Bread woes.

So yesterday, I had quite a time battling with yeast and wheat flour. I really love the idea of making whole-grain things. I make awesome whole grain pancakes. And pretty decent whole wheat chocolate chip cookies. But for some reason, wheat bread eludes me. It taunts me. It hates my guts. And after two failed attempts, I was desperate for some yeast bread success. And I found it in a familiar place: KitchenAid Sixty Minute Rolls (scroll down to "variations").

Yay for white yeasty rolls.

Free cereal!!

Free cereal at Walgreen's this week....here's how: their 8oz GM cereals (cheerios, lucky charms, cinn. toast crunch I think) are $1.99 regular price. Buy four: $7.96. There's an Easy Saver coupon in this month's book for $6 off when you buy 4 GM cereals. Combine that with two $1/2 coupons and they're free! Credit to Hollie for spotting this great deal!

(The occasional Walgreen's will not let you combine the coupons, but it is their policy that mfr coupons can be combined with Walgreen's store coupons.)

Still here.

Wasting away, on my wacko diet. Just kidding....last night I broke down and had a chicken melt and cherry coke from Steak & Shake. I swear, it was the best sandwich I have ever had in my entire life. Chicken. Cheddar. Bacon-ey goodness.

I'm eternally grateful that I'm not doing this because my health depends on it. My heart goes out to restricted-diet folks everywhere. I don't know how they do it.

Just so you know....

....the good recipes will be scarce while I'm following this crummy diet.

Chronic dieters of the world, you have my utmost respect. I haven't had a coke in five days and it's KILLING ME. However, I am not desperate enough to go near anything containing aspartame.

Crummy Diet.

So I'm trying to adhere, not strictly, but generally, to this anti-inflammatory diet. It kind of sucks. No bread, no sugar, no pasta, no rice. I haven't had a pop since Tuesday. But it's supposed to counteract my rosacea, and I would really like to not be so beet red next to my perfect-skinned children when we have our family pictures taken next month.

So here's what I'm making for dinner:

Marinate salmon in teriyaki sauce if you have time. Bake or grill on the George. Cut up and toss with angel hair pasta (cheating), thinly sliced green onions, and a splash of teriyaki sauce. If you think of it, throw in some julienned carrots near the end of the pasta cooking time. Adds some color.

It's really yummy and not too terribly inflammatory, I think.

Beef Stir-Fry

This recipe isn't completely mine...from a book, but I have revised it somewhat. ;)

Combine in a little bowl:
1/4 cup soy sauce, 1T oil, 1T arrowroot starch, a swig of wine and a swig of oyster sauce. Marinate 1/2-1 lb. thinly sliced beef while you get the vegetables ready.

Cut 1 green bell pepper and 1 red bell pepper into strips. Wedge one half of a medium onion. Cut up (or defrost, if you're like me) two cups of broccoli florets. Set it all aside.

Fire up a wok or big skillet, heat 1T of oil. Add the beef/marinade, 1/4 t crushed red pepper, 2 cloves of garlic (minced or crushed), and 1/2 t of ginger if you like it. Cook over med-hi heat until the beef is no longer pink, then remove and set aside.

Add a touch more oil to the pot and cook the vegetables until they are crisp-tender. Then add the beef and 1/2 cup beef stock. Bring to a boil and let cook for a minute or so, or until slightly thickened. Serve over rice or noodles.

Our fourteen-month-old chowed this down last night, every last bit. Yum!

Very funny.

So tonight I was getting ready to go on my 5th and last Cub run, and DH says nonchalantly, "um, while you're there, could you maybe pick up.....some OATMEAL?" Heh. Very funny. That's FREE oatmeal that's taken over the dining room, and don't you forget it.

Also very funny: this blog template.

Best. Cake. Ever.

And I MEAN it.

Got back from my 2nd Cub run of the day (4 oats, 16 boxes of instant oatmeal for free!) and made myself a birthday cake. Technically, I'm not done yet...it's in the oven. This is by far the best cake recipe I have ever found. I can't stop eating it. Normally, raw dough or batter kind of skeeves me because of the raw eggs -- I'm not prone to snack on it. But this batter? I could eat it with a spoon. It's unbelievable.

No link for this recipe...here goes...mix a yellow cake mix (no pudding) with a 3 oz. package of vanilla pudding mix. Add 4 eggs, 1/2 cup oil, 1 cup sour cream, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Mix well. Coarsely grate 6 ounces of milk chocolate -- I process yummy yummy yummy Guittard milk chocolate chips in the baby Cuisinart...works like a charm. Fold chocolate into batter and try not to eat the entire bowl with a spoon. Pour into a prepared bundt-type pan and bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes.

