On a hunt

Tomorrow marks the last day of school and summer officially begins.  I am on the hunt for new snack ideas to curb the summer day hunger attacks.  I figure this is the best place to start.  So post all those yummy, fun, simple or crazy snack ideas you've been hiding from me.

Strawberry Spinach Palooza! (salad)

Somebodies just made their first legit recipe in their new home! Yeah!

Spinach Salad, from the Worldwide Ward Cookbook:

8 oz Spinach
1/2 c nuts
3 T sugar
1 lb strawrberries (yum)

Caramel the nuts by cooking them in the sugar, then mix all the other stuffs in a bowl. And add some awesome poppy seed dressing on top:

Poppy Seed dressing:
1 1/2 c sugar
2/3 c white vinegar
2 c olive oil
2 t dry mustard
2 t salt
3 T poppy seeds

So...we had our first little crisis when we realized that we had no vinegar,c but never fear! We borrowed some from our neighbors, the Walton grandparents...except it was apple vinegar, but it worked out deliciously.

Oh, and Marquie wasn't sure if those almonds we used were ever gonna caramelize, but they did.

We halved the dressing, because they called for way too much. But don' forget to add the poppy seeds until after the rest of the dressing is completely blended. But guess how we blended it! In our new Magic Bullet[tm] (*awesome infomercial jingle*).

Thanks for sharing our glee,
Love,
The Waltons

Rosemary Olive Bread

I couldn't buy Costco's Rosemary/Olive Oil Bread for our reception in Virginia, so I found this recipe and used it.  It was delicious.  I would have posted it on the recipe blog, but I couldn't figure out how.  I doubled the recipe and it made 4 pretty nice size loaves. I baked two on a cookie sheet or 1 on my pizza stone.

 

Almost-Famous Rosemary Bread

Recipe courtesy Food Network Magazine

Serves:

4 small loaves

Ingredients

• 1 1/4-ounce packet active dry yeast  (doubled this is 4 1/2 teaspoons.)
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing and serving
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 2 tablespoons dried rosemary
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt Freshly ground pepper

Directions

Stir the yeast, sugar and 1/4 cup warm water in a large bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer). Let sit until foamy, about 5 minutes.

Add 1 tablespoon olive oil, the flour, 1 1/2 tablespoons rosemary, the fine salt and 3/4 cup warm water; stir with a wooden spoon (or with the dough hook if using a mixer) until a dough forms.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, dusting lightly with flour if necessary, until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. (Or knead with the dough hook on medium-high speed, adding a little flour if the dough sticks to the bowl, about 8 minutes.)

Brush a large bowl with olive oil. Add the dough, cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until more than doubled, about 2 hours.

Brush 2 baking sheets with olive oil. Generously flour a work surface; turn the dough out onto the flour and divide into 4 pieces. Working with one piece at a time, sprinkle some flour on the dough, then fold the top and bottom portions into the middle. Fold in the sides to make a free-form square. Use a spatula to turn the dough over, then tuck the corners under to form a ball. Place seam-side down on a prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough, putting 2 balls on each baking sheet. Let stand, uncovered, until more than doubled, about 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bake the loaves 10 minutes; brush with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and sprinkle with the kosher salt and the remaining 1/2 tablespoon rosemary. Continue baking until golden brown, about 10 more minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool. Serve with olive oil seasoned with pepper.

Photograph by Lisa Shin