Quick Panzanella (Italian Bread Salad)

Too hot to cook?  I've got a solution for you.  Panzanella!  It's an Italian bread salad that is bursting with flavor.  Plus, its simple to put together.  Let it marinate in the fridge for a few hours and you're good to go!

Purdum's, Western Idaho's favorite vegetable stand, is finally open.  I picked up some pickling cukes there and used them in the salad.  Yum!  So happy the veggie stands are finally starting to pop up again.  So head to your local farmers market or veggie stand and get started!

Quick Panzanella
1/3 of a sourdough baguette, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 lg tomato, chopped
1/2 cucumber, peeled and chopped
2 Tbsp fresh basil, slivered
2 Tbsp Olive oil
2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar (reduced to a syrup, then measured)
salt and pepper to taste

-Combine all ingredients in a bowl, toss well, cover with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for a few hours.  Stir well again and serve.

Have you seen 'Extra Virgin' on the cooking channel?  I love it!  Actress Debi Mazar cooks with her Italian husband, Gabriele Corcos.  The two are hilarious!  She has the New York accent and he has an Italian accent.  Highly entertaining and the food looks wonderful.  They made Panzanella a bit differently by rinsing the bread in water and squeezing it out, adding onions, etc.  They also never use sourdough bread, but I like the flavor it brings to the salad.  Plus, its what I had in the house.  There you go!

Summer is in full swing and many people are camping.  A coworker brought a little creature back from the fire pit of the campground.  Someone obviously was extremely bored in the woods.  Check this out...

What is it?  A potato mouse?  Who knows.  Just watch out when you're in the woods.  There are some very strange individuals out there!

Bleu Burgers on Artisan Buns

Hey!  How are ya?  Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you like today's recipe. :)

I had a hankering.  I wanted something savory, salty, slightly sweet and chewy.  I wanted a burger with Bleu Cheese.  YUM!  But I didn't want to stop at the store to get some of those buns.  You know the ones-- dry, loaded with preservatives and always turn some shade of blue or green on your counter before you throw them out.  Ick!  And for a person living by herself, I feel like I'm wasting food if I buy bread because I can never eat the whole thing before it goes bad.  But if I make my own bread, I can make just as much as I need and nothing goes to waste.  Plus, it tastes better!

If you've been glancing at the blog lately, you know I've got a thing for artisan bread.  :)  I used the Artisan Bread Dough to make my hamburger buns.  Super simple! 

It's grillin' season here in the Treasure Valley.  I smell all sorts of things wafting through the neighborhood as I walk the pups after work.  And the weather is getting better-- less rain and more sun.  Yay!    You may notice something.  I like my burgers with pickle chips.  I know, I'm weird.  But ya gotta love me anyway, right?

Bleu Cheese Burgers
1 lb Artisan Bread Dough (grapefruit size, link above)
Sesame Seeds
2 tsp cornstarch + 2 tsp water
1 lb ground beef (93% lean is what I use)
Salt and Pepper
1/4 cup mayo
1/2 cup Bleu Cheese crumbles
tomato
lettuce
pickles
ketchup
mustard

Making the Buns
1.  Divide dough into 4 equal pieces.  Form into a ball and flatten slightly.  Let rest on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper for 40 minutes.
2.  Preheat oven to 450°F and place the pizza stone inside with a pan at the bottom to hold water.
3.  Make a cross pattern in the top of the bun with a serrated knife- cutting about 1/8 to 1/4" deep.  Brush top with cornstarch mixture and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
4.  Place buns on preheated pizza stone.  Add a cup of HOT tap water to the pan in the oven and close the door.  Bake for about 25 minutes.
5.  Place on a rack to cool while you make the burgers.

Making the Burgers
1.  Preheat grill over medium heat for about 10 minutes or so.  Be sure to oil the grates well.

2.  Divide the meat into four equal pieces.  Pat out into a disc that is about 4 inches across.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

3.  Grill over medium heat for about 3 to 4 minutes per side.  Remove the meat from the heat and let rest a few minutes.

4.  Combine the mayo with the bleu cheese crumbles in a small bowl.  This makes it easier to put on the burger and helps it stick to the bun instead of fall off! :)

5.  Cut a bun in half and dig out a bit of the bread inside.  Fill the void with 1/4 of the bleu cheese mixture.  Top with a meat patty and add other desired toppings (ketchup, lettuce, tomato, mustard, pickles, etc.).  Repeat with remaining burger patties and buns.


