quick and easy (and delicious) bread sticks

Have you made the cauliflower soup yet? Well why not? I made another batch (this one for just me) on Saturday (with cauliflower purchased specially for the event for 69cents a pound!) and tonight after having left over pizza for breakfast... and lunch (quick hint-- heat your pizza in a frying pan, with a lid on it, over med-low heat and it will be almost as magically delicious as it was the night before!) Anyway, I decided to pull out the soup leftovers and go a little crazy. The only problem was that my pantry (read: ikea shelves in the corner) have no bread like material. I didn't want to make bread/rolls as they take *at least* an hour, and require yeast (which I am currently out of.). Anyway, I googled, and found a recipe that was super easy and quick.

(this picture is from a second batch-- Rachel and I made cheesy delicious bread sticks to go with tomato soup!)

Soft no-yeast bread sticks

1 ¼ cups flour
2 tsp sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
⅔ cup milk (or less)
3 Tbsp butter or margarine, melted
2 tsp sesame seeds (optional)

Combine first 4 ingredients and gradually add milk to form a soft dough.
Knead gently 3 or 4 times on a floured surface.
Roll out into a rectangle about 10″ x 5″ and cut into 12 sticks.

Put the melted butter into a large baking dish (jelly roll pan or 9x13 pyrex) and turn the bread sticks to coat them with the butter. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, if you like.

Bake at 450°F for 14 to 18 minutes.
Serve warm.

You could also do amazing things with cheese, herbs, garlic, etc. I just went for simple plain bread sticks and they were delicious with a bowl of the cauliflower soup! 

On a random, upsetting side note: I went to cut the bread sticks from the rolled dough and... I COULDN'T FIND MY BASH 'n' CHOP!!! I don't know where it got put away after someone else unloaded the dishwasher! I had to use a table knife to cut my bread sticks... it was a sad sad day

Blueberry Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

Blueberry Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

1 1/2 sticks butter at room temp

3/4 C Sugar

1/1/2 C Flour

3/4 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp Poppy Seeds

3 eggs

1/4 c milk

2 lemon zested

1 C blueberries

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

                                 

Preheat oven to 350* 

Grease loaf plan. Beat sugar and butter till ligth and fluffy (3 min). Mix flour, baking powder, salt and poppy seeds in a bowl. Mix eggs, milk, lemon zest and vanilla in a third bowl. Add all ingredients a little bit at a time in the to mixer till just mixed. Fold in the blueberries. 

Bake till toothpick comes out clean and the loaf is golden brown. Poke holes on the top and pour glaze over it. Cool completely. 

Glaze:

1/3 c sugar

1/3 c lemon juice

mix sugar and lemon juice in sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat till sugar disolves. Pour over hot cake. 

Veggie filled Chili in Italian Bread Bowls

Today when Rachel and I went to go get "just apples" at the grocery store, I decided that I really wanted to make chili because it was just that kind of a day. I called mom and got an ingredients list, then called later for directions, I would say based on the people who ate it up, it was delicious!

So here are the very broad instructions for a veggie filled chili:

3 carrots

half a stalk of celery (like 5 or 6 sticks)

2 onions

1/2 head of cabbage (which I added because I had some in my fridge)

Lots of Chili Powder- think 10 Tbsp

1 Tbsp Oregano

1 Tbsp Cumin

some paprika

salt and pepper

2 lbs (?) beef (I used whatever was cheapest at the store) cubed

4 cups water

4 bullion cubes (I only had chicken, so that's what I used...)

2 cans black beans

1 can tomatoes

Chop the Onions, put them in your pot and cook till they're caramelized. Add 2 chopped carrots and all but one chopped celery stalk. Cook those for a while till they get soft. Then add the spices (ok, so the chili powder, mom said to add 10 Tbsp, but I only stole maybe 3 or 4 from Rachel's house, but more would have been good, I think), the water and the beef (you can also brown the beef, but I skipped that part). That's where I added the cabbage too. Let this cook for a while (like 2 hours or so) on a med-low temp. Then about 20 minutes before you want to eat, add the can of tomatoes, and the cans of beans (drained).

Serve in these yummy bread bowls:


Yeild: makes 8 servings


Ingredients: 
2 1/2 cups warm water
2 (1/4-oz) envelopes active dry yeast
2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp Vegetable oil
7 cups flour
1 Tbsp cornmeal (I'm pretty sure I didn't have this and it worked just fine.)

1 Egg white
1 Tbsp water
Stir together 2 1/2 cups water and yeast in a large bowl. Let stand 5 min. Stir in salt and oil
Add flour gradually, beating at medium speed w/ an electric mixer till soft dough forms.
Turn dough out onto a flowered surface; knead till smooth and elastic (4-6 minutes). Place in a lightly greased bowl turning to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85*), free from drafts, 35 min or till doubled.
Punch dough down and divide into 8 equal portions. Shape each portion into a 4 inch round loaf. Place loaves on lightly greased baking sheets sprinkled w/ cornmeal.
Cover and let rise again 35 min, or till doubled.
Stir together egg white and 1 tbsp water, brush over loaves.
Bake at 400* for 15 minutes. Brush with remaining egg mixture and bake 10 to 15 more minutes or till golden. Cool on wire racks.
Cut a 1/2 inch thick slice from top of each loaf; scoop out centers, leaving 3/4 inch shells.
Fill bread bowls w/ hot soup and serve immediately!