Potato Bread

I did some experimenting over the past couple weeks with my basic bread recipe and this is what I came up with...

The step I added to the recipe was I first peeled, cubed &boiled a med-small potato in about 2 cups of water. When it was very tender, I dumped the potato and water into my blender and pured until smooth. I then added enough extra liquid to have the amount needed in the recipe, adjusting the temperature to have it right for the yeast.
I then mixed the bread according to the recipe, adding my potato water as the liquid. The result was light buns and lovely bread. It rose so high, had a fine texture, and a pleasant potato bread taste.

I found that I had to add a little more liquid with this method than I normally do. You will have to adjust the liquids in this recipe according to your altitude and air humidity (I live in a dry climate, at about 3,000 ft above sea level).

Sweet and Spicy Chicken Wings... or Meatballs!

This recipe was on Tereza's cooking blog and it looked so good (she has a great picture up) that I had to try it tonight. I didn't have any chicken wings so I thought I would try it with meatballs instead. They were a hit with the family (especially the boys :). I served them with a Rainbow Pasta Salad (will post that recipe later), which isn't such a hit with the boys... but they do not really like salads of any kind, so their vote doesn't count :)

Tereza has been dairy free for a while (for herself only, her husband and nine kids eat "normal"). She has recently gone gluten free as well because of various health concerns. She is very creative and has a great attitude, but I think it gets hard to always have separate food prepared for herself. You will want to check out her blog and to get ideas from her journey.

I have copied the recipe just as she had it... I did include the sesame seeds and they were very nice. The only changes I made was to add about 2 Tbsp of vinegar and I used about half as much garlic powder. I also made them in an electric fry pan so not to overheat the house when it is hot.

SWEET AND SPICY CHICKEN WINGS

Ingredients:

~ 1 bulk pack of chicken wings

~1 cup ketchup

~2tbsp honey

~1tbsp mustard (I used dried)

~1 tsp salt

~1 tsp pepper

~1tbsp garlic powder

~1/2 cup water

~sprinkle of sesame seeds (optional)

Method:

Arrange the chicken wings the wrong side down in a baking pan.

Mix together the above ingredients and pour on top of wings.

Cover with tin foil and bake in oven at 375F for about 40 minutes or until chicken is tender. Then remove the foil and broil for an additional -15 minutes or so (on low). Watch you don't burn the chicken at this point~ only "golden" them up a bit.

Serve with mashed potatoes, rice, pasta salad or chow mien. When you place the ready wings on a platter (if that's what you do~I just dish them straight to the plates..plastic ones to boot...yes we're simlifyiers:) make sure you now place your chicken the right side up. It will be nicely covered with the sauce. Enjoy!