Mom's Bread Recipe, and yes, I mean MY mom's bread recipe.

Mom's bread.

 I know that a lot of you are suddenly drooling over the memory of my Mom's white bread but sadly, that is NOT the bread recipe I'm sharing today. 

But honestly, it is just as good or better. I think its better, in case you were wondering. 

When we were living in Kingston I tried to make my Mom's bread and it never worked great so one day we had a Skype date bread making party and that was that. You would think that I would have been a natural since my Mom made bread literally every week my entire childhood but the only thing that came natural to me was coming home and eating half a loaf of with home made honey butter while I watched Full House. 

I got pretty good at making bread in Kingston and as I said before, I made it regularly but then we moved back home and I COULD NOT make bread. Well, I tried but it never turned out. I was sad.  I finally told my Mom that I was a bread making failure and she saved me! She brought me some yeast from the Bosch Kitchen Centre in Edmonton and it made all the difference. I couldn't believe it. 

This week I pulled out my 'Mom Recipe' and tried again and it turned out better than ever before. I think this goes to show that fresh ingredients are best. My Mom has had lots of problems buying yeast from grocery stores because it doesn't last and now I've learned my lesson! Oh, and she said the yeast she bought at the Bosch Kitchen Centre is a better price too. 

Now, onto the good stuff...

Mom's Most Delicious Bread

 (according to moi!)

(Also, I have a Bosch and so this recipe and directions are using a mixer with a bread hook. Also, if you try this with a Kitchen Aid you will NOT be able to make this large of a recipe so cut it in half!)

***This recipe makes 6-7 loaves of bread

Start with 1 cup of Warm Water

3 TBSP of White Sugar

3 TBSP of Yeast (the good yeast)

Dissolve the sugar in the warm water then add the yeast. Let the yeast sit and 'grow' in the water for a couple of minutes. When it is frothy (I guess is the word you should use) toss it into the mixing bowl.

Add 6 more cups of Water (I still use warm) 

and 4 - 6 cups of Whole Wheat Flour and mix.

Add 1 cup of Quick Cooking Oatmeal (I actually double this but I'm giving you my Mom's recipe)

1/2 cup of Ground Flax

1 cup of Sunflower Seeds (I love textured and seedy bread best)

1/2 cup of Vegetable Oil

1 TBSP of Salt

1 Egg

Mix. And then add more flour, as much as needed. About 10 - 12 cups.  (I use White and so does my mom at this point because it holds together well.)

This is a tricky part if you have never made bread before. You don't want to add too much flour but if you don't add enough then it won't work either. If you add too much flour then your bread will be really heavy.

 At this point when you are adding flour add it until it is "dough-like" and pulling from the sides of the bowl but don't add so much flour that it isn't sticky any more. Get it?

At this point, let your bread rise 15 minutes.

I forgot about mine and left it for probably 45 minutes and it got a little large...

At this point put a little oil on your counter, get your dough out of the bowl and play with it a little bit. Separate it into 6 - 7 'chunks' of dough. (I use a serrated knife to divide mine). Play with it for a while (important so you get the air bubbles out of it) and shape it into loaves and put it into greased loaf pans. 

Let it rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size and then bake for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees or until it is brown and your whole house smells AMAZING.

When you take your bread out of the oven I like to take my loaves out of the pans right away but if you try to get it out and the bread won't budge then just walk away. The bread will steam itself out of the pan and when it is cool it will just fall right out of the pans when you try.

Eat Hot and with butter or our favorite: Honey Butter...

Just whip equal parts butter and honey and it is honestly WAYYYYYY better than buttering your bread then spreading honey on it. Promise. 

And sorry, I have no pictures of my bread! I'm terrible! But instead, how about one of my Mom?

She might kill me for posting this picture on here but too bad! Love you Mom!!!!

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See, I Really Am Back!!! Throw Together Enchiladas

Enchiladas.

I always feel like enchiladas are something I need a recipe for. They sort of scare me. Not the actual eating them but making them always sounds like such a big deal. But I found out, I was wrong!

I was at a friends for a playdate (don't worry, I had kids with me) and while I was there she was getting her dinner ready for that night. She was making enchiladas. And she had no recipe. In fact, she was just putting left overs together and they looked delicious. I decided that if she could do it so could I.

So I thought that I would do it. The next day. And they were AMAZING!

