Texas recipes!

These recipes are from "License to Cook Texas Style".

Bleeding Armadillo Bread

ingredients:
2 c. warm water
2 pkgs dry yeast
1/4 sugar
6 ounces pimientos, pureed (I used a 4 oz can of chopped pimientos)
1/4 c veg oil
3 eggs, beaten
2 t salt
1 T Tabasco sauce
7-8 bread flour
1 egg
1 T water
1/2 t paprika

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar; set aside. After bubbling occurs (about 10-15 min.), add pimientos, oil, beaten eggs, salt and Tabasco. Beat in flour, cup by cup until mixture leaves sides of cowl. Turn onto floured surface and knead in remaining flour for 10 minutes. Dough should feel satiny, like an ear lobe. (that is my favorite description in a recipe ever!)

Let rise in a greased bowl covered in plastic wrap and a towel in a cold oven until doubled, about 90 min. Punch dough down, let rest 10 minutes, and then mold into an armadillo!! Basically, oval body, oval head, rolls of dough along back, tail and 4 legs. ALthough, it will just get enormous and blobby, so I wouldn't try to get too fancy.

After molded, let rise until doubled (goodbye cute armadillo features, hello giant blob) about 45 minutes. Combine the remaining egg, T of water and paprika. Brush the armadillo with the egg wash. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until it sounds hollow when tapped.



This was a pretty fun recipe, I did like trying to mold it and I think next time I would mold it into 2 smaller armadillos and maybe that would be cuter. It ends up the size of 4 regular loaves, so it is definitely a loaf to make for a big bread party!

Also, here is an easy and delicious recipe...

Frosty Texas Citrus Refresher

2 grapefruits
2 c. sliced strawberres
1 c. pineapple sherbet
1-2 T honey

Juice grapefruit. In a blender, combine all the ingredients! Total yum!
When I made these, I did not really measure, I just dumped a bunch of ingredients in a blender and it worked out.

Texas sized dinner

Eventhough I am very sad my friends are moving to Texas, I was very happy that they brought me a Texas cookbook from their trip apartment hunting! Last night we had them over for a cowboy-themed dinner party. Mike and I dressed like cowboys and I made 3 recipes from the Texas cookbook. One being this crazy thing...





"Bleeding Armadillo Bread" There are a few misleading things about that title, first of all, it does not look like an armadillo- it looks like a ginormous blob. Secondly, bleeding? Gross.

It was pretty fun to make, eventhough it is a very high maintenance recipe!

I also made these delicious cookies!



I got the recipe from We Are Not Martha! Yum!

Armadillo Bread recipe coming soon!

um.. yum!

I have been seeing a lot of blogs with bacon cinnamon rolls, so I thought this was a perfect week to try them out! My bacon-loving friend was visiting! The bacon was definitely overpowered by the cinnamon rolls, so I think if I made them again I would buy a different type of cinnamon roll that would be easier to unroll and add more bacon! Or, I would probably cook the rolls and bacon separately and then put a strip of bacon on top. Overall, very fun and super easy.

Veggies!

Birthday!!

Yesterday we had a backyard summer party! I have been telling Mike that "This is the summer of the yard!" I didn't make a ton of food, only blue/bleu cheese dip, guac and cookies and a lot of cracker/chip things. Mike made a delicious pumpkin pie with walnut strudel.



Mike and I both wore special B-day outfits!



I bought that dress in a Virginia Goodwill when we were there for Thanksgiving and I have been saving it for this special bday occasion! I found Mike's shirt at the Salvation Army in Bloomington. I think it is the most beautiful shirt I have ever seen!



And I got to hold a tiny baby!

I didn't take any pictures of the blue cheese dip but it was a big hit at the party!
Recipe:

Hunk of blue cheese crumbled up
Sour Cream- about a cup
Couple twists of the pepper grinder

Stir up and refrigerate! Super easy.

Pesto Change-o!

I made "pesto" and froze it last weekend. I don't know if serious pesto people would consider this real pesto. I made it by putting basil and oregano (from my garden!), olive oil, almonds and garlic into our mini mixer. Real pesto uses pine nuts but they are super expensive!

We had "pesto" with brown rice pasta, chicken and veggie dumplings from Trader Joe's, and a salad with tomatoes, avocado and blue cheese.

my job is super boring...

and terrible news! My work pens are running out of ink!

well, I ate brussel sprouts

And was super impressed! I had sworn off brussel sprouts since I was a kid and my mom told me they were "candy", she did not have me fooled and I thought they were disgusting. However, I found a good-sounding recipe and tried them out again. Totally delicious!! We also had lemon pepper pasta tossed with olive oil and an aprium ( apricot/plum hybrid). The meal could have been served without the fruit but Mike photographed it for me and said it needed something red or orange.



Here is the recipe, modified from Shutterbean's recipe!

1 bags of TJ’s Brussels Sprouts
butter ( I didn't really measure)
1/2 c. onion
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
2 cloves of garlic

Take sprouts out of their packaging. Soak in water & rinse. Cut the ends off all the sprouts & quarter the sprouts. Set aside. Place butter in a pan on medium heat. Stir in onions & garlic. Cook on medium until onions are translucent. Add sprouts & toss them in the butter/onion mixture. Let sit- stir occasionally. At this point, you are working on steaming them. When the sprouts are softened (about 10 minutes), add brown sugar & remaining butter. Turn the heat to high and brown the sprouts. The brown sugar & butter help caramelize them.

Delish!! I will be making this again!