Soft pretzel sticks

Growing up we always called these "hot pretzels", I've been told that no one else says that. Just like no one else calls nachos "chips and cheese". Whatever, soft (hot) pretzels are delicious and relatively easy, although they do require a few steps and a bit of time. These are delicious served with cheese sauce or this mustard (or this mustard!).

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/2 cup warm water
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt
4 1/2 cups flour
10 cups water
1/2 cup baking soda
coarse salt for sprinkling on top

Directions:

Combine butter, water, yeast, and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixture. Stir things together and allow it to sit until it becomes nice and bubbly and the yeast has dissolved into the water. Then add salt and flour and mix with a dough hook for 3-5 minutes on medium-low until the dough is smooth, elastic, and forms a ball that pulls away from the side of the bowl. Knead it for a few times by hand and then place back in your bowl. Cover with a towel and allow it to rise for 1 - 1.5 hours until it doubles in size. After it has risen, preheat oven to 425 and bring 10 cups water and baking soda to a boil in a large pot. Cut dough in six pieces and roll each into a log with your hands that is about 1/2 an inch thick. Cut into sticks that are about 3-4 inches in length (or however big you want them, but just remember that they will puff up). Roll out all the dough, then drop four pieces at a time into the boiling water. Boil for 30 seconds, then place on a cookie sheet lined with foil and sprayed with non-stick spray. Sprinkle the boiled dough with coarse salt and repeat with dough until your cookie sheet is full. Bake for 13-16 minutes, or until nicely browned. Cool pretzels on a cooling rack and continue with the rest of your dough.

Blueberry muffins

Muffins are a great breakfast food or snack and the best part about them is that they freeze really well, which means that you can make a batch and then have them whenever you want. I like my blueberry muffins with a bit of lemon, but if you don't then just leave it out.

Ingredients:

1 stick butter (room temp)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries
1/4 cup sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Mix in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Stir in half the flour, all the salt, and baking powder and mix. Add in the buttermilk and the rest of the flour and stir until mostly smooth. Fold in the blueberries. Fill muffin pans with liners and spray with non-stick spray. Fill muffin cups most of the way full with batter (they will look really full, thats ok!). Top with a sprinkling of sugar. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool for a few minutes in the pan, then transfer the muffins to a cooling rack.

No knead bread (by Mark Bittman/Jim Lahey)

Ok, Jim Lahey is a genius. He came up with this recipe and then shared it with Mark Bittman, who then published it in the New York Times. This might be the best thing the Times has ever published, and that is saying a lot coming from me. I (obviously) did not invent this recipe myself, but I think everyone should try making it at least once. I will also be posting (in the future) variations of this bread and recipes that call for this bread as one of the ingredients, so I thought I'd include it here as well. It really is as easy as everyone says it is, except for my dad who has an inexplicable amount of trouble with it.

Ingredients:

3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cup water

Directions:

In a large plastic bowl combine all the ingredients and mix it all up. The dough should be what Mark calls "shaggy" but I have no clue what that means so I took it to mean "wet-ish". It definitely should be a little loose. If you add the 1 3/4 cup water and it looks dry for some reason go ahead and add more, but don't use more than 2 cups. Cover the bowl with saran wrap and keep it on your counter at room temperature for about a day (at least 18 hours). After you've let it rise for 18-24 hours, sprinkle a good handful of flour on your counter top and pour the dough on top. Fold your dough over on itself a few times until you can shape it into a rough ball. Cover it with a clean towel. Let it rest for an hour. After an hour, place an enameled cast iron dutch oven (one with a lid) in the oven and preheat to 450 degrees. Let the dough rest for another hour while the pan heats up in the oven. After the hour is up, transfer the dough into the pan, cover it, and bake for 30 minutes, then uncover and cook for an additional 15.

That's it. Homemade, crusty, delicious bread.

Buttermilk drop biscuits

I did not originally come up with this recipe, and honestly, I have no idea who did or where I found it. I've been making these biscuits for so long that I've pretty much memorized the amounts but I can't take credit for them at all. These bake up fluffy but still nice and crunchy on the outside, which is exactly how I want my biscuits. The recipe below makes about 5 biscuits but if you're making these for more than 2 people you'll want to double the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons shortening
1/2 cup buttermilk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together in a medium bowl. Add shortening and mix together with your hands until things come together in crumbles, it should be dry and almost sandy. Gently stir in the buttermilk until just combined. Loosely form into balls, but don't make them smooth. The spikier the better. The spikes brown up and get all crunchy and delicious. Bake for 13-15 minutes.