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I am once again needing to take a pass on this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie.

Here’s how brilliant I am: We have a small dry-erase board on the fridge so that everyone can write down the things that they need, or if something has run out, etc.

I went grocery shopping last week. I always bring a detailed list of what I’ll need for two weeks’ worth of food and meals, but then I walked out the door without even looking at the dry erase board and briefly wondered how it was that my shopping trip was so much shorter than usual. Well, I’d left half of what I needed still scrawled on the fridge door.

Anyway, I haven’t made it back out for Shopping Trip Round 2 yet, so I don’t have the pumpkin or cranberries for the Dorie bread. But I will definitely be doing the next one in two weeks because I just discovered that I get to host it! I’m very excited.

So to make up for my lack of participation, I’m going to share with you a new trick I learned last week.

Bacon weaving.

One of our dinners last week was BLTs. However, instead of just frying up bacon in the pan, I came across the idea to kind of weave it together and bake it in the oven. This way, you get bacon in every bite of sandwich, and you’re not pulling out entire strips of bacon in one bite, either.

I cut the package of bacon in half first.

Lay three of the strips side by side on a baking sheet (preferably a pan with edges so the bacon grease doesn’t run off into the oven). Weave three more strips into the first strips. Put in a cold oven and then heat the oven to 400°.

My one package of bacon gave me five woven squares, which was perfect for the five of us. It took about 20-25 minutes for them to all be perfectly cooked, and I kept a close eye on them and took out the ones that looked like they were finished cooking before the others.

I can understand not wanting to go through trouble of doing this, but honestly, it only took a few extra minutes and the rest of the prep was so easy that I didn’t mind at all. The bacon cooks nice and flat, and you don’t get splatters all over your stove top, either.

The only drawback is having to turn on the oven in the first place and heat up the kitchen, but I think it was worth it!

I’ve really been looking forward to this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie! I love everything about making bread and was eager to try out a new recipe. This week’s hosts are Michele and Teresa.

The recipe calls for malt extract, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find it at the store. Though some of the comments at the TWD site said you could just leave it out, I was intrigued by the ones who said they used molasses instead.

I decided to give that a shot and I don’t know how much better using the malt would have been because the molasses, as light as the taste is, is incredible! I also love that honey is used instead of sugar.

As you can see, one loaf was a little more enthusiastic in its rising than the other, but they both turned out great. It was torture waiting for them to cool enough for a taste test, but it was worth it.

I made these Saturday night and one loaf gave us toast for dinner (breakfast for dinner), eggs in a basket for Sunday breakfast, and sandwiches for Sunday lunch. We only started in on the second loaf this morning!

eggs in a basket

The bread is just dense enough without being doughy, and it’s perfect for slicing sandwich-thin. My biggest issue with homemade breads has been that they don’t slice thin enough for sandwiches, especially for kids (I’m a fan of the protein portion being bigger than the carb portion).

The ten minutes of kneading nearly did my mixer in, but she’s recovering, which is good since I need to make another batch.

Yes, it’s another crockpot meal. Sorry! But not really because this is delicious.

Unfortunately I don’t remember where I got this one, since it’s just a text printout in my binder. I know I made several changes to it and didn’t want to print out the original just to have scribbles and edits all over it, so if I do find it again I’ll be sure to link it.

Anyway, this Bratwurst Stew is one of my top favorite crockpot meals. I realize I say that about most of them, but honestly, I’m just really not that hard to please.

Bratwurst Stew

4 potatoes, peeled and cubed (large cubes, about 1″ each)
1 cup chopped baby carrots
1 small onion, chopped
1 package raw bratwurst links
1 can (14 oz) chicken broth
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon dried basil

1 pint half-and-half
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons cold water

In order, place the cubed potatoes, cut carrots, and onion in a crockpot. Remove the raw bratwurst from their casings, and tear off chunks and place over the vegetables. Pour in the chicken stock, and sprinkle the salt, pepper and basil over top. Do not mix.

Cover and cook on low for 7 hours or until vegetables are tender and bratwurst is cooked through.

Stir in the half-and-half. Combine the cornstarch and water until smooth and stir into stew. Cover and cook on high for 30 minutes or until sauce is thickened.

Placing the ingredients in order lets the vegetables all cook until tender, and allows the bratwurst, which is not submerged in the liquid, to brown and not fall apart.

Once you add the half-and-half and mix everything around (make sure you separate the chunks of bratwurst), the seasonings will get into the rest of the stew, so don’t worry about them only being on the meat.

This makes six generous servings, and is delicious re-heated the next day.