Light Wheat Bread

A born-and-raised Arizona girl, I could never truly enjoy living in a cold climate; it's just not in my blood. But during our years in Utah and Indiana, the one thing that would make me sad to see winter go was the fact that I could no longer bake as an excuse to heat up the house. I mean, who doesn't love leaving the oven door open after you pull something warm and satisfying out? Clearly, baking in the summer does not have quite the same effect!

What can beat the smell of freshly baked bread? (Well okay, you could probably persuade me about pie or cookies or something, but you get the idea.)

I have an all-time favorite white bread recipe that I plan on sharing before the winter is over, but for today, it's all about the wheat flour. Since I didn't grow up eating homemade wheat bread, I'm taking it slow--hence the title, "Light Wheat Bread." I also used King Arthur's White Whole Wheat Flour, which is deceptively white in taste and color but still has all the fiber. (Don't ask me how they do it.)


Well, without further adieu, here's the recipe:

Light Wheat Bread
From the lovely Smitten Kitchen
2 1/2 cups unbleached high-gluten or bread flour
1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour (In my case, King Arthur's White Whole Wheat)
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar or honey
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 Tablespoons powdered milk
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 Tablespoons shortening or unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups water, at room temperature

1. Stir together the bread flour, wheat flour, sugar (if using), salt, powdered milk, and yeast. Add the shortening/butter, honey (if using), and water. Mix until it comes together. If some flour remains in the bottom, add a bit more water.
   
2. Knead for 10 minutes by hand or about 6 minutes by machine. Lightly oil a large bowl, toss the dough to coat, and let it rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until it doubles in size.
3. After it has risen, remove the dough and press it into a rectangle on a floured surface. The rectangle will be about 3/4 inch thick, 6 inches wide, and 8 to 10 inches long. Working from the short side, roll up the length of the dough, pinching the crease with each roll you make. Pinch together the edges on the last roll, and place that face down in an oiled bread pan. Mist with spray oil.
   
4. Let rise for about 60 minutes (maybe even less), or until the dough crests the top of the pan.
   
5. Preheat to 350, and place bread pan on a sheet pan on the middle rack. Bake for 30 minutes; then rotate the bread 180 degrees for even baking. Bake for another 15-30 minutes. According to Smitten Kitchen, "The finished loaf should register 190 degrees F in the center, be golden brown on the top and the sides, and sound hollow when thumped on the bottom."
6. When finished baking, remove the bread from the pan and let cool on a rack for 1-2 hours...if you can wait that long!
   

The Most Important Meal of the Day

Lately, I love breakfast. I make oatmeal almost every day because it's warm and filling and full of fiber. (By the way, if you want to bump the fiber up even more, add ground flax. You barely even taste it, and it's fabulous for you.) I usually have a banana on my way to the gym, and then when I get home, I make my boys oatmeal.

We recently discovered the wonder of oatmeal topped with blueberries—Mmmm, mmm, mmm!! I'm unreasonably happy about this discovery because I always want to eat blueberries because they're packed with antioxidants, but I don't love them plain...or even in yogurt. But I do LOVE them in oatmeal, where they give that pop of flavor and sweetness that you need in oatmeal.

If I don't have blueberries on hand, I add some pumpkin pie spice (or just cinnamon) to the oatmeal while it cooks. The best thing about that is that it fills the kitchen up with the warm scent of cinnamon.


Once or twice a week, I switch things up by eating a fried egg and slice of whole wheat toast for breakfast. Has anyone else noticed that the egg is all the rage in nutrition lately? (I find that so interesting because it was practically the opposite a few years ago, wasn't it?) Anyway, this is another great breakfast that fills you up...an important thing for breakfast to do. :)

So let's hear it—what's your breakfast of choice??

Granola

My first attempt at homemade granola was wildly successful, thanks to a great recipe.


Click on over HERE for the recipe, from a seriously fabulous food blog called Homesick Texan. I didn't even start out looking for a granola recipe, but after reading her description of how addicting it is, I had to try it. Well, let's just say she was right—we finished our half-batch in two days. It's salty and just a little bit sweet, and it's great paired with yogurt, eaten plain, or gulped down with milk and a spoon. Plus, it's super easy to make!

