Sourdough Part 1

I saw a posting about sourdough and first I need to make sourdough starter. Recipe is from Lauren Groveman’s I Love to Cook Book. This sourdough starter appears in Lauren’s recipe for Pane di Casa.

2 c. warm water
1 teaspoon, plus a little of mild honey
2 TBSP yeast
4 cups all-purpose flour

In a large mixing bowl, combine the water, honey and yeast. When the yeast is dissolved and bubbly, stir in 2 c. flour until smooth. Add the rest of the flour 1/2 c. at a time, stirring until well-mixed each time. Cover the bowl securely with plastic wrap and let it sit. It will initially balloon up HUGELY, and then settle down. (Once it settled, I transferred it to a plastic ice cream bucket and put the lid on.) Let it sit and ferment for 4 days in a warm spot.

First 15 minutes, it looked like this.

After about an hour it doubled. I'm sure it takes less time, but I just was checking in sporadically.

Eww.

Now it sits on the counter for 4-5 days! This can the starter that keeps on living as long as I feed it.

Yuck

As you can see my last three recipes were a bust. They all tasted pretty terrible and I was so embarrassed of my "curry potato" that I deleted the photographs. I got a Martha Stewart "quick meals" book from the library and would like to try some recipes. I hope this goes better.

Crockpot Chicken Tacos

This stuff is terrible but it lasted over a week - tons and tons of chicken left. The salsa made this way to watery and I felt like I was eating cafeteria food only worse.

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Crockpot-Chicken-Tacos

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
A chopped onion (optional)
A chopped green pepper (optional)
1 packet taco seasoning
16 ounces salsa (that's 2 cups if you're using a larger bottle).
Flour tortillas, corn tortillas, or taco shells
Toppings: your choice of lettuce, sour cream, grated cheese, tomatoes, salsa, diced purple onions, olives, guacamole, etc.
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Put the chicken in a Crockpot. Add the onion and pepper if you want.

Pour the other stuff over the chicken.
Mix the seasoning with salsa and pour over chicken. You can add some more water if you think it needs more liquid, but the salsa and the chicken will produce ample liquid as it cooks.
Cover and cook on high for 4 to 6 hours or low for 6 to 8 hours.

Done cooking.
The chicken is done when it can be shredded easily with a fork.

Shred with a fork.
Lift the chicken out and shred it with a fork.

Tortillas and toppings.
Serve with soft flour tortillas

Cabbage Kielbasa soup

This was in a Food and Wine magazine. Mike liked it, but I don't like cabbage. It stinks. I couldn't wait to get rid of the stuff. Once I ate the meat, I didn't want to finish the cabbage.



INGREDIENTS
7 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup long-grain white rice, such as basmati or jasmine
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3/4 pound kielbasa, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
1/2 medium green cabbage, cored and finely shredded
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
DIRECTIONS
In a medium saucepan, combine 1 3/4 cups of the chicken broth with the rice and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook over low heat for 18 minutes, until the rice is tender.
Meanwhile, in a soup pot, heat the oil. Add the kielbasa and cook over moderately high heat until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add the onion and cabbage and cook until softened, about 6 minutes. Add the remaining 6 cups of broth and bring to a simmer. Cook over moderately low heat until the cabbage is tender, 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, stir in the rice and serve.