The Charmed Kitchen

Whole Wheat Swiss Bread

I decided to post this recipe after I read a friend’s post earlier today. She was wondering how to make bread when you don’t have a large block of time to be home waiting for rising and more rising and then baking. Here is a recipe that might help her out. The dough is prepared, rested for a bit, shaped and then popped in the fridge to rise. It can be baked several hours later or even the next day. You can prep it in the evening- let it rise in the fridge overnight- and bake it in the morning. It is also a wonderful whole wheat bread with Swiss cheese melted in the dough.

Whole Wheat Swiss Bread

3 c. flour

2 ½ -3 c. whole wheat flour

2 packages active dry yeast

2 T. sugar

2 t. salt

1 c. each milk and water

4 oz. diced Swiss cheese

3 T. butter or margarine

Oil

Combine 2 cups of the flour with the yeast, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Heat together water and milk with cheese and butter until warm, cheese does not have to melt. Add to flour mixture and beat 3 minutes. Stir in remaining white flour and beat 2 minutes. Stir in enough whole wheat flour to make a soft dough.  Knead on floured surface until smooth and elastic. Cover with bowl and let rest 20 minutes. Divide dough in half and shape into loaves by rolling out and then rolling into a loaf and sealing seams. Place in greased 8×4 inch loaf pans and brush with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge. Chill 2 –24 hours. Remove from fridge and remove plastic wrap allowing to stand while oven preheats. Bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes. Remove from pans and brush with butter. Cool. Makes 2 loaves.

Red Grape Crumble

When you think of crumbles, cobblers and the like what fruit comes to mind? Apples? Peaches? Grapes actually work great in these dishes. If you haven’t tried them this way maybe this recipe will change your mind.

Red Grape Crumble

5-6 cups stemmed seedless grapes, rinsed and drained

1/2 c. sugar

2 T. flour

2 t. cinnamon

1 1/2 c. rolled oats

1 c. flour

1/3 c. brown sugar

2 t. cinnamon

pinch of salt

1 stick ( 4 oz.) butter

Combine grapes in a mixing bowl with sugar and 2 tablespoons of flour and cinnamon. Toss to coat and place in a 6 cup baking dish.  In another bowl combine oats, flour, brown sugar cinnamon and salt and stir to combine. Add butter and use your hands to break up the butter and combine it with the dry ingredients. Mixture should be crumbly. Spoon it over the grape mixture. The baking dish will seem too full- but the mixture cooks down a lot so don’t worry. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 35 minutes or until topping is golden brown and grape mixture is bubbly. Serve warm or cold  topped with whipped cream or ice cream, if you like. Serves 5-6.

Toss grapes with sugar, flour and cinnamon

Top grapes with the oatmeal mixture

Cook until grapes are bubbly and topping is golden brown

Serve plain or with whipped cream or ice cream

Mini Marshmallow Roast

Who doesn’t love roasting marshmallows? I certainly do. Many fond childhood memories of wrapping up a family picnic with roasting marshmallows over dwindling coals. Still, sometimes you just don’t have a campfire available or Mother Nature gives you a soggy day. The good news- you can have a marshmallow roast any time you like. Even indoors if you like.  The trick is to use mini marshmallows, toothpicks or bamboo skewers and a candle. You can pretty much have toasted marshmallows any day of the year. Still haven’t figured out the mini S’mores, though.

Please be sure that if kids are doing this that they have adult supervision at all times.

Smoky Lambsquarters with Tomato

If you have a garden its a pretty good bet you have lambsquarters. It is a plant that tends to sprout up wherever soil has been cultivated. Many consider it a weed. Truth is lambsquarters is a flavorful edible green that is close in taste to spinach. A member of the Goosefoot family of plants it is full of iron, vitamins and minerals. If you have lambsquarters and were going to toss them in the compost pile- I hope you’ll reconsider and give them a taste instead. There is a picture of lambsquarters at the bottom of this post so you can identify it.

Smoky Lambsquarters with Tomato

1 T. olive oil

1 onion, sliced

1 clove garlic, minced- or more

1/2 c. cooked, crumbled bacon

4 c. lambsquarters, rinsed and drained

3-4 c. diced  tomatoes- fresh or canned

1 t. Italian or Tuscan seasoning

salt to taste

hot cooked pasta

cheese- I used mozzarella and Parmesan

In skillet cook onion in oil over high heat until tender. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Add bacon and lambsquarters and mix together. Add tomatoes and reduce heat to medium and bring to a simmer. Add seasonings. Simmer about 10 minutes or until some of the cooking liquid has evaporated.  Adjust seasonings and spoon mixture of hot pasta. Top with cheese of your choice. Serves 2-3

Lambsquarters

Prep by removing large stems.

Cook until lambsquarters are tender.

Spoon over hot pasta.

Pumpkin Bread

I made several batches of Pumpkin Bread last night so the kids in cooking camp today would have something to snack on. They liked it a lot and pretty much ate all 6 loaves. Several of the kids asked for the recipe so here it is.

Pumpkin Bread

1 ¾ c. flour

1 ½ c. sugar

1 t. baking soda

¾ t. salt

½ t. each cinnamon and nutmeg

½ c. butter, softened

2 eggs, beaten

1 c. pumpkin

1/3 c. water

Mix dry ingredients and set aside. Beat together butter and eggs until fluffy. Beat in pumpkin and water until smooth. Stir in dry ingredients until smooth. Pour into a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 60-65 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing from pan and placing on cooling rack.  Wrap in plastic, best served the next day. Freezes well. Makes 1 loaf.

