Don't call me chicken

I love all kinds of soup. Even in the dead of summer, soup is always on my mind, even if I don't make it as often. Soup is a perfect meal to me - veggies, protein, sometimes even diary all in one bowl. It's easy to eat, easy to clean up after, and always so satisfying. I'm always on the look out for new soups, stews and chili's and this new addition to my repertoire is a keeper!

I think I'm lucky that my husband also considers soup to be a complete meal. I've often heard people complain that their family or spouse would object if "all" they served were soup for dinner, but we have no such issue at my house. Particularly when it's one like this - thick with chicken and beans and with a creamy, warm and spicy flavor. And it's healthy for us too!

And as much as soup is a meal to me, it's even better with some fresh bread. This cheesy quick bread is an old recipe from my mom that has been showing up on some other blogs lately - and that makes me so happy. It's really awesome to see something you love making others happy too! The bread was even better this time around because I replaced the cheddar with asiago and sprinkled a bit on the top too for extra flavor - both suggestions from others who've made it. It's great to see how others can make a favorite even better!

White Chicken Chili
Adapted from Annie's Eats

1lb chicken breast, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1 medium onion, diced
1 Tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chicken broth
2 (15.5 oz) cans Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes (I used the Hunts Petite Diced with Green Chilies)
2 (4 oz) cans diced green chilies
1 tsp salt
1/2 Tbs cumin
1/2 Tbs chili powder
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne powder
12oz reduced fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup skim milk

In a large dutch oven or soup pot, saute the chicken and onion in the olive oil. Cook until the chicken has lost it's pink color and the onion is softened. Add the minced garlic and cook with the chicken and onions for a few minutes, until it begins to soften.

Add the chicken broth to the pan and stir to deglaze, making sure to get up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add in the beans, tomatoes and chilies, stirring to combine. Add the seasonings and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat and keep it at a slow simmer, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes.

In a blender, combine the cottage cheese and milk until you have a completely smooth, creamy mixture. Remove the soup from the heat and add in the dairy, stirring to combine. The heat of the soup will bring up the temperature of the cream mixture. Serve immediately. If you don't have the cottage cheese, you can use sour cream.

Makes 5 dinner-sized portions.

Nutrition Information:
Calories: 365
Fat: 6.5 g
Carbs: 35.2 g
Fiber: 9.4 g
Protein: 41.4 g

Four and Twenty Black Birds...

I feel like that is about the only thing I haven't baked in a pie crust this week. Between dumplings, a quick trip to the freezer for some chicken pot pie filling that I baked off with fresh crust for dinner and this little number, I've been mad over pie crust. I guess it's like anything new you discover you can do - you start using it everywhere. When you've got a shiny new hammer, all the world looks like a nail.

So I made my first "real" pie crust today. I say real because it required rolling out large enough for an entire 9" pie pan. And it didn't involve a stabilizer like the yummy cream cheese crust I'd been using. Or sour cream like the mulit-step crust from that fabulous galette the other day. This was your basic flour, butter and ice water crust. And I think it was just about perfect. Everybody and their mother raves about Martha's Pate Brisee and they are right. Simple and prefect. And easily halved for applications like this quiche. And practice really does breed confidence - I've rolled out enough dough lately that I've figured out how to not ruin it's tenderness by adding tons of flour, and how to get it to a fairly even thickness. This crust was far from exactly perfect looking (thank god I'm a "rustic" cook and happy about it) but it wasn't too shabby. It it really tasted great too. I made mine savory by omitting the sugar and adding some white pepper to it as well.

Clearly I'm getting ready for fall with soups and baked apples, but my garden is giving a last gasp of produce and I had a basket full of cherry and roma tomatoes today, in varying stages of about to go bad before they were used. I'm sauced out, and the hubs had actually asked me the other day "when do we get another one of those roasted veggie pie things?" When a man asks for quiche, he gets quiche! Plus I had some leftover cream cheese and shredded asiago to use up too.

One other trick to this pie that I learned from Martha. I saw her making a tomato tart earlier this summer and they suggested spreading the crust with roasted garlic. The garlic paste acts as a moisture barrier and helps keep the crust from getting soggy from the eggs and veggies while it cooks. It also adds a great dimension to the roasted tomatoes. Inspired!

