Category: Lunch

RECIPE REVIEW: Apple Crisp from “Tastes Better From Scratch”

Michael Metzler Jr.Leave a comment

Apple Crisp is a great dessert for any time. It can be made for pretty much any holiday, substituting apple pie on some occasions, and works great as well for birthdays–just be sure to serve with ice cream on the side!

This post will be my “RECIPE REVIEW” of the Apple Crisp recipe from ‘Tastes Better from Scratch.com’

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SUMMARY:

I’d give this a 5 star as far a apple crisps go. It’s classically construed; so if you don’t mind cutting a bunch of apples into thin skinless slices, this recipe is easy to accomplish, just as most apple crisps are–and I’d highly recommend it, having made it twice, and it having turned out simply awesome both times. I don’t know about you, but when it comes to thickening mixtures of fruit in the oven, I don’t take the outcome for granted. But this recipe seems to be simple, sweet, and foolproof. Foolproof is an important part.

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METHOD:

This recipe calls for only 3-4 apples, and requires an 8×8 baking dish. I think that is a good size for 4 or less people, so the first time I made this I doubled the recipe and simply put it in a 9×13, in order to feed more people. That works just as fine. However, if you double it, make sure to leave it in the oven for about ten minutes longer, until apples are soft.

As with most crisps, you’ll be cutting some cold butter into a mixture of oats, sugar, and salt, and the like. This is your crumb topping. Make sure to follow the directions and be chilling it as you work with other steps. The same goes for all recipes; be sure to be keeping that cut-in butter cold!

The next thing is you’ll be cutting all your granny smith apples. This can be tedious unless you have a special piece of equipment: an Apple Corer Peeler Slicer. See link to get an idea of what this tool looks like. I recommend you get something like it if you don’t like cutting apples, coring them, and peeling them by hand.

CHANGES:

As I said before, if you want to double the recipe, use a bigger pan and up the time it spends in the oven.

Also, I like doing the cold butter step first, to get that out of the way and in the fridge, to say cold while I do the rest of the steps.

 

So go make your Apple Crisp at TastesBetterFromScratch.com! I highly recommend you try this recipe next time you want a fruity dessert. Go to the recipe here.

Buttery Dinner Rolls

Michael Metzler Jr.3 Comments

This dinner rolls are a perfect side to any meal. The dough is rolled around softened butter much like cinnamon rolls, and then baked in muffin tins.

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Ingredients: (makes 12 rolls)

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                                           INGREDIENTS:

¾ cup milk

¼ cup butter

3 teaspoons active dry yeast

2 1/4 cups flour

2 tablespoons sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 egg yolk

¼ cup water

 

Filling:

⅓ cup butter, softened

 

DIRECTIONS:

Heat butter with milk in a microwave until butter is melted, stirring in between.

In a large bowl of a stand mixer, combine 2 cups flour, yeast, sugar, and salt.

Pour water, egg yolk, and milk-butter mixture into the flour mixture. Make sure that the milk mixture is very warm. Stir into flour mix until sticky and wet.

Replace mixer with a dough hook. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of flour carefully, kneading with dough hook constantly until the dough is wet but doesn’t stick to your hand. It should take all the flour. If it is still sticky, add more flour. Once dough is done, take the dough out of the bowl and hand knead it. Then grease the large bowl, and put the dough back in. Let rise in a warm place for 10 minutes.

Roll dough out on a large flour surface into a 12×9 inch rectangle.

Spread softened butter over rolled out dough evenly.

Roll dough up, starting at the 12 inch side, until it is a long log. This is very similar to cinnamon rolls. Cut out 12 even rolls from this long log. Place each roll in a greased muffin tin.

Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. After ten minutes of rising, preheat oven to 375 degrees; then continue with the other 20 minutes rising.

After rise time is up, bake the rolls in the pan in the oven for 20 minutes, or until golden. Serve warm.

See my original post of this recipe on instructables.

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Overnight Soaked Flour Sandwich Bread

Michael Metzler Jr.Leave a comment

This Soaked Flour Sandwich bread is healthier than regular bread, in that the flour soaks overnight before baking. This has numerous health benefits, even though it is time consuming. But even though it is ‘time consuming,’ you don’t have to spend a relatively long amount of time in the kitchen; and you can eat healthier. The time is worth it.

