Monday, February 20, 2012

Black Bean and Avocado Salad

Made this tonight ended up being pretty yummy. Caleb Loved it.

1 (15 oz.) can black beans drained and rinsed, or 2 cups cooked black beans
2 medium carrots, diced
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1/2 medium red onion diced  ( I actually didn't have any so I put green onions in instead.)
1 avocado, diced
1 Tbsp olive oil ( I used garlic infused olive oil)
   Salt and pepper to taste.

Toss it all together. Serve chilled.   I also added juice of one lime! Delish!

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Artisan Bread (no-knead)

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting

¼ teaspoon instant yeast

1 ½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups tap water

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 ½ cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at room temperature.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Liberally flour a Pastry Mat using the Flour/Sugar Shaker, and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself 3 or 4 times. Fold the 2 sides of the Pastry Mat over the bread and let it stand on the counter for 2 hours to rise.

3. 1 ½ hours into the 2 hour rising time, preheat oven to 450 degrees and place the empty Covered Baker with lid on in oven for 30 minutes. You want the Covered Baker blazing hot. Dump the dough into the Covered Baker, put the lid on and put back in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes then take the lid off. Bake for another 8 to 15 minutes until the bread is golden brown on top. Cool on a rack. OK, go ahead and eat it. We don’t have the patience to let it cool in our house either.

If you buy the 50 lb bag of bread flour and the yeast in bulk at Costco

( Keep most of the yeast frozen until needed), this bread costs

about 30 cents a loaf and takes about 4 minutes of your actual time!