Bread Machine Naan

One time (yes, just one time) I made Indian food at home. I thought the chicken curry was yummy, but it stained my black spatula yellow for weeks, and Husband complained about the smell in the house for just as long. This is also how I learned that he had a college apartment that was above an Indian restaurant, thus suppressing any appetite for Indian food he might have had.

None of this stopped me when I saw a friend post this recipe on Facebook. It's bread! And bread is the best.

I'm so glad I tried this one out.  Super easy, fun to do, and incredibly delicious.  Warm buttered bread fresh out of the oven just can't be beat.  The whole family gobbled it up!  Looking forward to my next batch already. 

Substitutions: No substitutions on ingredients, but I did tweak the process a bit to make it even simpler.  I put the initial ingredients into the bread machine bowl, waited 5 minutes, then added all the remaining ingredients directly into the bread machine bowl as well.  

Adapted from original recipe at Food.com.

Bread Machine Naan

Ingredients

2/3 cup warm skim milk
2 teaspoons melted butter
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 lb all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons olive oil
2/3 cup plain lowfat yogurt
1 large egg
2 teaspoons sugar, divided

Preparation Instructions

In the bowl of your bread machine, combine warm milk with yeast, butter, and 1 tsp sugar.  Wait 5 minutes.  Add the other 1 tsp sugar and all remaining ingredients into the bread machine bowl.  Set the bread machine to the dough setting and let it run through the complete cycle. 

When the bread machine has almost finished the dough cycle, preheat your oven to 500.  When bread machine cycle is done, take dough out and separate it into six equal sections.  Using a rolling pin or your hands, flatten dough out to ovals about 1/3 inch thick.  When oven has pre-heated, place rounds on pre-heated baking stone or heavy baking sheet.

Bake on top shelf of the oven for 1-3 minutes, watching carefully throughout; the naan should start to puff up like a balloon.  Switch the oven from bake to broil for an additional minute and broil until the top starts to brown.  When brown on top, remove from oven and cover with a towel while you finish baking the remaining loaves.  Brush the warm naan with butter before serving.

Slow Cooker Burgundy Pot Roast

Last week, I opened a bottle of red, excited about drinking a glass with dinner... but the wine was terrible. I'm no wine snob, but I couldn't even finish the glass. So I popped the cork back in and wondered what on earth I was going to do with the rest of that wine. Clearly, this called for a cooking experiment!

I started scrounging through the freezer and found a good looking beef roast. Using up ingredients I already had at home, I made Sunday dinner in the crockpot and managed to use up some of the less-than-palatable wine in the process.

Roast with veggies, homemade creamed corn, some redneck garlic bread (yes, those are sandwich rolls), and Olympic Track & Field made for a great night!  Husband thought the wine flavor was a touch too strong.  I don't agree, but if you want the wine flavor to be very subtle, I would substitute 1/2 cup of the wine with water.  

Slow Cooker Burgundy Pot Roast

Large beef pot roast (I started from frozen)
1 cup red wine
2 cups water
1 packet Lipton Beefy Onion Soup mix
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 cups baby carrots
1 onion, cut into wedges

Preparation Instructions

Spray crockpot with cooking spray.  Place roast in the middle of the pot, then add carrots and onions around the sides.  Pour in wine and water, then add soup mix and spices to the liquid and gently stir a bit to mix in.  Cook on low for 10 hours or until meat is tender and falls apart with fork.

Summer Garden Soup

It was the perfect confluence of events, really. While scrolling through Pinterest, I saw a chicken noodle soup recipe that looked really good. Then I got to thinking about the huge bowl of fresh produce on my kitchen counter that needed to be cooked.

You don't have an overflowing amount of homegrown veggies on your counter? Well then obviously you don't know Mr. Winston, our buddy and resident neighborhood gentleman farmer and tractor driver. Big Boy and Little Boy are enamored, naturally.

This is a great recipe for using an assortment of veggies. It would also be good for those who have run out of ideas with a CSA box. It's rare that I make up a recipe on the fly, but this one turned out great so I'm delighted to share. Use whatever you have and see how it goes! I even threw in some leftover canned corn from the boys' dinner.

When Husband came home and saw me at the stove, he exclaimed, "Oh great, soup! Perfect for this chilly summer day!" Oops. 

Summer Garden Soup

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
1 quart chicken broth
1.5 quarts water
2 tbsp minced garlic
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup diced carrots
3 stalks celery, diced
8 mini new potatoes, diced
2 yellow squash, diced
1/3 cup yellow corn
1 package Reames Frozen Egg Noodles
3 tbsp butter
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried sage
1 tsp dried parsley flakes
1 tbsp garlic salt
Black pepper to taste
1/3 cup milk 

1 tbsp lemon juice  

Preparation Instructions

Heat olive oil in large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery, carrot, and minced garlic; sauté under tender and fragrant. Add chicken broth and water. Bring to a low boil. Add squash, corn, potatoes, butter, and spices. Bring back to a rolling boil. Add the frozen noodles to the pot and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Add milk and continue to boil for 5 minutes or until noodles are soft and broth has thickened. Stir in lemon juice before serving.     

Creamy Fruit Dip

Easiest recipe ever?  Probably. 

Many thanks to Grandma and Aunt Marcie for teaching me how to make this extraordinarily simple treat.  Lots of extended family gathered at Grandma and Pap Pap's house during our recent trip to West Virginia to see us and the boys -- and to enjoy a smorgasbord of delicious snacks and dips.  I've never been a big fan of fruit dips, but I tried this one and couldn't keep myself away from seconds... and thirds...

I made it this past weekend for a dinner party and we ate every last bite.  Looks like I've got a new regular for the rotation!   

Substitutions: To save a few calories, I used the Kroger Greek Cream Cheese made with greek yogurt. 

Creamy Fruit Dip

Ingredients
1 (7 oz.) container marshmallow fluff
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
Maraschino cherry juice
Chopped fruit for dipping (I love strawberries, red grapes, pineapple)

Preparation Instructions
Stir together marshmallow fluff and cream cheese until smooth.  Add cherry juice a splash at a time, stirring until desired flavor and pink color is reached.  Chill before serving.