And Now For My Next Trick

What could be better than hot, homemade cobbler straight out of the oven, scooped into bowls and topped with a giant scoop of vanilla bean ice cream? The only thing better than that is when it takes about 5 minutes to make. The hard part is waiting for it to bake! No one will need to know...powder your face with flour, tell them it took positively AGES, and bask in the buttery, sugary glow!

Don't be distracted by the directions or how this looks when you put it in the oven. Follow them. Seriously...it's magic!

~*Magical Peach Cobbler*~

1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup milk
1 quart peaches in juice/syrup*

~Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
~Put the butter in a 9x13 baking dish and put it in the preheated oven until it melts.
~In the meantime, mix together the the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
~Stir in the milk and blend until smooth.
~When the butter has melted in the baking dish, remove from oven and pour the batter evenly over the butter in the hot pan.
~Pour all the peaches and juice evenly over the butter & batter.
~Put the cobbler back into the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Makes 8 servings.

* You can use any kind of fruit you like that comes canned or bottled in juice.

Chicken Soup for the Busy Person

I have made this soup a lot over the colder months. It's really easy to put together and a good way to use up leftover and frozen vegetables from your fridge/freezer. Just make sure you have some chicken stock or broth in your cupboard and you're good to go. This is a really thick, hearty and tasty soup. Much better than anything you'll ever find in a can!

30 Minute Chicken Noodle Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste
6 cups chicken stock or broth
1 pound chicken tenders or chicken breasts, diced
1/2 pound wide egg noodles (I like the No Yolks brand)
1/2 cup frozen peas (optional)
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped (or 2 teaspoons dried parsley)

-Place a large stock pot or saucepan over medium heat and add olive oil.
-Put your cutting board next to your stove and add vegetables to the pot as you chop them in the order listed, stirring well after each addition.
-Add the Italian seasoning and season vegetables with salt and pepper to taste.
-Add the stock or broth to the pot and raise the heat. Bring the liquid to a boil.
-Add the diced chicken, return the soup to a boil and then reduce heat back to medium.
-Cook the chicken for 2 minutes, then add the noodles. You can also add the frozen peas at this point if you want them in your soup.
-If you are using dried parsley add it now.
-Cook the soup for an additional 6 minutes or until noodles are tender. This is a thick soup, if you want more broth add 2 cups of water.
-Once the noodles are tender, remove from heat. If you're using fresh parsley stir it in now.

Makes 2 quarts

-------------------------------
Tips:
-You can add in whatever vegetables you like to this soup. Just remember if you're adding fresh veggies they need to go in the pot before you add the stock or broth. (You will want to add the more dense vegetables first so they can cook longer) If you're adding frozen veggies they need to go in with the noodles.
-This recipe goes perfectly with the Batter Rolls recipe!

Bread for the Masses

While I love to make yeast bread, I don't usually have time with a rambunctious 3 year old on my hands. When I get around to thinking about dinner, there's not enough time to let the dough rise and bake and I usually end up just sending poor husband out to the store for a loaf of french bread or something similar.

A serendipitous find came to me over the Christmas holidays...2 recipes for yeast breads that require little or no time to raise! The first is one of the tastiest rolls I've ever eaten, let alone made myself. I had them whipped up and baked by the time I had finished the soup I made to go with them. They were so good Dana didn't want to eat anything but the rolls!

The second recipe is for no rise pizza crust. I was skeptical at first, but it turned out the best pizza dough I've made at home and I didn't have to do much more than mix it up and put it on the pan. Easy peasy!

Recipe #1
Batter Rolls (total time to make: about 1 hour)

3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup very warm water (no hotter than 115 degrees)
2 packages dry yeast (or 2 tablespoons)
1 egg
3 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour

-Place milk in a microwave safe bowl and microwave until hot--about 2 minutes.
-Stir in the sugar, salt and butter and set aside.
-Measure the warm water in a large mixing bowl and stir in yeast.
-Let the yeast stand for a few minutes until foamy.
-Add the milk mixture (should be lukewarm) the egg and 2 cups of the flour.
-Beat until smooth
-Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough.
-Cover with plastic wrap and a towel and set in a warm place until doubled--about 30 minutes.
-Punch down the dough.
-Shape into 20 rolls. (I only got 18, but I like mine bigger)
-Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 pan or jelly roll pan. Cover again and let raise about 30 minutes (as above).
-In the meantime preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
-Bake rolls 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

------------------------------------------
Tips From Mrs. McMitchell:
These rolls are easy to incorporate into your dinner routine! Here's how I fit them in:

I mixed up the dough and set it aside to rise while I made a pot of Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup. The rolls were done with their first rise by the time the soup was simmering, so while the soup did it's thing, I shaped the rolls and put them in the pan for their second rise and I covered them with the same piece of plastic wrap I used on the bowl and left them to rise.

While they were rising I added the noodles to the soup and preheated the oven. Just as the soup was finishing up the rolls were ready and they only took 10 minutes until they were brown. Dinner was completely homemade and ready to go in an hour!

Recipe #2
No Rise Pizza Crust (total time to make: about 25 minutes)

1 package yeast (or 1 tablespoon)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup warm water
2 and 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

-Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
-Combine the yeast, sugar and warm water. Stir until dissolved.
-Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Knead dough a couple of times to mix in all the flour.
-Let rest 5 minutes. (I let it sit while I cut up my pizza toppings.)
-Roll out into the size and shape you need. (I have used the same recipe on a jelly roll pan and on round baking stones)
-Add toppings of your choice.
-Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

---------------------------------
Tips:
-You can add dried herbs to the dough if you like. Italian seasoning blend is always nice to add to the dough. I think garlic powder would be really good too!
-We made really good cheesy breadsticks with this the other night too: Put about 1/4 cup olive oil or butter in a saucepan with 3 or 4 cloves of finely minced garlic. Heat until the oil for a few minutes to release the garlic flavor and let cool until warm. Once the dough is in the pan cut it into sticks with a pizza cutter. Brush with the garlic oil and sprinkle with parmesan or mozzarella (or both) or whatever kind of cheese you like. You can add a little sprinkle of dried parsley or Italian seasoning on top if you like. Bake and enjoy!
-This dough is really good with half whole wheat flour and half white flour.
Use your imagination. This dough is really hard to mess up!