Butternut Squash Orzo

Cook the butternut squash: 
Cut into a few pieces and scoop out the seeds first.
Put it in a cake pan with some water, rosemary, butter, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.
Cover it with tinfoil, and put it in the oven for about 45 minutes at 350.

Cook the orzo.

Scoop out the butternut squash and mix it with the orzo. 
Then, add extra rosemary, salt, pepper, chili flakes, butter...to taste.

Last, add in some parmesan cheese and a little cream if you have it. 

Enjoy!

Avacado Goodness

Maybe it's guacamole....But I swear it's so much better.

Pretty much everything is a powder because I'm all about easy and not having to eat a piece of onion or garlic raw. 

2 Avacados, 

Tomatoes,

finely chopped cilantro,

lime juice 

ground coriander

salt

onion powder

garlic powder

pepper

I served it over grilled chicken and it was SO good!

I also served it over my eggs in the morning- again, SO good!

Easy Artisan Bread

So, this is the video that I learned from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2k7bbz7imQ

You should watch it first.

 This will help you make bread/baguettes that is crispy on the outside and soft in the middle. It makes for really good warm bread with butter, or the best tuna sandwich of your life.

It seems intimidating, but is really easy. The hardest part about it is just that you have to give it a lot of time, so choose a day when you're home and aren't running around to make this bread.

I love bringing this to potlucks, because people are always super impressed, and I never end up bringing any home with me. It's fun to make homemade bread for people to cheer them up, too. :)

Have fun!

You need: 

All Purpose Flour

Warm Water

Yeast

Oil

Salt

(Herbs & Cheese if you want to make cheesy bread)

So, first you mix-

All of these are approximate measurements (obviously)

-6 cups flour

-1 T Yeast

-1 T Salt

-(stir that up)

-3.5 C Warm Water

Mixing the water with dry ingredients works best if you make a well in the middle and pour the water in. Then, use a child cheater to fold everything together. It should be a little sticky, but not too much. Add flour as needed. You'll need this in a big bowl.

Then, cover it with a towel, and let it sit for 30 minutes. 

After 30 minutes, come back and fold it like an envelope...or a burrito. Doesn't really matter. Just make sure you pull each side kind up and over, trapping more bubbles inside. 

Then, wait 30 minutes more. While you're doing this, turn your oven on to 400. If you have a pizza stone, put that in. If you don't have a pizza stone, use parchment paper and a cookie sheet or something. 

When you come back, wrap it again. Then wait 10 minutes.

Get about 1 C of water ready next to the oven, and any spices or cheese you want on your bread.

Your pizza stone or pan should be in the oven while it's pre-heating, along with a broiler pan underneath. You are going to dump the water into the broiler pan, creating steam, which will make your bread crisp on the outside.

Here are your pieces you've cut your dough into. After ten minutes, you should be able to fold two sides over, pulling them gently in the process. The video at the beginning really helps with this step.

Then, wait 5-10 minutes and fold and stretch again, making your baguette just  a little longer and thinner. If it's as big as your arm, that's probably perfect...unless you're AHnold...then it needs to be smaller.

When you do your last stretch and fold, place it back down (seam-side down) onto your parchment paper, or a pizza peel covered in corn meal. This way, you can place or slide your bread into the oven without picking it up and crushing it. 

 Right before it goes in, make some slits with a serrated knife. Go fast and don't push down too hard or your dough will get smooshed.

Add herbs or cheese, sparingly, and you're ready to put it in the oven!

Slide it onto your pizza stone or prepared hot surface, and pour your water into your broiling pan. This will create steam. Then, close the oven, and set the timer for about 20 minutes. 

To tell if it's done when you pull it out, knock on the bottom. It should sound hollow. 

If it doesn't, put it back in. 

If it does, but you want your outside darker, put the oven on broil, and stick it back in for like 60 seconds. 

Cool your bread on a cooling rack if you have one. If you don't, try to lean it on something so that the bottom of the bread isn't just flat on the pan (you still have some steam in your bread, and if it can't escape, it will make the bottom of your bread soggy).

Enjoy!

Awesome Trick

So, last night I made curry, and it was way too salty.

I learned on the internet, though, that if you make a sauce that's too salty, and you don't want to add water or vegetables to even it out, you can use dough balls!



So, you just drop the dough balls into your sauce for 10-15 minutes and voila! 
I thought this would be a good tip for our blog that's based on doing things by taste and not by recipe, because sometimes you get things wrong when you're cooking this way. 

Hope you get to use this!






Image from: https://breadcakesandale.wordpress.com/tag/cream-tea/

Pumpkin Soup

Pumpkin (kabocha) cubes
Diced onions
Celery
Ginger grated
Cumin, coriander, salt, pepper
chicken broth (4 cups)
Cooked in a crock pot on high for like 4 hours and then blended
put cilantro and lime juice on it before eating.

You'll like it, and it will erase the awful memories of pumpkin soup you have. Plus you'll get rid of pumpkin you had for some weird Asian dish. :)

"It tastes like a really good soup broth"
-My roommate

Chicken Tikka Masala (I finally did it, okay?!)

A little bit= about a teaspoon 

SAUCE: 

A little bit of garlic, ginger, and about half an onion chopped up.

Fry these in oil until the onions get a little brown.

Add a little bit of turmeric, garam masala, coriander, and cumin. 

Let it cook for a minute or two.

Put in about a tablespoon of tomato paste and let it cook for a little longer.

Dump in a can of diced tomatoes, with a little bit of sugar, salt, and pepper.

Let it simmer for about 5 minutes.

Add chicken broth (like 2-3 c) to the mix. Let it simmer for about 30 min.

(Cook chicken in oven during this time.)

CHICKEN: 

Marinate small pieces of chicken in spices (same ones you're using in the sauce + salt and pepper.

Add a few spoonfuls of yogurt to marinade, and let the chicken sit for a couple of hours. 

Put oven on broil, and cook chicken with the oven rack up as high as possible, until it starts to char. 

For a cleaner cook, cover the bottom of the pan with tinfoil.

CHICKEN and SAUCE: 

Once the chicken is done, stir it into the tomato sauce. Add about a half cup of cream to the sauce and turn the burner off. Add a few tablespoons of butter and some cilantro on top. 

NAAN BREAD:

Add a tablespoon of yeast to a couple of cups of warm water. Let it sit for a few minutes, until it gets bubbly.

Add a couple tablespoons of oil and yogurt to the yeast mix. 

Then, mix a few cups of flour into the mix. Add a little bit of salt and a little bit of baking soda. 

Let the dough sit for like half an hour. 

Then, shape into balls.

After 10 minutes, flatten them out, and let them rest for 10 more minutes.

Flatten them again, waiting 5-10 minutes between each time you flatten them. For more bubbles in your naan, fold it in half before you gotten it.

Cook them on a really hot surface for a few minutes each, getting them to bubble up if you can. 

Serve curry on top of basmati rice.

Not-Your-Average-Grilled-Cheese

By: Bronte Baird


So good. Just trust me on this one. It tastes like Summer!

Take your pick of strawberries or tomatoes (I think the strawberries taste better). I did half and half to test out both. 

Grilled cheese but with cream cheese, fresh basil, and strawberries. 

Grill slowly at medium heat.