Pita Bread

I've been wanting to make pita bread for a while now. I finally did last night. some recipes said to let the bread rise after rolling out, and some said bake it immediately. I compromised and let it rise for about 15 minutes. It turned out fine. 3 of the 8 didn't get puffy in the middle, but the rest did. I don't know what made the difference. The original recipe called for the use of a bread maker. Since I don't have one I changed the directions. I also substituted 1 cup of flour with whole wheat flour - so good!

Peppy's Pita Bread

• 1 1/8 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1. Dissolve yeast in water. Add sugar, salt oil and half of the flour. Mix well. Add remaining flour and knead (by hand or with dough hook in mixer) until smooth and elastic and not sticky. Place in bowl coated with cooking spray, cover with towel. Let rise until double (about 45 minutes).
2. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gently roll and stretch dough into a 12 inch rope. With a sharp knife, divide dough into 8 pieces. Roll each into a smooth ball. With a rolling pin, roll each ball into a 6 to 7 inch circle. Set aside on a lightly floured countertop. cover with a towel. Let pitas rise about 30 minutes until slightly puffy.
3. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C). Place 2 or 3 pitas on a wire cake rack. Place cake rack directly on oven rack.* Bake pitas 4 to 5 minutes until puffed and tops begin to brown. Remove from oven and immediately place pitas in a sealed brown paper bag or cover them with a damp kitchen towel until soft. Once pitas a softened, either cut in half or split top edge for half or whole pitas. They can be stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for 1 or 2 months.

* I put a cookie sheet in the oven as it preheated. I cooked them 2 at a time on the cookie sheet - a pizza stone would work as well.

Orzo and Potato Parmesan

This was a pretty good dish. Although it is more of a side dish than a main dish. It was too salty though, so I would suggest going light on the salt, and reducing the Parmesan cheese as well. I only used 3/4 cup of Parmesan, and it was more than enough. Oh and I used chicken bullion instead of vegetable bullion.

Orzo and Potato Parmesan

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup uncooked orzo pasta
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 carrot, sliced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 cups water
• 1 cube vegetable bouillon
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in orzo and garlic, and saute until lightly browned. Place potatoes, carrot, and onion in the saucepan. Continue to cook and stir until tender. Season with dried Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.
2. Mix water into the saucepan. Stir in vegetable bouillon until dissolved. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 12 minutes, or until orzo is tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed. Top with Parmesan cheese to serve.

Easy Batter Fruit Cobbler

I made this last night for FHE dessert. It was really easy and tasty. I used about 1 1/2 cups of frozen peaches and 1/2 cup fresh blueberries. I thought it turned out really well.

Easy Batter Fruit Cobbler

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 cups of sliced fresh peaches or nectarines, or whole blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries or a combination of fruits (or a 12-ounce package of frozen berries)
• 1 tablespoon sugar

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position, and heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Put butter in an 8-inch square or 9-inch round pan; set in oven to melt. When butter has melted, remove pan from oven.
3. Whisk flour, 3/4 cup of sugar, baking powder and salt in small bowl. Add milk; whisk to form a smooth batter. Pour batter into pan, then scatter fruit over batter. Sprinkle with remaining 1 Tb. of sugar.
4. Bake until batter browns and fruit bubbles, 50 to 60 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature with a dollop of whipped cream or a small scoop of vanilla ice cream, if desired.

Oatmeal cookies with add-ins

I wanted to make some cookies for a friend's birthday. I've had this recipe for years and have never tried it. I think I got it from a newspaper, but I can't remember which one, or maybe it was a news program - I can't remember. There are so many different way to make these. Today I chose white chocolate chips and crasins. So good!

1 c. brown sugar
1 c. softened butter
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 large eggs
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
3 c. rolled oats

Add-ins - pick one or two
1 c. shredded coconut
1 c. crasins
1/2 c. chocolate chips
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
1/2 c. pecan gems
1/2 c. macademia nuts
1/2 c. cashews
1/2 c. dried apricots

I didn't write down directions, but I imagine this would work:

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars until mixed well. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Stir in remaining ingredients just until combined.
Drop by rounded tablespoons on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350 F for 10-12 minutes. Makes about 3 dozen.

Sweet Pork

I found this recipe on Jamie's recipe blog. I've been wanting to try it for some time, and I finally did. It it really good. It makes a ton, so we have plenty of leftovers, and I can even use it in a salad later, if there's still some left. It was really easy. The only change I made was that I used one 8 oz can of tomato sauce in place of 1 cup of salsa - I didn't have enough salsa and I was worried about it being too spicy for the kids. I think the spice level probably would have been fine, so either way it is great!

Sweet Pork

Yield: 8 servings

• 1 3 lb pork loin roast (be sure the roast is completely thawed)
• 1 16 oz jar Salsa (2 C salsa)
• 1 can green chilies
• ½ C brown sugar
• 1 can black beans, undrained
• Tortillas
• Cheese
• Lettuce
• Tomato

1. In the bottom of a large crock pot mix salsa, green chilies, brown sugar, and black beans.
2. Add the pork roast and cook on high for 4 hours.
3. Take the meat out of the Crockpot and shred it up with a fork.
4. Return meat to the Crockpot and cook 1 more hour.5. Serve on tortillas with cheese, lettuce and tomatoes.