Homemade White Sandwich Bread

Lunch is probably my worst meal.  I love breakfast, and it inspires me, I could wax poetic about breakfast foods.  Dinner is my best friend, the world is your oyster for options.  But lunch?  Meh.  I stall out. No one really eats lunch in this house for that reason - we don't have things to eat for lunch.  Lunch is really more of a makeshift snack.

So when I go over to my friend Ashley's house and she just whips up a gorgeous turkey sandwich or pops out hummus and pita chips and veggies, I sit in awe.  Lunch is my nemesis.  If someone came over to my house at lunch and expected something other than a cheese stick and some Pirate's Booty they would be disappointed. 

The last time I was over at Ashley's, our kiddos were playing and she offered them sandwiches and then casually said, "I need to make more bread this week."  What? Her family gets to eat lunch and its on homemade bread. I know where I'm gonna be finding my kids in a few years...

In any case, it got me thinking that I can make a lot of things, like a lot.  I shouldn't be defeated by plain old white Wonder bread.  We never have any because whenever I buy it, we use a third of the loaf and it gets moldy and thrown away.  So I decided to take a stab at it, fell back on trusty Julia Child for a recipe and voila! 

This bread is seriously so tasty.  I keep thinking of ways to feed my kids and husband things on bread because its so good.  Hell, I ate like three slices when it came out of the oven with just melted butter on it.  Who knew fresh baked sandwich bread smelled so good and tasted like heaven (okay, probably anyone with a nose, but whatever)?

I've now made it a couple times and tried mixing things up a little: I tried it with a full-on wheat flour substitution and it was a bit dense, I tried adding 50% more yeast and halving the wheat/white ratio and that was more successful, but the fluffiest, tastiest variation is just how it is.  No adjustments needed.

A quick couple of notes for bread beginners though:

1. A packet of yeast is apparently not 1 tablespoon, despite me dumping it into the measuring spoon and saying, eh close enough.  It's only 2 and 1/4 teaspoons, which leaves you 3/4 teaspoons short of a full tablespoon.  Don't make this mistake.  Open a second packet and measure out the missing 3/4 tsp.  

2. Make sure not to add the salt until after you have added flour and mixed it well into the yeast.  Salt directly mixing into your frothy yeast will kill it and ruin everything.

3. The rise time is less important than the size of the dough.  This means, as explained to me by my Noni, that if the recipe says for your dough to rise 30 minutes until doubled in size, if its not twice as big in 30 minutes, wait until it is.  If it's twice as big in 15 minutes, proceed to your next step because it will rise, crest and then fall.  The rate at which bread will rise has to do with three main things, the activity of your yeast, the temperature of the air and the humidity of the air.  So regardless of what the recipe says, its a guideline, not a rule.  In this case, its size that matters.

4. I have dark, non-stick loaf pans and in the past, the bottom of my breads have burned.  So now, to prevent that from happening, if the recipe says to butter or grease the pans (like this recipe does), I do that, but then I also cut a piece of parchment paper to line just the bottom of the pan, then grease or butter on top of that.  Burns no more.

5. Warm water really means hot. Okay, not boiling, but like turn the tap all the way to hot, let it run until its really going and then use it.  These recipes do not mean lukewarm or just not cold.

6. Lastly, if your yeast doesn't froth (like pictured below) its not live anymore and you need to toss it and start over.

Julia Child's White Sandwich Bread

Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 cups warm water
• 6 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the sugar and yeast. Add 1/2 cup of the warm water (reserving the remaining two cups), let it sit for a full five minutes until frothy.

Add half the flour and the remaining water to the yeast and mix until combined.  Add the remaining flour, salt and butter.  Mix well with a dough hook or by hand.  In the stand mixer, it should be mixed smooth after about 7-8 minutes.

The dough should be tacky but smooth.  Remove from the bowl and turn out on the counter to knead with your hands for a minute or two.  Shape into a ball and return to the bowl.  Cover with a tea towel and let it rise for about an hour and a half, until doubled in size.

Meanwhile, butter two loaf pans.  Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down, remove from the bowl and turn out onto the counter to knead again for a minute or two.  Divide the dough into two, evenly.  

Pat each half into a rectangle about the size of a sheet of paper.  Then fold it into third like a letter, it should now be about the size of the loaf pan.  Put it into the loaf pan, seam side down.  Set the loaf pans aside, cover with a tea towel and let it rise for another hour, until doubled in size, above the sides of the pan.