And here's a peek into what the pups were doing while I was cooking...

Tobie was chillin' on the couch.

Keeping watch over the neighborhood.



And Ralfie was running around the backyard.

Artisan Bread

Whoa!  I'm on the mending side of a 6-day flu bug.  NO FUN!!  I haven't been that sick since high school!  Thank goodness I have a great team at work that allowed me to take three days off to lay on the couch and take antibiotics.  Feeling much much better now!

I have a couple of posts for you that I meant to upload last week.  This first post is absolutely beautiful.  Wanna peek?  Ok....




Cross Artisan Bread


Isn't she pretty?  She's even prettier slathered with butter.  Yummmm!!!

I've been telling you about the book 'Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day' for a while now.  It's really easy to follow and the bread it produces is absolutely wonderful.  The loaves are about the size of a bread bowl.  Just right for little ol' me.  The last time Ty was here, I baked up a loaf and we used it for BLT's.  Pretty dang tasty!

So here you go:

Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day
3 cups water, room temp or slightly warmer
1-1/2 Tbsp salt
1-1/2 Tbsp yeast (I use Rapid Rise)
6-1/2 cups flour (For this recipe, I used 5-1/2 cups all purpose and 1 cup whole wheat)

1.  Put the water, yeast and salt in the bowl of your mixer.  Slosh it around a bit.  Don't worry about letting it sit to get all foamy. 

2.  Dump the flour on top of the yeast mixture.  All at once!

Start the mixer on the lowest speed and let it go for a few seconds.  You can speed it up a bit if you like once some of the flour is taken up.  It will form a loose dough like this at first:

Keep stirring and it will eventually form a soft shaggy dough ball.  Like this:

3.  Scoop your dough into a large plastic container.  I use a cereal storage container because its tall and skinny and fits in my fridge without taking up too much room.



 For some reason, my computer liked to load this pic on its side.  Just turn your head to the right and you'll get the idea.  Let the dough rest in the container for 2 hours.  Make sure the lid is not closed tight so the gases created by the fermenting dough can escape.  After 2 hours, it should look like this:

Yep-- head tip to the right.  Time to put it in the fridge.  Its ready to use a few hours later, once its cold.  The cold dough is a lot easier to handle than room temp dough and it will last in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.  Baking a loaf when you're ready is super easy!

Baking a Loaf:

1.  Dust the top of the dough with flour.  Using clean hands, pull a piece of dough about the size of a grapefruit out of the container.  Quickly form into a ball by stretching the dough around and under the ball.  Pinch the bottom to seal.  This is called 'cloaking'.  I like to place my ball on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper.  Let it rest at room temp for about 40 minutes or so.




Cloaked Dough


2.  After 25 minutes or so, preheat the oven with a pizza stone in the center to 450°F.  Place an old pan in the bottom-- you'll be pouring in some water to create steam as the bread bakes!  Let the oven preheat for 15 to 20 minutes.

3.  When its time to bake, lightly dust the top of the loaf with flour.  This will help with slashing.

Use a sharp serrated blade to slash.  My two favorite patterns are:

The Cross

The Scallop

4.  Using a pizza peel, slide the loaf of bread onto the hot stone in the oven.  Pour a cup of HOT tap water into the extra pan and close the oven door.  Set the timer for 15 minutes.

5.  After the 15 minutes is up, slide the parchment paper out from under the loaf so the bread sits directly on the stone.  Close the oven door and continue to bake for another 25 minutes.

6.  Pull the loaf out of the oven and let cool for at least an hour before slicing.  The crust will pop and crackle as it cools.  Food with sound effects!  Hoorah!

Scalloped Loaf

Cross Loaf from the Top

I hope you enjoy this bread-- and that you buy the book!  There are TONS of great recipes in there using this dough method. 

http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/

Happy May Day!

English Muffins

As promised, here is the recipe for the lovely English Muffins we made during the cooking class in Arkansas.  The flavor is not like those sold in the store-- its much better.  Because these English Muffins are made in one day rather than by the multiple day starter method, they don't have a lot of nooks and crannies. 

