Nonie’s Overnight Oatmeal Bread

1. Dissolve:

• 1 pkg (2 1/4 t) yeast
• 1/2 c warm water

2. Combine in separate bowl & let sit 10 minutes:

• 2 c boiling water
• 1 c quick-cook oatmeal
• 6 T butter

3. Add to oatmeal mixture:

• 1/2 c sugar -or- 1/3 c honey (I used honey)
• 1 1/2 t salt

4. Add yeast mixture

5. Mix in gradually until dough forms:

• 4-5 c flour (I used part white, part wheat)

6. Let rise in greased bowl about 2 hours

7. Punch down and knead until smooth & elastic (I think I overdid the kneading)

8. Form loaves and let rise in 2 pans about an hour (should about double in size…make sure you have it in a warm place)

9. Preheat oven to 450º

10. Bake 10 min at 450º

11. Bake about 30-35 min at 350º

Note: the “Overnight” part is totally optional, but if you want to leave the pans in the fridge overnight, then let them rise in the morning, you can.  Nonie said she didn’t see any advantage to that, so she just makes & bakes in the same afternoon.

This baby was 12.7 lbs. of tasty goodness.  I’ve heard a lot about how to cook it, some advice more helpful than others.  The most interesting was about how you can flip the bird upside down so that the juices drip down into the “pretty breast skin”.  That phrase was literally used.  In my office.  By a man.  I felt so uncomfortable.

Upside down is the way to go!

I mentioned this to my mother.  Leaving out the word “pretty”, to be sure.  And I might have just called it “white meat” instead of using words that typically make boys in grade school giggle uncontrollably.  My mom had heard something similar, but what she had read suggested that you flip it right side up for the last hour so that it still looks nice in the end.  We did this with amazing success.

Look at my beautiful turkey!

Cooked for 5ish hours at 300 in a convection oven.  Stuffed with my cornbread stuffing.  Topped with gravy.  So let’s talk about these two.

The stuffing went like this:

• 1 recipe of cornbread (12 corn muffins), recipe to follow
• 1 small onion
• 3 stalks celery
• 2 carrots
• 1 lb. sage sausage
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups chicken broth

Saute the veggies with salt and pepper to taste.  Remove from pan and transfer to large bowl (really large, trust me).  Now use the same pan to cook the sausage.  Brown that beautiful sausage.  Meanwhile, crumble the cornbread into the veggies.  Add the sausage to the cornbread/veg mixture.  Add eggs and chicken broth.  Don’t be a wimp.  Mix with your hands.  Then stuff it into that beautiful bird you’ve got waiting for you.

Now for the gravy:

• 2 Tablespoons of the turkey drippings
• 3 Tablespoons flour
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 teaspoon sage
• salt and pepper to taste

Over medium heat, mix the drippings and the flour until smooth.  Whisk in the broth.  Add the seasoning.  Stir carefully until the gravy thickens.

So what about that cornbread?

I got this recipe from my mother, who got it from her grandmother.  I cannot claim it, nor can I tell you its original source.

• 1 cup flour (if you wanted to go gluten free or just a heartier cornbread, you can replace this with cornmeal)
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup sugar (we like sweet cornbread, but feel free to skimp, if you’d rather)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1 cup milk

Mix the dry with the wet, then pour into a greased baking dish (or muffin tins).  Bake at 350 for approximately 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

So let’s talk about stuffing vs. dressing.  Dressing being the stuff that doesn’t get stuffed, while stuffing is, by very definition, stuffed in something.  So this is my first year with real, actual stuffing.  It’s no joke.  Stuff that bird.  There’s no reason not to.  And every reason to.  The stuffing gets all that yummy bird fat flavor throughout.  I had no idea what I was missing.

I told the boyfriend that I was going to make pita bread tonight.  He told me that I often make things that can only be made by professional chefs or machines.  Then he asked me which I was.  I’ll let you decide.

Also, I’ll let you decide what amazing high school indy band I’ve quoted above.  The winner gets a big smackeroo on the face.  Unless we’re related.  In which case, I promise to make the winner something gluten free next time I’m in Fayetteville.  High stakes.  Get on it.