Tomato and Asiago Quiche
Mollie's Collection

1 9" pie crust
3-4 pints of mixed tomatoes (grape, cherry & roma are all nice, as are all kinds of heirloom)
4-6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
olive oil
kosher salt
several large handfuls raw baby spinach
4-6 leaves of basil, ciffonade
4oz cream cheese, softened to room temp
5 eggs (you may need less - my pie plate is kind of deep)
1/2-2/3 cups milk or cream
1/2-3/4 cup shredded asiago cheese

Halve your tomatoes and spread in a single layer, cut sides up on a baking sheet. Add the garlic cloves to the baking sheet and sprinkle everything with olive oil and kosher salt. Place in a 400 degree oven for about 30-35 minutes (less if the tomatoes are very small) until they begin to shrivel up a little. Set aside to cool.

Line a 9" pie pan with your crust and crimp the edges as desired. Squeeze the garlic out of the skin around each clove and spread it all over the inside of the crust. Next, take your spinach and give it a rough chop. Spread in an even layer on top of the crust, and add in the basil as well. Next layer in all of your roasted tomatoes.

In a blender, mix together the softened cream cheese, the eggs and the milk. Mix well to combine into a smooth mixture. Gently mix in the cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables and bake at 400 for about 25 minutes, or until the crust is browned and the middle of the quiche is set. Let rest at least 40 minutes before slicing and serving.

Kona likes quiche too.
"What? I'm not touching it... yet..."

Apple Dumplin'

I'm giving in to the season... it's time for baked apples! I'm not much for pies... particularly in a two-person household, a pie is a lot of food. And while you can always give baked goods away, pies in particular don't travel all that well, and even less well in pieces. So I decided to whip up some individual apple desserts in these little dumplings.

I must say that I am feeling a lot more confident with pastry crust these days. It's amazing how just jumping in and trying things makes you realize how silly you were to avoid them in the past. For this one I went back to the crust we've loved most, the cream cheese pastry crust that adorns the best chicken pot pie you'll ever taste. I had to change it up just a little tho - no pepper in these dumplings! But the crust took to a sweet application beautifully and comes together in a flash without being at all fussy.

Another thing I liked about these dumplings is the fact that it fit my kitchen. You see, I actually have a pretty large kitchen but still manage to have almost no usable counter space. Drives me nuts. But with the dumplings, I could roll out a small amount of dough at a time for each dumpling and it worked very well. I also figured out that you can make these in advance and bake them off when you're ready. I stored mine in the fridge for about 8 hours before we baked them and they turned out perfectly. I had extra dough so you could probably get 6 dumplings out of the recipe if you upped the number of apples, but below I've listed what I did this time.

Apple Dumplings
Mollie's Collection

For the Filling
2 large or 3 medium granny smith apples
Juice of one small orange
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

For the Crust
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3 cups AP flour
10oz cream cheese, cut into large pieces (I use reduced fat)
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
egg white & sugar for sprinkling (turbanado would be great, regular is fine)

Peel the apples and cut them into a large dice, about 3/4 inch pieces. Toss the pieces immediately with the orange juice to prevent browning. Add the remaining ingredients and toss to mix well.

To make the crust, place the butter and flour in your food processor fitted with the metal blade and pulse until you have a mixture resembling coarse crumbs. Add remaining ingredients and mix until a ball forms.

Working with a handful of the dough at a time, roll it out on a lightly floured surface (don't add too much flour) to a 1/4 inch thickness. You'll need a piece big enough to cut out a square about 6 inches one each side. Cut the square out of your dough and set the scraps aside to roll into the next dumpling crust.

Carefully scoop about 1/2 a cup of the apple mixture into the middle of your pastry square, making sure you get a bit of the syrup that will have formed in the bottom of the bowl. Wet all the edges of your square with some egg white and bring two of the corners together, pressing the seam tightly to seal. Repeat with remaining corners until you get a square dumpling. Cut a small vent in each side of the dumpling and place in a buttered glass or ceramic baking dish.

