A carbohydrate overload craze overtook my book club last year. My dear friend LeAnn started showing up at every gathering with homemade, delicious bread. We couldn’t stop ourselves from eating seconds, even thirds. The bread was crunchy on the outside and moist and holey on the inside. I’m famous in my circles for my no knead bread, so at first I thought that LeAnn was just using that recipe. One day when I was at her house, I saw a copy of Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. Her secret was out of the bag. And as I perused the book, I saw that while the original recipe was similar to my no-knead bread, the book included over 50 other recipes based on one fantastic concept:

five minute bread
from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
(makes four 1-pound loaves)

3 cups lukewarm water (110 degrees)
1 1/2 tbsp granulated yeast (2 packets) (instant yeast preferred)
1 1/2 tbsp kosher or other coarse salt
6 1/2 cups (27.6 oz) unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose white flour, measured with the scoop and sweep method (see below)
cornmeal for pizza peel or rimless baking tray

I prefer to mix the bread in my KitchenAid stand mixer and then put the finished dough in a lidded dough container.

Add yeast and salt to the water in a 5 quart bowl, or preferably, in a resealable, lidded (not airtight) plastic container or food grade bucket. Don’t worry about getting all the yeast to dissolve.

When measuring out your flour, scoop out a cup and use a knife to scrape the excess off the top. Because you’re using so many cups of flour, a little error on each cup adds up to big difference in the end, so do take care in this. If you have a kitchen scale, you can just measure out 27.6 ounces of flour.

Mix in the flour all at once with a wooden spoon, a high capacity food processor with dough hook, or a heavy duty stand mixer fitted with the dough hook until the mixture is uniform. Do not knead the bread. You’re finished when everything is uniformly moist without dry patches.

Cover with a lid (not airtight and allow to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse or at least flattens on top, approximately 2 hours, depending on the room’s temperature and the initial temperature of the water. You can let it rise up to 5 hours without ruining the dough.

You can use the dough at this point, although it’s far easier to work with the dough after it has been refrigerated for a couple of hours. The first time you try making this bread, let it sit in the fridge for at least 3 hours so it can firm up a bit.

On baking day:

Sprinkle a pizza peel or unrimmed baking sheet with cornmeal. Cover the dough with a thin layer of flour and pull and cut off a grapefruit-sized piece of dough using a serrated knife. Hold the mass of dough in your hands and add a little more flour as needed so that it won’t stick to your hands. Shape the dough into a ball as quickly as possible and rest on the cornmeal covered peel. This process should not take more than 30 seconds.

Let the loaf rest on the peel for about 40 minutes.

Twenty minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 450 degrees with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty broiler tray for holding water on any other shelf that won’t interfere with the rising bread.

Dust the bread with flour and cut several 1/4-inch-deep slashes on the top with a serrated knife.

After a 20 minute preheat, you’re ready to bake, even though your oven won’t be up to temperature. Run the tap water so that it gets hot. Slide the loaf onto the preheated baking stone. Quickly add 1 cup of hot tap water to the broiler tray and close the oven door to trap the steam.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until the crust is nicely browned and firm to the touch. The inside will stay moist even though the outside is browning. Allow to cool completely, preferably on a wire cooling rack. The crust may soften, but it will firm up again when cooled.

Store the remaining dough in the fridge in your lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 14 days, repeating the “On baking day” steps from above.

roasted chicken

1 whole chicken
vegetable oil
Italian seasoning to taste – I use about 3 or 4 tbsp
salt

Place oven rack on bottom shelf and preheat your oven on convection to 375 degrees. If you don’t have a convection option, preheat your oven to 400. Place chicken holder in the center of a 9×13 pan filled with 1/2″ of water at the bottom (this catches the fat and ensures that it doesn’t burn to your pan and create a smoky mess).

Remove innards (you can use these in something else or toss them) and wash chicken. Place on chicken holder and stabilize.

Pour oil over chicken and spread with your hands.

Sprinkle generously with salt and Italian seasoning.

Bake until temperature in the deepest part of the thigh is 165 degrees, or approximately 45 to 60 minutes, depending on the size of your bird. Half way through baking, pierce the bird’s skin with a knife to allow juices to run.

Once chicken is cooked, let stand for 5 minutes to seal in juices. Then carve and serve!

(Next in our series: Making easy homemade chicken stock using the carcass of your chicken.)

Every Wednesday, my husband’s work orders pizza, and since he’s the last one to leave work most nights, he grabs all the leftovers and brings them home so they don’t get thrown out. Generally, this is a good deal for him because pizza is one of his favorite foods and now he gets it every week. At this point, I’m wondering if he regrets the decision to take home all of last week’s pizza because he’s eaten nothing but pizza for the last 5 days. Why? Because this weekend I was taking a much needed day off work and decided that gosh darn it, I wanted pizza. And not some work leftovers either. I wanted my own delicious cornmeal crust pizza with my own delicious sauce and a personalized array of my favorite toppings arranged exactly how I like them. (I was feeling a bit selfish – can you tell? ) I hadn’t made pizza in ages. It was time to shred some cheese and prep some toppings. In other words, it was pizza time.

pizza sauce
taken straight from www.allrecipes.com (if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it)

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
6 fluid ounces warm water
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons honey
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
salt to taste

Combine all ingredients and let rest for at least 30 minutes.