Pre-heat an oven to 375 degrees and bake the loaves for 20-30 minutes until golden brown.  Remove immediately from the pans and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Tiny T Turns Two: A Mini-Golf Party

I'm going to be honest, I love entertaining.  It really doesn't matter what the occasion is, I have so much fun bringing people together and having a good time.  From casual to formal, I just think it is a wonderful way to create memories and foster relationships.  As we have gotten older, my parties have been a thread that holds our group of friends together as our lives pull us apart and demand more of our time.

Right now, amongst our friends, my older son Townes is really the first kid so his first birthday party last year was quite an exciting event.  But really, a one-year old's party is more for the adults than the kid, because they don't really have a concept of whats happening and get pretty over stimulated after about an hour. 

So when his second birthday was coming up, I was really excited to choose a theme that he was going to enjoy and to have an activity that he could participate in and to see his friends play with him.  At the time that I started thinking about what to do for his party, he was really into golf.  Like weirdly, very into golf.  He would watch the golf channel with his grandparents and squeal with excitement over the "ball ball ball!" and ran around the house putting anything in sight with his plastic clubs (courtesy of his grandmother).  Unfortunately, every once and while he tried to putt the baby, but other than that, his golf obsession was pretty adorable and provided me with a great direction for his party.

When I hopped on Pinterest to start browsing for some inspiration, I came across a funny reality that apparently, toddlers aren't often into golf.  Almost all the golf parties I had seen were old dude's retirement parties; I get it, but kids like golf too!  So as I lamented my problem to my husband, he was like, why can't we just take him to Putt Putt and be done with it.

I understand his request; we have an awesome Putt Putt course five minutes away that is BYOB (Peter Pan's Putt Putt, its practically an institution here, check it out if you visit Austin).  However, I thought that would be a huge hassle with toddlers running around and with a two-and-a-half-second attention span.  But he was on to something with mini golf.

After thinking on it, and tossing ideas around with Chanel, we decided to turn our backyard into a mini golf course and have a country club baby brunch at home for Townes. 

My party process is pretty much the same every time: I start with the idea, then it moves to the invitation.  The invitation narrows in my color scheme and theme and sets the tone for the party.  Once those are in the mail, I nail down the activity and what that will entail.  Next, I create a menu based on the theme.  Lastly, the decor.

Since I had my idea: mini golf, choosing the invitations was next.  My go-to site for invitations and cards (anything paper) is Minted.  Their paper quality is fantastic and the designs are wonderful - it is a co-op of indie designers from all over the country so there is a lot of variety. 

The invitations

For Townes' party I chose these adorable Party Hat Invitations and customized the back with a more personalized message that instructed everyone to participate by wearing a fun golf-inspired outfit (if they wanted to).  To make the invitation suite more personal, I ditch the plain envelopes that come with the invites and head to Paper Source for a custom color and envelope liners I cut from their paper myself.  For this these I chose the A7 size envelopes in Royal Blue and a hand painted orange and gold argyle paper for the liner.  (I have their envelope templates and use a cutting board, Exacto knives and double sided tape to cute and fasten the liners into the envelopes).

I also try to embellish the envelopes to look like they are part of the invitation: I use similar or the same fonts to those on the invitation to address the envelopes (in this case printed on labels) and then use something to add a little pop (in this case, adorable gold glitter monogram stickers).

The activity

I had to enlist some of Aaron's creativity for the main event on this party.  I asked him to create a mini golf course appropriate for toddlers, but also entertaining for adults, and for a reasonable amount of money.  He really succeeded!  He used sheets of plywood, spray painted them green, cut a hole in each one (in various places), and then created bumpers using foam pipe insulation spray painted white (you could also use pool noodles).  In one afternoon we had nine holes of tiny golf!

The number flags I made from wooden dowels, affixed with foam sheets cut into triangles with contrasting circles and numbers (I stenciled and then cut them out).  I bought a whole package of foam sheets from Michael's. 

The course was finished out with mini-golf pencils, score cards, balls and plastic golf sets the kids got to take home as favors that I found at Walmart for 5 dollars a piece.

The other activity I provided for kiddos to do (and take home as a favor - I do NOT do goodie bags) was a custom foam visor to wear on the course.  When they walked in the dining room table was set with visors that I had written their names on, along with a bucket of foam embellishments for some quick decoration.