At this point you can refrigerate for up to one day, covered with plastic wrap. When ready to bake, brush the tops of each dumpling with egg white and sprinkle liberally with sugar. Bake at 325 for about 30 minutes, until apples are tender and the crust is golden brown. Let cool for at least 20 minutes before serving. Fantastic with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

My Big Fat Greek Dinner

I'm not Greek, but sometimes I think I was meant to be. I love Greek food. Growing up there was a fantastic Greek diner in my town - and I mean old school diner. Steam table buffet at lunch, table service after 5pm only, and every crazy Parthenon inspired cheesy faux temple architectural detail you can imagine. Even big, fake, back lit, plastic "stained glass" windows with Greek dancers in fez's on them. Every cliche in the Greek banquet hall from My Big Fat Greek Wedding? This place had it all. And as a kid, man did I love very inch of it. I wanted our whole HOUSE to be as cool as this place. And to top it off they set plates of cheese on FIRE. Opa! indeed.

My dad used to order their salad with extra feta to start his dinner. This was basically a saucer with a few pieces of iceberg lettuce topped with about 6 kinds of olives, a huge slab of feta, topped with an amazing home made Greek dressing and a pile of pita along side. The idea makes me drool to this day. Plates of dolmathes, spanakopita, the big rotisserie of lamb for gyros (and if you say "JI-row" just leave now), tzatziki sauce, souvlaki, fresh homemade pita.... how can you not love this stuff? And pastitsio was always my favorite. Noodles, meat, and that creamy, dreamy bechamel....

It had been a LONG time since I'd had decent Greek food before I found this recipe. Most of the Greek diners I found served mostly pizza with the odd gyros or Greek salad thrown in. I'd occasionally find pastitsio or mousaka, but it was never what I remembered. This stuff is the real deal, I'm telling you. And it should be. It comes from a real Greek Yiayia. Elly's Greek Yiayia to be exact and this is a lady who knows what she's doing. I love Elly's blog and you've seen plenty of ideas from her here before, but if I learned nothing else from her but this recipe, she'd still be one of my favorites. It's outstanding.

I'll just direct you to her recipe since I follow it pretty exactly. But here are a few tips I've picked up after making it several times now.

1 - The meat sauce is very thick - the can of tomato paste called for is the small 8oz can. It seems like a small amount for all that meat, but it's all you need. You also may just want to sit in the middle of your kitchen floor and eat this with a spoon and never get around to making the pastitsio.

2 - I don't add the parsley or diced tomatoes, and I use ground cloves and allspice - about 1/2 tsp each.

3 - I have a hard time finding the Greek cheeses and usually just sub with all romano or pecorino romano. Still tastes great.

4 - When you're ready to do the noodle and bechemel layers, get everything prepped and measured out before you start. Things start to go fast when you're at that point and it will really help you out.

5 - I always just do one layer of noodles, then all the beef, then the bechemel. This is how I remember it growing up, and even tho Elly's Yiayia does 2 layers of noodles, I figure a single layer is fine. And it does make the layering easier.

If you've never had pastitsio, please try this today. I've always thought that this is the type of dish that if you took it to a school potluck anywhere, everyone would devour it and ask you for the recipe. Whereas if you said "We're having Pastitsio" you'd get a look of doubt and resignation like the one that crossed my husband's face the first time I told him we were having this. Don't let the name scare you. It's just freaking good no matter what language. And my Italian husband did give me a huge compliment after he tried it. He told me "This is the best Italian food you've ever made."

She's got legs...

Let me just say I didn't want to like this chicken. I was over it. Everybody under the sun had made it and raved and it was on a million blogs. I mean, really, how good could it be? I'm sure it was fine, and I liked the idea of yogurt, but I wasn't going to love it and I certainly wasn't going to blog about it. But it's the best freaking oven "fried" chicken I've ever had.

I think I may be finally discovering what my blog is about. I've been blogging away for over a year now, but was never entirely sure exactly what my focus was. It was a place to keep track of things I did. A way to share them with people. I kind of wanted to eat better and healthier. But I'm not into everything low fat low carb low fun every single day. And I've realized that what gets me really excited are things that are fantastic and just happen to be pretty good for you. With a healthy dose of "oh Christ this is so good I don't care if I gain 40 lbs and a fatty tumor from it." I've always said that I believe in everything in moderation... including moderation. Life is to short to not just freaking go for whatever you want from time to time.

This one falls in that ever elusive category of so freaking good but still not bad for you. The original took a great idea of using yogurt with chicken, but it didn't let the yogurt work it's magic as a marinade, and it added gobs of butter to totally negate all that healthy yogurt. I made this dish that way once. And it was good. I gotta say tho, my modified version, is, in my opinion, even better. I also made some changes to the coating - because frankly, I don't always have panko around. But thanks to my current obsession with these "oh Christ this is so good" blondies, I always have plenty of rice krispies around.

