French Bread

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Bread is a personal weakness. I am all for carbs! Especially in the form of bread or pasta. They are probably my two favorite things. French Bread may be time consuming but it well worth the wait. And of course I'm old school and don't use a bread maker, so prepare yourself for some work with your hands.

You first need to mix your lukewarm water with sugar and then sprinkle the yeast over the mixture. Let it sit for about 5 to 10 minutes. It gets a fluffy look on the water. Some people have told me that this isn't important as long as the yeast is dissolved; however, I stand by the importance of this step. Frankly, if you skip this step you risk your bread to raising enough or there being a strong yeast flavor to your bread.

After this step is complete add your remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly. I use a wooden spoon because those suckers are nice and sturdy. 

When your mixture looks like this you must now kneed it. Some people do this on a floured surface, I do it in my bowl because I like to avoid flour everywhere... I have a two year old and she seems to stick her fingers on the cupboard at all my least favorite times.

Add oil to the bowl and cover all sides of the ball. Cover it with a towel and let it raise for 1 hour.

Punch it down and let it raise for another 30 minutes. 

At this point you need to make a rectangle of your bread. Unfortunately this requires the use of the cupboard and a strong hope that you won't have little fingers reaching over the edge. 

You can use a rolling pin but I'm inclined to use my hands to make it a little more even. It is important to get it as rectangular as possible because other wise when you jelly roll it loaf will be a little distorted. 

I cover mine with plastic wrap and let it raise for another 45 minutes to an hour. It gets nice and fluffy! 

I egg wash mine loaf with the whole egg.  There's really no point in wasting part of it. The egg wash will give it a nice firm crust. And then slit it at least 3 times. 

Bake in for 25 minutes on 375. And then enjoy your bread!! 

French Bread Recipe

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Ingredients:

1 cup of warm water (110-120 degrees)

2 tablespoons sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons yeast

2 tablespoons oil

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3 cups of flour

Instructions:

1. In mixing bowl add sugar and water. Stir to dissolve sugar and sprinkle with yeast. Let set 5 to 10 minutes or until foamy.

2. Add the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon.

3. Knead into a ball.

4. Place in greased bowl flipping to cover both sides.

5. Cover and let rise for 1 hour.

6. Punch down and let it rise again...about 30 minutes.

7. Flatten out into a rectangle.

8. "Jelly" roll it up and tuck the ends under pinching gently.

9. Place on greased baking sheet.

10. Cover and let rise for 30-60 minutes.

11. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

12. Brush with egg.

13. Give it a couple swipes with a serrated knife.

14. Bake 25 minutes. 

Crockpot Manicotti

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Manicotti has been a favorite of mine since I was a little kid. Of course admittedly I just love all kinds of pasta. When I discovered the Crockpot Manicotti recipe I was extremely thrilled! Making Manicotti the traditional way can be extremely time consuming and somewhat frustrating trying to get the cheese in the noodle without totally maiming it.

For Crockpot Manicotti you start with all of the same basic ingredients

The original recipe calls for cottage cheese instead of ricotta. Especially since this is being cooked in the crockpot ricotta is a better choice. Generally cooking meals in the crockpot that have a lot of sauce to them if you add a cheese that is also "saucy" it just turns into a mush mess. Also the ingredients listed Bertolli Spaghetti Sauce. I don't like Bertolli, the flavor does nothing for me. I picked Classico because their sauces have good flavor and actual chunks of spices in them. 

Your first step you want to start cooking the ground beef. I like my beef to be completely thawed before I being because then it has a better chance of crumbling nicely. After it's completely cooked, add a jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce, and diced tomatoes. Let it simmer for a while, this is kind of up to you how long is long enough. I like to leave it 10-20 minutes so the meat has a chance to soak up the sauce. 

While it is simmering mix up your cheese filler. I used Ricotta, Mozzarella, and Parmesan. Then add your Italian Spices, salt and pepper. If you get this mixed pretty well in the bowl it should stick to itself enough that it makes it easy to transfer to your storage bag. 

For ease, I just got my cheese mostly mixed up and then put it in the storage bag and squished it around to get my spices completely mixed into the cheese. When you cut the corner of the bag to fill your Manicotti shells make sure not to cut it too wide. It needs to fit into the hole of the noodle. If it's cut right you should have a very easy time doing this: 

You should have enough chees to fill all 14 noodles completely with cheese. I even had a little cheese left over. Before filling your noodles you should pour the second can of spaghetti sauce in the bottom of the crockpot so that as you fill you can lay them in there. 

By the time you are finished with the noddles your meat sauce should have simmered long enough for it to have good flavor. Pour this over the top of your noodles. And cook on high for 2 hours and 15 minutes. 

After put the remaining mozzarella on for about 15 minutes to melt it. 

When it's completely melted you are free to enjoy this fantastic meal!! 

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Recipe 

Ingredients:

Filling:

2 1/4 cups Ricotta Cheese

1 1/4 cups shredded Mozzarella Cheese

1 1/4 cups shredded Parmesan Cheese

2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning

1/4 teaspoon Salt

1/4 teaspoon Pepper

Remaining Ingredients:

1 lb Ground Beef

2 jars Classico Tomato Basil Spaghetti Sauce (or your favorite sauce)

14.5 oz can of Diced Tomatoes

Manicotti Shells

1 cup shredded Mozzarella Cheese 

Instructions:

• Brown the ground beef and add 1 jar of spaghetti sauce and diced tomatoes.
• While meat is simmering, put together your filling by combining all ingredients.
• Place the filling in a gallon bag and snip the corner off.
• Place remaining jar of sauce in the bottom of an oval crockpot. 
• Pipe the filling into the manicotti and place them into the crockpot.
• Cover the filled manicotti with the meat mixture and cook in high for 2 1/2 hours. (Manicotti should be tender when poked with a fork.) 
• Top with Mozzarella when there is 15 minutes left to cook.