Faux Great Harvest Bread

Andy and I have fond memories of walking around the Thanksgiving Point farmers market eating samples (which were really not sample sized at all, we're talking fat slices of deliciousness) of Great Harvest Bread. One of our favorites is the White Chocolate Raspberry bread.(Sadly for us there's not Great Harvest near us)

Last week I formed my bread loaf by rolling it out in a rectangle then and rolling it, instead of just forming it into a loafy blob. When I told Andy about my new loaf technique (which makes beautiful loafs, btw) he was a little excited saying that this opens up so many bread possibilities. Enter Great Harvest Bread inspiration.

 So today we experimented with some bread of our own. I used my regular bread recipe (found here). When it was rolled out we spread some cream cheese mixture on it (cream cheese softened and mixed with a little powdered sugar to taste), and we were really crazy and did half the loaf with cinnamon and the other half spread with homemade strawberry jam.

I baked it for about 5 minutes longer than my recipe called for, I was worried with all the goo that the bread dough would take longer to cook. Not sure if it really needed the extra 5 minutes, but it was cooked all the way through.

In the end, the loaf didn't last long. We loved it and between the 4 of us we gobbled it up in an afternoon.

We're excited (and a little scared for our waist lines) for all the different flavors we can try!

*Sorry, this isn't really in recipe form. It's just to inspire you to try your own filling. Enjoy!*

Delicious Chicken Curry

So, I got this WONDERFUl recipe from my good friend Kelly, and she gave me permission to post it on here. I absolutely ADORE this recipe. It just hits the spot for me, every time. Now, this is one of those recipes that changes every time... when my friend Kelly gave it to me, she literally just had me watch what she did, and write down what I saw. For example, at one point she said, "Put salt in your hand, dump in half, then throw the rest away." (If you are reading this Kelly, I love you!) I tried to find out what the exact measurements were for some of the things, but, you're just going to have to have fun with this and experiment. You really can't go too wrong... unless you put something in there that really doesn't go... like, fish... or something. :) My changes are in purple!

Anyway, here's the ingredient list: 

(This is based on a big group recipe... try halving it if you don't want so much.)

4 chicken breasts 

1 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup water

Poultry seasoning

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

abt. 3 cups rice (or however much you want)

4 Tbsp. butter, sliced into 1 Tbsp. pieces (I used 3 Tbsp. margarine)

Curry powder, mild- 2 dashes

nutmeg- 1 dash 

ginger

1 can apricots (I used lite apricots)

1 can coconut milk, sunluck

 (I also used light coconut milk, and it wasn't the sunluck brand)

1/2 Tbsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. brown sugar

2 Tbsp. cornstarch 

coconut, toasted

Directions: 

Take chicken breasts, put them in a large skillet and cook in water on high. Adjust your water amount based on how much chicken you are cooking. You will be using the liquid later, but you don't want too much liquid. It should just cover your chicken so it can cook. After cooking a few minutes, take chicken out and chop into bite sized pieces. Put them back in the skillet, and put a light layer of poultry seasoning on the top and cook until no longer pink. When no longer pink, place chicken and all liquids in a bowl until later. Don't rinse skillet!

Start cooking your rice. 

I wanted to use brown rice, but wasn't able to, so if anyone does brown rice, tell me how it tastes!

Put skillet back on heat and cook the onion and garlic in the butter until transparent. Put in the 2 dashes of curry powder, 1 dash of nutmeg, then add ginger. LOTS. I put a light layer on the chicken, stirred, then did it again two more times. Cook until fragrant... This is the part that you play with. I have done this before, and I know that I've put a little more ginger than I did this time, and it still tasted good. Go with what smells good to you... follow your nose!

Dump the bowl of chicken and broth/water back into the skillet and fold it in. Partially drain the apricots and add; then the coconut milk. Add the cinnamon, salt and brown sugar; stir. 

Put the cornstarch in a small bowl and add small amounts of water, stirring vigorously until it's a liquid. Then add to the chicken curry while continuously stirring. Turn heat down and let thicken. 

You can then add the toasted coconut and enjoy! Serve over rice. 

I didn't add the toasted coconut, but I have had it with toasted coconut and it tastes yummy.

My 2 year old son was "helping" me... very difficult to cook dinner when you have a 2 year old "helping". :) Cute though. 

Well, I hope that this is a recipe that works out for everyone. I really enjoyed it... even with the changes that I made. I like the original version better, but even with the lower fat options that I tried, it still tasted good. 

Lemon Chicken and Rice

This is a delicious and easy crock pot recipe! I borrowed the recipe from This website but I am always out of atleast a couple of the main ingredients! Good thing I like to improvise!

Lemon Chicken and Rice

5 small chicken breast

1 c Flour

1 T Salt

Olive Oil

Sauce:

6 T Brown Sugar

6 T Ketchup

1 1/2 c Lemon Juice

2 T White Vinegar

Cut the chicken into strips and toss in a bowl with the flour and salt. Lightly brown the outside of the chicken. Just enough for the flour ,mixture to stick. Put the chicken into the crockpot. Mix the ingredients for the sauce together and pour over the chicken. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6-8 hours. Enjoy over lemon pepper rice!

