Clean, cook and blog!
Chad and I returned Sunday from a delightful trip to Cancun, Mexico with my family. We enjoyed a week full of tanning, relaxing, eating and card playing! We even saw a Mexican version of Jack Sparrow in our Pirates of the Caribbean vs. Captain Hook dinner show :) I finally unpacked, vacuumed and cleaned our cozy apartment this morning while fresh country french bread was baking in the bread maker and the ingredients of a delectable Mock Aoili were getting to know each other in the fridge prior to being spread on a wonderful turkey sandwich. Let me tell you, there is no better smell to come home to than freshly baked bread and that sandwich spread is to die for! :)
This week is the week. This week is where Chad and I make incredibly important decisions that will determine the course of our life together. Both Chad and I are extremely fortunate to have job offers in the Kansas City area for next year, but Chad's job offer is not ideal. His ideal job is with an engineering firm in Wichita... and they want both of us to visit Wednesday! Both of our KC job offers expire this Friday so we both hope for good news from Wichita! All I can do is pray and firmly believe that things are going to work out for the best!
If we stay in KC, we'll both have great jobs, be around great friends and I will be able to resume my summer job (which I love) while finishing up the last 10 hours of graduate school. If we move to Wichita, Chad will have his dream job, we'll have a new adventure with a chance to make new friends, I have the opportunity for several math positions in the area, and will have the summer free to dedicate myself to the remaining hours of my master's degree and discovering more cooking techniques! Either way, I am incredibly excited that with in a few short days a definite path will be determined and I can continue to search for or accept a teaching job!
Also, I'm considering splitting this blog into two this summer: one half will be dedicated to mathematics teaching and my first year experiences while the other half will showcase my attempt (successes and blunders) at cooking. I know Chelsea and Megan are toying with this idea and I think it would be a great opportunity for some K-State women to blog about their journey in the kitchen and share amazing recipes!
I'll start off with what I made this morning:
French Countryside Bread: A thick and moist, white bread that is sandwich worthy and so easy to make in the bread maker! This recipe is for a 2 lb. loaf which is about 10-12 thin slices.
1 and 3/8 cups room temperature water
1 and 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1) Measure and add liquid ingredients to bread pan.
2) Measure and add dry ingredients. Make sure to spoon in the flour and level off when full.
3) Make a hole in your dry ingredients and measure and pour the yeast into the hole. Make sure that the yeast does not come into contact with the liquid ingredients prior to kneading... yeast is a very picky, picky organism.
4) Set your bread maker to the french bread setting and go!
I haven't dared making bread from scratch (as in hand kneading and what not) as I do not have the time nor patience right now. Using the bread maker is so much easier and fool proof (most of the time!) If you have a bread maker but don't want to spend the time or money on ingredients, KrustEaz makes self contained boxes of bread mixes that you just pour into your bread maker and press start. I particularly like their Hawaiian Sweet Bread, it pairs divinely with the sandwich below.
Delicious Turkey and Apple Sandwich with Mock Aoili:
For two sandwiches:
4 slices of thick white bread (sweet bread is the best, but sourdough or plain white bread works well too. Whole wheat bread tends to overpower this sandwich.)
Thinly sliced turkey breast
Lettuce
Very Thinly sliced apples (Gala are our favorite, but any other sweet apple will do)
Muenster Cheese or other white, mild cheese
Sliced Red Onion (optional)
Mock Aoili*
Spread the Mock Aoili on both slices of bread and layer ingredients as desired.
To make the Mock Aoili mix together:
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 cup sour cream
1-1 1/2 Tablespoons fresh or 1-1 1/2 tsp. dried herbs (ie: finely chopped flat leaf parsley, dill, thyme and/or oregano. Just use whatever you have on hand)
1/2 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/4-1/2 tsp. garlic powder (season to your liking)
Cover and store in refrigerator.
For dinner this week, Chad and I have decided to eat down our pantry... so no fun recipes this week!
Now, off to do that homework that I have put off far too long.
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