And the reason there's only one sad picture of a single pathetic leg up there? I made these for a hungry crowd of football watchers and figured, eh, I'll take pictures of the leftovers. Yeah. That sad little leg was it. But it still tasted freaking good when I ate it for breakfast after I took the picture.

Oven Fried Chicken with Yogurt
Adapted from Pioneer Woman's Crispy Yogurt Chicken

Note: The quantities are loose on this - you can expand or contract it at will, and adjust it to what you have on hand.

Chicken parts of your choice - I love the legs and they can be found on sale cheap too
1-2 cups fat free plain yogurt
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
juice of one lemon
2 cups (or so) of Rice Krispies or Special K cereal (something rice based and puffy)
1 cup (or so) bread crumbs (I like seasoned, you can use anything)
Salt & Pepper
Cayenne Pepper

Mix the yogurt, garlic and lemon together and toss your chicken with it to get it all coated. Let marinate for several hours (but if you have no time, you can skip the marinating and just move on to breading).

Crush the cereal in a food processor or blender. When you have crumbs, add the bread crumbs and season with salt, pepper & cayenne to taste. If you're out of cereal or crumbs, you can use all of one or the other, but the combo is nice and I really love the texture of the cereal in the final product so I'd be more inclined to use all cereal. Roll the chicken in the coating and get a good thick coating on each piece.

Place the pieces on a baking sheet lined with foil. I have found that the Reynolds non-stick foil works really really well for this and makes things nice and crispy. If you don't have it, just spray your regular foil with cooking spray. Spray the tops of the chicken lightly with cooking spray or an olive oil mister. Bake at 350 until cooked through and the coating is browned and crisp, about an hour for bone-in pieces, 30-45 minutes for boneless.

The combination of the release foil and just a touch of spray on the breading gives you a super crisp crust, without any added fat.

Punkin'!

I keep saying I don't like things or don't do things, but then I turn around and prove myself wrong. I must not know myself very well, but I guess that's ok. Sometimes it's good to learn new things about yourself and challenge your preconceptions. But what I do know is that while you still won't catch my attention with a piece of pumpkin pie, these little beauties ROCK.

The recipe is from Cara, a girl who really knows her pumpkin! She uses this superfood in ways I never could have imagined. And I'm starting to come around the the wonders of pumpkin and other winter squashes. Combine pumpkin with cheesecake and a super rich and dark brownie and it's hard to go wrong. These are RICH, and a little piece is all you need to keep you going, but they are a great fall flavor combination and they look really cool too. And isn't that what it's all about, really?


Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake Swirl Brownies
From Cara's Cravings

Brownie Batter
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon (note: this is reduced from the original)
1 Tbs instant espresso powder (note: not in the original)

Cheesecake Batter
6 oz cream cheese, softened (note: I used reduced fat)
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp flour
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp each ground ginger and ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8x8" square metal baking pan.

For the Brownies
Beat together melted butter, sugar, and vanilla, then beat in eggs one at a time. Combine dry ingredients and then gradually stir into butter mixture by hand.

For the Cheesecake
In a separate bowl, beat together all ingredients.

To assemble
Spread about 2/3 of chocolate batter into prepared pan. Spread the pumpkin batter over it, distributing evenly. Drop the remaining brownie batter over cheesecake batter. To make the swirls, run a butter knife back and forth through the pan - don't be afraid to go all the way to the bottom of the pan like I didn't on this batch!

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until center is set. Cool completely and chill before cutting and serving.

I'm not obsessed, really...

Ok, I promise, I'm really going to shut up about the corn soon. I promise, really. I've just been fascinated by the growing process and the somewhat limited but still incredibly tasty results we achieved. So I told you all about corn sex, and how each and every silk needs to hook up with a piece of pollen to make each and every kernel. Well, when only a few rogue silks (wow this is sounding dirty) make their way to the mating grounds, this is what happens. Wacky huh?

