Cottage Cheese Bread

Cottage Cheese Bread

Ingredient List

½ c water

1 c cottage cheese

2 T margarine

1 egg

2 T white sugar

¼ t baking soda

1 t salt

3 ½ c bread flour

2 ½ t quick rise yeast

Instructions

Grease 2 bread pans and set aside.

Add all ingredients to bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on low speed until combined. If dough is too sticky (sticking to the sides/bottom too much) add more flour 1 T at a time until it pulls away from the sides/bottom cleanly.

Mix on medium speed for 5 minutes.

Divide dough in two and place each half into a bread pan. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm location for 1-2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Remove plastic wrap from bread pans. Bake bread for 25-30 minutes until top is golden brown.

Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

Enjoy!

Printable recipe here.

Waffles

My husband, Javier, took a recent Friday off from work. He was preparing for a work trip abroad. To France. He leads a difficult life. To say that I’m jealous that this is his second trip to France in 13 months would be unfair. Because I’m more than jealous. You see, I studied French throughout high school, double majored in French Language, Literature and Culture in undergrad and have wanted to go to France since I was 13 years old. But I’ve never been. And he’s been three times since we’ve been together.

The first time he went, we were dating and he went to Europe for a 2 week vacation with a buddy. They planned on spending time in Germany (where his friend was living), Belgium and the Netherlands. He promised me he wouldn’t go to France without me. I was in San Francisco for work when I received his email telling me they had just stopped at an internet cafe in Paris. Luckily for me, I was with some really adventurous friends from work. These girls allowed themselves to be talked into going sky diving that day. The activity was chosen purely out of spite. Sky diving was something he wanted to do and he always said we would go together.

And that’s how I rolled at the time. I’ve matured in my responses since then. Twelve years will do that to a person. Well, at least I don’t follow through on my devious plots for revenge anymore. Moving on…

On Friday I asked our son, Javi, what he wanted for breakfast and he chose waffles for our special breakfast before Daddy left for his trip.

Many people don’t realize that waffles are not pancake batter in the shape of waffles. It’s true. Pancakes are slightly sweet because there’s sugar in a traditional batter. Hence the “cakes” in pancakes. Waffles, however, have no sugar in the batter and the eggs are separated and the whites are stiffly beaten before being incorporated.

The stiffly beaten egg whites are folded in gently, leaving some fluffs to provide body and airiness to the waffle.

Waffles are a favorite in our house for breakfast and dinner. We typically go the sweet route, generously coating them in real butter and powdered sugar, honey or maple syrup. I’m desperate to try them with country fried chicken, but haven’t. I think my kids would really like that combination though. Waffles and chickie nuggies? Yes, I think they would eat it.

My son generously offered his tiny astronaut for the background. Makes perfect sense, right?

Waffles for the win!

Waffles

1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour

3 t. baking powder

1/23 t. salt

2 beaten egg yolks

1 3/4 c. milk

1/2 c. vegetable oil

2 stiffly beaten egg whites

Sift together dry ingredients. Combine yolks, milk and oil; stir into dry ingredients. Fold in egg whites, leaving a few fluffs. Bake in a waffle iron according to manufacturer directions.

French Dip on Homemade Buns

When I was a working mom, I didn’t get home with kid(s) in tow until 6:45pm most nights. Upon arriving home, the kid(s) demanded to be fed. Like real food. I mean, they’d live with butter crackers and chocolate milk, but that’s no way to raise even remotely healthy little people.

Out of sheer frustration and necessity I started using my slow cooker in order to have meals ready upon our return chez nous. Now as a SAHM, I find myself turning to my slow cooker nearly just as often because these short people demand the majority of my time, attention and energy during daylight hours. The only down-side to all this slow cookery is the way most of the meals I made in it tasted. Yes, we had meals with meat and vegetables, but they either tasted like nothing or like everything else that was ever made in the slow cooker.

My rule for a slow cooker meal is that is has to actually taste like something. And that something better resemble the ingredients I poured into the appliance 6-10 hours earlier. #preachitsister

Here’s a simple French Dip recipe I’ve been using for a few years. The meat shreds easily just falls apart and soaks up the au jus for a tangy, salty mouthful of deliciousness.

I made it last week and indulged in a little homemade bun recipe I came across on the interwebz. I made the recipe as it shows, except I used 3 eggs instead of 1. (Yes, that’s my comment down below asking about the 3 egg v. 1 egg dilemma). Since I over-egged the dough, I had to add an additional cup of flour to get the dough’s consistency correct. Nonetheless, they still turned out great. I’ll also share that I remade the buns on Monday this week using only 1 egg and they were still delicious, but I found they didn’t rise as well with just one egg, which makes no sense at all. Or maybe it was just chilly in my kitchen. Whatever. Still yummm in my book and we can never go back to store bought hamburger buns again. Seriously, never.

French Dip Sandwiches

3-4 lb English Shoulder Roast

1 T yellow mustard

1 pkg dry onion soup mix

Place roast in slow cooker. Spread mustard over the top of roast. Sprinkle soup mix over roast. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or high for 3-4 hours. Remove roast and shred meat (remove any large hunks of fat, gross). Strain juices, also skim fat if you wish (I usually don’t, I think the fat adds too much flavor to get rid of it). Serve on buns with juices on the side for dipping, or just pour that delicious sauce right onto the meat. Enjoy!