My Granola Bars - The big batch
This is designed in a big batch because of the mix-and-match factor. I used two large round pizza pans, lined with aluminum foil for ease. These freeze well in single-serve sandwich baggies, perfect for a kid to grab and put in their backpack for lunch or a snack. Moist and delicious, these can be made custom to your taste. You control the fiber content and nutritional content. I haven't been able to mess these up yet!
*6 cups rolled oats - not instant
*2¼ cups packed brown sugar
*1½ cups wheat germ (or oat bran or a bit of flax or all three)
*2¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon
*3 cups flour (whole wheat or oat bran or your preference, all or in combo)
*2¼ cups dried fruit or nuts or a few chocolate chips (Be creative! Dried berries, apple and raisin, apricots and walnuts, just straight dried blueberries or what you like!)
*2¼ teaspoons salt
*1½ cups honey
*3 eggs or equivalent in egg substitute, beaten
*1½ cups vegetable oil OR 1 cup applesauce and ½ cup of oil
*6 teaspoons vanilla extract
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use cooking spray to lubricate the foil already lining the pans or plain cookie sheet. Two circular pizza pans or regular cookie sheets work well, or use two 9 x 13 baking pans or dishes, but check frequently after 30 minutes in the oven to get the correct cooking length for you.
2. In a very large bowl (I use the big plastic fruit bowls from Wal-Mart), mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, fruit/nuts, and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together the honey, egg, oil and/or applesauce, and vanilla. (Tip: Put the honey in right after the oil using the same measuring cup, and it doesn't stick as badly). Get a heavy-duty spoon and mix it all together.
3. Divide the batter between the two pans. Use the cooking spray to coat your hands and spread until evenly distributed.
4. Bake for 35 minutes in the preheated oven until the bars turn golden at the edges. If you do not use foil, cut into bars while they are warm, or they will be tough to cut. If you use foil, wait until cooled, pull from the pan using the foil, and break apart into pieces or use a knife to cut them into bars. If freezing, a sandwich baggie in the microwave for just less than a minute will put them to an edible state.
Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
The bread trick
I'm about to go make Monster Cookies, and I got hit by a random thought. In my house, they may not last long enough to worry about this, but if your cookies ever start to get too firm for you, grab a slice of bread and put it in with your cookies in a plastic bag. This works for any and all cookies. The cookies pull the moisture from the fresh bread, leaving the bread dried out, but your cookies stay nice and soft.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Freezing pizza dough, Pop's b-day, and school projects.
My pizza dough freezes, but there's a trick to it! This is great, because I can take it out right before I go to bed in the morning and it's ready to make when I wake up! Have to make sure it's in a warm part of the house while it's thawing/rising.
I've been toying with this recipe for a long time, since we lived in Turkey from 1980 to 1982 and pizza was hard to come by, so Mom helped me out by giving me a recipe. The hard part about bread is that you see the recipe, but you don't know the *why* to the chemical process involved. Here's a basic pizza dough recipe. The kneading is important. Why? It determines the density and consistency of your bread. This basic pizza dough recipe can be tampered with and used to make monkey bread (more sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla), bread sticks (little dough balls kneaded a tad longer), braided bread (strips and painted with egg), or even loaf bread. Someone asked me about special flour, and I've never used any. I suppose you could, but what's the point? I've done bread with rye, whole wheat, and plain flour from the store, so that's the limits of my experience, but here goes the pizza recipe I use:
When cooking with whole wheat flour, it's a necessity to mix it half and half with white flour, because I haven't figured out to make it come out lighter than lead otherwise.
I'm going for enough for a big regular cookie sheet (no air-bake pans). The big thing is: No metal used in preparation, including spoons, bowls, or covering the dough during rising.
1 cup hot water (just a little uncomfortable for your finger)
1 package yeast or enough yeast to almost cover the water in the bowl
Proof yeast: Stir yeast with one tsp of sugar, let sit until bubbles form or a light froth covers the surface. If it does not proof, your yeast won't make anything rise.
1 tsp salt or a bit more, add spices (basil, oregano, pepper flakes) at this stage, if desired. If using dried parmesan or onions, add a bit more water to accommodate the way those items will soak up some water.
