Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Mmmm...garlic cheese biscuits-that's all I need to say right?!  How about I add that these biscuits taste darn close to the delicious melt in your mouth biscuits you get at Red Lobster...nuff said now.  Who doesn't go to Red Lobster just for the biscuits??? They have some pretty good other food too, but man oh man they are good, and these are so close it's not even funny.  Now I can stay home, whip these up, sit on the couch and have my biscuits for dinner...ha just kidding, but that's what I want to do.  These are unbelievably simple too!  I shared(surprisingly:)) these with my family, and they all LOVED them!  Huge hit.  I bet these would even be great at a Super Bowl party!  These definitely don't fall on the healthy side, but it's alright once in awhile, so go ahead, whip these out, and thank me later. :)

By the way, if you have leftovers, store them in a Ziploc bag, or container-throw them back in the oven before serving, and they will crisp back up on the outside, and be amazing.

Say it with me "OH MY GOODNESS!"

Homemade Flour Tortillas

First off, HAPPY NEW YEAR!  I hope you all had a great New Years Eve, and I hope this year will be the best yet!  Let's start the new year off with a simple recipe shall we?! And a great one at that! Like I have said before my hubby loves flour tortillas, and we have always bought them at the store.  Truthfully, I've never even thought about making them at home.  I am so glad I ran across this recipe while I was browsing online.  I literally read the recipe, jumped up, and whipped them right out.  So few ingredients, and easy to make.  I didn't even know what I was going to make with them, I just knew I wanted to eat one warm right out of the pan, so you will see at the end of the recipe, what I did with my first warm tortilla!  By the way, we loved these.  Of course they have a totally different taste then store bought tortillas, and that is the best part, not to mention fewer ingredients(as to which you can pronounce).  I am determined to make these whenever I need tortillas at home.  I can't wait to stuff these full of all sorts of food!  Try them!

Don't mind the tortilla on the bottom that has pieces missing...I couldn't keep my hands away! NOM!

Homemade Pizza from Scratch

I am a total pizza lover at heart.  No joke.  I have a pizza craving at least once a week.  I don't allow myself to eat it that often, but I definitely give into the cravings here and there.  Why not?!  Everything in moderation is what I tell myself. :)  I have recently fallen in love with semi homemade pizzas at home made with the store bought Boboli...most of you know, and have tried these right?  They are SO simple, and such a quick meal.  I also LOVE the sauce that comes with them!  It has a sweetness to it that I love.  I am usually not a marinara lover, it always seems too intense flavored for me.  I like a lighter sauce.  I will choose a white garlic sauce for my pizza any day over marinara. 
I finally explored the world of true homemade pizza, and not to my surprise, I fell in love with it.  Go figure right?!  If I have a little more time on my hands when the "pizza craving" strikes, there is NO DOUBT I will make my own homemade pizza/dough.  Amazing.  If you haven't made a pizza totally from scratch, you are missing out, and I can't believe I went so long without making one.  Geez.  PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE make your own, you will be changed forever :)  I'll show you how I made it!


Homemade Pizza from Scratch

WOW! YUMMO!

Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Bread

Is there anyone else out there that likes putting cinnamon and sugar on toast?  I love it!  I forget about it most of the time, but once I remember, it usually is a staple in my house for a good week or so.  It's such a good dessert, that is quick and easy, and requires very little that most people always have on hand.  Yum!  Cinnamon is also good for you, so that is a plus!  I have had my eye on this Cinnamon and Sugar Pull Apart Bread for many moons now, and I finally got around to making it, and HOLY MOLY, it could quite possibly be the best thing on earth!  I instantly fell in love with it!  It's so much fun to make, and seriously just looking at it makes me happy.  It's so pleasing to the eye, and undeniably pleasing to the stomach.  I shared some with my Mom, and she texted me later, and said "Yum! To heck with dinner!" :)  Dessert before dinner is how my Mom rolls, and if I had that in front of me too, I wouldn't pass it up.  This is definitely a keeper in my book!  I already can't wait to make it again!! Seriously...go try this! :)

Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Bread

Can you say it with me "Holy Moly!" :)

Super Moist Whole Wheat Pumpkin Bread

I LOVE me some pumpkin bread! :) Even better when it's whole wheat! I wanted to make a loaf without anything but Pumpkin- no nuts, fruit, or chocolate chips.  I waned PURE pumpkin.  When I make pumpkin, banana, or zucchini bread, I have to make sure it is very moist.  I don't want to have a dry bread that is begging for a topping such as butter.  This bread is so moist and flavorful, that you don't want to spread anything on top, and that is saying something since it is all whole wheat.  You should give this pumpkin bread a go!  You wont be disappointed!

