Potato rolls

I have been wanting to make potato rolls for forever, but I never think about it when making mashed potatoes. But this time, I planned ahead and reserved 1/2 cup plain mashed potatoes and 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid. These rolls had great flavor and texture. I wanted to use them for burger buns, so I made 9 out of the recipe. I put them in a 9×13 pan, but next time I will just use a baking sheet. There wasn’t enough room for the buns to grow out, so they were a little too tall and not wide enough for burgers. They rise beautifully in the oven and I love the way they look. I didn’t take into consideration that my rolls were a lot bigger than the recipe’s, so mine took a lot longer to bake. They were light and tender and tasted great. If I make buns again, I will lower the oven temp to 375 and bake for 15-20 minutes, or maybe more.

I just found a good tutorial that I will definitely look at next time. It is at http://cooklikeyourgrandmother.com/2009/04/how-to-make-potato-buns

Potato Rolls (Boastful Baker, Annie’s Eats) Yield: 16 rolls Ingredients: 1 russet potato (big enough to make 1/2 cup mashed potato), peeled and chopped 1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened 2 tbsp. granulated sugar 1 tbsp. honey 1/2 tsp. salt 1 egg 1/2 cup milk, warmed 1 1/8 tsp. instant yeast 1/4 cup reserved potato water, lukewarm, with 1 teaspoon sugar added to it 2 1/2 – 3 cups flour (I used half all-purpose and half bread flour) Directions: Boil potato until tender.  Drain cooking water, reserving 1/4 cup for use in the rolls.  Finely mash the potato and measure out 1/2 cup.  Let cool to nearly room temperature. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the mashed potato, butter, sugar, honey, salt and egg.  Mix together on medium speed for about 2 minutes.  Combine the yeast with the warm milk and reserved potato water, and pour into the mixer bowl.  Mix on low speed until incorporated.  Gradually add the flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, until a soft dough forms.  Switch to the dough hook attachment on knead on low speed for 5 minutes, adding more flour if necessary to achieve a soft dough that is slightly tacky but not sticky.  Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 60-90 minutes. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Turn the down out onto a lightly floured surface and punch it down.  Separate into 16 equal pieces and shape into rolls.   Place the rolls on the prepared baking sheet, about 1 1/2 inches apart.  Sprinkle the rolls with a dusting of flour.  Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let the dough rise again until the rolls have grown into each other, about 30-45 minutes.  Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bake in the preheated oven for about 12 minutes, until golden.  Serve warm.

Moist turkey burgers

These were really good and I will definitely make them again because Jacob loved them. With a few adjustments, they will be perfect. I didn’t cut the onion small enough, so I had to chop them more after cooking. Next time I might even pulse the onion chunks in the food processor. I also need to make sure I make the burgers pretty flat because they puff up. I used worchestershire, soy, dijon mustard, a little hot sauce, garlic, and some dried thyme. I would have increased the worschestershire but I ran out. I served these on potato buns with garlic aioli.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 teaspoon canola oil
• 1/2 cup soft bread crumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 1/8 teaspoon ground mustard
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• Dash salt
• 1/2 pound lean ground turkey
• 2 hamburger buns, split
• 2 lettuce leaves
• 2 slices tomato

Directions

1. Place onion and oil in a small skillet; cover and cook for 3-4 minutes or until very soft, stirring occasionally. Cool.
2. In a large bowl, combine the bread crumbs, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, poultry seasoning, mustard, pepper, salt and onion. Crumble turkey over mixture and mix just until combined. Shape into two patties. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.
3. In a nonstick skillet coated with nonstick cooking spray, cook patties over medium heat for 4-5 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer reads 165 degrees F. Serve on buns with lettuce and tomato.

Footnotes

• Nutritional Analysis: 1 burger equals 353 calories, 13 g fat (3 g saturated fat), 90 mg cholesterol, 549 mg sodium, 32 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 25 g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 3 lean meat, 2 starch, 1/2 fat.

