Soft Pretzels

Last night I attempted my first KitchenAid yeast experiment: Pretzels!

Look at them all. Just look at them! YUM!

Yeast always intimidated me. I feel like I never let it rise long enough, or knead well enough. So I was hoping my friend the dough hook would help me be successful!

The following recipe (from Get Off Your Butt and Bake!) is for use with a stand mixer, but you can swap it out for just mixing and hand kneading, especially if you have more kneading confidence than I!


Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/8 cups water (70-80 degrees F)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour (plus extra to add as you go!)
• 3 tablespoonsful brown sugar
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoonsful active dry yeast (1 packet)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 quarts water (8 cups for those who don't want to do the conversion)
• 1/2 cup baking soda
• Coarse salt 
• Egg wash (1 egg plus 1 tablespoon water)
• Optional: melted butter

Directions:

Add warm water and brown sugar in the mixer bowl. Dissolve the sugar quickly (so the water doesn't cool off), and then add the dry yeast.

Let the yeast mixture rest for 2 to 3 minutes. You should see it foam!

That is how you know the yeast is alive and kicking! It's also really cool!

Add 1 cup of the flour with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Mix well with the dough hook.

Add the remaining 2 cups of flour and continue kneading with dough hook (speed 2 on the mixer) for 5 to 6 minutes. When it is ready, the dough will be elastic and smooth, and shouldn't be really stuck to the bowl. Add additional flour or warm water if needed to help this along. (I probably added another 3 tablespoons of flour!)

Once the dough is done, let it rest in an oiled bowl for about 10 minutes. Cover the bowl with a warm damp cloth.

While the dough is resting, add the baking soda to the water and get it ready to boil.

Divide the dough into eight balls. I added a little extra flour around the balls, and stuck each one in a ziplock bag. You can also use saran wrap if you want! 

Whatever you use, let the dough sit for another 3 to 5 minutes.

Flour your working surface, and roll each ball into a 20 inch rope. Then have fun and make whatever shapes you want! Or little pretzel nuggets work too.

Drop pretzels into boiling water, one or two at a time (I did one at a time because I was nervous). Boil for about 10-15 seconds (10 for the nuggets). Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

Place pretzels on greased baking sheets, or if you have a pizza stone, use that! The pizza stone made our pretzels nice and crunchy on the outside!

The next step is where you're supposed to brush the pretzel with the egg wash and then sprinkle with coarse salt. It was about 11pm when I was making these, and accidentally brushed it with the melted butter. Still came out good - but try the egg wash!

Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes or until brown. If you want, here is where you can brush with melted butter.

Let them cool (but not too much - because warm pretzels are just the best!) I like my pretzels dipped in mustard, but do whatever you like! Have fun!

Delightful midnight snack!

Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes

Hello! Quick little post tonight - little KitchenAid mixer experiment!
After working every day/night since getting my new mixer, I finally got a chance to play with it tonight!
Found an interesting chocolate cupcake recipe online, and decided to be daring and give it a shot. (Also easily made vegan if that floats your boat! My boat however floats on different waters!)

Just the one picture, because I wasn't expecting to post this... but once they were made, I just HAD to share! Enjoy!


(Adapted from Food.com)
Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder (I used Shaws brand. Good, but I should really invest in some of the good stuff. Godiva maybe!)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup milk (The original recipe called for water. If you want to keep it vegan, go ahead and use water, should turn out just as fine! The milk just made it a little richer)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar

NO EGGS. Weird right? Almost scared me off, but I am glad I made it!

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Mix all ingredients together until moist / well blended (This is where my mixer made life sooooooooooo easy!)
• Put in paper cupcake liners and bake for 20-25 minutes
• Frost with whatever you deem to be best!

I found a yummy frosting recipe on Food Network. I thinned it out with a little extra cream and a tablespoonful of warm water. Added some chocolate jimmies, and there you have it!

Grilled Marinated Flank Steak

Hello and welcome back! 
My deepest apologies for not posting since April. A number of factors led to me really not cooking very much. This all culminated in me eating a whole bunch of terrible food, and not having anything of substance to post. 
However, stress level is significantly lower, so culinary adventures have resumed!
Tonight's specialty is some grilled, marinated flank steak.

Couldn't come up with a more creative name for this... Sorry folks, but sometimes it is what it is, and this time, it is just delicious.

And how easy! I stuck this in the marinade last night, let it hang out overnight, and slapped it on the grill tonight! Served it with a baked potato and some corn on the cob. Love summer food!

Enjoy!


(Adapted from Simply Recipes)
Ingredients:

Look at that adorable honey bear. SO CUTE.

• 2 lb flank steak
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic (or 2 cloves of elephant garlic! Yup. It's real.) crushed/minced
• 2 tablespoonsful red wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup soy sauce (I opted for low sodium. I didn't want to overpower the steak with saltiness, plus, healthier!)
• 1/4 cup honey (I got the kind that is in a bear shape. Because it was TOO ADORABLE to pass up!)
• 1/2 teaspoonful ground black pepper

Directions:

• Score the flank steak with cuts about 1/4 inch thick

Hard to see, but I did it crisscross. You can choose to just do it one way if you'd like.

