Bread Machine Recipe and Other Comfort Food

I don’t know about you, but I have just been carb loading lately.  Cannot get enough bread.  Or potatoes.  And I’m giving in to the urges.  So we dug out our old bread machine and tried a new recipe this week.

And I channeled my grandma and made biscuits.  Again.

For Meatless Monday I made cheesy scalloped potatoes.  And then I made a meatloaf on Tuesday.  More comfort food.  And the best dang leftover sandwich on Wednesday. Made with homemade bread, of course.

This isn’t really the prettiest plate, but I loved this sandwich.  I wanted to marry it. 

The intention is to share a healthy and enjoyable lifestyle on this blog, but sometimes, honesty just gets in the way.  Arugula really was on my plate.  Sometimes.  But mainly, every plate had a big ol’ heap of starch.

Did I mention lately that the hub has celiac and I’m the one eating all that bread by myself?  Yep.

And it was delish.

Bread Machine Country White Bread

We used a recipe from The Spruce Eats.  It was simple and included ingredients we had on hand.  My two top baking requirements!

We gathered all the ingredients and then just dumped them all into the bread maker bowl with the yeast going on top. 

This recipe called for the quick setting, so it didn’t come out as dark as I would like, but it was pretty crusty.  Bottom line, it was ugly but tasted good.

Nice to use the bread machine again (it’s been probably 8 years!) and fill the house with yeasty smells.

Easy Biscuits

I made these biscuits a few weeks ago and froze them, taking them out one at a time for a side to soup or for dessert with strawberry jam.  This time, I didn’t roll them out so thin and I got a bigger, fluffier biscuit. 

The new oven, of course, had to be watched like a hawk.  I reduced the heat by 25 degrees and the time by five minutes.  Ugh, that darn oven!

Now I have a new bag of biscuits for the freezer and am trying to judiciously parse them out to myself.

Scalloped Potato Gratin

Skinnytaste has the best recipe I’ve used for scalloped potatoes without a ton of butter and cheese.  Well, maybe I added a tad bit more cheese than necessary. 

The real game changer making these potatoes is the mandoline John got for Christmas last year.  He whips out perfectly cut potatoes in no time at all while I’m putting together the milk sauce and grating cheese.

So far, no digits have been lost in the process, but the cheese grater is rather mean and needs to be used with great caution.  It’s very difficult to tell the difference between grated finger and grated cheese in a dish.

The uniform potato slices means that every morsel has a chance to cook perfectly.  If you had an oven that didn’t cook too hot, that is.  Man, I went to my office to work while the potatoes were baking and dang if I didn’t smell the cheese starting to burn.  Oh, well, I saved it in time.

Not so great for the environment maybe, but using a disposable pan means no mess in the sink soaking off baked cheesy potatoes.

What I’m Reading

Not sure, but I think DF Jill recommended Anxious People by Frederik Backman.  This book has so many twists and turns, it kept my brain going and entertained.  There are a lot of characters, but Backman’s a master and they are easy to keep track of.  I love it when the villain is interesting and you’re rooting for her.  Check that box.  I love it when the protagonist has flaws but you’re rooting for him.  Check that box. 

There are some lines that had me laughing out loud. And lines that made me stop reading and think about them.

The one sad thing is how OLD he portrays the baby boomer dad.  The dad may even be a Gen X and I don’t think he gets a fair shake.  Maybe I’m just way more lame than I think I am.  I know Millennials think Boomers are a lost cause, but we do function.  I think that portrayal is a bit off. 

In any case, loved the book, laughed out loud, texted DF Andrea about it.  Recommend!

Roxy Update     

You’ve seen similar shots of Roxy and me reading and drinking tea.  Because it happens every morning.  Except last week.  When it didn’t.  Because she was so sick.  You can see she’s back at it, seeming mostly herself and providing me the best part of my day. 

Holiday Pet Pictures

Putting together the Kitty Beauty Pageant was so fun for me.  For the holidays, I’d like to feature your pets in a holiday setting.  Maybe next to a tree or in their Christmas PJs.  It doesn’t have to be a new pic and it can be a pic of your darling that has crossed the rainbow bridge.  Just please send me pics for a holiday post.

Now, I really need to go and make some pancakes.  Just kidding.  XO