Cranberry Meatballs, Focaccia Bread, and Lentils, Oh MY!

This weekend was tons of fun. Of course, nothing really went as planned, but that's part of what makes a good time just that. We didn't get to try the Crepes, because after visiting the Botanical Garden Festival on Saturday morning, it was still packed come lunchtime - so I imagine they're pretty delicious if folks are willing to wait over an hour for them! We also planned on visiting Bella Vista Ranch in Wimberly, but the highway we needed to take in order to get there was closed. Despite the rain and fluctuating temperature, we still had a good time. It just so happens that on our way to Wimberly we found a really fun country pecan store, where Jose bought some tasty cinnamon covered pecans. I later made a purchase at a nearby antique store, where I found a few old cookbooks from the 50s that I happily adopted. Awhile back, I decided on starting a collection of dusty, yellow paged cookbooks with fun pictures from simpler times when Jell-o and 7 up were the featured ingredients in too many recipes. Though I need to begin sorting through my stuff some time before making the move to Boston, so that I don't pack dustbunny infested nicknacks that haven't seen the sun in years, I can't resist the desire to collect old cookbooks. This time I actually have a good excuse for not putting an end to my silly over-amassment tendencies: cookbooks are actually useful, unlike beanie babies or snow globes or too many Christmas stuffed animals...you get the idea - I have too much stuff :).

But can one ever have too much food? Of course, unhealthy gluttony isn't what I'm talking about, but Jose and I get a certain sense of comfort staring at a fully stocked pantry or refrigerator...oh the possibilities; soooo many things to cook, and too little time! I love walking into a home with the smell of something fabulous simmering on the stove, but it's more fun when you're actually the one making the food! These past couple of weekends I've been a bit more experimental with my cooking than usual. Last weekend I made some lentil soup, using a Key Ingredient recipe for inspiration, since I didn't have the ingredients I normally use to make this hearty meal. This past weekend I made an interesting meatball dish; I used cranberry stuffing to make the meatballs instead of breadcrumbs, and it actually came out quite tasty, despite the fact that it doesn't sound like a mouthwatering combination. There is one small problem, I didn't measure! Sometimes measuring takes the fun away from the experience, plus, it kind of ruins the moment for me...yes, sometimes my habit of not measuring is a bad thing, especially when my taste buds cry out from the occasional salty meal overdose, but it's all a learning experience, and it's always fun!

So here's what went into that meatball dish:
First, I cooked up some colorful veggies; I basically emptied out my veggie drawer:
1 medium sized red bell pepper, chopped
2 medium sized carrots, diced
1 small can black olives
about 1 1/2 cups broccoli
2 small roma tomatoes, chopped
1 small sweet onion, finely chopped

I sauteed these ingredients in olive oil and 1 or 2 tsp of lemon. I added a few spices, along with the expected pinches of salt and pepper. I left the veggies slightly crisp when I removed them from the stove.

The meatballs
1 1lb ground turkey
1 egg
Whole Foods Cranberry Stuffing - I used about a cup (this is great to have on-hand for lazy days! Plus it's delicious and preservative-free)
a bit of onion powder
black pepper
1 tbsp honey (strange ingredient, but it balances out the sourness of the cranberries)

This is what I added to the meatballs when they were almost fully cooked:
about 1/4 cup white cooking wine
1 small can tomato sauce
basil
paprika
parsley
garlic salt
pinch of sugar
red pepper sprinkles

While the meatballs cooked in a few tablespoons of olive oil, I boiled some pasta, adding a tablespoon of butter or two to the noodles after straining them (I used half a regular-sized bag of pasta [hmm...that's vague! But if you make too much, you can always eat the extra pasta with a sprinkle of Parmesan and it'll taste great]). After the meatballs cooked, I added the wine and sauce; I then allowed them to simmer with the wet ingredients and spices until they were fully cooked. The last part is fun and easy: mix everything together and EAT!

If you want to make some focaccia bread and you have a breadmaker, it's easy as pie! I used a basic pizza dough recipe for a breadmaker, I added more olive oil and some savory spices, like rosemary, basil, and an Italian seasoning blend. Be sure to add some garlic salt if you want something that resembles hearty garlic bread. When the breadmaker's finished doing it's magic, just remove the dough, shape it into a square, add some butter, garlic salt, paprika, pepper, cheese, and tomato slivers right on top - I used my fingers but you can use a brush :). Then you can bake it on a cookie sheet for about 20 minutes on 375! Sheesh, didn't measure here either; I got lucky with the focaccia. This was the first time I made it and I think I was a bit too liberal with my "recipe" experiment, considering my inexperience with the carby treat. It was a success, but I did find it needed a bit more salt after the first bite.

