Blissful Bread

Yeah, yeah, we all know I love bread. I mean, I really love bread. Years ago I started baking it -- sandwich bread, French bread, ciabatta bread...one Christmas I made panettone for all my friends and neighbors. I made it by hand until I developed wrist problems. I got a KitchenAid and kept going. Something about bread...the meditative process of kneading, the way it warms my home with its scent and warmth, it exudes goodness. That sounds ridiculous, but I'm not a poet and I can't think of any other way to put it. It makes me feel good -- to make it, to eat it, to gift it.

Eventually various health reasons halted my excessive consumption of bread, and in turn, my production of it.

On my way home from the Oregon coast on Sunday, I stumbled upon a tiny bakery in the town of Philomath. I was with my friend Anita. We stepped in the door thinking we might find lunch, and we were immediately blasted with hot, humid air. But it was just a bakery. I say "just." The minute we walked out I knew I had to go back with my camera.







I've been thinking about this blog post for three days. I've already written way more than I intended -- I'd hoped to capture my feelings in my photos, but I think I was too distracted.

If you're interested to learn more about this bakery and its baker, check out this six-year-old article from The Eugene Weekly:

Rising at Sunrise; Baker Bill Hotchkiss feeds more than the body.

It's the fourth article down on the page. After reading it myself, it explained a lot about the comfortable energy that saturated that kitchen.

Almond Joy Pound Cake

I think one of my favorite parts of baking is the creating. Coming up with combinations and executing them successfully. Not that this idea is so original, but you don't see it very often. My dad's birthday is this weekend. He's a fan of coconut, so I came up with this because it's something I can mail. Next time I'll add more coconut glaze, but otherwise it's perfect.

Now all I can think of is translating candy bars to cakes.

Here are the recipes I used.

Cake recipe is here.

Glaze recipe here. (And what looks like a yummy scone recipe.)

Ganache.

Choppin' Broccoli

I'm so bored of broccoli. I mean, b o r e d. It's available all year round, so it's kind of a staple. A fallback veggie, I guess. Eric started roasting it a few months ago, and that's good. But I found another version of roasted broccoli on Pinterest recently and decided I had to try it. Why? Because it had just five ingredients. If it's not something I'm baking, that's pretty much my basic rule for cooking. (I guess it's a good thing Eric does all the cooking.)

You will need:

• broccoli
• salt/pepper
• olive oil
• lemon
• Parmesan cheese

Cut up some broccoli. The original recipe calls for making sure the broccoli is DRY before adding the oil. I forgot that step. I'll try it next time if I remember. Toss the broccoli with olive oil (I only had canola, so that's what I used), salt, and pepper. Slice a couple heads of garlic, toss them in too.



Bake for about 25 minutes at 425° . When it comes out of the oven, add the zest of a lemon, lemon juice, and some grated Parmesan cheese. I only had cocktail remnants of a couple of lemons, so I maybe used half a lemon. If that. The original recipe called for 1/3 of a cup of cheese. I didn't use that much because I wanted to keep it as healthy as possible.

Toss. Eat.

This stuff was so good I forgot to take a photo, so this is all you get.





The little brown bits? Delicious, crispy garlic! I cooked just two large heads of broccoli, but I should have made at least four. Eric wasn't thrilled with the whole thing, but I LOVED it, and when he goes to Portland next time, I'm going to make a ton of this for myself.

Birthday Redemption

Two years ago I was part of The Daring Kitchen, and the August challenge was Dorbos Torte. It had chocolate and caramel, it was fancy, I thought why not make it for my husband's birthday? Well, it wasn't one of my more successful experiments, and he still teases me about what a lousy birthday cake it was.

So this year I decided no more experiments for his birthday, I'd make his favorite, German Chocolate Cake. (Recipe from The Joy of Cooking.)




Oops. Thankfully I put the cupcakes underneath, otherwise I would have had an enormous mess. (Evidently I packed my cupcake pans already. Wishful thinking, I guess.)

That wasn't the first mishap. For some reason both cakes completely stuck to the pans. I should know better than to to skip the parchment paper when I'm baking a cake with so many egg whites.


I was chatting with my friend Leslie from Curried Cupcakes, and she suggested "Make a trifle!" Brilliant idea!



I looked up some recipes online just to see how others had translated German Chocolate Cake into a trifle, and several of the recipes included pudding as one of the layers. That didn't interest me at all, so I decided to mix the pecan-coconut filling with freshly whipped cream, then layer that with the cake and some toasted coconut and pecans.

I'm pretty sure I've redeemed myself in the birthday cake department. Thanks again, Leslie.

Very Veggie

Eric (my husband/personal chef) has been gone for almost two weeks now, and I've been cooking for myself. Between my aversion to cooking (different than baking!) and my ridiculous work schedule, it's difficult. But I'm managing, mostly by making larger portions and using leftovers for lunch and/or dinner. After the first few days I realized I hadn't had any meat. There are a couple reasons for that. I love my veggies! And I'm not that great at cooking or seasoning meat, so I just avoid it. After a few more days I decided it would be a challenge. No meat for the duration of his time away. Aside from a can of tuna, I've done it, and I'm loving it.

Today for lunch I made an Asian slaw with ginger-peanut dressing. It's got so many of my favorite things -- edamame, ginger, peanuts, cilantro. How could it not be fantastic?

