A Love-Hate Relationship

Yesterday I had a baking adventure.  At least that's how I'm trying to look at it.  You see, baking and I have a love-hate relationship.

I love eating baked goods, I hate the mess it creates.

I love smelling the yummy things baking, I hate when dough sticks to everything.

I love a slice of fresh baked bread, I hate letting things rise, I'm too impatient.

I love cooking! Mixing different herbs and spices, experimenting with different dishes (much to my husband's dismay sometimes), and I really like a good piece of steak or anything covered in gravy...brown gravy, cream gravy, chicken gravy.  Yumm! Can you tell I'm pregnant? 

Ok, I digress.....Don't get me wrong, I can bake...cookies, sweet bread, etc.  I usually steer clear if the recipe involves a rolling pin, you know what I'm talking about, that round piece of wood stuck in the bottom drawer of my kitchen.  I mostly reserve the rolling pin for pounding meat since I don't have a meat mallet or crushing crackers for a topping.  My husband knows that I'm baking if he hears me yelling at the dough or sometimes a bad word might escape my lips. I know this is bad, but I'm just being honest and admitting this so you understand the kind of relationship I have with baking.

In the last year or so, I have become more adventurous with baking.  I've made homemade bread, biscuits, dinner rolls, Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls (baking frustration is totally worth these babies! I included a link for the recipe), and pound cake to name a few. Most of these things have turned out, I had a loaf of bread that was still doughy in the middle and something was wrong with the pound cake, I don't know what it was, but I served it to my in-laws and they were more than gracious in eating it and consoling me that its hard to get a pound cake right.

So, yesterday, I attempted making Cinnamon Cherry Bagels and Wheat-Thin Style Crackers.  Now that I'm approaching my 19th week of pregnancy I'm realizing that my stamina is not quite what it was pre-pregnancy.  So I definitely should not have done both of these in one morning (which turned into a baking afternoon as well).  Anyways, it was a success! Both items turned out very yummy and what makes me even more excited is that I could control the ingredients and I knew exactly what was in them!  So whole grains, honey (no refined sugar), and dried fruits. The bagels were interesting, I've never boiled dough before, the the recipe I used (linked above) recommends broiling the bagels in the oven and then boiling them in water, and then baking them.  So as you can see this is a process. The recipe only made 10, so next time I'll make a double recipe and freeze them. See I'm making progress, I said next time. The crackers were super easy and I'll do those again for sure.  I'm glad to say the Lord has given me grace and I was able to keep my cool the whole time in the kitchen!  However I did almost cry when I surveyed my tiny dishwasher-less kitchen.  Let's just say I took a well deserved nap after all that baking and washing.

My next battle to overcome in the kitchen needs to be baking a layered cake and icing it.  I would like to make a cake once in my lifetime that the layers don't crack on me and the icing isn't full of cake crumbs.  We will see.... until then Happy Baking!

Thanksgiving Menu

Thanksgiving with my family seems to be different every year.  The menu is pretty traditional, but my parents have always opened up our home to anyone for the holidays.  I love that about my family.   My sisters and I always had friends over and several were adopted the title "our other daughter" by my dad.

So this year our group will consist of my parents, my sister Mary, my sister Emily and her husband Chase, his parents and grandmother, my aunt, my dad's 2 cousins and their family. So that equals about 16 people.  The more the merrier!

Anyways.....I offered to come up with the menu and do most of the cooking.  I'm pretty sure my mom didn't even think for 30 seconds before saying YES! Soooo, I thought I would share my menu, just in case you need some inspiration. I even gave you links to the recipes I'm using. So hear we go.....

The Bird
Thank goodness my dad is smoking a turkey, so I don't have to worry about the "Main Event"

The GOOD STUFFing
I say the good stuff, because dressing is my favorite part of Thanksgiving. I prefer the white bread version, my dad likes cornbread dressing, so my mom is making the cornbread stuff and my sister is trying a crockpot version of the white bread version.

Green Bean Casserole
No canned stuff here! I'm actually making this from scratch!  I just finished making the cream of mushroom and it is smooth and oh so rich!

Honey Glazed Carrots
I'm not a huge fan of cooked carrots, but these are tooooo yummy. I think they would be a good replacement for sweet potato casserole, that is if you dare to replace sweet potato casserole.

