No Knead Bread and chicken Soup

This bread recipe goes against every bread making rule that I have ever learned. It's so easy to make a that even a monkey could do it.

No-Knead Bread

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast (not a typo, strange I know)
1 1/4 teaspoons salt (that's a lot of salt, I reduced this amount a lot and the bread tasted fine)
1 and 1/2 cups of water
A big heavy lidded pot (cast iron or dutch oven).
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed (I used cornmeal).

1. Mix all of the ingredients (except for the cornmeal) together. That's it! It makes a really gloppy, sticky mess and you will think there's no way you've done this step right. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit there for 12-20 hours. (Note: do this step before going to bed if you want bread for supper.)

2. With floured hands shape the dough into a ball shape and let it rest for 2 hours on a floured dish cloth (not a terry cloth, the dough will stick). My dough wasn't overly sticky so I used a bit of cornmeal instead and it didn't stick to the dish cloth.





3. Preheat your oven to 450 F. Put the dutch oven in the hot oven to preheat.

4. When the dutch oven is hot, dust the bottom with some cornmeal or wheat bran and plop the dough on top of it. I also scored my bread because I can't help myself, but you don't have to do this. Put the lid back on and bake for 30 minutes on 450F. Then remove the lid and continue to bake for another 15- 20 mins (it was less than 15 mins for me.)



5. The end result. The bread is crusty on the outside and soft on the inside.


Chicken Soup



1 whole chicken
celery
carrots
bay leaves
garlic
onions
tumeric
pot herbs
salt and pepper
rice
frozen or fresh peas

Put a whole chicken in a pot with some celery stocks, carrots, garlic, onions and salt and pepper. Cover with water and boil the chicken until it is cooked and remove it from the pot. Place the stock in the fridge over night and in the morning remove the layer or partially remove the layer of fat that has risen to the top. Fat does add flavor but if you are watching your fat intake, you may want remove this layer. Put the pot of the stove to boil and add some chopped carrots, celery and rice. Add in some salt and pepper to taste. My little secret is that I add in some tumeric to give the soup color. I don't like using bullion but I don't want my soup to look like ditch water either. The tumeric adds the color you like to see but without the artificial coloring and flavoring found in the bullion. Tumeric has numerous health benefits as well. Simmer with bay leaves and pot herbs of your choice. Add in some cooked chicken and frozen peas at the end. Dip the yummy bread in the homemade soup and try not to make love making sounds like my husband does while eating it.

Beer Can Chicken

Beer can chicken is so simple to make and is really tasty. All you need to do is rub a chicken with your favorite spice blend (we usually use Jamaican jerk seasoning). Then you pop open a can of beer and drink half of it. Then just shove the half empty can of beer up the chicken and pop the chicken on the BBQ. It's done in about an hour or so. I personally never test a meat for doneness by using a thermometer but chef Micheal Smith is more detailed in his description if you'd like to follow this link. I didn't notice that I took of photo of the back of the chicken until I looked at this post but hopefully you will get the drift.

Orange- Roasted Cornish Game Hens

I found the recipe here:

Valentine's Day Dinner

Since Valentine's Day fell on a Monday we felt well, "Mondayish." We thought about going out to eat but that is a difficult task in a small community with restaurants that only serve fried food and Tracey has to follow a low fat diet. We opted to make dinner at home instead. The only candles we had in the house were emergency ones, so we lit those and turned out the lights. We ate quietly at the kitchen table with the cat watching us from the window sill. Since we weren't in a restaurant, Tracey was happy that he could wear his baseball cap. We had to wash the dishes afterward but we didn't have to tip a waitress! Tracey brought me the beautiful flowers that you see on the table. We made a lighter version of chicken cordon bleu, you can find the recipe and nutritional information here and roasted red pepper and feta mashed potatoes, which I found way too sour. I would omit the lemon juice and cut down on the yogurt the next time. It was a nice evening, it was our 16th Valentine's day together or half of my life.

Chicken Curry

Curried Chicken
1tsp. oil
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into bite size pieces)
1/2 cup of chopped onion
2 teaspoons of hot curry paste (I used curry powder)
1 glove of galic minced
1/2 tsp. of grated ginger root
salt/pepper
1/2 cup of applesauce
1/3 cup of plain yogurt
1tsp. of cilantro or parsley (I used dried cilantro)

Fry the chicken in the cooking oil on medium heat and season with salt and pepper, until done. Transfer the chicken to a plate and cover to keep warm.

Add next 6 ingredients to the same frying pan. Cook for about 5 mins, until onion is softened.

Add the applesauce. Stir, Add chicken, stir until coated. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook, covered, for about 5 mins. Remove from heat, add yogurt, stir. Sprinkle with cilantro.

Makes enough for two.