White chicken chili

I wasn’t sure I would like this very much, but it turned out really well. I took several recipes and messed with them to make a delicious dinner! I started with two (BIG) chicken thighs that I brined in buttermilk, spices, salt, and sugar. I rinsed them off and rubbed them with cumin, coriander, and mexican oregano. We browned them in the pot and then started on the chili. I used one jalapeno and 1 anaheim chile, which made the dish have the perfect amount of heat. I was surprised Jacob wasn’t bummed that it wasn’t spicier. He’s just glad we bought cilantro for once. Once the veggies were softened, in went the chicken broth (homemade!) I added beans a few minutes later, but I added them a little too early because they ended up overcooking a little bit. The chicken went in last and needed about 10-12 minutes to finish cooking. The recipe said to reduce to simmer after the chili started boiling, but I had the stove on 5 or 6 most of the time. I’m impatient, what can I say? I still made sure it simmered for about 30 minutes. The time simmering is totally necessary, I’m glad I held out because the flavor of the broth improved greatly. Once the shredded chicken went back in, I stirred in a quick splash of cream. To finish, we squeezed some fresh lime juice in our bowls and I added a dollop of sour cream. Below is the quantities and the cooking instructions for what I did. Our recipe made 4 bowls worth of chicken chili, which is only 2-3 servings in this house!

This soup would be great with tortilla chips, but I wanted some cheese so I made cheese quesadillas. I bought some of my favorite soft flour tortillas from Rosa’s and made the Taco Bell quesadilla sauce. I used monterey jack cheese with jalapenos. Both the cheese and sauce were pretty spicy, but after cooking the quesadillas in some butter on our skillet, the heat toned down a little. The recipe for the sauce is from Food.com. It is pretty much spot on, I only wish I used more on my quesadilla!

White Chicken Chili (Joelen’s Culinary Adventures and Mel’s Kitchen Cafe)

Ingredients:

• 2 large chicken thighs
• Cumin, coriander, mexican oregano, salt, and pepper
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 onion, large dice
• 1 anaheim chile, seeds and ribs removed, diced
• 1 jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp cumin (all the spices can be increased if desired)
• 1 tsp mexican oregano
• 1/4 tsp coriander
• 30 oz chicken broth (2 cans)
• 1 can cannelini beans
• 1 lime
• Cilantro, for garnish

Season chicken liberally with spices. Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add chicken and cook without moving until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Using tongs, turn chicken and lightly brown on other side, about 2 minutes. Transfer chicken to plate.

While chicken is browning, remove and discard ribs and seeds from the chiles and mince. Dice one onion and mince the garlic. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat from Dutch oven (adding additional vegetable oil if necessary) and reduce heat to medium. Add minced chiles and onion. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables turn translucent, about 8 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper in the last 2 minutes.

Pour in chicken broth and bring to boil over medium high heat. Reduce temp and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. The chili will start to thicken, especially once you add the chicken. Add chicken after about 15 minutes, and add the beans in the last few minutes to warm them. Once the chicken has reached 160 degrees, remove and shred. Return chicken to pot, re-warm, and turn off the heat to add the splash of cream. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve with lime wedges, sour cream, and cilantro.

Sour cream sugar cookies

I made these about 1/4 of an inch high, and the middles were very soft. Since I used my double T cookie cutter, there were a lot of edges. They were sturdy enough to be picked up and frosted, and the texture was pretty good. They were pretty moist but almost not butter-y enough for me. These were good but I think I prefer sugar cookies without sour cream. I made a whipped cream cheese frosting but I was a little disappointed that the cream mellowed out the cream cheese flavor a lot. Plus, the frosting never hardens enough for the cookies to be stacked. So it was a nice experiment, but I’ll be going back to more traditional sugar cookies.

Soft Sugar Cookies (The Girl Who Ate Everything)
by Alison Tolbert

1 cup sour cream
2 cups white sugar
1 cup butter
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla or almond extract
6 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine sour cream, sugar, butter, eggs, and vanilla. Beat for a 2-3 minutes.

