Category: Side Dishes

Sep182012

TWD: Whole Wheat Bread

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.

Aug212012

TWD: Popovers

I can’t believe how long it’s been since I last did a TWD! I missed the blueberry one three weeks ago, and didn’t realize that the next one was only a week later instead of two, so I missed it as well.

I was prepared this week, though that’s not saying much since I (thankfully) didn’t even have to buy anything — the ingredients are basic and I had all of them in my pantry.

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie was hosted by Paula and Amy.

I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I’ve never made popovers before. I make German pancakes for the girls every weekend but always figured popovers would be a little more fiddly, and I didn’t have the fancy popover pans anyway. I was very happy to see that you can just use cupcake pans.

I ended up getting nine popovers instead of six, and thankfully had two 12-cup pans so I wouldn’t have to bake them in batches. They baked up perfectly, and I didn’t have to worry about storage — they were gone within the hour with requests to make more!

I plan to make these again and play with them a bit, adding parmesan or some herbs to serve with dinner — they beat having to make rolls from scratch!

Jul222012

Asian-Style Quinoa

Asian Quinoa

Quinoa is another food I’ve stumbled onto late in the game (much like the kale chips). I only bought my first package of it last spring, but since then it’s been a staple in my pantry and used for everything from side dishes to an ingredient in main dishes.

This one, however, is my favorite. Quinoa has a slightly nutty flavor by itself, but when you add other flavors to it it just makes it that much better, and is a great low-carb substitution for rice dishes.

This one goes particularly well with eggrolls and short ribs, and you can even toss it all into a big pan and scramble up an egg with it, similar to fried rice.

You can also make it vegetarian by substituting vegetable broth for the chicken broth.

Asian Style Quinoa

1 cup quinoa
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup frozen peas and carrots (add more or less to taste)

Put quinoa, chicken broth, soy sauce, ginger and garlic in a medium pot and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer until all liquid has been absorbed, about 25 minutes. Right before quinoa is ready to be served, gently stir in the frozen vegetables and allow to heat through. Fluff quinoa with a fork and serve.