Food Watch: Homemade Bread

I have to introduce you all to this website: Steve the Bread Guy on Youtube.com.

I have been wanting to learn to make bread for a long time, and because of Steve the Bread Guy, I finally got it right! :) It really is easy. It took a few tries for me to get it right, but listen to everything Steve says. I do put in 2T of sugar into the bowl with the hot water to help the yeast work, but that's all I do different.

Bread Recipe

2t sugar
2cups hot water
2T yeast
1T salt
5 cups flour

Click for Directions

Food Watch: Homemade Gravy

Gravy

2 cups chicken/turkey/or beef broth/stock
2T flour
2T oil
milk or water

Put 2T oil and 2T flour into pan and stir for a moment.
Mix in stock and let come to a boil and thicken, stirring near constantly.
If it gets thicker than you want, pour in a little milk or water until it's your desired thickness.

Since I make so much broth, I can usually always make gravy. But if you don't have broth, you can use bouillon cubes and make your own broth first.

Food Watch: Homemade Chicken Stock

I make chicken sock all the time. I don't think you can ever have enough. It's very expensive to buy, so instead when I'm going to make chicken for dinner, I will usually make chicken stock out of it first.

I know a lot of people use big chunks of veggies and the strain the broth. I really like to chop veggies down real small in the food processor and keep with the broth. I just think it gives it more flavor. So you can do whichever way you want.

Chicken Stock

Chicken pieces (I usually brown a little on each side before adding everything else)
2 stocks celery (and if you want, you can use the center of the celery)
1 large onion
2 large carrots
2T parsley
6 chicken bouillon cubes (I just think it gives it more flavor)
Pot of water

Brown chicken on each side.
Chop veggies in the food processor. I think the finer the better.
Add the rest of the ingredients to the pot.
Cover and simmer for an hour and a half or so. I add a little more water as it evaporates.

You can strain if you wish.

Food Watch: Homemade Using Up Food

Using Up Food

I do try to use up most things that I buy, because I hate throwing food away. I often do, but I try really hard not to.

How to Use Make the Most

Last night for dinner, I had a package of 10 chicken thighs. I only made six for our dinner, so I had four leftover today. I put them in a pot with diced celery, carrots, onion, green peppers, oregano, parsley, salt and pepper, and water, and let it simmer for a couple of hours. This made a great broth.

I love having broth in the house. There's so many uses for it.

Broth

Gravy

I took out the thighs for our dinner. With this, I used a cup of broth with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and a cup of milk and made gravy. I made mashed potatoes to go with our dinner.

Potato Soup

With the broth, I diced up potatoes and onion, and made a big batch of potato and ham soup.

We had a little of the soup to go with dinner, and the rest will go with sandwiches for lunch.


These tips are how I try to make the most out of what I have.

Food Watch: Homemade Chili Cheese Sauce

This chili cheese sauce is like the stuff you buy in the jar. You can make this completely to your liking. Make it spicy by putting in a spicy salsa or spicy chili. Put in a lot of cheese to make it mostly cheesey. Or have a little more chili than cheese. You can also make it as thick or thin as you want. Here's a good recipe for cheese sauce, too.

Chili Cheese Sauce

Half of a block of Velveeta style cheese, diced
1 cup chili
1 cup salsa

Put in microwave for 2 minutes or until cheese is melted.

The measurements are just something to go by. Try it the way like it.

Here's a recipe for Zesty Chili Cheese Dip that sounds really good. I'll have to try it next time.

Food Watch: Homemade Chili Recipe

There are so many chili recipes. This is just one that I made today.

Chili

1 pound Italian Sausage
1 1/2 cups of salsa (I used homemade)
1 can or cup of beans (I used white beans this time because I boiled them from dry yesterday)
2 tablespoons of chili powder (or as much as desired)

Simmer until desired thickness. This can be spicy depending on how spicy the sausage and salsa are. Mine had a nice kick to it.

Food Watch: Chili Cheese Fries and Other Things

My kids wanted different things to eat today, so okay, "What do you want?"

My daughter said, "Chicken sandwich and fries with gravy."

My son said, "Chicken sandwich and chili cheese fries."

"Well, ya don't want much, do you? No problem. Gotcha covered."

I had Italian Sausage in the fridge, so I started frying that up. When brown, I took the sausage out, and put it in a saucepan along with a cup and a half of my homemade salsa. I boiled dry beans yesterday for bean soup but I had some leftover, so I put the beans in, along with some chili powder. Okay, chili simmering.

With the pan drippings from the sausage, I put in 2 tablespoons of flour and a little milk, stirring constantly. As the mixture thickens, add enough milk to make it your desired thickness. Okay, gravy, done.

I have potatoes on hand all the time. I peeled them, and sliced them into french fry slices and put on a baking sheet. I put a little oil on them, salt, pepper, and chili powder, and mixed it up so they all had the same amount of oil and spices. Preheat over to 350 degrees and bake until done. Fries done.

Taking a few scoops of my chili, I put it in a bowl with some diced up Velveeta cheese, put it in the microwave for 2 minutes or til cheese is melted. Stir. Instant cheese sauce.

Chicken breast in fridge leftover from night before last. I sliced it up and made their chicken sandwiches. When the fries were done, I put my daughter's plate together with her chicken sandwich and fries with gravy, and my son's plate had his chicken sandwich and his chili cheese fries. The gravy, chili, and cheese sauce turned out really good.