Add dry ingredients and mix well. Let the dough chill in fridge for 25 minutes or until firm.

Roll it out to about 1/4 inch thick and use cookie cutters to make shapes or circles. You may have to add a little flour to roll them out so the dough is workable but remember the less flour you use the softer your cookie will be.

Bake until LIGHT golden brown-no more than 10 minutes. When you take them out they will seem underdone but they aren’t. Let them cool on the pan and they will be perfect and moist. It you like them harder and more crunchy just bake them a little longer.

Makes around 4 dozen.

 

Next time I will make the sugar cookies that went with this frosting! It is from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe.

 

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

*Note: the key to success here is using really soft cream cheese and beating it with the powdered sugar until no lumps remain.

*Makes about 4 cups of frosting

1 (8 oz.) block cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

In a large bowl, combine the softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, salt and vanilla. Mix until very smooth and light and no lumps remain. In a separate bowl, beat the cream to stiff peaks. Add the whipped cream to the cream cheese mixture. Mix until well combined and smooth. Store in the refrigerator for up to one week.

 

Buttermilk waffles

This is the second waffle I’ve made so far, and it was really really good. I’ve made a yeast waffle (All Recipes Belgian Waffle) before, which was was equally delicious in a different way. I separated the eggs and whipped the whites separately, then folded them in at the end. I plan on making another buttermilk waffle recipe soon to compare. These weren’t that crispy, but instead they were soft and fluffy. I didn’t have any pastry flour, so I used regular.

Classic Buttermilk Waffles (King Arthur)

Ingredients:

2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups Round Table Unbleached Pastry OR 1 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 tablespoons sugar (leave this out if you want savory waffles, such as the type you’d use as a base for creamed chipped beef or creamed chicken)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup pecan meal (optional)

Directions:

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, buttermilk, melted butter or margarine and vanilla. In another bowl whisk together the dry ingredients. Combine the wet and dry ingredients just until almost smooth.

Spray your waffle iron with a non-stick cooking spray before preheating it. For an 8-inch round waffle iron, use about 1/3 cup batter. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until the iron stops steaming.Yield: about ten 8-inch waffles.

 

Fig prosciutto pizza

Pioneer woman had a great idea for a pizza, and I couldn’t wait to try it – fig jam and prosciutto. She added arugula and parmesan, but I don’t like arugula and I didn’t want to buy parmesan. I wasn’t sure if Jacob would like the combo, so I made one 1/2 batch of pizza dough (most recipes make 2 pizzas) and used 1/3 of it for this pizza and the rest for a regular cheese pizza. I split one 8 oz ball of mozzarella between the two pizzas. I made a delicious pizza sauce, which was much better suited to going on a pizza than other ones that I’ve tried. I wanted to make Pioneer Woman’s pizza dough, but the no-knead method made me nervous about the texture of the dough. I found another recipe that was very similar in ingredients but gave excellent instructions. Mine didn’t rise overnight hardly at all in the fridge, but I took it out of the fridge about 5 hours early. It rose nicely and I actually stuck it back in the fridge for a little about 2 hours before dinner because I wanted to stop the rising for a while. I probably could have punched it down and gotten the same results. I really liked the crust and I’m getting a little better at shaping. Not great though, so I’ll need more practice. As far as the taste, we thought the fig prosciutto pizza was delicious and it reminded Jacob of ham-pineapple pizza. I’m glad he liked them both! I baked the pizzas on a preheated pizza stone at 500 degrees and they took about 8 minutes. The fig pizza took a little less and the regular pizza took about a minute more.

I changed up the pizza sauce a lot. First, I sauteed the garlic in a little bit of olive oil, then added the spices (including some red pepper flakes) to warm them up and “open up the flavors.” (Thanks Guy!) Then I added the tomato paste and cooked it for a minute or two. Then I added 1 cup of water, salt, pepper, and some sugar. I got the sauce bubbling and then I lowered the heat. It simmered for about 45 minutes.