English Muffins
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/English-Muffins/Detail.aspx

1 cup milk
2 Tbsp sugar
1 (0.25 oz.) package active Dry Yeast (I use 1-1/2 tsp)
1 cup warm water (110°F)
1/4 cup melted shortening
6 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt

1.  Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it just begins to bubble, then remove from heat.  Mix in the sugar and stir until dissolved.  Let cool until lukewarm.  Meanwhile, dissolve yeast in the warm water in a small bowl.  Let stand until foamy, 5 to 10 minutes.

2.  In a large bowl, combine the milk, yeast, shortening, and 3 cups of flour.  Beat until smooth.  Add the salt and the rest of the flour.  The dough should be soft.  Knead about 8 minutes or so.  (I did all of this in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook).  Form dough into a ball and place in a greased bowl.  Cover and let rise until doubled (about an hour or so).

3.  Gently deflate the dough.  Roll out to about 1/2 inch thick on a clean counter top.  Cut rounds with a biscuit cutter (an empty drinking glass or CLEAN empty tuna can will do in a pinch).  Sprinkle a large piece of waxed paper with cornmeal and set the rounds of dough on it to rise.  Dust the tops of the muffins with cornmeal as well.  Cover lightly with plastic wrap and let rise another 30 minutes.

4.  Heat a large griddle over medium heat.  Grease well (I used canola oil).  Cook muffins on the griddle for about 10 minutes per side over medium heat.

5.  Keep baked muffins in a warm oven (150°F to 200°F) until all have been cooked.  Allow to cool completely, and store in plastic bags.  Split and toast or use in your favorite English Muffin Recipe. 

--A Breakfast Souffle recipe will follow shortly as one use for the English Muffins from this recipe.

Josie and Heather proudly showcasing their beautiful English Muffins.

French Bread (Baguettes)

Unfortunately, I didn't even think about taking photos the first day of class.  I was just too excited to remember that I have a camera on my cell phone!  The first day was mainly focused on Bread. I will be posting each bread recipe separately as some take longer than others.  Plus, it will be easier to find later!

The first recipe is from On Cooking (page 980), the culinary textbook used as a reference by the Research Chefs Association.  We halved the recipe in class and made 3 beautiful baguettes.  The dough may be used to make baguettes, rolls, or french bread.  We used a baguette pan to bake our loaves, but they may also be baked free form.  The pans are fairly inexpensive and can be found online for around $20.  This is what a baguette pan looks like:

The French Bread Pan looks similar, but has wider valleys to accommodate the larger bread loaf (only 2 per pan instead of 3).  If you don't have one of these pans, you can use a floured kitchen towel on a sheet pan to help maintain shape and prevent the dough from spreading out while rising.  See the YouTube Video at the bottom of the post that details how to shape a Baguette for an illustration of this technique.

The trick to this bread is baking in a moist oven.  Fill an 8"x8" pan with boiling water and place it in the bottom of the oven while baking the bread.  This will help your crust to develop that wonderful crunchy texture found on artisan breads.  You could also open the door to the oven and mist the floor and sides of the oven with a spray bottle every 5 minutes or so-- but who has time for that?!  I don't want to be glued to my oven door. :-)

French Bread
1 quart (32 oz.) warm water (about 110°F)
1 oz. active dry yeast
3 lbs. 12 oz. Bread Flour
1 oz. salt

1.  Combine water and yeast in the mixing bowl of a large capacity stand mixer.  Add the remaining ingredients and mix on low speed with dough hook until all the flour is incorporated.

2.  Increase speed of mixer to medium low and knead until dough is smooth and elastic.

3.  Let the dough rise until doubled.  Punch down, divide, shape and slash as desired*.  Let rise again until doubled.  Preheat oven to 400°F.

4.  Place pan of hot water in the bottom of the oven to generate steam while the dough cooks.

5.  Bake at 400°F until the crust is well developed and golden brown and the bread is baked through, approximately 12 minutes for rolls and 30 minutes for small loaves.  Larger loaves will take a bit longer-- up to 45 minutes.

*Shaping dough: one recipe of dough may be used for: 4 loaves french bread, 6 loaves baguettes, several rolls (pinch off dough into golf-ball sized balls and place on a greased sheet pan).  Use a very sharp blade when slashing the dough. 

