Cranberry Pumpkin Walnut Loaves

Jumping back into Tuesdays with Dorie with this delicious fall flavored mini bread!  You can find the recipe here at Rebecca's site, thank you for hosting, Rebecca!   I love pumpkin baked goods (and anything pumpkin, really) and this was my first pumpkin recipe of the season, now I can't wait to make some more pumpkin goodies.

I used frozen cranberries and raisins, I debated using dried cranberries which I also have in my pantry but went with the frozen ones since I have so many to use up.  They add a delightful juicy burst of tartness when you get a bite with one. I think they bread would have been a little prettier with fresh cranberries, will have to remember that for next time.  I have been baking along with TwD just not posting, so I'm looking forward to the October make up date to share the rest :) Thanks for visiting!

End of Summer Tomato Sandwich

Was it really May when I last posted?!? I'm still here! I guess the summer just got the best of me and I decided to just go with the flow and enjoy every crazy minute of it, which meant no time to blog. Here it is September 1st and for whatever reason I figured I'd put a simple post up and try to get back in the blogosphere... 

This is barely a recipe but it has been one of my go to lunches while picky husband is running the grill. Instead of burgers or hot-dogs, I have a yummy tomato sandwich! I have not always loved tomatoes, infact, I didn't like them at all as a child. Tomato sauce, yes, but not anything with an tomato texture in it, thank goodness my tastebuds have changed over the years and I now thoroughly enjoy the once forsaken tomato.

Here are my musts for a tomato sandwich...

toasted bread (preferably and most often homemade French bread from this recipe)
mayonnaise (not too much, but a little on both slices)
fresh tomatoes (this year I grew Cherokee Purple tomatoes and they made amazing sandwiches!)

I also love to add thin slices/crumbles of goat cheese, it adds that perfect tangy touch!

I hope everyone/anyone who reads this has had a wonderful summer!  I can't wait to get back into the blogging grove and hope to have some yummy recipes to share soon :)

Stuffed French Toast with Blueberry Sauce -- Random Recipe #9

Time for another Random Recipe from my cookbook collection.  This week I let me oldest son (who is 6) pick the book and flip to a recipe, he was excited to help :) He picked Taste of Home 1999 Annual Recipes from the bottom bookshelf. The bottom bookshelf is where I keep most of my annual recipes books, mainly Taste of Home, Southern Living, and Sunset.

I love Taste of Home and have enjoyed reading through the homey recipes for years. The annual recipe books are great because they are supposed to have every recipe from the past years magazines in one compact book. There were a bunch of recipes on the page my son flipped to so I had him close his eyes and point to one, lots of fun for a 6 year old, as I'm sure you can imagine. This is the recipe he landed on, Stuffed French Toast with Berry Sauce. My other two will be taking turns picking our Random Recipes as well in the future :)

French Toast is the least served of the breakfast carb trifecta (French toast, waffles, and pancakes) in our house.  We all love waffles, which are picky husband's favorite, so I make those often. Pancakes are so easy that they are a close second choice.  French toast always sounds good but the recipes are often hit or miss and I don't have a tried and true favorite.  Last month I made this White Milk Bread and ended up making French toast with it that turned out perfectly! I think a lot of it had to do with the dense bread, it doesn't sop up too much liquid and get mushy, and I have since decided this is my definite French Toast Bread recipe and whenever the need for French toast arises in the future, I will be baking this loaf.

Stuffed French Toast with Berry Sauce

adapted from Taste of Home 1999 Annual Recipes

*I followed the recipe when I made this but found out I needed to double the mixture to dip the bread in and also the blueberry topping. I am writing the ingredients as written so you may also need to double the milk/egg/vanilla and the Blueberry Sauce ingredients. Feel free to halve the recipe for four servings since one slice is plenty filling. The original recipes says 4-6 servings but I think it's more like 8.

Filling:

1 package 8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon grated orange peel

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

French toast:

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

8 slices French bread (1 inch thick) I made a loaf this White Milk Bread and it was just enough 

Syrup:

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 and 1/2 cups frozen blueberries

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, orange peel and cinnamon until smooth; set aside.

In a shallow bowl, combine eggs, milk, and vanilla. Cut a pocket in the crust of each slice of bread. Stuff each pocket with 1 - 2 tablespoons filling.  (This is a little tricky.)

Dip both sides of bread in egg mixture and pat down briefly sopping up some of the egg/milk/vanilla mixture. Fry on a greased (I did not grease mine since it's nonstick) hot griddle (I set my temperature to about 345) for 3-4 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.

