Focaccia Bread!!

So, well, you see I keep finding these amazing things on my iGoogle account and I just want to tell everyone about them.  So that's what the following comes from, really.  wikihow.com specificaly.

And anyway.

Ingredients:

• 1 packet active, dry yeast or 2 1/4 tablespoons of bulk yeast or equivalent (read the package if buying bulk yeast).
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup warm water (130 to 140F or 55 to 60C)
• 2 1/2 to 3 cups unbleached or bread flour (see tips), divided
• 2-3 Tablespoons fresh rosemary or 1 Tablespoon dried rosemary, finely chopped.
• 4 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Prepare a clean surface on which to handle the dough. This can be a bread board or a wooden table, but make sure to wash the surface thoroughly, since it will be in direct contact with the dough. If you will use a table that gets used for other purposes, wipe it with dish soap and then wipe again to rinse, as you would a dish.

2. Run some warm water into a stoneware bowl. Real yeast is not difficult to handle, but it will help if you keep it warm. A good rule of thumb with yeast is that it will like the temperatures you would like in a warm bath. Some warm water from the tap will preheat the bowl nicely, and stoneware, if you have it, will help to hold that heat.

3. Chop finely the rosemary and any other herbs you wish to add to the dough.

4. Pour the warm water out of the bowl and dry the bowl with a clean dish towel.

5. Mix one cup of the flour with the rest of the dry ingredients, including the yeast and rosemary, in the bowl, but reserve about half of the flour.

6. Add 2 tablespoons of the oil, then add the warm water.

7. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon. Mix until you have a smooth, batter-like consistency. You can also do some of the mixing and kneading with an electric mixer, if you have a dough hook.

8. Gradually add the rest of the flour, continuing to stir.

9. Begin to use your hands to mix the dough as it becomes too thick or sticky to work with a spoon.

10. Turn out the dough onto a clean, floured surface when it behaves more like dough than like batter.

11. Knead the dough by hand for about ten minutes, working in any remaining flour.

• If in doubt, knead longer than you think you need to. It is difficult to over-knead by hand.
• Sprinkle flour on top of the dough as needed to keep your fingers from sticking.
• Kneaded dough should be springy and smooth when it is ready. See if it bounces back when you poke a finger into it. Also try the "earlobe test". Pinch an earlobe-sized piece of dough and see if it feels about like an earlobe.

12. Shape the kneaded dough into a round ball.

13. Pour a little olive oil into the bowl.

14. Roll the dough around in the bowl to coat the surface. Turn the ball of dough over and roll it to coat the other side.

15. Cover the dough with plastic wrap (better) or a damp towel (traditional) to keep the moisture in during the rise.

16.  Leave the dough to rise in a warm (but not hot) place for about 30 minutes or until it has doubled in bulk.  The dough is ready when you can push a finger or into it and not have it spring back.

17. Turn the dough onto a floured surface.

18. Punch down the dough all over. This is exactly what it sounds like. Press your fist (slowly) into the dough and repeat all around to deflate it.

19. Divide the dough into two equal pieces.

20. Roll, press, and pull each piece into a flat sheet that will fit on your pizza pan or cookie tray. Something roughly round or rectangular is fine. It need not take up the whole sheet. It should be about half an inch (1-1.5 cm) thick and a fairly uniform thickness. Repeat for the other half of the dough.

21. Grease or oil two pizza pans or cookie trays and place the dough on them.

22. Cover both sheets or pans with plastic wrap (it will help to oil the plastic wrap or add a bit of cooking spray) and rise for another 20-30 minutes. The dough should puff up.

23. Preheat the oven to 400F (200C, gas mark 6 ^[1]).

24. Remove the plastic wrap. Push your fingers into the dough to make little dents around on the surface.

25. Drizzle olive oil on the surface of the dough. Use a pastry brush to spread it evenly across the surface.

26. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and any other additions you'd like.

27. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

28. Cut into squares 3-4 inch squares or strips. A pizza cutter will help.

29. Serve warm or cool, but serve fresh as soon as possible. A bowl or basket lined with a clean dish towel or napkin makes a good presentation.

