Hawaiian Sweet Bread

I was kneading bread yesterday, and I started thinking that my arms would probably look a lot better (read: less flabby) if I baked bread every day.  But then I realized that I'd also have to be eating the bread I made that day, which, I think, would cause some pretty intense weight gain.   Unless, of course, my evil plan of baking bread and delivering it to people came to fruition...

I love bread.  And one bread that I have a particular passion for is Hawaiian Sweet bread.  So, of course, when I saw a recipe for it, I decided that I should give it a try (since King's is SO expensive)... and I just happened to have a can of evaporated milk on hand - I don't know where it came from, I certainly didn't buy it - and I REALLY love Hawaiian Sweet bread...  I will admit that my bread isn't exactly like King's Hawaiian, but it does make up for it in cost.

I was trying to make medium sized sandwich rolls, but they puffed up a lot in my oven, so they definitely could have started out smaller.  Also, the recipe I used lied to me in a couple places, so I'm giving you *my* recipe that has corrections/lazy options included.  I found the recipe online, it said that it was a version adapted from The Food of Paradise, but now I can't find the site, so I can't link to it :P

In response to this post, I expect you all to be extremely sad that you don't live with me or close enough to me to get a sample of this bread...

It wouldn't be St. Patrick's Day without Corned Beef and Cabbage

I would have posted these pictures yesterday, but I had eaten several cupcakes, drank two whiskey sours, and one Irish car bomb.  This was over a period of hours, but after that I had an epic two person solitaire game (I'll post rules later) with the Husband.
You may be wondering, why would cupcakes have affected my ability to post pictures.  They didn't... but they would have affected my typing, so I put this post off to today to make sure none of you had to suffer through the even worse grammar that would have resulted from my slightly inebriated state.

On to the cooking.

First, Corned beef and Cabbage (and carrots, for alliteration):

Corned beef - cooked to package instructions, cabbage and carrots added to the pot after the meat is removed to cool, and cooked until fork tender.

Now for what you really want, Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes :D

These take some work, but are SO worth it.

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Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes with Cream cheese frosting: Makes 12

Things I did Yesterday

Rather than a usual post, I'm going to just tell you all what I did yesterday... mainly because I'm pretty excited about what happened and what I did.

I had some errands to run, and I was also on the look out for some buttons (I need to fix a sweater that I've had for a while, but I don't have enough buttons for it), so I decided to stop by our local SPCA thrift store.  I wasn't really convinced that they'd have what I needed, but it was worth a stop, since I was out anyway.

I should also mention that I've been looking for a 6 quart food storage container, because I want to make Artisan Bread in 5 min.  Since I couldn't find any 6 quart containers in any of the stores near me, I ordered them online.  They also had a deal to include the Danish Dough Whisk for $9.  I decided that $9 was too much to spend on a one-use item, even if I would be using it often.

While I was wandering around at the thrift store, I found their prices were really good.  They have deals everyday, it seems... when I was there, the clothes were buy 1 get 1 free.  I didn't need any clothing, but it was nice to know that I could get really inexpensive clothing that could be altered, if I have the time.  While wandering, I didn't find any buttons... but I did find this:

And the price? $1!  Yup, got myself a really good Danish Dough Whisk for $1!  And when I went to the counter to pay for it, I asked if they had any buttons... the helpful man behind the counter said that I was in luck, because a girl had asked them to save buttons for her, but she hadn't come by to pick them up even after they called her.  So I could have them.  All of them for $10!

I had fun sorting them last night :)

 So, $11 later I'm the proud owner of a Danish Dough Whisk, and a bunch of exciting buttons!

Later in the day, I saw a recipe for Soft Pretzel Bites (from one of the blogs I follow), and I figured I may as well try it out.  I'd also stopped at Trader Joes and picked up some much needed dairy products for baking scones/cinnamon rolls/etc.  So after I got home, I started baking... and kept baking until I had this:

Cinnamon Rolls, Cranberry Scones,and Pretzel bites/rolls

I altered the recipe for the scones a little, I substituted 1/4 cup of vanilla soy protein powder for 1/4 of the whole wheat flour from the original recipe.  So the new measurements are: 1 1/2 cup All purpose flour, 1/4 cup Whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup vanilla Soy protein powder.  I also used whole milk instead of cream.  They taste really good.  Slightly sweet, slightly vanilla, and very delicious.  I originally had a lot more of the soft pretzels, but they got eaten before I had a chance to photograph them... I'll have to post about the pretzel rolls later, since they're a story in themselves.

Also, here's the current progress on the socks (I'll do a full post when they're done):

2 socks at once! No second sock syndrome for me!

Chicken Pot Pie

The other day I went ahead and bought a 25lbs bag of flour at Costco. I also bought some boneless skinless chicken thighs. I had been buying chicken breasts, but the thighs were so much less expensive... and then I cooked with them and discovered how much more flavor the thighs had, I'm very pleased that I bought them.

It's cold and damp where I am right now, and it felt about the right time for some good old fashioned comfort food.

I've never made Chicken Pot Pie before, and so I set out to make one. I started with the 1896 Boston Cooking-School Cookbook, the plain paste recipe, to be specific.  Then I just sort of thought about what is normally in chicken pot pie and went from there.

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The Lazy Wife's Chicken Pot Pie

Pie Crust:

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup butter, cut in cubes

2 Tbsp vodka

2 Tbsp cold water

My crust ended up being a little thin, but very flaky and delicious, next time I'd probably double the pastry recipe, then again, I did end up making two pies. 

Put flour in a medium bowl and cut in the butter cubes.  Add vodka and water until you can form a smooth ball (sometimes it requires a little more vodka or water if your flour is dry).  Place the smooth ball in plastic wrap and chill for about 15min.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, roll out the chilled dough on a lightly floured surface, and place in pie pan.  Cover with wax paper and pie weights (I use beans).  Prebake for about 10 min with the weights, then remove them and bake another 5-10min until it just starts to get a light brown color.  Remove from oven and fill with chicken filling.

 

Pie filling:

1-2 Tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

8-10 cloves garlic, minced

3 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cubed

1/2 cup frozen corn

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup mixed vegetables (I like the "hodgepodge"  mix from Trader Joes)

1 carrot, chopped

1 can condensed potato soup

1 Tbsp Herbed Poultry (from my spice rack, I think it's Sage, Rosemary, Thyme and Marjoram)

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp butter

Salt & Pepper

In a medium pot, saute the onion and garlic in olive oil, on low heat, until soft.  Add herbs, salt and pepper (about 1 tsp of each), add chicken and continue cooking, turn up to medium heat, stirring occasionally.  When the chicken is cooked, add vegetables and soup (as well as 1 can of water).  Stir until all ingredients are combined.  Add flour and butter and stir until incorporated.  Cook down to thicken.

When the pie crusts are ready (prebaked/just starting to brown, you can use scraps of pie crust to put on top for a cute decoration, bake them with the crusts but on a separate baking sheet) add the chicken filling to the pie shells and bake at 350 for 20min until the crusts are brown and the filling is bubbling.

Take out of oven and serve.

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Well, that's about it for the recipe.  It tastes pretty darn awesome (the Husband even went back for seconds, despite the pie containing peas).  Chicken breast would obviously work as well, but I really do think the thighs have better flavor.

Also, I'm working on a pair of socks now... but I'll post about those later, when I have pictures and such.  That's all for now!