Olive Spelt Bread - Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day

April 1st Bread Braid (Celebrating Spring)

This is a picture of the Olive Spelt Bread...THIS IS THE BEST BREAD!! I wish I could post this recipe... Because it is that GOOD! If you ever thought you might like to make HEALTHY Bread, go out and buy the book... Healthy Bread in Five Minute a Day by Jeff Hertzberg, M.D., & Zoe Francois. They show you how to make bread baking easy, fun, and healthy!!!

This Olive Spelt has (had...it's all gone) the best flavor, texture, and taste! My DH said it was his favorite bread so far!!

Looking forward to the next recipe in our Bread Braid.

Thanks Michelle at http://www.bigblackdogs.blogspot.com/ for hosting this great Bread Baking group!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Yum...BBQ Chicken Pizza. The inspiration for this pizza came from FOOD TV magazine! I have always loved BBQ Pizza from California Pizza Kitchen, but this one is better:) I like a pizza with a crispy crust, and I don't like my pizza to have a lot of grease on it. For my pizza crust I used this mix from Betty Crocker... my sister told me about this last year, I bought the mix and recently found it in my pantry. This mix is GREAT... just add water, let it rest for 5 minutes and press into your pizza pan! It had great taste and was very crispy!!

This is my crust in my Williams Sonoma pizza pan, I love this pan--it has holes in the bottom and really makes a nice crust on your pizza, and never sticks.

After you made your crust top with

• Cooked Chicken
• 1/4 cup barbecue sauce
• scallions
• pickled jalapenos
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Bake at 450 until golden, about 15 minutes.

Note: Don't overload your pizza with toppings, the crust will be soggy!

Happy Foodie Friday! Thanks Michael for hosting ... make sure to stop by www.designsbygollum.blogspot.com for more great recipes!

Birthday Brunch

We had a fun Birthday Brunch last Sunday to celebrate my husband's big 60! (he married someone much younger!! lol)

Menu

Spring Garden Frittata

Breakfast Kebabs

Hot Potato Salad
Fresh Fruit Salad

I love to make frittatas and finally bought the Calphalon Unison Slide Nonstick Frittata Pan Set. I love these pans, frittatas are even easier to make now. You can use this pan set to cook many things...not just frittatas!

These are the Breakfast Kebabs! Very good, and cute for a brunch. The recipe came from the April 2010 Cuisine at home, I love this magazine...always has great recipes!

Breakfast Kebabs with apple-cinnamon barbecue sauce

For the Sauce

1 cup purchased barbecue sauce

3 Tbsp. apple jelly

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

For the Kebabs

6 pork sausage links, cut into 1-inch pieces

6 strips thick-slice bacon

8 oz. ham steak, cut into 1-inch pieces

Preheat oven to 350; line a baking sheet with foil and top with a cooling rack. Coat rack with nonstick spray.

Combine barbecue sauce, jelly, and cinnamon in a small saucepan over medium heat until jelly melts and sauce is warm.

Thread sausage pieces, bacon strips, and ham pieces loosely onto six 10-inch long skewers. Brush kebabs with sauce and transfer to the prepared baking sheet.

Roast kebabs until all meats are browned and cooked through, 45-50 minutes. Baste and turn the skewers every 10 minutes to ensure even cooking. Remove from oven and serve immediately.

This is the Hot Potato Salad, also from the April 2010 Cuisine at home magazine. This had a lot of fresh herbs in it - chives, parsley and dill! I love the taste of dill and it was great in this dish!

Fresh fruit is always welcome at a brunch, for fun I added the star fruit!!

Thanks Michael for hosting another FOODIE FRIDAY!!! Make sure to visit www.designsbygollum.blogspot.com for more great recipes and inspiration!

Mini Meat Loaves

The next assignment for the Barefoot Bloggers was to prepare Individual Meat Loaves for today. Thank you Tonya of What's on My Plate for selecting the recipe for us.

Meat loaf is a great "comfort" meal, and I don't know a guy that doesn't love a good meatloaf! If they are cute and little, it's turns into a great meal for us girls!! Ina does it again... a perfect meatloaf.

