I Ate This ~ Artichoke Tomato Soup & Homemade Bread

It appears the Yeas have it, and the quiet Nays will have to suffer through some recipes and pictures of food.

I will admit up front, though, that while sometimes I try for the artsy fartsy nice picture of the food (like yesterday's salad, I was pleased with that) some days I'm just going to have lame pictures of food on my (often crumby) table, sparkly lime tablecloth and all. Maybe someday I'll be a fancy food photographer, but for now it's usually about getting dinner on the table to feed the crew.

This is last night's dinner. Tomato-Artichoke soup and garlicky whole-wheat bread.

One caveat to the recipes: We're trying to reduce sodium intake. I'm still in the process of using up some higher sodium ingredients, but trying not to add a lot of salty bullion or whatever to the things I make. Everything I've read says your tastes adjust in less than a week. So if you try them and find them bland, put your salt shaker on the table and salt to taste. Really! It's okay if you start with a low-sodium *base* food, to use salt at the table. Studies have shown that people use less sodium that way (adding it to taste) than if it's in the recipes/ingredients to begin with. Apparently it loses some of it's perceived flavor when it's mixed in rather than on the surface to contact the tongue.

Back to the recipes:

Tomato-Artichoke Soup

1 can petite diced tomatoes with sweet onions (note: this is not a low-sodium ingredient)
1 can + water
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 T. minced garlic
dried basil to taste (1/2 T, maybe?)
dried oregano to taste (1 tsp, perhaps?)
~1/2 T. Hauser Vegetable Broth (this is an all vegetable, no added sodium broth powder, scroll down to the bottom on the link to see it)
1 cup Rotelle pasta

Simmer the first ingredients together while making the bread. Add the pasta about 10 minutes before serving. You may need to add more water. In retrospect, I would've done this with a smaller pasta. Also, health wise, whole grain pasta would be a better choice. But ... we don't do whole wheat pasta here, at this time.

Garlicky Whole Wheat Bread

This is a variation on my favorite homemade whole wheat bread recipe.

Modified from Nita's Handmade 100% Whole Wheat Bread (2 loaves)
Original Recipe By Nita Crabb, Real Food Digest

2 cups water -- 110 degrees
2 Tablespoon yeast - this was doubled from 1 T. for speed-rising. I use SAF Instant yeast.
2 Tablespoons honey (just a glop to feed the yeast)
3 cups whole wheat flour - I am currently not grinding my own (gasp!) but using King Arthur White Whole Wheat.
~ 2 T. additional honey
1 Tablespoon flax seed, ground (added to original recipe in place of oil)
250-500 mg Vitamin C* tablet, crushed (sugar free, optional)
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons vital wheat gluten
1-2 cups additional whole wheat flour
2 Tablespoons minced garlic
~ 1 Tablespoon dried basil
~ 1/2 Tablespoon dried oregano

additional whole wheat flour for kneading, if necessary

For Kitchen Aid: In 6-quart Kitchen Aid bowl, dissolve yeast in water; stir in 2 tablespoons honey and 3 cups flour and let "sponge" while putting together remaining ingredients. Add additional honey, ground flax, and garlic to the sponge. Mix in a separate bowl the salt, gluten, spices, and 1 cup flour. Add to mixer and mix on "2" until well combined. Add additional flour by 1/2-cupfuls, until dough cleans the sides of the bowl and holds together in a mass. Let machine knead for 6-8 minutes.

Remove dough two lightly greased round cake pans. Let sit in a warm place (I use my oven at 150 degrees) for ~20 minutes. You can spritz them lightly with water to prevent the tops from drying out. Leave in oven and turn temp up to 350, bake 20-25 minutes. Cover with a dishtowel while hot to prevent crusts from getting hard.

For making by hand: Mix as above. Turn out onto lightly-greased counter and knead, adding flour a little at a time, until dough cleans the counter and holds together well, but is still sticking to hands and between fingers. Knead for at least 10 minutes, scraping fingers and rubbing hands together often to remove excess dough. Dough should be sticky, but not unmanageable. You should "feel" the dough change and become smooth and elastic when the gluten is well-developed. Follow remaining directions above.

Makes two 8” round loaves.

*The Vitamin C is an optional dough enhancer, which can help yield a better rise. It seems to help my bread. You can buy fancy bread-specific stuff, but crushing up the kind that's sold to be non-chewable vitamins works fine, too!