The recipe calls for coleslaw; I used broccoli slaw. I don't dislike cabbage, but green vegetables are better for you than white ones, right? (I have no idea -- it sounds good, right?) I also used almond butter, because that's all I have, unsalted peanuts, and I used seasoned rice vinegar as opposed to unseasoned. I just left out the salt called for in the dressing to make up for it.


It's so good! You could add chicken if you wanted, or shrimp, even tofu. I've got a huuuge bowl left, and I'll be eating out of it for a couple days. I'll be adding this one to the recipe box.

My Love Affair with Graham Crackers Continues

Homemade graham crackers. Honey yogurt.

Freezer.

Goodness.

Just Add Quinoa

Still on my quinoa craze. I've been trying to make a big batch of whatever on Sundays so I have leftovers throughout the week. I didn't get around to it this week, so when we had a bunch of leftover vegetable kabobs from last night, I just added quinoa.

I sauteed some garlic in a pan of hot olive oil, then added the leftover veggies to heat them up, a few handfuls of baby spinach, and then a bunch of quinoa I'd cooked in the morning with chicken broth made from last night's grilled chicken carcass. So it's not exactly vegetarian, but it did have its share of veggies -- zucchini, tomato, onion, green pepper, spinach. Easy, peasy.

Itz Cheezy

I found this on Pinterest a couple nights ago. And I showed Eric. Enough said.


Recipe here. Only he used this:

Adzuki Bean and Yam Hash

I was talking easy vegetarian meals with my friend Jo on the way home from quilt guild meeting one night. I told her about my zucchini-eggplant dish, and she shared her yam hash recipe. I finally made it today, and I have to say, it's really good. Pretty basic:

Chop up a medium onion, saute in hot oil. My onion was big, so I only used half. I should have used the whole thing. Add thyme and cumin.


Chop two yams, in relatively equal-size pieces. Add to the onions.


Stir a bit, then cover and let the yams cook until tender.


Meanwhile, chop up about four or five stalks of kale...


When the yams are cooked to your satisfaction, add the beans. I didn't have adzuki beans (and don't know that I've ever had them at home) so I used black beans...


Then the kale.



The kale will wilt after a few stirs, and when it's all wilted enough and the beans are hot, add pepper and Herbamare to taste.

Now about this Herbamare.

I had the recipe for a week or more and didn't make it because I didn't have Herbamare. (I don't get out much, remember?) We finally made a trip to the co-op and found it.


It was like $6. Eric was tempted to make a smaller quantity of it, but looking at the list of ingredients, there were enough unusual ingredients that the co-op didn't carry, so we just bought the mix.

Ingredients: Sea Salt, organic celery leaves, organic leek, organic cress (water and garden), organic onion, organic chive, organic parsley, organic lovage, organic garlic, organic basil, organic marjoram, organic rosemary, organic thyme, Kelp (with trace iodine)

Anyway...serve it over quinoa or rice (or the grain of your choice), and you're done. And I've got at least two more days of leftovers I can eat for lunch.


I really like it -- it's filling and healthy and tastes great. I don't really have an opinion on the Herbamare yet. I think I'm going to add it to some popcorn soon to give it the real taste test.

Thanks so much, Jo!

Here is her recipe...

Adzuki Bean & Yam Hash

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 medium yams, peeled and diced small
2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 - 1 tsp grd cumin
2 c. cooked adzuki beans
4-5 collard greens, finely chopped
Herbamare and black pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and few dashes of salt. Saute' for a few minutes.

Add yams, thyme, and cumin. Saute' for a few minutes uncovered then cover your pan and cook for about 15-20 min, stirring, occasionally, until yams are tender. Watch carefully so they don't burn. (they will cook quickly if diced into small pieces)

Add adzuki beans and collard greens. Saute' a few minutes more, or until collards are tender. Add Herbamare and pepper to taste.

Serve over brown rice or quinoa.

(I have also used canned black beans if I'm in a hurry, otherwise I cook the dried beans using a pressure cooker which makes it go faster. I also like to put cilantro and avocado on top...really good!)

Cooking for Dummies

When I find a savory dish that I can easily prepare myself, I tend to eat it over, and over, and over again. I discovered this one when Eric was in Portland for the month of March and I was left to cook for myself. I'd just discovered quinoa and wanted some vegetables to go with it, so I used what I had on hand. I really haven't made any adjustments to it, either, I like it that much. (Plus I'm lazy and pretty clueless when it comes to seasoning.)

Start with a zucchini and some eggplant. I generally like to use more eggplant than this, but this is all I had today.

Chop them up into pieces that will cook quickly.

Put them in a pan with a little hot oil. I used olive oil.


I put everything in at once, but I would recommend putting the zucchini in first, because it takes longer to cook. Stir it around every once in a while, and when the zucchini is tender, add some chopped garlic. I used two medium-sized cloves.


Then add some tomatoes. I had some leftover canned tomatoes, so I added those. I've used fresh tomatoes before, and that's even better. (This pic is horribly blurry, but it's all I got, and I didn't want to leave out this visual step.)


Now cover it up for a few minutes to let the tomatoes cook/heat, and to finish off the vegetables.


While that's stewing I heat up the leftover quinoa. If this isn't already prepared, you need to start this first. It takes a good 20-30 minutes. Instead of water, I use vegetable stock for added flavor.

That's it! I had a little Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, so I added it, but it's not really necessary. I also add a little salt. I'm sure there are other herbs that could be added during the saute/simmer process, but as I said, I'm clueless. Experiment. (And please let me know if you have any suggestions!)

And there are even leftovers for tomorrow.


How easy (and healthy!) is that?