.

1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup  nutella
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix in the oil, Nutella, eggs and vanilla until completely incorporated. Should be nice and thick at this point. Slowly mix in the sour cream and milk until a uniform consistency. Pour into liner-filled cupcake pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes, using a toothpick test to check for done-ness. Top with whatever sounds great and enjoy!

Upside-down Plum Cake

3/4 cup butter, softened (divided)
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon honey
4 large plums, cut into segments
1 1/2  cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9-in pan with 2-in sides.

In a skillet melt HALF the butter with honey and sugar over medium heat, stirring until smooth sauce forms. Pour sauce into prepared cake pan, arrange plum segments on top.

Mix flour, baking powder, spices and salt in a medium bowl, set aside. With a mixer, whip remaining butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs and both extracts and whip until white and fluffy. Add 1/3 flour mixture, mix until just blended. Add 1/2 milk, then 1/3 flour, the rest of milk and flour, mixing until just combined.

Pour batter over plums, bake until golden, about 1 hr. Let cool in pan for about 15 min, run a knife around the edges and carefully invert onto serving platter.

Coffee-Crusted Pork Chops with Bourbon Cream Sauce

Good friends bought us Weber's "Real Cooking" book several years ago. We have never been disappointed with a recipe we tried from it. This particular recipe is one of the best yet! As usual, I changed the recipe quite a bit while I was cooking it so this is my version.

Sauce:
1T butter
1t minced garlic
1t onion powder
1/4c bourbon (we used Jack Daniels)
1c low-sodium beef stock
6T heavy cream
1/2t dried thyme
Salt and pepper to taste

Rub:
1t dark-roasted coffee
1/2t dried thyme
1t kosher salt
1/2t fresh ground pepper

4 boneless pork loin chops about 1 inch thick
Olive oil

For the sauce:
In a saucepan over medium heat melt the butter and cook garlic for just a minute. Add onion powder then remove from heat. Carefully add bourbon then return to the heat (it may flame up). Reduce heat to medium and add stock and cream. Simmer until reduced to about 1/3c stirring occasionally. Add remaining seasoning to desired taste and serve over the cooked pork chops. We found this was delicious with our steamed broccoli as well!

For the chops:
Make the rub in a small bowl, mixing together all the ingredients. Spray or brush both sides of pork chops with olive oil then rub seasoning into the pork chops and let them come to room temperature for about 20-30 minutes.
 Grill over direct medium heat until barely pink in the center of the meat, about 8-10 minutes, turning once. Rest for a few minutes then serve.

Spent Grain Beer Bread

Since recently my hubbie has gotten into making his own beer I've tried to find a few recipes of things I could make with the things leftover from it. One of the big ones is the "spent grain" or the grains that are leftover after they've been boiled. I have read that they are still quite nutritious and they give a unique flavor to this bread that I've made twice now. The bread tastes different depending on the type of grain you use so it's always new!

3/4c warm water
2T active dry yeast
3/4c milk
1/4c unsalted butter
4 1/2T sugar
1T salt
1c apple juice
1/4c honey
1 1/2c spent grain
1c wheat flour
4-5c unbleached all purpose flour
oil to coat bowl
1 egg, lightly beaten

Pour the warm water into the bowl of your electric mixer. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let set for a few minutes. Heat milk and butter until the butter melts, either in the microwave or on the stove. Add in sugar, salt, apple juice and honey. Add into the mixing bowl.
Add the spent grain reserving 2T if you'd like to put some on top to decorate at the end. Add whole wheat flour and mix thoroughly. Add all-purpose flour a little at a time until no longer sticky. Knead for several minutes with the dough hook attachment. Oil the bowl and let rise for 30-60 minutes or until doubled in size.
Form into 2 loaves and brush on the egg wash and rise again until doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bake loaves for 45 minutes or until a toothpick test comes out clean.