Stacey Makes It

I was looking all over for pasta bakes that use uncooked pasta. After some modifications due to missing ingredients (my ricotta went bad) this was the random recipe that got my husband to eat like 2.5 helpings and my 4-year-old son to eat a bowl after telling me he didn't want any. Not sure if that's a good thing, but it at least indicated that it tasted good. :)  Ingredients 8 oz uncooked pasta (I used gemelli because I like the shape) 15 oz Sonoma Gourmet Roasted Vegetable pasta sauce (you can use any pasta sauce you like - this is just what we had) 1 c milk 1/4 c water 1/3 c grated parmesan 1 lb sausage (optional) 3/4 c riced cauliflower (optional) More grated parmesan and cheddar for the top Fresh ground black pepper I only threw in the sausage for flavor and the cauliflower so we could pretend we're eating vegetables. Preheat oven to 375F. If you're using sausage and cauliflower, cook the sausage in a pan first and throw in the cauliflower at the...

My son (currently 2 years old) loves pancakes.  Protein, not so much.  I tried to get a bit more protein in his carbs. Ingredients  (organic, if possible) 3/4 cup whole wheat flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 2 tablespoons sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 3 eggs 1 cup cottage cheese 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 tbs milk butter, oil or oil spray Mix dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients and then fold into dry ingredients mixing as little as possible (keeps the pancakes tender). Heat a pan and grease with butter. My son likes small pancakes (so I use about 1-2 teaspoons at a time), but you can make full size pancakes if you wish. It usually takes a minute or two before you can turn them over, or you can look for small bubbles at the edges of the pancakes before flipping. Remove when golden brown. If you want to substitute white flour, you'll have to add more flour (maybe 3-4 extra tablespoons) unless you like thin pancakes. Also, I usually make a b...

I had some extra green onion, so I'm not really sure how many stalks it was.  Sorry about that.  In any case, I also had some mozzarella cheese and a hankering for dinner rolls.  I started with the Fluffy Dinner Rolls recipe from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book , but then I altered it some. Stacey's Cheesy Green Onion Dinner Roll Ingredients 1 1/2 cups whole milk, organic 1/4 cup honey, organic 6 tbs unsalted butter, organic 1 tbs olive oil, organic 1 large egg, organic 4 cups (plus another 1/2 cup for later) bread flour, organic 1/3 cup whole wheat flour, organic 1/4 cup pumpernickel rye flour, organic 2 1/4 tsp yeast 2 tsp sea salt 8 oz mozzarella cheese, grated 1/3-1/2 cup green onions, chopped 1 more egg for egg wash Standing mixer 13x9" baking dish lined with foil, foil greased with olive oil Microwave the milk, honey, butter, and oil together in a large glass measuring bowl at 30 second intervals until all the butter is melted a...

About once a month, I go with my fiancé to visit his parents.  They are fond of za'atar , so I thought I'd try and make something with the herb mix. I've also been playing with pizza dough a lot since it only requires one rising before use. Stacey's Roasted Garlic Za'atar Twists: Dough 2c bread flour, organic 1-2c unbleached all purpose flour, organic 2 1/4 tsp yeast 1c water 1/2c buttermilk 2 tbs honey 2 tbs olive oil, organic 1 1/2 tsp salt Filling 1/2c-1c roasted garlic, mashed, mixed with olive oil olive oil, organic 1/2c pine nuts Za'atar 1/2c-1c shredded mozzarella Equipment standing mixer rolling pin bread stone - mine is something like this for pizzas, but you can get rectangular / square ones too instead parchment paper cookie sheet Combine the dry ingredients (with only 1 cup of the all purpose flour) in a standing mixer (you can use a big bowl and a hand mixer, or just use your hands if you have the patience and enduranc...

Yes, it's been a long time again.  I'm having trouble adjusting to my new schedule of driving to Cupertino every morning and trying to get in a morning run.  Also, I've been experimenting with waffles and they're not always that great, so I've been embarrassed to blog them. This is a yeast waffle batter that I adapted to make muffins.  I loved how fluffy the America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book recipe was coming out, so I decided to see if I could adapt it to make muffins. Stacey's Havarti Dill Yeast Muffin Ingredients  2c all-purpose unbleached flour, organic 1.5 tsp yeast 1 tsp salt 2 tsp dried dill weed 1 3/4c lowfat milk, organic 2 tbs honey (although 1 tbs is probably enough) 1/2c olive oil, organic 2 eggs, lightly beaten 5 oz lite havarti cheese, cut in chunks (but you can use regular) Muffin pan Preheat oven to 350F. Mix all the dry ingredients together.  Then heat the milk to about 110F using a thermometer or your handy dandy te...

Okay, I know how I said I hate beer bread , but it turned out to be a lie.  Beer bread is lightning fast compared to regular yeast bread and it's also yummy.  But, my food-loving friends, there is a little secret to making yummy beer bread that doesn't taste like salty cake.  Shhh... it's bread flour. Bread flour makes beer bread chewy and delicious.  Here is my new favorite recipe that I've finagled through a myriad of experimenting. Stacey's Cheddar Onion Beer Bread Ingredients 2c bread flour, organic 1c whole wheat flour, organic 1 tbs baking powder 1 1/2 tsp salt 1 tbs sugar, organic 1 tsp dried dill 4.5 oz cheddar cheese, shredded or cubed small 12 oz beer (I use the cheap Simple Times stuff from Trader Joe's) 2 tbs olive oil, organic 2/3c onions sauteed/caramelized in 2 tbs butter (2 small yellow onions, or 1 large) Loaf pan First, chop the onions and caramel them in the butter and then set them aside.  Then preheat the oven to 375F. ...