Bagels !!

A friend of mine posted a challenge to make bagels. She made hers yesterday and they looked fabulous! I set out the challenge to make a whole wheat version since I'm not a regular flour fan. She found a recipe that gave me a baseline but I wanted to research more. Seemed the ingredient list was different than of regular bagels.

I have to say, I never had this much fun making bread before. *laughs at self*

I did something I've never done before, a narrative photo blog entry. I hope you decide to make this. It looks complicated but truly it's not. Does have more steps than I normally would make in a recipe. Time is precious to me so I don't like to spend my time with tedious steps but this is worth the extra couple of steps!!

Enjoy!

First...the ingredients!

4.5 cups stone ground whole wheat flour

4 tablespoons raw honey

1 tablespoon sea salt

4 tablespoon oatmeal (not instant!)

2 tablespoon sesame seeds

1.5 water (boiling)

2 tablespoon yeast

1/3 cup lukewarm water

Boil water, add salt and honey. Turn off heat and allow to cool. Mix yeast and lukewarm water well. Add yeast to honey mixture when reached lukewarm temperature.

Add 2.5 cups of flour, oatmeal and sesame seeds to the liquid mixture. Stirring frequently for approx. 5 mins. Should look a little gloppy like picture below.

Transfer dough to a flat surface with approx 1 cup of flour. Knead flour into dough.

This is the longest process of the whole recipe. The kneading. I believe I kneaded for approx 15 mins. Working approximately 1 more cup of flour into the dough.

See? I'm a kneading fiend. 

See how nice and shiny it is? That is when you know you've kneaded the dough correctly.

Divide into 12 balls, stick your finger down the middle and spread out a bit. Should resemble a doughnut. Knowing it will rise a bit, I make sure the hole is a little big and shape it as I work my fingers around the outside of the bagel dough.

Once you have them all shaped, allow to lay flat covered with a cloth towel for approx 30 mins. One of the things I love about working with a whole wheat recipe, you do not have to rise the dough first before shaping. This is only needed after you've shaped them.

I'll admit, this part just freaked the hell out of me. Boil a large pot of water (I added a little salt). Once you have a rolling boil, turn down to a low boil. Drop about 3 bagels (my picture shows 4 and it got a bit crowded as you can see) in the water. Yes, IN.THE.WATER. Weird, I know! I thought for sure my dough was going to turn to mush. Sure enough, they didn't! After about 4 mins, with a slotted spoon, turn them over. Cook for an additional 4-5 mins. Lay onto a cookie sheet until all bagels are boiled.

Bake them on a ungreased cookie sheet (basically the pan you set them on after boiling) at 350 degrees for approx 20 mins or until nice and golden brown.

For lunch, I made sandwiches out of them! Egg, ham and spinach bagel sandwiches with fried green tomatoes and fresh blueberries! Yum!

Teriyaki pork w/blueberry salad

After spending the day making bagels and fried green tomatoes, I wanted something light for dinner. Since the weather has been absolutely fabulous, bbq was the only way to go!

Visited the butcher that is located just down the street from me yesterday. Picked up some boneless pork chops. They looked delicious and begging to be put on the grill. Because they are thick, I sliced them in half and marinated them in a homemade teriyaki sauce. Grilled to perfection and served with a beautiful blueberry/spinach salad.

Doesn't it look pretty?

4 thick pork chops, sliced in half to make thin slices
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar
1/8 cup olive oil
2 tablespoon Frank's hot sauce
2 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Salad:
(min) 1 cup spinach per person
1/4 cup blueberries per person
balsamic vinegar
olive oil
garnish with sesame seeds

Let pork chops marinate for a minimum of 1 hour. Toss on hot grill. Cook a few minutes on both sides, serve with salad (recommend blueberry spinach salad).

Pork roast via crockpot

Finally decided to pull the crockpot off the top shelf and dust it off. After all, it has been at least a couple of years since we used it. I have a love/hate relationship with it.

Love the ease and carefreeness of using it but hate that it takes *cooking* away from me. Can't experiment or anything of that nature. I mean you can but won't find out the results until hours later and will be too late to try and fix it.

I've made no secret that summer has been crappy here in Alaska this year. We hit another cold raining week (this weekend has been beautiful!). Had a big ole pork roast sitting in the deep freezer calling my name. I'm coooooold, please warm me up! Ha!

Waiting to cook the roast until I got home would mean we wouldn't eat until 9pm and that is entirely too late for the little one to be eating dinner on a school night. It is then when the crockpot from up above hollered at me. Oh what the hell!

Made homemade cheesy bread and fresh vegetable melody to join the party on the plate! Even made gravy using whole wheat flour! I'm sure mashed potatoes would go lovely with this. I didn't want the added carbs but did think about it! Ha!

No *recipe* is really needed but if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Homemade hamburger buns

Something has happened to me! Help!

*laughs*

I'm in that mode where I want to try and make everything from scratch! Not only is it cheaper and healthier, I downright enjoy it! Feels great to know each and every ingredient in the food I feed myself and my family.

On a board I frequent, someone had posted a little booklet in a pdf format about making bread. Thought what the heck, I'm far from an expert...took a peek at it. Contained a number of ingredients I don't foresee myself using but there were some yummy combinations I'd like to try. There was also a couple of instructional in preparing the dough. I'll admit, even though my trials have been fairly successful so far, I've been afraid of messing around with the dough too much. After reading the booklet, dared myself to knead the dough farther than I'd ever dreamed of. Okay, that was a little overly dramatic but you get the idea. Ha!

