Homemade Bread with Sunflower Seeds

I am so excited about how my bread turned out.  It is delicious... no kneading.  My La Cloche arrived the other day and I am definately going to get my money back with the use of it.  I didn't photograph the process because I was uncertain the first time.  I will post the steps next blog.

Here's the results

BELLA ROMA

We just have all kinds of unusual tomatoes growing this year so we have had fun staging the Roma's while we get down to some serious aroma flowing through the house.

ROASTING ROMA'S AND GARLIC

Slice the roma's in half and place on parchment lined cookie sheets.  Be sure to fill the pan.  If you have fresh garlic, peel some cloves and set in there as well.

Sprinkle kosher salt, fresh basil, oregano or parsley

Drizzle olive oil on top.

Place in a preheated oven at 225 and bake for 4 or 5 hours.

I put mine in a convection setting at 325 because I needed to bake in less time.

These can be put in freezer bags and stored n the freezer for later use on pizza's or pasta.........if they last that long!!!

Baked Roma's with garlic and mozzerella

Our tomatoes are coming in and we had a beautiful crop of garlic this year.  I am a garlic lover and these were delicious.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper
Slice your Roma's in half lengthwise, scoopout the center with a spoon and place on cookie sheet
Peel your garlic
Place the garlic in a bowl and pour enough olive oil to coat well
Add some basil to the mix
Place one garlic in each roma drizzling some oil on as well
I used pearl mozzerella and placed one pearl in each Roma
Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes

Apple Poppies

We thawed out some frozen apples from last years crop and usually I will just heat these up and serve them warm.  Keith had a friend over and they wanted some pie.  I had some frozen puff pastry sheets and came up with this.  Keith wants to call them Apple Poppies.

1 pkg of frozen puff pastry
1 quart of chopped cooked apples.
dash of cinnamon
dash of fresh ground nutmeg
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
2 tbsp butter

Thaw out the puff pastry - this shouldn't take long (if you thaw it too much, you can't work with it)
Heat your apples in a saucepan for about 10 minutes and let cool to room temp. Cook a little longer if you are using fresh picked.
I put the butter in a microwaveable bowl with the pecans and add the cinnamon and nutmeg.  Microwave about a minute stirring halfway.

Drain the apples, saving some juice
Roll out the pastry and cut into 4 equal squares on each sheet
spoon apples onto pastry sheet
spoon some pecan mix on top and take pastry ends diagonally and press all sides together
Place on cookie sheet and brush some juice on top.

Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes until light golden brown.

Happy 4th of July Yummy Breakfast

Good Morning America...Happy 4th of July

We enjoyed the fireworks last night in downtown Asheville

Shelby came over after she ran the 5 K in Weaverville this morning.  Keith was just wanting french toast.  I looked in the bread box and only had french bread so I thought OK baked french toast but then I remembered that I usually let that set in the fridge overnight,  after searching the net I had the ingredients to come up with this yummy recipe.

1 loaf of whole grain french bread cut into about 20 pieces

4 oz of whipped cream cheese

1/2 c finely chopped pecans

4 large eggs

1/4 c heavy whipping cream

1/4 c water

3 tblsp butter

canola spray

Mix the eggs, cream and water in a bowl to dip bread in.  Spread cream cheese on one side of 10 slices, top with finely chopped pecans.  Use the other 10 slices to cover and make little sandwiches.  

Spray your skillet and then add butter on med low heat until melted.  Dip the sandwiches in the cream mix (be sure to coat both sides)and put in skillet for about 8 minutes. Turn over for a few minutes.  Both sides should be golden brown. I sprinkled some fresh ground nutmeg and cinnamon on top. 

 Top with maple syrup and enjoy!  I think you could substitute pecans with strawberry jam and it would also be good.

Peanut Butter Granola Balls

I have learned with a teenager in the house to have healthy snacks on hand at all times.  Mostly it has been fruit in my house since my son is a fruitaholic..he can't get enough.  I'm not complaining, better than junk food.  I just can't keep the fruit on hand.  He eats it as fast as I buy it.  Here's a good filling treat that will stick and give you the sweet fix as well

1 c powdered sugar
1 c creamy peanut butter
1/3 c milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c quaker oats
1 c granola cereal of your choice
1 1/4 c peanut butter and choc chip morsels

Combine powdered sugar, peanut butter, milk and vanilla extract in large bowl.

Stir in the oats, granola and peanut butter and choc chip morsels.  Mix until completely coated.

You can put in the refrigerator to harden up before you start rolling your balls.  Roll into 1 inch balls and place on wax paper. Then store in an airtight container in freezer.  Take out as wanted.  Great snack.

How do you want your eggs today?

There's nothing better then farm fresh eggs.  We have Brahma and Araucana hens.  It is a highlight of the day to see how many eggs we get for the day.  We only have 4 hens. ( they produce 2 - 4 eggs a day)

This morning a did a take on a recipe I saved.

10 eggs wisked together.
red, green and yellow peppers chopped
onion chopped -   I cheated and used the frozen stir fry peppers and onions in the freezer.
Saute the peppers and onion with some olive oil
Season with sea salt and crushed pepper along with crushed red pepper
Add the pepper & onion to the whisked egg and pour into muffin tins  (spray the muffin tin first)
Top with grated parmesean cheese and bake at 350 for 12-15 min depending on your oven.  Egg needs to be set.  Serve with salsa

It would be fun to add different veggies in and have little omelet muffins.