Bacon Basil Garlic Bread

Bread machine style hearty bread.

Makes one big ol' loaf.

1½ tsp active dry yeast
3½ cups flour: either white, or up to half white & half wheat.
2 TBSP sugar
2 TBSP milk powder
1½ tsp salt
3 TBSP bacon grease (yes, bacon grease!)
1⅓ cup water, cool to tepid. NOT warm. Filtered is better.

Set the bread machine on normal and fire it off. When it stops to let the bread rise, add:

½ pound bacon, fried crispy and crumbled, cooled
½ head (5 or 6 large cloves) of garlic, peeled, smashed, and chopped, browned in bacon grease, cooled.
½ cup fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped, tossed in with the garlic for the last minute and fried until well wilted.

Serve it sliced thick and hot out of the bread machine (or oven) or slice it thin and toast it. Either way, enjoy it with enough butter to scare Weight Watchers! I like it with a glass of milk for a snack. it goes well with stew or barbecued steak or chicken as well.

Review: This came out nice and golden, very well raised. It's not too light, not too heavy for homemade bread. Surprisingly, it is not a heavy bread, provided it rises well (and mine rose very well with these proportions): the flavors are still relatively mild. Next time, I think I'd increase the bacon content (probably not as far as a pound) and at least double the fresh basil. I might add some Parmesan to the mix as well.

Supplemental: I made toast of this the next morning, and topped it with eggs scrambled with cheese (cheddar plus Parmesan) cooked in a tiny bit of bacon grease. Oh my! It was superb.

Overwhelming Spaghetti Sauce

Serves 6 or 8

Ingredients

• 6-12 heads garlic, peeled and smashed: make it a lot.
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• butter and olive oil (equal parts) to fry them in. Don't be shy.
• 2 lbs lean hamburger, cubed
• 1 lb sage sausage, cubed
• 2-3 TBSP dried oregano
• 1/2 - 1 tsp ground clove
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1 tsp ground black pepper, maybe more.
• 1 TBSP dried Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp powdered cumin
• 2 tsp (or 2 TBSP) Tabasco chipotle sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt (to taste)
• 2 cans cooked and diced tomatoes.
• 1 jar, bottle or can, prepared tomato sauce, any flavor

Preparations: heat large (preferably cast iron) skillet. Heat oil and melt butter. Fry garlic and onion until transparent. Add cubed hamburger and sausage. Cover and cook until meat is cooked all the way through. Add the dried oregano. Yeah, I know it's a lot. Add the other spices too. Stir well.

Drain tomatoes, reserving liquid; add to meat and stir well while frying. When they're hot and spicy, add tomato sauce and reserved tomato juice. Bring to a boil, stirring. Adjust spices, which mostly means add more of this or that. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Serve over hot pasta. Enjoy! Don't count calories!

Review: This is not wimpy diet food. Ya gotta eat this meal with a fair bit of gusto! And it's so rich and flavorful that gusto is not hard to come by. Some garlic bread, Caesar salad, and a bold hand-made brew(Alaskan Amber is an excellent choice!) make a good meal for a bunch of good friends.

Garlic Herb Bread-Machine Bread

For a 1½ Pound Loaf:

In this order:
1.5 tsp active dry yeast
3 cups all-purpose flour
1½ TBSP sugar
½ tsp dried dill, crushed
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp dried rosemary
½ tsp dried parsley
½ tsp garlic powder
1½ tsp salt

then:
fry ½ cup chopped onion in
3 TBSP butter or margarine

until they just begin to brown. Cool. Add to mixture above.

Then:
1¼ cup 1% milk (adjust for your particular bread machine).
1 TBSP dried milk powder.

Set the machine on “regular” and press “Go.”

Let the loaf sit for 30 minutes before slicing. Or skip slicing altogether and just tear off chunks to eat as "shred bread."

Review: We never did slice ours. The aroma that fills the house is pretty attention-grabbing. We just wrapped it in a cloth napkin in a basket and served it with a spaghetti dinner. Very nice.

