The other day I took the girls to Goodwill because it was really hot and we were bored.  I found a new bread machine with wrapping still on it for $6!

I used to have a bread maker, but Tyler wouldn’t eat the bread out of it because he didn’t like the way it was shaped.  Yes, seriously.  So I gave it away to an older lady who had arthritic hands and could no longer knead bread.  She was super appreciative so I didn’t feel bad.

The bread machine  I found at Goodwill makes bread in the same shape as store bought loaves!  It makes up to a 2 lb. loaf, which is big.  I had to buy it!  After allergy testing I found out one source of my indigestion has been rye.  I’m severely allergic to it.  Not wheat or any other grain, just rye.  Did you know rye is in EVERYTHING?  Campbell’s soup has rye unlisted on the ingredient label under natural flavors and spices.  When I get “ryed” I have this specific horrible poop and burning in my intestines about 24 hours later, and it lasts for an entire day and night.  So I discovered the hard way that rye is in all kinds of stuff, like Cracker Barrel pancakes (omg I was so sick after).  It’s also in Nature’s Own 100% whole wheat bread. What the heck?  I keep getting sick after eating at places like Panera because they use the cutting machine to cut all kinds of bread including their rye.  Dammit.  Not cool!  Hence the need to make my own rye-free bread!!

I came home and looked for recipes online because the bread machine was missing the manual.  I finally found a dairy-free recipe–for some reason most of them contained dry milk.  (Lactose and my digestive system don’t like each other.)  I tried it with a few modifications and it’s amazing.  Even Tyler likes it!

Here’s the recipe with my modifications.  (Note: next I’m going to try more wheat flour and honey instead of white sugar…)

Put ingredients in the bread machine in the order listed for it to come out right.

1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons white sugar (or sub honey)
2 1/2 tsp of yeast
*Wait 10 minutes for the yeast to activate in the warm water and sugar. It will kind of bubble or foam. If nothing happens then your yeast is too old and your bread won’t rise.*
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cups flour (1 cup whole wheat & 2 cups white)
1 tsp. salt (plus a dash more if you use wheat flour)

Makes a 1.5 lb loaf.

The recipe calls for bread flour but I just had regular flour and it still came out fluffy with flaky crust.  It does fall a little bit on the top as it bakes, but it doesn’t seem to mess up the bread texture inside.  I used Kroger organic white flour, which for some reason makes the best textured bread out of all the white flours I’ve tried. I used King Arthur whole wheat flour, which I read has more gluten than regular flours and is probably more similar to bread flour.

If you don’t have a bread maker check Goodwill in a rich area!  Mine had several.  The one I got is Welbilt brand and it makes amazing bread, better than the one I used to have.

Only 12 days until T gets here!!!!!!

Here are my girls a few days ago…

(She makes that face ALL the time.  It’s hysterical!)

20/365

We’re having a snow storm outside.  We’ve gotten 3 or 4 inches in the past three hours.  That’s a lot for Kentucky.

Since it’s snowy and blustery out, we needed something warming for supper.  I decided to try to make chicken pot pie from scratch, partly because I’ve been wanting to try it and partly because we have all of the ingredients handy.  I’m not about to drag the girls out in the snow to go buy groceries!

I’ve been pondering what would make a delicious homemade pot pie.  I haven’t found a recipe that looked perfect, so I decided to take a risk and make my own.

The crust is actually baking powder biscuit dough, which is super easy to make.  (I’ll post the recipe for that at the bottom.)

The whole thing took about 30 minutes to put together and 15 minutes to bake.  Not bad!

It was incredibly delicious.  Wow.

I plan to make another one and freeze it for a quick meal.

To make the filling you’ll need about…

-2 cups of chicken broth

-1/2 cup of milk

-1/2 cup flour

-3 or 4 chicken breasts

-olive oil

-several cups of chopped vegetables

-salt and pepper, and any other seasonings you’d like

I took three chicken breasts (not from the chicken pictured above, that’s our beloved pet Jasmine!) and I cooked them in my cast iron skillet with some olive oil.  When they were defrosted enough, I chopped them up into bite sized pieces and added in 1/2 a chopped onion, some chopped carrots, and some frozen peas.  I also added some frozen lima beans because Tyler likes them.  (You could add any veggies you have on hand, that’s just what we had to use up.)

Next I added 1 cup of chicken broth to the pan.  (I like the 365 chicken broth from Whole Foods.)  I covered the pan and let that simmer on low heat for a little while so the chicken could fully cook and the veggies could get tender.  They simmered for 10 minutes while I tended to the baby.

While they were simmering I put 1/2 cup of chicken broth in a tall glass measuring cup, then topped it off with (whole, unhomogenized) milk so it totaled about 1 and 1/2 cup of liquid.  To that liquid I added about 1/4th cup of flour and whisked it in with a fork.  Once the flour was dissolved I poured the mixture into the pan and stirred it in.  Then I turned up the heat to bring it to a boil and kept stirring.  I added in some salt and flour until it tasted good.