• Combine all the ingredients (mix well!)

I wish I had 10 whisks like this. Love it!

• Trim the steak if you need to. Mine was really fatty
• Put the steak in the marinade either in a container or a freezer bag to marinate. I did it overnight, but if you're not going to do that, do it for at least 2 hours. The longer, the juicier!

• Grill! Use high heat. We cooked it sort of indirectly, on the cooler spot of the grill, because we were a little nervous the honey would burn. Cook it until it is the level of done-ness that you prefer!

• Let it rest for a few minutes before slicing, and make sure you slice on the diagonal.

Enjoy!

P.S. Kitchenaid mixed due in the mail in a few days. There will be LOTS of baking ahead! Also, I do take requests/suggestions!

Roasted Lamb Dinner

Happy Easter, blog readers!
If you're confused and think that Easter was LAST week, you are both right and wrong! Today is the Greek Orthodox Easter (Καλό πάσχα, Χριστός ανέστη! (Happy Easter, Christ is risen!)). To celebrate, we made traditional Easter lamb... And I can't tell ewe how how great it turned out!

I'm not pulling the wool over your eyes folks! But to be sure, you'll have to try it yourself!


Ingredients:

• Boneless butterflied leg of lamb (Ours was about 4 pounds. If you eat like us, this will MAYBE feed 3 people :) But for normies, this will probably be enough for your whole family.)
• Red wine (Everyone on Food Network says to cook with a wine that you would also drink. Little do they know, I'm willing to drink boxed wine. We used whatever we had, which turned out to be a good red!)
• 4 lemons juiced (plus extra lemon wedges served with the meal)
• Olive oil (an amount roughly equal to the lemon juice)
• Garlic (4-5 cloves minced, and an additional 2 cloves cut into thin slices)
• 1/2 teaspoonful freshly ground black pepper
• 1 to 2 heaping tablespoons of oregano
• 1 small to medium onion, grated (whatever you have is probably okay)
• Potatoes (as many as you want, whatever type you want!)
• Carrots
• More onions for roasting

Directions:
IMPORTANT: Make the marinade the night beforehand. The longer this baaa-d boy marinates the better it is!
Prepare the marinade: 
Whisk together the olive oil and lemon juice before adding anything else.
Add the minced garlic, oregano, pepper, and grated onion.
Add a splash of red wine. Whisk until properly mixed.
(If this look familiar at all, reexamine the Chicken Souvlaki post from last summer!)

Prepare the lamb:
We like to trim excess fat off of the lamb. While some fat is okay and tastes good, too much can be hard to chew.
Pierce the lamb randomly all over with a pointy knife, and insert the very thin sliced garlic into the piercings. Marinate the meat overnight!


Dinnertime Preparation:
When it is time to start cooking, preheat the oven to 360 oF. 
Slice the potatoes and carrots into chunks, and boil for about 7 minutes. Slice onions into wedges.

Using a skillet, at high heat, sear the lamb for a few minutes on each side until caramelized.

Put the carrots, potatoes, and onions in the bottom of a roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil. You can go ahead and add some extra salt, pepper, and oregano if you want!
Lay the lamb on top of the vegetables, and sprinkle with salt. (use a roasting rack if you have one!)

Roast uncovered for about an hour and a half. We used the American Lamb Doneness Chart to determine how long to cook it. Cook less if you want it more on the medium-rare side!

After you take it out, squeeze fresh lemon juice over it, let sit for about 10 minutes before you cut into it. 

I literally can't express how good our kitchen smelled, and how impatient I was during those 10 minutes.  WORTH THE WAIT! We also served it with imported Greek feta cheese and olives!

Anyways, that's our lamb dinner! If you celebrate Easter, then I hope you had a wonderful holiday and were lucky enough to spend it with people who you care about.
If you don't celebrate Easter, this is a good recipe anyways to have anytime you have time to make it! 

And as always, enjoy!

Mom's Lasagna!

Hello, readers! Tonight's dinner is a classic - homemade lasagna!

This recipe comes from my mother, and is always good! (But especially good on freakish nights where it gets cold again. Not happy about that!!)

I'm not going to lie about this one - not as simple as the others, mainly because it has homemade sauce. But it does freeze great, so you may as well make two while you're at it and throw one in the freezer!!

Ingredients:

• 1 onion
• 1 green pepper
• Mushrooms (as many as you want! I used half of a package for 1 lasagna)
• 6oz can tomato paste
• 29 oz can tomato puree 
• Salt, pepper, garlic powder, basil, and oregano (to taste)
• 1 lb ground beef
• Lasagna noodles (1 lb if normal noodles, 1 box if no-boil noodles. YES it is a thing!)
• 1 lb ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 lb shredded mozzarella cheese
• Romano cheese

Directions:

Make the sauce:

Dice the onion, green pepper, and mushrooms. Brown in olive oil.

Brown the ground beef.

Add tomato paste and tomato puree. Rinse out tomato paste can with water and add to the sauce until it is of desired thickness.

