Sandwich Bread

Well, I ran out of bread today, and as mentioned before, the food is ridiculously expensive here. So I knew that I had flour, milk, butter, and yeast. I make bread all the time! So I set out to find a sandwich style bread; I am pretty good at weeding out recipes that don't fit my needs. Normally when I bake bread at home, I go for specialty breads like French bread, foccacia, or sweet breads. I found a couple that sounded great, but had ingredients I didn't have on hand. Low and behold, I found one at King Arthur Flour. They are trusted, dependable, and this looked like great bread. So I am making it as we speak, err, type. I did, as the comments suggested, sub some whole wheat flour for some of the white. Try it out and post some pics of your great bread!




Classic Sandwich Bread: King Arthur Flour

Homemade Tortillas

I got the recipe for my homemade tortillas from my favorite blog, www.chickensintheroad.com , written by Suzanne McMinn. Get the recipe for Flour Tortillas – Light & Thin. These come moist, chewy, and most importantly delicious. I do have a few tips on rolling out and storing your fresh tortillas. So here they are:

Rolling
1. Work with one tortilla at a time, keeping the others covered while you roll. Otherwise, they form a skin.
2. Start with a ball of dough and flatten it into a cookie shape. It is easier to keep it round, if you start with a circle.
3. Next, roll from the center out to the edge. Then roll the opposite direction, always starting tin the center, i.e., north to south and then east to west.
4. Repeat step 3 until the dough is very thin.

Storing
After the tortillas have cooled completely, stack1 tortilla with waxed paper, parchment, or plastic wrap and alternate. Then wrap the whole stack tightly with foil or plastic wrap or put into a gallon sized zip top bag. These can be refrigerated for about a week or frozen about 3 months.

Colorado Couponing Week of 1/11/12

KING SOOPERS
Free UP2U Gum on sale $1 each, use $1 of 1 from SS (nearly weekly the past month)
Whole grain Barilla Pasta 10/$10, use $1 off 2 printable from Facebook (like their page and click on coupon) makes these $0.50 a box for whole grain
Challenge Butter 1 lb $2.34 on sale, use $0.55 (which doubles to a dollar) printable coupon RP website, makes these $1.34 per pound
Odwalla Juice B1G1 Free @ $2.99 each, use $0.55/1 (which doubles to $1) SS 01/08/12

SAFEWAY
FRIDAY ONLY: 25.2 oz Fillipo Berrio olive oil $5 (regular price is like $11) and $1 off 1 printable coupon from www.coupons.com $4 each (you can print 2)

ALBERTSONS
Cutie Clementines 3 lb bag on sale for $2.99 use the $0.35/1 paper coupon from the newspaper (every week for the last 2 months) and that's $2. 64 which translates to $0.88/lb.

For more match ups this week check out www.springsbargains.com because they are awesome!

Brownie Rubble From Food Network

I have searched long and hard for brownie recipes. Much to my chagrin, the stuff in the box always seemed better. Well, today my friends, I can say with confidence that I found the perfect brownie recipe. I was honestly just reading through recipes and searching for ingredients I knew I had in the pantry. I did sub semisweet chocolate chips for the bittersweet chocolate-they are virtually the same. Also, I melted my chocolate and butter in the microwave...shhh. I didn't add the topping, but it sounds great. These brownies are for Chloe's class, so I thought it was best to omit the nuts. Please try this recipe next time you have a hankerin', yup I said that, for rich and fudgy brownies.
Brownie Rubble on the Food Network

Colorado Couponing

A few months ago I moved from Oregon to Colorado. Moving comes with a lot of adjustments and takes a lot of money out of your pocket. I have always been a couponer, but about 6 months ago I stepped it up. I had stockpiled many of our most used items and managed to cut out grocery budget to $250.

After our move we had to up the budget to our original $350...and more recently to $400. We are running out of food here. It just seems that food is so expensive here. For instance: yogurt is $0.10-20 more per cup, bread, even the cheapest store brand, is $0.50 more per loaf, and the produce is astronomical and a huge part of my food budget.

I knew I really had step up the coupon use. I have had some luck, but I want to get even more for less that way I can devote more of our money to things like milk, produce, and meat. I have occasionally come across a few free items and would love to pass my deals onto friends. I will do my best to post those deals here. Check back and see what I find, or feel free to tell me about your finds! Please also check out www.springsbargains.com .

