Home made Breads - Quick and Yeast

This is a trying time for many in this country and worldwide as well.    We're not able to buy the bread we like in the stores, because there simply isn't any to be found. 

I've baked bread for years, mostly because I enjoy hot, fresh bread slathered with butter, and for myself, I don't eat store bought bread often.
I will indulge myself by buying Hoagie Rolls, but other than that, I really do prefer home made bread.  I like the taste, I like the texture and I like knowing what is in them.

I thought I'd share some links to some of my favorite breads that I do make from time to time.  

Top of the list is my No-Knead Bread.  This takes a little time, mostly resting the dough, either overnight or for several hours during the day.  Bake it in a Dutch Oven, and you end up with a lovely crusty bread, that is full of flavor.  I love making it and bringing it with me to gatherings. 

You can use it as a base for Blooming Onion Bread.   Just in case, you don't eat the whole loaf at once, or you made an extra loaf just for this.  I used the No-Knead bread as a base.

You can also bake a sourdough based bread, and make it into a Foccacia , like this Sourdough Foccacia I made last year.  You can however use the Sourdough starter to bake bread as well. Just sayin...

But you may not have any yeast available, or some inconsiderate person took all the yeast at the store, however, you can still make a quick bread to accompany your meal. 
Personally I love Scones and Irish Soda Bread and will happily eat them all day long.   I do play with my food as well. and have come up with a few variations on Scones.  These Ploughman's Scones make for a hearty lunch or dinner. And best of all, you can use up those bits and pieces of ham, cheese, apples, chutney to fill them.  I made some Lavender and Lemon Scones awhile back, and they were perfect to eat alongside a lovely cup of tea. 

Or if you just want plain Scones, try out my Everyday Tea Time Scones. 
You can use so many different seasonings or flavors with Scones.  Just make them to your taste.  

I'll share a few more recipes in the next day or so.

We're all in this together, and we will make it through. 

Spring Greens Soup with Mushrooms for #SoupSaturdaySwappers

It's time for Soup Saturday Swappers and the theme this month is Spring Greens.    Our hostess this month is April from Veggies First, Then Dessert

I had this great idea, knowing this was coming up in March, that I would get some seeds, plant some greens and harvest them.
Life got in the way, tripped me up and I never got the seeds planted. I'm saving them now for the fall when it cools down in this part of the world.
However, I had made a trip to Trader Joe's, and had found a package of greens called Power Greens and that got the brain going.   I wanted to combine them with some mushrooms and this is the soup I came up with.

For starters I pulled out some of my frozen home made chicken stock, and while it was heating up, I sauteed some mushrooms, then when they'd cooked, I chopped some up and added them all to the stock.
While it simmered, I washed the Power Greens, which were a combo of Kale, Spinach, Chard, Collard Greens, Misuma and Frisee,  added it to the mushrooms and stock. 

Let it cook for just a couple of minutes and tasted it.   Well, it tasted good, but was missing, something.  So I added some Sweet Soy Sauce, a little Sesame Oil and dumped in some Maifun (Rice Sticks), cause it just seemed like it would go in.  Tasted it again, and approved the flavour.    I then ladled out the soup.  The greens were so tender, they didn't need to be cooked long.  The noodles and mushrooms added some 'heft' to the soup, I didn't even miss the meat. 

I think this could also be made with a good vegetable stock, and make it totally vegetarian, almost vegan in fact.

There is no real recipe to this, apart from adding the seasonings to your taste.  But if you need one, here it is.

Spring Greens Soup with Mushrooms

Yield: 2

Author: Sid's Sea Palm Cooking -

Prep time: 5 MCook time: 15 MTotal time: 20 M

This is a light soup, that is perfect for using the first spring veggies

Ingredients:

• 4 cups Stock, either Chicken or Vegetable
• 8 oz. Mushrooms, sliced and sauteed
• 1 package Spring Greens
• 1/3 package Rice Noodles
• 1-2 tablespoon Sweet Soy Sauce
• 1 tsp. Sesame Seed Oil

Instructions:

How to cook Spring Greens Soup with Mushrooms

1. Saute mushrooms, add to stock, let come to a boil, then add the spring greens.  Turn heat down, add noodles, and the seasonings.  Turn heat off, and let sit for 5-10 minutes, then serve.