Now it's...LENTIL TIME! I didn't have all the ingredients I needed to make my grandma's recipe this last time I made lentils. Normally I'd add spinach and potatoes like she does, but with the KI recipe that I spiced up a little, I added peas and tomato paste instead. It actually came out sweet, so if you don't like the earthy taste of lentils, adding a can of tomato paste to your simmering soup will give it a different taste that you'll probably like - I think the peas contributed to the sweetness as well. Below you'll find my "cloned" Key Ingredient recipe (meaning, I didn't follow the recipe to the T because I added and took away a few of the ingredients/instructions - isn't that a cool term? We actually use it on the KI site!)

Ok...so this was an incredibly long post! I'll end this entry with a question: What is the best soup you've ever had? Come this Fall, we'll be in Boston, so I need to start collecting quite a few soup recipes for the many cold days ahead of us - at least I don't have to worry about packing those :)!

JJ's Gluten-Free Blueberry Pie

Now, I know in the last entry I mentioned that my next post would include a lentil soup recipe...and last time you checked, blueberries don't go in lentil soup ;), but I also promised my friend JJ that I'd bake her a gluten-free pie! It just so happens that I was able to gather all the ingredients yesterday, so I was finally able to bake that pie earlier this evening. I was a little worried that I'd end up with a disaster instead of a pie because, not only have I never used gluten-free flour before, but I've also only baked one other pie, period...yep, just one. Well, thanks to the Gluten-Free Pantry's Perfect Pie Crust Mix, this second pie was a success!

It might seem a little strange that I used a mix, instead of preparing my own gluten-free flour blend, but it wasn't because I didn't want to...believe me, I did my homework, even the research, and compared a few gluten-free pie crust recipes with a smile on my face; it was nice to actually come across a somewhat decent selection after scouring the web top to bottom for them. Here's the catch, the recipes called for things like sorghum flour, AND potato starch, AND tapioca flour, among other really neat sounding ingredients that I've never seen on the shelves in the baking aisle of my puny, everyday grocery store. So I went to Whole Foods, and even Central Market (a really cool gourmet-type market you should check out if you're ever in TX) and was happy to discover that they carried these fun ingredients...but if I wanted to make a yummy tasting gluten-free flour blend, I'd need to purchase a wide variety of flours and interesting thickening agents. So to save some money, and we all need to do that these days, I opted for the Gluten-Free Pantry's mix! I liked that it didn't have any nasty fillers or gross, fake ingredients!

All in all, I was happy with the results. I was a bit weirded out by the fact that Ms. Hillson (the professional chef who came up with this mix) expected this pie mix to make 2 double-crust 8" pies, considering how difficult it was to get the dough to roll out in one piece. This might seem a bit strange, and keep in mind I've never used gluten free flour, but I chose to use the whole mix for my 1 double-crust blueberry pie. I did use a 9" pie pan, and I later realized that I probably could've gotten away with using less dough for the top layer, since it was a bit thick. The pie was mighty delicious, I really didn't miss the all-purpose flour I normally use, at least when I took the first bite. But I did have some minor issues when I was trying to cut the perfect slice of pie for my picture...my poor little pie now looks like it's been attacked by some very hungry mice; I had to cut 4 slices before I could get one that actually kept its shape. But part of what makes this gluten-free flour so different is that it doesn't have the very ingredient that makes dough elastic. Gluten provides elasticity and "togetherness" in dough, so that's why this dough is crumblier/more powdery in texture than you might expect if you're new to gluten-free baking. Crumbliness aside, this pie mix worked great, and it yields a very flavorful pie that anyone could love!

Here's what I used to flavor the blueberries:
1 16 oz bag of frozen blueberries
1/2 TBSP cinnamon
1/2 cup white sugar
4 TBSP butter
3 TBSP rice flour

I defrosted the blueberries by soaking them in some warm water, I did end up having a bit of water leftover in the bowl after straining them (about 1/4 cup) but I just used that to make a kind of sauce for the blueberries - adding the cinnamon, sugar, and rice flour for flavor and texture. My husband said the pie wasn't too sweet, it didn't have an artificial blueberry taste. If you have a pretty big sweet tooth, I suggest adding 1 cup of sugar instead of 1/2. (Oh and here's another tip: instead of using flour to roll-out the dough, just use plastic wrap. In this case, it actually worked better because it helped the crumbly dough stay together when I placed it in the pie pan. I picked this tip up from the show I mention below - Throwdown :)

Also, as far as the mix goes, I didn't add the 10 oz of butter and shortening. Instead, I added 8 oz of butter, 8 oz of vegan shortening (it's not hydrogenated, so, in my opinion, it's easier on the gut for those who have issues with hydrogenated oils, like me!) and 1 TBSP canola oil (Jose asked me to try to give the recipe a minor healthy make-over). I even added a bit more sugar and a few sprinkles of cinnamon in the dough for flavor, I think next time I might add some grated lemon peel...this mix is nice because you can be creative with it!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I'll post again before it's over. I'm going to a really cool edible book festival tomorrow - it should be fun! Jose and I will also be taking our first trip to Flip Happy Crepes, where we'll get to try the delicious crepes that went up against and defeated Bobby Flay's at his Throwdown not too long ago!