Mango Salsa and Coconut Rice with Chicken or Salmon

It seems like every recipe I post is my latest fave. I guess that means I only post favorites, which isn't a bad thing, right? Well, this recipe is no exception. We owe our South Bend friends, Jeff and Larissa, for it. They invited us over one Sunday and served some fantastic grilled salmon with mango salsa and coconut rice.

After eating it, we had two options: (1) we could invite ourselves over to their house every Sunday so we could keep eating it, or (2) I could figure out how to make it. For Jeff and Larissa's sake, we decided on option 2. (Thanks, guys!)


Mango Salsa
Too simple for measurements... It's just diced mango, pineapple (I often used canned), red onion, and cilantro. Dress it with fresh lime juice and some salt and pepper.

Coconut Rice
1 cup coconut milk (you can get this in a can in the Asian food aisle)
1 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon sugar
1 cup long grain white rice

In a saucepan, combine the coconut milk, water, salt, and sugar. Bring to a boil. Add the rice, stir well, and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer undisturbed until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is fluffy, about 20 to 24 minutes. Remove from the heat and let sit without stirring for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Serve hot.

Chicken
When I made this yesterday I seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper, poultry seasoning, and a touch of cayenne pepper. Then I marinated in a little canola oil, a bunch of lime juice, and some cilantro. We grilled ours, but of course you could always bake it.


This is such a versatile recipe, as it's great with either chicken or salmon. And if you slice up the chicken, you can serve the chicken in corn tortillas topped with the mango salsa. It's fresh spin on a taco, and it is definitely worth trying.

PS. The coconut rice isn't pictured here because we're currently on a little health kick, so I'm steering clear of white rice (not religiously, but generally)...But I promise it's beautiful and yummy! The coconut rice recipe I posted here is from the Food Network, which pretty much means you can count on it to be good.

California Grillin'

Can I tell you how much I love California? Having lived in Arizona, Utah, and Indiana, I can assuredly say that this is my favorite place by far. Tonight we created a celebratory meal, celebrating Ryan's emancipation from his current client. :) He's getting ready to move on to a new client, and I'm hopeful that the new one will actually let me see him now and again! But the point is, grilling in February?! It was gorgeous out!

This was my first time making hamburger patties from scratch, throwing in some Lowry's, garlic salt, salt and pepper, and chopped jalepeno and onion. We ate the burgers with grilled asparagus, grilled mushrooms, and fresh-squeezed lemonade. Ah, it felt like summer.


Don't you just love that little guy peeking at us from behind the mustard bottle? I sure do. Well, happy Sunday, everyone!

Sesame Chicken

It's about time I blogged again, isn't it? Sorry about the absence. My cooking suffers during my husband's busy season...Who wants to cook for one?? Anyway, today I'm mixing it up a little with a fabulous Asian recipe, compliments of my friend and old co-worker at the BYU writing center, Courtney. (Thanks, girl—I owe you!)

I can't get enough of this recipe. The secret is so simple—combining honey and teriyaki sauce. Mmmm, mmmm, good! It's tangy and just a bit sweet, with a little heat from the red pepper flakes. The perfect combination.


1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup toasted sesame seeds, divided
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
5 (6 ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into chunks
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 yellow onion, cut into wedges
1/2 cup green bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
2 tablespoons honey

1. Combine flour, 1/4 cup sesame seeds, black pepper, five-spice powder, and red pepper flakes. Coat the chicken pieces.
   
2. Heat oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Place chicken into skillet, and brown on both sides, about 5 minutes. Remove chicken, and set aside.
   
3. Saute onion wedges and bell pepper slices in the same skillet. Remove, and set aside.
4. Return chicken to skillet, and reduce heat to low. Mix in teriyaki marinade, 1/4 cup sesame seeds, and honey; stir until sauce thickens. Return onion and bell pepper to the skillet. Warm through, and serve.

FYI, when I'm trying to go a little healthier, I skip coating the chicken with the flour and frying it. Instead, I just saute chicken slices with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and sesame seeds. It's simple, but with the fabulous sauce and veggies, it is still scrumptious.

(Oh yeah, I never did buy the Chinese five-spice powder...I'm not one for buying a spice unless I have other recipes to use it in. Maybe someday I'll pick it up, for for now, it's still great without it.)

