Cheesy Potato Bread [Bread Machine]

I made this on a whim, and it turned out pretty well! It's great with eggs or for a sandwich. I made the 1 1/2 pound loaf, but I suppose I'll include both...

for 1 1/2 pound loaf:

3/4 c. water

1/2 c. chopped, peeled potato

1/3 c. milk

1/3 c. shredded cheese

2 tsp. butter

3 c. bread flour

1 Tbl. sugar

3/4 tsp. onion salt

1/4 tsp. caraway seeds, crushed (optional, I didn't use them this time)

1 tsp. active dry yeast or bread machine yeast

for 2 pound loaf:

1 c. water

2/3 c. chopped, peeled potato

1/2 c. milk

1/2 c. shredded cheese

1 Tbl. butter

4 c. bread flour

4 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. onion salt

1/2 tsp. caraway seeds, crushed (optional)

1 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast, or bread machine yeast

1. Select desired loaf. In a small saucepan, combine the water and potato. Bring to boiling; reduce heat and simmer covered, about 10 minutes (or until tender) and do not drain.

2. Mash potato in the water, measure the mixture. If necessary, add water to equal 3/4 c. mixture for 1 1/2-pound loaf or 1 c. mixture for the 2-pound loaf; discard any excess mixture. Cool slightly.

3. Add the potato mixture and remaining ingredients to a bread machine according to the manufacturer's directions. Select the basic white bread cycle.

4. Remove hot bread from machine as soon as it's done and cool on a wire rack.

Chicken Salad Croissants

I don't know why I haven't posted this yet, because it is one of our favorites! It's so simple and very tasty, and you will always want extras. It's always sad when it's all gone. Zak and I both like our croissants with both the sprouts and cashews; the sprouts give it a good 'earthy' taste, and the cashews are a wonderful salty counterpart to the sweet of the apples. I made these last night and we devoured them. Guess I'll need to get some more croissants to make another batch-gotta use all those sprouts and cashews up, right? Enjoy!

4 large croissants

2 c. cooked, diced chicken (about 2 half breasts; last night I used about 12 oz., which was plenty)

about 1/2 c. mayo

1/4 c. chopped cashews (I don't know about this amount; since we have Winco, I just go get a small bulk bag of nuts, no idea how much I got, so just eyeball it)

1 small box alfalfa sprouts

1/2. apple (usually a whole apple, depending on size-in my opinion, more apple won't hurt anyone!)

1/2 c. chopped/diced celery (about 1 stalk; we're not big celery people, so I use probably less than this amount)

8 oz. whipped cream cheese, softened a little

1 head leaf lettuce (optional)

salt & pepper to taste

1. In a medium bowl, combine chicken, celery and apple.

2. Add mayonnaise, salt and pepper (to taste) and toss together lightly. Cover and chill.

3. Spread cream cheese on each slice of croissant. Place lettuce leaf (optional, I haven't tried it with lettuce yet) and some sprouts on each croissants.

4. Spoon chicken salad over lettuce and sprinkle with cashews.

I usually lightly cream cheese both sides of a croissant, place a sufficient amount of sprouts of the top half, and a handful of nuts on the bottom half.

Old Fashioned Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I love oatmeal raisin cookies. They are my absolute favorites, which is weird, since I'm such a chocolate fiend. But I could sit down and eat a whole batch of oatmeal raisin cookies if I didn't care about my body. Enjoy these delicious cookies. :)

1 c. shortening

1 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. white sugar

2 eggs

1/4 c. milk

2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 c. raisins

4 c. Quaker oats

1. Combine shortening, sugars, eggs and beat until creamy.

2. Add flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; beat well.

3. Add milk, then oats and raisins, beat well.

4. Bake at 250 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes OR at 350 degrees for 12- 16 minutes.

*Alternate version that is just as tasty, but not my number 1 favorite: Oatmeal Craisin: Instead of raisins, add 1 c. craisins and 1 c. coconut.

sorry for the blurriness

mmmmm

Macaroni Salad

So, Zak and I have been to the local Hawaiian restaurant here in Moscow a few times. Overall, it's pretty good, but their macaroni salad leaves something to be desired. It's bland, flavorless and needs a decent amount of salt, and makes me sad. Because I love mac salad and Hawaiian food, and it was just disappointing. So I decided to make some myself, using the family recipe. My grandma was born & raised in Hawaii and this is her recipe. I was nervous that Zak wouldn't like it as much as I hoped, because his idea of mac salad is something so foreign to me (involving cheese, tuna, other things? it didn't sound bad, it just didn't sound like what I knew to be mac salad). Well, I worried needlessly, because he devoured this and wants me to make more as soon as possible! Yay! We had this with grilled teriyaki chicken, rice, and corn on the cob. It made me feel like I was home. :)

Here is the original recipe, I cut it in half and it still made a huge bowl's worth. But that's ok, because we certainly did not mind having leftovers!!

Salad

1 package (16 oz.) salad/elbow macaroni, cooked until soft (super soft), drained & cooled

1 carrot, peeled & grated

1 cucumber, peeled & quartered lengthwise

6 - 8 hard-boiled eggs, shelled, cooled & chopped

1 can small black olives, sliced in half

Dressing

1 1/2 c. mayo

1/2 c. milk

1/8 tsp. celery seed

salt & pepper to taste

1. Scoop out/cut seeds out from cucumber, chop into thinly sliced pieces and place into a small bowl. Sprinkle with salt and let sit for a few minutes. Gently squeeze out the water from the cucumbers, discard liquid.

