Garlic Bubble Bread

“If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens.”
-Robert Browning

The smell of baking bread wafts from the kitchen and good blues plays from speakers as I sit on my couch, typing away at my laptop. It is simple and it is good. The day was typical of beautiful late winter in the mountains; sunny and a little chilly. Today has been one of those days that just felt good. I took the dog for ice cream and we went to the university for a short walk while the bread dough defrosted and rose. Now I am relaxing and enjoying the end of a day that was simple and good. Sometimes we need to celebrate the simple things in life, so I will make this a simple post.

Garlic Bubble Bread

1 loaf Rhodes whole wheat frozen bread dough

1 egg, beaten

¼ cup butter, melted

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon parsley flakes

Allow the bread dough to defrost and soften in a greased bowl covered in plastic wrap for four to six hours.

Combine melted butter, egg, garlic powder, and parsley in a small bowl or glass measuring cup.

Pull small balls of dough from the loaf and dip in the butter mixture. Place in a greased loaf pan, until all dough is used.

Cover loaf pan with plastic wrap and allow to rise until it has doubled in size. Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 30 minutes or until browned.

Simply delicious.

Curry Indian Chicken

I'll bet what motivated the British to colonize so much of the world is that they were just looking for a decent meal. ~Martha Harrison

(Sorry it has been so long since I posted last. I started working nights and have not been able to cook as much as I would like!)

Missoula is a great town. I love living here. By Montana standards, Missoula is quite diverse; though, unfortunately, the food scene does not trend toward diversity. The choices are pretty slim: American, Thai, Mexican, Chinese, and some other Asian style restaurants dot the valley, but we are severely lacking in one type of food. I love the bold, strong flavors of Indian food. Scents fill the nose creating an expectation of grandeur upon the first bite; the curry and onion, garlic and paprika dance on my tongue. So, with the lack of a place to go out and eat Indian food I decided to start making my own. I probably should go and get a book and follow the recipes, but it was more fun to invent something of my own. This is how my standard Indian Chicken recipe came into being. It is a simple dish that uses ingredients most people already have in their kitchen.

Curry Indian Chicken

6 Chicken breast tenderloins

4 cloves of garlic , chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

½ Jar of red pasta sauce (I used garlic and onion style)

Curry Powder

Hungarian Paprika

Garlic Powder

Black Pepper

Olive Oil

A dash of Crushed Red Pepper

Heat a little bit of olive oil in a deep frying pan and add garlic. Sauté the garlic for about a minute to flavor the oil. Add the onion and stir.

While the onion is softening, season one side of the chicken with curry, paprika, garlic powder, and black pepper. Once the onions are fairly transparent, add the chicken, seasoned side down, to the frying pan. Season the other side of the chicken.

Allow to cook on each side for about five minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in the center. It is important at this point to leave the chicken alone. Don’t move it around in the pan or stir it around. just let it cook for about five minutes, flip it and let it cook again.

Once the chicken is no longer pink, remove it from the pan (trying to leave as much of the onion/garlic mix in the pan as possible), cover, and set aside.

Pour pasta sauce into the pan and stir to bring up all that chicken-y goodness from the bottom of the pan. Add about a teaspoon of curry powder and a dash of crushed red pepper to the sauce and stir to incorporate.

Return chicken to the pan and stir to coat. Allow to cook for at least 5 more minutes.

Serve over seasoned rice. More often than not, I serve this with carrots cooked in butter and a dash of garlic powder.

Tasty Moment #1: Tundra eats an icecream cone at Big Dipper

This is a new addition to the blog. I was thinking about thew sharing of recipes, when I realized that life has lots of tasty moments. So, in these posts, I will share pictures, videos, and stories featuring the "tasty moments" that occur in my life. I hope they make you smile!

Going to The Big Dipper:

The local ice cream shop gives out doggie cones if you bring your dog with you. My newfie/border collie mix, Tundra, LOVES ice cream!

Cardamom Carrot Bread

Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.
-Jim Davis, Garfield

Fall is my favorite season. Year around, there are great things about each season, great foods that make you feel alive in all sorts of weather, but nothing compares to the comfort food that accompanies the cool weather, changing leaves, and brisk breezes. It is time for soups and casseroles, heavy breads and canned goods.

I love to sit on my front porch, reading a book or simply looking up at the blue sky hovering over the yellow and green side of Missoula's Mount Sentinal, sipping of a cup of coffee and munching a piece of cardamom carrot bread. The flavors mix with the scents in the air and I feel it... it is fall.

Cardamom Carrot Bread
(makes 2 loaves)

2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups cooking oil
2 eggs
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
2 cup carrots (grated fine)

Shred the carrots (I used my food processor... no more grated knuckles!)

Cream the sugar and cooking oil in a medium bowl. Mix. Add the egg.

.

Stir the flour and soda in a smaller bowl.

Then, add the cardamom, cinnamon, and salt.

Pour the dry ingredients in with the sugar mixture.

Add the vanilla and stir.

Fold in the carrots.

Pour the batter into a lightly greased bread loaf pan.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 1 1/2 hour or until lightly brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

Feel Better Potato Soup

“To feel safe and warm on a cold wet night, all you really need is soup.”
Laurie Colwin

If Snoopy were writing this blog, it would start with "It was a cold and rainy night..." As it turns out, I am writing this blog after a weekend of feeling as if the Red Barron was flying loops in my stomach and attacking my digestive tract. It really has been chilly and stormy here in Missoula. The temperatures have been hovering between 40 and 60 degrees and it feels like fall. When I wasn't feeling well, my fiance, Brad, brought me some canned potato soup and some saltines. The thought was wonderful, but the canned soup left a lot to be desired. So, when he left for the baseball game to sell 50/50 tickets to benefit his work at a local home for adults with developmental disabilities, I decided to make some real soup.

