Family Chow Hall

They say necessity is the mother of invention and I sure believe it. This morning I realized I was out of bread. This brought on a mini baking frenzy which ended this afternoon. The result: 2 new bread flavors I’d never even considered before.

Some people, probably most people, would have just skipped off to the nearest grocery and picked up a loaf or two of bread. Not me. I try to stay away from the grocery mid-week. I mean, hey, a trip to the grocery for a gallon of milk can easily cost me $40 or more. I pick things up simply because they are on sale, I am hungry, I’ve got a winy kid with me, or they just look good. So, when I run out of bread, I bake bread. It may take more time, but it saves the dough (pun intended.)

Experimenting with the whole grains is another thing I like to do, and since I’ve got a bread machine, all of this is really pretty simple. Exchange a few ingredients and you have an entirely different-tasting fresh homemade bread. The trouble is that when it’s homemade, the family eats more of it and faster so I have to make 4 or even 6 loaves to replace 1 or 2 store-bought loaves of bread.

The first of today’s batches included Old-Fashioned Oats and Almonds. YUM! I suspect this will be delicious tomorrow morning with butter and orange marmalade.

Almond Crunch Oatmeal Bread
makes 2 loaves

1 1/2 c. water
2 T. olive oil
2 T. sugar
1 1/2 t. salt
1 c. finely chopped whole oats with almonds
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
2 1/2 c. white flour
2 1/4 t. yeast

Into the bread machine goes: water, oil, sugar, salt.

Next, into the chopper: Old Fashioned oats and slivered almonds. Sorry, folks, I didn’t measure before chopping, only afterward. It looked like maybe 1 1/2 cups before chopping. Maybe 1/3 c. of this was the almonds. Obviously, these amounts are very forgiving. Basically, you need 4 cups of dry ingredients.

Add the oats, nuts, and both flours to the wet ingredients that are in the bread machine already. Make a little well and add the yeast. I’ve always added my yeast this way and never have a problem with it.

Set the bread machine cycle to “dough.” I never use my machine for baking. The crust is always too thick and tough. When it is done with the dough cycle, I turn it onto a floured cutting board, knead it a few times, and then divide it in half. Form each into a small loaf shape. Next I spray my trusty old glass loaf pans and place the dough into them.

After about an hour, the dough should be roughly doubled in size. This could be more or less than an hour, depending on the room temperature. At that time, heat the oven to 375 and bake for 20 minutes or until nicely golden brown on top.

Remove from the oven. About 10 minutes later, remove from the pans. Do not attempt to cut it yet. (This is where my kids always fail me. They cut, the loaf smashes and is a flattened, non-loaf shape ever after. But, hey, the important part is that they got a piece of it while it was warm!) It will slice much better after cooling. If you absolutely HAVE to have a warm slice, wait at least 5 more minutes - the longer you wait the better it will hold its shape.

And THAT, my friends, is how you make Almond Crunch Oatmeal Bread. A sure way to please any bread-lover. If you’re trying to get out of the doghouse with the husband (or wife) for some reason, try this one out. Serve with butter and jam.

Years ago, a friend gave me a recipe for Morning Glory Muffins. Scrumptious. A recipe involving raisins, carrots, nuts, and coconut, yet simple.

I don’t make muffins often - too many carbs and too much starch for me, but my kids love them and it gets some fruit into their diet, so I make them occasionally.

This morning I used the Morning Glory Muffin recipe but added different fruits to suit my kids’ tastes and what I had on hand in the fridge and pantry. It turned into Cranberry-Pumpkin-Apple-Nut muffins which were quite yummy. I realize that you can use lots of different fruit combinations in this basic recipe and come up with something different every time. I LOVE recipes like that - when you can make a dozen substitutions and still have success!

Easy Morning Muffins
makes 2 dozen regular or 1 dozen large muffins

3/4 c. fruit A (cranberries)
3/4 c. fruit B (tiny apple chunks)
3/4 c. fruit C (pureed pumpkin)
1/2 c. chopped nuts (pecans)

3 eggs
2 t. vanilla
1/2 c. melted butter
(option - use peanut butter in place of the butter)
1 c sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar

1 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. white flour
1/2 c. cereal - Grape Nuts, Rice Krispies, All Bran, or similar
2 t. baking powder
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. salt

Heat your oven to 250.

