There is nothing better than a warm dish with a crunchy piece of bread on the side after a long day of winter weather. As much as I love homemade bread, kneading and rising the dough over and over is not going to work in this house. We have a 1.5 year old toddler and a 3 year old toddler. Daddy works full time as a heating technician which you can imagine is a busy job in the winter.
In comes some of mama's favorite quick home-cooked recipes! I am talking pasta dishes that make their own sauce, crunchy mock artisan bread that is mostly hands off AND yummy snacks for the bread box like sweet banana muffins.
Crunchy bread... this recipe is amazing and easy to flavor however you'd like but I can't take credit for it. I found this bread recipe on the Living Traditions Youtube page. They are some of my favorite fellow homesteaders and never fail to provide good information! At the bottom of this blog I will have their Youtube channel listed, check them out!
Favorite crunchy bread-
3 cups flour
¼ teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1.5 cups hot water
Sit for 3 hours
Knead in flour and form into ball
Place into bowl with parchment paper let sit for 30 minutes
Preheat oven to 450 degrees with dutch oven inside
Place dough into dutch over and cook for 35 minutes, take lid off and bake for another 10
For today I added in dried onions and brushed on some garlic salt butter once it was done cooking.
Now we need something to go with this bread and that calls for pasta or soup in my book! Did you know that pasta doesn't have to have an added sauce? You can make your own sauce for your pasta dish by using any meats and vegetable you have on hand!
Everything but the fridge pasta-
-First I melt a whole stick of butter in the pan, then add in whatever meat I am using, this week it was kielbasa. You want the heat relatively high so you get good caramelization for flavor.
-Kielbasa is basically already cooked so I added in vegetables immediately as well, this week; just mushrooms. Cook these until browned nicely.
-Then I added in the fresh diced tomatoes with salt, pepper, garlic powder and a few of our favorite herbs. Stirring every minute or so, still on high heat.
-Once tomatoes are about half way cooked down, add in either water, broth or a nice wine. This week it was some left over red wine we had in the fridge. Pairs beautifully with the mushrooms.
-I scraped everything off the bottom of the dutch oven and turned the heat down. I let this all simmer together for about 7 minutes on low-medium heat.
-Last step! Add cooked pasta of your choice, mix and serve!
This dish can be made with whatever meat and vegetables you have on hand. A great way to clean out the fridge before picking up groceries.
The bread and pasta dish paired together was LOVELY. I hope you try it!
It's time to make breakfast/snacks and banana muffins are a weekly staple in this house. So much so that I have a gallon bag of whole frozen bananas in the freezer ready to go!
Again I can not take credit for this recipe... I found it on tasteofhome.com and will leave the original recipe link at the bottom of the blog! I do add a few things though.
Banana muffins-
Ingredients
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 medium ripe bananas
1 large egg, room temperature
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Things I add-
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
I only use 2 bananas as well
One batch of these lasts maybe 3-4 days here. Let me know how they come out for you!
Well, that's it for today everyone. Don't forget to find us on Facebook at Wicked Quail and Pork Homestead! Until next time, happy homesteading.
Living Traditions Youtube- https://www.youtube.com/c/LivingTraditionsHomestead
Banana Muffin Recipe- https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/basic-banana-muffins/
Comments