Saturday

Me in the kitchen... I really do love it in there... I miss my apron, it's packed away somewhere.
Saturday's are my busiest day of the week. On a Saturday I like to cook lots of food. I try to make it so that I won't have to do any cooking or cleaning on Sunday. So today this is what I'm doing.... with recipes.



French Bread (I love this recipe because I don't have to clean out loaf pans afterwards;)

INGREDIENTS
2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F)
2 cups water
6 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons cornmeal
1 egg white, beaten
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
DIRECTIONS
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, combine the yeast mixture with 2 cups water, 3 cups flour, salt, sugar and vegetable oil; stir well to combine. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
Divide dough half. Roll each half into a 9 x 12 rectangle and roll up jelly roll style, starting at long edge. Seal edges and place seam side down on a large baking sheet that has been sprinkled with cornmeal.
Use a sharp knife to slash each loaf diagonally 3 times. Brush with beaten egg white and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Cover and allow to rise 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Bake in preheated oven for 35 minutes, or until golden brown.



Banana Bread



Combine:

3 Mashed Bananas

1/2 cup melted butter/margerine

2 eggs

1 C white or brown sugar



Mix them all together and stir in:

1 1/2 cup flour

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt



This will make two small loaves or a bunch of muffins. For the loavs bake at 350 for about 40 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. For muffins back for 18-20 minutes. You can add chocolate chips or nuts if you want.

edit- make sure you grease and flour your loaf or muffin pans. Don't use those paper muffin things, mushy fruits in muffins will stick to the papers.

Pot Roast



All I do is take a frozen roast and put it in my crock pot on hish at lunch time, if I was doing it in the morning then I would put it on low. I add a few cups of water, an onion and garlic (to your liking) salt and pepper. You can add whatever spices you want, I love lemon pepper with roast.

After and hour or two I'll fill the bottom of the crock pot with peeled and halves potatoes and big chunks of carrots. You could add a stalk of celery too for the gravy if you wanted. I know that most people put the potatoes and carrots in right away and you could and I'm sure it would be fine.. I probably will next time.



Once the roast is done I'll take it out and put it on a cutting board and cover it with tinfoil. I don't know why you're supposed to do this, I just know that you are supposed to. Take the veggies out and put them in a bowl. Then I strain all the chunky things out of the juice and put he juice into a big glass measuring cup.


Then I start the yorkshire pudding... mmm...



INGREDIENTS
4 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk until well blended. Whisk in the flour one cup at a time until frothy and well blended. Set aside.
Distribute the oil equally among 12 muffin cups, a little over a teaspoon per cup. Place in the oven for 5 to 10 minutes, until smoking. Remove from the oven and quickly ladle about 1/4 cup of batter into each cup.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven. Serve immediately. I turn my oven off and leave the door partially open with the yorkies inside to keep them from deflating while waiting for everyone to ask for seconds.



While the puddings are cooking I make the gravy. Oh and by the way, once I've gotten the juice out of the crock pot I'll put the veggies back in and set it to "keep warm"



For the gravy I'll put about a 1/4 cup of the juice in the bottom of the pot and let it boil off until the bottom of the pot is dark brown, keep adding juice until you get the pot brown. Then I'll start whisking the bottom of the pot and slowly adding more juice. I just learned how to make gravy this last year, from my sister in laws and mother in law at a family gathering. Until then my gravy was always SUPER bland. Browning the bottom of the pot is what gives the gravy the flavor. Once you've got about a half an inch of browned juice add the rest and bring it to a boil.

Next I'll mix about two big tablespoons of flour in a cup of water until it's not lumpy anymore.

While the juice is boiling slowly start to whisk in your flour mixture. Just add a little bit at a time until your gravy is as thick as you like it. If when you're done it's lumpy you can just strain it again.

My Momma in law doesn't strain her juice before she makes her gravy and it is more flavorfull but I find straining gravy after it's made to be too much of a pain and I still like my gravy fine.. you can choose how you want to do it.



And the soup. My new goal is to make a big pot of soup every saturday. It's great to have left over in the fridge for lunches and late night snacks and soup goes a long way if you are having guests over for Sunday lunch.



Here's the recipe I'm using today



Tomato Barley Soup



INGREDIENTS
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups water
2 tomatoes, diced
1 (14.5 ounce) can peeled and diced tomatoes with juice
1 (10.75 ounce) can chicken broth
1/4 cup uncooked barley
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
DIRECTIONS
In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine the onions, celery, carrots, garlic and oil and saute for 5 to 10 minutes, or until all vegetables are almost tender.
Then add the water, fresh tomatoes, canned tomatoes, chicken broth, barley and ground black pepper.
Stir thoroughly and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 35 to 40 minutes, or until barley is tender.



I didnt' have enough barley so I added some millet also, which is a grain like barley.



I love knowing that I can have people over because my house work is done and I have anough food for a crowd. If I'm not too exhausted I'll probably make a sheppard's pie too. All that consists of it ground beef cooked, I put that in the bottom of a casserole dish. Then I add a layer of frozen corn then I cover the whole thing in mashed potatoes and a layer of cheese, then I bake it until the cheese is bubbley. You can use peas too, some will add a can of irish stew to their meat instead of frozen corn, my SIL will do peas and gravy with the meat.



Anyway so that is why Saturday's are busy. I am also nearly done cleaning out the library. That will leave me only three more rooms to get clean next week. And then there's getting ready for family camp... and people wonder why I never go out???