Pantry Garlic Bread

Pantry Garlic Bread
From AllRecipes.com 

If you've ever made or ordered Italian food (ummm, if you're human, I assume you have), then you know that it's a week-long effort to consume all the leftovers.  Obviously we can't control absurd restaurant portions, but for whatever reason even when we cook Italian food at home we make WAY too much.  It does reheat relatively well, but all leftovers start to lose their intrigue a few days in.  Usually the night we actually make the Italian dish we go out of our way to buy some delicious garlic bread, make side salads, and get out the fresh Parmesan cheese.  Three days later it turns into an unceremonious bowl of noodles eaten sitting on the couch in front of the TV.  (The image I've just planted is a 100% accurate portrayal of me right now...John's out of town, motivation for dinner making has waned).

So what's a leftover ridden person to do?  Make pantry garlic bread!  If you have a loaf of bread on hand and a fairly normal pantry/fridge, YOU CAN MAKE THIS!  Right now!  The beauty of it is the bread base, which can pretty much be any bread.  Of course, if you have some fabulous crusty Italian bread on hand, more power to you, but I did it with 4-day-old bakery white bread and it was absolutely mouth watering.  Keep the butter and olive oil as written, but you could probably change the seasonings to suit you.  Jarred crushed garlic instead of fresh, sure!  Italian seasoning instead of oregano, why not!  Toss in some crushed red pepper, scrumptious!  I'm hungry just thinking about it (yes, I did just eat it 30 minutes ago, don't judge).


Ingredients

• 8 1-oz slices of bread
• 5 Tbsp butter, softened but not melted
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp coarse salt
• pepper, to taste
• 1 cup mozzarella, shredded (I imagine just about any cheese working fine)

Preparation

1. Arrange oven rack to highest position and preheat broiler.
2. In a small bowl mix the butter, oil, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper.
3. Spread the butter mixture evenly on the bread slices.
4. Arrange slices on a baking sheet.
5. Broil 4-5 minutes, keeping an eye on them to watch for burning.
6. Remove bread from oven, top with mozzarella cheese, and return to oven for 2-3 more minutes.

Makes 8 slices.

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Jalapeno Cheddar Scones

Jalapeno Cheddar Scones
From the Honeymoon Kitchen

Baking is a crazy thing.  You see, it's normal for me to spend 90% of my day looking at recipes from various sources, but I don't just go making them all.  Why?  Because there's barriers to savory cooking.  Namely having the ingredients.  But baking, oh baking, somehow you are a whole culinary category based almost entirely on different combinations of the same 7 or 8 shelf stable ingredients.  Flour?  Check.  Sugar?  Check.  Salt?  Check.  Butter?  Is that even a question???  You get the gist.  So the other day when I stumbled upon a few scone recipes online, I couldn't think of one single reason why I shouldn't go downstairs and bake some at that very moment.  One might suggest self control, or the fact that it was 3pm and I wasn't hungry, or that John wasn't even home to share them with me as potential reasons, but somehow those didn't occur to me.

Despite their superfluousness at the time, I'm super glad I didn't let this recipe fall through the cracks.  They turned out amazing, not only right out of the oven, but a few hours later at room temperature, and then frozen raw and baked a few days later.  John did ultimately get to sample that frozen batch, and he immediately agreed that we need to find a more legitimate reason to make them again soon.  We're thinking they might make an awesome dinner roll alternative at one of the holiday dinners in our near future.
One note on the origin of this recipe.  My overall inspiration came from Smitten Kitchen.  First I stumbled on a recipe for cranberry scones that was praised for its creamy texture.  I wasn't feeling sweet, though, so I kept searching until I came upon her cheddar jalapeno version.  I ultimately decided to create a sort of hybrid, which is how these came to exist.