Step 1 — Use your chopper or paring knife to coarsely cut the fruit. Use your imagination - surprise your family with an interesting combination! Coconut, pecans, almonds, apples, bananas, blueberries, cherries, dates… - the possibilities are endless. One of the fruits should be smooth - mashed bananas, applesauce, or something pureed, like pumpkin. Toss all of the fruit and nuts together in a large bowl. Measurements are negotiable, you can have more of one and less of another.

Step 2 — Melt the butter or peanut butter and then add the eggs and sugars. Whisk all of this together in a medium-sized bowl. Then add this to the fruit mixture and stir.

Step 3 — Combine the dry ingredients — the flours, cereal, baking powder and cinnamon. Depending on what fruits you put in, you may want to skip the cinnamon. Add the dry mixture to the sloppy fruit mixture and fold - just until the flour is moistened. This is a general rule with muffins - do not overmix.

Grease your muffin pan and bake at 350 for approximately 20-25 minutes.

These muffins are moist and sweet, yet full of healthy fruits. A great way to start your day or send your children off to school. If I figure out how to make yummy muffins without sugar, I’ll be sure to let you know!

Eggs Benedict — A sure-fire way to sweeten up my husband on a Saturday morning. I make these for him about once or twice a year, usually when I’ve got something on my honey-do list that is particularly distasteful. He thinks they are SOOOO good, but I think they are SOOOO going to give him heart failure in later life.

In case you don’t know, Eggs Benedict is a split English muffin, each side topped with a slice of Canadian bacon, a poached egg, and Hollandaise sauce.

Of course, if you have a Perkin’s Restaurant or any other good breakfast-specialty restaurant in your neighborhood, you can go have a sit-down breakfast and simply order them.

Or, if you’re like me, and love the challenge of making from scratch that which most folks would only dream of making at home, you will follow the extremely lengthy directions below:

Eggs Benedict
makes one serving

English Muffins — make these yourself (click the link to see my recipe) or go buy a box. I think you can guess my personal opinion on buying them.
2 eggs
2 slices of Canadian bacon or lean ham
Hollandaise Sauce — consisting of…
1 egg yolk
1 t. lemon juice
2 1/2 T. firm butter

Slit the English muffin, toast it, and set aside. That’s the easiest part.

Next, I get out everything I need for the Hollandaise and have it ready. For this you need very gentle heat, so I use a double boiler or a small pan inside a larger pan with water in the bottom of the larger pan.

In another pan, heat some water to poach the eggs. Hubby usually does this part, but I think I know how — the water should come to a gentle boil, then be turned down so that it’s just barely under a boil. Place two canning rings into the almost-gently-boiling water. (No, I have not gone crazy, just do it!) Now, crack the eggs, one at a time of course, and drop them into the canning rings. This will help keep them from spreading out and floating all over the place and give them a nice uniform, circular shape approximately the same size as your English muffin. (See, I am a genius - well, Pat is a genius!) The eggs only take a couple of minutes to cook this way, you want them nice and soft.

Meanwhile… (I’ve never figured out if you should do the eggs first or the sauce first, it seems like they should both be done right before you are ready to eat) In the top part of your double boiler, which should be set at about medium to low heat - so the water will steam and just warm up the top, whisk the egg yolk and the lemon juice. Stirring constantly, add half of the butter and keep stirring until it is completely melted. Add the other half of the butter and repeat. Keep stirring. The egg must cook slowly and absorb the melting butter at the same time. Most people think Hollandaise Sauce is too tricky to try at home but I have actually never failed at this. Have the ingredients handy and don’t walk away while preparing it. When the butter is incorporated and the sauce is thickened, remove from heat.

Assemble your Eggs Benedict like this: Toasted English Muffin, topped with Canadian Bacon, then poached eggs, and the Hollandaise Sauce poured over all.

Enjoy! Make someone else clean up, then take the rest of the day off!