wheat bread and quiche

I’m trying to get better at bread making.  I’ve made the basic white bread recipe that came with my kitchenaid mixer and its “ok”.   Considering my first couple attempts at any kind of yeast bread were hard flat bricks, i guess those were improvements BUT i think im ready to branch out now:

A Year In Bread Farmhouse White Wheat

I replaced the all purpose flour with wheat flour, the canola oil with butter, and used milk for the liquid.  oh and i didnt use instant yeast so i proofed it.

I should have taken pictures during the mixing process but didn’t.  I mixed the dough in the mixer but could not get it to make a nice ball.  I probably added way more flour than I needed to to try and get it to come together.  Kneading in the mixer seemed to make it harder, so I dumped it on the counter and kneaded by hand.  Loved it; will knead more i think.

here we are snuggled down for the first rise:

aaand:

i made a loaf and a boule.

while that was finishing up i started on the quiche.  some neighbors of ours adopted a baby 4 months ago; i think it’s probably time that we make them a congratulatory meal.

i use mark bittman’s pie crust; it’s really hard to work with but its worth all the trouble i think.

This is a super basic quiche and i just use ham and cheddar cheese most of the time, but i have made fancier quiche with mushrooms asparagus and brie.

Mom’s Quiche:

Prepare the chunky bits of your filling (meats, veggies, etc) maybe a couple cup worth?  Chop and saute in olive oil.

Meanwhile mix up 3 eggs, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, salt and pepper.  Whisk together till smooth, add filling, and about 2 cups of shredded cheese.

bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes; cool for 10 minutes before slicing.

ugh maybe i should take less pictures; now that it gets dark at 4:30 its hard to get good light in the afternoon.  apparently the iphone is not the greatest camera in the world?!?

A Beautiful Life = A Beautiful Love

I was thinking about my Beautiful Life post today and it hit me right upside my head, my life is getting more and more beautiful everyday and my relationships are getting healthier and healthier.  I have never been in a healthier relationship then I am in with my husband, Mr. Wonderful.

I posted this week about betrayal and how hard it is to get over and how it’s an everyday adjustment, but it’s so worth it.  I appreciate my marriage and purposely look out for that relationship on a daily basis.  It wasn’t always that way.  I want to make our house a home not only because it’s fun, but I want Mr. Wonderful and those cute little munchkins to enjoy being in our home.

So today I got up at 5:30 and started my day, cleaned, put a roast in the crock pot, worked on centerpieces for our Thanksgiving table, ran to the grocery store and called Mr. Wonderful to tell him how much I appreciate him.  Have you told your own Mr. Wonderful how much you appreciate him and your marriage? 

I thought it would be fun to show you a few of the ideas I came up with for centerpieces, it’s my first flower arrangement and not something I enjoyed….ha!  

Here is what I have put together so far, I have to do two centerpieces.

I had to add the leopard ribbon, I’ll have to find some fall ribbon for Thanksgiving.  I think every room should have a touch of leopard.

I am going to stop and pick up an orange candle for this little dish tonight and I think I’ll like it a lot better.  I don’t want to put it on my table for Thanksgiving, but I like it on top of the T.V.

It’s not going to be my Thanksgiving centerpiece, but it sure looks cute on my kitchen counter.

I again need some orange candles or maybe tan candles, this might just get a few extra little touches and might just be my second centerpiece.  We’ll see.

 How many of you feel like Thanksgiving just gets slighted?  I am already finding Christmas music on the radio, seriously?  I want to enjoy Thanksgivng, I want to remember what I’m thankful for.  I want to hunt for a new Thanksgiving recipe which I think this year is going to be a pineapple casserole.

Pineapple Casserole

You will need:
2 20oz cans of pineapple chunks (drain one cup of the juice)
1 cup sugar mixed with 5 tbsp cornstarch
1 sleeve of Ritz crackers (crushed)
1 stick oleo melted
8oz shredded cheddar cheese

Put pineapple in baking dish
Sprinkle sugar mix over pineapple
Pour the cup of pineapple juice over
Pour cheese on top
Mix the crushed crackers and oleo, put on top of cheese
Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

I am having a friend over tomorrow for some crafting time, I’m excited and I might just have to work on name plates for Thanksgiving…I found so many ideas that I’ve got myself confused about what I want to do.

What are doing to make Thanksgiving special for you and yours?  I would love to see your ideas.