Breakfast- Egg and French Toast Sandwich with Chicken. Made by Mia, Nia and Michael

I was lucky enough today to run a cooking contest with the Beachwood Teen Adventure Camp. This is the third or fourth year and the kids just keep getting better and better. They worked in 4 teams and each team had to make a breakfast, lunch and dinner dish using bread is some way.  I gave them a pantry to work with and they came up with dishes that were creative and pretty tasty. They all worked so hard and while there was one team that won in the end they all had dishes they could be proud of. Here are the winning dishes with the names of the kids who produced them. Did I mention I am really full? Thanks to Pete Conces and special thanks to Michelle and her staff for helping everything to run smoothly.

Lunch: Pasta bowl filled with pasta and a mixed salad with home made dressing. Prepared by: Maia, Angela and Harleigh

Dinner: Chicken Panini with pasta and broccoli tossed with olive oil. Prepared by Arin, Kyra, Cameron and Paul

Lovage

For those of you who want to learn more about herb gardening I will be doing a program at the Bay Village Library on “Getting the Most from Your Herb Garden.” The program is on Monday June 24, 2013  at 7 pm. To register please click on the link below or call the Bay Village Library at  440-871-6392. This is a FREE program!!

Corn and Zucchini Saute

Sometimes the best recipes are the simple ones. With just a few ingredients you can create a great side dish. The combination of corn, zucchini and sweet pepper really works well together. I use fresh, uncooked corn but you can also use cooked corn.

Quick Corn and Zucchini Sauté

2 T.olive oil

2 sweet peppers, seeded and cut into strips

2 medium zucchini, sliced 

2 c. corn kernels cut from cobs, about 4 ears

1 t.  salt

1 t. minced garlic

½ t. Italian seasoning

In oil cook peppers and zucchini until crisp tender, about 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and cook 4 more minutes, or until heated through. Serves 6-8.

Strawberry Crepes

I don’t make crepes that often. Every time I do I wonder why not? I have very fond memories of watching my mother make crepes when I was a little girl. She would add the batter and tilt the pan to get the crepes smooth and thin. She made it look effortless. With a little practice they actually are.  They are easy to make and versatile, too. They can be served for breakfast, brunch or dessert and can be sweet or savory.  These are a slightly sweetened crepe, perfect for a fruit filling. I used strawberries – you can use your imagination to fill them any way you like. There is also a chocolate crepe variation down at the bottom.

Strawberry Crepes

1 recipe dessert crepe batter- see below

2 lbs.fresh strawberries, washed, hulled and sliced

sugar to taste- start with 1/2 cup, then adjust to your taste

1 t. vanilla

1 t. grated orange peel

powdered sugar

whipped cream, optional

Make the crepe batter (recipe below) and cook the crepes. Toss the berries with the sugar, vanilla and orange peel. Place a crepe on your work surface and spoon berries down the middle. Fold up the sides of the crepe and move to serving dish. Repeat with remaining ingredients until you run out of something. I tend to put a lot of the berries in each crepe so I run out of berries and have left over crepes. How much fruit you put in each one is completely up to you and your taste. Dust filled crepes with powdered sugar and top with extra berries- if you have any left. You can also add some whipped cream on the top. I list it as optional- but I really think you’re going to want that whipped cream. Makes about 12 crepes, give or take.

Dessert Crepes

 1 c. flour

4 eggs

1 1/2 c. milk

1 T. sugar

2-T. orange-flavored liqueur or orange juice concentrate

1/4 c. butter, melted and cooled

 Mix all ingredients in blender (except butter) until smooth, scraping sides often. Add butter and blend well. Let stand for 30 minutes before using, or batter can be refrigerated, covered, over night. Beat again, just before using.Heat 6 or 7 inch skillet. Brush with butter or oil and pour in about 2 teaspoons of batter, tipping pan to cover bottom of pan completely with batter. Cook until edges start to brown, turn over and cook until lightly browned (about 2 minutes per side.)Crepes can be made day ahead or even frozen between sheets of waxed paper and frozen.Makes 20.

 Here is a variation you might like.

                                                              Chocolate Crepes

 Add 2-3 T. cocoa to flour and mix well before blending. You will probably need to add 1-2 T. extra milk, but mix first.

Spoon fruit down the middle of the crepe

Fold over the sides

Take a picture quickly before somebody eats it.

Fudge Waffles

These are always popular when I make them for breakfast or brunch. I love them for dessert topped with seasonal berries and whipped cream. You know you want them!! 

Fudge Waffles

 2 eggs, room temperature

1/2 stick butter, melted and cooled 

3/4 c. sugar

1 t. vanilla

1 c. buttermilk

1 c. flour

1/2 c. cocoa

1/2 each baking powder and baking soda

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. salt

1/2 c. chopped nuts, optional

1/2 c. chocolate chips, optional

Beat first three ingredients until light and foamy, about 2 minutes. Stir in vanilla and milk. Beat in dry ingredients just until blended. Stir in nuts and chips. Bake until waffles are cooked through. Makes 4 cups of batter. Serve with whipped or sour cream and fresh fruit.