Homesick Texan Saturday Night

 No official Homesick Texan day this week, but I did make her buttermilk potato soup with bacon and roasted jalapeno this evening.

Um. Wow.

   

 

In addition to the buttermilk/bacon/roasted jalapeno, this potato soup calls for cumin, cayenne, and cilantro; all in tiny amounts. It's kind of wonderful. I wish I would have made this for myself right before I got sick. 

 

 

So good with an inappropriately large heap of shredded cheddar.  

I officially recommend this.

Anatomy of a Decadent Salad

 

Today I made a whopper of a salad.

I started with lots of veggies.

{ cucumber, carrot, celery, 

mushroom, red bell pepper }

Then added some protein.

{ ham, boiled egg }

AND THEN I topped it off with my first attempt at skillet croutons. 

This salad was completely overwhelming. I would have been better off to make it 1/3 this size. Or smaller. And then have a little soup on the side. That would have been awesome... Live & learn!

Skillet Croutons

adapted from The Pioneer Woman

3 slices Texas Toast

4 Tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter

Cut each slice of bread into 16 cubes. Melt 1 Tablespoon of butter in a skillet over low heat, then add the bread cubes and toss to coat. Toast the croutons in the skillet over low heat for about 10-12 minutes, adding 1 Tablespoon of butter every couple of minutes until you've used all 4 Tablespoons. (This will ensure all the croutons soak up the butter and toast nicely.)

Yeild: 48 croutons

Calorie content: 14 calories per crouton

{ Quote of the Day }

Me: (after Josh discovered and began devouring my delicious homemade croutons) Hey, you might have to start eating salad now.

Josh: No, I might have to start eating croutons.

Okie-Dokie Artichokie

So, I recently joined "Culinary Capers," which is a fun Facebook group that challenges its members with a new ingredient each week. This week's ingredient was artichokes. I decided to go with canned, and I chose to make The Way the Cookie Crumbles' spinach artichoke pizza.

I'm into TWtCC lately. This girl has got some tricks up her sleeve, I tell you what. I tried out her pizza crust recipe, using her special technique for adapting any bread recipe to whole wheat. {I mean, she didn't make it up, but she was kind enough to share it.}

The basic gist of this technique is that you make a "pre-dough" the night before, using whole wheat flour, water, and a little salt. Letting the moistened whole wheat flour ball sit overnight softens the whole wheat fibers. When you incorporate the whole wheat pre-dough into the remaining ingredients of your desired bread recipe, you get a dough that is remarkably soft and pliable for whole wheat. Neato!

Pre-dough.

Going in.

Coming out.

Crust porn.

This was good!

What I liked most about this recipe:

1. It calls for fresh spinach instead of frozen.

2. The crust is hand-formed. {Bridget recommends not using a rolling pin.}

3. Béchamel. {Need I say more?}