For syrup (not sure why they are calling it syrup here when in the title it is Berry Sauce...), combine water, maple syrup, sugar, and cornstarch in a sauce pan. (I would make sure to use a little of the water to make a cornstarch slurry before adding it all together so it doesn't get lumpy). Bring to a boil; boil for 2 minutes or until thickened. Reduce heat; add blueberries. Simmer for 5-7 minutes or until berries are tender. Serve over French toast.

~~~

I dusted the French Toasts with powdered sugar, isn't that a must?

Here you can see the cream cheese middle.  Now personally I liked the cream cheese / orange combo but my youngest was not liking it much and I think that was because he was expecting the filling to be sweeter, but it really is more a basic cream cheese flavor and you get your sweetness from the blueberry sauce.  You could add some extra sugar to the filling, which I would probably do if making this for kids again.

The kids mostly enjoyed this, except my youngest not liking the filling. I loved it, especially the lovely blueberry maple sauce. Picky husband does not like blueberries or cream cheese so he did not have any, don't worry, I made him something different.  This was a fun recipe to try that I probably would not have made had it not been our Random Recipe for the week.  There are no photos of this recipe in the book so it kind of gets lost with the other recipes, some of which have photos.  The only little problem I had was the the French toast dipping mixture and the blueberry sauce definitely need to be doubled for this to work.  Now that I've found the perfect French Toast bread I am looking forward to making FT more often :)



Greek Bean Soup and White Milk Bread

I can't believe we are done cooking Tessa Kiros' recipes over at I Heart Cooking Clubs this week!  When we started with Tessa, I honestly hadn't even heard of her, so checked out two of her books from the library -- Apples for Jam and Falling Cloudberries, the only two of her books available in our state library database!  As soon as those were returned I knew I would enjoy her books so bought them all over the past six months. I think my favorite would have to be Food From Many Greek Kitchens since I've always loved Greek food and didn't know too much about it. I also loved Twelve and Apples for Jam, although all her books are gorgeous.

This simple recipe for White Milk Bread (or rolls) is from Apples for Jam...


White Milk Bread


1 cup warm (comfortable to your fingers) milk
One 1/4 ounce package active dry yeast
1 teaspoon honey
3 and 2/3 cups bread flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons butter, melted


Put the milk, yeast, and honey in a small bowl and stir until the honey melts. Leave it for about 10 minutes, or until it begins to froth a bit. Put the flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt into a larger bowl. Add the yeast mixture, the egg, and butter, and mix through well. Knead 10 minutes or so and, if it seems sticky, just hold the bowl firmly and move the dough around with your hand, rather than adding more flour. Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave in a warm, draft free place to rise for 1 and 1 1/2 to 2 hours until it has puffed up well.


Lightly grease a 12 by 4 inch loaf pan and dust it with flour. Punch down the dough to flatten it and shape it into a rough loaf of a size to fit the pan. Cover with a cloth and leave in the warm place for another 45 to 60 minutes, or until it puffs right up in the pan. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375.


Put the pan in the oven and bake for about 25 minutes, or until the top is firm and crusty and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from oven, knock the loaf out of the pan, and cool on a rack in a fly-free zone. This is best sliced warm and spread with butter, but you can keep the loaf for a few days in an airtight container (not a plastic bag) for excellent toast.  Makes one large loaf or about 18 small rolls.

Fasolada -- White Bean Soup

Tessa Kiros -- Food From Many Greek Kitchens

1 pound 2 ounces dried butter (or cannellini, haricot, navy) beans -- I used navy
3 garlic cloves, 1 whole, 2 chopped
1 bay leaf
1 small celery rib
1/2 small onion -- I left this off and used a little onion powder
salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 carrots, peeled, cut into nice chunks
14 ounce can chopped tomatoes
freshly ground black pepper

Below is the fresh vegetable topping which I skipped...
1 and 3/4 ounces red or green onions coarsely chopped
1/2 cup very coarsely chopped Italian parsley
1/4 cup chopped celery leaves
best-quality olive oil, for serving

Cover the beans with plenty of cold water and soak overnight. The next day, drain and rinse them, and put into a pot with cold water to cover. Bring to a boil, skimming off and scum that has formed. Drain and rinse again. Wipe and scum that has collected on the pot, then return the beans to it. Add 8 cups of cold water, the whole garlic clove, bay leaf, celery rib, an the 1/2 onion. Simmer, partly covered, for about an hour, until tender. Larger beans will take longer and need more water. Add salt in the last 10 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a soup pot over medium heat and saute the chopped onion until soft and golden. Add the chopped garlic and carrots and when the garlic smells good, add the tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Swish about 1/2 cup of water in the tomato can and pour into the pot. Put the lit on and simmer for 10 minutes or so. When the beans are ready, pour them and their water in with the tomato sauce. Simmer for 10 minutes, adding a little water if it's too thick. Ladle into bowls and serve with red onion, parsley and celery leaves on top, a drizzle of oil and a grinding of pepper.

