Too many cucumbers leads to strange things...

The fridge is full of cucumbers. I guess I could learn to make pickles but I don't like them. I do use sweet relish but not enough to go to the trouble of making them. Google blog search here I come! Cucumber bread... I like carrot cake and I like zucchini bread, why not a cucumber bread?

I found a recipe that looks good and I give it a try. I don't have any buttermilk in the house so I used 2 percent, no cream cheese so I left off the frosting and it didn't say if I should drain the shredded cukes, so I squeezed some of the liquid out, but not all. They looked okay but how about the taste? Cucumbers, it tasted like cucumbers. That should have been obvious but carrot cake doesn't really taste like carrots and zucchini bread doesn't taste like zucchini. The people who tried weren't really impressed and although I didn't think it was bad I couldn't get used to eating a sweet bread that tasted of cucumbers. It's not going to be a repeat for me but if any one wants to try it and you aren't feeding a crowd you might want to half the recipe.

Irish Soda Bread

Never having eaten Irish soda bread I don't know how it's supposed to taste but I wanted to try it.  I was looking for something to make with buttermilk and decided to try this recipe. It didn't have the caraway seeds or raisins like some recipes call for but that okay because the complaint i had wasn't about the taste but the hardness of the crust.

Perhaps it was because I cooked it on a pizza stone but the crust was almost inedible. It was hard to cut through and almost impossible to chew. The middle was okay, kind of bland. It was slightly better the next day after it was toasted and slathered in butter but I don't think I'll be trying another for awhile.

Honey Cornbread Muffins

You've probably noticed a lot of cornbread recipes on this blog. I like cornbread. I keep trying new recipes even though I've tried plenty that I've liked because I'm on a quest for the perfect one. I actually made this one a few weeks ago so I don't remember my exact thoughts on it but I do remember that I liked it. They were very moist and the honey gave them a different taste. Here's the link to Confabulation in the Kitchen which is where I found the recipe.

Honey Cornbread Muffins

1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 large eggs
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup honey

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the milk, eggs, butter and honey. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

Place paper liners in a 12-cup muffin tin. Pour batter into liners. Bake 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

Cornbread or corn cake?

I've been wanting some corn bread lately and since I had Bisquick on hand I decided to try a recipe from A Bountiful Kitchen. I halved the recipe and baked it in a 8x8 pan. It turned out really well! This recipe made an extremely moist, cake-like bread, a bit too sweet for my taste, I'll cut back on the sugar next time and maybe make it in a bigger pan because it was a bit thick.

Emily's Corn Bread for Dummies

2 1/2 cups Bisquick baking mix

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup cornmeal

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees .

Place all dry ingredients into a large bowl. Add the eggs, milk and melted butter. Mix with a large wooden spoon or spatula, just until the dry ingredients are incorporated into the wet ingredients.

Pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake for 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of pan comes out clean.

Oatmeal Wheat Bread

Homemade bread, fresh from the oven and slathered with butter. Nothing else is as good. This is an excellent bread I found at A Bountiful Kitchen go and check out her post because she also has an informative FAQ about bread making.

Oatmeal Wheat Bread

2 cups whole milk

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick-cooking) plus additional for topping

1/2 cup warm water

2 tablespoons active dry yeast

1/2 cup honey

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

3 cups whole-wheat flour

About 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon salt

Vegetable oil for oiling bowl

1 large egg, lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon water

2 8x4 loaf pans

Heat milk in a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan over low heat until hot but not boiling, then remove pan from heat and stir in oats. Let stand, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until cooled to warm.

Stir together water, yeast, and 1 teaspoon honey in a small bowl; let stand until foamy, 5 minutes. Stir yeast mixture, melted butter, and remaining honey into cooled oatmeal.

Stir together whole-wheat flour, 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour, and salt in a large bowl. Add oat mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms. Turn out onto a well-floured surface and knead with floured hands, adding just enough of remaining unbleached flour to keep from sticking, until dough is smooth, soft, and elastic, about 10 minutes (dough will be slightly sticky). If using a mixer, or Kitchenaid, use dough hook and mix for about 10 minutes until dough forms a ball and all flour is mixed in. Add up to 1 cup of additional flour if needed. Transfer to an oiled large bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel; let rise at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1 hour.