30. :D

[edit]Tips

• You can use a bread machine on the dough cycle for the first part of this recipe. Consult your manual and change the proportions if you need to.
• The amount of flour can be adjusted by feel if you know what you're feeling for. The dough should be just dry enough not to stick to the surface while you knead it. You can add flour a little at a time on the surface and let the dough pick it up as you knead until it doesn't seem to need additional flour.
• The purpose of kneading dough is to develop the gluten. For yeast breads, such as focaccia, this is desirable. For quick breads, such as banana bread, it is not desirable at all.
• Focaccia will work fine with bread flour, unbleached flour, or all-purpose flour. Do not use pastry or cake flour, and do not use self-rising flour.
• You can substitute whole wheat flour for up to about half of the flour in this recipe. It will change the character. With whole wheat flour, you may have to do more kneading, and it is more important to use bread flour specifically. If you are new to bread making, it will probably be easiest not to use whole wheat the first time.
• The plastic wrap helps keep the dough from drying out during the rise.

[edit]Warnings

• Use appropriate caution with ovens and knives.
• Don't bake the plastic wrap or any towels used to keep the dough moist during rising.

[edit]Things You'll Need

• A mixing bowl, ideally stoneware.
• A wooden spoon
• A bread board, cutting board, or clean wooden table surface
• A cookie sheet or pizza pan
• Plastic wrap or moist towels
• Someplace warm for the dough to rise undisturbed: a sunny window, an oven with a pilot light, proof cycle, or even inside a warm car in the sun.
• Dough scraper or spatula (optional, but handy)
• Pastry brush (helpful for spreading olive oil).
• Pizza cutter or sharp knife.
• Apron
• Sponge or dishcloth for cleanup

[edit]Related wikiHows

• How to Make Garlic Cheese Focaccia
• How to Make a Chicken Pesto Focaccia Sandwich
• How to Toss Pizza Dough
• How to Knead Dough

[edit]Sources and Citations

1. ↑ http://www.hintsandthings.co.uk/kitchen/oventemp.htm
2. http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Focaccia
   

DEODERANT!(some of us are afraid to stink...)

So, this is not food.

This is deoderant. Don't eat it, dummie.

1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup cornstarch
10+ drops tea tree oil
2+ TBSP shortening

1. Put baking soda and cornstarch (see Warnings) in a bowl with tea tree oil. The deodorant in this example was made with 20 drops due to an enthusiasm for tea tree oil. Lavender oil will work as well.

2. Stir enough shortening in until it's a consistency you like.

3. Smash into empty deodorant container. It will be a bit sturdier once it sets a day or so.

Another example of this is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaUNriUK7zc&feature=player_embedded

Info completely stolen from and courtesy of: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Stick-Deodorant

Please se this link for more information and concerns that you might have about it, they got lots of cool stuff there.

Warnings:
If you have especially sensitive skin, increase the amount of cornstarch to 6T and decrease the baking soda to 2T.

Be sure to store in a cool place. LouAna coconut oil starts to melt at 76 degrees. There are coconut oils you can purchase that won't melt until it's 92 degrees.

Drinks All Around!

So the first of the two drinks that I can come up with at the moment is a recipe for Butterbeer that has become a favorite around the house, and it's pretty simple, though rather expensive, and alcoholic, so special occasions are best suited for this one.  But delicious none the less!

We found it somewhere on the internet, and it's pretty prevalent wherever alcoholic Butterbeer recipies are found.  There are also an abundance of NON alcoholic versions, but I haven't had any of these.

Butterbeer:

Cream soda of choice

Butterscotch Schnapps

Mix half and half, pretty much, till you get a feel for the balance of flavors that most suits you.  This is a very sweet drink, very butterscotchie and smoothe...  I want to drink it all the time.

But can't afford it.

And the second drink is a home made Chai recipe that I found in a cookbook called Mangos and Curry Leaves, a tome full of foods and meals from the Sub-continent, Nepal, Palestine, India ect.  A second book by the same authors is Hot Sour Salty Sweet, a fantastic life changing read focused on Southeast Asian cooking, but that will have to wait for a later entry.

ANYWAY!  The Chai...

Get some:

Water

Black tea of choice

Whole ginger root

Whole black peppercorns(with either a grinder or a mortar and pestle to make it all brokie)

Milk

Sugar

And that's it.

So I can't remember the precise recipe that was in the book, I just kind of wing it every time I make this and it usually comes out great.  Do some experimenting and you'll get it the way you like it eventually.

Start boiling that water.  Then cut up a, oh I don't know, square inch cube section of that ginger, dice it up real good, git'er nice n' fine.  You're looking for maybe about a teaspoon to half table spoon of this stuff for one cup of tea. Grind up maybe a teaspoon's worth of pepper and set both of these aside till the water's good an hot.  Or maybe do all this before you boil the water, but anyway.  Who cares what you do.