3 tsp oil (optional - I usually leave out and use olive oil for when I spread the dough on the pan).
Flour - no real measure, here, but probably 2-1/2 cups. You want to add half and half of wheat/white or all white until you stir and the whole ball wants to wrap around the spoon and it's all mixed together. It will be very, very gummy at this stage, but no liquid at all.
Kneading/adding more flour: This is where you can start making it more whole wheat. How much you knead will make your dough:
Cake-like, still just a bit tacky, about two minutes
Very firm and pliable, four minutes or more. Not tacky at all, very elastic. Good for calzones.
Let rise in a warm place, covered, for at least 45 minutes. I've been stuck out of the house for more than 2 hours while the dough was rising, and it didn't affect the quality of the dough.
Put some olive oil on the hands and spread, spread, spread. Make a bit more dough for cheese in the crust and push the dough out over the edge of the pan and fold over a slice of cheese.
Preheat oven to 375 and that's about 35 to 40 minutes. The cheese melting is usually a very good gauge, no matter the thickness of your pizza.
This doubles like a dream. I do all my mixing to kneading in a big plastic 99-cent bowl from Wal-Mart so I don't have to deal with the mess on my counter.
FREEZING (here's the "trick to it" from above): If you want to freeze it, separate the dough at the end of the kneading process, wrap generously and loosely in plastic wrap or put in a baggie. MAKE SURE TO LEAVE SOME SPACE for it to have room to expand, or else you get your corn smashed between big hard rocks of pizza dough that have conformed to the shape of your wire freezer shelf, and the kids WILL laugh at you while you wrestle pizza dough. To thaw, put it out at 7:00 a.m. in a warm place, cover, and should be good to go by 5:00, then just spread and decorate, same cooking time.
In other news, I'll be glad when the end-of-the year flurry for final projects in our school system is over. So far this week, I've made a how-to project from polymer clay (it looks so good, though, and KitKat and I had a blast--pictures to follow), made a guessing game out of the T.V. show "Lost" in Spanish, and put together a folder for the state and US constitution. Oh, we also did a family history thing for extra credit because someone's got a C in social studies and she just won't stand for it. I wonder where she got that anal tendency? Hm? She did five reports on family members, and I had to track down/scan pictures for some of it. Mom, big public thank you and smoochies for the rest. Oh, we did something on Sputnik in there, too. I'm thinking ManCub must be hiding some project from me, because I'm just waiting. I keep asking, but he's denying, and if he's got a brain block, someone will pay dearly in services around the house.
Joni's here! Kaplan loves my gerbils and my bunny got mad when Joni put him away, and he thumped his little foot against the bottom of the cage. My niece likes to touch faces and, if you're in range, she'll suck on your nose or chin. Hers is a sweetie, and here she is bestowing 93rd birthday blessings on Pop:
I've been toying with this recipe for a long time, since we lived in Turkey from 1980 to 1982 and pizza was hard to come by, so Mom helped me out by giving me a recipe. The hard part about bread is that you see the recipe, but you don't know the *why* to the chemical process involved. Here's a basic pizza dough recipe. The kneading is important. Why? It determines the density and consistency of your bread. This basic pizza dough recipe can be tampered with and used to make monkey bread (more sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla), bread sticks (little dough balls kneaded a tad longer), braided bread (strips and painted with egg), or even loaf bread. Someone asked me about special flour, and I've never used any. I suppose you could, but what's the point? I've done bread with rye, whole wheat, and plain flour from the store, so that's the limits of my experience, but here goes the pizza recipe I use:
When cooking with whole wheat flour, it's a necessity to mix it half and half with white flour, because I haven't figured out to make it come out lighter than lead otherwise.
I'm going for enough for a big regular cookie sheet (no air-bake pans). The big thing is: No metal used in preparation, including spoons, bowls, or covering the dough during rising.
1 cup hot water (just a little uncomfortable for your finger)
1 package yeast or enough yeast to almost cover the water in the bowl
Proof yeast: Stir yeast with one tsp of sugar, let sit until bubbles form or a light froth covers the surface. If it does not proof, your yeast won't make anything rise.