After it was boiling I turned it back down a little, covered it, and let it simmer some more while I made the dough for the top.  (See recipe below.)

Once the dough was ready I made sure the gravy in the pan was thick enough–if not you can add more flour a little at a time and whisk it in with a fork.

Baking Powder Biscuits:

2 cups of flour

4 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

2 tablespoons butter or lard

2/3 cup milk (plus extra, sometimes)

Sift together dry ingredients.  (Sifting is important for fluffy biscuits!)

Chop in butter until it becomes pea sized.  (For extra fluff I add a little more butter.)

Quickly and gently stir in the milk with a fork.  Use your fingers to gently knead until everything is barely combined.  (Over stirring causes the biscuits to be hard and not fluffy.)  It’s ok if it’s a little lumpy.  (I find I have to add a splash more of milk to incorporate all of the flour.)

For pot pie crust:

On a floured surfaced, roll out biscuit dough to 1/2 inch thick.

Cut into long strips.  Lay them bottom side up on top of the pie filling.  Leave small gaps for ventilation.  (Laying them bottom side up is supposed to make the biscuit dough able to rise more.  Don’t know why, but I swear it works.)

Bake the pot pie at 450 degrees for 15-18 minutes, or until biscuit topping is browned a bit.

Then let it cool, and eat it until you’re about to bust.

Amen.

Perfect meal for a blizzardy night!

Off topic, I must share this picture from yesterday.

19/365

Granny and Paul enjoying Ada.

My girls are blessed to be loved by so many.

I made some kind of unholy goodness for supper tonight.

Pork chops covered in cream sauce with veggies.

Even Tyler ate it, which is saying something. 

I didn’t use a recipe, I just mixed together some stuff we had. 

I took about two tablespoons of butter, plus a tiny bit extra, and melted it in my cast iron pot until it was bubbling.  Then I threw in chopped carrots, celery, and onion.  (You could also add garlic, but Tyler doesn’t like it.)  I simmered the vegetables until the onions started to get brown and clear.  Then I put in two tablespoons of flour (one at a time) and about 3/4th cup of chicken stock and some dill.  I stirred it on medium heat until it thickened up nicely.

The cream sauce sat in the pot with the lid on while I browned the pork.  I had thick cut bone-in pork chops to use.  I put them in a searing hot cast iron skillet with a little olive oil.  On top of each pork chop I drizzled some flour with salt and pepper. After a couple of minutes browning one side on high heat I flipped them and put the same flour/salt/pepper on the other side.  Once they were browned (but still raw in the middle) I took them off of the heat and let the pan cool for a few minutes.  Then
I dumped the cream sauce on top, made sure the pork was smothered, and covered the skillet tightly.
It baked the whole thing at 325 degrees for about an hour.  Then the pork was falling apart tender. 

Epic nom.  EPIC.

I made steamed broccoli to go with it.

I’m going to try a modification of this soon as chicken pot pie.  Add crust, diced chicken breast, more vegetables, and more chicken stock…it should make pot pie.  My only conundrum is what to do about the crust.  I don’t want to use something processed like premade crust or canned biscuits.  I suck at making homemade pie crust though.  Maybe I’ll try it with homemade biscuits?  Those are easy.
Hmm.  Possibilities.

So tonight while I was doing the dishes post-epic nom I suddenly heard something odd.  Like…loud flapping, accompanied by duck honking and quacking.

I ran to look out of the kitchen window and I saw June, my female pekin duck, flying.

This is odd because Pekin ducks do not fly.  They are a meat breed, too heavy to fly. 

June was jumping up on the picnic table, running from one end to the other while honking loudly, then flying off.  She would land, run back to the other side of the table, hop up, and start over.  Again and again.

What in the world?  My duck is teaching herself to fly! 

Unhealthy, delicious recipe of the day:

These muffins are light and fluffy and delicious. They aren’t even very sweet, they’re just right.

I’ve discovered the secret to making muffins is to not over mix them. You can’t use the electric mixer, just use a fork. Not a spoon, a fork.

They take less than 10 minutes to mix up!

Here is the recipe:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Mix together the following:

2 cups of flour
3/4 cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder

Using a pastry cutter or a knife, cut in 1/4 cup of butter until the butter is the size of small peas.

In a separate bowl beat 1 egg, then use a fork to whisk in 1 cup of milk.

Add the milk and egg to the flour mixture and stir with a fork just until everything is fully incorporated. The batter should be lumpy. Don’t mix too much!

Add in 2 cups of of washed berries and stir gently until mixed throughout.

Use a well greased or paper lined muffin pan. Fill each muffin space halfway.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

This makes about 20 muffins. Freeze the extras individually wrapped for quick breakfasts.