Tag Archives: bread

August 23, 2012 · 5:51 pm

Avocado and Goat Cheese Open-Face Sandwiches

I love days like today.  Days when my little guy sleeps past 6:30 (ok, barely, but every minute counts). Days when I had the foresight to do the dinner dishes last night, and wake up to clean reasonably tidy kitchen. Days when I can spend the morning strolling around the farmers market while the baby stares bright-eyed at all the colorful produce and “big” kids running around, nary a peep coming from those slobbery little lips of his.  Days when the afternoon is full of possibilities, none of which involve laundry (or maybe only a little laundry).

Today is one of those end of summer days that make me regret all the nasty things I said about this summer being too hot and dry and not conducive to growing a vegetable garden.  Finding this big ‘ole bushel of tomatoes at the farmers’ market takes some of the sting out of the fact that my garden has yielded exactly ZERO tomatoes thus far. Continue reading →

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August 21, 2012 · 12:03 pm

Browned Butter Banana Bread with Blueberries

Browned butter banana bread with blueberries? I know what you’re thinking: Someone has been reading too much Dr. Seuss.  And you may be right, I have.  But, if loving alliteration (and browned butter) is wrong, then I don’t want to be right.

I’ve made my share of banana bread in my day, so much so that I took a break for a while, until I came up with these beauties, then I went through a phase with those, and then needed a break again.  And now, banana bread’s time has come again, and I must say, I think this might just be it’s best incarnation yet. Continue reading →

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January 8, 2012 · 1:50 pm

No-Knead Bread

So, how’s everyone doing with their New Year’s resolutions?  While I sincerely wish you all the best in your endeavours, I can’t say I commiserate.  I’ve resolved to no longer make New Year’s resolutions.  Because really, things that seem like such a great idea at the beginning of January rarely seem like such great ideas by the end of January.  Heck, let’s get real- they don’t seem like such great ideas by the end of the week. 

And you know what, I’m feeling pretty good about my decision.  Because here I am, a full week into 2012, and I’m not feeling guilty about not following through with some crazy resolution.  I highly recommend it.  But all this not feeling guilty got me to thinking about last year’s resolution.  At the beginning of last year, I decided I would become the kind of person who bakes homemade bread instead of buying it from the store.  I came up with this plan that once every week or so, I’d whip up a double batch of dough (I told myself no big deal, I have a nice big stand mixer…), bake a few loaves, then keep one loaf out for the week and put one in the freezer.  Not only would I always have nice fresh bread, save some money, and avoid those nasty air-filled grocery store loaves, but I could also say the sentence, “Oh, I never buy store-bought bread; I make my own.”

I will give you a moment to stop laughing hysterically at the ridiculousness of this. Continue reading →

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November 20, 2011 · 3:40 pm

Pumpkin Stuffed with Everything Good

Now, I know that I’ve been quite the delinquent lately.  For this, I apologize.  But you didn’t think I’d let the week before Thanksgiving go by without so much as a peep, did you?  There are too many fabulous food-related things to talk about this week, too many recipes that would be just perfect to contribute to Thanksgiving dinner this year, too many opportunities to indulge in fantasies having to do with things like maple-flavored whipped cream and deep-fried turkey and cinnamon-laced something-or-other.

I don’t know about you, but Thanksgiving at our house always consists of the exact same dishes.  Same turkey.  Same stuffing. Same vegetables.  This is in no way a bad thing.  In fact, that’s kind of how I like my Thanksgiving dinner. These are dishes that have been honed over the past 25 years, until they are now at the point where they are about as perfect as can be.  I don’t want to imagine a Thanksgiving without my dad’s broccoli cheese rice casserole, or my grandma’s cranberry relish.  Thanksgiving would be somehow less Thanksgiving-y without them. Continue reading →

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September 12, 2011 · 6:29 pm

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

So, I promised you a few days ago that I’d share the recipe that keeps me from getting sick of zucchini at times when my garden seems to be spitting it out faster than I can handle. Without further ado, here it is… Chocolate Zucchini Bread.

I got this recipe last year from my mother-in-law, after I subjected her to my complaints about the abundance of zucchini coming from my garden. When she first told me she had this recipe, she said something to the effect of, “I used to make this for the kids all the time, because it got them to eat zucchini and it just tastes like chocolate cake.” I was skeptical that anyone could pass off zucchini bread as chocolate cake, but figured even getting close would be worth giving it a try. Continue reading →

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