Soup is one of those things that can do wonders when you are not feeling up to par. The soup I made is a hearty soup that makes you feel full and comforted on a yucky day.

Feel Better Potato Soup
1/3 pound bacon
3 cloves garlic (minced)
1 large onion
2 cups water
1 cup milk
2 chicken boullion cubes (I use the Lower Sodium kind)
pepper, garlic salt, paprika, and garlic powder (to your taste)
shredded cheese (for garnish)
6 medium carrots (peeled and sliced in big chunks)
10 medium russet potatoes (peeled and cut into chunks)
1 can kernel corn (drained)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese


Cook the bacon until the fat is just rendered and add garlic.



Add the onions and let it cook together for a while. I cleaned the kitchen while stirring the pot occationally. Then I added the carrotts.






Place the potatoes on top of this mixture and season. Potatoes need a lot of salt, so I put some garlic salt in there too. Just be careful! too much salt can ruin the whole pot and remember it already has bacon in it and soon we will be adding bouillon!
















Allow this mixture to cook together for about 10 minutes, stirring occationally. Add the can of corn and the parmesan cheese to the mix.






Add water and milk and stir. Bring liquid to a rolling boil and add your bullion cubes.




Cover, turn down the heat, and allow to boil, stirring occasionally, for 30-45 minutes or until the potatoes are knife tender. Mush some of the potatoes against the side of the pan and stir before serving.




Top it all off with a little bit of shredded cheese and enjoy the warm soupy goodness!

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

"There are people who strictly deprive themselves of each and every eatable, drinkable, and smokable which has in any way acquired a shady reputation. They pay this price for health. And health is all they get for it. How strange it is. It is like paying out your whole fortune for a cow that has gone dry."

-Mark Twain

There is something about the combination of peanut butter and chocolate that dissolves on your tongue in a fit of richness. Sometimes we need something simple that will satisfy an urge for a devilishly delectable treat. This is where Peanut Butter Cup Brownies make their appearance in my world. Rich and simple, gooey and chewy, these brownies taste like they are made from scratch, but are simply a slightly doctored box mix.

I first tried these at a baby shower a few years ago. I didn't know the woman who brought them, but I do know that I love her. Well, maybe not love, but I certainly appreciate her introducing me to Peanut Butter Cup Brownies!

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

1 box fudge brownie mix
(vegetable oil, eggs, and water as recommended on the box)
12 individual Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Follow the directions on the box to make the brownies. Before putting the pan in the oven, evenly place the peanut butter cups throughout the brownie batter, as shown.






That yellow stuff around the edges? It is the "butter" spray I used to grease the pan. I would not suggest using it. I prefer Crisco baking mix. I looks better and it is easier to clean!





Bake following the guidelines listed on the box!



They are that easy and super delicious!!!

Ravishing Radish Relish

"What do I know of man's destiny? I could tell you more about radishes."

-Samuel Beckett

Radishes are the flavor of earth. They are the essence of root and indulgent darkness. They are not the sweaty, sultry nights of the south, bathed like greens in butter, they are the crisp chill summer evenings of the north. They are little red rebels growing underground into fiery globes that protest upon the tongue. Radishes make mouths water and taste buds tingle in excitement. Radishes appeal to the deep and ruddy soul.

When I bought the packet of radish seeds I wasn't really thinking about what I was going to do with the radishes when (or if) they grew. I saw the picture of the perfect globular roots on the packaging and imagined the crisp crunch between my teeth, the fiery flavor settling on my tongue. I suppose I did imagine eating radishes as I decided to plant them, but I did not imagine that the seeds I placed in the ground, watered and tended to would be so overwhelmingly prolific. I began pulling full grown radishes out of the dark earth of my garden in the last week of June. At first, I sliced them and enjoyed them atop salads. Last week I realized I had more radishes than I could feasibly eat on salads on my own.

I found an abundance of recipes for "Pickled Radishes" and although I am sure this process would preserve the radishes nicely, it just did not seem appetizing. Somewhere in a forum I stumbled upon a recipe for "Radish Relish." Relish seemed like the perfect home for my radishes. Relish should have zing. It should have a little bit of sweetness and a little bit of fire. Radish relish was the solution to my excess radish predicament.

I took the recipe from the forum and adjusted it to my own tastes. It landed somewhere between a relish, a salsa, and a bruschetta topping. Although it is hard to name, it is not hard to eat on top of a bit of crusty bread or a cracker.

Ravishing Radish Relish

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil
3 Cloves Garlic (minced)
1 Large Onion (chopped)
1 Handful Fresh Basil (chopped)
1 Teaspoon Chili Powder
Italian Seasoning (to taste)
1 Can Diced Tomatoes with Garlic
1/4 Cup Vinegar
Juice of 1 Lemon
2 Cups Sliced Radishes


Heat a medium size pan on the stove top over medium heat. Add the olive and sesame oils. Add the minced garlic and cook for about one minute.
Add the diced onion and basil and saute until the onion just starts to become opaque.


Season with chili powder and Italian seasoning.
Stir in the tomatoes, vinegar, and half of the lemon juice.


Turn heat to low and allow the mixture to simmer while you slice the radishes.
Drizzle the sliced radishes with the remaining lemon juice.
Place the sliced radishes in a bowl or the bottom of a large canning jar.



After about fifteen minutes, pour the hot mixture over the sliced radishes. Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature and then put in the refrigerator to chill overnight.


Serve the relish mixture atop toasted crispy bread or crackers.