No Fail French Bread

This bread is DELICIOUS and the recipe makes two big loaves! Totally worth the time. Goes great with a ladies' lunch salad or even for french toast!

Diane's No Fail French Bread (from abountifulkitchen.com)

2 tablespoons dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water

2 cups hot water

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon (yes tablespoon) salt

5 tablespoons vegetable oil

6 cups flour, divided

1 egg, beaten- for glazing bread

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water.

In a separate large bowl combine hot water, sugar, salt, oil and 3 cups of the flour. Stir well.

Add the yeast mixture to the hot water-flour mixture. Mix together with large wooden spoon or paddle attachment.

Add the remaining 3 cups of flour a cup at a time, mixing well after each addition.

After all of the flour is added and mixed in, let sit in bowl for 10 minutes.

When the dough has risen, stir down with a large spoon. If making in a stand mixer, turn the machine on low for a few seconds until the dough is deflated.

Repeat 5 times, every ten minutes, for a total of 60 minutes of rising and then punching down.

Divide the dough in half. Roll each half of dough in a 9x12 rectangle on a floured surface. Roll the dough up like a jelly roll (long way).

Place the dough on a greased baking pan (jelly roll pan), with the seam side down. Both loaves fit on one pan.

Score the bread across the top 3 or 4 times, and brush with beaten egg.

Let rise for 20-30 minutes in warm place.

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes in lower half of oven, until golden brown. Or you may bake at 350 convection for 20 minutes.

Yield 2 large loaves french bread

Tips:

-I make this all of the time in my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. Just use the paddle attachment until you have mixed in the first 3 cups of flour. Then switch to the dough hook to mix in the final 3 cups of flour.

-I often forget the mixing down step (5 times every 10 minutes) and have never had a problem with the bread turning out perfect. Just make sure the bread raises in the bowl until it has almost doubled in size, or for about 45 minutes. Then proceed to the rolling out step.

Sprite Grilled Chicken and Kale Citrus Salad

This Chicken is FABULOUS on its own! Great ladie's lunch salad!

PREP 20 MINS

TOTAL 20 MINS

AUTHOR SI FOSTER, A BOUNTIFUL KITCHEN "Grilled Chicken and kale salad with apricot vinaigrette"

YIELD 10 -12 SERVINGS

Ingredients

• marinade:
• 1 cup (not can) of Sprite or other Lemon Lime soda, not sugar free
• ½ cup soy sauce
• ½ cup canola or vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon crushed garlic or ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon lemon pepper, plus additional for sprinkling on chicken before grilling
• salad:
• 2 chicken breast halves
• 1 bunch of Kale, washed, trim away tough stem, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1- 6-10 oz bag spinach
• 1 pint strawberries, washed and sliced
• 1 pint blackberries or blueberries, washed
• 1 cup Craisins
• 1 cup Cilantro, washed and cut from stem, rough chopped
• 1 avocado, cut into chunks
• 4 oz Gorgonzola cheese (1 small container)
• 1 cup pumpkin seeds
• dressing:
• ¾ cup canola oil
• ⅓ cup orange juice
• ¼ cup white balsamic or cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoons apricot or peach jam or honey about 2 tablespoons honey
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Place the marinade ingredients in a ziplock bag and whisk. Add chicken to bag and place in refrigerator for at least 1-4 hours, or overnight. When ready to grill, remove chicken from bag and discard marinade. Grill over medium heat for about 8 minutes per side. Remove from grill when cooked, let cool and slice chicken against grain. Set on plate and refrigerate until ready to serve.
2. Meanwhile, make the dressing by combining all ingredients in a blender or use an immersion blender to mix well. Refrigerate until ready to assemble salad.
3. To assemble salad, place kale in a large bowl or on a platter. Squeeze fresh lemon over kale and using hands, massage the fresh lemon juice into the kale to break down the fibers in the kale. Gently toss the spinach with the kale. Do not massage the spinach!
4. Arrange the remaining salad ingredients on top of the fresh kale and spinach mixture. Drizzle with prepared dressing and serve remaining dressing on the side of the salad.
5. Serves 6 as a main dish salad, or 10-12 as a side dish.

Notes

Notes:-When serving as a side dish, you may omit the chicken. -The marinade is enough for 6-8 chicken breast halves. -If preparing salad ahead, add avocado and pumpkin seeds to salad, and dress salad just before serving.-I often grill extra chicken, cool ,slice and then use throughout the week in salads, pasta dishes or to throw in grilled tortillas with cheese and then add lettuce for a quick lunch!

Silver Dollar Sugar Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

From: Jaime Pace
 Really Yummy. Silver dollar size is perfect for a couple of delicious bites.

Sour Cream Cookies

1 cup sugar

½ c. butter softened

1 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

2 ⅔ c. flour

½ c. sour cream

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. nutmeg (optional, I don’t add)

Heat oven to 425.  Cream sugar and butter until pebbly. Add vanilla, and egg. Fold in sour cream. Sift together flour, powder, soda, and salt, and add to wet mixture just until mixed.  

Stick one piece of saran wrap to the counter with flecks of water.  You will cover the dough with another piece and roll it between the saran wrap. This way you can add minimal flour to keep the stickiness down and it won’t change the flavor too much.

Spoon about a baseball size of dough onto the plastic wrap, and roll ¼ inch thick.  Cut with 2 in diameter circle cutter, dipped in flour each cut. 12 fit on a sheet. Use left over dough to roll out again with the next dough blog.

Bake 6-8 minutes.  Approx 2-3 dozen cookies. Just until edges and bottom are barely golden brown.

The smaller the cookie the less time you cook them.  If you make super small ones like I do, they only need to cook for 4 min.

Let cool completely before frosting.  

Cream Cheese Frosting (1 batch will frost 1 batch of cookies)

8 oz cream cheese, room temp.

½ c. margarine or butter, softened

2 tsp. vanilla

4 ½ - 4 ¾ cups powdered sugar

Frosting tip:  Put more than you think you should, and then put some more! About a 1:1 ratio of frosting to cookie.

Spread frosting on the cookie and then dip, upside-down into a bowl of Sanding Sugar. Cover frosting completely with sanding sugar. Let sit for frosting to set a bit. To transport you need a tray with a lip of some sort.

Sanding sugar can be purchased online or at ABC Cake Decorating Supplies, 2853 E. Indian School Rd.  Phoenix, Az. 85016