The next part I'm always kind of out to lunch on, I usually dump the stuff all in the same cup, but this lends to pepper grinds and hunks of floating ginger in your tea when you're just hankerin' fer that Chai heaven, and you'll have to wipe your lip alot.  Maybe strain out the ginger-pepper in your tea into another cup, or if you have a re-usable fabric tea bag, like the kind people use to brew Mate, those can be helpful at this point. Perhaps even, if you're using loose tea, steep the tea and the ginger-pepper together. I find tea balls to have holes too big to keep the pepper in, but do what you want.

When the water's hot, drop the ginger and pepper in the cup and pour water over if you're just going to drink it without waiting and drop a tea bag in there too. Or brew the tea and the ginger-pepper together in a bag.  Brew for like 3 to 5 minutes so the tea doesn't get too acidy(unless you like it like that).

Mix the milk and sugar after the tea and all is brewed and consume!  Adjust the ingredients to your taste, this is a spicy drink and will give you a kick if you use too much ginger or pepper, so go easy the first time.

There are more involved versions out there, but this is a good start.

I'll try and post some pictures later tonight, so.

Drink up ma hearties!

~)o(~

Thai-ish Soup AKA "Oh no, a bunch of random things are getting ready to expire!"

2 quarts chicken broth
1/2 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb skinless boneless chicken
1 12oz bag Bird's Eye Steamfresh vegetables
1 10oz box Tasy Bite Thai lime pilaf
2 cans coconut milk
9 oz spinach, chopped roughly
Crushed red pepper flakes
Salt
Pepper

Steam the chicken and microwave the vegetables. Meanwhile, bring the broth to a boil and add the onion and garlic. Add crushed red pepper flakes - a few dashes for a little spice, or a bunch of dashes for a lot of spice. When chicken is cooked, chop it into small, bitesize pieces and add to the broth along with the vegetables and the rice. Turn off heat and add coconut milk and spinach. Salt and pepper to taste.

Source - My basement and my brain.

Hot Dog Stew

I suppose I will start this blog off with one of my most well-known and beloved recipes--it tastes way better than it looks. You can pick and choose what vegetables you want in the stew--there are MANY versions of this out there. We have also recently added edamame to our version of the stew--luckily, you can buy it pre-shelled.

(Note: I always at LEAST double this)

Ingredients:
1 package of hot dogs (8)
2 T oil (usually vegetable or canola)
2 large cloves garlic
2 medium potatoes*
4 large carrots*
1 giant can tomato juice (the 46 oz one--can be cheap)
Spices to taste (see below)
1 cube chicken bouillon
1 cube beef bouillon
1 bag frozen broccoli (14 oz) (don't buy a cheap one--they SUCK)
1 can corn (15 1/4 oz.)
SPICES (these are what I use; you can make up your own!)
Summer Savory
Nature's Seasoning (also known as JACK'S MAGIC SPICE)
Onion powder
Celery powder

Get yourself a big ol' pot and put it on the stove; turn the stove on (somewhere between medium and high). Put the oil and press the garlic into the big ol' pot. Scrub & peel potatoes & carrots; add to big ol' pot**, stirring every now and again (if they begin to stick or burn, add more oil). Cut up the hot dogs into bite-sized pieces (smaller than 1/2 inch thick); add to big ol' pot. Once the potatoes and carrots are very soft, add the tomato juice, bouillon(s?), and spices. Stiiiiiir. Once this is hot, add the broccoli; cover the big ol' pot and let it cook until the broccoli is sufficiently soft***. Add the corn! Once the corn is hot, EAT. A LOT. (Actually, the longer you let it simmer, the better it is--but usually I can't wait to eat it once I spent all that time making it)


*These are approximate--I eyeball the ingredients to be approximately equal to the amount of hot dogs; amounts can obviously be adjusted if you like more or less of any ingredient.
**Mom likes to put the hot dogs in first, so they brown and plump.
***This is different for everyone, it seems...some people like the broccoli a little al dente; I like it falling off the fork.

Source: Weight Watchers, I think?

Spreadin' the Spice

Also, I have just gotten myself an account over at MyRecipes.com as "SpicePigJack"; it looks like a really good place to check out new recipes to try. There's also "allrecipes.com" and "recipezaar", but I liked the look of myrecipes best.


PS - Much thanks to Adam for his help with the hat in the graphic. :)

Delicious Chocolate (Template)

Ingredients:
1 bowl
8 oz. H20
2-3 chunks of Lush Magic Chocolate
Head of hair

This is something like what the recipes should look like; the more uniform, the less confusion. Not to say that this is exactly what everyone must do...only that it's my suggestion. If you have ideas to add, let me know, and we'll change it until it's something that everyone likes. Hooray!

Source: Lush (http://usa.lush.com/)