Lightly grease loaf pans. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead several times to remove air. Divide dough in half and shape each half into a loaf, then place 1 loaf in each pan, seam side down, tucking ends gently to fit. Cover loaf pans loosely with a kitchen towel and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Put oven rack in lower half of oven and preheat to 375°F. Lightly brush tops of loaves with some of egg wash and sprinkle with oats, then bake until bread is golden about 30 minutes. Remove bread from pans and transfer to a rack to cool.

Grilled cheese on homeade Oatmeal Wheat Bread

Cornbread gone WRONG!!

I don't know what happened with this recipe but it didn't turn out at all. It's quite similar to the one I usually make, a little more salt and baking powder, a little more oil and one egg instead of two. The batter was thick and airy, not airy in a good way. Other recipes I've made for corn muffins have had a similar texture but they've smoothed out while they've baked. This turned out dry and the top was lumpy. I won't be trying this one again.

Buttermilk Cornbread

I completely forgot to take pictures of this but since I wasn't crazy about it I'm not gonna worry.

We had some buttermilk in the fridge so I decided to try out a new recipe for cornbread. The recipe came from this blog. It was moist but it was way too sweet. The crust was also a little soggy and tough. The only changes I made was to half it and I cooked it in a cast iron skillet. I wouldn't make it again.

Smothered Pork Chops, Turnip Greens and Cornbread

Tonight's dinner was way more trouble than it was worth, especially the turnip greens. My father had planted some turnip greens which needed to be harvested, so I went out and picked them and pulled the tough stems off and washed them several times to get all the dirt and bugs off. I cooked them using this recipe, no one really like it, not that it was bad, but I think we all prefer canned.

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I found the recipe for the pork chops over at The Given's Chronicles. They were kind of tough and I didn't think they had a lot of flavor and I wouldn't make them again.

The cornbread was an old recipe I've made numerous times before. I found it in a Taste of Home magazine. The only problem I've ever had with it is that the top never browns, but nothing does in our oven. BTW, it's a sweeter cornbread so if that's not what you like you might want to look for something else.

Corn Bread Squares

1 c. all purpose flour
1 c. yellow corn meal
1/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 c. milk
1/4 c. vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add eggs, milk and oil. Beat just until moistened. Spoon in a greased 8" square pan. (I've also used a cast iron skillet) Bake for 20 - 25 minutes.

Baking Powder Biscuits

I came across a recipe at Running Foodie's blog for baking powder biscuits and her photo looked so good I had to try them for myself. She called hers "Everest biscuits" unfortunately mine didn't rise quite so high but they were still really good! You should check out her picture it's much more appealing than mine.


leftover biscuits (it made about 16 2 1/2 in. biscuits)


breakfast the next morning


Apple butter my parents brought back when they went to Sevierville, TN. last week.
There's a store and restaurant up there that is great. I was up there in 2001 and it was the first time I'd ever had apple butter I liked. I hate the stuff from the grocery store.

Here's a copy of her recipe

Rumford Baking Powder Biscuits aka Everest Biscuits

4 cups sifted all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2/3 cup shortening (I use Smart Balance)
1 1/3 cup milk
(you might need a little more milk to make it cohesive enough to shape)

1. Heat oven to 425˚. If you have cast iron skillets, put about a tablespoon of shortening each in 3 10-inch skillets and place in the oven to heat while preparing the dough. I use a 10 1/2-inch, an 8 1/2-inch, and a 6-inch skillet because that's what I have. If you don't have any cast iron skillets, grease a large cookie sheet and set aside. Or, use the cast iron skillet and a cookie sheet if you haven't enough skillets.
   
2. Sift flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar together. Cut in shortening until mixture is like coarse corn meal (if some pea-size chunks remain, that's okay). Add milk, stirring it in quickly with a fork, to form a soft dough. (If a large portion of the dough is still crumbly and not dough-like, add a tablespoon or so more of milk.)
3. Turn dough out onto lightly-floured surface; knead about 1/2 minute. Roll 1/2 inch thick, or slightly taller; cut with 2-inch cutter dipped in flour (I use both a 2-inch and a 1 1/2-inch cutter). Place fairly close together in the skillets or on the cookie sheet (not right next to each other, maybe between 1/4 and 1/2 inch; (ou can also brush the tops with melted butter if you like) bake about 12 minutes. Serve hot.
   

