Cheesy Herb Breadsticks

One of my favorite comforts, is bread sticks.  Great with pasta night or just by themselves.

Ingredients:

• Warm water - 2 cups
• Dry active yeast - 1 Tablespoon
• White Sugar (Granulated Sugar) - 2 Table Spoons
• Olive oil - 1/4 cup
• Garlic - 1 1/2 teaspoon
• Italian Seasoning - 1 Tablespoon
• Flour - 5 Cups
• Salt - 1 teaspoon

egg wash

• one egg Plus 1 T of Water -
• 20-25 minutes at 375 degrees

Cheesy Herb Breadsticks

Instructions:

This is basically a French bread recipe with herbs and garlic.  First, combine the Water, sugar, and yeast.  Let it stand for a few minutes.  While the water and yeast are standing. In a small bowl combine the oil, garlic, salt and Italian Seasoning.  You can use any herbs you wish.  I like basil, thyme, and oregano.  Mix the oil and herbs well and add to the water and yeast.

Next, gradually add the flour a cup at a time.  In my mixer, I mix two cups of flour on medium speed for 2 minutes then slowly add the remaining flour until it starts to come away from the edges.  I then mix on low for five minutes.

If doing it by hand, I will knead the dough for several minutes.  (I generally have about 1/2 to 1/4 cup of flour that I don'/t end up adding.

Once it is nice a kneaded I place the dough in a large oiled bowl. (just a quick spray of Pam) flip the dough so all sides are oil place a tea towel over the bowl and let it rise for about 40-60 minutes until doubled in size.

Once the dough has risen.  Place the dough on a clean counter with a small dusting of flour.  I gently flatten the dough and using a rolling pin, roll the dough flat to about 1/2 inch thick.

Then using a pizza cutter or knife cut the dough into bread stick like portions and place on a greased cookie sheet.  I then let the bread stick rise again for about thirty minutes

Before placing the bread stick in the oven, I coat the bread with egg wash and then add either a spice collection like Mrs. Dash or Salad Supreme or I add shredded cheese.  The egg wash does make for a firmer crust.  If you want a chewier crust, then use melted butter instead.  Be creative with your toppings. I have tried several different things.  (I usually experiment on a small pan or portion.....curry powder topped bread sticks went quickly to the trash, but hey now I know.)

Caramel Apple Crumble Pie

This recipe has three parts; the crust, filling and crumb topping.  And it is all good.

Ingredients:

For the Pie Filling

• apples, (I like Fuji and green apples mixed) - 6 cups thinly sliced and peeled. ( almost chopped)
• White Sugar (Granulated Sugar) - 1/2 Cup
• flour - 3 Tablespoons
• cinnamon - 1 teaspoon
• Salt - 1/8 teaspoon (pinch)

Crumb Topping

• Brown Sugar - 1 Cup Packed
• flour - 1/2 Cup
• Quick Cooking Rolled Oats - 1/2 Cup
• Butter - 1/2 Cup (one stick)
• caramel - 1/4-1/2 cup
• pecans - 1/2 cup (optional)

No Roll Crust

• Flour - 1 1/2 C
• Salt - 1 teaspoon
• White Sugar (Granulated Sugar) - 2 teaspoons
• Vegetable Oil - 1/2 Cup
• Milk - 2 Table Spoons

Caramel Apple Crumble Pie

Instructions:
OK, so lets start with the crust.  I wasn't having a lot of success making pie crust.  Who knew you needed to refrigerate it first.  ( well probably everyone but me.)  Thus enter the no-roll crust.  I make this in my big cast iron pie pan.  I told you all I liked cast iron.  Well, I mix all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.  You can do it in the pie pan, but I get a better mix in a bigger mixing bowl.  After getting the dry ingredients good and mixed, you make a little well or bowl in the center of your dry ingredients and add your wet ingredients there.  Mix well until it all comes together and becomes a ball.  I then put the ball in my pie pan (lightly oiled) and press out flat, shaping it with your fingers.  Bake the crust for 4-6 minutes at 375 degrees

Now in a separate bowl mix add the sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt together.   Once well blended add the apples (I give my apples a little pulse in a food processor to get them more of a chopped large pieces of apple as opposed to slices, but this is a personal preference.) Toss and stir the apples into the sugar mixture until well coated.  Once coated place the apples in the pie pan.
With our apples were done we are ready for our crumb topping.  Stir together the brown sugar, oats, and flour.  Using a pastry knife, (or a fork if you don't have a pastry knife) cut in the butter until it looks like small crumbs like cottage cheese.  Sprinkle the crumb mixture over the apples covering the pie evenly.