There are several YouTube videos on shaping Baguettes.  This one was a good one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NEvO2ok-NU&feature=related

Hope you enjoy that fresh baked bread smell!

Thanksgiving Dinner Rolls

The story begins on a farm. We called it 'the fat farm'. It was the place we went every Thanksgiving when I was growing up. The enticing aromas of roasting turkey, cooking potatoes, and yeast greeted you as soon as you walked in the door. Soon after, you were enveloped in a hug so tight you could barely breathe!



I would hang up my coat in the closet and follow the other ladies in my family to the kitchen. There, I would help form the Parker House rolls and get them into the oven. The rolls cooked while the turkey was resting and the gravy was being made. As soon as they came out of the oven, they were lovingly coated in salted butter. These were the best rolls on the planet and they were made by my Great Grandma Minnie.



Grandma Minnie passed away in 2007 at the age of 102. She cooked Thanksgiving dinner for her family for over 50 years in a row. Imagine that! I tried to learn how to make rolls from her, but she never measured anything. If you asked her for a recipe, she couldn't give you one. She could tell you what was in the food, but couldn't tell you how much.



"How much flour should I add, Grandma?"

"Enough so that it feels right."



Ha ha! I miss her so much. Well, today I ran across a recipe on the Martha Stewart website and decided to try it. I read through the recipe, gathered the ingredients, and put everything together. What came out of the oven tasted just like Great Grandma Minnie's rolls! Hooray! I will confess-- I messed up on the recipe but it turned out wonderful! So, here is my recipe for Thanksgiving Dinner Rolls, Great Grandma Minnie style (adapted from Martha Stewart).

Thanksgiving Dinner Rolls

Great Grandma Minnie Style

1/4 cup warm water (115 degrees F)

2 tsp rapid rise yeast (2 envelopes)

1-1/2 cups warm whole milk (115 degrees F)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the bowl and pans

1/4 cup sugar

2-1/4 tsp salt

3 large eggs

3 cups bread flour

3-1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 Tbsp salted butter, melted

1. Place warm water in a small bowl with a little bit of the sugar (1 tsp). Sprinkle the yeast over the water and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. In the bowl of a standing mixer or in a large bowl, whisk together the milk, butter, remaining sugar, salt and the eggs. Whisk in the yeast mixture.

2. With the mixer on low or with a large wooden spoon, mix in the 3 cups of bread flour. If using a mixer, give it a good whirl, then switch the whisk attachment to a dough hook. With the mixer on the lowest speed, add the remaining 3-1/2 cups all purpose flour a little at a time. The resulting dough should be a little shaggy. You can also do this my hand with a large wooden spoon, but the mixer is a lot easier! Once all the flour is incorporated, let the dough rest for about 10 minutes.

3. Mix on medium speed for 6 minutes. Turn it out onto a lightly floured counter and knead for another 2 minutes. If kneading by hand, knead it on a lightly floured counter for 5 to 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Form into a large ball.

4. Coat a large bowl with melted unsalted butter. Place the large ball of dough in the bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Set in a warm place for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until doubled in size.

5. Butter two 13x9" pans. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Deflate the dough by gently pushing it down and turning it over in the bowl. Pinch off golf-ball-sized pieces and make into balls. Place the balls of dough in the pan, 3 across and 5 long so each pan holds 15 rolls. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

6. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Put the oven racks in the bottom third and top third of the oven. When the rolls are done rising, remove the plastic wrap and place one pan on the bottom rack and one pan on the top rack. Cook for 10 minutes, rotate the pans top to bottom, back to front, and continue to cook for another 10 minutes or until evenly golden brown.

7. Remove from oven and place the pan on cooling racks. Lightly brush with salted butter and allow to cool. After 10 minutes, remove the rolls from the pans and allow to cool completely on the cooling rack. These rolls are HEAVENLY when devoured while still warm with fresh melted butter.

Love you and miss you, Great Grandma Minnie!

Pampered Chef Party and Recipes (Almost No Knead Bread, Artichoke Dip, Carmel Pecan Chocolate Ganache Cups)

Tobie in the kitchen. Look at his back feet! He cracks me up.

Chicken grilling in the grill pan.

Almost No Knead Bread stuffed with Artichoke Dip. Heaven!