I used a cookie sheet instead of cast iron skillets. Maybe next time I'll halve the recipe and use my skillet. I also has something else in the oven so I had to open the door and check it which could be why mine didn't rise as high or I might have rolled them to thin I've never been good at judging measurements. I also had to turn the broiler on to brown the tops. I always have a problem with the tops whatever I'm baking not turning brown.

Lime Chicken Tacos with homemade Tortillas

Tonight's dinner...


I found the chicken recipe at Taste Every Season
Here's the original recipe

Lime Chicken Tacos
from: BlogChef

Ingredients:
1 ½ lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into small pieces)
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
½ lime (juiced)
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
2 green onions (chopped)
2 garlic cloves (minced)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
10 (6 inch) flour tortillas
1 tomato (diced)
¼ cup shredded lettuce
¼ cup Monterey jack cheese
¼ cup salsa
Sour cream (optional)

Make:

Step 1: Add a little oil to the pan and sauté chicken pieces in the pan for 20 minutes over medium-high heat.

Step 2: Mix together vinegar, lime juice, sugar, salt, pepper, green onions, garlic and oregano.

Step 3: Add the mixture to the pan and Simmer with chicken for another 10 minutes.

Step 4: Warm tortillas and add chicken mixture to each one evenly. Top with cheese, tomato, lettuce and salsa, sour cream.

I made a few changes to the recipe. I used 1 1/2 tbs of Realime juice instead of 1/2 a lime. I didn't have any green onion so I used about a third of a yellow onion diced finely. A red onion probably would have been good. I didn't have fresh garlic so I used a 1/2 tsp of garlic powder.

I thought the vinegar flavor was a bit strong but no one else noticed and it every one thought it was pretty good so I would make it again.

The tortilla recipe came from So Deliciously Good
Here's original recipe
1 1/2c warm water

1/4c canola oil

1/2 Tbsp salt

4 1/2-5c flour

Combine water, oil, and salt. Begin stirring in flour 1 cup at a time until your reach 4 cups. Add enough remaining flour to achieve a stiff but workable dough. Roll dough into balls. On a floured surface, roll out each ball into a 10-12" circle. Cook in a skillet sprayed with cooking spray or on a griddle for 1-2 minutes per side. Store in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. Makes about 10 tortillas.

I didn't change any of the ingredients except using vegetable oil instead of canola and I ran out of all purpose flour and had to use half a cup or so of bread flour in the dough and more for rolling them out.

There was a few thing that I changed in the making of them. After you roll the dough into balls I would suggest covering them with a damp cloth so the outside doesn't dry out and get hard. The instructions say to spray the pan with cooking spray but when I tried that the tortillas got crisp like crackers. I found a dry pan worked much better. The excess flour browns in the bottom of the pan but it's not a problem to wipe it out with a damp cloth.

It's a lot quicker to buy a pack at the store but these were pretty good. In fact, I was told that these were better than store bought.

Now for some pictures....

The dough balls


Rolled out


in the pan


finished tortillas!

Zucchini Bread with Blueberries

I found this recipe at here at Recipezaar.

• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup oil
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 cups unpeeled grated zucchini (food processor works well)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups fresh blueberries or 2 cups frozen blueberries, thawed and drained

1. Add oil, sugar, zucchini, vanilla and almond extract to beaten eggs.
2. Sift dry ingredients together and add to batter.
3. Gently fold in blueberries.
4. Pour into 2 greased and floured 8x4x2" loaf pans.
5. Bake at 350° for 1 1/4 hours until inserted toothpick comes out cleanly.
6. Cool on rack and store in plastic wrap in refrigerator.

Makes 2 8x4 inch loaves

I did make a few alterations to the recipe. I used 2 cups of sugar instead of 2 1/2 and next time I might cut the sugar a little more. I used 2 1/2 c. of frozen blueberries instead of 2 because I didn't read the recipe properly, the 2 c. the recipe calls for should be sufficient. I also used self rising flour instead of all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and it worked just fine. I made 1 loaf and 8 mini loaves. The mini loaves were done in about 20 min and the regular loaf took about 40-45 min. This is a really good recipe that everyone enjoyed and if you have kids it's a great way to sneak in some vegetables!