Today's recipes

Today for dinner we're having chicken noodle soup. I know, it's odd, when it's over 80 degrees outside. But, I was making bread, and thought that the two went hand in hand: fresh bread, yummy soup! So, here are the recipes for today's dinner:

Chicken Noodle Soup
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 of a chopped onion (yellow or sweet)
2-3 stalks chopped celery
1- 32 oz. box of chicken broth (I LOVE the organic free range chicken broth that Costco has-- it's cheap and it tastes SOO good! I have a huge supply of it, especially since I don't live anywhere near a Costco. You can buy the same broth in the store, it's just more than double the price of Costco's. I think the brand is Pacific Foods)
1 lb. chopped cooked chicken breast
3-4 carrots, peeled and sliced
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2-3/4 cup carrot puree (steam carrots first, then puree in blender)
1/2-3/4 cup zucchini and yellow squash (steam zucchini and squash first, then puree in blender)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat egg noodles
Salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion and celery in butter on stove top just until tender, about 5 minutes. Add in broth, chicken, carrots, basil, oregano, and vegetable purees. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer about 20 minutes before serving. In a separate pan, cook the egg noodles according to package directions. To serve, put cooked noodles in a bowl, then pour desired amount of soup over noodles. This works well for various reasons: some people like more noodles, less soup; storing the noodles aside from the soup keeps them from getting mushy when used as leftovers.

Tip for chicken: I like to cook the chicken in broth the night before. Then it's nice and tender and very flavorful. I trim the chicken of any fat before putting in the crockpot. Once it's cooked, I pull the pieces out and shred them, then I strain the broth (saving it) for any fat, then pour it into the soup. It sounds complicated, but it's very quick and makes the chicken SO good in the soup! If you don't think about doing this the night before, you can cook the chicken on high in just a few hours, or cook it on the stovetop in the broth just before making the soup. I always save the broth that I cook the chicken in, just make sure to pour it through a fine strainer to catch any of the fat that cooks off the chicken.

My bread recipe is a compilation of different recipes I've gotten from other people. I've had to tweak it just right for my climate. The only problem in me posting this recipe, is that I don't really know how much flour I use!! I just do it by watching the dough and the look of it!


Whole Wheat Bread

2 1/2 cups warm water (warm enough that it's warm to the touch, but not too hot that you couldn't hold your finger in it)
2 1/2 tablespoons yeast (I buy it at Sams because I go through so much yeast. I know this is a LOT of yeast, but I don't have very much patience for rising dough. You can use less, it just takes a lot longer to rise)
1/2 cup evaporated cane juice (organic sugar)
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons oil (I use organic safflower oil)
2 1/2 teaspoons salt (I use real salt sea salt, and just slightly less than a tablespoon)
1/3 cup ground golden flax seeds (I grind them in a coffee grinder-- don't try to grind in a wheat grinder, they will ruin it because of their natural oils!)
1/2 cup vital gluten flour (I buy this in bulk at Whole Foods)

4 cups of white wheat ground in my nutrimill wheat grinder (however much flour this makes is the exact amount I use for this recipe, but it will differ slightly by climate; I grind the flour on the very finest setting)

I mix all of this in my kitchen aid with the paddle attachment on until it is well blended. Then I add about 2 1/2 to 3 cups of flour and let it mix for about 2-3 minutes, until it is well blended. I then switch to my dough hook, and add 1/2 cup of flour at a time, making sure each time it is well incorporated before I add more. If you add the flour too quickly, your dough will be really stiff and lose it's elasticity. I usually am doing other things while I'm making bread, so I'll add a half a cup, go do something, come back add more, so by the time I'm finished, the dough has been kneading for a while. Once the dough starts forming a nice ball, pulling away from the sides of the bowl, I let it knead about another 5-7 minutes. The dough should still feel sticky to the touch, while still pulling away from the sides of the bowl. I spray a large plastic bowl with cooking spray, then flop the dough into it (it will still feel pretty sticky). I spray a piece of saran wrap with cooking spray and put it loosely on top of the dough. I let the dough rise about 30-45 minutes, until it's a little more than doubled in size.

Then I melt butter in a bowl and shape the dough, dipping in the melted butter before I put it in whatever pan I'm using. This dough works well for rolls, loaves, hamburger buns, etc. This recipe makes two LARGE loaves of bread (Randy likes the loaves big because he makes a sandwich on the bread everyday for lunch). The loaf pans I use are about 9x5 (I'm just guessing on size). Make sure to spray whatever pan you're using first, before putting in the rolls, loaves, etc. I let the shaped dough rise about another 30-45 minutes, then bake at 350 until it's done (the cooking time will vary- loaves about 30-40 minutes--I think, I usually just keep an eye on them after about 20 minutes, the rolls only take about 15-20; once again, I just watch them really closely).

Take out of the oven, then immediately turn onto a cooling rack-- if you don't do this immediately, the dough will sweat, then it will get dried out on the bottom. Use a pastry brush, and brush the left over melted butter. Then cover the bread with a clean towel until it's cooled.

If anyone has any questions, you can call me! I've taught lots of people how to make bread!!

By the way, does anyone know what to do with a three-year-old who puts herself down for a nap at about 4:30pm every day?!?! I won't hear Kate for a while, then I'll go looking for her, and find her asleep in bed late in the afternoon. I don't know what to do!! She usually won't take a nap during Luke's nap time, but then at about dinner time, she's tired, so she'll go lay herself down!!!!!! ACK!!!!!