Pat in Pan Breadsticks

We love these quick and easy breadsticks. One reason is that since there isn't oil in the dough, I don't feel guilty drenching them in butter! :)

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 T yeast
3 T brown sugar
1 t salt
3 1/2-4 cups flour

1/4 cup butter, melted
Desired topping (Cinnamon sugar or Parmesan cheese & garlic salt)

(This is my favorite seasoning: https://ourbestbites.com/garlic-bread-seasoning/ )

Mix water, yeast, brown sugar, and salt. Stir in and then knead in the flour, one cup at  a time. Let dough rest for 5 minutes. Coat a jelly roll pan (large cookie sheet) with half of the melted butter. Place dough in the centre of the pan. Let rest for about 5 minutes, then spread the dough flat to cover the whole sheet (using your hands instead of a rolling pin. Just gently push with your fingers and fist. If it won't stay when you push it, let it rest a couple minutes more).

Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into 3 strips lengthwise and about 12 strips the other way. Spread remaining butter on top of the breadsticks. Sprinkle with desired toppings. Place pan in 170 degree oven for about 7-10 minutes to let them rise, then increase heat to 350 and bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden.

(Picture from and method based on this recipe. She has great pictures if my instructions don't make sense! I accidentally cut my dough before adding toppings the last time I made them and liked how I didn't have to re-cut the sticks after baking, since the butter that dripped down made them not stick to each other as much. You can do it either way.)

Thai Turkey

We have a lot of turkey leftover to use up from Thanksgiving (Canadian), and we LOVED this. Restaurant taste, and it only took about 30 minutes to make (and that was with two crying children pulling at my legs and trying to push me away from the stove, and begging to be picked up, and me giving in once in awhile)! You could easily make it with chicken and whatever vegetables you like in your stir fry. It's the sauce that shines. I'm even going to try it as the sauce for fried rice. Go try it right now--it's that good!
(Adapted from this recipe. Photo is also from that recipe) 

• 2 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• 2 tablespoon honey (I may try subbing brown sugar)
• 2-3 teaspoons curry powder
• 2 teaspoons olive oil (or sesame)
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (opt--I left it out but Andy would have liked it)
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 tablespoon salad oil
• 1/2 medium onion, sliced
• 2 medium bell peppers, thinly sliced
• 2-3 cups leftover turkey, coarsely shredded

Mix first 9 ingredients in small bowl and set aside. Heat oil in skillet over high heat. Saute onions and peppers until tender and golden. Add turkey and pour in sauce. Heat through and serve over rice.

Artisan-style Pizza Crust

This is really good, tastes-like-it's-from-a-restaurant pizza. Mmm! We don't have a stone, so we pre-bake the crust for 7-9 min prior to adding the toppings.

Recipe straight from my friend Rachael's blog

(makes 4 12-inch pizzas)
2 1/4 t. active dry yeast
2 c. warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
5 to 5 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1- 1 1/2 tsp salt
Extra-virgin olive oil, for greasing bowl

Dissolve yeast in warm water, let stand for 5 minutes. Stir in 3 c. flour and the salt, stirring until smooth. Stir in additional 2 c. flour, adding flour (up to 1/2 c.) 1 T. at a time, stirring until dough comes away from bowl but is still sticky (I use my KitchenAid stand mixer for all this).

Turn dough out of bowl and onto a lightly floured surface, kneading with floured hands. Fold the dough back over itself, repeating until it's easily to handle and less sticky, about ten times. Knead normally until dough is smooth, elastic, and soft, but still a little tacky, about 10 minutes.

Shape dough into a ball and transfer to a lightly oiled bowl; turn to coat. Cover with plastic, let rise in a warm place until it doubles in volume (2-3 hours; when pressed with finger the indent should remain).

Place pizza stone in oven and preheat to 500 for an hour. Scrape dough out of bowl onto floured surface, cut into 4 pieces, and shape into balls. Dust with flour, and cover with plastic. Let rest 20-30 minutes until dough relaxes and almost doubles. Turn over a baking sheet (we like jelly roll pans) and cover it liberally with cornmeal.

Holding top edge of 1 dough ball in both hands, let bottom edge touch work surface. Carefully move hands around edge to form a circle, as if turning a wheel. Hold dough on back of your hand, letting its weight stretch into a 12-inch round (Neil likes to toss it at this point, but I always ruin it, so if he's not home I just stretch it).

Transfer dough to inverted baking sheet (on cornmeal side). Arrange toppings, then carefully slide the dough off the baking sheet and onto the hot stone. We find that this generally requires two people with metal spatulas (see picture). Bake pizza for 12 minutes or until crust is crisp and golden brown; remove from oven with peel and serve hot!

