Tag Archives: bread

Due to popular demand…

….  I will start being better about updating the blog with things that are happening once again.  In a timely fashion, rather than months after the fact.

With that said, I may as well do a quick catch-up post to bring us up to date.  So let’s see – since the last time that this was posted – wow.  I just realized I didn’t even do an inauguration post.

January was cool for us, living in DC, and being pumped about Obama.  C&J were very nice to host us at their pad on Pennsylvania Avenue, prime viewing location for just about everything, but especially the parade.  Obama and Biden got out right in front of us and waved right at us, which was the cool – and after that, we (along with Mehul, Liz & Julie) threw our very own Presidential Inaugural Ball.  It was the awesome.  (And three of us were in the exact same dress – thank you to Melanie for letting me borrow her bridesmaid dress from our wedding!)  A slideshow of that is below.

February, already posted about Miami.  Otherwise we were playing volleyball and getting through the cold.  March came, and my mom came down to visit  – we took her out for her first sushi experience and I now have a favorite roll, though I don’t remember what it’s called (blasted chef’s special).  We went to Colorado for the annual Pender gathering at the end of Feb/early March, but it was cool because in addition to Nick’s usual group of high school folks, we also got to hang out with Seth and Dave & Rach.  Oddly enough, our flight back was delayed by 1.5 days due to a snowstorm on the east coast (Denver was like 70 degrees that day).  We got a free flight out of the deal though so we were pretty excited (and honestly, I would have worked from home that day anyway, hate driving in DC when it’s snowing.)  Highlights from the Colorado trip are below.

End of March/early April, thus far, has been very eventful, and I think Nick and I are both looking forward to some ‘down’ time, if that ever really exists – especially with the summer coming.  Cooking wise, made a really good chocolate cheesecake on a pistachio crust covered in chocolate ganache, went all Polish with pierogui && glumpkies, and a bit Irish with corned beef & cabbage and Irish bread & cheese.  YUM.  Nick’s grandpa Rutar recently became very sick, and Nick, Pinot & I made the drive from DC to Nebraska for a last visit with him.  I’d been bugging Nick to drive to Nebraska for a long time, and though I wish it had been under better circumstances, I admit that I did enjoy driving out.  Pinot sort of stressed us out though – we think she was abused by younger children before we got her (rescue dog thing, so we don’t really know), but Derrek, Dalton & Dannika were her first real exposure to kids and that went….well, not as well as we’d hoped.  We’ll have more time to practice when Derrek comes out to visit in May though!  Anyhow, we drove back from NE (with a big old print from Hobby Lobby – aka best store ever – and a mini Heineken kegerator in tow) just in time for the Cherry Blossom Festival.  We checked that out – and the naval observatory open house, booked tickets for Derrek and Louie to come visit for Memorial Day, and then found out out that Nick’s grandpa had passed – he made it to 92 and said that was enough, so earlier this week Nick flew back for the funeral.  We’re in Rochester this weekend to discuss some family matters with my mom and siblings.  Busy week, to say the least.  We’ve also been to a Caps hockey game and the Cavs/Wizards game recently which were both fun.  OH – and my big computer thing – we upgraded to iLife 09, and I recently went though and tagged faces and places of all 21,234 pictures in our album.  Been keeping up with the family tree site too.  Anyhow – a few pictures of recent stuff is below.

So yeah!  If I keep this up, then lots of fun stuff coming up ahead – Easter brunch tomorrow, possible iPhones in our near future, Pinot’s 2nd birthday coming up, heading to Vermont to see K’s derby dames finale this season and possibly a last minute trip for my birthday – and fun fun, Louie & Derrek’s trip out for Memorial day – and that only takes us through May.  :)

Marbled-Chocolate Banana Bread

A thank you for Mehul & Liz for helping out with Pinot & Cashew this weekend – I was excited about the batter of this bread, I think it is going to be quite good!  Recipe below:

Marbled-Chocolate Banana Bread
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Recipe By: Cooking Light, SEPTEMBER 2003
Serving Size: 16
Yield: 1 loaf

Ingredients:

2  cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2  teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1.5 cups mashed ripe banana, about 3 bananas
1/2 cup egg substitute
1/3 cup plain low fat yogurt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350∞.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add banana, egg substitute, and yogurt; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist.

