Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Bread/Muffins

I really wanted  to make some chocolate chip cookies today but I didn't have any butter and I was home alone with the kids so I didn't want to run to the store. I decided to make chocolate chip muffins instead. I came across a great recipe for Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bread and tweaked it a little. It is delicious! I will definitely be making this again. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bread/Muffins

2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
1 3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Combine dry ingredients and sugars. Add milk and peanut butter and chocolate chips and stir gently until well combined. Pour into a greased 8x4x3-inch loaf pan. Bake for approximately 50 minutes (oven times may vary). (I thought the recipe was a lot for just 1 loaf pan so I made 1 loaf and 12 mini muffins). The mini muffins cooked in about 20 minutes and the loaf took closer to the full 50 minutes.

Delicious! Enjoy!

Absolute Best Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

I love to make cinnamon rolls. They actually are a lot easier to make than you might think. I have made them several times over here in Nepal and they always turn out great. When my in-laws visited Nepal they raved about how good my cinnamon rolls were. They even said they were some of the best they had eaten! SO when I was on stateside last year and spending Christmas with my in-laws I wanted to make the "famous" cinnamon rolls for everyone. Unfortunately when I made them in the states they were terrible (compared to how they are here)...not sure why...different ingredients, different yeast...I am sure if I tried them again in America they would be fine (it is certainly not the recipe) but it sure was disappointing. Anyway, thankfully since then I have redeemed myself and made them several times back here in Nepal and they have been delicious! I got this great recipe from my friend Crystal (I am not sure where she got it). I hope you enjoy!

Estimated Times:
Preparation: 20 minutes
Cooking: 20 minutes
Proofing: 60 minutes

Ingredients:

Dough:
- 1 packet of active dry yeast (or 1 Tbsp)
- 1 cup of warm milk (105-115 F)
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 1/3 cup butter melted
- 1 tsp salt
-2 eggs
- 4 cups of flour

Filling:
- 1 cup of firmly packed brown sugar
- 2 1/2 Tbsp of cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp salt

Icing:
- 1/2 cup butter (at room temp)
- 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup cream cheese
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/8 tsp salt

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add 1/2 cup sugar, melted butter, 1 tsp salt, eggs and flour. Mix well.

Dust a flat surface with a small amount of flour and knead dough into a large ball. Return to bowl and cover. Let rise for 1 hour or until dough has doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 375 F or 185 C.

Remove dough from bowl and roll out on a lightly floured surface until dough is 21 inches long by 16 inches wide and 1/4 inch thick.

In a small bowl combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Spread the 1/3 of a cup of butter evenly over the surface of the dough (MAKE SURE THE BUTTER IS ROOM TEMP AND NOT MELTED...I think this was one of my problems when I made them in the states. I used melted butter and so it just all dripped off when I stood the rolls up and baked them) and cover with cinnamon and brown sugar mixture. Roll dough from the top (21 inch side) to bottom edge. Cut rolled dough into 1 3/4 inch slices and place them on a lightly greased baking sheet. You can have them slightly touching in a baking dish (they will expand).

** see note at bottom

Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

While rolls are baking combine remaining butter, powdered sugar, cream cheese, vanilla and salt. Beat with a fork or an electric mixer until fluffy. Spread on rolls and serve!

Makes about 12 medium to large size cinnamon rolls.

** I like to make the rolls the night before I want to eat them for breakfast and get to the point just before I am to put them in the oven and bake them. I cover the uncooked roll pan tightly and leave them out overnight (I don't put them in the fridge unless it is really hot out and then I do put them in the fridge overnight and then just let them sit out for about 30 minutes before I cook them to warm them up and get the yeast working again). Then I just put them in the oven and make the icing to put on the top. This takes a lot of work out of it for me in the morning (which is great because our mornings can get pretty busy and I am often too tired).

ENJOY!!!

Bagel Recipe

Bagels are literally one of my favorite foods in the world. My absolute favorite are Bruegger’s Bagels but I really like all kinds and can eat them any time of the day. I had heard lately about some of my friends in America and in Nepal making bagels from scratch. I decided to give it a try and see how they came out. To my surprise they turned out AWESOME. There are many steps to making bagels but truthfully this was SO much easier than I thought it was going to be. Here is the recipe that I used today (I was originally going to use a different recipe from my friend Kim's blog because it sounded delicious and the pictures of her bagels looked great but my Internet was out when I needed the recipe so I used one my friend Judy had already given me. Give both of them a try and see which you like better!). The recipe I made, made 9 medium size bagels. They were delicious! Enjoy!

BAGELS

Combine:

1 Tbsp dry yeast

3 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 cup warm water

Add until knead-able:

3 cups of flour (can use 1 cup whole wheat if you want)

Variation: Cinnamon Raisin Bagels

1/2 cup raisins - soak in hot water for 10 minutes. Drain and dust in mixture of 1 Tbsp of cinnamon and 1 Tbsp of sugar. Add this with the flour above.