We had a great time last night. It was interesting to see how everyone fit into the tiny little townhouse kitchen, but it was a beautiful night and we mostly gathered outside.

The food was GREAT! I made two recipes of Almost No Knead Bread (Cooks Illustrated, one white and one wheat), artichoke dip to go inside one of the loaves of bread, Harvest Grains from Trader Joes with garlic, parmesan and tomatoes, steamed broccoli, and grilled chicken in the grill pan. We finished it all off with Caramel Pecan Chocolate Ganache Cups (went very well with the Cupcake Vineyards Shiraz).

As promised, here are the recipes. I will post pics of the artichoke dip in the bread bowl a bit later, but the pics of the dessert really didn't turn out very well.

Almost No Knead Bread (Cook's Illustrated)
3 cups all-purpose flour**
1/4 tsp rapid-rise yeast
1-1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup + 2 Tbl water, at room temperature
1/4 cup + 2 Tbl mild flavored beer (I used Rolling Rock because that's what Ty drinks)
1 Tbl white vinegar

1. Whisk flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Make a well or dip in the middle and pour in the water, beer, and vinegar. Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, fold the mixture from the bottom of the bowl until a shaggy ball forms. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for 8 to 18 hours. I usually do this just before I go to bed and let it rise overnight.

2. Lay a 12x18-inch sheet of parchment paper inside a 10-inch skillet and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Lightly flour your countertop and dump the dough onto the counter. Dust the top of the dough with flour as well. Knead 10 to 15 times with clean hands. Shape the dough into a ball by pulling the edges toward the middle. Place the dough, seam side down, in the middle of the parchment lined skillet and lighltly spray the top with nonstick spray. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and lest rise at least 2 hours (longer for wheat dough).

3. About 30 minutes before baking, adjust the oven rack to the lowest position and place a 6-8 quart heavy bottomed Dutch Oven with the lid on the rack. I use an enameled cast iron dutch oven and remove the knob on the lid. Heat oven to 500 degrees.

4. Lightly flour the top of the risen dough and use a sharp knife to cut a 6 inch long, 1/2-inch deep slash across the top of the dough. Carefully remove the preheated pot from the oven and remove the lid. Pick up the dough by lifting the edges of the parchment paper and carefully lower into the pot. Let the excess paper hang over the edge of the pot. Cover the pot and place in oven. Reduce the oven temperature to 425 degrees and bake, covered, for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and continue to bake until the loaf is a deep brown color, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Remove the pot from the oven, then carefully remove the bread from the pot and transfer to a wire rack to cool to room temp,about 2 hours. Enjoy!

**When making the wheat version, I use 2 cups all purpose and 1 cup whole wheat flour. The resulting dough will need to rise a bit longer than the white dough.

Artichoke Dip (Pampered Chef Recipe Card)
2-16 oz. bread bowls or two loaves of Almost No Knead Bread
4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup milk
14.5 oz can artichoke hears, drained well, chopped, and drained again
1 clove garlic, minced
1 envelope Vegetable Soup Mix (1.8 oz., I used Knorr)
8 oz. sour cream
1 Tbl lemon juice
Parmesan cheese (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Slice the top third off of one of the bread bowls. Using a small knife, carefully hollow out the bowl, leaving about a 1-1/2" bread border on each side and bottom. Place on a cookie sheet or baking stone. Cut the middle of the bread, top third, and second loaf into 1" cubes. Arrange the cubes around the hollowed out loaf and spray lightly with cooking spray.

2. In a medium sized, microwave-safe bowl, whisk cream cheese until smooth. Slowly whisk in milk, then stir in artichoke hearts, garlic, and veggie soup mix. Microwave on high 5 to 7 minutes or until hot but not boiling.

3. Stir sour cream and lemon juice into the warm artichoke mixture, then pour into the hollowed out bread loaf. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top of the dip and over the bread cubes.

4. Bake in oven for 13 to 15 minutes, or until the bread cubes are lightly toasted and the dip is bubbly. Serve immediately.

