Ranch bread...

I got the recipe from Carson's 7MSN Ranch... so I'm calling it Ranch Bread when I write up the very simple recipe.

She blogged about it here ...and here . I made some the other day along with several of her followers.  I kind of snickered when some of them mentioned making mistakes...because really, it is so simple, who could do that? Check there for the actual ingredients and measurements as well as her "how to"...

Well...I made a little boo boo too that could have been soooo much worse than it was. Thankfully I like to watch any of my breads for the first few minutes.  You know ...just because it's such fun to see how it begins to rise immediately.  Thank goodness I did peek in there... because I left plastic wrap on the dough!!  Aacckkk!!. what a stupid thing to do!

I whipped open the oven door and tore off the wrap... taking some dough with it and leaving a few little peaks on top of one loaf.  Who cares?  I was just happy it didn't melt totally and burn and make a helluva mess.  The oven was at 425 F....methinks it soon would've been a major disaster.

This bread is an easy no knead loaf... and like all good rustic, artisan loaves ..has lots of lovely air pockets.... it's supposed to.

One day....mix up the ingredients.... cover it with that dreaded plastic wrap...and leave it for about 18 - 24 hours on your counter top.  I was a bit worried that perhaps my bowl was a bit small..but, no..it stopped at a few inches from the top.

next day it looks like this..... lots of tiny air bubbles... and quite sticky...

Gently scrape it out of the bowl onto a well floured surface... and, as Linda says... lift it skyward with a spatula a few times.  Gently form it into a loaf with hands well floured... or two smaller ones...and let it rest while the oven is heating.  Here was where I caused my own problem...I put that stupid plastic wrap back on top of my loaves while they were resting, and then... didn't even notice it and slid the loaves into the oven.  DON'T DO THAT.
As Mr. BV said...why didn't you use a tea towel like you do all the other times with bread? At least you would have noticed that.
D'uuhhh .... who knows? ...

See my little spiky thingies? ... caused from ripping off the plastic wrap.

Here's the perfect one.

and.... even more perfect hot with butter melting on a slice.... MMMMMMMMM......

Easy Stuffed Peppers

I had some leftover rice...a mix of white, brown and wild... two leftover chicken thighs...and...

I spied a red pepper in the crisper.

Okay then...stuffed peppers it is.

Gently saute some finely diced carrots.  I like to do them in a bit of butter to give them flavour.   As soon as they begin to soften... add onions, celery and anything else you like to add to your mix to make it interesting.  This day I had some broccoli and I like to chop the stems into any dish to give us more veggies... so, in went a bit of broccoli stem.  I don't leave the vegetables too long as I like mine a bit crunchy.  Adjust your own cooking time as you like.  All of this should go very quickly.

Just before I added the rice, I minced a clove of garlic and stirred that in as well.  I don't like to leave my garlic to cook too long either .. or worse, to burn ... it gets bitter tasting then.....

Add the leftover rice immediately ... stir it all together well and drizzle on some Sesame Oil...it imparts a wonderful flavour and I love the aroma...you don't need much... just enough to make it tantalizing.  I added some broccoli tops (sometimes I add peas or beans) and tossed in the chopped chicken, a few chunks of pepper, a crushed chili pepper and a spoonful of tinned tomatoes.  Stir and leave just a bit longer to warm it all through.

Cut pepper in half... rub oil along the cut edges with a finger to prevent drying out and burning.  Mound the rice mixture into the pepper halves... smear a bit of oil on bottom of baking pan and place pepper halves into it.

Bake at about 350 for 20 to 25 minutes....

If you like... sprinkle on some grated cheddar and mozzarella at the end of 20 minutes or so.. bake a bit longer...then turn oven to broil and bronze the top.  Beautiful.
Mm..... whoops... no photo of the completed dish!  Acckkk!!  It looked so wonderful too...but, we got carried away admiring and eating .. and can't believe I didn't think to capture it for posterity!  Maybe next time.   This weekend.... cabbage rolls.......

I've been abroad....

..... ahahha.... oh, yerh...... sure I have.

Just messing with your head. Of course I'm fibbing.  It was just summertime.  All I could manage was one blog and some golf and gardening and playing about.... we don't have long summers up here.... so we make the most of it.

The fall has actally been better than some of the summer months...it is beautiful, warm, dry and we are having lovely blue sky days.  If I hadn't had surgery on my wrist I would have got in a great last month of golf.  The courses are closed now for the winter months... somehow I have to keep in shape to be able to swing a club by spring... but that is easier said than done with a foot that is now bad.... sigh.. it's been a few bad weeks...

