Dirt and Martinis » WIAW

Summer Day Breakfast in the Garden #WIAW

Dirt and Martinis — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:42:27 +0000

Another Wednesday and another What I Ate Wednesday Post with Peas & Crayons. If you get a chance check out all the other foodie bloggers that join in Peas & Crayons and blog about what they’re stuffing their face with. There’s A LOT of yummy and healthy recipe suggestions to check out and if you blog about food you may as well join the WIAW link party too!

I didn’t document all my meals but I did photograph my morning breakfast. Now that the mornings are warm enough to have meals outside it’s wonderful to start the day off with a light and healthy meal outdoors. Here is what I ate… Toast with my homemade bread recipe that had walnuts instead of sunflower seeds and fresh rosemary was added for an extra burst of flavor. That was topped with avocado, tomato slices, sweet red onion and a side of cottage topped with Sriracha sauce and fresh garden herbs. And, of course, black coffee to drink.

Bread Machine Flax and Sunflower Seed Bread

Dirt and Martinis — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 19:51:36 +0000

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I recently picked up a bread machine on Craigslist for $20! It didn’t come with the owner’s manual so I’ve been experimenting with several pizza dough and bread recipes. Some of the recipes were flops, some tasted great but had very little nutritional value and one looked like I was attempting to make a homemade river rock.

For the most part I try to eat as healthy as possible so I was excited to finally find a recipe at allrecipes.com that worked with my Hitachi HB-b101 bread machine. The recipe was tweaked by adding whole grains, seeds, and replacing butter with olive oil. By using organic hard white wheat flour and 100% stone ground flour from Bob’s Red Mill, instead of regular white flour, this recipe is full of fiber, nutrition and make the most scrumptious grilled cheese sandwich ever.

Bread Machine Flax and Sunflower Seed Bread

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups warm water

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons real maple syrup

1 1/2 cups Bob’s Red Mill hard white wheat flour

1 1/3 cups Bob’s Red Mill 100% stone ground whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1/2 cup Bob’s Red Mill flaxseed meal

1/2 cup hulled sunflower seeds

Directions:

Add all ingredients (except the sunflower seeds) in the order suggested by your bread machine manufacturer. At the end of the first kneading or at the beep, add the seeds. Makes about a 1 1/2 pound loaf.

Do you have a favorite bread machine recipe? If so I’d love to hear about it! You can leave a comment here, on Twitter or over on my Facebook page.

Slow Cooked Chicken Italiano

Dirt and Martinis — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 17:58:40 +0000

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Hello everyone! This is my first “What I Wednesday” post. Please check out Peas & Crayons site for LOTS of yummy recipes!

Some of the best meals I’ve enjoyed have the fewest ingredients and are the easiest to prepare. All you need is a little a planning to turn your family dinner into something enjoyable and extremely tasty! If you like to prepare meals in advance this is a great recipe to add to add to your collection because it actually taste better a day or two after it’s prepared.

For quick meals I like to keep these staples on hand: bottled pasta sauce with no sugar or high fructose corn syrup, frozen boneless-skinless chicken thighs, no-sugar canned stewed tomatoes, Italian seasoning, red wine, bay leaves, whole grain pasta, and red pepper flakes. The hardest part of today’s recipe is opening the jars…it’s that easy!

Chicken Italiano

Ingredients:

10 frozen boneless-skinless chicken thighs

1 yellow onion, diced

5 cloves of garlic, minced

2- 26 oz jars of pasta sauce (without sugar)

1-15 oz can stewed tomatoes (without sugar)

1 small carton sliced mushrooms (2-3 cups), optional

1/8-1/4 cup Italian seasoning

Small handful of fresh basil or a dollop of basil pesto sauce, optional

3/4 cup red wine

1 TBSP red pepper flakes, optional

2 Bay leaves

Preparation: In a large pot add all ingredients and stir. No, I didn’t thaw out the chicken! On medium-high heat bring up to a simmer. Cover and turn heat down to low and simmer for 2 hours. During the cooking process keep checking and stirring every 5-10 minutes. You may need to add more liquid if it seems to thick and if you cook it for longer than 2 hours. I simmered mine for 4 hours and it needed an additional 2 cups of water. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve over pasta and sprinkle with fresh basil chiffonade, parmesan cheese and more red pepper flakes if you like it spicy. Enjoy! Serves 8

Note: This recipe can easily be cut in half for a smaller batch or doubled for a huge batch. Also would be delicious served over polenta.

All the ingredients added to the pot!

All stirred up! Ingredients barely fit...

Simmering away...

Dig in!