Whole Wheat Hoagies

I have baked almost all the bread we have eaten since March.  I try to make low sodium bread and I only use organic stone milled whole wheat flour from Bob’s Red Mill.  I have to be loyal to my home, as the mill was down the street from my old house before moving to Korea, and it is the easiest to get here that I have found.  For months I have been scouring the internet for recipes of 100% whole wheat flour that are light and fluffy.  I had almost given up.  A few weeks ago, when I was out of whole wheat flour, and I actually broke down and bought some white flour for the first time in months.  I could not believe how fluffy it was and I dreamed of my whole wheat bread being so fluffy. I was also blown away by how much yeast one loaf recipe required.  Normally I put in 2 1/4 teaspoons (the amount in one packet) or double that.  This particular white flour recipe called for six tablespoons!  YES SIX!!!!!! and my bread blew up!  It got me wondering if I am a little more generous on the yeast, if my whole wheat dough would puff up more.  I tried a few weeks ago with half white, have wheat flour, and it was okay.  It was still dense, but not nearly as much so as previous whole wheat experiences, and not nearly as fluffy as just white.  So today, I wanted to get a hoagie recipe, because I have intentions of making Philli Cheese Steaks later this week.

I found an easy recipe online that was simple, and I had all of the ingredients, however, it was white flour.  I figured oh well, why do I only have to find ONLY wheat recipes for my wheat flour?  And I tried it!  The recipe I found was at food.com.  I followed the recipe for the most part, only deviating a little.  That is more what I do than make up my own recipes, I deviate from ones other people have made.  My changes were mostly for flavor…

While mixing the wet ingredients, I added 1 tablespoon of garlic bread seasoning, 1/3 cup of finely grated cheddar, and 1/3 a cup of chopped pickled jalapenos.

One more change however was in the amount of yeast.  I figured if that one recipe I made several weeks ago could ask for six tablespoons, It would not kill me to add a little extra to my recipe.  So, instead of 4 1/2 teaspoons of yeast, I would add two tablespoons.  I made sure I had enough time for my dough to rise to it’s full potential, and then baked it.  I have to say, I am highly impressed!  I will admit my rolls are a bit more dense than I was hoping for,  but they are still pretty light and airy compared to past experiences.  I will be making this recipe again, and I have to admit, I might just add a little more yeast and play with it.  Next time, I might make a whole loaf though, not just sandwich rolls.

They do make the perfect size rolls for sandwich rolls, as a breast of chicken fits on one just about perfectly!

Oh, and this bread also makes some pretty incredible toasted garlic bread!!!

Roasted Vegetable Soup with Grilled Cheese

Hi there everyone!  This week at  Costco, my husband freaked out when we got to the  cheese aisle.  They had our absolute favorite cheddar cheese from home that they have never had there before!  They had Bandon Cheddar Cheese!  This cheese is made in Oregon by the Tillamook Cheese Comapany.  However, When I was growing up near Bandon, Oregon, the cheese factory was there, and I remember going and trying fresh cheese curds or “squeeky cheese” and having ice cream cones the size of my head.  I don’t know what is so different between Bandon brand cheddar or any other cheddar, but it is incredible!  While at the store, we usually grab a few different kinds of cheese, however this week, after I hugged it and drooled over it a little, my husband and I decided to buy two blocks of cheddar instead of any other kind of cheese.  It is a harder cheddar than say Kirkland cheddar, and does not crumble as easily.  It also has a bit more cheddar flavor than what I have been used to in Korea.

I am just a little excited…HOME!

Since I had some incredible cheese, I had to take on the challange of planning an entire meal around this taste of home, that would not be too many weight watchers points.

So now I get to what this post is really about:

My post today is primarily about this amazing oven roasted veggie soup that I made tonight to go with some killer grilled cheese sandwiches.  I did make some incredible bread as well for the sandwiches, however, I did not get any photos of the bread because I have made it before in my Whole Wheat Hoagies post.  The big difference in my bread today, was that I actually baked it into two loafs (took about 45 minutes to turn golden brown in a loaf pan).  I added garlic, sun dried tomatoes, and some basil to the recipe as well, and took out some of the sugar.   Anyway, the hoagie recipe I used is found on food.com.  I change the recipe by using all whole wheat flour and a tablespoon of yeast.

Isn’t that a beautiful thing?