The menu & decor

For this party we went pretty simple with the menu.  There were gonna be lots of little kiddos who didn't have the best eating skills yet so I didn't want to overwhelm anyone with cutting things and making a mess of food trying to get kids to eat.  We made queso in the crock pot, had a bowl of chips, a bowl of pretzels, guacamole, fruit salad, a veggie plate and a main course of Tee Sandwiches (I can't resist a good pun).  The sandwiches were made on simple thin-cut white bread and a variety of fillings: cucumber and cream cheese, pimento cheese, chicken salad, and egg salad.  We made simple vanillaand chocolate cupcakes, topped with a lawn of green vanilla buttercream, a Sixlet for a golf ball, and flags made from tooth picks and washi tape.

I printed up some label cards for the food that went along with the color scheme and font family, stuck them into my trusty wine cork place card holders and the table was just about done.  I decorated the food tables and the craft area with green crinkle cut paper shreds (grass) and orange and white golf tees (a giant bag from Walmart).  The floral arrangements were orange and yellow daisies in mason jars with golf tees in the bottom for just a little more color.  Then the tables were set and we were ready to party!

Southwest Breakfast Casserole

Breakfast is without a doubt my favorite meal of the day.  It incorporates all of my favorite food groups: bread, cheese, eggs and bacon.  Is there even anything else you need? Yes, actually.  Breakfast sausage. Oh and hashbrowns!  See what I mean? Breakfast has all the good foods.

So it's no surprise that its my favorite meal to make in the house and I am always on the look out for breakfasts that fit a few criteria: it needs to feed a hungry boy appetites, adapt well to baby-size, come together quickly and easily, and be everything I want and expect from a delicious breakfast.  Easy right?

Well this breakfast is exactly that. It is full of potatoes, sausage, cheese, eggs and even a few veggies and has tons of flavor.  It also requires minimal prep and no crazy ingredients.  The final win for this casserole?  I didn't have to do a thing to it to serve it to my ten-month old, everything was already perfectly sized.

The steps are simple: chop your veggies, brown your meat, saute the veggies, mix, and bake. 

Southwest breakfast casserole

Serves 6

ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground sausage (we used mild Italian, but go with whatever you like)
• 1 large red bell pepper, cored and diced
• 4 gloves of garlic, minced
• 1 bunch green onions (about 8), white and green parts chopped, and separated
• 1 tbs. butter or olive oil
• 1 bag frozen diced potatoes
• 6 eggs
• 1/4 cup of heavy cream
• Salt and pepper
• 2 cups shredded cheese (we used a cheddar blend)

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Remove the bag of frozen potatoes from the freezer and set it out to thaw as you prep the rest of the food.

In a saute pan over medium high heat, brown the sausage, breaking it up with a wooden spoon or spatula as it cooks.  Transfer to a paper towel-lined bowl to drain.  In the same pan, melt the butter and saute the bell pepper, white parts of the green onions, and garlic.  Transfer to the bowl with the sausage.

In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the eggs with the heavy cream and salt and pepper until frothy.  Set aside.

Remove the paper towels from the bowl with the sausage and veggies.  Pour in the frozen diced potatoes so it's half potatoes, half sausage and veggies (I used about 3/4 of the bag).  Stir the mix together so its evenly distributed.

Butter an 9x9 baking dish.  Pour the sausage mix into the dish and spread it evenly. Pour the egg mixture over the sausage mixture, covering the entire pan.

Bake for 15 minutes.  Remove, and using a spoon stir the mixture, turning it all over so the eggs don't just sink to the bottom and bake up like a quiche and more like a scramble.  Return to the oven for 15 minutes.  Top with desired amount of shredded cheese and return to the oven so the cheese melts.

Top with sliced green onions and fresh salt and pepper before serving.

Bake Sale Molasses Cookies

My mom has the most amazing cookbook that I always saw her using from the time I was a little girl; it was simply a bunch of hand-typed pages held together with three metal rings.  Each cookie or bar recipe is broken down by cost to make per cookie, and estimated retail per cookie.  My mom had typed out this cookbook for herself as a collection of go-to bake sale recipes when she was in middle school.  To this day, it is her go-to cook book for Christmas cookies, bake sales, special occasions and any other need for sweets.

This recipe has long been my favorite.  When I eat one I feel like its Christmas, no matter what time of year it is.  They have a taste that is a little reminiscent of a gingerbread cookie, but are sweet, soft, and perfectly chewy.  It looks like my mom sold them for 10 cents a piece, but I think they are worth a bit more.