1 tsp salt or a bit more, add spices (basil, oregano, pepper flakes) at this stage, if desired. If using dried parmesan or onions, add a bit more water to accommodate the way those items will soak up some water.
3 tsp oil (optional - I usually leave out and use olive oil for when I spread the dough on the pan).
Flour - no real measure, here, but probably 2-1/2 cups. You want to add half and half of wheat/white or all white until you stir and the whole ball wants to wrap around the spoon and it's all mixed together. It will be very, very gummy at this stage, but no liquid at all.
Kneading/adding more flour: This is where you can start making it more whole wheat. How much you knead will make your dough:
Cake-like, still just a bit tacky, about two minutes
Very firm and pliable, four minutes or more. Not tacky at all, very elastic. Good for calzones.
Let rise in a warm place, covered, for at least 45 minutes. I've been stuck out of the house for more than 2 hours while the dough was rising, and it didn't affect the quality of the dough.
Put some olive oil on the hands and spread, spread, spread. Make a bit more dough for cheese in the crust and push the dough out over the edge of the pan and fold over a slice of cheese.
Preheat oven to 375 and that's about 35 to 40 minutes. The cheese melting is usually a very good gauge, no matter the thickness of your pizza.
This doubles like a dream. I do all my mixing to kneading in a big plastic 99-cent bowl from Wal-Mart so I don't have to deal with the mess on my counter.
FREEZING (here's the "trick to it" from above): If you want to freeze it, separate the dough at the end of the kneading process, wrap generously and loosely in plastic wrap or put in a baggie. MAKE SURE TO LEAVE SOME SPACE for it to have room to expand, or else you get your corn smashed between big hard rocks of pizza dough that have conformed to the shape of your wire freezer shelf, and the kids WILL laugh at you while you wrestle pizza dough. To thaw, put it out at 7:00 a.m. in a warm place, cover, and should be good to go by 5:00, then just spread and decorate, same cooking time.
In other news, I'll be glad when the end-of-the year flurry for final projects in our school system is over. So far this week, I've made a how-to project from polymer clay (it looks so good, though, and KitKat and I had a blast--pictures to follow), made a guessing game out of the T.V. show "Lost" in Spanish, and put together a folder for the state and US constitution. Oh, we also did a family history thing for extra credit because someone's got a C in social studies and she just won't stand for it. I wonder where she got that anal tendency? Hm? She did five reports on family members, and I had to track down/scan pictures for some of it. Mom, big public thank you and smoochies for the rest. Oh, we did something on Sputnik in there, too. I'm thinking ManCub must be hiding some project from me, because I'm just waiting. I keep asking, but he's denying, and if he's got a brain block, someone will pay dearly in services around the house.
Joni's here! Kaplan loves my gerbils and my bunny got mad when Joni put him away, and he thumped his little foot against the bottom of the cage. My niece likes to touch faces and, if you're in range, she'll suck on your nose or chin. Hers is a sweetie, and here she is bestowing 93rd birthday blessings on Pop:
Monday, November 12, 2007
How to torture your kids all weekend...
So, this is the third week of torturing everyone by making them help me cook for a couple days of the weekend for food for the rest of the week. They hate it, mostly because MCDONALD'S HAS BEEN OFF THE MENU FOR FOUR WEEKS! No pizza. No Chinese.
Is that not amazing? We're saving money...and I'm not screaming trying to get dishes done to eat off/cook with. It's done before Monday!
I stretched it out over three days this weekend. I bought a ham and it threw things behind a bit, as well as this strange thing called sleep that my body seems to think I need every now and again. Go fig. That means I didn't work on my synopsis...then again, I'd rather do dishes...and I did...than work on my synopsis. They scare me. So, until then, I want to tell you about my hit of the week:
No More Salty Ham - Found at allrecipes.com.
It really, really works. I used a precooked Aldi spiral-cut ham, the same as I always use (when it's in season), and the salt taste was greatly, greatly diminished. It has to be precooked ham for this recipe. It was great fun packing brown sugar to the ham (pack, throw at KitKat, pack, get hit with brown sugar from KitKat), and somehow the pineapple sticks on there, and you can actually mold it to look like W.C. Fields if you're good enough. Not only does it look good and smell divine while cooking, the lack of saltiness will just amaze you!