Anyway, back to my soup:

When I got home from work tonight, I chopped up some veggies.  I chopped up two bell peppers into 8 strips, 2 small onions, and 2 small carrots.  I spread them over two cooking sheets (one big one would work if your oven is big enough or an average sized cookie sheet).  I sprayed just a tiny bit of olive oil on them, and one pan at a time I roasted them.  The peppers I roasted until they were charred, broiling them for about 15 minutes, then turning the pan and letting it go for another 15 minutes, until they looked like this:

The yellow peppers were a bit more done than the red by the end of this.

then I threw in a pan of thinly sliced onions and carrots.  In hind site, I perhaps should have cut the carrot into sticks instead of madallions so they did not loose so much moisture and flavor. I cooked them the same way under the broiler for about another half hour, turning the pan and stirring a little half way through.

Next I opened two cans of S&W ready-cut diced tomatoes and dumped them into my soup pot.  While my roasted veggies were cooling a bit, I took the time to mix the bread together, and plan for it to raise while the soup was cooking.  so I let the veggies cool a bit, and then peeled the peppers by hand.  Charring them the way that I did releases the skins, and they practically slide right off.

After I added the tomatoes, I peeled the peppers, and

Here is the package of tofu, it comes in a tube and you just cut the tip and squeeze it out.

threw them into the pot with the onions, carrots, tomatoes, about a tablespoon and a half of garlic, and here is the kicker…a cup of silken tofu.  This was an experiment for me, but I actually looked forward to giving it a try.  I added two cups of water, then another half cup with about a tablespoon of beef bouillon mixed in with it.  I threw in some dried thyme, and let it simmer on low while the bread was raising.

After it simmered for maybe an hour while the dough was raising, I scooped the hot soup carefully into a blender and pureed it until it was smooth.  The tofu gave it the creamy look and feel of having dairy and the flavor was really intense .  It was a little overwhelming however, and I added 1/2 a cup of sour cream just to cool down the flavors just a touch.  I was pleased to see it did not add any extra weight watchers points to a serving, which is what I was trying to avoid.

I sliced enough bread for two sandwiches, and measured out two ounces each of Bandon cheese.  I planned this entire meal around the cheese after all…Therefore, I was not about to skimp on it!

I grilled them up in a little butter, on the smallest flame I can get.  My bread was cut kinda thick, so I wanted to give the cheese time to melt while the bread was grilling.  The flame was on so low, that it probably took 5-8 minutes per side to get it golden brown on each side.  I prefer to grill my sandwiches like this, because otherwise the bread is done long before the cheese is ooey gooey and melted.

When it was ready, I served my husbands plate, then went back to cut my sandwich, take some photos and serve up my own.  When I came to sit down, my husband was already oohing and awwing over the incredible flavor.  I knew the soup tasted good, but when I sat down, and dipped the sandwich into the soup, oh my gosh that was pure heaven!  This meal was super filling with the hearty whole wheat bread, and the thick soup.  And best of all, the soup serving four generous helping was only three points a bowl!

Oven Roasted Veggie Soup:

2 cans of tomatoes (because this soup is pureed, this can be any kind of canned tomatoes)

1 cup silken tofu

1/2 cup sour cream (optional with the tofu)

2 onions

2 carrots

a few cloves of garlic

salt and pepper to taste

dried thyme

2 bell peppers, any color

olive oil spray

2 1/2 cups water

1 tablespoon beef bouillon (use what you have, I have used chicken before as well. Veggie could also work)

First de-rib and slice into strips two bell peppers.  thickly slice 2 onions and two carrots and spread all out on a cookie sheet with a light spraying of olive oil.  Broil on the highest temperate and the closest to the top heating element for 15 minutes, and turn the pan around.  Cook or another 15 minutes, or until the peppers are well charred and the onions are starting to caramelize or brown.  Dump 2 cans of tomatoes into the soup pan.  Peel the skin off of the roasted peppers, and add them and the onions to the soup.  Add the garlic, thyme, and tofu. Let this simmer for at least a half hour.  when it has cooked down just a little, and is sufficiently hot, carefully scoop or pour the contents of the soup pot into the blender, and blend until the entire soup has a smooth consistency   You can add the sour cream now, or after you pour the soup back into the pot.  Mix well, salt and pepper to taste.

One bowl of this soup is very thick and filling, and is only 3 weight watchers points!

Leave me a comment if you want more details on how to make a grilled cheese sandwich.

Those little Brats!

