Perfect Popcorn Everytime

I know you are thinking popcorn?  I found this recipe the other day and thought I would give it a try out of curiosity. It was the best popcorn I have ever had.  I know they have tried to make it easy with the microwave popcorn but have you looked at the ingredients on those things?  Also it leaves a film in the roof of my mouth that I don't like. So pull out your pot and give this a try.  You will never make microwave popcorn again. Trust me.

I can smell it now.  You can also add melted butter if you like but I don't think you will need it.

 I used coconut oil but if you don't have that you can use canola or peanut or whatever you have.

 Go ahead and measure out 1/3 cup of corn and set aside.

 Add 3 Tablespoons of oil to the pot.

 Add about 3 kernels of popcorn to the oil.

 Melt and heat the oil on medium high heat.

 After the oil melts and starts to heat..

 Add some salt to the oil and you won't have to salt the popcorn after it is popped and it will be evenly salted.

 Cover the pot and let it heat until those three kernels pop.

 Add the 1/3 cup of corn to the pot and swirl it around in the oil.

 Cover and remove from the heat for 30 seconds.  You can out out loud.  This allows the kernels to all get warm at the same time so they pop about the same time. You will have fewer kernels not pop.

 After the 30 second put back on the eye and rotate the pan on the eye.

 The kernels begin to pop.  You can crack the kid to let some of the steam out to the kernels will be fluffier.

 They have almost stopped popping.

 Then remove from the heat and uncover.

Pour into a bowl and enjoy.  It doesn't take much longer than microwave and much better for you. And only a couple of kernels that did not pop.

Perfect Popcorn Everytime Recipe

3 Tablespoon oil
1/3 cup pop corn

Dutch Oven Crusty Bread

This recipe really caught my attention.  The fact that it was from a blog called Alaska from Scratch didn't hurt either.  This year I have decided I want to get more comfortable working with yeast.  I have told you before my problems with yeast.  I am always afraid of killing it with too hot water or the water not being hot enough and it not being activated.  So I want to try breads, pizza dough, cinnamon rolls and anything else I can find that uses yeast until I get comfortable with it.  Last summer I found the bread in a bag and made that a couple of times and it turned out good and then we lost the kitchen for the fall so I am just not getting back to working with yeast.  This is a great recipe but you have to plan a little with it.  You will see what I am talking about.

It's not a pretty loaf of bread, but the outside is crusty and the inside nice and soft.

 Plain flour, salt and yeast.  You heard that right that is all that is in the bread.  Couldn't be easier could it?

 Start with 3 cups all purpose flour.

 1 teaspoon salt

 1 teaspoon yeast

 Toss it around a little

 1 1/2 cup warm water

 Pour in and stir it around until all the flour is wet

 Scrap it around a little to get it off the sides.

 Cover it and place it out of the way for up to 24 hours.  This is where the timing comes in.  You have to make it the day ahead of when you want to eat it. But was that not easy to mix up?

 So when you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 450.  Put the dutch oven in the oven for 30 minutes so it will get nice and hot.  It is very hot so be careful with it.

 Right before the 30 minutes is up, uncover the bread.  I made a joke with a friend that it smelled like Tuscaloosa on gameday.  She didn't get it so campus on gameday.  That yeast was really working.

 Turn the bread out on a floured surface.  Shape into a round ball.

 Take the pot out of the oven and place the bread inside.

 Recover and put in the oven for 30.

 At the end of the 30 minutes take the lid off the pot and bake for 10-15 more minutes.

 This is what it looks like when you take it out.

 Carefully take out of the hot pot.

Add butter and enjoy.

Dutch Oven Crusty Bread Recipe

3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups warm water
Preheat oven to 450.  Bake pot for 30 minutes.  Bake bread for 30 minutes and remove top bake additional 10-15 minutes.

Trisha Yearwood's Chicken Broccoli Casserole

I thought about calling this the "I don't have to go to the store casserole"  I had laid out chicken to thaw and I wanted to make some kind of casserole.  Every recipe I found had either onions or milk or both in them and I was out of both and didn't really want to run to the store.  So I kept looking and this is what I found.  It was soooo good.  Very easy to put together too. Give it a try because I know you and your family will enjoy it.

Now granted I did add extra cheese from what the recipe called for but I didn't hear anyone complain about that.

 Go ahead and cook the chicken early so it will be cooled enough to cut up.  Also you could use left over rice. The recipe said to cook the broccoli and if you used fresh I would suggest doing that but frozen I just made sure it was thawed.

 Spread out 2 cups cooked rice in the bottom of a sprayed 9x13 baking dish.  I think I want to try it with different types or rice.  I think wild rice would be good.

 Layer 2-3 cups broccoli on top.  Make sure you get the frozen broccoli that is florets instead of chopped broccoli.  In the chopped broccoli you get those hard stem pieces.

 In a bowl mix 1 cup sour cream.

 1/2 cup mayo.  I used light on both of these.

 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice.

 The recipe called for cream of chicken but I don't really like that as well as cream of mushroom.  So add whatever kind of cream of soup you like.

 Add a little pepper.

 and salt

 Okay the recipe called for 10 oz of shredded cheese and to use half of it in the liquid mixture.  I put almost 8 oz in the liquid.  We like cheese.

 Chop up your chicken breast.

 Mix all of this together well.

 Spread on top of the broccoli.

 And then put some more cheese on top. Place in a preheated 350 oven for 40 minutes.

 Look at all that good gooey cheese

It was so good.  We also had homemade fresh bread too.

Chicken broccoli casserole recipe

2 cups cooked rice
3 cups cooked broccoli
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayo
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
cream of soup
10 oz shredded cheese
salt and pepper
2-4 cooked and chopped chicken breast

Bake in a preheated 350 oven for 40 minutes