Regardless, this pita was a breeze.  No seriously.  Maybe 20 minutes total spent on this, though longer, if you include rising time.  I ran across this smitten kitchen recipe, which was pretty much useless to me as it required me to let the dough rise for at least 8 hours.  Wasn’t gonna happen.  I almost gave up.  Then I saw this.  The word “easy” really stood out to me, and the recipe lived up to its promise.  I straight up stole this recipe, so I’m not going to bother writing it out and claiming that I “adapted” it.  Follow the link.  Follow instructions.  Scarf those babies down!

Pita Bread

While the pita bread was in the oven (please note it bakes for 3 minutes), I processed some hummus.  It went like this…

Classic Garlic Hummus:

• 1 big ol’ can of chickpeas, drained (19 oz.)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 cloves of garlic
• salt to taste (don’t be shy, though… it’ll need a good bit)
• water

Process the chickpeas, olive oil, and garlic.  Add salt to taste, and water until the texture is just right (not too much, though!).  So simple.  So tasty.  Ordinarily, I’d feel silly posting such a simple recipe, but one of my coworkers asked for it, so it must be worthwhile.

P.S. Don’t forget to scoot yourself on over to my happy birthday post and get yourself entered in this contest.  No really.  Do.

Never commit to serving a particular dish before you read the entire recipe.  If I had known these would take 4 1/2 hours, I probably would have picked up a can of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls, and I doubt he would have cared.  He just seemed so impressed by the fact that they would be “homemade”.  So am I, now that I know that means getting up at 7 am on a holiday morning.

But there I was.  7 am.  Mixing up the dough for cinnamon rolls.  And in my sleepy state, I might have forgotten to warm the buttermilk, which probably affected the way they didn’t rise all that much until it was time to bake.  Bah!

This recipe is taken from my favorite cookbook ever.  I changed it up just a bit, though, because the filling is a bit much otherwise.

The dough:

• 3/4 cup buttermilk, warm (oh… whoops!)
• 6 Tablespoons butter, melted and cooled until warm
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 envelope (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant or rapid-rise yeast
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt

Whisk the wet ingredients together.  Separately, mix the dry ingredients.  Mix them all together.  Knead until the dough is smooth.  Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let rise for a couple hours (until doubled in size).

Roll the dough out into a huge rectangle.  Then mix the filling…

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Brush the dough with 1 Tablespoon melted butter.  Sprinkle the filling over this.  Really rub the filling into the dough, otherwise it’ll be a big mess later.  This is bad.

Roll the dough up.  Seal off the ends and turn them under.  Cut the cylinder into 12 equal pieces.  Place in greased pan.  Cover with plastic wrap.  Let rise for about an hour to an hour and a half (until nearly doubled in size).  You’ll bake these in an over preheated to 350 for 25-30 minutes.

In the meantime, make the icing…

• 3 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
• 3 tablespoons buttermilk or milk
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

Mix this.  Real good.  Until smooth, it says.  Yup, keep mixing.  Maybe you should use a whisk?

Then wha-bam!  Ice the golden brown suckers!  Then eat them.  ’Cause they’re real good.  See?

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Do you see that yummy fruit dip?

As it turns out, a simple mixture of honey and yogurt makes a great facial mask, leaving your skin silky smooth and your fridge full of more plain yogurt than you’ll know what to do with.  I’ve heard that plain yogurt is supposed to make a great low-fat substitute for sour cream, if we can assume that any low-fat substitute is ever great.  I wasn’t sure I bought into it, but I attempted to substitute yogurt for sour cream in this recipe, which is commonly referred to as “biscones” due to their biscuit-like texture.  I threw in chocolate chips instead of cinnamon chips, and the results were delightful.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Nate and Bec raved that they were the “best biscones ever”, which is really saying something, given the great variety of biscones that the two of them have tried over the years.  The important message here?  Lower in fat doesn’t have to mean lower in flavor.

Who am I kidding?  The recipe still calls for 6 Tbsp. of butter!