So my whole corn experiment yielded only 5 usable ears. From 24 plants. I had ears on every stalk but a lot didn't fertilize, or yielded so few kernels they weren't good for much. But I still agree with my earlier assessment that even one mouthful of truly fresh corn is worth it! So discounting what turned out to be the best ear of the harvest that I ate raw straight from the garden the other day, I had 4 little lovelies to turn into something.

Soup! I love soup. Stew. Chowder. Bisque. Broths. Consummes. Bring it on. In my trip down nostalgia lane with my Cottage Cheese Onion Dill Bread yesterday I started to think about the soup my mom would make every fall to go with that fabulous stuff. Potato Leak. Now, honestly, my mom's soup was just ok. It was kind of just leak, potato, milk and cream, seasoned with salt & pepper. Which is hard to go to wrong with, true. But I knew it could be taken to new levels. So starting with this corn chowder I made last fall, and the fabulous new cream-replacement trick I used in my fettuccine alfredo, I was off.

So before I shut up about the corn, let me just pass along a tip for any of you that are gathering the last of the harvest. This method for removing the kernels from the cob is the prefect first step for freezing. Well, it's actually the only step. You can do this, pop it in a baggie and freeze for soups all winter long. Yum. So moving clockwise from the upper left, I saw this trick on Rachel Ray (I know, gag, whatever, but it's a good tip). Set a small bowl inside a bigger one (make sure the bigger one is kind of shallow) and use it as a secure base for the end of your cob. Slice down all sides to remove the kernels. You'll see there's still parts of the kernel left in the socket at this point, along with a ton of great, tasty, sweet corn milk. So here's what you do - you run the back of your knife along the cob to squeeze out the last bits of goodness. And there you have it, corn ready for freezing, cooking, or simply spooning right into your mouth.

This chowder rocked. Pancetta - rules. Fresh sweet corn - amazing. Potato & leek - foods from the gods. Peppery kick - perfection. And a better-than-cream substitute for cream that brings this sucker in under 300 calories for a huge bowl? It should be a crime. I wouldn't lie to you. Sometimes things are "fine" when you make them healthier. And I'm ok with that. This wasn't fine. This was fantastic, and honestly better than versions of chowders I've made with heavy cream. It's thicker and has an amazing body and tang. It's just a fantastic dish that happens to be good for you. Bonus.

Potato, Leek & Corn Chowder
Mollie's Collection

6oz pancetta (or thick cut bacon) - cut into cubes
1 Tbs olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 large leaks, sliced (white parts and the ends of the greens only)
3-4 Tbs flour
5 cups (give or take) low sodium fat free broth or water
1 lb yukon gold potatoes, skins on, cut into bite sized pieces
1 cup fresh sweet corn (plus the cobs if desired - see instructions below) - frozen will work too
kosher salt
ground white pepper
crushed red pepper flakes
16oz container reduced fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup skim milk

A note on leeks - they are notoriously sandy, so place them in a bowl of cold water and do several water changes after slicing to get out any grit.

In the bottom of a dutch oven, heat the oil and cook the pancetta until all the fat starts to render out. Add in the garlic and leek and cook in the oil and pancetta fat until the leek just starts to get a little bit tender. When the leek is tender and the pancetta is getting crisp, add in the flour, a Tbs at a time, and whisk vigorously to combine it with the fat, making sure you don't get lumps. Cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly, for about a minute to cook off the raw flour taste. The amount of flour will vary depending on the fat content of your pancetta, but you want a very tight paste to form.

When the flour has had a chance to cook off, add in the broth/water a little at a time, continuing to whisk so you avoid lumps. Once all the broth is in, make sure you scrape up any bits still stuck to the bottom of the pan and bring to a simmer. Add in the potatoes and the corn, and return to a simmer. If desired, you can also add in the corn cobs at this step and simmer them with the potatoes to add more sweetness to the broth. Simmer gently for about 25-30 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Remove the cobs from the pot and season with the salt, white pepper and red pepper flakes to taste.

While the potatoes are cooking, combine the cottage cheese and milk in a blender and puree until totally smooth. You may need to adjust the amount of milk, but you just want enough to let the mixture blend. You are creating a very thick, creamy mixture that will be almost like soft peak whipped cream when you're done.

Reduce the heat to low and stir in the cottage cheese mixture. Stir well to combine, heating until it is just hot - don't boil the mixture after the dairy is added. Check for seasonings - I like a nice peppery bite, but that is up to you. Serves 6 dinner sized portions.

