Fruit Leather! Who doesn't love fruit leather (or the common fruit flavored commercially available snack)? This recipe takes awhile, but it is delicious, and significantly more filling (i.e real fruit), and less chemical filled than any commercial snack even if they claim its made from fruit flavors. I made a large batch starting with 8 cups of fruit, bc I had a bunch of strawberries to use up, but the recipe can easily be halved. The process Im giving isn't exactly what I did, but more what I think would work better than the recipe I recieved. I started with 8 cups of washed hulled strawberries (or whatever fruit you have on hand-just no pits or stems) and puree in a blender/food processor In a saucepan pour in puree and add approx 4 tablespoons of sugar and 4 teaspoons of lemon juice. Taste your fruit here, something like ripe bananas wouldn't need the sugar, and many apples won't require quite as much. These were very early for berries and are quite tart. the lemon juice helps prevent oxidation and brightens your fruits natural flavors and sugars. Simmer mixture till reduced by at least half and rather thick and spreadable (this step consentrates flavor and reduces a lot of the moisture before the oven drying process) . Spread mixture evenly about a 18-1/4 inch thick onto parchment lined sheetpans Dry in a 150 degree oven for 3+ hours. You know the fruit is dry when the surface is no longer tacky. Cool completely and tear or slice the fruit leather. This will keep for quite sometime in the fridge, assuming it lasts that long. My toddler had this devoured in a couple of days!

After streamlining a few things, I've finally come back to my blog. Here I hope to keep up with foodie postings a bit better. I've redesigned a few things, and hope you enjoy the new layout. I do aim to please some of the time ;) and would like to know what YOU want to see here. Any recipe requests? Got a recipe you can't figure out how to get it to work, or a technique you'd like help with, let me know in the comments or over on my facebook page and I'll do my best to answer in a post.

Homemade tortillas and the taco filling, turns out it IS a 30 minute meal! Tortillas: 2 cups of flour (AP or whole wheat) 2 tsp of salt 2 tablespoons of solid fat (lard is traditional, but I've also used butter, coconut oil would work as well) 3/4 cup of warm liquid (milk, whey, water) incorporate salt into flour, then cut in your fat, add milk and knea on floured surface till comes together relatively smooth form a ball and rest 10-20 mins (this is when I prepped and started my filling on the stove) preheat a griddle or dry cast iron skillet pull several bouncy ball size rounds and roll each very thin, they'll puff on the heated surface cook on the griddle till puffed, and flip to brown both sides keep warm and serve with your favorite Mexican/texmex dish

End of summer veggies

Well, I thoroughly suck at this whole blogging process, but alas-here's a new post. I recently made apple blueberry bread off my basic banana bread recipe. I used brown sugar instead of standard granular, and a bit more of it since apples aren't as sweet as bananas. I still added my blueberries, and it was in fact delicious. Banana bread is a favorite in this house, and I look forward to a zucchini bread in the future. I don't have any recipes to share at the moment as I've shared the ones I use the most often. I have however been doing an incredible amount of produce processing and freezing. I've set our family up to have fresh frozen produce all winter long. I must admit I'm looking forward to fresh corn in December! As a heads up to my other midwesterners, if corn has been good in your area, this week is probably going to be the last of it at farmers markets. I have every intention of stocking up. Bumper crops are great for preserving. The fruit is at its peak and least expensive! A quick blanching in salt water is sufficient to set yourself up for quick cooking deliciousness. The vegetable will maintain its texture and nutrition while being a very quick cooking side dish or addition to any meal! I also plan on stocking up on the last of the tomatoes and preserving large amounts of tomato sauce! If anyone needs a recipe for tomato sauce, I'd be happy to oblige! Happy gatherings and happy cooking!

Strawberry Banana Bread

Here's an awesome Strawberry Banana bread that I made this week, so far the husband and baby are big fans!