Directions:
Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead until elastic (8-10 minutes). Place into greased bowl and turn over so top of dough is also greased. Cover with a clean towel and let rise in a warm place 30-40 minutes. Punch down dough. Separate into pieces (depending on how large you want your bagels...remember they will rise again). Shape into balls and work in toppings of choice (sesame, poppy or caraway seeds or minced onion if desired). Stick your thumb through to make 1/2 to 1 inch hole to form bagel. Let bagels rise again for 20 minutes.

Put 2-3 bagels at a time into a large pot of boiling water with 1 Tbsp of water added. Let rise to top and turn over and cook for about 1 - 2 minutes (I actually steamed mine instead and it worked great and was MUCH faster because I did not have to wait on each one to cook. Here in Nepal we can get layered momo/dumpling steamers everywhere and I just greased the bottoms of the steamer trays and put a few bagels on each layer and steamed them for 15 minutes instead of boiling them. Keep in mind when you are putting them into the steamer that they will almost double in size once they are steamed so leave room). Remove and sprinkle with salt, onion or more seeds if desired. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes until brown on bottom (I decided to only cook mine for 15 minutes although they probably could have used 20 because I like to toast mine and didn't want them to get overcooked and hard before I toasted them).

I'd love to hear how they turned out!

Chicken Panini Recipe

After my last post on Meal Planning, one of my friends asked for the Chicken Panini recipe. Well, I don't really have a recipe but I made them the other night for dinner and they were delicious so I will try and explain them below:

Chicken Breast sliced long and thin
Spinach
Tomatoes
Your favorite cheese
Honey mustard dressing
A good, fresh bread

I grilled the chicken and used a little chicken seasoning, salt and pepper. Then I sauteed the spinach with onion, garlic and salt and pepper. Then I made the light honey mustard (light mayo, yellow mustard, honey, vinegar, salt and pepper). I then got out my grill pan (since I don't have a panini maker) and I brushed honey mustard on a bread slice and laid it in the grill pan. I then added the tomato, spinach, chicken and cheese. I then brushed honey mustard on the second piece of bread and then topped the sandwich with it. I used a plate and a large heavy bowl to put pressure on the sandwiches as they grilled so they could "smoosh" together in a more panini style. I served them with baked french fries on the side and they were hot and delicious! Enjoy!

Meal Planning

We have been back in Nepal for almost 4 months now. These past 4 months have been so busy and every week I have told myself that I need to sit down and create a weekly/monthly meal plan/schedule because if you are anything like me, each morning you are trying to figure out what you have in the fridge and what you can get at the market in order to create a good dinner for your family. Living like this (especially in Nepal and other countries where there is no option for fast food or delivery or microwave meals or frozen pizza, etc) is stressful and time consuming.

So, I finally did it!!!!

I finally sat down and planned out dinners for the next three weeks. Everything we make here has to be made from scratch (thankfully we can get canned spaghetti sauce, canned beans, and have now even started getting a few frozen items such as french fries and tater tots and things like that most of the time) so these menu ideas are all things that can be made without many imported items. Also, a complete grocery list is not included here. Here in Nepal we have a few grocery stores where I do the bulk of my shopping and then we have small markets/shops that sell fresh vegetables, fruits, flour, sugar, butter, bread, salt, etc. everywhere. So my market lists are not grocery lists...they are simply a list of what I need from my local market each day. If you don't live near a market you could total up the vegetables you need each week and just buy them in one day and use them all week but because my little market is just 100 meters from my house I like to buy them each day.

So far (these past 2 days) having this planned out has made life so much simpler. It is one less thing I have to think about each day and it is so good to know that I have what I need in my fridge (except for my market items) for at least a weeks worth of meals...that means no last minute running to the grocery store and that means less time and less spending money on little things I find here and there. I would love to hear what you do each week for meal planning. I would love some meal ideas and always love to hear ways to make life easier.

September 2009
Monday 7: BLT and Tater Tots

From Market:
Lettuce
Tomatoes

Tuesday 8: Pot Roast (Buffalo or Beef) with Carrots, mashed potatoes and green beans

From Market:
3 Carrots
1 kg potatoes
300 g green beans (use some of these vegetables for Thursday’s pot pie for K and G)

Wednesday 9: Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

From Market:
2 large tomatoes, tomato soup packets

Thursday 10: Chicken Panini’s with Spinach, Tomatoes and homemade honey mustard and Baked french fries
(use extra chicken and make pot pie cubes to freeze for K&G)