This also reheats well - often cream soups can separate when reheating, but this one held up very well.

Nutrition Information
Calories: 300
Fat: 12.4 g
Carbs: 31.1 g
Fiber: 3.0 g
Protein: 18.8 g

Proust had his Madelines

Me? I've got cottage cheese onion dill bread. And I have to say, I'm pretty freaking proud of how it turned out - my first loaf of yeast bread and my first braided bread. Ain't she purdy?

Growing up, one of the things my family loved to do was ride our bikes down to the fantastic Ann Arbor Farmers Market, right in the heart of the Kerrytown Shops. This mecca of food and shops was always one of my favorite parts of town, filled with unique gifts and clothes, a fantastic cooks shop that did demonstrations, a huge, fantastic, year round farmers market, one of the best fish markets I've ever seen and the historic and delicious Zingerman's Deli. Some of the shops have changed since my day, but by all accounts it's still a foodie destination nonpareil. I think in my heart of hearts I was always a foodie, what with my farming roots and a family that appreciated hand crafted foods and the freshest of ingredients. And one of the artisanal food products we loved were the breads of the Mill Pond Bakery.

The Mill Pond Bakery made lots of magic stuff, including an apple turnover so good my dad would buy one on the way into the market to eat while he walked, and other on the way out to eat when he got home. And they made this Cottage Cheese Onion Dill bread that was unlike anything else I'd known. Sweet, savory, soft, with a shiny eggy crust. I haven't been back to Ann Arbor in years now, but the minute I saw this post from Peabody I was taken back. I thought I'd never have this bread again, and while it has taken me some time to get around to making it, it was well worth it. This is the prefect compliment to soups and chowders (tune in in a few days for the potato leak soup we ate it with tonight) and a fun, easy bread, even for beginners.

I made a few changes to the recipe. I used a little more cottage cheese than called for because I had it to use up. I also used more dill because I like it, and dried onion because, well, it was easier. I also ended up using far less flour than directed - more like a scant 5 cups. The biggest change I made was to the shape. The Mill Pond always made their dill bread in a braid so I wanted to give that a shot, and it had that shiny crust so I gave mine an egg wash. Many thanks to Bridget for her tips on converting a loaf to a braid, found here. This dough was really easy to work with - the original instructions warned of it being very sticky and soft, which it was, but once it sat in the oiled bowl for the first rise it was easy to work with. With just the light coating of oil my hands got while punching it down I could handle it easily.

It was heaven, and just what I was remembering and craving. The crumb is smooth and soft and the crust was exactly what I remember. I'm so happy to have discovered it so I can again relive those great days of going to the market with my family. I also can't freaking believe that this bread wasn't on my list of things to make, so I'm making it honorary number 101. And it's even low fat!

If you're interested in a quick version of dill bread, I made this one about a year ago. It was also a family favorite from my mom and always takes me back to the comforts of home.


Cottage Cheese Onion Dill Bread
Adapted from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

2 TBSP active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water(110F)
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese(I used reduced fat), at room temperature
2 TBSP granulated sugar
2 heaping TBSP dried chopped onion
2 TBSP fresh dill, minced
1 TBSP salt
¼ tsp baking soda
1 whole egg + 1 egg yolk (plus another egg reserved for the egg wash, if desired)
2 tsp olive oil
5-6 ½ cups Better for Bread Flour (or all-purpose - or what I did, which is mix a ratio of 1 part bread flour to 2 parts AP flour)

Dissolve yeast in the warm water at the bottom of the mixing bowl of your stand mixer. Let sit for about 5 minutes until it becomes creamy in color.

Add all the remaining ingredients except the flour and egg for the egg wash and mix well.

Attach the dough hook to the mixer. Add flour 1 cup at a time until you have a soft dough. Knead bread for 5 minutes. If you are doing it by hand, knead for about 8 minutes.

Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place. Let rise until dough has doubled, about 1 ½ hours.

When dough has doubled, punch it down and remove it from the bowl. On a clean work surface, divide the dough into 3 equal pieces and roll each one into a strand about 16" long. Braid the three pieces, pinching the ends together and tucking them under the loaf. Place on a parchment covered baking sheet or baking stone, cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap and let rest about one hour in a warm place.

