Friday, January 8, 2010

Fave breads and salads

Here are my favorite bread and salad recipes from our 2009 progressive dinner. For past recipes check out Monday's post and the bottom of this post. I won't stop until I've shared all my faves with you! But only a few at a time, mind you. This time of year it's all about portion control...

Bran Muffins
1 cup boiling water
3 cups All Bran (divided)
2 cups buttermilk
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup oil OR 1/3 cup oil + 6 tabelspoons flax seed meal
2 eggs
2 tablespoons molasses
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons soda

Combine water and 1 cup All Bran. Let cool then add 2 cups All Bran and buttermilk. Set aside. Cream sugar and oil. Add eggs, flax seed (if using) and molasses. Mix well then add dry ingredients. Stir in buttermilk/All Bran mixture until combined. Bake in greased muffin tins at 400° for 15 min.


Cornbread
3/4 cup melted butter
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup milk
2 1/2 cups Bisquick
1 cup sugar
1 cup cornmeal
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Stir together well. Pour into greased 9x13-inch pan. Bake at 350° for approximately 25 minutes.


No Knead Artisan Bread
3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon rapid rise yeast
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water

Mix all ingredients and let sit for at least 12 hours, preferably 18 hours. Dough will generally be loose and bubbly. Pour onto floured surface and fold over a couple of times. Let rest. Shape into loose ball and place on well-floured piece of wax paper or hand towel. Cover with towel and let rise 2-3 hours.

When dough has risen, place a covered casserole into oven and preheat to 450 degrees. You want the casserole dish to be very hot (no need to preheat the lid). Remove the dish from the oven, invert the dough into the dish, give a shake to center and place back into the oven and cover with lid. Bake at 450° for 35 minutes, remove lid and bake another 10-15 minutes until loaf is browned nicely. Remove from casserole and cool on wire rack.


BLT Salad
1 head lettuce
10 slices bacon fried crispy and crumbled
2 large tomatoes, diced
2 cups chicken, cooked and cubed
4 hard-boiled eggs, sliced

Sauce:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup BBQ sauce
1 tablespoon onion, minced
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Mix and chill sauce. Just before serving toss salad with dressing. Or you can toss it all and chill overnight.


Fruity Lemon Salad
1 small pkg. lemon Jell-O
1 small pkg. lemon pudding (cooked, not instant)
1 cup whipped cream or Cool Whip

Dissolve lemon Jell-O in 1 1/2 cups boiling water. Cool in fridge until almost set. Prepare COOKED lemon pudding, following directions on box (adding an egg); then cool in fridge. When pudding and Jell-O are both partially set, whip them together with electric mixer. Fold in whipped cream (or Cool Whip).

Add any combination of fresh, canned, or frozen fruit, such as bananas, grapes, strawberries, apples, peaches, pineapple tidbits (drained), pears, Mandarin oranges (drained), blueberries. Also add mini-marshmallows or nuts. Chill until served.


Potato Salad
6 large potatoes, cooked and peeled
6 hard boiled eggs
sweet pickles, diced small (as many as desired)

Dressing: Experiment with portions since it depends on how much dressing you like.

Miracle whip
Mustard - just a little bit!
Sugar to taste
A little milk just to make creamy
A shake of celery seed and pepper

Mix dressing ingredients with a wire whisk, then pour over potatoes and eggs and mix gently with wooden spoon. It needs to sit at least four or five hours and tastes really good the next day! (Note: add dressing while the potatoes and eggs are still a little warm - not hot. The flavors seem to blend better.)



Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant?? I'm halfway through my fish burger and I realize, .... I could be eating a slow learner. ~Lynda Montgomery

Image by prettytypewriters, shared via Flickr.

1 comment:

Quinn said...

Those were REALLY yummy!!! And the quote at the end of your post = HILARIOUS. I'm still laughing.