Sunday, March 9, 2008

Little Boys, Home-made Bread & Roasted Chicken

I finally got a Boaz fix. Our delicious grandson and his parents were in Cuba for a month-long vacation. So you can imagine how happy we were to see him...I mean them! Bo spent the day with us and he's learned a new skill...walking. Okay, not exactly walking on his own. He holds on to someone's finger and walks (very fast) everywhere.



My day with him was SUPPOSED to look like this...I'd do a quick roasted chicken so he could have some for lunch. After all, it only takes a few minutes to stuff the bird with some garlic, rosemary sprigs and a half a lemon, brush some olive oil on the skin and roast it for an hour or so. That part actually worked, except no photos, sorry. .. I was too busy walking!


And, because I'm obsessed with my new Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook, I decided to bake a Swedish Rye Bread...throw all the ingredients into the machine (less than 5 minutes), knead it in the dough cycle in the bread machine and let it rise on the counter...transfer to a baking stone in the oven, bake...simple! BUT...my little walking buddy messed with my bread rising timeline and it flopped transferring (make that ATTEMPTING) to the baking stone. So more rising on a parchment covered baking sheet and bake. It didn't look pretty since it didn't rise as much as I would have liked - in fact, it looked more like a focaccia (this photo is from the second try). Since I loved the flavor of the fennel seeds and orange zest, I made it again, primarily for the photos...Not bad for my third ever free-form bread making efforts. Still not perfect, though....any tips from the bread makers out there?

Dinner turned out to be Chinese Take-out. The parents really missed it and who were we to argue - I've missed it too. The chicken was left in the fridge, with barely a slice eaten....So I came up with this very tasty dish for Presto Pasta Night #54 ...




Delicioso! Perhaps the gang will come back for dinner....

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

that's a good looking bread Ruth!

Finla said...

DO i hear a proud grandmom talking.
I think grandchildren adores their granparents. My daughter adore hers as they spoim her rotten.
I remember when she was little i had to drag her from their car as she still wanted to stay with them. And this was stzying there for 4 days in a row

Mahek said...

hi
Ruth,
It was great to see your grandson...
After a very long time , do you visit my blog?
bye
will keep coming back to read your blog

breadchick said...

Ruth, the bread is coming along. I think I owe you some recipes and tips don't I!!


Anyways, when it comes to free form, the name of the game is structure. The bread machine kneading is probably good but you may also want to give a little kneading by hand.

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Very sweet!

Your bread looks great! And that pasta dish too! Yummy!

Cheers,

Rosa

TBC said...

Ruth,
I sent you my entry. I hope you have received it.:-)

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

Yay Grandma...a month's vacation in Cuba...count me in I love it there:D Gretaq recovery with the chicken it sounds delish:D

Anonymous said...

Hey Ruth,

What kind of bread machine do you have?

Sara said...

Look at him go! Your bread looks delicious!

Anonymous said...

Great looking recipes, Ruth, and what an adorable grandson!

Ruth Daniels said...

It certainly is fun being a grandma!

Breadchicks, thanks for the tip...so how much "extra" kneading is enough? and how deep/shallow should the slits be so that it spreads wider?

Dana, it's a toastmaster

Thanks all for dropping by.