Preheat your oven to 350. Before baking, mix one egg with a splash of water. Brush this over the entire crust and bake the loaf for 25 minutes, then cover with a loose tent of aluminum foil to prevent over browning, and bake another 5-10 minutes longer. Let cool for 5 minutes and then remove from the baking sheet and continue to cool on a rack. Yields 16 servings.

Nutrition Information
Calories: 187
Fat: 3.1 g
Carbs: 32.7 g
Fiber: 1.2 g
Protein: 6.4 g

Chicken & Beer

Now that I've gotten over my fear of roasting a whole chicken, I'm pretty obsessed with cooking things on the bone. You don't even realize the flavor you're missing with all those boneless, skinless chicken breasts we've all made over the years. I clearly haven't abandoned the ease of the boneless breasts, but a whole chicken is where it's at for flavor. And not only is the flavor great, but it's a pretty economical thing to make too - you get a meal off the chicken the first night, plenty of leftovers for lunches or at least one more meal, and then you have bones for stock. It's a win all around.

In an effort to expand the cooking on the bone theme, and to avoid heating up the kitchen on these lingering warm days at the end of summer I tried my hand at a beer butt chicken. It's a very elegant name, isn't it? Makes you think of refined late summer garden parties, no?

Naming aside, it's a great, easy, extremely flavorful way to cook a chicken and I highly recommend it. You can flavor it however you like, but the method is as easy as 1-2-3.

1 - Assemble your Beer Delivery Mechanism
You need an open can of beer, about half full - it doesn't matter what kind. I actually grabbed a leftover Coors from a party for this one. I never drink Coors, but it has a slightly smaller diameter can that works well for this application. But anything will do. The make all kinds of fancy beer can chicken holders these days, but I didn't have one. What I did have was my round grill pan that I repurposed here as a way to get the chicken on and off the grill more easily. This way I could lift the chicken on and off the grill with the handles. But if you don't have anything like this, just set it directly on the grill and use two pairs of tongs to get it back off the hot surface when cooked.

2 - Season & Mount
You've got to use liberal amounts of kosher salt, freshly ground pepper, and olive oil. Beyond that you can use whatever seasoning you want. I used the fantastic blend of Northwoods Seasoning from Penzeys. Really great flavor. Be very liberal - I used at least a Tbs or two each of the salt & pepper, and 2-3 Tbs of the seasoning. Get it inside and outside the chicken. Next time I would also lift the skin and get some under that skin over the breast and back. Once it's seasoned, you want to place the end opening of your raw chicken over the beer can, and use it, along with the legs, as a tripod to support the chicken upright.


3 - Grill it Baby!
Then, get your grill to medium heat. You want indirect heat, so on my gas grill, I turned on the right and left burners, leaving those directly under the chicken off. With the grill closed I was running a temp of about 325-350. Then, let it go for about 90 minutes or so (for a 4lb chicken), or until the breast reaches 165. When it's done, remove from heat and let it rest 10 minutes or so before serving.


A note about the chicken
I'm all about a bargain. But I also don't mind splurging for something great. And I have to say, an organic chicken is worth it for an application like this. Great flavor and it's really worth investing in a piece of poultry that you're going to get this much mileage out of. So much more flavor, and isn't that what it's all about?

This stuff was so good that the hubs was still raving about it as he picked at the leftovers for days afterwards. It is so juicy you won't believe it. It's so juicy that it might just drip out the bottom of your grill and overflow your drip pan. And if you happen to leave your dog outside while this cooking and dripping goes on, this could be your fate:

The goof ball had to have a bath because he stuck his head under the grill to lick up the juices while hot grease dripped on his head. But hey, at least we knew it was good stuff!

Pimpin' ain't easy

I may be a corn pimp, but I'm not a very good one.

Well, ok, I sort of take that back. The full results are not yet in, but in today's garden roundup I have the first sampling of our sweet corn. The good news is that my corn sex experiments were somewhat fruitful resulting in very sweet corn that tastes fresh from the field just like I remember growing up. The bad news is that we had some stunted growth and development. One side of my short little cob was perfect. The other side was a little sad. But hey, it was all worth it for the corn snob to get her truly fresh from the field corn this season! The grandparents would be proud I think - even in these suckers could never be sold at market.