Created using The Recipes Generator

• Caldo Gallego Cubano by Palatable Pastime
• Carrot and Fennel Soup with Homemade Stock by Faith, Hope, Love & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplices
• One Pot Veggie Soupma by Sneha's Recipe
• Roasted Fennel and Spring Green Soup by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Sardinian Herb Soup by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Split Pea Soup by Making Miracles
• Spring Greens Soup with Mushrooms by Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Wilted Spring Greens Soup by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Sous Vide Chicken for Salads and other dishes.

I joined a new blogger group, called Multicooker Monday.    I actually missed the first month, sigh.  But I'm totally joining in this month.
I got a Sous Vide a couple of months ago, and am playing with it, and learning the ins and outs of a new toy.

Couple of things to note with a Sous Vide- you need to plan ahead, way ahead.  Cause everything takes hours to cook, but on the other hand, even though you can cook something for hours, the temperature you set the Sous Vide at, is exactly the temperature the protein or item you're cooking will go to.

I'm still learning my beef temps, but the last shoulder roast I cooked, was so tender, but was also a touch too rare for my DH, perfect for me though.  And the meat was so tender. OMG, it was good.

However, I like cooking up chicken breasts and having them in either the fridge or freezer for a quick meal, either as part of the salad or to top some greens or one of my favorites, Chicken Quesadilla.

So, as my contribution here, I present some Sous Vide Chicken Breasts.

I seasoned them very lightly, actually I used a dry chicken soup base which has no salt in it.
I like keeping this on hand, it's called Herb Ox and makes a quick cup or so of chicken flavored boullion for when you're in a hurry.  I also use it to season chicken or to add a little more oomph to my home made chicken stock.  It's a good flavour booster.  

Now that the chicken has been cooked, it's time to transform them.

I want to note, that I cooked 2 chicken breast halves, for 2 hours from frozen.
Yup, frozen.   See that's one of the fun things about a Sous Vide.  You can just plunk your frozen meat into a bag, season it, seal it, taking all the air out of the bag, then cook it and walk away for a period of time.  I'm told that chicken can cook at 145 degrees in the water for up to 4 hours, but it can get mushy after that.  From everything I read, optimum is 2 hours.

After cooking the chicken, you can freeze it in the bag you cooked it in, and then just take it out when ready.
I generally do a meal plan for the week, and take out any protein to thaw in the fridge every couple of days.
But for this time, I chopped one of the breasts up and used them in some Chicken Quesadillas for dinner. 

and here they are in their lovely melty goodness.  I didn't get a shot of the Creme Fraiche I also had on the plate, but I usually serve these with some salsa on the side. 

And here's a few more ideas for you to look at, from Instant Pots to Slow Cookers to Sous Vide.

Multicooker Monday

Recipes for Instant Pots, Slow Cookers, Sous Vide and More!

March 2020 Recipes

Pressure Cooker & Instant Pot Recipes:

• Instant Pot Carolina-Style Pulled Pork from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Instant Pot Orange Chicken from Making Miracles
• Pressure Cooker Carrot And Drumstick Sambar from Sneha's Recipe
• Thai Green Curry Mussels (Instant Pot) from Palatable Pastime

Slow Cooker Recipes:

• Maple & Honey Butter Crockpot Sweet Potatoes from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas from A Day in the Life on the Farm

Sous Vide Recipes:

• Sous Vide Bone-in Leg of Lamb from Food Lust People Love
• Sous Vide Chicken from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking

Tell your friends about #MulticookerMonday! We post each month on the third Monday with trusted recipes for your favorite small appliances!