Now, the recipe just calls for a dusting of powdered sugar on top. And it's fine like that...really, I could eat the entire cake with no assistance. But what sends it over the edge is this yummy glaze: place 1 cup sugar, 1/3 cup butter, and 1/3 cup whole milk in a saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. After it comes to a boil, cook for 1 more minute, then remove from heat and add 6 ounces of chocolate chips and stir until they are melted and the glaze is smooth. Pour over cake. It will seem thin but it will firm up and become the Perfect Glaze. I promise.

Actually, the glaze recipe makes a LOT. If I remember, and if I'm up for the math, I half the recipe and it's sufficient for a bundt cake.

Yum. Cake. Happy Birthday to me.

Party Time

No time for deals today. No real cooking either....unless you count the awesome sandwich wraps I made for the party. Flatout is a gift from heaven.

The Quaker deal is back!

Can't believe it's back....Cub Foods had this mega-deal in May, and no way did I expect to see it again so soon. Here's how it works: you buy 10 Quaker products (from a list) and you receive a $10 Catalina (coupon good for $ off your next shopping order). So then, you go and buy 10 more items, pay for it with your $10 Catalina, and out pops another one. And so on, and so on, and so on. There are current coupons for almost all of the items on the list, and they are also on sale, so it's super easy to come in under $10 each time.

I've only been able to do it twice so far, but I just scored some more coupons....and I have more coming in the mail, hopefully Monday. Depending on how much stock has been depleted, I should be able to get a total of about 70 items for FREE. Yay! I love this hobby.

Hee

"J. Geils????? Yes, I think we've pretty much accepted that the only way Rush is getting into the HoF is if everybody at Rolling Stone is stricken with the plague and falls dead on their signed copies of Oops...I Did It Again, but J. Geils? Uh, how about Yes? Boston (are they eligible)? Man, I can't wait for the 2010 induction ceremony with Wham! and Wang Chung."

-- Kathryn Lively

Sticky Chicken

I've been hearing about Sticky Chicken for years....little did I know that I already have the recipe (under a different name) and have been making it for a while now. Here is the recipe!

I highly recommend making a big ole batch of the rub (like 2 or 3 times the recipe) and keeping it on hand in a shaker bottle. When I get bone-in chicken breasts on sale for 99¢ a pound I like to rub them with this mix, throw a bunch of carrots and onions (celery too if I have it) in the pan, cover and bake it at 350F until it's reached an internal temp of 170F (about 60-90 minutes). Then I rip it apart and use it in other recipes....what's left of it, that is. It's a great way to cook a bunch of chicken with minimal effort. Very yummy. Makes the house smell awesome too.

Not much to tell today....

First of all I just have to say, The Week rocks. It is by far the best mag I get, and I get a LOT of magazines (over 30 at last count). You can get a year's subscription here for $10. That's 50 issues, folks, what a bargain.

Not much to tell today. Got to go to the Jewel sans kids which is always a thrill for me. I know, pathetic, right? Got 10 packages of Idahoan potatoes for free (20 total this week). Also picked up a bunch of $1 Juicy Juice -- the big bottles. Woo hoo. My cashier was very sweet, told me I did a great job shopping. :)

Bourbon Chicken

So today I am making Bourbon Chicken. I love Allrecipes -- I find the reviews especially helpful. Except that they are sometimes hilariously opposite. On this one, alternating reviews say "Tastes exactly like the chicken at the mall!" and "This tastes nothing like the Bourbon Chicken at the mall!" So I guess I'll just have to make it and see for myself.

I had to go in search of bourbon....not really knowing what to look for, as I am totally lost when it comes to hard liquor. The neighborhood grocery store? Dead end. Unless I wanted to drop $15 on a honkin' bottle of Beam. So I bopped across the street to the little liquor store, feeling kind of weird as I went in there with my two very small children (one of whom kept saying, "mama, it's smells funny in here!"). "I need a little tiny bottle of bourbon. For a recipe." You think they hear that all the time?

Anyhoo, it's still marinating. I will come back and edit after I've actually eaten some.

eta.....It was good....can't really compare it to the mall chicken because I haven't had it recently.....but dh didn't like it, and he doesn't like the mall chicken either. Too sweet for him. So I take that as a good sign.

Finds

I figure that every day I do one of the following: find a really great deal, cook something worth talking about, or read something worth sharing. So I'm going to blog those here and share them with the world.