This is what happened to my baking prior to the wrist surgery...

Even with greasing and flouring the pans... disaster!

The only good thing was... it tasted very yummy...

Italian Plum Loaf.  You may remember it from last year.  Only enough plums for two loaves and this had to happen.  Darn it.

But... this is already in the stores...

Oh....sorry.....

Here's the English version....

And... here's the perfect bottom of a perfect Eggnog Loaf !!

Aren't glass loaf pans wonderful?!  I'm saving the others for bread.  They seem to do bread loaves just fine....

Bread doesn't stick... why on earth did the plum loaves do so poorly I wonder...

Chocolate Mocha Cake

We have a little tradition.  Mr. BV bakes me a carrot cake for my birthday.... and for his...I bake a chocolate.  Our birthdays are too close together (in days, not years) ...for us to have two cakes in a week....so we usually do somebody's in the proper week....and the second several months later.

I try different chocolate recipes every year... but, he must stick to his now "famous" carrot cake that I love....

This was the one I made a few months ago for his special day.  It's from my ancient "Canadian Cook Book".

Chocolate Mocha Cake

2/3  cup shortening (I used butter)
1  1/4  cups sugar
2  eggs
1  tsp vanilla
2  cups sifted pastry flour .. or ..
1  3/4  cups sifted all purpose flour
1/3  cup cocoa
1  tsp baking powder
1/2  tsp baking soda
1/4  tsp salt
1/2  cup strong coffee (cooled)
2/3  cup sour milk, or buttermilk (to make sour milk just add a few tsps lemon juice or vinegar to milk and let sit a bit)

(The recipe says to stir cocoa and coffee til smooth and cool...then to blend it into the fat sugar egg mixture, but I prefer to add my cocoa to a bit of the flour and stir it into the butter mixture) ..

Cream shortening; add sugar gradually, beating after each addition til fluffy. (proper emulsifying of fat and dissolving of sugar is essential to fine textured cake.)

Add vanilla; beat well.  Add room temperature eggs one at a time beating well after each egg.

Add milk and flour alternately to the fat-sugar mixture, 1/4 each time, beginning and ending with flour.  It is a drop batter and should be thin.

Bake at 350F in a greased 8 inch square pan or two 8 inch layer pans.  You can line with waxed paper if you like.  I usually just lightly grease my pans and dust on a bit of cocoa.  Works the same as flour...but doesn't leave a white residue on the sides of the cake.

Layer cakes will bake in about 30 minutes and square cakes in about 50.  Check for doneness with a toothpick.... if it comes out clean they are done.   I usually test a bit early for chocolate cakes because you definitely don't want to take a chance.  The recipe talks about browning...but, hey...it's tough to tell when chocolate is browning and it can burn too easily.

Cool 10 minutes, run a knife around the sides and place rack on top of pan.  Turn over and your lovely cake should pop right out onto the rack.  If you papered... gently peel off the paper.

Mocha Butter Icing

3 to 5 tablespoons butter
2  cups icing sugar (approximate)
3  tablespoons strong cold coffee... or sift 1/2 tablespoon instant coffee with sugar.
1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons of cocoa ... or just enough to give a light chocolate colour to icing.  Or, melt 1/2 to 1 square of unsweetened chocolate and stir into creamed butter.

For my coffee, I made some strong coffee with instant and cooled it.  Then...added as needed to get proper consistency.  If you want less coffee flavour you can use a bit of milk as well as a tiny bit of coffee.

Sift the cocoa with some of the sugar.
Cream butter with 2 tablespoons sugar; add some liquid gradually.
Sift in remaining sugar to make it thick enough to spread.

I always have my handy dandy tasting spoons nearby too..... when it tastes right to me...it's perfect to spread onto the cakes.  If I make layers...I want some to spread between the layers as well..... if you only make the square you can make a bit less icing.

This one's for you Shashi....I hope you like it.  The print friendly "thingy" below is great.  Click on it...then move your cursor over the recipe...deleting anything I yak about that is not pertinent... then print out the part you need to bake the cake.  I'm too long winded....hahahha......

Biscotti Toscani

I'll write out the recipe later.... I see part of it is obliterated by some glare..

My favourite cutter for biscotti?  A hacksaw.... which I keep in the kitchen.  No piping is cut with this one.... just cookies... makes a nice clean cut.