Perfect recipes must comply with these criteria:

• easy
• quick
• 5 ingredients or fewer
• taste good
• look & sound impressive

Here are two of my favorites.

BREAD

• 1 1/4 tsp yeast
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cups lukewarm water
• 2 cups bread flour

Mix. Let rise in loosely covered bowl till doubled. Chill. Before baking, sprinkle with flour, pull out amount needed and shape. Make buns, small loaf, breadsticks, pretzels. Let rise 20 minutes. Bake about 20 minutes at 450F. If you roll some out real flat and bake for 5 minutes or so, it makes pita bread. 🙂 Mix in sugar, fruit and nuts and have sweet bread. Mix in cheese and have…well…cheese bread.

BLENDER MAYONNAISE

• 1 egg
• 1 tsp dry mustard or slightly less
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 Tbs lemon juice or vinegar
• 1 cup salad oil or slightly less
• cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1 tsp sugar (optional)

I don’t use the sugar or cayenne pepper. The original recipe calls for 2 Tbs lemon or vinegar, but that’s too much for me. A whole tsp of mustard is also a teeny bit too mustardy, and we like a touch more salt than the recipe calls for. You can adjust the seasonings to suit yourselves. INSTRUCTIONS: Place 1/4 cup of oil, the egg and the remaining ingredients in blender. Mix on high speed 5 seconds and turn off. Why? I don’t know–that’s what the instructions say. Berat on high speed, adding remaining salad oil in a continuous stream about the thickness of a pencil lead. Turn off blender occasionally and clean sides with rubber scraper. It will be liquid-liquid-liquid-liquid-liquid–MAYONNAISE! It’s the coolest thing ever!

Be sure to use fresh eggs from chickens you trust.

WRITING PROMPT: Write a character with very strong opinions about chickens and/or eggs.

MA