To prevent the edges of the pie from burning cover the edges with aluminum foil
Bake at 375 for 25 minutes (I check it at 20 minutes to make sure it doesn't over cook)  You want the top to be golden brown.    Once you pull it out of the oven drizzle caramel over the top.  (it help to heat the caramel up a bit, so it pours easier) You can also sprinkle pecans at this time too. ( I take my chopped pecans and cook them with some caramel to make them caramel candied caramel pecans).

Let the pie cool and serve.  It is divine.  It is the best of pie and a cobbler in one dessert.

Quick and easy homemade pizza

This is one of our family’s favorite meals.  My problem is that I am not so organized nor psychic enough to know if we want pizza the next day enough to go through the trouble of making a pizza dough that needs to be refrigerated overnight.  So I came up with this dough.  It is a French bread dough tweaked a bit. What is nice is that it is ready quick, and we are having pizza.

Now I have been making pizza for a long time, and it was not until I got a pizza stone that our pizza started tasting really great.  I have used a stone for years, and it is great. That said I recently got a new cast iron cookie sheet or baking pan.  It works just as well if not better.  Now I can not put as large pizza on the cast Iron as I can my pizza stone, but it work great because we all like our own individual size pizzas.  The nice thing is that the cast iron cookie sheet is more versatile then the pizza stone.

easy homemade pizza

I will some times put my oven on broil for the last minute of the baking time especially if there are lots of toppings and extra cheese.

Another tip is that I cook the crust for a couple of minutes before I put the toppings on.  This gets me a nice start on a good crust while the top is not doughy.  Hate doughy pizza.

Ingredients:

• Active dry yeat - 4 teaspoons or 2 packets (20 ml)
• White Sugar (granulated sugar) - 1 teaspoon (5ml)
• Warm water - 1 1/2 cups (360 ml)
• olive oil - 2 Table spoons (30ml)
• Garlic (optional) - 1 teaspoon (5ml)
• Italian Seasoning (optional) - 1 teaspoon (5 ml)
• Salt - 1 teaspoon (5 ml)
• Bread Flour - 3 1/2 - 4 Cups ( 950 ml)
• bake at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes
• In a large mixing bowl add the warm water, yeast and sugar.  If you want you can cut the sugar in half.  I like a sweeter dough.  Allow the yeast to proof or activate.  (If you are using instant yeast there is no need to proof the yeast).  I next add the olive oil.  You can substitute any vegetable oil.  If I am going to add the garlic and Italian seasoning I combine it with the olive oil.  ( Italian seasoning is a combination of Marjoram, Thyme, Rosemary, Savory, Sage, Oregano and Basil)  You can substitute your favorite herb instead.  I often use just Oregano or Basil.
  Mix well.  In my mixer I just give it a few quick pulses with my bread hook attachment.  I next add the salt and then the flour.
  Add one cup and mix well.  After the first cup is well mixed I then gradually add the remaining flour 1/2 a cup at a time.    In my mixer I am mixing at medium speed and keep on adding flour until the dough starts to pull away from the sides.   I then let it mix on low for three to four minutes.
  If mixing by hand I mix the first cup of flour by spoon then I use my hands to hand mix and knead the dough with the remaining flour adding flour gradually until i have a very elastic yet slightly sticky dough.  I then place the dough on a floured surface and knead for several minutes.
  I then divide the dough into about just smaller then fist size portions.  On a floured surface I roll the dough out into a pizza-like a shape.
  Then place in the hot oven on your pizza stone, cast iron sheet or cookie sheet for 1- 2 minutes.
  Remove your pizza crust from the oven using a spatula or Pizza paddle.  I like to place my crust on a paddle and then add the sauce and toppings.  I generally use a higher quality spaghetti sauce for convenience.   I spread on the sauce then some base cheese of shredded cheddar-jack mix.  Then add your favorite toppings and top with mozzarella cheese. Stick back in the oven for about eight minutes.  If the top is not quite done change the oven to broil for 30 seconds to a minute.
  Once the pizza is cooked remove it and let it cool for a couple of minutes, cut and serve.
  For a change, I will sometimes make a garlic butter topping instead of red sauces.  Take 1/4 cup of butter add 1/2 -1 tsp of garlic powder, 2 Tablespoons of Parmesan cheese and 1 Tablespoon Chives and use that instead of sauce

Do Everything French bread

This is one of the most versatile and easy bread recipes going.