Let me know what you think if you try this one!

Cafe Rio Style Chicken and Cilantro Lime Rice

I think in the last post I promised you a few Cafe Rio style recipes, so here are two more. This version of their chicken is so easy to prepare that you'll probably laugh, but it's delicious and goes so nicely with the creamy tomatillo dressing I posted last. The cilantro lime rice makes a great base for the salad. Rather than mixing the salad up, I layer each bowl with the cilantro rice, lettuce, pico de gallo, chicken, guacamole, and the dressing...

Cafe Rio Style Chicken
1 small bottle of Kraft Zesty Italian dressing
1 TB chili powder
1 TB cumin
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 lbs. chicken breast

Throw it all in the crockpot and cook on low for about 4 hours. Shred the chicken and return it to the pot to cook (with the liquid) for another hour.

I don't need to make this much chicken, so I scale mine down a little, but you get the idea. And this recipe is basically foolproof, so the cooking times aren't crucial either. There's nothing like a foolproof recipe on a busy day, right?

Cilantro Lime Rice
2 Tablespoons butter
1 1/4 cup rice
2 1/4 cup chicken broth
3/4 teaspoon salt
pepper
juice and zest of 1 large or 2 small limes
2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro
1/4 teaspoon cumin

In a skillet, melt butter with rice. Add liquid and other ingredient. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and cook for 20 minutes.

Creamy Tomatillo Dressing

If you have Utah roots, chances are good that you too are a Cafe Rio fan. If you've never been, it's this great Utah-based franchise that could best be compared to Baja Fresh (but way better).

Today I've got a couple of Cafe Rio-esque recipes for you. I've tried at least three versions of a tomatillo dressing like theirs, and this one, I've decided, comes the closest. It is delish! The two jalepenos give it the kick I've been looking for, but in my opinion it could still use a little more heat. Maybe next time I'll throw in some of the seeds...

Creamy Tomatillo Dressing

1 c fat free sour cream
1 c low-fat mayonnaise
1/3 c skim milk
1/2 small avocado
1 small bunch cilantro, chopped
2 large jalapeños (seeds removed)
1/2 sweet onion
2 small garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1 Ranch Dips powder mix packet
1 tomatillo

Blend all ingredients together in blender.

Chimichangas!

During the holidays, my sisters, cousins, mom, aunt, and grandma gather to cook one of our favorite holiday meals—chimichangas. I love these things! Of course, you wouldn't want to eat these all year long, but once or twice a year never hurt anyone, and it's so worth it! Plus, I think you'll be surprised at how simple they are to make.


3-pound roast
3 onions, diced
3 tomatoes, diced
3 cans diced green chiles
A whole bunch of tortillas
Canola oil

Salt and pepper the roast and place in crock pot. Add water to reach about a third of the way up the roast. Add diced onions and green chiles. Cook on low all day, about 8 hours. When 1 hour is remaining, add the diced tomatoes.

After about 8 hours, shred the roast. Salt and pepper the shredded meat, and stir in some of the onions/chiles/tomatoes from the crock pot. Warm the tortillas, fill with meat mixture, and roll. Keep the tortilla together with toothpicks, and remove toothpicks after frying.

Heat canola oil in pot on stove. (Oil will be 2-3 inches deep.) Leave on medium high until you can toss in a piece of tortilla and watch it turn golden. Fry chimis two at a time and drain on a wire rack (or paper towels). Every couple of rounds you will want to wait a couple of minutes while the oil returns to its original temperature.

To keep warm, place on a cookie sheet in a preheated 200 degree oven.

Pour everything that is left in the crock pot into a large saute pan. Bring to a boil, and add a slurry of 1 part water/1 part flour. Stir constantly with a whisk until slurry is well incorporated and gravy looks yummy! Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve chimichangas with gravy, guacamole, cilantro, onion, sour cream, etc. Voila!



If you have any questions, ask me in the comments. Happy cooking!

Bell Pepper Salad

Today I've got a simple side salad for you to try. I saw it on the Food Network, and since my husband and I had recently bought a TON of fresh produce that I needed to use up (see photo below), I decided to give it a try. It has a great fresh taste, thanks to the lime juice, and I love anything with banana peppers in it. I'd say the best thing about this dish is that it's new. So if you're tired of the same old sides and salads, this will liven up some of your standby meals.