Now, this is my addition to the recipe. I call it the Afterglow Ham Casserole. You have already made the No More Salty Ham, so now you have this wonderful juice from the ham at the bottom of the pan. SAVE IT -- save it in the original baking dish in which you cooked the ham. Put it in the fridge overnight, and let the fat collect on top. Scrape the fat off. Now, the best ratio for noodles to liquid is generally 3½ cups of fluid to 16 ounces of uncooked noodles (that's for a big family with intent to freeze some for later use). If you don't have enough ham juice, use bullion/broth until you have your desired fluid-to-noodle ratio. Rip up (or if you're a chef, cube) some of the leftover ham to your preference. Mix 1/4 cup flour with water to form a paste, then mix with the ham juice/broth in the pan. I added a can of undrained green beans. I used cheddar cheese because I like it best with the pineapple flavoring left over from the ham baking process. Arrange the ham on top of everything else, and then seal the gaps between the ham with enough cheese (or just smother it all!) to keep the noodles from floating. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes for thinner noodles, and 45 for heavier noodles.
It was very, very nice. I now have two generous single-serving tubs in the fridge (even after everyone ate dinner) and another three in the freezer.
So, to recap, the meals from this weekend:
1. Big, precooked spiral-cut ham ($13)
2. Afterglow ham casserole (had everything already)
3. Meatballs (Three cartons ground turkey, $7.50)
4. Tortilla soup (Bag of boneless, skinless chicken thighs, $5, plus processed cheese, $3)
5. Corn and barley casserole (repeat from last week, didn't buy anything new)
6. Cream cheesy mashed potatoes, waiting to be cooked until later this week (Potatoes $2.50, cream cheese $0.79).
7. Two loaves of French toast, only about 1-1/4 of which actually made it to the freezer for breakfast through the week (thanks, Tiger's Eye, ya hungry bum).
Remember, there's still ham! I have ham sandwiches for emergencies, and don't forget I still have frozen potato soup, enough for one serving, and another serving of broccoli and cheese soup.
Can you tell I'm excited? I'd forgotten just how much I like to cook. Also, if you don't have one of these awesome gizmos:
Chop Wizard
Make a friend just for Christmas to get one of these guys. It really cuts down on the chopping time. If you're cooking a lot, you can do all your onions at once, or if you're making one meal that calls for multiple veggies, you can cut them all up, because the base is very good size. It works on ham, too, and really anything else I've tried. There are two grating plates, one for cubes and one for fine. The kids take turns using it because it's so easy and it's kind of fun to watch half an onion suddenly shoot through into the base of the Chop Wizard.
Please note that I do not get paid for any of these advertisements. I wish I was, but I'm not. Chop Wizard people, if you see this, I'll take retro payments, k?
So, to end the weekend, KitKat made me a cake, and I'm high on sugar. I'm going to proofread this and post it, but remember what I said about the Chop Wizard. Oh, did I mention it goes through the dishwasher?
Is that not amazing? We're saving money...and I'm not screaming trying to get dishes done to eat off/cook with. It's done before Monday!
I stretched it out over three days this weekend. I bought a ham and it threw things behind a bit, as well as this strange thing called sleep that my body seems to think I need every now and again. Go fig. That means I didn't work on my synopsis...then again, I'd rather do dishes...and I did...than work on my synopsis. They scare me. So, until then, I want to tell you about my hit of the week:
No More Salty Ham - Found at allrecipes.com.
It really, really works. I used a precooked Aldi spiral-cut ham, the same as I always use (when it's in season), and the salt taste was greatly, greatly diminished. It has to be precooked ham for this recipe. It was great fun packing brown sugar to the ham (pack, throw at KitKat, pack, get hit with brown sugar from KitKat), and somehow the pineapple sticks on there, and you can actually mold it to look like W.C. Fields if you're good enough. Not only does it look good and smell divine while cooking, the lack of saltiness will just amaze you!