2. Place above ingredients into a large bowl, then fold in the dressing.

mmmmmm

pictures make me salivate

White Cake (with Whipped Cream & Strawberries)

This is the cake I made for Easter, that I mentioned in this blog post. I got the recipe from my mom, who had made it a few weeks earlier for a co-worker's birthday. I figured it would be a perfect Easter/spring cake and called her for the recipe and her tips on it. She said the original recipe had a different filling, but she just to use just whipped cream and strawberries. She suggested I incorporate the strawberries into the whipped cream, in the hopes that it would sit and set up better. She had done: cake/whipped cream/sliced strawberries/whipped cream/cake, etc., and it was a bit slippery. The way I did it worked well, but I didn't need nearly as much whipped cream and strawberries as she suggested, so ... just a note.

Also, another note: follow the recipe exactly. And use parchment paper. It just makes life easier. The cakes turned out perfectly and my confidence level for cake making rose about 50 points after this baking episode.

White Cake (warning, you will be licking the bowl, it is so tasty!)

2 1/4 c. cake flour

1 c. whole milk, room temperature [a tip for getting things to room temperature: set containers in bottom of sink, filled with hot water, leave for 10 or so minutes, just make sure to check periodically]

6 large egg whites (3/4 c.), room temperature

1 tsp. almond extract

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 3/4 c. sugar

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

12 Tbl. unsalted butter, softened but still cool, cut into pieces

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Either cut parchment paper to lay on the bottom of round pans or grease and flour pans.

3. Pour milk, egg white, extracts into 2 c. glass measuring cake and stir with fork until blended.

4. Add cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and beat in mixer on low speed until all mixed up.

5. Add butter, beat on slow speed until resembles coarse crumbs.

6. Add all but 1/2 c. milk mixture, and beat on medium speed 1 1/2 minutes.

7. Add remaining milk mixture, beat 30 seconds on medium speed.

8. Scrape sides of bowl, beat another 20 seconds on medium.

9. Divide batter evenly into pans.

10. Bake on middle rack 23 - 25 minutes. Make sure the middle isn't wobbling; if the cake starts to sink when it's pulled out of the oven, it's not cooked enough.

11. Rest for 3 minutes in pans after pulling out of oven.

12. Loosen sides with a knife around the edges.

13. Turn over onto cooling rack; turnover again so top is facing up (use parchment, if desired).

14. Let cool 1 1/2 hours.

Whipped Cream

1 pint heavy whipping cream

1 lb. strawberries, cut and diced into small pieces

powdered sugar

almond extract (opt.)

vanilla extract (opt.)

1. Beat whipping cream until thick.

2. Add powdered sugar (sorry I don't have an estimate, just until it is sweet enough; don't add sugar to the strawberries because they'll 'leak', so allow the cream to get sweet enough to compensate for the berries) until sweet.

3. If desired, add in some vanilla and/or almond extract. Just eyeball it.

4. Once thick, remove from mixer and incorporate strawberries in by hand.

5. Spread whipping cream between cake layers, on top and on sides if there is enough. It's also good just by itself!

a beautiful golden cake

complete with filling; this cake is very dense and rich

care for a slice?

Breaded Chicken Parmesan

This recipe is so simple and tasty. We've had it a few times, last time Zak was in charge of the chicken. We have this with mashed potatoes and corn, easy and delicious!

12 oz. chicken breast

1 Tbl. grated parmesan cheese

1/4 c. Italian-style bread crumbs

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 Tbl. dried onions

sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes

salt & pepper

1-2 Tbl. olive oil

1. Cut the chicken breasts horizontally (filet) into thin pieces.

2. Lightly rub each piece with olive oil.

3. Mix dry ingredients and pat each piece of chicken with it.

4. Bake at 375 minutes for about 20 minutes.

Seriously 'Sinful' Cheesecake Brownies

I heart cheesecake brownies. They are more or less, my number favorite dessert. It is hard to describe my love from them. I try to not make them often because I will sit and eat the whole pan in one sitting. So, moderation is the key. I made these because our friend Mat did a lot of help with our car recently and wanted to make a little something for all of his help. I got this recipe from food.com and it did not disappoint.

brownie

6 Tbl. unsalted butter

4 oz. bittersweet chocolate (or semisweet; I used a combo of semisweet and milk)

2/3 c. sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

1/2 c. flour

1 Tbl. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 c. chocolate chips (I used a mix of milk, semisweet and white chocolate, just to see)

pinch of salt

cheesecake

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1 large egg yolk

5 Tbl. sugar

1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Line an 8" or 9" pan with foil (trust me, you'll regret it if you don't..), lightly mist with non-stick spray.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. In saucepan, melt butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat, pour into heatproof bowl.

4. Add 2/3 c. sugar, and then eggs.

5. Mix in flour, cocoa powder, salt, then vanilla and chocolate chips. Spread evenly in prepared pan.

6. In a separate bowl, beat together cream cheese, yolk, 5 Tbl. sugar and vanilla until smooth.

7. Distribute cream cheese mixture across top of brownie mixture, then swirl together with dull knife.

8. Bake for 35 minutes.

9. Once cool, lift foil out of pan and cut into pieces.

soooooo delicious