Little Caesars Crazy bread at home

I had so much fun this weekend with recipes that I will still be baking and prepping into this week. I had so many great ideas come across my computer that I just couldn't wait. I made homemade chocolate chips. They are tasty but still have some things I need to work out so I'll be sharing that later this week after I try them again to see if I can get them to come out just a little nicer. I made a huge batch of multi-grain bread. I think my flour wasn't the best because it has an odd taste but the bread is nice and light. I'll probably share that recipe tomorrow since the issue is with my flour not the recipe. But the most favorite recipe I made this weekend was a toss up between homemade nilla wafers and the crazy bread. Both were so easy I can't image buying them (okay I'll still buy the crazy bread because it is just that good). I'm not sure this is a 100% perfect replica but the taste was amazing and I couldn't keep my guys out of it. I did make the bread only to discover that we didn't have any cheese - last I knew there was parmesan and feta but they were absent from the fridge when I went about baking so I ended up with cheese less bread but no one minded. We took some to my Dad's and he had parmesan. We added it to the top, only to find it didn't really add anything to the bread. I didn't make any menu notes - not really sure what we ate all weekend since it was a clean out the left-overs sort of weekend. Little Caesars Crazy Bread One recipe pizza dough - I used the flatbread recipe with whole wheat pastry flour 1 stick butter 2 teaspoons garlic powder 1 teaspoon kosher salt (can use 2 teaspoons of garlic salt for all the seasonings). Parmesan cheese Make pizza dough/flatbread on 9x 13 baking sheets as directed all the way through baking. Melt butter and add garlic powder and salt. Brush butter on baked pizza dough. Sprinkle with parmesan. Cut the bread in half the long way and then into 1- 1 1/2 inch strips. Enjoy!

Garlic Soup

The weather here has been rainy all week and I thought it's a good day for soup. This Garlic Soup recipe came out of the WSU Alumni magazine. Cougar Gold cheese is made here at Washington State University and is rather famous in a smallish circle. Our family loves the cheese and many restaurants feature a mac and cheese made with Cougar Gold. It's an unusual sharp cheddar, it's made in tin cans. Maybe next week I will give you a brief history of the cheese. It's a fascinating story. Here you can buy a tin for as little at $15 (for about 2 pounds). I hear there are places in Seattle that sell it for over $50. On special weekends the lines at Ferdinands (the local ice cream/cheese shop on campus) wrap around the block and the cheese actually sells out.
When making this soup, remember that hot soups have a tendency to explode in the blender so don't fill up the pitcher and give it a little air now and again to prevent pressure build up. Also, you can skip the blanching if you peel the garlic by hand (I use a cloth designed to help grip jars to peel when I want whole garlic and do the smash and peel when I want minced)

Garlic Soup
2 heads garlic, separated and unpeeled
5 tb olive oil
5 cups chicken stock
2 teas fresh thyme or 1 teas dry
white pepper
3 egg yolks
grated cougar gold cheese (or other sharp cheddar)
blanch garlic 1 minute, drain and peel. Cook but do not brown in half the oil for 10 minutes. Add stock and seasonings. Simmer 30 minutes. Blend the soup in a blender, carefully. Return to saucepan and heat. Beat egg yolks and gradually add remaining oil. Stir a couple of spoonfuls of soup into eggs . Remove soup from heat and add eggs in a thin stream. Stir well. Sprinkle on cheese and serve.

Carmelized Garlic Chicken

I don't know where I originally found this recipe or how long it sat unnoticed in my recipe file but it quickly became my family's favorite dish. I like it because it's easy - last night I made it with top ramen as a side dish. The chicken was ready before the water was boiling. I do cheat a little and buy chicken stir-fry (thin strips of boneless skinless chicken breast) but it can still be fairly quick if you cut your chicken into strips instead of using whole breasts. I am going to share the recipe as it was originally written (or copied as the case may be) and then the instructions for how I have been doing it.

Caramelized Garlic Chicken
3 teas olive oil
6 cloves garlic, pressed
6 teas brown sugar
6 chicken breasts, halved
oven to 500 degrees. line shallow roasting pan with foil, lightly greased. heat oil in small skillet over med-high heat until hot. add garlic, cook 1-2 minutes or until soft but not brown. remove from heat and add sugar. place chicken in roasting pan, spreading mixture over chicken. bake 10-15 minutes.

The only real ingredient change I have is I use an entire head of garlic. I remove the loose paper and seperate the cloves, attempting to remove the hard bottom. I then smash the cloves with something heavy, such as a full can of veggies. Smashing the cloves makes the cloves easy to peel and removes the need to chop the garlic (or press it). You can cheat completely and buy pre-minced garlic which is what I normally use when I don't have several bulbs of garlic needing to be used.
Heat the oil in a skillet. Add garlic and let cook for a few minutes, taking care not to burn the garlic. Add the chicken pieces (as I previously mentioned I use sliced pieces of chicken). Let fry for a few minutes while stirring frequently. Top with 6 TB brown sugar and cook until the chicken is done and the sugar has liquified.
We have served this over rice and noodles. I think it would be great with anything, including a tortilla. It's not really spicy and it's nicely sweet.