These also freeze great... so make a couple and freeze the rest for that day when you are tired and want a great comfort meal, it'll make your husband very happy:)

Ready to go into the oven...

Ready for the freezer!!

Ingredients
1 tablespoon good olive oil
3 cups chopped yellow onions (3 onions)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup canned chicken stock or broth
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 1/2 pounds ground chuck (81 percent lean)
1/2 cup plain dry bread crumbs (recommended: Progresso)
2 extra-large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup ketchup (recommended: Heinz)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan. Add the onions, thyme, salt, and pepper and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes, until the onions are translucent but not brown. Off the heat, add the Worcestershire sauce, chicken stock, and tomato paste. Allow to cool slightly. In a large bowl, combine the ground chuck, onion mixture, bread crumbs, and eggs, and mix lightly with a fork. Don't mash or the meatloaf will be dense. Divide the mixture into 6 (10 to 11-ounce) portions and shape each portion into a small loaf on a sheet pan. Spread about a tablespoon of ketchup on the top of each portion. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the internal temperature is 155 to 160 degrees F and the meat loaves are cooked through.

I am also linking this to Foodie Friday please make sure to go to www.designsbygollum.blogspot.com to enjoy other "Foodies" at Foodie Friday!!

Salmon Cakes

I love Salmon! I usually eat salmon once a week (it's good for you) and I am always looking for a new way to cook it. This recipe is from my good friend Ina Garten! I have watched so many of her shows I do consider her a friend!! lol The picture above does not do the salmon cakes justice, but they were fabulous! I will be making these again soon.

Salmon - cooked and flaked.

Peppers, onion, celery, parsley, and capers sauteed.

All mixed up and ready to pan fry.

Ingredients:
1/2 pound fresh salmon
Good olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup small-diced red onion (1 small onion)
1 1/2 cups small-diced celery (4 stalks)
1/2 cup small-diced red bell pepper (1 small pepper)
1/2 cup small-diced yellow bell pepper (1 small pepper)
1/4 cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon capers, drained
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce (recommended: Tabasco)
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons crab boil seasoning (recommended: Old Bay)
3 slices stale bread, crusts removed
1/2 cup good mayonnaise
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the salmon on a sheet pan, skin side down. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 15 to 20 minutes, until just cooked. Remove from the oven and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Allow to rest for 10 minutes and refrigerate until cold.

Meanwhile, place 2 tablespoons of the butter, 2 tablespoons olive oil, the onion, celery, red and yellow bell peppers, parsley, capers, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, crab boil seasoning, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a large saute pan over medium-low heat and cook until the vegetables are soft, approximately 15 to 20 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

Break the bread slices in pieces and process the bread in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. You should have about 1 cup of bread crumbs. Place the bread crumbs on a sheet pan and toast in the oven for 5 minutes until lightly browned, tossing occasionally.

Flake the chilled salmon into a large bowl. Add the bread crumbs, mayonnaise, mustard, and eggs. Add the vegetable mixture and mix well. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Shape into 10 (2 1/2 to 3-ounce) cakes.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. In batches, add the salmon cakes and fry for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, until browned. Drain on paper towels; keep them warm in a preheated 250 degree F oven and serve hot.

Happy Foodie Friday, Thanks Michael at www.designsbygollum.blogspot.com for hosting this great Foodie Group!

HBinFive - March 1st Bread Bread

Our 4th Bread Braid for the HBinFive Bread was a great Whole Wheat Bread w/Olive Oil. This bread has great taste and I thought it was very easy to work with. The first bread I made was a loaf of Whole Wheat w/Olive Oil. It was great toasted as well!

For the second bread, I made the Garlic-Studded Baguette and Cherry Tomatoes Studded Baguette. I loved how these turned out, they tasted great too! (I made these instead of the Aloo Paratha bread.)

The last bread for this assignment was Southwestern Focaccia with Roasted Corn and Goat Cheese. This bread was great, I also added chicken to this. The sauce had so much flavor, we really loved it. I was able to buy roasted corn in the frozen section at Trader Joe's.

Thank you Michelle of Big Black Dog for hosting this baking group. If you want to see other members progress in this baking group make sure to stop by http://bigblackdogs.net/