Archive for June, 2007
When my fifth child began teething, I made homemade teething biscuits for him. You know — those dry, tasteless rounds of bread that turn to mush inside the mouth of your infant. Teething biscuits are pretty bland and are appropriately named - they are good for teething babies and the rest of society has practically no use for them whatsoever. (Except, of course, the mothers of those same babies.)
After making teething biscuits, I realized that I could use the same recipe, give it some flavor, and make grown-up snacks with it. That’s exactly what I did, and although I have only made them a couple of times, they really are pretty good. More work than plucking a bag of chips off of the shelf, but not hard to make.
Try making these tasty, crunchy snacks when you run out of store-bought goodeis….
Garlic Crispies
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. butter, melted
3 eggs
1 t. salt
1 T. sugar
1 T. minced garlic
1/4 c. parmesan cheese
1/4 t. black pepper
3 c. flour
2 1/2 t. yeast
Put everything in the bread machine. If you don’t have a bread machine, for heaven’s sakes, go buy one.
Set the machine to “dough.” When it’s done, remove and knead for a couple of minutes.
Shape into three or four long, skinny loaves. Place them on a cookie sheet and cover with a clean dry towel. Let rise for 45 minutes to one hour.
Heat your oven to 350 and once it’s hot, bake the bread for 15 minutes.
Let the loaves cool completely, then slice into very thin slices.
Lay the slices back onto the cookie sheet. (I usually have to run two batches of two cookie sheets each.) At this time, you can drizzle with oil and sprinkle some more seasonings — garlic salt and pepper on top.
Put it back in the oven, this time with the heat set lower - 275 degrees - for about 30 minutes or until lightly browned and completely dried.
Munch Away!
June 28th, 2007
I am in the process of discovering how wonderful panko is for crunchy, coated, fried foods! Panko, if you don’t know about it, is an amazing Japanese bread crumb that stays crispy after it’s been fried. I’d bought some for my Scotch egg experiment and decided to use them up on some pork chops I was cooking last night.
Generally, hubby is totally unhappy with anything but Shake -N- Bake pork chops. This is really humbling, because I prefer to make things from scratch. (I admit I’m somewhat prideful about that.) Anyway, it never fails to irritate me a bit when he prefers the box - shake and bake - to my homemade stuff.
So last night, I was planning to use the evil box, when I realized I didn’t have any , and - oh darn! - I was going to have to come up with a substitute. Long story short, Pat loved it and I can probably get away with making this sometimes instead of Shake -N- Bake.
Panko Crusted Pork Chops
6 pork chops
2 eggs
2 T. water
1 c. panko
2 T. Parmesan cheese
salt
pepper
olive oil
It doesn’t take a genius to figure this out, but here it is anyway:
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat.
Combine the egg and water with a whisk or fork.
Combine the panko, salt, pepper, and cheese.
Dip the pork chops, one at a time, into the egg mixture.
Dip the pork chops, one at a time, into the panko mixture, pressing it onto the pork chops.
Fry in oil, 5-10 minutes per side, depending on thickness, until done.
Eat!
Enjoy!
June 26th, 2007
After checking out a few recipes for homemade granola bars and comparing them against what I had in my pantry, I came up with my own recipe for chewy snack bars. I’m hoping the hubby and kids will enjoy them in their packed lunches or just as a snack.
By the way, folks, I have to apologize for taking several days off of writing posts. I have just been plain-old busy and besides that my computer monitor is on the brink and, although, I can use it, it is rather giving me a headache. (Picture a cartoon character that has been clobbered on the head and has swirly eyes.) Anyway, I will try to tough it out today and we will be looking for a new monitor very soon.
Back to the granola bars… I’ve been making more of these types of treats lately because buying the ingredients is SO much less expensive than buying the treats themselves. They are probably better for you, too, although I am not fooling myself because they are still loaded with sugar and corn syrup. We are getting a whole grain, but I’m not sure it is worth it with all of that sugar. But then again, how else is a person supposed to make granola bars chewy?
So, here we go, people — homemade chewy granola bars. Feel free to add your own creativeness to this recipe. I had chopped dates on hand — you might have raisins, mini chocolate chips, cranberries or some kind of nuts.
Golden Chewy Granola Bars
makes about 18-24
3 c. old-fashioned oats
1 c. white or wheat flour
1 1/2 c. crisped rice cereal
1 t. baking soda
dash of salt
1 t. cinnamon
1 c. butter, room temperature or slightly warmed in the microwave
3/4 c. corn syrup
2/3 c. brown sugar
1 c. chopped dates
Assembly is simple: you need two bowls, a large one for the dry ingredients, and a smaller one for the wet ingredients. Into the large bowl goes the oats, flour, cereal, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and the dates (or whatever yummy add-ins you like). Into the smaller bowl goes the butter, corn syrup, brown sugar.
Heat your oven to 325 degrees.
Toss the dry ingredients together until they are well combined, then tackle the wet ingredients. Use a mixer and cream the butter with the corn syrup and brown sugar, as if you were making cookies. When it is a delicious-looking, pale yellow, fluffy mixture, fold it into the dry ingredients. It will take a little elbow grease to get it worked in, but no one said this was going to be a walk in the park.
Once it is all combined, grease a jelly-roll pan or a 9×13 pan, and flop this sloppy granola into it. Spread and press it down firmly. I tried a spatula, then waxed paper, then finally settled on spreading it with my bare hands — it is pretty sticky!
Finally, place it in your preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes, give or take a couple of minutes. It will turn golden brown and when you give it a little shake, it will be set on the edges and just a little soft in the middle.
Resist the temptation to taste them right away! Let them cool completely before cutting and serving, otherwise you will have a big, sticky mess on your hands.
ENJOY!
June 20th, 2007
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