Greek Celebration Bread

Here is the next recipe from the Bread Baker's Apprentice.  This is the basic Greek Celebration Bread and there are two variations one for Christmas and one for Easter.  I am going to try and make both breads between now and Easter.

This bread smells and tastes heavenly.  We gobbled it up!  It is a good thing I am only baking bread once a week.

It looks amazing but once I cut into it, I found that there was a huge space between the bread and crust.  I have no idea why, it may be because of the way I shaped it.

Jam Muffins

My bestie Laurie gave me this recipe book last year for my birthday.  I am slowly working my way through it.  I am not making muffins as often these days but I do get a hankering for them.  These ones I whipped up one morning when I couldn't go back to sleep after being up with Georgia.

Ingredients
adapted from The 250 Best Muffin Recipes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup butter/margarine melted
1 cup plain yogurt (I used sour cream)
1/4 cup milk
jam

Directions
1. Combine dry ingredients and the add all the wet *except* the jam.  Mix just enough so that the batter is formed.
2. Fill greased muffin tins half full with batter, then put a dollop of jam and cover with remaining batter.
3. Bake at 450F for 15 - 20 minutes

Light Bites?

Where is light bites?

Well...it is here.

I did cook the recipe last week and I highly reccomend it.  It was delicious but the picture was terrible...so I didn't post and I am also behind on my posting.

Check out Pam's blog too, she cooks amazing things.

Fresh Bread Thursday - Anadama Bread

This is how I am able to get any cooking done.

Sometime ago one of my favorite bloggers Amanda was in a blogging group called the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge. It was a group that baked and blogged out of Peter Reinhart's book The Bread Baker's Apprentice. I was fascinated by the beautiful bread that she made. I have been lusting after the book for about a year now and I recieved it for Christmas. This book is fascinating and is like a text book. It explains about the different flours, yeasts and the process that bread goes through. I have been wanting to start baking since January but...well....I haven't found the time. I am going to start the challenge myself since I am not sure I can commit to baking bread every week.

Here is the first first recipe Anadama.

 

Mixing the corn meal with water.



Adding the flour.


Letting it rise.

Voila!

Easy Grilled Chicken with Seeded Honey - Mustard Sauce

Mike bought me a couple new recipe books and as I was trying to make room in my crammed full recipe cupboard I realized that I rarely use any of them.  So I have decided to cook a new recipe from each book each week. 

This recipe was delicious, I decided to use greek yogurt instead of regular.  I love greek yogurt but Mike found the texture to be a bit off but we still loved it.

Ingredients
adapted from The 150 Healthiest 15-Minute Recipes on Earth

1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
1 1/2 tbsp honey mustard
3 tbsp plain low fat yogurt
1/2 tsp mustard seeds

Directions
Pre heat the grill to medium heat.  Mix together olive oil, Dijon mustard, salt and peper.  Toss the chicken in the bowl to evenly coat (if you are thinking ahead this would make a nice marinade too)

Lightly spray the grill and cook the chicken for about 6 minutes per side.

While chicken is coking, mix together the yogurt, honey mustard and mustard seeds.  Serve a dollop on top of the chicken.

Green Beans
adapted from Simply in Season

1 tbsp oil
1/4 cup minced onion
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp fresh basil
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 cup cooked green beans (I just steamed them while I saute)

Directions
Heat oil and saute onions and garlic.  Add the basil, tomatoes and cooked green beans.  Cover and cook for 5 minutes.

Dijon Garlic Trout

I have started to make menu plans and with that I am striving to have fish once a week.  I really quite enjoy fish but I struggle with how to be creative with it.

Here is a great recipe I found.

Ingredients
adapted from allrecipes.com

4 (6 oz) trout fillets
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
4 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
salt and pepper to taste

Directions


1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spray a 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray.

2.Arrange the salmon skin side down in the prepared pan, and lightly coat with the Dijon mustard. Place the garlic and onion slices on the salmon fillets. Season with tarragon, salt, and pepper.

3.Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until salmon is easily flaked with a fork

Light Bites - Chicken with Roasted Apples and Garlic

Score for another Light Bites recipe.  I found this recipe super easy and delicious!  I really liked the mix of spices.  I did change a few things I didn't have chicken thighs but I do have lots of breasts.  I think thighs would have made the chicken a little more tender due to that extra fat but I enjoyed it this way and loved the calorie reduction.  Check out Pam's blog for more info on the awesome Light Bites group.

Ingredients
adapted from Cooking Light

5 cups chopped peeled Braeburn apple (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage - I used 1/4 tsp ground sage
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
Cooking spray
8 chicken thighs (about 2 pounds), skinned
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Chopped parsley (optional)

Directions


Preheat oven to 475°.
Combine first 5 ingredients. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt; toss well to coat. Spread apple mixture on a jelly roll pan coated with cooking spray.  Sprinkle chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper, and arrange on top of the apple mixture. Bake at 475° for 25 minutes or until chicken is done and apple is tender. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.   Partially mash apple mixture with a potato masher, and serve with chicken. Sprinkle with parsley, if desired.