Sweet Potato Casserole
So about that Sweet Potato Casserole...........I'm not making it....either my sis Mary is or someone is bringing it.  Nothing against it....just choosing to let someone else make it.

Mashed Potatoes
Have you ever baked your mashed potatoes? I think this is key to amazing, creamy, melt in your mouth  mashed potatoes. Ok maybe the butter, cream cheese and half and half have something to do with it.  Thank you Pioneer Woman!

Broccoli Salad
This has become a tradition at our family Thanksgivings. This recipe is pretty close to what we make with the exception of the pine nuts.  Plus, don't you feel healthier if you have a dish that's called a "salad".

Cranberry Sauce
So tell me this, do you really like cranberry sauce? I mean I know its tradition, but I'm not crazy about it.  I made this a few years ago, because I just couldn't put a can of what looks like red jello on a plate and call it a dish.  It actually was quite a hit!

Dinner Rolls
Why not?  Don't you have to have at least 3 carbs for the Thanksgiving meal?

And the finale........DESSERT!  We are actually going to be going to my brother-in-law's parent's house for dessert, so I offered to bring this, but really I've just wanted an excuse to make Pumpkin Bread Pudding.  I decided not to make both sauces, sorry but it just seems like too much.  I made the pumpkin bread today and it is delish!

So what are you making for Thanksgiving?

Much thanks to the following for inspiring my Thanksgiving Menu:
Martha Stewart's Everyday Food Magazine
Pioneer Woman Cooks (love her and her cookbook!)
Food Network and Bobby Flay 

The Hubby's Favorite Meal-Potstickers

So my husband is my guinea pig when it comes to trying new recipes. Several years ago I experimented with making homemade Potstickers (got the recipe fro Everyday Food Magazine). It was time consuming, but fairly easy. A perfect amount of salty, crunch, and oh so savory goodness! This resulted in being my hubs favorite meal, which I don't fix often, because like I said, it is time consuming! So this ends up being a birthday meal, celebration meal, bribery meal, and a "make my hubby happy" meal.
So here are some step by step instructions on how to make a husband happy! Note: this recipe makes approximately 24 potstickers
Step 1
Place a 1/2 Cup of finely chopped Napa Cabbage in a bowl with a 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  Mix and let stand for 10 min.

Step 2
Place cabbage in a tea towel or a double layer of paper towels and squeeze out excess liquid. Note: I'm cheap and therefore my paper towels are cheap.  Cheap paper towels tend to tear and you don't want to pick wet paper towel off your cabbage

Step 3
Return cabbage to bowl and add
6oz. of ground pork
3 scallions, finely chopped (or about a half cup of diced onion)
1 Tablespoon of finely chopped, peeled fresh ginger  (or about 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger, but fresh is soooo much better)
1 teaspoon of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of totasted sesame oil
And then get messy and mix it all up, hands work the best!

Step 4

Working with one won ton wrapper at a time, spoon a rounded teaspoon of filling in the center of the wrapper.  With dampened fingers, wet the four edges of the wrapper. Fold one half over, making a triangle. Seal the edges over the filling. Transfer to an oiled plate and cover with a damp towel to keep moist.

Step 5

In a non-stick skillet with a tight fitting lid, heat 1 Tablespoon oil over med-high heat. Note: Using a stainless steel pan ensures that your potstickers WILL stick! If you are opposed to using non-stick because of icky chemicals, a well-seasoned iron skillet will work. Add half the wontons and cook, turning once, until lightly browned. About 1 minute per side.

Step 6

Carefully add 1/2 cup of water to pan, cover and steam until slightly translucent & just cooked through, 2-3 minutes. Be careful, it will splatter!!!  I can only fit 8-10 potstickers in my pan so I only add about 1/4 cup of water.

Step 7

Remove from pan dip in soy sauce and enjoy!!!

Freezing

I usually make a double batch of the filling when I make the potstickers, just because it is time consuming.  I have tried making the potstickers and freezing them uncooked. The problem is the corners tend to break off and they don't cook up very well.  So I freeze the leftover filling in a freezer bag and the leftover wrappers in a separate bag. This works very well.