1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced (had red & green on hand, so I used half of each)
Hot banana pepper rings, drained and chopped plus 2 tablespoons juice
A handful of fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
1 lime, juiced
A light drizzle of olive oil
Salt and pepper

Throw it all together, and enjoy! Garnish with lime slices if you'd like.

Now, on another note, if you live in the Bay area, be sure to get over to the Milk Pail sometime! It's a European-style produce market in Palo Alto, on San Antonio. And it's CHEAP! Can you believe that? We bought all of this produce (and more, actually) for 29 bucks, which (obviously) would be impossible at Safeway.

'Tis the Season...for Cookies!

I love a good excuse to bake! And what better excuse than a holiday party at our complex. I made three different cookies: candycane cookies, chocolate chip Amish puff cookies, and chocolate swirls.
Trenton and I had so much fun baking the day away yesterday. The second and third cookies listed come from my favorite food blog, This Week for Dinner. (Since I do most of my recipe browsing online these days, you'll definitely be finding a lot of links on Erica's Pantry as I experiment with recipes I find on other food blogs.)

To the chocolate swirls, I added my own twist, a buttery icing that is to die for. To frost about a dozen cookies, start by melting a 1/4 cup butter in a saucepan. Once it has melted, remove from the heat and whisk in 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 cup powdered sugar. Then add powdered sugar little by little until it is just barely frost-able. (Don't make it too thick by adding too much powdered sugar. You want it to taste more buttery than sugary, if that makes sense.)

With the addition of the buttery deliciousness that was the icing, those cookies were the first to go at the party! Merry Christmas, everyone! Only one week from today...

A Night of Firsts: Chili and Brownies

It's not that I've never made chili or brownies before; it's just that last night they actually turned out well. If you ask me, my chili tastes good, but Ryan's always measuring mine against his dad's. And his dad's always wins!

Last night I think his dad's chili probably still won, (I didn't ask) but Ryan did say that he really liked mine—for once! The title of this post comes from what he said after dinner while he was sampling a brownie: "This is a night of firsts—good chili and good brownies."

I never make good brownies. This stems from the fact that I always buy the cheapest brownie mix out there and then I occasionally try to skimp on the fat. (Don't try that, by the way.) But I'm determined to change. I finally bought a fancy Hershey's Triple Chunk mix (Ghiradelli's is next) and a Butterfinger candy bar.

I divided the mix in half, by the way, so that we couldn't eat a whole pan in one night. :) Then I spooned half of the batter into six lined muffin tins, sprinkled on broken up Butterfinger, spooned on another layer of brownie batter, and topped one more time with Butterfinger. DELICIOUS.

Anyway, here's the recipe I went off of for the chili, over at Allrecipes. I halved it for our family and also added about a quarter to a third of a fresh jalapeno, diced. As my sister Rachel says, we are part-Mexican. (AKA We grew up in AZ eating a whole lot of Mexican food.)

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

Yesterday I really felt like trying something new in the kitchen. Ryan had to work (on a Saturday - bummer!), so Trenton and I just hung out all day, baking and playing. I found a recipe for roasted red pepper soup from Cooking Light. I actually really enjoyed broiling the red peppers until blackened and removing the skins once they had cooled. Then you add tomatoes and sauted onion and garlic and puree until smooth. It's a visually beautiful process. (Should have taken more pictures!)


If you're a fan of roasted red pepper soup, this is a basic for your recipe repertoire. Hop on over to Cooking Light for the recipe. By the way, I added a bay leaf when it was simmering at the end, as well as a splash of balsamic vinegar. Thanks for visiting!

It's December! Candy Cane Cookies

Can you believe it's December? Santa came early this year, meaning my grandparents just came to town bearing gifts! It was so cute, the two of them walking up with their arms full of gifts to go under our little tree. Aren't we spoiled?! Anyway, today I made this fabulous holiday cookie for a church event. I love signing up to bring goodies to events because it gives me an excuse to make them! And this is a holiday tradition in my family, so December just wouldn't be compete without it. Straight from my good friend Betty Crocker, here it is...