 French bread

Ingredients:

• Warm water - 1 1/2 Cups
• Instant yeast - 3/4 of Tables spoon ( 1 Tablespoon of active dry yeast)
• White Sugar (Granulated Sugar) - 2 Tablespoons
• Canola or Olive Oil - 2 Tablespoons
• Salt - 1 teaspoon
• Flour - 4 Cups

Instructions:

This is a really simple bread recipe.  If you are using dry yeast, you will want to activate it with the water and sugar.  Once the yeast is going just add the rest of the ingredients but 2 cups of the flour.  Mix the dough well.  I mix on medium speed with my mixer for about 2 minutes.  I then gradually add the rest of the flour until it pulls away from the sides then mix on low for about five minutes.  I have to set the timer because I always want to stop the mixer early.

Once the dough is done.  It should be elastic and slightly sticky I place it in a large greased bowl to rise.  Once it is in the bowl flip the bread over so it is oiled on all sides.  Let the bread rise for about 40 minutes.  I then take the dough and lay it out on a nice clean counter that has been lightly floured.  I then shape the bread into either round rolls, hoagie buns or loafs.  I try not to knead the bread or be overly aggressive with it after it has risen the first time.

I have found that for the best buns I use my cast iron cookie sheet.  I heat the cast iron sheet in the oven before I place the rolls on it.   I get a great rise, and the buns have a great crust on them.  I will sometimes put an egg wash on the bread and sprinkle with sesame seeds or dried onion or even asiago cheese.

Bake at 375 for about 20 -25 minutes.

If using a cast iron pan, I put the bread on a cooling rack soon after removing from the oven.  The cast iron will continue to cook the bread if you leave it for too long.

This makes the best sandwich rolls.  Great crust with a nice chewy middle.  It makes a good sandwich great.

The Best Muscle Food

When the subject of the best muscle food comes up, we have to remember that protein is the body's main building blocks for muscles and tissues. Proteins, along with carbohydrates and fats, are the body's three fuels necessary to sustain life. However, proteins are the more important fuel for building muscles as will be explained later on.

Types of Proteins

There are two types of protein that the body needs: essential and non-essential. Lest you think that one is more important than the other, the designation is usually made to distinguish between what the body can produce (non-essential) and what the body needs from the diet (essential).

Just for educational purposes, the 11 non-essential amino acids are alanine, arginine, asparagines, aspartic acid, cysteine, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, praline, serine, and tyrosine. The 9 essential amino acids are histidine, isoleucine, leucine, valine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine and tryptophan. At the very least, you will know what to look for in protein supplements.

The Best Muscle Food

Importance of Eating Protein-Rich Foods

Proteins are necessary to achieve the desired fitness level especially in terms of building muscles. This is because once your body is deprived of any of the amino acids, it will turn to its own muscles and tissue for fuel consumption. Basically, your body ends up eating itself just to sustain its life and, hence, you end up little more then skin and bones if and when you continue to deprive yourself of high protein food sources. It's definitely not the way to go for bigger muscles. Plus, keep in mind that the body cannot store protein in large quantities, unlike in the case of fats and carbohydrates. What little that can be stored in the bloodstream is quickly used up. Thus, you have to eat protein from the right food sources in order to build muscle safely, efficiently and quickly.

Sources of Protein Generally speaking, proteins from animal sources are considered higher in quality than the proteins found in plants. This is because animal-based food sources contain almost all, if not all, the essential amino acids necessary for muscle growth. However, you still need to take both animal and plant-based protein sources because you do need your fruits and vegetables for their vitamins and minerals. After all, muscle building is not just about bigger muscles - it is also about being healthy to sustain your muscle-building activities.

Thus, do take your legumes, beans and whole grains to supplement your animal-based proteins. These include chicken, turkey, fish and shellfish, eggs, red meats, and dairy products like yogurt, milk and cheese. However, do beware that these foods can contain fats so opt for their low-fat varieties. Many bodybuilders also take protein supplements to improve on their muscle-building activities. It must be noted that these supplements should never ever replace foods since your digestive system is designed to process foods, not just supplements all the time. You cannot sacrifice your health in favor of muscles, can you?

Needless to say, not even the best protein-packed foods in the world will be able to achieve bigger muscles for you. Exercise is still a very important component of any muscle-building program, which often means that weight training is in your near future.