Add the spices to taste... I like adding a little more basil than I do oregano, and just a bit of the other spices. (I am aware at how vague that was, but it really is individual per your palate!)

Add the ground beef, and let the sauce simmer for at least 1 to 2 hours. 

Assemble the lasagna:

Preheat the oven to 375oF.

Mix the egg in with the ricotta.

Using a 9x13 dish (or a lasagna pan), layer sauce, noodles, ricotta, and mozzarella. 

Repeat layers until 3 layers of each. Sprinkle Romano on the top when done with layers.

Layer 1: Sauce (yumm!)

Layer 2: Noodles! These are the no-boil noodles

Layer 3: Ricotta cheese

Layer 4: Mozzarella

Cook uncovered for 30 minutes, and serve with extra sauce. (And crusty bread. As I have said many times here on the Fork and Dagger, EVERYTHING goes well with crusty bread!)

Enjoy! (And then, enjoy a second time around when you reheat your second lasagna. Go ahead, thank me later :) You'll be glad you made it!)

Chicken Fajita Night!

Good evening internet :)
So I am currently spending 6 weeks with two of my friends in Virginia, and so I decided that the LEAST I could do was make them a few nice dinners! (Mainly just an excuse to add some more blog posts for you all)
After making Dino Nuggets twice this week, I thought they were due for some real chicken...

ENTER: Chicken Fajitas!

Or tacos. Or burritos. I'm not entirely certain of the technical difference, but in MY eyes, these are fajitas, so you can just deal with that.


This is a good, easy, flavorful meal that always goes over well (or at least that's what they told me!) Enjoy!


Ingredients:

• 4 Limes 
• Olive oil
• Garlic (About 4 cloves... or more. If you read more posts, you'll know I often take liberty with garlic!)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon cilantro
• Chicken (~4 breasts yields about 8 fajitas)
• Soft tortillas (white, wheat, corn, whatever floats your boat)
• Cheese
• Toppings (Whatever you like! We used lettuce, tomatoes, and sour cream)

Directions:

First you have to make the marinade for the chicken:

To make the marinade, whisk together the lime juice with an equal amount of olive oil. Once whisked, crush/mince the garlic and add to the marinade, and follow with the cumin and cilantro. 

Slice the chicken into strips and let it soak in the marinade. 

And try to marinade the chicken enough in advance that they really get a chance to spend quality time together. About 4 hours of marinating time is good!

Done marinating? Time to go!

Heat some olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.

Saute the chicken strips in the skillet until they are cooked through and browned on the outside. 

*NOTE*: DON'T OVERLOAD THE SKILLET! To avoid this, you may have to do this in batches.  If you do it in batches, use water to deglaze the skillet in between batches or else the little pieces of chicken and garlic that stick will burn before you are done!

You're more or less done at this point. But here's my favorite part!

Lay some of the chicken strips on the tortillas, sprinkle on the cheese, and stick it under the broiler until the cheese is melted and the tortilla is slightly crunchy.

Mmmmm... melted cheese :)

Add your toppings, and you're good to go!! Enjoy!

Delightful Slow Cooker Beef

Happy winter, blog readers! To help you make it through these cold days, I thought I would provide you with a good, stick to your ribs, slow cooker beef dinner!

Yes, it IS as tasty as it looks!

This was a SUPER easy dinner - and the beauty of the slow cooker meal is that it was almost all ready for me to eat when I got home from work today!
Well,
almost. :)


If you are looking for an easy way to eat hearty and stay warm this winter, this is the meal for you!


(Adapted from the Zesty Cook)
Ingredients:

• 1 beef roast (~4 pounds)
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup red wine (Food network always says to cook with a wine that you would also drink! We used a cabernet)
• White mushrooms (if you want a specific amount, we used 15 and quartered them. But listen to your heart :) And my heart loves mushrooms!)
• Cherry tomatoes (again, for specifics, we used about 10)
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• Thyme (The recipe I found didn't specify an amount, so I pulled the leaves off of about 3 sprigs of fresh thyme)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Cornstarch

Directions:

PART I: IN THE MORNING:

In a large pan with olive oil, on medium high heat, sear all sides of the meat until caramelized.

Place meat in the slow cooker.

Add the mushrooms, tomatoes and garlic. 

Then add the salt and pepper, wine and chicken broth, and then the thyme.

Cover and set on low. Cook for at LEAST 8 hours.

THEN GO DO WHATEVER YOU WANT! 

If I had it my way, I would have spent the 8 hours necessary to properly cook this doing something awesome, like Geocaching... or going to see a movie.

Or napping.

But instead I had to go to work...

After working up an appetite counting pills, it was time to come home to my dinner.

PART 2: AT DINNER TIME:,  

Take out the meat and vegetables and put the sauce in a pan. Bring to a boil and reduce.

Add 2 tablespoons cornstarch to 3 tablespoons of water, mix well, and add to the sauce.

Allow the sauce to thicken and create a (delicious!) gravy.

We served our beef with corn and a baked potato. And of course crusty bread. If you're questioning our use of crusty bread, just keep reading other posts. It goes with EVERYTHING. But really, just do whatever makes you feel good :)

And as always... enjoy!