Now, this is my addition to the recipe. I call it the Afterglow Ham Casserole. You have already made the No More Salty Ham, so now you have this wonderful juice from the ham at the bottom of the pan. SAVE IT -- save it in the original baking dish in which you cooked the ham. Put it in the fridge overnight, and let the fat collect on top. Scrape the fat off. Now, the best ratio for noodles to liquid is generally 3½ cups of fluid to 16 ounces of uncooked noodles (that's for a big family with intent to freeze some for later use). If you don't have enough ham juice, use bullion/broth until you have your desired fluid-to-noodle ratio. Rip up (or if you're a chef, cube) some of the leftover ham to your preference. Mix 1/4 cup flour with water to form a paste, then mix with the ham juice/broth in the pan. I added a can of undrained green beans. I used cheddar cheese because I like it best with the pineapple flavoring left over from the ham baking process. Arrange the ham on top of everything else, and then seal the gaps between the ham with enough cheese (or just smother it all!) to keep the noodles from floating. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes for thinner noodles, and 45 for heavier noodles.
It was very, very nice. I now have two generous single-serving tubs in the fridge (even after everyone ate dinner) and another three in the freezer.
So, to recap, the meals from this weekend:
1. Big, precooked spiral-cut ham ($13)
2. Afterglow ham casserole (had everything already)
3. Meatballs (Three cartons ground turkey, $7.50)
4. Tortilla soup (Bag of boneless, skinless chicken thighs, $5, plus processed cheese, $3)
5. Corn and barley casserole (repeat from last week, didn't buy anything new)
6. Cream cheesy mashed potatoes, waiting to be cooked until later this week (Potatoes $2.50, cream cheese $0.79).
7. Two loaves of French toast, only about 1-1/4 of which actually made it to the freezer for breakfast through the week (thanks, Tiger's Eye, ya hungry bum).
Remember, there's still ham! I have ham sandwiches for emergencies, and don't forget I still have frozen potato soup, enough for one serving, and another serving of broccoli and cheese soup.
Can you tell I'm excited? I'd forgotten just how much I like to cook. Also, if you don't have one of these awesome gizmos:
Chop Wizard
Make a friend just for Christmas to get one of these guys. It really cuts down on the chopping time. If you're cooking a lot, you can do all your onions at once, or if you're making one meal that calls for multiple veggies, you can cut them all up, because the base is very good size. It works on ham, too, and really anything else I've tried. There are two grating plates, one for cubes and one for fine. The kids take turns using it because it's so easy and it's kind of fun to watch half an onion suddenly shoot through into the base of the Chop Wizard.
Please note that I do not get paid for any of these advertisements. I wish I was, but I'm not. Chop Wizard people, if you see this, I'll take retro payments, k?
So, to end the weekend, KitKat made me a cake, and I'm high on sugar. I'm going to proofread this and post it, but remember what I said about the Chop Wizard. Oh, did I mention it goes through the dishwasher?
For more, please go to www.sapphiretigress.com.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Are Your Frog Legs Fresh Or Frozen?
Hi! I know you're just DYING for an explanation on this one, right??? It started this spring, I believe, when KitKat entered la cocina while I performed dinner prep on the stove and counter. Looking over the array of hamburger, noodles, boiling pot of water and tomato sauce, KitKat asked me what was for dinner. :)Heh heh.
I told her, of course, we were having frog legs. Her blueberry eyes widened and her mile-long lashes batted.
"Really?"
"Yep."
I put the noodles in the boiling water and unwrapped the hamburger (probably 90/10 sirloin, but, hey).
"Are we really having frog legs?"
My nose twitched and I pointed to the hamburger.
"No."
"Oh. Good. I don't think I'd like frog legs. Have you ever eaten frog legs?"
No. I hadn't. I had avoided that for 34 years and intended to keep up the tradition. However, in my distant, distant memory, I recall, about 1978 or 1979, a gathering of relatives down at my aunt's hog farm. Although pork was readily offered that night, the main event, you ask? Hunting frogs with cattle prods. Yes, zap, miniature lightning, pick up flaccid frog, put frog in bucket, deliver bucket with frogs to aunt, and let aunt cook them. I insisted that I never tried them. In fact, I have blocked the entire memory of frog leg preparation from my mind.