 

Fig-Prosciutto Pizza (Pioneer Woman)

Ingredients

• Pizza Crust
• 1 teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
• 4 cups All-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• ⅓ cups Olive Oil
• FOR THE PIZZA:
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 4 Tablespoons Fig Spread Or Jam
• Kosher Salt To Taste
• 12 ounces, weight Fresh Mozzarella, Sliced Thin
• 6 ounces, weight Thinly Sliced Prosciutto*
• 1 bunch Washed And Rinsed Arugula
• Freshly Ground Pepper, to taste
• ½ cups Shaved Parmesan

Preparation Instructions

NOTE: PIZZA INGREDIENTS IN THIS RECIPE ARE FOR 1/3 OF THE PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE. USE LEFTOVER DOUGH TO MAKE OTHER KINDS OF PIZZA!

Sprinkle yeast over 1 1/2 cups warm (not lukewarm) water.
In a mixer, combine flour and salt. With the mixer running on low speed (with paddle attachment), drizzle in olive oil until combined with flour. Next, pour in yeast/water mixture and mix until just combined.

Coat a separate mixing bowl with a light drizzle of olive oil, and form the dough into a ball. Toss to coat dough in olive oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise for at least an hour. Use right away or store in the fridge until you need it. ***It’s best to make the dough at least 24 hours in advance, and 3 or 4 days is even better.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Roll out 1/3 of the pizza dough as thinly as possible. Place on a large baking sheet.

Drizzle lightly with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with kosher salt. Spread fig spread (or jam) all over the surface of the dough. Sprinkle lightly with salt.

Lay sliced of mozzarella all over the surface. Sprinkle lightly with salt and freshly ground pepper. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until crust is golden and cheese is bubbly.

Remove from oven and immediately lay prosciutto over hot pizza. Just before serving, sprinkle on arugula and Parmesan shavings.

Cut into wedges or squares and serve immediately!

 

Here is a link to the pizza dough instructions.

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/001199.html

Easy Pizza Sauce (All Recipes)

Ingredients

• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1/2 tablespoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed

Directions

1. Mix together the tomato paste, water, and olive oil. Mix well. Add garlic, salt and pepper to taste, oregano, basil, and rosemary. Mix well and let stand several hours to let flavors blend. No cooking necessary, just spread on dough.

 

Everything no knead bread

I didn’t follow the recipe exactly, because my brain shut down while mixing the ingredients and I actually started kneading the bread! Then I felt like my water/flour ratio was way off, because I had to add a lot more flour. The texture of the bread was a little spongy for me, and really hard to cut. It made a lot of crumbs and thin slices were impossible. But it has potential as long as I follow the recipe better next time! It isn’t as good as an everything bagel, but it’s a nice alternative! I love that the spice is mixed into the dough as well as on top.

Everything No-Knead Bread adapted from NY Times

• 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
• ¼ teaspoon instant yeast
• 1¼ teaspoons salt
• 2 Tbsp. Everything Spice, divided (recipe below)
• 1 5/8 cups water
• Flour, cornmeal or wheat bran as needed

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast, salt and 1 Tbsp. Everything Spice. Add water and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 5- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Spritz or brush the top of the dough with water then sprinkle on remaining 1 Tbsp. Everything Spice. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

 

Pesto turkey burgers

I recently made a really awesome pesto, and I knew I wanted to use it in a turkey burger. I increased the amount of pesto in the burger, and I put some pesto mayo on my bun. Sounds like overkill, but it was delicious. I topped my burger with a few roasted red pepper pieces. I tried the burger with some melted mozzarella, which was great but not needed. The feta was really good in the burger.

Pesto Turkey Burgers (All Recipes)

Original Recipe Yield 4 turkey burgers

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 pounds lean ground turkey
• 2 tablespoons basil pesto
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt

Directions

1. Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat.
2. Mix together ground turkey, pesto, garlic, feta cheese, 1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt, and breadcrumbs in a bowl until evenly blended. Form into 4 patties.
3. Grill pesto burgers until no longer pink in the center, about 5 minutes per side. Sprinkle with seasoned salt halfway through cooking.