Breakfast In The Hilby Home

In the mornings I tend to be very sleepy. I roll out of my warm, soft bed and head to the coffee pot. My family gets up shortly after I take my first sip and we have about an hour to eat, get ready, and head out the door. This mean that breakfast has to be quick. I am not completely against cold cereal, but I love filling my family's bellies before sending them on their way. Plus I know that it is important for their metabolism to "break the fast" after sleeping all night and to keep the focused at school/work.

Some nights, like tonight, I plan ahead. Tomorrow we are having bacon in the morning because I have some in the fridge that needs to be cooked. I put bacon in the oven on a sheet pan at 350 degrees until it is nice and crispy, about 15 minutes. That way it is all done at the same time and I can actually eat at the same time as my family. I keep waffles warm in the oven too; set the temp to 250 degrees and put the waffles right on the rack. The oven can be a lifesaver in the morning because you can pop something while you get ready, just don't forget to set a timer. TRUST ME!

French Toast Casserole

Prepared the night before

1 loaf of french bread, sliced, or your favorite sliced bread would be fine

1 quart of eggnog : out of season? No problem. Substitute 4 eggs, 2 cups milk, 2 tablespoons sugar, a teaspoon vanilla and a dash each of cinnamon and nutmeg whisked together.

1 cup of flour

1 cup of brown sugar

1 stick of butter

Lightly toast the bread, cool and then break into pieces. Place them in a 13x9 casserole dish. Next pour the eggnog/egg mixture over the bread making sure each piece gets coated. The top 1/4 inch or so will not be submerged. Cover it in plastic wrap and set in the fridge overnight. In the morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and combine the remaining ingredients in a bowl. Then sprinkle this mixture on top the casserole and bake about 1 hour or until it set.

Leftover Makeover - Turkey Dinner

My family had turkey and mashed potatoes for dinner on Saturday which got in the mood for Thanksgiving. I realize that it is still two months away, but being a big foodie Thanksgiving is extra special in my book. I love finding ways to reinvent classic recipes and of course using the leftovers to the best of my ability. I hope you tuck some of these ideas away and pull them out when your fridge is ready to explode from mountains of potatoes and covered in a sea of gravy.

Turkey Soup

Three ways

#1 Sweet and Savory Soup

2 cups of leftover turkey meat, shredded or chopped

2 large carrots diced

2 ribs of celery diced

1 medium onion diced

2 cloves of garlic

2 cups of leftover gravy

1 cup cranberry sauce, mashed up

1 quart turkey or chicken stock

salt and pepper

a pinch of each, thyme, sage and rosemary

In a stock pot, saute the carrot, celery and onion in a touch of olive oil until soft. Next add everything else and heat through. While cranberry sauce may seem like a weird addition, I assure you that it add a complexity to the soup. It tastes good and my cranberry hating family loved it!

#2 Turkey Soup with Stuffing Dumplings

2 cups of leftover turkey shredded or cubed

2 large carrots diced

2 ribs of celery diced

1 large onion diced

2 cloves of garlic minced

2 cups of leftover gravy

1 quart of turkey or chicken stock

2 cups of leftover stuffing

1 egg, beaten

salt and pepper to taste

The process is the same as recipe one, but do not add the stuffing or the egg. Bring the soup to a boil and then turn the heat down to medium to maintain a good simmer. In a bowl mix the stuffing and the egg and form it into 1 inch balls packing them well. Once all of the balls are formed add them to the soup cook for 10 minutes, then top with a lid and continue to cook another 10 minutes.

#3 Turkey and Gnocchi Soup

2 cups of leftover turkey shredded or cubed

2 large carrots diced

2 ribs of celery diced

1 medium onion diced

2 cloves of garlic minced

2 cups of gravy

1 quart of turkey or chicken stock

2 cups of leftover mashed potatoes

3/4 cup flour

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

4 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

salt and pepper

1 teaspoon dried thyme

Make the base soup as in the first two recipes. For the gnocci mix the mashed potatoes, cheese, flour, parsley, thyme and a pinch of salt and pepper. Gather the dough into a ball, then cut into 3rd's. Roll each third into a long rope that it about 1/2 inch thick. Then cut the rope into 1 inch pieces. Bring a small pot of water to a simmer and gently add the gnocchi a few at a time. When they float they are done. To serve, ladle a healthy portion of the soup over 5 or six of these light, fluffy, soft dumplings. MMM good!