Honey Glazed Porkchops with Veggies in a Marsala Wine Reduction

Part of the reason why it's taken me so long to post the recipe for these pork chops/veggies is this: I haven't been able to come up with a short enough title that accurately captures the tasty ingredients I used to make the dish! I know it seems silly, why should I have to mention all of them? Well, it's a loaded dish with a variety of savory flavors which combine to create something that can't be summed up in a few words. The cranberries add a tartness that's balanced out by the sweetness of the honey-grape juice reduction...that's complemented by the marsala wine and parsley covered pork chops...that are covered in sweet, diced carrots and sauteed onions...that melt in your mouth while you're wondering if it's ok to keep eating such an illegally rich yet healthy dish. Well, it's more than OK! With only 2 tbsp of butter to thicken the light glaze-like sauce covering the pork chops, and a bit of extra virgin olive oil for flavor, these pork chops are lean! You know you're safe with the carrots, onions, and cranberries; even if you're not an onion fan, you will probably like how lightly candied they taste in this dish. The sourness of the cranberries is also softened against the natural sweetness of the carrots.

I initially planned on posting this recipe before Easter. I thought it'd be a fun alternative to the usual glazed ham dinner, but this year we (my husband and I) had a vegetarian Easter feast. It might seem a odd that we ate lentils and homemade veggie pizza for Easter, but who knew that such simple comfort foods can be really delicious and colorful when made with the right ingredients? Take lentils, they're not very pretty, and they have a very rich earthy taste (that I've personally loved for years) but with a little tomato sauce, spinach, and a few finely diced veggies, they can light up even the most boring, plastic bowl. Vegetables have the ability to add beauty to whatever dish they become a part of, just look at that pork chop picture. A couple of meat slabs on a plate wouldn't look very appealing to me, but those bright and orangey carrots bring the picture to life! It's nice to know that the most naturally beautiful foods, veggies and fruits, are actually the healthiest :). I'll post the lentil recipe next!

4 large pork chops
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp thyme
salt and pepper
1/4 cup marsala wine
1/8 cup honey
1/8 cup grape juice
1/8 cup water
1/2 cup sliced sweet onion
2 carrots, chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 1/2 TBSP flour
3 TBSP Olive Oil
2 TBSP butter
1/8 tsp lemon juice

First I drizzled the olive oil in a large all-purpose pan. Then I sprinkled salt, pepper, parsley, and thyme on both sides of the pork chops. I lightly browned the pork chops on both sides, then added the carrots and onions on top of the pork chops, along with the marsala wine. I let these ingredients cook over a low-medium flame until the carrots were soft - about 30 minutes (by this time, the pork chops should also be cooked). While the pork chops/veggies cooked, I put the cranberries into a warm cup of water and let them soak for about 5 minutes, until they rehydrated. I then strained the cranberries and added them to the pork chop/veggie mix in the pan. I let them simmer for a few minutes more. After this, I removed the pork chops from the pan with a fork and added the grape juice, lemon juice, honey, water, and butter. I stirred these ingredients together then removed the veggies/cranberries. I then added the flour, to thicken the sauce, and then put the pork chops back in the pan. I raised the flame to a medium-high setting and let the sauce become a glaze for the pork chops, turning the pork chops over so that both sides were equally covered in the thickened glaze. Finally, I put the flame on a low setting and added the veggies/cranberries back into the pan with the pork chops. After I let all these ingredients rest in the covered pan for about 5 minutes, I turned off the stove and uncovered the pan until the pork chops were cool enough to serve.

Sheesh! That was a long set of cooking instructions! But you know what? Once you stare at the ingredients for awhile, you'll see that it's hard to go wrong with this combination of ingredients, you can even add more to the list if you like. I know I've been baking like crazy lately. It's because I have an official sweet tooth now! I had my first cavity filled last week - EEK! It wasn't a pleasant experience. I miss experimental cooking, though. They (Anthony Bourdain and Bobby Flay) say cooks don't bake, and even though I consider myself more of a "cooker" than "baker" (simply because it comes a lot easier to me) I don't see why I, or anyone else, can't be both! But I have to admit, cooking is a lot less stressful than baking. It's a lot easier to cook rather than bake on a whim, I've discovered (which is why IF I go to culinary school in the near future, I will not become a pastry chef!).