Ingredients

• 1/2 Tbsp butter
• 2 jalapenos, minced
• 2 cups flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 5 Tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/4-inch cubes
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 lb sharp cheddar, cut into 1/4-inch cubes

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Melt 1/4 tablespoon butter in a small skillet over medium high.
3. Saute jalapenos until soft, about 3 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.
4. Measure out the 2 cups of flour.  Remove 1 tablespoon and toss with jalapenos and cheese cubes.  Set aside.
5. Whisk together remaining flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl.
6. Add cold butter cubes to dry ingredients and cut them together using a pastry blender or two forks, until it looks like course meal with a few clumps.
7. Stir in cream and jalapeno-cheese mixture, mixing with a fork just until dough forms, about 20 seconds.
8. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and kneed just until it comes together in a rough ball, about 10 seconds.
9. Lightly flour an 8-inch cake pan.  Press dough into pan in an even layer.
10. Turn dough back out onto floured surface so that now you have a flat 8x8 square of dough.
11. Cut dough into 8 triangles.
12. Bake scones on un-greased parchment paper for 12-15, until tops are light brown.
13. Cool 10 minutes on a wire rack.  Serve warm or at room temperature.  I'm told they're not great the next day, but I wouldn't know first hand...
14. If you want to freeze them for later use, work through step 11 and then place the triangles on a sheet pan or flat surface in the freezer.  Freeze them like that over night, and then you can toss them all in a gallon bag or something air tight for longer-term storage.  When you're ready to cook them just go straight from frozen and cook them a little longer, about 20 minutes.

Makes 8 scones.

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Crepes

Crepes
From All Recipes 

Strange but true: in high school I was a professional crepe maker.  I had a brief stint working at an adorable crepe and gelato place that has long since closed and turned into a Subway.  Part of my job was making giant, gorgeous crepes on a huge circular crepe griddle, spreading out the batter with this special stick/rake thingy.  I made and ate about a bajillion crepes that summer, and then spent the next decade under the impression that you can't make them at home without all that fancy schmancy equipment.  Well folks, the crepe fast has officially come to an end!

This recipe is super simple and the crepes turn out as delicate and delightful as, albeit much smaller than, the ones from that little creperie of my past.  Later this week I'll post a great recipe for a savory crepe filling.  For now though, I'll let these guys stand on their own.  They're great with a little powdered sugar, and can be filled with just about anything.  Nutella and bananas, anyone???  Mmmmmm.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 2/3 cup flour
• pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 tsp vegetable oil

Preparation

1. Combine eggs, milk, flour, salt, and oil in a blender.  Process until smooth.  It only took my blender like 20 seconds.
2. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.  I've done it for only 30 minutes, and I've done it for 3 or 4 hours.  It's all good.
3. Heat a 12 inch skillet over medium-high heat.  If your skillet is bigger or smaller, adjust the amount of batter per crepe accordingly.
4. Spray skillet with cooking spray and pour 1/4 cup of batter into pan.  Tilt pan around to spread the batter out.
5. Cook 2-3 minutes per side.  Use a spatula to check for desired level of browning before flipping.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 with remaining batter - including re-spraying with a light layer of cooking spray.  After about 3 crepes we had to wipe the pan out with a paper towel and let it cool a little because the old, super hot cooking spray buildup was causing the crepes to burn a little.

Makes 7-8 crepes.

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Honey Cornbread Muffins

Honey Cornbread Muffins
From The Neelys 

Any good chili dinner needs cornbread on the side.  As someone who has long been yeast averse (aka scared of anything that can randomly come alive on my counter top), this is one of the only "bread" products that comes out of the honeymoon kitchen on a regular basis.  With that said, we make a LOT of cornbread and have found a ton of awesome recipes.  Each variation serves its own purpose.  This one is great first and foremost because of its convenient muffin shape.  Since we brought these to the neighbors but also stole some for ourselves, muffins seemed less awkward than bringing them a loaf with a hunk cut off.  They're great if you're looking for something milder, with a slightly sweet flavor.  They compliment chili perfectly, and are especially good crumbled right into the bowl.

Ingredients

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 cup flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 large eggs
• 4 Tbsp butter, melted
• 1/4 cup honey

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Mix cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.
3. Whisk whole milk, eggs, butter, and honey in a small bowl.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just mixed.
5. Place muffin paper liners in a 12-cup muffin tin.  Evenly divide cornbread mixture into the papers.  Don't be alarmed if the batter is kind of runny.  It will come together.
6. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden.

Makes 12 muffins.

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