~~~

Both the bread and soup were delicious.  My whole family loved the bread and the leftovers made perfect French toast bread. I was a big fan of the soup. The rest of the family thought it was okay, they are their bowl for Saturday lunch but did not want seconds or left overs. Which means that I ate the left overs for about a week myself, but didn't mind one bit.  I had never heard of Fasolada before and when I was looking it up online it was neat to find that it is considered the national soup of Greece, and that it is available in cans there already made! It was nice to use some of my huge bean stockpile and I would make this again but probably a half batch since I was the only real fan.

Since this is the last Tessa Kiros I Heart Cooking Clubs week, I thought I'd share my personal favorite recipes...a lot of these weren't big hits with picky husband or the kids, but I loved them :) Here are my top five in no particular order...

1. Ricotta Gnocchi with Tomato Pesto -- This was my first Tessa recipe, so yummy!

2. Whole Wheat Apple and Pluot Pie -- This was a hit with the kids and I loved using apples we had just picked at the orchard.

3. Winter Squash Pizza Bake -- I was the only one who really liked this but it had such a neat flavor combo that really got me.

4. Greek Almond Halva -- this was another one that only I liked, but it was so yummy, I'm just waiting for an occasion to make another batch! 

5. Tuscan Baked Eggplant -- this was so yummy, I wanted to make batch after batch of this one, a must try for eggplant fans!

I had a great time cooking and baking along with the I Heart Cooking Clubs crew and can't wait to start on our next adventure cooking with Rick Bayless :)

Irish Soda Bread

Today's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is Irish Soda Bread!

Here is my loaf before baking. I've made Irish Soda Bread quite a few times before but I think this was the simplest recipe!

I added 1 cup of raisins. I love caraway seeds in my Irish Soda Bread but the kids and picky husband do not so I left them off of this loaf.

Sorry for the super short post this week but we are having company, and I of course waited until the last minute to make my bread! This bread was absolutely delicious warm with some butter, even picky husband said it was "really good" and that's a big compliment from him :) One of the best Irish Soda Breads I've had!

Focaccia all'olio -- Flat Olive Oil Bread

This delicious bread is my pick for I Heart Cooking Clubs theme of the week, March Mezze Madness. I made this focaccia to use for little roasted veggie sandwiches which were great! I love versatile focaccia and am always up for trying a new recipe. This one is from Tessa Kiros' book, Twelve -- A Tuscan Cookbook...


Focaccia all-olio -- Flat Olive Oil Bread
adapted from Tessa Kiros
makes 1 oven tray of about 12 by 16 inches

1 oz. fresh yeast, I used 2 and 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
1 and 1/4 cups tepid water
a pinch of sugar
1 pound 2 oz bread flour
2 tablespoons olive oil plus extra for drizzling

I also added 1 teaspoon of Italian herb seasoning, the recipe preface says you can scatter fresh rosemary or other fresh herbs on top before baking, but I just added them in to the dough

Put the yeast into a bowl with the water and the pinch of sugar and leave it to activate.

Put the flour and the 1 teaspoon of salt into a large, wide bowl or onto a work surface. Add the yeast to the flour and mix in with a fork to incorporate. Add the 2 tablespoons of olive oil and begin kneading with your hands for about 10 minutes until you have a compact, smooth dough. Add a little more flour or water if necessary. Alternatively, make the dough in a mixer using a dough hook. Confession, I kneaded this in the bread machine on dough cycle.

Put the dough into a bowl, cover with a cloth, and leave to rise in a warm place for about 1 and 1/2 hours or until it has doubled in size.

Spread the dough with your fingertips into a lightly oiled oven tray. Drizzle the surface with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.


Cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place for another 30 to 60 minutes, or until it has risen. I only waited 30 minutes but think it would have been better if I had waited 60.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400. Bake the focaccia in the hot oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until the top is golden and crusty. Cut into serving pieces and serve warm.

~~~

This focaccia had a great flavor and texture. My kids are big focaccia fans and it seems like I was making every other day last summer for all of the neighborhood kids :) My usual recipe yields a thicker focaccia but this one ended up being just perfect for sandwiches and was easy to slice in half. Sometimes sandwiches are too bready and with this thin focaccia that was never a problem. My kids and picky husband loved this one and it got gobbled up quickly.

Nutella Tartine

Time for French Fridays with Dorie! This week I learned something new, a tartine is a French open faced sandwich. I had no idea really, I thought it was some sort of dessert between a torte and a tart or something. Now I know. I love learning new things, always on that quest for knowledge, 'ya know? ;)

I also learned that this...

loaf of freshly baked by me brioche

PLUS

butter, nutella, sea salt (I currently have no Fleur de sel), and plain ole Smuckers Sweet Orange Marmalade (I have no bitter orange marmalade and couldn't find any)

EQUALS


DELICIOUS

and just to switch things up a touch, I made one with Strawberry Peach Champagne Jam, a special one for mommy...

These were happily gobbled up, after I cut them into fourths, the first quarter was gobbled up inside...

(Above is my sweet Kindergartner who was sent home from school early after sustaining a classroom fall, ouch! My poor baby with a goose egg on his forehead. )

and the remaining three quarters were delivered to the back yard, where the kids requested their after school snack while enjoying this unusually warm and sunny February day.

The end :)

Basic White Loaves

I am so excited to be posting our very first Tuesdays with Dorie recipe from our newest baking adventure guidebook, Baking with Julia! Being a part Tuesdays with Dorie during Baking From My Home To Yours was such a fun journey and I just loved it.

This week we tackled Craig Kominiak's recipe for White Loaves, from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan. I had never heard of Craig Kominiak and apparently he got his start as a chef by cooking for the Navy, after five years of cooking three meals a day for 200 sailors, he enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America and has since become a famous baker at Ecce Panis artisan bakery.

The recipe makes two loaves, one loaf I kept traditional -- the above photo is it before rising.

And the second half of the dough I decided to have a little fun with and make a cinnamon sugar swirl, which according to the TWD website, a lot of people were incorporating into their loaves.

But I didn't just make another loaf, nah, I decided to have a go at a heart shaped swirl bread. I love making shaped breads, so fun to get creative with the dough and hope that your "art" comes out of the oven as you'd imagined while preparing it.

Why a heart? Is it because Valentine's Day is right around the corner? Nope! It is because today is our 9th wedding anniversary :) Yep, nine years with picky husband, and we've had so much fun. He loves bread and I am happy to make it often, add a cinnamon sugar swirl and he is one happy camper.

Drizzle on some icing (powdered sugar and skim milk) and you will have a breakfast treat sure to become a new favorite.

Both breads were a hit with the whole family, the plain loaf was great for sandwiches and toast, and the cinnamon swirl bread didn't even need butter.


I twisted the swirl so it made a few different swirl shapes as you sliced through the loaf. Some parts even looked like a cinnamon roll...

This bread was a hit with the whole family. Below is a photo of my youngest taste tester completely enjoying his slice after a messy morning art session (confirmed the marker on his hands). I am happy to say that this first Tuesdays with Dorie -- Baking with Julia recipe was a huge success and I can't wait to try our next selection, Chocolate Truffle Tartlets, they sound delicious!

Gorgonzola and Honey Bruschetta

Time for a new season of I Heart Cooking Clubs, we are done cooking with Mark Bittman and are now cooking recipes by Giada De Laurentiis! The theme for our first week is Party Foods and I decided to make Giada's Bruschetta with Gorgonzola Cheese and Honey. Don't those sound like fun little party appetizers?

I decided to make my own bread for these bruschetta. I used this recipe for French Baguettes. It was pretty simple and gave me an excuse to use my new Baguette Pan...


The baguettes turned out to be delicious, albeit a little thinner than I was expecting, now I will know to add more dough per baguette.

Bruschetta with Gorgonzola Cheese and Honey
Giada De Laurentiis

36 slices (1/2-inch thick) baguette bread, about 1 loaf -- I cut mine about 3/4 inch thick
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
8 ounces Gorgonzola, sliced
3 tablespoons honey


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Arrange the sliced baguette on a baking sheet. Brush with olive oil. Bake until the bread is pale golden and crisp, about 10 minutes. -- Mine were just about right at 5 minutes, I still like them a little chewy and not 100% crispy.


Arrange the cheese on the toasts and bake until the cheese is melted, about 3 minutes.


Drizzle the toasts with honey. Place on a serving platter and serve immediately.


These were a delicious and super easy appetizer! I'm accustomed to bruschetta being topped with tomatoes and basil and maybe some mozzarella cubes, so this was a nice new take on a classic appetizer. I would make these again for sure, the gorgonzola and honey are a very nice combo, and on top of fresh bread you can't lose. I'm really looking forward to cooking with IHCC this season and using some of my Giada cookbooks and her recipes on Food Network, she always has something new to try :)