 

Chinese pot stickers

I love my original recipe for pot stickers from Food.com, but I looked at a different recipe when making pot stickers this time. I never added shrimp before, but this time I used 1/2 lb shrimp and 1/2 lb pork. I loved the addition of the shrimp, it adds a lot to the mixture. I added some salted cabbage instead of the bamboo shoots. I used rice wine vinegar instead of white wine because I didn’t want to open a bottle. I loved the blogger’s pictures and how she shaped the pot stickers. I’ve only used won ton wrappers for pot stickers in the past, but I found the circular pot sticker wrappers this time and I really liked them. It took about 8-10 minutes (covered) for mine to cook all of the way. Here is the recipe from Steamy Kitchen, as she wrote it.

pan fried shrimp and pork potsticker recipe

Serves 6-8

1 package of frozen dumpling skins, defrosted overnight in refrigerator or 40 minutes room temp (do not microwave or set in water)
3/4 pound raw shrimp, shelled and deveined
3 stalks green onions, cut into 2 inch sections
1/2 cup canned bamboo shoots
1/2 pound ground pork
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1 tablespoon rice wine (or dry sherry)
for the slurry: 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water in a small bowl
water
cooking oil

Dipping Sauce
1 teaspoon Asian chili sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

Wash the shrimp and pat very dry. In a food processor, add the shrimp, green onions, bamboo shoots and pulse several times until the shrimp is chopped to about 1/4 inch. In a large bowl, combine the shrimp mixture with ground pork, soy sauce, salt, cornstarch, ginger, rice wine. Mix well.

Spoon 1 teaspoon of the filling onto dumpling skin. Brush a bit of the cornstarch slurry
all around the edge of the dumpling skin. Fold over and press to secure edges. Make sure edges are sealed tightly. Shape the dumpling so that it has a flat bottom. Cover loosely with plastic wrap so that it doesn’t dry out.

When you are ready to cook, heat a large nonstick pan with 1 tablespoon of cooking oil over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot but not smoking, add the dumplings, flat side down, not touching, to the pan. Let fry for 1 minute until the bottoms are light golden brown. Pour 1/4 cup of water into the pan and immediately cover with a tight fitting lid. Turn heat to medium and let the dumplings steam for 3minutes. Open lid and let the remaining liquid cook off about 1 minute. Cut into a dumpling to make sure that the filling is cooked through. Remove to plate, wipe the pan clean with paper towels (or wash) and repeat with remaining dumplings. Serve with dipping sauce.

 

I made my favorite dipping sauce from Food.com, originally from Cook’s Illustrated.

 

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 medium scallion, minced
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh gingerroot
• 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

Directions:

Prep Time: 2 mins

Total Time: 7 mins

1. Bring soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and 1/4 cup water to boil in small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves.
2. Pour mixture into bowl and stir in scallion, ginger, oil, and hot red pepper flakes (Sauce can be refrigerated in air-tight container for several days).
3. Makes about one cup.

 

Asian peanut slaw

I didn’t have high hopes for this, but I thought the flavor combos were interesting. I oversalted the cabbage (it only needs 1 tsp for every handful), so overall the dish was too salty. However, the flavor combos were fun and I would definitely make this again. Here is the recipe how I made it. I combined Alton’s Recipe and a popular recipe from All Recipes.

Asian Coleslaw

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon and 1-1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
• 2-1/4 teaspoons minced garlic
• 4 cups thinly sliced green, red, or napa cabbage
• 2 carrots, julienned
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped roasted salted peanuts

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the rice vinegar, oil, peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, ginger, and garlic.
2. In a large bowl, mix the green cabbage, red cabbage, napa cabbage, red bell peppers, carrots, green onions, and cilantro. Toss with the peanut butter mixture just before serving.

1/5 of the recipe is 184 calories according to the original All Recipes recipe.