Spread on your pizza and bake!

*If not, check back here for a great recipe to be posted soon.

If ever there was a broccoli hater, it was I. No offense to my mom, but she makes some terrible broccoli. Growing up, my mom would boil the broccoli until it was mushy and then cover it in lemon juice. Sounds gross, right? And that explains why I have always been an avid broccoli avoider…. until one day I decided to take a chance on this recipe from Cook’s Illustrated. For dinner one night, I served steak, mashed potatoes, and a side of this broccoli. This broccoli was so good that my both hubby and I pushed the so-precious-you-only-get-them-on-special-occasion steak and potatoes off our plates and ate just the broccoli. I know you think I’m kidding. I’m not. In fact, after making this recipe to go with our dinner tonight, I ate some, and then ha some more, and then nibbled a bit more, and before I knew it, I had consumed a half pound of broccoli. It’s like candy, and I just couldn’t help myself, especially knowing that instead of indulging in the gooey chocolate covered caramel apple that was sitting next to me, I was making a nutritious choice. And thus begins what Brant and I have begun to call the “broccoli overdose.” I suppose there are worse ways to OD.

roasted broccoli

1 head broccoli (about 1 3/4 pounds)
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp sugar

Place a cooking tray in the oven and preheat you oven to 500 degrees.

While oven is preheating, cut broccoli into bite sized florets. Add olive oil and mix well.

Sprinkle salt and sugar evenly and mix thoroughly to combine.

Working quickly, remove tray from the oven, add broccoli, shake it a bit to spread the broccoli out so that it’s in a single layer, and return it to the oven.

Cook 9-11 minutes, or until broccoli is browned where it touches the pan. Serve immediately!

pasta with salami, mushroom, & cheese sauce

3 tbsp butter
4 oz salami, cut into 1/4″ cubes
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
3 green onions, optional (if you have ‘em, great… if not, don’t fret!)
1 cup half-and-half cream
2 oz grated Parmesan cheese

Cut the salami into 1/4″ cubes and slice the mushrooms thinly.

Melt the butter over medium  high heat in a large saucepan. Add the salami, mushrooms, and green onions and cook, stirring often, until juices evaporate.

Reduce heat to low and add cream. Heat until cream just starts to bubble along sides of pan.

Turn off the heat and add the cheese, stirring until melted. Serve over hot pasta. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

If you are someone who grew up with meat in your pasta, resist the temptation to add ground beef to this. The recipe is great as is, but if you need meat, try meatballs. My hubby and I found some Chicken & Parmesan meatballs at Costco and those are amazing with this sauce. I still just love it without meat, though!

shirley’s favorite spaghetti sauce

3 tbs olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 (28-oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (12-oz) can tomato paste
2 tbsp sugar
4 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 1/2 tsp salt
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup red wine, optional
Parmesan cheese for passing

Cut up your veggies!

In a saucepan over medium heat, cook garlic, onion, and green pepper until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and their liquid and the remaining ingredients.

Cover and reduce heat to low. Cook 20 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally. Serve over pasta and pass Parmesan cheese at the table.

RECIPE UPDATE: I just bought this cast iron Dutch oven set to cook this bread in after reading a recommendation for it in the Tartine bread book. It’s AWESOME! You can use it to bake this bread, and when you’re not baking, you can use it for soups, roasts, and anything else you cook in a Dutch oven! Simply preheat the entire Dutch oven, invert your dough onto the lid portion, set the 5 quart Dutch oven on top and voila! Your own steam oven for only $35!

no knead bread

from The New York Times

3 cups of bread flour
1/4 tsp yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 2/3 cups luke-warm tap water

Whisk together the dry ingredients. Add the water and stir until well mixed. Your dough will be VERY wet. Don’t stress. It’s supposed to be that way. Work the dough well to ensure that all the flour is absorbed. Chunks of raw flour in the middle of your bread are unsightly and gross.

Cover the dough with well greased plastic wrap. If your house is cold like mine, you can microwave a glass of water until it’s very hot and then put the bread in the microwave overnight. The heat from the steam will keep the microwave warmer than the ambient air. If your house is 70 degrees or more, just leave it on the counter and it will be fine. Let sit for 12-18 hours. (I have found 18 hours to be a little too long – I always aim for closer to 12 hours). Your dough should have risen substantially and be very bubbly.

Pour your dough out on a floured cutting board and fold in on itself a few times so that it’s less of a blob and more of a ball. Since the dough is so wet, I just use a rubber spatula to lift one edge and flop it into the center. Then I do the same in a circular motion.

Cover with a clean towel and let sit for 1 hour. The dough will probably flatten back out. Again, no stress folks. Remember – four year olds can make this!

