Honey Buttermilk Bread

by Jenn Gabriel

Ingredients
1 envelope yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup warm water
pinch of ginger (helps activate the yeast)
2 cups warm buttermilk
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled so that it is warm to the touch but not hot.
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
6 cups white bread flour

Instructions
Mix the ginger, sugar, yeast, and water and set aside for five minutes.
Mix buttermilk, honey, salt, baking soda in with the yeast mixture.
Add three cups of flour and mix until smooth. On an electric mixer it is about 5 minutes on low speed.
Mix in butter until it is totally incorporated into batter.
Now, begin to add the rest of the flour, one cup at a time, keeping mixer on low speed.
When dough pulls from the sides of the bowl remove it from the mixer to a floured surface and knead until elastic and smooth.
Place in greased bowl, turn to grease the top, cover and allow to rise for 1 1/2 hours.
Punch down and form into two loaves. Place in greased loaf pans and grease tops.
Cover, and allow to rise for 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400F. Bake for 30 minutes, covering tops with foil if they brown too fast.
Remove loaves from oven and brush with melted butter.
Allow to cool in pans for 10 minutes.
Turn out and cool completely on a rack. Cover the loaves if you want soft crusts.

Note** I love using a brown sugar glaze when they are still hot for some added sweetness 

Homemade Kentucky Blackberry Cobbler

by Jane Jennings Graves

2 1/2 C Fresh blackberries, washed
1 C Sugar
1 C Flour
2 t Baking powder
1/2 t Salt
1 C Milk
1 Stick of unsalted butter, melted

First you should take care of the blackberry and sugar mixture because it needs to sit for a while. Stir together just the berries and sugar in a large bowl and let it sit out for 25-30 minutes. This will coax out the juices of the blackberries so that they can be sweetened up by the sugar, and we can taste the full spectrum of the fruit–this process is called macerating.

After about 20 minutes, you should turn on the oven to about 375º and start preparing your batter.

Stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and milk with a wooden spoon. Next, stir in the melted butter and hand-mix it until the ingredients are well incorporated and you have few clumps.

Pick out a clean baking dish– a smaller one will do– pour in the batter and smooth it out. You can choose to line it with parchment paper or not, but don’t grease the pan (there is enough butter in there already!). Finally, pour the macerated blackberries on top with all the sugar included and evenly distribute it over the batter.

Bake this promising pan of happiness in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on how golden you prefer it to be. Let it set up for a good 15 minutes so it will hold its shape. It will be bubbling like crazy and quite hot, so be careful!

This hour goes a little like this: you can hear it bubbling through the vent behind the stove, you can smell the buttery dough caramelizing with the sugar, and you can see the dotted crown of blackberries creating that quintessential golden cobbler crust. It is a marvel to have in your oven, let me tell you!

Serve warm or room temperature with warmed cream or fresh whipped cream. You can store this at room temperature with foil over it for 2-3 days, probably longer in the fridge…but it never lasts that long for me!

CHICKEN CABBAGE STIR FRY

Shared by Kathy Quinn Manning

Ingredients
~ 3 chicken breast halves
~1 teaspoon oil of your liking
~3 cups green cabbage, shredded
~1/2 cup diced red bell peppers
~ 1 tablespoon cornstarch
~1⁄2 teaspoon ground ginger
~1 teaspoon garlic powder
~1⁄2 cup water
~Soy sauce to taste
Directions
1. Cut chicken breasts into strips.
2. Heat oil in a frying pan.
3. Add chicken strips and stir fry over medium-high heat, turning constantly until done.
4. Add cabbage and red peppers and sauté 2 minutes until cabbage is crisp-tender.
5. Mix cornstarch and seasonings; add water and soy sauce, and mix until smooth.
6. Stir sauce into chicken/cabbage mixture.
7. Cook until sauce has thickened and chicken is coated, about 1 minute.
8. Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours. If you have any left over that is . . . wink emoticon
(You can add onions and red peppers to taste)