When I was in high school, I found a recipe for stromboli dough, and slaved in the kitchen an entire afternoon in order to serve a fresh stromboli, stuffed with veggies, meat, and cheese.  For a couple years, at least, this recipe was frequently requested for birthday dinners and special occasion meals.  Each time, I’d spend 4 hours waiting for dough to rise, kneading, more waiting, rolling, stuffing, more waiting, baking… and then, frequently risk a doughy center (read: disaster!).

… then one day, I grew up, packed my bags, headed to the big city of Chapel Hill, enrolled in college, and wised up.  In the deli/bakery of your typical grocery, they have pre-made pizza dough for a dollar or two.  Roll, stuff, bake.  Period.  It smells every bit as delicious as homemade, and when it comes out of the oven, people “oo” and “ah” as though you had spent those 4 hours covered in flour.  … and if you want to let them keep on believing it, I certainly won’t tell.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

… so that’s it.  No recipe.  Stuff it with any kind of cheesy, veggie, meaty goodness you see fit.  Brush with beaten egg for a nice, shiny, golden brown crust.

French Baguettes with Brie and Raspberry Sauce

Baguettes look good coming out of a paper grocery bag.

I tried my hand at making homemade baguettes after finding this recipe.  I made them for my Mom’s birthday party.  We actually ate the bread as dessert rather than cake.  To go with it, I bought some brie and made raspberry sauce:

• 2 cups fresh raspberries
• 4-6 tablespoons sugar
• 1-2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• a few mint leaves, torn into small pieces

I put the raspberries into a small saucepan with the water and sugar and cooked them over medium.  While they were cooking, I continuously stirred them and added the honey, lemon juice, and mint leaves.  The raspberries quickly lost their shape and became part of the sauce.  I brought the sauce to boiling for a short time, but mostly I let it steam and cook down until it thickened a bit.  Taste the sauce to see if it needs more sugar – the raspberries can be really tart!

I served this by slicing the bread and placing a couple of pieces on each plate with slices of brie and a serving of raspberry sauce.  Everyone had fun combining the pieces as they ate.

Candy Sushi

Colorful array of candy sushi

I simply had to try this when my friend tweeted about making Rice Krispy sushi.  I used this recipe (using Fruit By the Foot instead of fruit leather), which made a lot of pieces!  I thought it would be too sweet with all that candy, but the Rice Krispies helped to balance out the strong flavors.  Besides, it was really cute, and that’s all that matters in this case!

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups lightly sweetened cereal (I went with Life and store-brand Honey Bunches of Oats)
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup instant potato flakes
• 2(ish) overripe bananas
• 8 Tablespoons (1 stick) butter, melted
• 2 cups milk

Procedures:

• Preheat oven to 350.  Grease muffin tins.
• Pour cereal and milk into bowl to soak.  Set aside until mushy.
• Mash bananas and mix with butter.  Stir in cereal mixture.
• Add dry ingredients and mix until lumpy.  Do not overmix.
• Pour batter into muffin tins, and bake for 20(ish) minutes, or until golden brown around the edges.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 Tablespoons butter, cut into 1 cm cubes
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 egg, beaten

Procedures:

Preheat oven to 425.  Mix dry ingredients.  Cut in butter.  Slowly fold in sour cream.  The dough might seem a bit dry, but keep working it.  Kneed on counter.  I like to mold into a circle about an inch thick, then I cut into wedges.  I’ve also used an ice cream scooper to make little round scones.  Brush with the egg, then bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown.

My contribution was a loaf of bread. When I got the Cooking Light for March, I was inspired by this recipe. Irish Soda Bread has always been a bit of a curiosity for me. I was interested to try it myself. It took a bit of hunting in the grocery store to find all of the ingredients, but the work was well worth it. Besides, it took me all of 5 minutes to actually mix the ingredients.

Three reasons you should make Irish Soda Bread:

1. It’s super easy
2. It’s super hearty
3. Perfect for soup (and pot roast, as we discovered last night )

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup steel cut oats
• 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon wheat germ
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1 large egg, beaten

Procedures:

Mix ingredients until combined.  Pour into greased loaf pan*.  Bake in preheated oven at 325 for approximately an hour, until golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  You should probably let it cool just a bit.  Good luck with that.

*Note: the first time I made this, it overflowed just a bit.  The second time, I made it in two loaf pans which I baked for only 50 minutes.