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Sally Fallon, author of the book “Nourishing Traditions” explains some of the reasons why soaking your flour before baking is healthier:

-activates the enzyme phytase, which breaks down phytic acid (phytic acid inhibits the absorption of calcium, magnesium, iron, copper and zinc)

-provides lactic acid and lactobacilli, helping to break down complex starches and proteins

-increases vitamin content

-makes the nutrients in grains more readily available

-softens whole grain flour, making it more palatable

 

 

Ingredients (makes 2 loaves):

2 ¾ cup all-purpose flour

2 ¾ cup whole wheat flour

1 cup buttermilk (or make your own, see directions)

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

½ cup room-temp water (or more if too dry)

½ cup oil

¼ cup warm water

2 ½ teaspoons active-dry yeast

2 ½ tablespoons coconut sugar (or honey)

2 teaspoon salt

 

DIRECTIONS:

 

If you don’t have 1 cup of buttermilk, then you can make some; in a 1 cup liquid measuring dish, pour 1 tablespoon of vinegar. Then fill the rest of the cup up with milk. Let rest for a few minutes, or until curdled.

In a large bowl, or stand mixer, combine flours. Then add buttermilk, apple cider vinegar, ½ cup water, and oil. Mix and stir until thick, tough, and homogeneous. Plastic wrap the bowl, and let rest on counter overnight. (12-24 hours).

The dough, after sitting overnight, will be slightly larger, browner, and less tough.

When ready to complete bread, place the dough in a warm oven (170 degrees) to warm up, for 10 minutes.

In a small dish, combine very warm water (¼ cup) and active-dry yeast, and coconut sugar. Mix, and let rest for 5 minutes, or until yeast has bloomed.

Pour yeast mixture into soaked flour dough mixture, and mix/knead in until fully combined. Let rest for 30-45 minutes, in a warm place.

On a floured surface, turn dough out. Sprinkle over with all the salt, and knead and knead for a few minutes, until all the salt is mixed in, and dough is smooth. Separate dough into two smooth logs. Place each of these logs in two greased loaf pans.

Set pans atop the warm oven, and let rise for another half hour.

When you are about ten minutes away from being done with rise time, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

When dough is done rising, place in oven to bake for about 35 minutes, or until golden brown.

Take out of oven, and let cool a bit. Take loaves out of pans, and let them cool some more before cutting into slices and serving.

Once loaf is entirely cool, you can store it in a Ziploc plastic bag.

 

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Egg Omelettes Recipe

Michael Metzler Jr.1 Comment

Omelettes make the perfect healthy breakfast, as they contain protein in the form of eggs, and nutritious fillings of your choice, wrapped inside.

Omelettes are actually not as hard to make as many think. In this post, I’ll be presenting a simple recipe and method for making omelettes.

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Ingredients: (serves 2)

4 eggs

Sprinkle of Salt

Sprinkle of Pepper

1 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon cold cubed butter (optional)

1/4 cup diced ham (optional)

1/4 cup shredded cheese

2 tablespoons diced bell-pepper (optional)

 

DIRECTIONS:

First, dice your slices of ham into thin little bits.

Then shred your cheese.

And lastly, dice the (frozen, or really cold) butter.

First, dump your eggs into a medium sized bowl. Sprinkle in the salt and pepper, and pour in the tablespoon of water.

Melt butter over medium heat on a nonstick pan.

Beat your eggs thoroughly, about 10 seconds.

Add the cubed butter to the egg mixture, and whip for another 15 seconds on high.

Pour the egg butter mixture into the heated pan, and let it spread across the pan, and cook for 10 seconds.

Then push a bit of the side of the circle towards the center, and let raw mixture fill it’s place. Use a nonstick spatula for this.

Keep going around the circumference of the egg mixture in the pan, pushing towards the center, and letting the uncooked egg slid into its place. Soon you’ll have a mostly cooked circle of egg.

Sprinkle the ham, shredded cheese, and optional bell pepper over one half of the egg circle.

Carefully fold the unfilled layer over your fillings, as shown.

Grasp the handle of the skillet, and flip the omelette out onto a plate to serve.

Serve fresh and warm.

For step by step pictures, see my original recipe post on instructables.

omelettes-filling
Sprinkle on the filling.

Make Ahead Custom Salad Bar

Michael Metzler Jr.Leave a comment

This post will be showing you how to prepare a gourmet salad ahead of time. This is extremely helpful if you have other things to do on the day you make the salad, and don’t want to have to worry about cutting all the vegetables and other little necessities. In this solution, you will be cutting everything up the day before you plan to serve/eat the salad.