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon red food coloring
1/2 cup sugar (to sprinkle the cookies with)

Mix the first six ingredients, and stir in the flour and salt. (Dough will be thick, like sugar cookie dough.) Divide the dough in half, and add the red food coloring to one half. Roll out four-inch strands of each color, and twist together a red and white strand to form candy canes. Sprinkle with sugar (and crushed peppermints if you have them), and bake in preheated oven at 375 degrees for about 8-10 minutes.

**If the tops turn golden, that's fine, but my preference is to take them out once they're cooked but not yet golden. So keep a close eye on them to cook them to your preference.

Hope you and your family enjoy these festive treats!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This was our second Thanksgiving with no family near, but it was my first time making the much anticipated meal. (Notre Dame fed us last year.) I've got to say, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Of course, it was nothing like my best friend's undertaking, documented here. (She and her husband took on feeding 25 people for their first time making the Turkey-Day meal.) Instead of 25 people, we invited a couple from Ryan's work to come over with their three kids, making four kids and four adults altogether. I opted for a bone-in turkey breast instead of the whole bird—we'll save that adventure for another year. My part of the meal included the turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, and a pumpkin cheesecake with homemade whipped cream. I'll share the recipes soon, but for now, here are a few pictures to make my mom proud. :)

Note the traditional Williams/Wood family napkin fold.

I thought the sunflowers added a nice autumny touch.

(I took this photo well after dinner had settled in our bellies,
so the texture of the whipped cream isn't quite the same. You get the idea, though!)

Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground cloves
1 pinch ground nutmeg
1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust

1. Combine first three ingredients; then add eggs one at a time.
2. Spoon about half the mixture into your graham cracker crust.
3. Add the pumpkin puree and spices to the reserved mixture, and spoon over the white bottom layer.
4. Bake at 325 for about 35 minutes, or until the center has almost set. Cool completely, then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Top with whipped cream. (Homemade is out of this world!)

You may notice in the picture that mine was one layer instead of two. Oops! Oh well, I've done it both ways and it tastes the same. It's just prettier if you remember to separate the layers!

Turkey Breast & Gravy
I rubbed the turkey breast with 2 Tablespoons each of canola oil, poultry seasoning, dried sage, dried thyme, and 4 cloves of minced garlic. I threw carrot, celery, and onion into a Reynolds oven bag, set the turkey on top, and poured in one can of chicken broth. Our 5.5-pound turkey breast cooked for just shy of 2 hours.

The juices in the bag after it had cooked made for some fantastic gravy. I made a roux by melting 4 Tablespoons of butter with 4 Tablespoons flour over medium heat, whisking constantly. Then I added the roux gradually to the juices, and whisked while it bubbled. I seasoned with salt and pepper. In the end, it was the perfect thickness and had a great flavor.

Ryan also added some butter, salt and pepper, and sage to the potatoes when he was mashing them, and they were heavenly!! (Thanks, babe!)

Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving. I have so much to be grateful for this year, in particular my healthy, happy baby and loving husband.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cheesey Tomato Soup

Hello all! Here's our table for two...


If anything could make me actually look forward to winter, this is it. Tonight we came home and put dinner right on the table while the baby was still in his infant carrier snapped into the stroller, just to the left of the table in this photo. He decided to just hang out there, happy as could be, clear until we had finished dinner and cleanup. What a cooperative kid!

On to the recipe...

1 can tomatoes (diced or whole) in their juice
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon parsley
1 bay leaf
1 small can tomato paste
1 cup (or less) shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper

In a blender, puree the tomatoes with the basil, oregano, and parsley. Combine tomato mixture with chicken broth, either in a saute pan (for faster results) or a slow cooker. Whisk in the tomato paste. Stir in the cheese, and add the bay leaf. Salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until ready to eat. Garnish with extra shredded cheese

Notes:

• I've always done this in a saute pan, but today I just threw it in the crockpot on low at about 2pm; then we came home to a fantastic soup at about 6pm. Easy as pie.
• I always use medium cheddar cheese because it packs a little more punch. I once read that stronger cheeses are a better choice because you don't have to eat as much of it to enjoy the taste. Who know, maybe it works!
• As always, double this recipe if you're feeding more than two or three adults. I think it makes about 5-6 medium-sized bowls of soup.