Chicken Bacon Pizza Biscuits!

This recipes was inspired by Our Best Bites, I love their site. However, again I did not have all of the ingredients so I improvised!

Chicken-Bacon Pizza Biscuits!

2 medium Chicken Breast
1/2 package Bacon
2 packages Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits Phil says they taste better with butter flavored biscuits!
2 cups shredded cheese
Parmesan Cheese




Cook the chicken and chop into tiny pieces. As small as you can get them. Add the bacon to the cooked chicken and cook together.



Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Cut the biscuits in half and using a rolling pin flatten them out a little bit. Not too much you still need them to stretch around the toppings. Sprinkle Parmesan Cheese, Shredded cheese and 1 T. Chicken mixture.



Fold the biscuit around the filling and flip upside down onto a greased pan. Cook for approximately 12 min or until done.



Enjoy with your favorite pizza dip or eat them plain. Either way they are delicious!!!

Warning! Diet ruining recipe!

I could not figure out what I wanted for a snack this afternoon! I wanted chocolate but the only kind we had was hot chocolate, I wanted peanut butter but all we had was plain old peanut butter! The only thing I could do was combine them and drink it up!

Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate!
Single serving

1 cup Milk
1 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp Peanut butter
3 heaping Tbsp Favorite Hot Chocolate

In a small sauce pan pour milk and heat on medium low, when it gets warm put in reamaining ingredients. Stir continually until well mixed. Continue to heat for 2-3 minutes being careful not to boil. Remove from heat, pour into a mug. Gently lift to your lips and blow a couple times. Drink!

Let me know what you think!

Banana Shake with Rice milk

Lately I have been trying to find yummy dishes that don't use dairy. It is really hard to find any that my kids will eat. I did however create a dessert that they will eat. If you make it let me know how it turned out for you.

Banana and Rice Milk shake

4 ripe bananas
1/2 cup Rice Milk
10-20 ice cubes
Vanilla

Cut up the bananas into pieces and put them in the freezer. Leave them in there for a couple hours or until frozen. Put all the ingredients into a blender or food processor and mix until well blended. Enjoy!

When I made this last night I did not add vanilla. The kids relaly liked it but my husband and I thought it needed more flavor. Before pouring this into your cup taste it and add more flavoring if you need it. I was also thinking it might tast good with some chocolate syrup on it!

Mashed Potato and Black Bean Soup!

I got this recipe idea from Our Best Bites! I love their site. They have all sorts of yummy stuff!
Anyway, I wanted to make it but I did not have several ingredients and for some reason my baked potatoes did not turn out the way I thought they would so they ended up mashed!

Baked Potato Soup
Recipe by Our Best Bites


3 Tbs butter I love butter which I think is part of my down fall so I added an extra Tbsp
2-3 cloves garlic, minced I ran out of this ingredient so I ended up using 1 small chopped onion and some Garlic salt with parsley. Then I sauteed it all together.
1/2 C flour
4 1/2 C milk (low fat works great)
1 14oz can chicken broth
4 medium baking potatoes (about 2 1/2 pounds) baked* I used 6 potatoes
2 C grated cheddar (or sharp cheddar) cheese, divided
1 1/2 tsp. salt More Garlic Salt!
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 1/2 C sour cream (low fat is fine), divided
1/2 C chopped green onions, divided
8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled, divided
2 cans Black Beans

*don't have time to bake potatoes in the oven? Just pierce them with a fork a few times and then pop them in the microwave. Cook in 5 minute intervals until a knife easily pierces through them. It usually takes 5-10 minutes. To bake in the oven, pierce each potato with a fork and place directly on oven rack. Bake at 375 for 45-60 minutes.

Melt butter in a stock pot over medium heat. Add garlic or onions and saute for 30-60 seconds until fragrant. Add flour to pan. At this point I mixed the flour in with the onions and let it cook for one minute. It makes it so you don't have to worry about chunks of flour. Slowly add milk a little at a time while whisking constantly to eliminate lumps. Whisk until smooth and then add chicken broth and Beans so the beans will become soft. (Now, if you get to this point and don't have a smooth liquid. Stop! Save your soup by popping the mixture in the blender, then continue.) Bring soup just to a simmer and heat until thickened, stirring often, about 5 minutes.

Once soup is thickened, turn heat down to medium-low. Cut potatoes in half length-wise and use a spoon to scoop out potato flesh into the pot. Use a wooden spoon to smash potatoes, breaking up large clumps. Add 1 1/2 C grated cheese and salt and pepper and stir until cheese is melted. Remove pan from heat and stir in 3/4 C sour cream, 1/4 C green onions, and 4 strips of the crumbled bacon. Add additional salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls and top with each serving with the remaining sour cream, onions, cheese, and bacon.
Now, I love bacon and if you do too I would double the amount of bacon you put into the soup.

Enjoy!!!!