Community Potluck for March

I'm a little on the late side getting this posted, and I sure hope I got all the dishes photographed, but I may have missed some.
We had our monthly potluck this week, we meet the second Monday of every month and share food and conversations and have a great time. 

We had a lighter than usual turnout this month, but the food was just as good as it always is. 

So here goes.
I made some Deviled Eggs with Chives and some with Smoked Salmon

We also had some celery with Blue Cheese dip, and I was good, I didn't scarf down the whole bowl, I left some for others.

An Asian Coleslaw - I had seconds of it. 

This Black Bean Casserole - which I didn't get a taste of. sigh

Sliced Pork Loin in Gravy which was served with rice. 

There were also some Noodles and Chicken- and you know I had to try some.

Chicken Tortellini

Apple Salad

Lasagna

Taco Bake- from the Pampered Chef recipe, it was served alongside some toppings- guacamole, Salsa and Sour Cream. (I missed that photo).

 And just in case you thought I'd forgotten him, here's Santa with his pineapple. 

And we had desserts. I missed one photo on here, it was strawberry cake. sigh
But it was a bit of a chocolaty night.
Cream Cheese brownies

Chocolate cake slices

A nice little Chocolate Bundt cake. 

 So there you have it, another successful potluck with lots of great food. 

Everyday Tea Time Scones

It's time for our #BakingBlogger reveal, and this month the theme is Scones. 

I thought I'd share a basic recipe for Scones, nothing fancy, just a Scone you can split and top with Devon Cream (if you can find some) and Jam.  Although, personally, I like them topped with some butter and jam.  Or just butter.
It's all good.

These are the kind of scones you can find on any self respecting tea table in England.  Simple, basic and so good to eat.    I got the recipe from my Dairy Book of Home Cookery and then tweaked the recipe a bit.

Mainly cause I'd made some Creme Fraiche and still had some in my fridge that needed to be used before I slathered it on my hips.
Just kidding.
Although they do taste amazing with just some butter and Black Currant Jam. 

Everyday Tea Time Scones

Yield: 10 Scones

Author: Sid's Sea Palm Cooking - adapted from a Dairy Book of Home Cookery

prep time: 5 Mcook time: 10 Mtotal time: 15 M

These are great for tea or breakfast or as a side for Dinner. It's all good.

ingredients:

• 200 g SR flour -8 oz
• 1/2 tsp salt
•  2 oz Butter
•  1 oz Sugar
• 125 ml Creme Fraiche + milk or Butter Milk
•  milk for brushing on top of scones.
• 1/4 tsp. Baking Soda

instructions:

How to cook Everyday Tea Time Scones

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Mix the flour, salt, baking soda and sugar together.    Rub the butter into the flour mixture using your fingers.  
3. Add the creme fraiche or cream, and mix to soft, but not sticky.  
4. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead it quickly until smooth.   Roll out to about 1/2 inch thickness and cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter.   Cutting each round straight down, and not twisting.   Transfer to a greased baking sheet and brush each top with milk.
5. Bake for 7-10 minutes or until golden brown.
6. Serve hot with butter and jam or Devon Cream or clotted cream and jam.

NOTE:  You can mix Creme Fraiche with milk to make up the 125 ml.  

Created using The Recipes Generator

Baking Bloggers

March 2020: Scones

• Apricot Orange Scones from Making Miracles
• Baileys Irish Cream Almond Scones from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Basic Tea Time Scones from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Coconut Mango Scones from Caroline's Cooking
• Irish Cream Scones from Tara's Multicultural Table
• Lemonade Scones from Sneha's Recipe
• Oatmeal Currant Scones from Palatable Pastime
• Orange and Cranberry Scones from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Raspberry Lemon Scones from Cookaholic Wife
• Savory Cheesy Chive Scones from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Savory Mediterranean Scones from Food Lust People Love
• Sourdough Mango Scones from A Day in the Life on the Farm