I'm so glad that I wrote down what I was doing as I was doing it because they turned out so good that I knew I had to share. I kind of can't believe that I have another recipe that I made up myself  (with a little inspiration). Maybe I really am back!

I hope so!

Throw Together Enchiladas - Kaycee Style

(oh, and my photos suck...sorry)

This is how I began:

Prepare 2 cups of rice (I was in a hurry so I used my emergency supply of minute rice)

While your rice is cooking get out your best pan for some sautéing fun...

Sauté: (Remember these are 'throw together' so use the veggies that your family likes)

1 Onion

a handful of Sliced Mushrooms

1 clove of Garlic

1 Red Pepper, diced

1 cup of Broccoli in small bite-sized pieces

When all of the above vegggies are soft and smelling amazing add:

1 can of Diced Tomatoes

1 cup of Puréed Pumpkin (I think that this is what made the enchiladas so good. The sweetness of the pumpkin cut the acidity of the tomato and it was good!)

A sprinkle of Mrs. Dash, and Salt and Pepper

Grate some cheese (I used Cheddar) while this all simmers together in goodness.

Find your wraps. Did you know there were wraps involved? There are!

Putting it all together:

Lay out your first wrap.

Add a spoonful or two of rice.

Add some of your sautéed veggies on top.

Sprinkle with cheese.

Wrap up and put it into a greased casserole dish seam side down.

Continue with the rest of your ingredients until your dish is full. If there are any remaining veggies (there should be) cover your enchiladas and then sprinkle with more cheese. (if you don't have any extra veggies then probably throw some spaghetti sauce of salsa over the wraps just to keep them from drying out)

Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour.

Eat and be happy!

We liked these so much that I didn't get a pretty picture of this at all but there is a picture at least!

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I'm back...and I hope for good!

I'm really sorry.

I have been so bad at posting since moving this past summer that it is pathetic. To be honest, I have not only been bad at posting but I've been torrible (Hazels word for completely awful, she mixed 'horrible' and 'terrible' and I think its quite genius) and even cooking. I have plenty of excuses. I drive everyone in my family around like crazy. That is my main excuse. And the sad thing is that back in Ontario even when I had no time I still found time to cook but here I have had a really hard time trying to get into any routine at all that involves cooking.

Don't worry, I spend plenty of time in my kitchen but it feels so much less like something I love even though I'm in a way more efficient kitchen and it should be. I just need to get myself into a routine and everything else will fall into place.

And this is starting to happen which is maybe why tonight I was able to whip up a fabulous (though I used some cheating ingredient) vegetarian meal that EVERYONE loved and was perfect for a minus bazillion degree winter night.

Kaycee's Ravioli Casserole

Ok, I first have to again admit...I used cheat ingredients for me. I used a packaged sauce mix and that feels like a cheat. sorry... :(

2 packages of fresh (but frozen) vegetarian Ravioli. Ours was stuffed with spinach and cheese. YUM!

1 package of Knorr Parma-Rosa pasta sauce

Fresh Broccoli

Grated Cheddar Cheese

Bread Crumbs

So, since I only had a few minutes between getting Hazel off the bus and leaving to pick Aaron up at work I had to think about how I was going to have dinner ready when I got back. I knew I wanted to do Ravioli with Parma Rosa Pasta sauce but I also knew if I made the pasta before I left it would be dry and really not as good as if I just made it right before I put it on the table. I also knew I was already hungry and that I needed to have dinner ready when we walked in the door so I couldn't even make the sauce ahead and then do the 5 minute pasta...so, what to do.

Quite a predicament.

Ok, so this is what I did and it turned out to be delicious and such a perfect dish for a cold winter night. Comfort food.

Put the frozen pasta into a baking dish.

Cut up your raw broccoli into bite sized pieces and add it to the baking dish.

Prepare your sauce mix according to the direction on the package EXCEPT add an extra cup of milk.

Once the sauce is ready pour it over the pasta and broccoli. Cover the top with grated cheese followed by a sprinkling of bread crumbs.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour.

Serve immediately with a side of salad.

Now, as a side note. I know that this is not the cheapest meal but I lucked out at the grocery store last week. I went to get some fresh pasta and there was a whole pile on 50% off because they were at their expiry date. I bought them all and threw them into my freezer. Look for deals like this, they are most likely to be found if you can get to the store first thing in the morning. Good Luck!

And please send me your recipes so I can continue to get back to cooking good food to share with you!

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