Caramel Pecan Chocolate Ganache Cups
9 Nilla Wafers
8 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces (I use Ghiradelli)
1 cup whipping cream*
1/4 tsp espresso powder or 1 Tbl strong coffee**
2 Tbl caramel sauce***
Extra caramel sauce
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
whipped cream

1. Line 9 muffin cups with liners and place a Nilla wafer at the bottom of each cup.
2. In a medium sized bowl, combine the chocolate, cream and espresso powder. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir briefly, then microwave an additional 45 seconds.
3. Whisk until smooth and dark brown in color. This will take about 2 minutes to get everything completely mixed. Add the caramel sauce and stir well.
4. Using a 1/4 cup measure, fill each muffin cup 2/3 full. Refrigerate at least 4 hours.
5. Just before serving, add 1-2 tsp caramel sauce to the top of each cup. Top with whipped cream and toasted pecans. Serve with a spoon.

Notes:
*For a firmer texture, use whipping cream. For a light and soft texture similar to pudding, use half and half.
**This ingredient is optional, but highly encouraged. The coffee accentuates the chocolate and makes it taste more like chocolate.
***seedless raspberry preserves or orange marmalade may also be used.

Goodness! That was a lot of typing. Have a great weekend!

Feeling Ambitious-- Refried Beans, Applesauce, and Zucchini Bread!

Tyson came for the long weekend (Labor Day Weekend). We had tons of fun! On Saturday, we looked at houses in Star, ID-- and decided we still like Middleton. That night, we had the neighbor over for a BBQ (grilled chicken, corn on the cob, etc.).

Sunday, we drove up to McCall. It was a busy little town! We stopped at My Father's Place for hamburgers and fries (OMG!!) and ate at the lake watching the sailboats. Once we were done eating, we drove to Ponderosa State Park. It was great! They have a lot of hiking and biking trails there. We took the pups on a 90 minute hike. After the hike, we headed back to Payette. The pups were pooped!

Monday, Tyson left at 11am to go home. I went to Purdums (produce stand) and got inspired. When I got home, I made Refried Beans in the big crock pot, applesauce in the little crock pot, and Zucchini Bread. They all turned out great! The Refried Beans recipe is from Sherelle Christensen. I went to high school with her and she has one of my favorite blogs-- with really yummy recipes! The Zucchini Bread recipe was from my neighbor Aimee Hughes. I tweaked it a bit. The applesauce recipe was just one I made up and it turned out great! The recipes are below. Hope y'all have a great week!

Fresh Applesauce

6-8 apples (I used 4 pink lady and 2 granny smith apples)

1 Tbl brown sugar

1-2 tsp cinnamon

1. Core, peel and chop the apples. Place in the crock pot.

2. Sprinkle cinnamon and brown sugar on top. Stir well.

3. Cook on low for 8-9 hours, stirring occasionally.

4. Use a potato masher to mash the apples to the desired consistency. Taste, and add more cinnamon and/or brown sugar if needed.

Refried Beans

5 cups dried pinto beans, picked through and rinsed well

5 slices bacon, halved

1 small onion, chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalepeno, cut in half lengthwise

1 Tbl seasoning salt

1 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. dried garlic

2 Tbl. cumin

1 Tbl. chili powder

1. Place beans in a large pot and add water to cover them by one inch. Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat, cover, and let stand for 1 hour.

2. Put the bacon, onion, and jalepeno in the crock pot. Add the beans and the rest of the ingredients. Add enought water to just cover. Stir well.

3. Cover and cook on high for 8 hours or until beans are tender, stirring occasionally. Check the water level every couple of hours and add water as necessary. After 6 hours or so, remove bacon and jalepeno.

4. Let beans cool, then refry them!

5. To refry, put about a Tbl. of corn oil or vegetable oil in a pot. Add about 2 cups of drained beans and mash with a potato masher until desired consistency. The cooking liquid from the beans can be added to thin out the mixture. Taste for seasoning, and cook on low, stirring often, until bubbly.

Zucchini Bread

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

3 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ginger

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

2-1/4 cups white sugar

3 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups grated zucchini

1 cup sliced almonds

1. Grease and flour 2 8x4 inch loaf pans. Preheat oven to 325°F.

2. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and spices together in a bowl.

3. Beat eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl until creamy. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture and beat well. Stir in Zucchini and nuts until well combined. Divide batter between the two prepared pans.

4. Bake for 60 minutes. Cool on a rack for 20 minutes, then remove from the pan and let cool completely.

The bread will freeze well and keeps in the refrigerator for weeks. Enjoy!!