It’s been a long time since we had a taco night. I like to brown my meat along with a chopped onion which keeps it nice and moist. I used to make my own seasoning until Penzey’s sent me a sample of their Southwest seasoning and now I use that as it’s not overly salty nor does it have sugar or other things I don’t want.

Not finding a sourdough version of Pain au chocolate I was happy with, I modified King Arthur Flour’s Rustic Sourdough bread to fit my wishes. I added about 3/4 cup of sugar and about 4 ounces of chopped bittersweet chocolate for a really lovely (not overly sweet) version of Pain au chocolate. It was enormous so I have lots left in the freezer for later.

Sometimes a girl just wants brownies. I used chopped dark chocolate in the batter and added semi-sweet chips over the top just before baking.

Brown chicken in all sides in a little olive oil. Add 1 chopped onion, 2 chopped carrots, 2 chopped ribs of celery and some bay leaves. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook until vegetables have softened then add 4 cups chicken stock and 4 cups water. Bring to a simmer, cook 30 minutes, covered,  and turn off heat. Let stand 60 minutes, covered. Remove chicken to a cutting board,  pick meat from bones and return it to the pot. Bring to a simmer. Rub 1/4 cup butter into 1/3 cup flour to make a paste. Add the flour paste in small bits to the pot, stirring often. Let simmer about 5 minutes. Stir together 2 cups flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 large eggs and 3/4 cup buttermilk. Drop by spoonfuls into the simmering soup, cover and cook ten minutes.

Cinnamon Rolls

I made some homemade pita bread this week to go with falafels and it turned out very nicely though the falafel was really a struggle. Our big food processor is in need of a new bowl as the safety catch isn’t working anymore so the blade won’t turn on. The mini processor we got for Christmas came to the rescue but then I had issues with the recipe because my balls were disintegrating in the frying oil. I did manage to rescue them but that recipe went out with the recycling and I’ll continue searching for another.

Whole Wheat Sourdough Pita Bread

1 cup sourdough starter
½ cup filtered water, warmed
1 tsp honey
1 tsp salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 cup additional whole wheat flour (approximately

Mix whole wheat starter with the next 4 ingredients, mixing/kneading well. Add enough additional flour to make a smooth dough. Let rise until doubled, about an hour.

Divide dough into ten equal portions and roll each less than 1/4
inch thickness.

Preheat an oven with a baking stone 475 degrees F. Put pitas directly onto the stone and bake for about 6 minutes or until fully puffed, turn and continue to cook until  just starting to brown. Remove and cool on a wire rack.

This week I tried a maple banana bread recipe. I used vanilla instead of maple extract and I omitted the sugar on top. It’s decidedly less sweet than a traditional banana bread which I liked.

I roasted off one of those lovely Vermont chickens with some roasted potatoes and beets on the side. It never ceases to amaze me how much better a local chicken tastes than something raised on a factory farm.

In other news, I *think* my flickr/wordpress issues are solves. Photos seem to be back though I’m not really sure what I did other than turning plugins on and off.

The new mixer is fabulous for kneading bread, something which is hard on my already overworked hands. This is Rustic Sourdough Bread and having proper kneading has already improved the texture of my bread.

I did add a pinch of nutmeg and a cup of pecans to the orange cake and the dough for the ginger cookies is easier to work with if you chill it for an hour first.