Tuesday, November 29, 2011

An Amish Friendship Bread Adventure

I love Amish Friendship Bread.  I know, I know, when most people are running away from people who try to give away this recipe, I'm always on the lookout for someone.  Or, at least I was.  It's amazing the light I paint myself in. Pre allergies, and Post allergies.  Sometimes it's apocalyptic   SO, I miss baking the bread, and I miss sharing it with my family, because let's be honest - I bake all the bread.  I'm a little strange.  And, what I don't bake I freeze for a baking day.

I've been moved to try to make a soy free, peanut free, milk free bread and that means starting my own starter.  So, let me take you on this adventure with me.  Here's to hoping it works.

I used the Amish Friendship Bread recipe from Allrecipes.com - obviously it's modified.  Let's begin.

Needs:

  • 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
  • 1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
  • 1 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cups white sugar
  • 1 cups vanilla almond milk

Make:

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Let stand 10 minutes. In a 2 quart glass or plastic container, combine 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar. NOTE: I used a 1 quart mason jar, but I know I will be transfering it from this original container when I have to add more almond milk, flour, and sugar.  This is also an experiment, let's say that it doesn't work out, I won't have a huge container that's been taking up space on the counter for four days.  END NOTE Mix thoroughly the flour and sugar mixture and slowly stir in 1 cup vanilla almond milk Then stir in dissolved yeast mixture. Cover loosely (I'm using a blue towel, you can use a cheesecloth) and let stand until bubbly. Consider this day 1 of the 10 day cycle. Leave loosely covered at room temperature.

PS. Pictures to follow soon.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Chicken pot pie!


Something I have missed because of the lack of dairy in our lives is chicken pot pie.  I made one the other day that was truely amazing, AND the best part of all?  The crust was store bought.  Now you might be thinking, "Lame," or something similar, but when it gets right down to it, sometimes it's the little things in life.

Needs:
*Crust (pack of 2): Aldi sells a frozen (this is important because the other crust has soy and milk) preshaped pie crust, Whole Foods also sells a frozen pie crust from "Wholly Wholesome" - both are very good, but let's be honest, the one from Aldi is about 1/3 of the price.  HOWEVER, if you are vegetarian, the Aldi one is NOT vegetarian
*2-3 cups chicken stock (I got mine from when I crockpotted a whole chicken earlier in the week.)
*1/2 to 1 lb of shredded chicken (Again, this was made from the leftover chicken from earlier in the week.)
NOTE: I cook a whole chicken, the family eats seasoned chicken and sides, and I then pull all the leftover meat off the bones for a second meal.
NOTE2:  This specific chicken stock had about 1 cup of sliced mushrooms, 4 stalks of diced celery, and 1/2 a coursely chopped onion - if you do *not* have those things in your stock then you will want to saute them in olive oil in the medium stockpot before adding the chicken stock.
*1/4 cup flour
*1/4 cup water
*1/2 cup almond milk (or milk substitute)
*1 bag frozen mixed vegetables (Both Target and Whole Foods have a mixed veggie option that doesn't include lima beans)
*Salt and pepper to taste

Make:
Pull your crusts to dethaw for about 15 minutes, set your oven to the specification on the package (400?), and "set" (place in the oven) your crust (even though it says you don't have to) for 5 minutes.  Divide your shredded chicken between the two crusts, set aside.  Heat your chicken stock in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Mix the 1/4 cup of water with the 1/4 cup of flour,1tsp of salt, and 1 tsp pepper (salt and pepper can be adjusted depending on your tastes) in a small bowl.  Once the chicken stock is boiling add the flour mixture and stir well.  Once the flour mixture is blended add your milk substitute. NOTE3: This will be thinner than you're used to, it's okay.  Let this simmer for about 5 minutes.  Then add your bag of frozen veggies. Bring your pot back to a simmer, and divide this mixture between the two pie crusts.

BUT WAIT, you say?  You have cute little decorations on the top of yours, you say?  Well, yes, I do.  I used  the creative cutters set from The Pampered Chef.  I had some leftover dough from making a pie a few weeks previously, and so I rolled it out really thin and gave my pot pies some garnish.  You could also drop homemade biscuits in the pies OR just made them on the side.  It appears I've never posted my "Ugly biscuits" recipe.  I'll have to remedy that.  ENJOY!

Chocolates!

Okay, let's be honest, I cook every night, and I have pictures in my phone to upload, and then life gets in the way, and it all goes downhill.  So, I'm on Fall Break right now, and I'm trying to get so much accomplished!  LOOK I'M EVEN GOING TO BLOG.  Today, I decided to make chocolates.  I have this amazing little tool to make chocolates, and these incredibly cute transfers.  The transfers are cocoa butter (no soy or dairy) and you can use enjoy life chocolate bars.  I used this link in order to temper my chocolates.  Your arm will *hurt* from all the stirring, but it's worth it.  Look at how amazingly cute my chocolates turned out!