Busy Day in the Kitchen
January 11th 2012 01:47
My husband had the afternoon off today, so I took advantage of this and spent the afternoon in the kitchen! A loaf of bread, a pan of wheat rolls, a double batch of cookies and a beef roast later, my kitchen looks a bit like a tornado went through, but the food will last the rest of the week (except the roast, that is GONE!).
My secret to a perfect roast is a dash of liquid smoke and steak seasoning in a cup of water. This poured over the roast provides amazing flavor and tender meat, whether it is cooked in the oven or a crock pot. Today, it was the crock pot in order to keep the oven available for cookies and bread! The roast, potatoes and carrots went in around 1:00 and, cooked on high, was ready for dinner 4 hours later!
Once the roast was in, I started in on the wheat bread. The recipe is straight out of the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook for Whole Wheat Bread on page 144. My yeast was a little outdated, so I added an extra teaspoon and it turned out perfect! I split the dough in half to make a regular loaf of bread AND a pan of whole wheat dinner rolls that were a great treat for the family with the beef roast.
While the bread dough was rising, I started on cookies. I made a double batch of modified Ranger Cookies from the same cookies on page 244. I changed 1/3 of the flour to whole wheat flour and, instead of using the dried fruit that is suggested, I used 1/3 cup each of chopped pecans, chocolate chips and butterscotch chips. These cookies are a bit like chewy granola bars in their original form, but the modified version is more like a 7-Layer cookie bar all mixed together into a cookie without all of the sweetened condensed milk and Graham crackers!
Overall, today was a productive day in the kitchen! The best part for me was being able to use the pastry hooks that came with my $20.00 mixer to avoid sticky, doughy hands from kneading gooey bread dough!
My secret to a perfect roast is a dash of liquid smoke and steak seasoning in a cup of water. This poured over the roast provides amazing flavor and tender meat, whether it is cooked in the oven or a crock pot. Today, it was the crock pot in order to keep the oven available for cookies and bread! The roast, potatoes and carrots went in around 1:00 and, cooked on high, was ready for dinner 4 hours later!
Once the roast was in, I started in on the wheat bread. The recipe is straight out of the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook for Whole Wheat Bread on page 144. My yeast was a little outdated, so I added an extra teaspoon and it turned out perfect! I split the dough in half to make a regular loaf of bread AND a pan of whole wheat dinner rolls that were a great treat for the family with the beef roast.
While the bread dough was rising, I started on cookies. I made a double batch of modified Ranger Cookies from the same cookies on page 244. I changed 1/3 of the flour to whole wheat flour and, instead of using the dried fruit that is suggested, I used 1/3 cup each of chopped pecans, chocolate chips and butterscotch chips. These cookies are a bit like chewy granola bars in their original form, but the modified version is more like a 7-Layer cookie bar all mixed together into a cookie without all of the sweetened condensed milk and Graham crackers!
Overall, today was a productive day in the kitchen! The best part for me was being able to use the pastry hooks that came with my $20.00 mixer to avoid sticky, doughy hands from kneading gooey bread dough!
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