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Another benefit with cutting all the stuff up and putting them in separate containers is that you can let your family pick and choose, and essentially create their own custom salad.

If you don’t like the idea of cutting it up the day before, you can do it on the same day, but it is a good idea to make ahead of time the eggs, potatoes, and bacon.

 

INGREDIENTS:

6 eggs

2 Cups mini potatoes

4 pieces of bacon

3 medium tomatoes

2 bunches of romaine lettuce

2 cups mushrooms

1 cup garbanzo beans

1 bell pepper

1/2 a large cucumber

1-2 cups cheddar cheese

Your favorite vinaigrette or ranch dressing

 

ingredient note:

Mini potatoes are the easier, quicker way to go, but if you want to stick to regular potatoes, they will boil for longer, and you will have to dice each one into small salad-size pieces–which will take longer, but it certainly is another way to go.

 

DIRECTIONS:

To prepare eggs and potatoes, in two separate saucepans, one large, and one medium, put in water about ⅔ up the sides of the saucepans. Bring water to an almost boiling state in both. In the large saucepan, carefully place in all the eggs, and set the timer to 20 minutes. In the other saucepan, dump in the potatoes, and set timer to 20 minutes (or just the same time for both) or until potatoes are very soft. When done, take potatoes and eggs out of pan, discarding the water.

Once cool to touch, cut the potatoes in small bite size pieces, and peel eggs. Cut eggs once peeled into thin slices using a wire egg cutter, if you have one. Store potato pieces and egg pieces in two separate sealed plastic containers in fridge until chilled, and ready to use for salad.

To prepare bacon, heat a skillet over medium heat, and put the four pieces of bacon on. Sizzle on both sides until both sides are perfectly dark brown. Place bacon pieces on a paper towel, and press to remove extra grease. Cut bacon, once cool, into small pieces, as shown.

Store in a plastic container in fridge until ready to use.

Cut tomatoes in half inch chunks with a serrated knife, after washing, and also wash lettuce thoroughly, tear into small salad-size pieces, and place in a leaf-dryer, and turn fast until most of the water is wrung out.

Store tomatoes and lettuce in their own separate sealed containers in the fridge (don’t squish the lettuce), at least, if you are cutting these the day before you make the actual salad.

Wash mushrooms if they haven’t already been pre-washed, and cut lengthwise in thin strips.

Strain the garbanzo beans in a colander. and put in a plastic container in fridge until ready to use. Also put the mushrooms in their own container and place in fridge.

Wash half the cucumber. Chop cucumber width-wise as shown into circles. Cut these circles into quarters, and place in container in fridge until ready to use. Shred cheese using the shred attachment on your food processor, or do it by hand. Also store the cheese in a plastic container in fridge until ready to use.

Chop bell-peppers into small pieces as shown. Store in plastic container in fridge.

And you’re done!…almost. Remember to prepare your favorite ranch dressing or vinaigrette. You can buy them or make them. Here’s a good vinaigrette recipe to use: Balsamic Vinaigrette.

Just before you are ready serve your salad (i.e. before your guest arrive :), Take out all the containers you used to store your stuff in, and lay them out on the serving table, to give everyone an option of what exactly they want in their salad. Or, if you want to, you can just throw it all together in a large bowl before serving, it’s your choice.

See pictures below. See my original post on instructables.

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Preparing the eggs…
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Preparing the Potatoes…
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…frying the bacon.

 

Healthy Fruit and Nut Snack Balls

Michael Metzler Jr.Leave a comment

These healthy fruit and nut snack balls make a perfect snack anytime.

They are essentially dates, cranberries, cherries, almonds, and walnuts, and deliver the nutrition of the fruit and the protein and fiber of the nuts.

They are also very easy and simple to make.

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Ingredients (makes approx. 24 balls):

40 medjool dates

¼ cup cranberries

¼ cup cherries

¾ cup almonds

½ cup walnuts

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

Optional, but recommended:

½ cup mini chocolate chips

 

DIRECTIONS:

Place dates, cranberries, and cherries in a food steamer.

Steam for about 10 minutes.

Place steamed fruits in a food processor, and blend them until creamed. Add cinnamon and salt and blend a bit more.

Place almonds and walnuts in a blender, and pulse until nuts are in very small little chunks, as shown.

Dump both the nuts and fruits into a large bowl, and mix and stir until completely incorporated.