Still Life Thursday - Bob Menacing Chopped Duck

Bob Menacing Chopped Duck, originally uploaded by Pandora’s Box on flickr.

Well folks with daylight saving time ending here in my part of the world getting a photo in on a Thursday walk after work is becoming difficult. The light fades quickly and while sometimes I’ll shoot in the mornings or at lunch, those times just simply aren’t reliable.

So a new Thursday photo project to the rescue!  Still Life Thursday.  Today’s photo is a bit tongue in cheek…well, if Bob had a cheek or a tongue for that matter.  He helped (well, menaced) the gumbo making proceedings last week.  Here you see him wishing he had a belly with which to digest some chopped duck!

The gumbo was delish by the way!  Wish you were here!

A new addition

I have decided to add a new addition to the blog.  If you are detailed oriented, you probably caught it by now.  If not, I’m not going to make you work for it.

You are all busy, people. 

Plus, I hate it when people make me guess for things.

Those that know me well, also know that one of my greatest passion (besides cake) is cooking.  I love to cook, I will be a happy camper in a kitchen cooking up a storm for everyone that wish to stop by our house. 

For a while I been wanting to create a cooking blog, but I just had not had the time, or the space or the direction in how to go about it.

In other words, I been procrastinating

But, no more!

I have added another page (see the menu on top) called “Sweet Bites”.  I will start to post once a week a favorite recipe that I have tried from my own cookbook or tried from others (cookbooks, friends, family, restaurant, magazines, etc) and modify to our taste buds over at our house (we have big eaters over here!).

I hope you enjoy it and if you have ideas to make it better and easier for you to follow along, drop me a note.

Yes, there in the comment section, because you all know how I love a comment.

First up: Picadillo

GM Foods Actually Get Scarier

I’m obviously already in the real food camp; my first actively libertarian action was a furious letter to the FDA when I heard they were considering a ban on raw milk cheese.  So a horror at genetically modified food products isn’t new, but when I saw in The Future of Food just how genetic modification actually happens (e. coli, anyone?), I was utterly shocked.  For anyone else who’s waiting for the video release of Food, Inc., this might tide you over (and make you sick).

My First Blog

I have a blog on blogger.com.  It is also named starch and veg.  The only difference is that this blog is going to be about other blogs, news, techniques, etc.. that is happening in the industry and those that catch my eyes.  My other blog lovated at www.stephenvarela.blogspot.com is more geared toward what I am doing at my current job.  Please enjoy and please follow both blogs!

86

Stephen Varela

FatGirl on Root Canals and Wanda Sykes

So… Big, nasty, aggressive abscessed tooth. Root canal after infection is gone, blah, blah, blah.

FatGirl makes soup.

Please excuse the crappy iPhone pic. I don’t feel well, okay?

This, to me, is pure comfort food. It’s something my parents called “Boy Scout Stew”, because it’s so simple to make (the hardest part is opening cans – no, really) that the scouts make it at camp.

Brown 1 lb ground beef (I used ground turkey)
Add half or a whole chopped onion, cook until clear-ish
Add some minced garlic (If you want)
Add one can diced tomatoes, one can diced tomatoes + green chiles, a can of tomato sauce, and a can of mixed vegetables
Simmer long enough to cook some rice to serve it over

Ta-daaaaa! Easy and yummy.

 

Okay… so I’ve been watching a lot of Fox lately (World Series, hello?), and they’ve been aggressively selling the new Wanda Sykes Show. Now, I’ve no real problem with Wanda, but I’d be much more inclined to watch the show if a huge part of the advertising didn’t involve making fun of fat people.

I looked everywhere I could think to look online for the video to include in this post, but I can’t find the particular promo I’m talking about (if anyone can find it and link me, I’d bow to your internet-searching prowess). Watch Fox for 20 minutes. You’ll see it at least twice.

It starts off with Wanda asking something like, “Do we really need studies to tell us about obesity in America? Don’t people have mirrors?”

Which isn’t so bad, I don’t guess. But then she turns to an actor playing the guy who holds the mic on the set (I don’t have TV production vocabulary, apparently). The guy is visibly a little overweight, and his stomach is hanging out below his shirt. She asks the man, “Have you ever eaten a vegetable? Anything green?”

Right, Wanda and Fox. Fat people don’t eat vegetables. There couldn’t possibly be any other explanation for his appearance/condition/whatev.

 

And, by the way, it’s totally okay to comment without invitation on this person’s body, right?