Fajita Seasoning

This is delicious!

• 
  3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3 teaspoons chicken bouillon, granulated
• 1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin (optional)

Directions

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl.
2. Pour into small glass or plastic container, seal tightly and store in a cool, dry place.
3. Makes the equivalent of 3 packets of commercial or purchased Fajita Seasoning Mix.
   Original recipe here: http://www.food.com/recipe/fajita-seasoning-mix-420782

German Pancakes

aka Special Pancakes (in this household)

2T butter (many recipes call for 6 T, but you don't need that much!)
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
6 eggs
1/2 tsp salt

Place butter in 9x13 pan to melt while you preheat the oven to 400. Put flour, milk, eggs, and salt in blender and blend. When butter is melted, remove pan from oven and pour the egg mixture in. Bake, uncovered, for about 20 minutes or until puffy and golden.

We have this about 3 times a week, so we have a lot of variations:

Chocolate German pancakes: Add 2 T cocoa and 1/4 sugar. This is delicious with fresh strawberries!

Apple German pancakes: Slice up an apple and put them in the pan while the butter is melting. Let them sizzle and cook for awhile, then pour the batter over. Sprinkle brown sugar over the top.

Berry German Pancakes: Scatter fresh or frozen blueberries or strawberries on top of the batter (good use for slightly freezer burned berries!).

Savory : Sprinkle shredded cheese and diced ham on top of the batter

Honey Lime Enchiladas

Someone gave us these as a freezer meal when I had Alice, and they are DIVINE! When I made them, I reduced the honey to 1/4 cup and added a can of black beans to the chicken mixture.

(recipe and picture from melskitchencafe.com)

6 tablespoons honey

5 tablespoons lime juice (1 large lime)

1 tablespoons chili powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 pound chicken or pork, cooked and shredded (about 3 small chicken breasts)

8-10 flour tortillas

1 pound monterey jack cheese, shredded

16 ounces green enchilada sauce

1 cup heavy cream (to lighten them up, I have substituted sour cream with good results)

Mix the first four ingredients and toss with shredded chicken. Let it marinate for at least 1/2 hour (I tossed mine together in a ziploc bag in the morning and let it sit in the refrigerator all day). Pour about 1/2 cup enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9X13 baking pan. Fill flour tortillas with chicken and shredded cheese, saving about 1 cup of cheese to sprinkle on top of enchiladas. Mix the remaining enchilada sauce with the cream and leftover marinade. Pour sauce on top of the enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until brown and crispy on top.

*Freezable Meal: Freeze prior to baking. To bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake enchiladas, covered (without thawing first) for 1 hour. Uncover and bake 30 minutes longer, until brown and crispy on top.

Oatmeal Waffles

2 cups oatmeal (quick or slow)
1 1/2 cups milk (can use water)
2 eggs, beaten
1 T molasses or brown sugar
2 T oil
3/4 cup flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 t salt

Measure oatmeal into mixing bowl and add milk. Let soak 5 minutes. Add eggs, brown sugar, and oil and mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix just to combine. Cook in waffle iron or like pancakes.

Variation: Add 1/2 cup chopped apple and 1/2 t cinnamon

Variation #2 (inspired by Apple Cheddar Scones): Fold in 1 grated apple, about 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese and some sugar (1-2 T). 1/4 cup per side was perfect on our waffle iron. Delicious!

Apple Cheddar Scones

2 cups flour (I used half whole wheat)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/3 cup butter, cold
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup grated cheese
1 cup apple, chopped or shredded

Mix flour, sugar, baking power, soda, and salt. Cut in butter with your fingers or with criss-crossed knives. Add buttermilk and stir to combine. Fold in cheese and apples. Turn out onto floured board. Divide in half. Sprinkle more flour on top* and pat each portion into a circle and cut into 8 wedges . Transfer to greased cookie sheet and bake at 425 15-20 minutes, or until golden. Yum!

*The dough was pretty wet, but I didn't knead the extra flour in, just left it on top and bottom so I could handle the dough enough to pat it into the circles and use a spatula to transfer them.

Recipe adapted from Recipezaar

Breakfast sausage

1 t salt
1/8-1/4 t pepper
1 t sage
1/4 t ginger
1 t nutmeg
1 t thyme
2 lb ground pork

Mix spices. Sprinkle over pork and mix in with your hands. Cover and refrigerate overnight or for several hours to let flavors blend. Cook as desired.