Savory Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Per Person:
1 large Chicken Breast, thawed, butterfly filleted

Fillet the chicken breast. Season inside and out with salt & pepper. close the chicken and dredge in a mixture of:

1/3 cup flour
2 tablespoons creole seasoning (I like Emeril's Essence)
1 teaspoon garlic salt

At this point, put the chicken breasts on a greased piece of aluminum foil on the baking sheet you'll cook the chicken on. Open the chicken and fill with Savory Stuffing (recipe follows). Be careful to spread the stuffing evenly. Place a slice of cooked bacon over the stuffing and close the chicken breast.

Sprinkle some of the remaining dredging mix over the top, along with a tablespoon of Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until the chicken is completely done.

Savory Stuffing (I use these quantities for 3 or 4 chicken breasts): in a food processor bowl, combine:12 - 15 shrimp, thawed
4 - 5 pieces of bacon, cooked
3 cloves garlic, roasted
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon butter
1 teaspoon cajun seasoning (eg. Essence)
1 teaspoon rosemary (fresh is best)

Press Go and process until it's the consistency of chunky peanut butter. Then add 4 or 5 more shrimp, pulse processing until they're in medium size chunks.

Review: We served this with white wine or a brown ale, depending on if the guests were wine snobs or microbrew snobs (I admit to membership among the latter). This turned out to be one of the better stuffed chicken recipes we've tried; the whole family really liked it. The flavors blended together very well. The extra slice of bacon may not have been necessary, but my daughter disagrees: she liked it. Couldn't find anything to complain about, really. Three thumbs up!

White Chicken Spaghetti

Serves 4 or 5

Ingredients

• 6-12 heads garlic, peeled and smashed: make it a lot.
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• butter and olive oil (equal parts) to fry them in. Don't be shy.
• 2 lbs chicken breasts, thinly sliced
  
• 1 lb sage sausage, in small pieces
  
• 2-3 TBSP dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1 tsp ground white pepper, maybe more.
• 1 TBSP dried Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp salt (to taste)
• 1 jar, bottle or can, white spaghetti sauce, any flavor
• 1 can chicken broth
  

Preparations: heat large (preferably cast iron) skillet. Heat oil and melt butter. Fry garlic and onion until transparent. Add chicken and sausage. Cover and cook until meat is cooked all the way through. Add the dried oregano. Add the other spices too. Stir well.

Add meat and stir well while frying. When they're hot and spicy, add spaghetti sauce and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, stirring. If you like, thicken with flour.

Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Review: This is very good, and quite rich. I prefer to toss this with spiral spaghetti, and top with shredded Parmesan cheese.

7 Grain Bread Machine Bread

Add in order:

1 ½ tsp active dry yeast
2 cups unbleached flour
1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour
2 TBSP sugar
1 ½ tsp salt
2 TBSP nonfat dry milk powder
2 TBSP flax seed
¼ cup roasted, unsalted sunflower seeds
2 TBSP roasted sesame seeds
¼ cup cracked wheat
2 TBSP millet
2 TBSP oat bran
2 TBSP butter
1 ⅓ cup water, or a little more to make soft enough dough (watch the dough to make sure it's not too dry).


Feel free to substitute milk for the water and powdered milk. Note: between all the grains and the flours, you're targeting a total of 4 cups.

Set the bread machine on "normal" and fire it off.

Review: This makes a very heavy loaf that's chock full of seeds and grains. It's become a favorite at our home. We vary the proportion of the various grains and seeds; personally, I love to emphasize the millet: very crunchy. Just make sure the grain/seeds total never goes above 1½ cups and the flour (white and/or wheat) never drops below 2½ cups, and you always have at least half of the flour in white flour.

Golden Granola Bread, Bread Machine Style

Makes one big ol' loaf.

1½ tsp active dry yeast
3 cups flour: either white, or up to half white & half wheat.
¾ cup granola: the richer the better
¼ cup cashews, chopped lightly
¼ cup dried bananas, chopped lightly
¼ cup packed brown sugar
1 cup water, cool to tepid. NOT warm. Filtered is better.
1½ tsp salt
2 TBSP oil
1 egg

Set the bread machine on normal and fire it off. Serve it sliced thick and hot out of the bread machine (or oven) and enjoy it with butter!

Review: This came out nice and golden, very well raised. It's not too light, not too heavy for homemade bread, but it is quite sweet. My wife - the local expert on sweet - says it's a good breakfast bread. Next time, I think I'll increase the dried bananas, and maybe the chopped cashews as well.