If using chocolate chips:

Let fruit/nut mixture cool in fridge before attempting to stir in chocolate chips.

If you are using chocolate chips, now’s the time to mix those into the fruit mixture.

Roll mixture into little 1-inch balls with your hands, and place all on a parchment/wax-paper lined tray.

Place in fridge for 10+ minutes before using.

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Mix it all together…

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Hot Artichoke & Spinach Dip

Michael Metzler Jr.Leave a comment

This dip is very quick and easy to make. It is good for parties and holidays like Thanksgiving, Easter, and Christmas.

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INGREDIENTS:

4 oz cream cheese, softened

4 oz goat cheese, softened

¼ cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan

¼ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

½ teaspoon garlic salt

Sprinkling of pepper

½ cup mix of spinach and kale

1 (14 oz) can artichoke hearts, drained

 

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray two small glass baking dishes with nonstick oil.

Mince the artichoke and spinach and kale. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, stir together cream cheese, goat cheese, mayonnaise, Parmesan, garlic salt, and pepper. Throw in the spinach, kale, and artichoke hearts, and stir in until combined.

Evenly spread mixture into both glass dishes.

Sprinkle the tops over with the mozzarella cheese.

Bake in preheated oven for about 25 minutes, or until browned, and bubbling.

Let cool for about 5-10 minutes before serving.

Serve warm.

 

Bacon-Wrapped Eggs for Breakfast

Michael Metzler Jr.Leave a comment

This sort of redefines the term ‘bacon and eggs for breakfast’. Each egg muffin is wrapped with one piece of bacon, and baked in muffin tins. This makes a perfect breakfast for any morning, and has countless variations.

See my original post of this recipe on instructables.

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Ingredients: (serves 8)

8 pieces raw bacon strips

8 eggs

Sprinkle of salt

Sprinkle of pepper

⅓ cup shredded cheddar cheese

 

DIRECTIONS:

Shred the cheese and set aside.

The goal is to undercook the bacon so that it is still very flexible and not crispy. Preheat oven to 375. When heated, place bacon in for about 10 minutes. Take out of oven.

When bacon is cool to touch, place them (as shown) in the muffin tins. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Crack each egg into the bacon-wrapped tins. Sprinkle over with salt and pepper and shredded cheese.

Place in preheated 400 degree oven, and bake for a little over 15 minutes, or until eggs are fully eggs are fully cooked, and bacon is crispy.

Serve warm.

 

…and, thanks to some of the comments and feedback I’ve received on my original post of this on instructables, I’ve inserted a couple ideas/variations:

1. Make an omelette variation on this: whip the egg with shredded cheese, half and half, and vegetables, or maybe some Feta, and cook it up the same way, wrapped in bacon, for a nice twist on breakfast.

2. For a more full-on variation: Add raw hash-browns to the bottom of the muffin tins, or some…pancake batter, and do everything else the same way.

3. Or you could always do a combination of those two. There are many many ways to change around this recipe.

 

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How to Make Egg Salad

Michael Metzler Jr.Leave a comment

Egg salad is the perfect snack, lunch, or breakfast. It can be eaten multiple ways: in sandwiches, with crackers, in wraps, or just by itself. On top of that, it is flavorful, and full of protein. And, it is very easy to make.

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INGREDIENTS

INGREDIENTS:

(serves 6)

10 eggs (approx. 1 week old)

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

 

DIRECTIONS:

 

First, take your raw eggs, and place them in a large saucepan with water filled up about two inches. Bring quickly to a boil, and then remove pan from heat, and let the eggs finish cooking in the hot water for about another 15 minutes.

For more details see: How to Make Hard Boiled Eggs, which is a recipe I found helpful, or see this helpful instructable: Easy Hard Boiled Eggs.

When eggs are almost done through their rest/cook time, create an ice-bath in a large bowl.

When eggs are done cooking, dunk them immediately into the ice bath.

From the ice bowl, pick them out to peel them.

After the eggs have been peeled, place each into a wire egg-cutter, and cut one way, then flip egg around, and cut perpendicularly to your last cut. This will make your egg nicely diced.

Once your eggs have been nicely diced, throw all of them into a large bowl.

Throw in the mayonnaise, mustard, salt, and pepper. Mix thoroughly until combined.

Now you have a nice bowl of flavorful, protein-packed egg salad. This can be put in lettuce wraps, in between two pieces of bread as a sandwich, eaten with crackers, or just consumed completely by itself.

Store in fridge when not consuming.