This weekend Jeremy and I walked all over Timbuktu!  Okay, it was really from one side of Itaewon to the other, and then a little further, but it may as well have been to Timbuktu with the weight of the shopping that we did!  We started at one market because Jeremy wanted some beer brewed in Oregon, and we had heard that there was a store in Itaewon that had it.  So, we jumped on a train, then in a cab to get there.  So we started at this higher end store, that had the beer, but we found things we don’t normally find in Itaewon that I wanted also…like bratwurst and Italian sausage.  I got one package of each (for about $10.00 each), and we got some spinach artichoke dip, and some (stale) Turkish bread.  We also found ginger ail and mug root beer, so we were happy campers!  We got all our stuff, and packed it up in a backpack.  We next went to a restaurant, then the foreign market we usually go to for 20 lbs of Bob’s Red Mill whole wheat flour.  I wound up lugging that around the rest of the day!  We walked down the street, and enjoyed taking the time to enjoy Itaewon unlike usual when we just go for flour, or whatever from the foreign market and that is all.

When we got home the meat was still very cold, but it had thawed out.  So, I knew I was going to need to cook at least one of them in the next day or two. One of the big problems in Korea is that it can be difficult to find hot dog buns however, so I had to make them of course.  I made the hoagie rolls that I made last week.  This time, I threw in some extras to make them extra savory.

If you can see, I threw just about everything but the kitchen sink.  I chopped up sun dried tomatoes in the food processor with a little oil, then I oven roasted three small red bell peppers.  I let both of those drain for several hours, and chopped the peppers up really fine.  Then I sprinkled in garlic bread seasoning, rosemary, thyme, freshly grated parmesan cheese, a few sprinkles of cayenne pepper, some regular black pepper and maybe some parsley into the dough, and let it rise.  The bread turned out incredible!

I had been debating for two days how to cook these bratwursts, and I finally took someone’s advice, and decided to cook them in a frying pan for a few minutes in liquid, then broil them.

First I added about 1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar, and 1/2 a cup of orange juice together in a pan, and I had one thinly sliced apple and onion that I added to it, as well as some garlic.  Next I added the sausage and put the lid over the top at medium heat.

I just let it steam a bit, until I looked in and saw the skin on the sausages coming off.

Then they were hard, and I transferred them to a pan to go into the oven to broil them.

 I let the pan continue to simmer down on lower heat.

I pulled the brats out when they were done and looked pretty good on two sides (I did flip them half way through)

Next I sliced a bun like a hot dog bun, not all the way through, put in some yellow mustard (I would have preferred something grainy and better, but yellow was all we had).  Then I put the sausage in and piled on the apple and onion mixture.  Combine with the bread it all tasted amazing!

 

 

 

Cheese Steaks…not sure sure they are from Philly though

The other day I made whole wheat hoagie rolls for the specific purpose of making Philly Cheese Steaks.  These are some of my favorite sandwiches to have fo dinner, sometimes I use what is left in the pan and make french dip, sometimes gravy, but not tonight.  The beef is some of the best I have ever cooked, and the sandwiches turned out amazing!

First I slice the beef as thin as I can

and I tenderized it.

Now I love to make these, but I can’t really get super thin cuts of beef all the time.  sometimes I do and it great, but most times, I have to cut the beef up and throw it in the frying pan.  Today I used about 1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce, and about 1/4 cup of balsamic in with the beef, as well as a chunk of garlic, and maybe 1/8 cup of minced pickled jalapenos.

Next I slice up three rainbow colored bell peppers, and sliced 1 medium/large onion.

After I let the meat cook in the liquid a while, on low with the lid on the pan, I take the meat off of the heat and use the pan to saute the peppers and onions in just a little olive oil.

When those start to get soft, I remove them from the heat as well.

I cut the hoagie rolls like hot dog buns and put a little butter on them.  Then I threw them in the broiler to get nice and toasted up, while I put the serving of one sandwiche’s worth of meat and veggies back into the pan with a little of the meat juices.

I warmed them back up, then put them into a pile and covered them with provolone cheese.

I put a lid on the pan, and just let it melt.

Then the buns are done in the oven, and I carefully scoop the meat and veggies over the top of the bottom of the bun.  It is usually rather messy with all the melted cheese, but I try and sound like I do a nice clean transfer! Then I close the sandwich.

Tonight our side was green beans…but potato chips or french fries would be a wonderful addition.  Potato salad might be good too, or even a nice green salad.