A Closer Look At Cuban Bread

So today we made cuban bread. I had made this one day in baking class but we needed bread and it is such an easy recipe that we decided to make it and include a recipe and a video. :)

We made it with added whole wheat flour....so it turned out a bit different than the one at school. Also we made rounder balls for the loaves, at school the loaves were flatter, more disk like.

Cuban Bread

3 1/2 cups of white flour
1 1/3 cups of whole wheat flour
1 tbsp of sugar
1 tsp of salt
1 tbsp + 1/2 tsp dry active yeast
just under 2 cups of warm water

Soften the yeast in the warm water. Swish it around to break up any lumps. Let sit until you start to see a few bubbles.

Add the flour, sugar and salt. Mix well until water is absorbed. Turn out on to a lightly floured surface. Gently knead the dough until it forms a soft smooth uniform dough; about 8-10 minutes.

Place the dough in a greased bowl covered with saran wrap until it is doubled in size.

Roll out onto a lightly floured surface and flatten all the bubbles out. Divide your dough in to sections and knead. Round into balls and let rest for about 10 minutes. Knead the balls again and form into shapes. We did round loaves but you could do any shape you want.

Place the loaves on a baking sheet, flour the tops and lightly score. Place in a warm area to proof until double in size.

Bake for roughly 20-25 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

Slice and slather with butter! Not margarine ........BUTTER! lol

This video is a kinda how-to and of course bits of it are done "chip and dale" style!! It actually is instructional and not as silly as the last one! Enjoy!

A Major Chocolate Fix....

Tonight we made something a bit crazy. Bread stuffed with nutella and bananas.....then dipped in chocolate milk ( you could add eggs) and fried in butter. YUM! I also sprinkled on some confectioners sugar and pecans.

It was delicious......just what I needed. I didn't think I did but apparently I needed a little pick me up. It has been a rough day.....I really miss my family today! I can not wait for my boys to get here this weekend! I miss them so much!

Little Pots of Chili Love......MMMMMMM

We made vegan chili for supper last night......yummy! We had them with corn bread cooked in the cast iron skillet. delish!

Aren't the little pots cute! Syd bought them for me for Christmas. They have a few other shapes so I might have to pick up more! lol

We didn't really use a recipe but the basics of what we used are:

2 tablespoons of canola oil

1 shallot, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 large carrot, chopped in a small dice

1 cup frozen corn

roughly 2 cups of black beans

1 large can of chickpeas, washed and drained

1 large can of mixed beans, (pinto, chickpeas, kidney, white beans)

1 large can of tomatoes, roughly chopped

1/2 cube of all vegetable - beef bouillon cube

2 cups of water

In a large pot saute the carrots for a few minutes, add the garlic and onion and cook until they start to soften. Add the water and bouillon cube. Bring to a boil. Cook until carrots are just about done. Add the beans, corn and tomatoes. Bring back to a simmer and cook until carrots are tender. Season to your tastes. Simmer for 25-30 minutes until the chili thickens up.

Seasonings were provided by.....cumin, chili powder, paprika, Cajun spice mix and of course.......liquid smoke! :)

Pasta 101

We had a lot of fun making pasta the other night and thought we would share the video. It took over half an hour making the pasta so Revanna sped it up. Enjoy!

Vegan French Toast

One word.......Gorgeous!


This morning we made vegan french toast with mixed berry compote. I had a dollop of plain yogurt on the side of mine. Man it was GOOD! Best breakfast I have had in a looooong time.

The ciabatta bread ( made at school, first loaf I made actually) was sliced and dipped in a mixture of almond milk and cinnamon. Then cooked in the frying pan. So easy and so delicious!

Roasted Tomatoes

We had some grape tomatoes that needed to be used......so we roasted them! The tomatoes were cut in half. Then we added some thyme.

And some olive oil, salt and black pepper.

Aren't they gorgeous! They were then roasted in the oven at 325 degrees for close to an hour.



They were perfect on the pizza! Along with onions, garlic, olives and lots cheese!