They start from shortening, not butter; come together in just one bowl; and are rolled in sugar before baking up perfectly.

Bake Sale Molasses Cookies

Yields about 18 Cookies

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup Crisco shortening, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar (plus more for rolling)
• 1/4 cup dark molasses
• 1 egg
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. cloves
• 1 tsp. ginger

Cream the shortening and the sugar together until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes).  Blend in the molasses and egg.  Beat in flour, baking soda and spices just until well-mixed.

Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour, but three or more is ideal.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper. Shape dough into 1 inch balls (err on the side of larger).  Roll each ball in granulated sugar and place 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet.

Bake about 8-9 minutes until golden brown.  Remove and immediately transfer to wire racks to cool.  Be careful when transferring the cookies from the cookie sheet; when they are warm they can be a bit soft.

Spicy Black Bean Burgers

This is my first entirely vegetarian recipe! Its not vegan, because there are eggs, but give me some time and I can figure out what someone could use as a vegan binder instead of eggs...though I would assume someone who is actually vegan would probably be a better person to figure that out. In any case, I think that's pretty exciting! While I love vegetables, the rest of this household its more inclined towards the carnivorous. However, this meal made each and everyone full and satisfied! Vegetarians for the win!

So you might ask, if no one likes things without meat, why did I even bother making these?  Valid question.  I'm not sure, I ask myself things like that all time. But in this case, I was inspired!

Years ago, my mom bought me a subscription to Cook's Illustrated, which I had always loved because of how much explaining it does.  It really gives you a wonderful understanding of why and how a specific method works or is better than another.  Knowing that stuff is what makes learning to cook without recipes so much more enjoyable and exciting.  Well, this month's Cook's Illustrated came in the mail, just as my mom was texting me and asking if I wanted to renew the subscription. I said, "ya know, probably not, I don't think I've really read it in a long time." 

Naturally, I flipped it open, and saw a whole two page article on vegetarian burger patties.  The black bean burgers just sounded to good! So I read the article, took in all its advice and tips and this was what I came up with; Aaron ate two, Townes ate his entire one, avocado and all, and our ten month old ate nearly two without the bun!  I think Townes was particularly proud and excited to eat them because earlier that day we had made the buns from scratch and he was able to do most of it himself.

I sliced open those fresh whole wheat buns, toasted them slightly on the flat top and added a little mayo.  When the patties were cooked, I topped them immediately with feta cheese and let it warm on the hot patties.  Then sliced avocado and red onion went on, and they were ready to eat.  I only snapped one picture because they did not last long.  All six were snatched up fast!

Spicy black bean burgers

Makes about 6 medium patties

Ingredients:

• 2 cans (15 oz each) of black beans
• 1/2 cup coarse broken tortilla chips
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbs. flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper
• 2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 - 2 tsp. of adobe seasoning (chili powder or chipotle powder would be find substitutes, depending on your spice preference)
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• Canola or vegetable oil, for frying
• Feta cheese, for topping
• Avocado, for topping
• Red onion, for topping
• Mayo, for topping
• 6 burger buns

Line a large baking sheet with two or three layers of paper towels and set aside.  Drain and rinse your two cans of beans in a colander in the sink and then spread out your beans on the paper towel-lined cookie sheet to dry off.  You can also lay another layer of paper towels on top if you would like.  The less moisture on the beans the better your patty.

In the meantime, put your tortilla chips in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until they are a fine powder.  Transfer the ground chips to a large mixing bowl.  Stir in the 2 tbs, of flour and all the seasonings.  Whisk in the two eggs, until the mixture is a paste. 

Add the beans to the bowl, and using a potato masher, forks or even your hands, mash the beans into the paste evenly. Its important not to over mix the beans into a paste, but also not to leave the mixture too coarse.  You are looking for the mixture to be about 60-70% paste and 30-40% discernible beans. If it is too coarse, the patties won't hold together, and if its too mixed, the patties will be soggy.

When you are done, cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least two hours, but six or more would be ideal.  Once the mixture is chilled, using your hands, form six 1/2-inch-thick round patties. Set aside.

In frying pan, over medium heat, heat the oil to fry the patties.  Two at a time (or however will comfortably fit in your pan, don't over crowd them) fry each patty for 3-5 minutes on each side, until golden brown.  Serve immediately, on a toasted bun, topped with feta cheese, avocado, red onion and mayonnaise.