Other exciting developments are happening in the squash family. The first butternut squash are ripe and being used in the kitchen. And the pumpkins are taking over. We have one vine climbing up the pine trees (with several blossoms and even one fruit starting!), several green pumpkins about to go orange, and that little sucker in the lower right? He's sprung up in the compost pile where we threw out the pumpkins we had on our porch last year. I love recycling.

And of course, the tomatoes are giving forth in their end of season burst of ripeness. If you need any ideas to use up yours, just click on the links. The garden is getting weedy and leggy (because the gardener is getting lazy), but it keeps on giving, particularly my herbs. I'd badly neglected them, but realized I had plenty of basil poking through the weeds for a quick batch of pesto for the freezer as well. I just whir up some garlic, salt, pepper, any kind of nut you desire, the basil and olive oil to desired consistency before freezing - wait to add any cheese until you're heating it to serve.

Enjoy the produce while it lasts!

Squish Squash

I've never really been excited about butternut squash. Or any winter squash really. It's a texture thing. They often have that mealy stringy quality. An they are often served with heavy sugary syrups and toasted marshmallows on top. I don't want marshmallows on anything that isn't a s'more so that was out. But I think I've learned that roasting almost any veggie, no matter how much I think I didn't like it, transforms it into something magic. And if you wrap it in a pie crust and throw in some goat cheese, life is sweet.

I planted a butternut squash plant this year in the garden since the hubs likes it. Now that they are getting ripe I had to do something with the suckers, preferably something I would enjoy as well. I've been dreaming of a butternut squash ravioli, but as I don't have a pasta roller this would require a trip to visit my mother-in-law and that wasn't in the cards this week (but I promise it will be soon!). Thankfully, the blogs where there for me. When reading Smitten Kitchen's recent post on fruit hand pies, I stumbled on a link to a post of Deb's from last fall for a butternut squash galette. It was like the clouds parted and the church bells began to ring. I had to have it.

I followed the recipe pretty faithfully, particularly the crust. I actually have made a pie crust before, even tho it was on my list of things to try. I made one years ago and all I really remember were tears and cursing. And I did make the fantabulous cream cheese pie crust from my favorite pot pie. But this was a fabulous crust that could go savory or sweet, and while I'm not usually much for recipes with lots of steps and waiting and planning ahead, this was fantastic and totally worth it. And as it had the unique twist of adding sour cream, I think I've decided that the secret to great crust is the addition of high fat dairy products. Bonus.

So not only was this a fantastic dish that blew my mind, it was also a chance to knock off #66 from my list. And I'm just a hop, skip and a jump away from crossing off a fruit galette - end of season nectarines anyone?

Butternut Squash, Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Galette
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

For the pastry:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into
pieces
1/4 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup ice water

For the filling:
1 small butternut squash
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs
1 large vidalia onion, halved and thinly sliced in half-moons
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of sugar
1/4 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
3-4oz crumbled goat cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage leaves

For the Pastry:

In a bowl, combine the flour and salt. Place the butter in another bowl. Place both bowls & your pastry cutter in the freezer for 1 hour. Remove the bowls from the freezer and, using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, lemon juice and water and add half of this mixture to the flour/butter. With your fingertips, mix in the liquid until large lumps form. Remove the large lumps and repeat with the remaining liquid and flour/butter. Pat the lumps into a ball; do not overwork the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

For the Filling:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Peel squash, then halve and scoop out seeds. Cut into a 1/2-inch dice. Toss pieces with olive oil and a half-teaspoon of the salt and roast on foil lined sheet for 30 minutes or until pieces are tender. Cool before combining.

While squash is roasting, melt butter in a skillet and cook onion over medium heat with the remaining half-teaspoon of salt and pinch of sugar, stirring occasionally, until soft and lightly golden brown, about 20 minutes. Stir in cayenne.

Set oven temperature to 400 degrees. Mix squash, caramelized onions, goat cheese and sage together in a bowl.

On a floured work surface, roll the dough out into a 12-inch round. Transfer to a parchment lined ungreased baking sheet. Spread squash, onions, cheese and herb mixture over the dough, leaving a wide margin. Fold the bare edges up over the filling, leaving the center open.

Bake until golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven, let stand for 5 minutes, then slide the galette onto a serving plate. Cut into wedges and serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

Special Thanks to the Smitten Kitchen for the layout ideas too - makes the process pictures much easier to fit in!