More Bread.....

Today we made Cuban bread. Very easy to make. It was my favorite so far.....moist and a bit dense. Yummy!

We also made a french bread dough and instead of making a baguette with it we got to shape it in to rolls. We each rolled 3 different shapes. They were fun to make. Some were a bit harder to get the hang of though.

Homemade Pasta and Bruschetta

Tonight we made pasta for supper. It was so easy. Flour and egg. That's it! We rolled it out by hand.....it didn't turn out too bad. But it needs to be thinner so we need to get a pasta roller!





We topped with butter, fresh cracked black pepper and Parmesan cheese. It was pretty tasty.

The bruschetta is on multi-grain baguette and has lots of garlic, olives and balsamic vinegar......YUM! It is topped with sharp old cheddar and mozzarella cheese.

Breads

Today at school we made some onion rye bread. It smelled wonderful! And was so easy to make. The hardest part was soaking the dehydrated onions to soften them up! It is rolled into a disk, dusted with flour and then two cookie cutters are used to allow for the to dough pop up.

We also made challah. It is hard to tell but it is braided with 5 strands of dough! It was interesting to braid....but after Chef made me redo it a couple of times I finally got it. lol
It is brushed with an egg wash and then black sesame seeds sprinkled on.

Smokey Lentil Soup

This is one of my new favorite soups. Lentils are healthy and very cheap. Not to mention delicious! This vegan soup uses plenty of spices to perk it up! The spicy smokiness is so satisfiying!

2 Tablespoons of canola oil
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 shallot, chopped
2 leeks, sliced thinly with the tough green part cut off
5 ruby fingerling potatos, sliced in rounds
2 carrots, sliced on the bias
1 parsnip, sliced on the bias
1 1/2 cups of red lentils, washed
1 cube of all vegetable chicken boullion
4 1/2 cups of water
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 Tablespoons of paprika
2 Teaspoons of cajun spice mix
salt and cracked black pepper to taste
liquid smoke

Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Saute shallot until soft, add garlic and saute for another minute. Add leeks and cook for a couple of minutes. Add water, boullion cube, vegetables and lentils. Increase the heat to high and bring just to a boil. Add paprika and cajun spice. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook at a low simmer until the lentils and vegetables are tender, approximately 20-25 minutes.
Remove bay leaf. Season to taste with salt, pepper and liquid smoke.

Black & Blue Salmon

To make the salmon simply press one side of the salmon firmly into some of the cajun spice mix. Cook one side in a hot oven proof saute pan. This is where the "black" comes from. Turn the salmon over and put pan in the oven to finish cooking. Finish with a dallop of the blueberry bbq sauce on one end.

We served the salmon with these funky blue mashed potatoes from "Garth the potato man" Fresh from the Charlottetown Farmers Market. After they were mashed I added butter, cream and a little white truffle oil to them! Yum!

Cajun Spice Mix

1/8 cup salt
2 Tablespoons cayenne pepper
2 Tablespoons chili powder
2 Tablespoons paprika
2 Tablespoons of onion powder
1 Tablespoons of garlic powder
2 Tablespoons fresh cracked black pepper
2 Tablespoons of dried basil
2 Tablespoons of dried oregano

Mix together. How easy is that? lol

BlueBerry BBQ Sauce

This is a "copy" of a blueberry bbq sauce from the last place I worked. I just kinda through things together until the sauce tasted like what I remember.

1 Tablespoon of Canola Oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/4 beer, I used Clancys
1 cup frozen blueberries
1/4 cup ketchup
4 1/2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon of brown sugar
1 Tablespoon of molasses
1 Teaspoon cajun spice mix
fresh cracked black pepper
liquid smoke, optional

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat, add shallots and cook about 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add beer, bring to a boil, cook until most of the liquid has evaporated. Stir in rest of ingredients except liquid smoke. Return to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until thickened, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes.
*I like to add a few drops of liquid smoke to mine. :)

makes about 1 cup.