From Market:
2 large tomatoes, spinach, fresh bread


Friday 11: Pineapple Pizza
w/carrot and cucumber sticks

From Market:
1 carrot, 1 cucumber, 1 onion, flour


Monday 14: Chicken Burritos and Mexican rice

From Market:
2 green peppers, 2 onions, flour

Tuesday 15: Shepherd’s Pie

From Market:
2 tomatoes, 2 carrots, 200 g green beans, 1 onion, 1 garlic, 1 kg potatoes
(use extra potatoes to make mashed ones for K and G)

Wednesday 16: Chicken Noodle Soup and Biscuits

From Market:
2 Carrots, 2 onions, 1 Garlic, flour

Thursday 17: Banana Pancakes and Eggs

From Market:
6 Bananas, flour and eggs

Friday 18: Pineapple or Veg and Olive Stromboli with raw carrots and cucumbers

From Market:
2 Carrots, 2 Cucumbers, vegetables for pizza

Monday 21: Chicken Fingers with mashed potatoes and green beans

From Market:
1 kg large potatoes (use some for Tuesday night), 200 g green beans

Tuesday 22: Chili and Baked Potatoes

From Market:
½ kg tomatoes, 1 onion, 1 garlic

Wednesday 23: Pancakes or Cinnamon Toast with Eggs

From Market:
Eggs, bread

Thursday 24: Spaghetti with meat sauce and Garlic Bread

From Market:
1/2 kg tomatoes, Bread

Friday 25: Chicken Panini’s with Spinach, Tomatoes and homemade honey mustard and baked french fries

From Market:
2 large tomatoes, spinach, fresh bread

Our favorite meal...

Do you have a meal that you love to make? That your family loves and you make all the time? At our house we do! About once a week we make chicken fingers, mashed potatoes and green beans with honey mustard and barbecue dipping sauces. It is SO yummy!

First we make the chicken fingers:
1. Buy chicken breast at the grocery store (thankfully we can buy some frozen meat here. The packages only come in one weight (a little over 1 lb).
2. Cut it into long strips.
3. Dip strips first into eggs and then into some flour with some Italian seasoning in it to coat the entire outside.
4. Pour about 1/2 inch of vegetable oil into a frying pan.
5. Fry chicken one side at a time (about 4 minutes each side. Don't make the oil too hot or the outside will burn before the inside is cooked).
6. Lay chicken on paper towels to absorb extra grease.

Then we mash the potatoes and cook the green beans. Did I mention I LOVE the pressure cooker these days??? The pressure cooker makes AMAZING green beans in no time at all.

Delicious Green beans in the pressure cooker:
1. Cut fresh green beans
2. Add to pressure cooker
3. Cover beans with water about an inch above the beans.
4. Add garlic powder, dried minced onion, salt and pepper to taste.
5. Close pressure cooker and cook on high heat
6. You have to wait until the pressure cooker "sounds" 4 times (about 15 minutes)
7. If you want the green beans to be REALLY tasty then add some butter (we usually eat them without the butter but either way, they taste great)

The barbecue sauce we actually can buy here imported at our grocery store but we make the honey mustard from scratch.

Delicious honey mustard recipe:
(I actually just guess at the amounts of each but I will try to give you a better guide here)
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup yellow mustard
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp white vinegar
pepper to taste
Simply mix all ingredients together.

I'd love to hear about your favorite meals and how you make them. In Nepal you have to cook most everything from scratch. It has been a challenge by through it I am LEARNING to be a better cook and I love it. I am excited that I get to eat my favorite dinner in just about 3 hours!!!

What's for dinner?

Tonight I tried a new recipe. It was really good. I found it on http://www.betterrecipes.com/ and modified it a bit. If you are looking for a good chicken stir-fry you should try this one out. It is really simple (especially if you use pre-cut veggies (which we don't have here but I have a wonderful girl who helps me in my home so that makes cooking (and living) in South Asia much more do-able so she helps me with the prep work for cooking). Here it is:

What you will need:
Olive Oil (I like Extra Virgin)
Green beans or Broccoli, cut into bite size pieces (200 grams or 1 16 oz bag frozen)
Carrots, cut long and thin 3 large (or 1 16 oz bag frozen)
Onions, 2 sliced thin
Garlic, 3 cloves
1 cup sliced pineapple
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1 lb chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces
1/4 cup water with 2 tsp corn starch
salt and pepper to taste
Cooked Rice (white or brown)

How you make it:
Turn stove to medium heat. Add a little oil to the pan. Add veggies and cook 10 minutes or until tender. Remove from pan and set aside. Add a little more oil to the pan. Add chicken, garlic, soy sauce, pineapple juice and salt and pepper. Simmer 10 minutes. Add veggies, water and corn starch mixture. Turn down heat and simmer 4 minutes or until sauce thickens. Add pineapple. Serve over rice.

Enjoy!

Did you try it? How did you like it? Did you modify it at all? I would love to hear from you and hear about some of your favorite recipes!