Place chocolate chips in a medium microwave-safe bowl, and microwave at HIGH 1 minute or until almost melted, stirring until smooth. Cool slightly. Add 1 cup batter to chocolate, stirring until well combined. Spoon chocolate batter alternately with plain batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Swirl batters together using a knife. Bake at 350∞ for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Notes:

I used 1 egg instead of the egg substitute.  Used 3.5 smaller bananas, margarine instead of butter, and vanilla low fat yogurt instead of plain.

Nutritional Information:

Per serving (without my substitutions):
CALORIES 183(23% from fat); FAT 4.7g (sat 2.8g,mono 1.4g,poly 0.2g); PROTEIN 3.1g; CHOLESTEROL 8mg; CALCIUM 18mg; SODIUM 180mg; FIBER 1.3g; IRON 1.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 33.4g

Superbowl – Cheddar Cheese Soup & Beer Bread



These two dishes together were my favorites this year. I actually used a bit of Bud Light in both of them, gotta love how there always seems to be some of that left over in the fridge.

Beer Bread
Ingredients
3.5 cups bread flour
¼ cup cooked brown or white rice
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
¾ teaspoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon wheat bran
1.5 teaspoons salt
1 cup strong beer, ale or stout, at room temperature
¼ cup milk or buttermilk, at room temperature

Method:
Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl or the bowl of a heavy duty mixer.
Add the wet ingredients.

Mix by hand or on low speed until the dough comes together, adding additional milk or flour as needed. Knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Transfer to an oiled bowl; turn over once to coat with oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, about 1.5 hours.

Grease a 6 cup loaf pan. Punch dough down, form into a loaf and place seam side down in the pan. cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in volume, about 1.5 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350. Bake until the crust is golden brown and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped, about 45 minutes. Remove from the pan to a rack and cool completely.

Source: Joy of Cooking Calander | (Servings: –)

Cheddar Cheese Soup
Serving ideas: with croutons, finely chopped smoked ham, chopped cooked broccoli.

Ingredients
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup diced onions
1 cup diced celery
¾ cup diced carrots
¼ cup AP flour
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream or half and half
8 ounces cheddar cheese, grated
1 teaspoon dry mustard
hot red pepper sauce, optional
Worcestershire Sauce, optional
salt
ground black pepper

Method
Melt the butter in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onions, celery and carrots and cook until tender but not browned, 5-10 minutes. Sprinkle with the flour and cook for 3-4 minutes more. Slowly whisk in the stock. Bring the soup to a boil, whisking constantly. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until thickened, about 45 minutes. Puree until smooth. Return to the pot, bring to a simmer and stir in the cream, cheddar and dry mustard. Reduce the heat to low and stir until the cheese is melted. (Don’t let the soup boil, if the soup is too hot then the cheese will break down). Optionally, season with the sauces. Add salt & pepper. Can thin soup down with more stock or cream if desired.

Notes
Really good – I used 5 cups of chicken broth, 2 cups of beef broth and about a cup of light beer. Doubled the recipe with the optional sauces – we both thought it was good (and it would be good to dunk crusty bread into!).

Source: Joy of Cooking Calander | (Servings: –)

Sour Cream Maple Bread

Part of the pre-Thanksgiving Sunday dinner menu, I made this without pecans.

Sour Cream-Maple Bread
This bread boasts subtle flavors of butter and sour cream with discreet overtones of maple syrup. A handheld mixer can be used instead of a whisk to blend the butter and syrup, but further mixing is easily done by hand.

Ingredients
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup pure maple syrup
1 cup sour cream
1 egg
½ cup chopped pecans

Method
Preheat an oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour a 1-lb. loaf pan.

In a small bowl, stir and toss together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a bowl, using a whisk, beat the butter until smooth, then slowly add the maple syrup, whisking constantly. Whisk in the sour cream and egg. Stir in the pecans. Add the flour mixture and stir until just blended.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes, then turn the loaf out onto the rack and let cool completely. Makes 1 loaf.

Source: Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Library Series,Muffins & Quick Breads,by John Phillip Carroll (Time-Life Books, 1993). | (Servings: –)

Fall Favorites


Just one of my fall favorites – Pumpkin Chocolate Chip bread :) Yum!