Recipes

Yes, recipes. So when I cook/bake, I basically do whatever the hell I want and don't really write anything down. I just kind of throw things together. BUT, it's usually delicious so maybe if I wrote it down other people could enjoy the fruits of my labor, especially dishes that have fruit in them. Also, this gives me a space to pull up recipes on my iPad without having to dig through hastily scribbled papers.

Banana Bread (and all it's wonderful varieties)

If there's any baked good that I've mastered I think it's banana bread. Yes, it's really easy to make, but going beyond the basics is a lot of fun to experiment with. I will outline the basic recipe and then describe some of my explorations/varieties, all of which were from-scratch ideas.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 4-5 mashed overripe bananas
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter (if using unsalted add 1 tsp salt)
• 2 cups flour
• 2 eggs

Oatmeal (Walnut) Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are a recipe that I originally found on the internet but decided to change. Basically I made them puffier and added walnuts. They are good, very good.

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup all purpose (white) flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt (if using unsalted butter; if using salted butter add no salt)
• 3 cups oatmeal
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (or just 1 cup if adding walnuts)
• (1 cup chopped walnuts)
• 1 cup soft butter (not melted and not too soft)
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Oven at 325 deg-F
2. Cream together butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until the mix is a consistency of fluffy frosting. Next add in eggs one-at-a-time. Finally add in vanilla
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour and baking soda. Next, hand-stir this mixture to the sugar mix
4. Stir in oats, chocolate chips, and walnuts
5. Bake for about 14 minutes (check at 12)
6. Eat

Review/Pics:

These cookies were delicious and inspired me to use a whipped sugar mix for other recipes, such as banana bread..which might make it on here. I've made the cookies twice now and see no reason to change my recipe. In the pictured batch below I only had a small amount of butter, so the margarine made them kind of flat, but they were soft still and delicious.

Five-Finger Beer Pizza Dough

OK, so firstly, you must know that is is the crust that makes the pizza. Secondly, know that I've been working on different varieties of pizza dough for a while. Every time I make it I try to change things up. During one such instance, however, I really liked the result. The name "five finger pizza dough" comes from the fact that the first time I experimented with pizza dough I only used five ingredients: flour, yeast, oil, sugar, salt...only to realize that "water" makes a sixth ingredient....but let's say that doesn't count, eh? So the following ingredients and instructions are for a whole-wheat pizza crust that is pretty darn tasty. It makes one large cookie sheet pizza or two smaller round pizzas:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour (with extra flour on-hand)
• 2 tsp yeast
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/3 cup warm beer, yes warm beer
• 3 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 deg-F
2. Sift the dry ingredients together
3. Measure out required amount of beer then microwave to a warm temperature
4. Mix the oil and beer as best as you can then add the mixture to the flour
5. Add flour by hand and knead dough until no longer sticky. Roll out flour on pan, no need to let the dough rise
6. Cook the crust by itself for 5-7 minutes, depending on thickness
7. Add sauce, cheese, and toppings to your heart's desire
8. Cook for 12-15 minutes
9. Eat

Review/Pics:

Below are the photos I took using this crust recipe. I used a basic Prego pizza sauce but added minced garlic to it before spreading. Next I put Spinach on the sauce, then added cheese, tomato, peppers, and mushrooms. It was the best pizza I've ever made, and the whole-wheat beer crust gave it a hearty touch.

Cheesy Potato Heart Attack

SO I completely forgot about my killer cheesy potato recipe. I was about to put my pizza dough recipe back on the fridge when I found the cheesy potato recipe on the back of it! I'm def gonna makes these soon because I forgot about them and they were delicious.

Ingredients:

• 4 1/2 cup cooked cubed potatoes
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 1/2 block Velveta cheese (12oz)
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3/4 stick butter
• 1 handful chopped onion (3/4 cup?)
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs/crushed croutons/potato chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 deg-F
2. Cubed enough potatoes to equal roughly 4 1/2 cups then boil them till cooked - do not overcook or they will mush. Strain out the water
3. In a large glass bowl, melt together the mayo, cheese, milk, and butter then mix well
4. Add the salt and pepper to the cheesy mixture
5. Dump the potato cubes into the cheesy concoction and stir together, add onions
6. Pour entire mix into a 9" x 13" pan and top with breadcrumbs if desired
7. Cook for roughly 45 minutes
8. Eat

Review/Pics:

These cheesy potatoes in no way compare to the ones that my aunt Wendy make, but they are pretty darn good. I didn't base them on any sort of recipe or anything, just kind of kept adding things I thought would go well with them. Be sure to take blood thinners before eating. I'll work on getting a pic up once I make them again.

Chicken Parmesean:

This dish has become a go-to favorite at my apartment whenever we have a lot of chicken breasts and pasta and sauce. This is also completely from scratch, and I've never written it down before so we'll see what happens when it comes to quantities.

Ingredients:

• ~4 large chicken breasts (enough to stuff an 8" x 8" dish)
• ~ 3 cups Italian breadcrumbs/crushed croutons (enough to coat 4 large chicken breasts)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 stick butter
• Parmesean cheese
• Basil/oregano
• Mozzarella cheese
• 2 cups pasta sauce

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 deg-F
2. Tenderize chicken
3. Melt the butter in a bowl, then add in the eggs and scramble
4. One-at-a-time, dip each chicken in the egg mixture, then dip into a plate of breadcrumbs to coat on all sides, place in dish
5. When all chickens are packed into the dish, cover with pasta sauce, then top with cheeses and sprinkle with herbs
6. Cover with aluminum foil and vent with a knife
7. Cook for 30 minutes. After this 30 minutes, remove foil and cook for an additional 20-30 minutes then check largest breast with thermometer to be at 165 def-F
8. Eat

Review/Pics:

As I said earlier, this is a classic and is simple to prepare. Because we cook it in a pan, all the chicken breasts basically conglomerate into one chicken "loaf." As such, it's best to serve it in slices like you would lasagna.

Beer Breads:

I've experimented a lot with different beer breads here are a few tasty varieties:

Irish Breakfast Bread (darker):

• 1 cup all-purpose flour (sifted)
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup dry oatmeal (I used Quaker old-fashioned oats)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 12 oz. Guinness (room temperature)
• 1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven 375F. 
2. Mix all the dry ingredients. 
3. Add the beer, beat together well – will be like a thick mud, not a ball of dough. 
4. Butter sides of bread pan.
5. Pour the mixture into bread pans. 
6. Melt the remaining butter and pour over the mixture evenly. 
7. Bake for 1 hour.

Beer Bread w/Corn Meal (great w/chili):

• 1 cup all-purpose flour (sifted)
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup corn meal (I used Aunt Jemima)
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 12 oz. Rolling Rock (or any lager will do)
• 1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven 375F. 
2. Mix all the dry ingredients. 
3. Add the beer, beat together well – will be like a thick mud, not a ball of dough. 
4. Butter sides of bread pan.
5. Pour the mixture into bread pans. 
6. Melt the remaining butter and pour over the mixture evenly. 
7. Bake for 1 hour.

Beernana Bread:
This is essentially just standard banana bread combined with "standard" beer bread. It yields 2 loaves. I think I invented it.

• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 4-5 mashed overripe bananas
• 12 oz. hefeweizen beer
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter (melted)
• 2 cups all-purpose white flour
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup corn meal
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp salt