3-4 overripe bananas mashed
1/3 cup diced strawberries
3/4 cup of sugar
1 beaten egg
1/3 cup of canola or olive oil
1 tsp of vanilla
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt (1/4-1/2 tsp)
1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
1/4 cup crushed pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a loaf pan

No electric mixer needed, a wooden spoon does great!

Mix wet ingredients with sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle soda and salt over mixture then mix in, add flour in last. Once well combined pour into pan and top with pecans. Bake for 1 hour then cool. Once cool enough to handle cool the rest of the way on wire rack. Slice and serve!

On the Making of Bread!

I have been reintroducing myself to breadmaking recently. I got another bread machine from the thrift store for all of 4 bucks and am improving on previous attempts. So far, there have been some great successes. One thing that's pretty important in the bread machine thing from my experience, is they're really only good for the dough cycle. I have tried dozens of times to get good bread from one of the regular bread settings, and the loaves are simply too dense for any regular bread purpose. The dough cycle however allows for fresh, homemade delicious bread with the right texture and density without the constant hand kneading, proof, knead, proof cycle.

So far, I've made a dense (baked in the machine) white loaf. It was delicious but only good for french toast and bread crumbs once the rest of the loaf went stale. I've made an awesome fluffy whole wheat bread and an amazing Italian bread. Those recipes are below.

Since I believe in doing the dough cycle only, the order of ingredients is important, no setting this up and letting it work overnight, or in the morning after setting overnight.

Italian Bread
In this order place in the machine:

1 1/3 cups of very warm water (let the hot tap run then put measure your water from that)
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
2 1/4 tsp of active yeast (1 package)
1 1/2 tsp of olive oil
2 cups of bread flour
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp of salt
about 1 tablespoon of dried oregano

Close your lid select dough cycle and let it go. When done, just barely flatten onto a flour surface, roll it and place on a greased baking sheet seam side down. Cover with a damp towel and allow to rise 30-40 mins. With a sharp knife or razor blade, slice a ~one inch deep slit down the center of the loaf (leaving an ~inch on either end) Brush with an egg wash and dust with garlic powder and salt. Bake at 350 about 30 mins.




Whole Wheat Bread
In this order add to the bread machine

1 1/4 cup of very warm water
2 tablespoons of honey
2 1/4 tsp of active yeast (one package)
2 tablespoons of oil
3 cups of whole wheat flour
1 cup of bread flour
1 1/2 -2 tsp of salt

Close your lid and select dough cycle. When finished pull out and place directly in a greased/floured loaf pan. Cover with warm towel and allow to double in size (approx 30-40 mins). Bake at 350 for half an hour and remove immediately to a wire rack to cool.

Rustic Chicken Noodle Soup

This is a from scratch chicken noodle soup that I made for the sick hubby. I used the veggies I had on hand, so its not a traditional soup, but super tasty all the same.

First you need to poach a couple of pieces of bone in chicken (I used 2 thighs) in boiling water. Add in your favorite herb bundles, in this case I used bay and rosemary. I also lightly salted the water...this is the only place I added salt making for a lower sodium dish, but you can add salt in other places, or a little more at the end to finish the soup.

While that is going, prep your veggies. I used some sliced mushrooms, one small onion, blanched broccoli, cooked corn that I cut off the cob (4 small cobs), and a tomato-carrot puree stash from the freezer (about 4tbls). Then garlic is an absolute must have for just about everything for me.

I sauteed the mushrooms and onion and grated in 3 cloves of garlic. I omitted salt so the mushrooms would brown faster, but once they begin to brown, this is the best place to add any other seasonings you would like.

Once the chicken was cooked, I pulled it out and shredded it off the bone with a couple of forks, threw it back into the pot with all the veggies and one box of tri-color rotini. By the time the rotini was cooked, the other veggies were soft and pliable and heated through. I served it up with peanut butter and honey cracker sandwiches. So delicious! This one takes awhile, but will feed a crowd and is very flexible!