"Does Grandma eat frog lets?" KitKat asked.
"I don't know." My right eyebrow arched. "You know, I don't know. Let's ask her."
My mother still laughs about this. I called her, put her on speaker phone, with one question and one question only. KitKat sat on the bed and I sat at my desk.
"Mom, this is a really, really weird question, but...do you remember frog hunting back when I was really little?"
"Vaguely," Mom replied.
"Okay. Here's my question: Did you eat frog legs that night?"
KitKat and I waited breathlessly for her response.
"No, I don't think I did...that night."
I thought KitKat's eyes would pop right out.
"I like them from time to time. But you can't get the thin ones. They need to be thick and juicy."
Bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech. KitKat clutched a pillow, about ready to die, half in horror and half in laughter.
"Okay, Mom. Thanks!"
"You're welcome, Dear," she said, a hint of "put that girl back on the prayer chain" in her voice.
"Okay, Mom. Thanks!"
"You're welcome, Dear," she said, a hint of "put that girl back on the prayer chain" in her voice.
¿Son sus ancas de rana frescas o congeladas?
This quickly became a big joke. If I perused the chicken, KitKat liked to ask if it was thick and juicy, because, you know, you can't have the thin ones.
Sind Ihre Froschschenkel frisch oder gefroren?
Forward a few months. Father's Day rolled around, and I stayed with Mr. Sapphire and the boys, and KitKat went with Pop (see him explained a little further down) to his home town with my mother, aunt and uncle to celebrate with him. There's something about this place that I know. I've seen the menu. Guess what's on it?
KitKat arrived home, and said she had a good time.
"Did you eat frog legs?" I asked her.
"No!" she yelled, and stamped her foot. She shrugged and sighed. "Aunt Sandy did, though."
"Were they thin or thick and juicy?"
KitKat rolled her eyes. "I don't know." She turned to leave her silly mother behind, but she gave me one last look. "She asked me if I wanted to try one, though."
I stuck out my tongue and made a hacking noise.
"Yeah. She waved it in front of my face."
I let it go at that for a while...but couldn't quite let it go completely. Pretty soon, I called KitKat into my office, with a burning question on my mind.
"Are their frog legs fresh or frozen?"
"Mom! I don't know and I don't care!" she claimed, and stomped off.
ваши лягушачьи лапки свежи или замороженны?
I, however, cared. In fact, I cared so much that I placed a call to the restaurant.
"I hear you have frog legs," I said casually.
"Yes, Babe, we sure do."
"That's great! Are your frog legs fresh or frozen?"
"Hun, we have to ship them in frozen."
"That's fine. Thanks!"
I did this with a straight face!!!! No chuckles. Nothing. I honestly tried to curb my enthusiasm,
but I shouted halfway across the house so KitKat heard me in crystal clarity.
"Their frog legs are frozen!"
I heard her stomp through the house, whining before she entered the lair of the SapphireTigress. "Mom, you didn't."
I smiled brilliantly. "Yes, I did. They are frozen." I immediately got on the internet. "Where do you get frozen frog legs?"
Www.google.com is a wonderful thing, folks. Frozen frog legs aren't that badly priced but, as you can see from the picture above, looking at those frog butts isn't too appealing; well, not to me.
είναι τα πόδια βατράχων σας φρέσκα ή παγωμένα;
If you're wondering about the weird green writing used as section breaks, they are all different languages in which you can say "Are your frog legs fresh or frozen?" Babel Fish is great for this sort of thing, but other languages, like Turkish, are a little more difficult.
This is what I have for the Turkish translation:
kurba—ga (frog)
bacaklar (legs)
taze (fresh)
donmuÕ (frozen)
senin (your)
bacaklar (legs)
taze (fresh)
donmuÕ (frozen)
senin (your)
I'm going to copy this into an e-mail for KitKat for her to read in the morning. She's just going to die that I've done so much research on such an inane topic. I'm getting a little better about it, but I still ask, while on a way to a friend's house, "I wonder if they prefer fresh or frozen frog legs?"
KitKat's grunt of disenchantment is worth every effort!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