Super Moist Whole Wheat Pumpkin Bread

My family and I ate more than half of the loaf before I took these pictures, we couldn't wait! ;)

Dinner Rolls

This would be my first attempt at making homemade dinner rolls, and I have to say the end result is awesome, BUT I encountered a couple problems along the way.  I said on here before that I will post a recipe even if it doesn't turn out the best, and let you know if I came up with a solution, or if I need help from you all.  Today was a success and I came up with a solution! Don't expect that very often...;)  Let me explain.  I followed this recipe bread baking, and the recipe is written as "add 1 cup of flour, then add another cup of flour, then add a third cup flour" and because I am new at this ;) I assumed the "third cup of flour" meant a 1/3 cup of flour! I must have been a complete space cadet today, because when I added that 1/3 cup of flour, I was wondering why my dough definitely wasn't ready to be kneaded.  My fault totally! Any other airheads out there today?! :)  So I fixed it, but didn't realize what the recipe REALLY meant until I scrambled to add more flour over and over until it was, what I thought, a good consistency! I did good thought, and am proud of myself, HA!

Dinner Rolls

They turned out beautiful though.  They definitely each have their own personality in shape. :)

Whole Wheat Focaccia

Good afternoon all my lovely blog readers! Hope everyone is having an awesome day! It sure is hot in my neck of the desert?? :) I wouldn't be able to handle this heat without air conditioning.  Yesterday I made Whole Wheat Focaccia bread for the FIRST time, and it turned out amazing!  I followed a recipe from this book:

This book was published in 1996, so it is 15 years old!  I discovered this gem at Hastings while I was browsing through the healthy cooking isle.  It is used, sort of obvious being that old, and the price tag on it said.......$2.49! Wow, I just couldn't pass that up!  With more than 200 recipes! It's and oldie, but goodie.

There will be plenty of recipes coming from this book, considering the focaccia bread turned out great.  It was seriously really simple too. Most of the time it takes, is waiting for the bread to rise. You all have to try this! My husband loved it by the way.  We had it for dinner last night along with my simple spaghetti, that I will post tomorrow.

I followed her recipe, except for one thing which I will explain as we go.

Whole Wheat Focaccia

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour or spelt flour, or 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour plus a little extra for kneading (I used all whole wheat flour)
• 1 package(2 1/2TSP) active dry yeast
• 1/2TSP sea salt
• 3/4 cup nonfat yogurt or buttermilk (I used nonfat plain Greek yogurt)
• 2TBLS extra virgin olive oil

Topping:

• 1 or 2 garlic cloves, pressed or finely chopped(I used 3, we LOVE garlic)
• 1 1/2TBLS extra virgin olive oil
• 4TBLS dried herbs, such as thyme, oregano, basil, or rosemary (I only used 2TBLS, I really think 4 is over doing it.  I used 1TBLS thyme, and 1TBLS pizza sauce herb mix.  I had that left over from a previous meal I made, and it sounded like it would work perfectly)
• 1/4TSP sea salt
• Pitted Kalamata olives, halved(optional) (I didn't use any)
• Sun-dried tomatoes, chopped(optional)(I didn't use any, but would probably be really good)
• Feta cheese(optional)(I didn't use any, GASP! I know, but I wanted to experience Focaccia on it's own, simple and delicious)

Sift flour into a large mixing bowl and add the yeast and salt.

Gradually add the yogurt or buttermilk and oil until you have a kneadable dough. (the dough is kneadable when it is too stiff to stir and begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl)

Turn out the dough onto a floured surface. Knead the dough for 5 minutes, adding as much additional flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking to the kneading surface; it will be slightly softer and stickier than a regular yeast bread. (please don't look at my "really in need of lotion" hand, concentrate on the dough:))

Rinse the bowl in which you mixed the dough, then oil. Place the kneaded dough in the oiled bowl and turn the dough to coat with oil. Cover the bowl with a clean, damp cloth and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, from 45 to 60 minutes.

Meanwhile in a small bowl mix the garlic, olive oil, herbs, and salt. Let the mixture sit until you are ready to bake the focaccia.

I snuck this cool picture while my dough was rising.

Punch the dough down. Knead it again and roll it out evenly to approximately the size of your baking sheet or pizza stone, shaping to a round loaf.  Transfer in onto an oiled baking sheet or a pizza stone sprinkled with cornmeal. ( I don't know why she didn't put cornmeal on the ingredients list??) I poked holes in it before I put it on the baking sheet, oops.

I love how you can see the grains

Using your fingers, poke little holes about 1/4 inch deep all over the top of the dough at 1 inch intervals.  Spread the garlic mixture over the dough, allowing it to drip into the finger holes.  If desired, add olives and/or sun dried tomatoes.(Don't forget I only used 2TBLS of herbs. See how much that is??)

Let the dough rise in a warm place again until it has double in bulk, 45 to 60 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

When the dough has risen, place the baking pan or stone on a rack in the middle of the over and bake the focaccia until the bottom is light, crispy brown, 20 to 25 minutes.(Mine was done in 20 minutes)

If adding feta cheese, do so 5 minutes before removing the focaccia from the oven.  Remove the bread from the oven, let cool for 10 minutes, cut into wedges, and serve warm.

This Focaccia was delicious! Let me know if you make this! You really should, it is so easy and SO good!

Question of the Day:

Have you done much bread baking, and if so, what is your favorite?

I haven't explored bread baking very much besides, banana bread, zucchini bread, that sort of thing.  This is the best savory bread I have made so far though.

Well you all have a great day, and I will see you tomorrow!