After an hour, preheat your oven to 450 WITH THE POT INSIDE! That’s important enough to warrant all caps. Once it’s preheated, let your pot sit in there for another half hour. You want the pot to be so very hot that the dough will cook instantly when it touches the pot. Otherwise, the dough will stick to the pot and you’ll never get your loaf out in one piece. Been there, done that, and it’s not pretty. Very, very hot is the goal.

Working quickly, pull your pan out of the oven, sprinkle some flour on the bottom, and dump your wet dough into the pan. It’ll look ugly. That’s okay. Put the lid on it and put it back in the oven. Cook for 20 minutes. Remove lid, raise the oven temperature to 500, and cook for 20 more minutes or until dark golden brown.

Remove from oven and immediately remove bread from the pan. Let sit on a wire rack until cool.

Rip or slice into pieces and enjoy with butter or dip it in a homemade sauce. My personal favorite dipping sauce was created by my chef friend Dave Hutchings – simply mix olive oil, balsalmic vinegar, garlic, salt, and fresh orange zest for a stunning combination that will leave your guests asking what the secret ingredient is.

I’m cheap, cheap, cheap and I refuse to buy salad dressing at the store if it’s something that I can easily make on my own. I found this recipe courtesy of Cook’s Illustrated (have you noticed my infatuation with them yet? ) and LOVE it. It’s simple to make, makes plenty, and tastes better than any dressing I have ever had out of a  jar.

There aren’t a lot of fun photos involved in making salad dressing. Just combine the ingredients in your food processor or a jar with a very leak-proof lid. I like to use the food processor because I think the resulting dressing is better combined and a bit thicker.

Use this within a week. After that, the flavors stop being as, well, flavorful.

balsamic vinaigrette

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 – 1 clove of garlic, minced if not using a food processor
2 tsp dijon mustard
1 1/2 tsp minced fresh oregano leaves, or 1/2 tsp dried
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

In a food processor, blend together ingredients until well mixed. Store in a leak proof container for up to one week.

spinach and bacon frittata

6 oz spinach
3/4 lb yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
6 slices bacon (preferably apple wood or some other smoked flavor)
10 large eggs
3 tbsp half and half
salt & pepper
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese

Adjust oven rack to 5 inches from heating element and set oven to broil.

Put the spinach in a large bowl covered tightly with plastic wrap. Microwave until wilted, about 1.5 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a clean dish towel and squeeze out excess liquid.

Place potatoes in now-empty bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave until tender, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, fry the bacon in a cast iron skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 6 minutes. Once crisp, place on a paper-towel lined plate and blot off excess grease.

Discard all but one tablespoon of grease from the skillet. Add potatoes to the skillet and cook until golden brown. Add spinach. Cut bacon into 1/2 inch pieces and add to the skillet.

While this is heating, whisk eggs, half and half, 1/4 tsp salt,  and1/4 tsp pepper together in a bowl. Add 1/4 cup cheese.

Add egg mixture to the potato mixture and use a rubber spatula to stir until large curds form but eggs are still very wet, about 2 minutes. Cook 30 more seconds without stirring, or until the bottom is set. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.

At this point, if your skillet is oven safe, place the entire skillet in the oven for 3-4 minutes, or until surface is spotty brown (eggs should still be wet looking). If you don’t have an oven proof skillet, transfer the egg mixture to a sheet pan and then cook for 3-4 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes to finish cooking. Serve hot.

I’m a big fan of vegetarian burritos (I’ll post a favorite recipe at a later date), but my hubby is a man who likes his meat. <<insert manly grunts here>> This recipe is my compromise. It has the meatiness that he likes but still meets my requirement of being healthy and tasty.

Ground turkey burritos are one of my fall back meals when I can’t think of anything to serve for dinner. While the list of ingredients may look long, it’s actually a 45 minute meal, start to finish, and it makes enough for us to eat them for several days. Phew… fewer meals to plan.

If you are intimidated by the amount of filling that this makes, use what you need and freeze the rest in smaller portions for later meals!

As with most Mexican food, you can alter this to your own personal tastes. My recipe is loosely based on this recipe incorporating some of the changes that were suggested by other reviewers.

turkey burritos

for the filling

1 pound ground turkey
1 can whole kernel corn, drained (or cut some off the cob!)
small onion, diced
8 oz can tomato sauce
1/3 cup medium salsa
1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tbsp cumin
1/2 tbsp onion powder

extras & toppings

several 10-inch flour tortillas
refried beans
spanish rice
sour cream
salsa
fresh tomatoes
guacamole
cheddar cheese, grated

Preheat your oven to 350.

In a large skillet, over medium heat, brown the ground turkey and onions until turkey is fully cooked.

Stir in the corn, tomato sauce, salsa, and spices. Let simmer until it’s the consistency that you like, 5 to 15 minutes.

If you are using the world’s best flour tortillas, pre-cook them. Place a layer of cheese in the middle of your tortillas and top with meat mixture. If you are using the rice and beans, add those now. Fold the tortillas in thirds and secure with a toothpick.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until tortillas are golden brown. Serve immediately with the toppings of your choice.