Had some leftover pork from a roast I made the night before (turned out delicious), wanted to make bbq pulled pork sandwiches. Was not in the budget to buy ready made hamburger buns and I was out of fresh bread. Scoured the internet for recipes in how to make hamburger buns. They all seem to require ingredients I either didn't have or want to use. Took chances and got messy. Nearly held my breath the entire time.

Don't they look pretty?! I was so proud of myself in how they looked. Now the real test was slapping some of that yummy smelling bbq pork and taking a bite. Of course I waited for the boys to try it first...beamed with excitement. These are good!! No wait, they are terrible! So terrible, I want a second one. Whew! I feared they would be too dense but despite how heavy they appeared, they really were moist and delicious.

This made 6 nice size buns.

2 cups stone ground whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon yeast

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon turbinado sugar or raw honey

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup warm water

Mix well. Allow to sit covered for approx. 30 mins. Knead dough between 5-8 mins. Allow to rise covered again for another 20 mins. Divide into 3 parts, knead one part for an additional 5 mins or until dough has a nice sheen to it. It's okay, I was worried about over kneading as well. Trust me, you can do it!

Roll dough until it is 1/2 inch thick, cut a large circle (I used a large mouthed mason jar (no laughing!)). Place circle on a greased cookie sheet, ball up the remainder amount and roll out for a second bun. When all 6 buns are placed on a cookie sheet. Turn on the oven at 350 degrees. Allow to heat for 5 mins, turn heat off. Wait 5 mins, put cookie sheet inside. Allow to rise for an additional 10-15 mins.

Remove buns from oven, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for approx. 15 mins or until nice and brown.

**Yes, those are kale chips you see in the background! :o)

Getting the itch...

It's a good thing I'm too broke to initiate any possible relocation scenario.

I'm a military brat. I get that *itch* every couple of years. Surprisingly, as a military family, we moved very little in comparison to how long my father's service was. It was when we became a divorced family, the frequent moving surfaced.

It's not that I am unhappy here. I think this is probably the one place I've felt the most happy (currently 10 years). Sure I've had my fair share of unhappiness and will continue to, location will not change the flow of life's lessons. I left my old state to escape my dysfunctional family. The visits *home* made it painfully clear that my family did not truly know me. In the passing of my mother, my siblings became estranged from me. Didn't like it, but they made their positions clear, respected that and left it alone. Even a reconciliation started blossoming and I quickly squashed it. I'm getting too old for self righteous crap.

I thought in marrying my husband, his family would become sort of a replacement. Silly, I know, but don't know how else to explain it. Then we had a trauma occur, again, became painfully clear where I stood. To a level it was obvious but on the other hand, it was disappointing. Since then, that boat is easily rocked. They have their own form of dysfunctions. My husband knows it, chooses to just live at arms length.

At one point in time, we had enough money saved up, we could have financed a move. I hesitated greatly due to our young son. Even though we have very little involvement to my husbands family here, my son feels very strongly tied to our life here.

I think what we crave most is a community. Even while loving Alaska, we don't feel a sense of community. We don't have close family or friends. For many years, I blamed my weight as the deterrent. Maybe it is me after all. I know it is me. Not necessarily in a bad way. I've never conformed to any way of life. So in that, it is hard to find others who don't either let alone, a family.

Have you ever felt that way? Feel the *itch* to start a new life somewhere?  Near? Far?

Is there a place for folks like me, my family? If so...tell me where!

Cheesy bread rolls

While the rest of the world seems to be enjoying beautiful record breaking warm weather, us Alaskan's have not been able to partake in the festivities. I hear the heater kick on every morning and we have even had a handful of fires in the fireplace. It is clear, we've been shorted out of our short summer.

Had the desire to bake something today. Any excuse to turn the oven on! *wink*

My hands went to work. Threw some flour in a bowl, tossed a bit of this, a bit of that.

Viola! The boy was upset that I did not make enough (when trying something new, I tend to make very small batches so food is not wasted) and even more upset I saved a couple for his father whom was sleeping in. Poor kid, so so rough. Ha!

1.5 cups stone ground whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
3 tablespoons oatmeal (not the quick cooking kind!)
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup chopped cheddar cheese (can use shredded)

Mix all ingredients except for cheese (add additional water as needed). Allow to set covered for approx 20 minutes.

Turn oven to 350 degrees.

Knead dough for approx 5 mins. Cover and let set for additional 15 mins. Add chopped cheese and knead well for an additional 5-8 mins. Tear into 2-3 inch balls, smoosh flat with your hand and lay out onto a greased baking pan. Bake for approx 20 mins or until brown.

Tortellini and veggies

Found a package of tortellini in the deep freezer as I was moving the fish around. We seldom have pasta (too high a carb item for me) but since it has been awhile, what the heck! I gave myself a much smaller portion than the boys.

Nothing fancy, but plenty tasty!

1 package tortellini (enough for serving 4 people)
1 head garlic sliced
1/2 onion sliced
1/2 head cabbage sliced
1 large bunch spinach
2 teaspoons sweet paprika
1 tablespoon tarragon
salt & pepper to taste
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Cook tortellini according to package instructions. Drain and set aside when finish.

In medium high temp, cook garlic and onions in a little bit of olive oil for approx 5 mins. Add cabbage and seasonings. Frequently tossing for approx 10 mins. Add pasta. Simmer for 10 mins. Before serving, add spinach and stir well.

Serve sprinkled with some freshly grated parmesan.