Mr. Egg Easter Egg, the Lemon Custard Cake with Vanilla Cream Frosting, is the Pillsbury Doughboy's Latest Victim

The recent economic downturn has taken it's toll even on one of America's most iconic figures: the Pillsbury Doughboy. Struggling to make ends meet, doughboy has been forced into 'cake burglaring' to feed his well known obsession with baked goods. This photo, taken by an eye-witness, shows doughboy engaging in one of his most recent acts of cake vandalism, with a suspicious vintage vehicle parked in the background. The expensive detailing on the vehicle suggests that doughboy may now be involved in a lucrative underground sugar ring. A thorough police investigation is sure to follow.
Story By My hubby, Jose A. (hehe! This is what we do at 11 PM on Thursday nights)

Vanilla Cream Frosting Ingredients:
3 cups powdered sugar
4 tsp dried egg whites
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
1 stick very softened butter
1-2 tsp cold water

(I've yet to make a healthy version of this! At least this one uses less shortening than most others - I will keep experimenting!)

Hearty Breakfast

I love making hearty, filling breakfasts on the weekends. My favorite meal of the day is definitely breakfast, especially when it consists of more than just cereal. For about a week I was craving hashbrowns, strange but true - there is something so wonderful about simple, salty little potato patties - so I made sure to add them to last Saturday's breakfast menu.


Here is the hashbrown recipe I used. I didn't follow it to the T (didn't include the onion), but they came out really tasty with salt and pepper.

Egg Sandwich Ingredients:

Toasted hot dog buns

A tiny bit of mayo to spread on the buns

Spinach

Tomato

Sweet onion and mushrooms sauteed in extra virgin olive oil

1-2 hardboiled eggs per sandwich

Cheese (to sprinkle on top)



Jose actually got up early to help me with breakfast on hashbrown day (he is not a morning person :)! It reminded me of the couple of times we cooked together while dating, it was so much fun! I thought it was so cute that he actually followed my recipe for french toast until he decided it needed to be "tweaked"; he added more cinnamon and about 1/4 cup of non-fat milk - it was delish. I'm glad I married a man who knows his way around a kitchen! Anyhow, on Sunday morning I made veggie egg sandwiches. We had a ton of left-over wheat hot dog buns from the day before, and I try to avoid wasting food, so I toasted the buns and used them for the sandwiches.

Always make time for breakfast! It'll give your metabolism and mind a wake-up call, even if the rest of you is still half asleep :).

Classic Apple Pie

I had a pretty productive weekend in the kitchen, baking and cooking up a storm :). Some of the things I made were based on recipes, like the French muffins, fudge, hashbrowns, and apple pie...I've never made any of these from scratch before, so it was fun getting my hands dirty with batter, potatoes, and chocolatey goodness. One of the reasons why I've been baking a lot more on the weekends is because it's part of my job now! During the weekdays, I'm the blogger at Key Ingredient, and on the weekends, I try out the recipes that our members post on their KI profiles; it's a lot of fun. I'm learning quite a bit about food. I was always intimidated at the thought of baking an apple pie, but now that I'm getting in the habit of taking a baked good to work about once a week, I'm willing to face my baking/cooking fears a little more. I asked my co-workers what dessert they were craving and the response was apple pie...so I faced my apple-pie baking fear head-on today. I used a few recipes from How to Bake by Nick Malgieri, and was mostly happy with the results. The pie itself tasted great, but I think I should've taken the pie out of the oven before the suggested 40 minutes of bake time were over...it came out a little more toasted around the edges than I would've liked, but it definitely had that homemade apple pie taste that made all the work worthwhile!

I used two different recipes for the shell and crust, I also added a few more spices to the crust:

Bottom Crust: Flaky Pie Dough
1 1/2 cups bleached all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp baking powder
8 TBSP butter (1 stick) <---lots of butter in this recipe :)
2 TBSP cold water

Top Shell: Sweet dough for pies
1 1/4 cup bleached all-purpose flour
3 TBSP sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
4 TBSP butter
1 egg

Pie Filling:
2 lbs apples (I used a mix of fuji and golden delicious; I'm not a fan of really tart apples)
2/3 cup light brown sugar
2 TBSP all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest


I actually made a crumb topping, even though I made a shell crust for the pie, I thought it'd make the filling thicker, and it really did...I didn't think it made that big of a difference last night, but I just tasted the pie again, and right out of the fridge it has the perfect gooey filling, more thick and rich than just a plain apple filling, here it is:

Crumble Topping that goes on top of the filling
(this is an extra thing I added to the pie, but it makes a big difference)
3 TBSP apple sauce (not part of the recipe, but it added good flavor)
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 cup flour
3-4 TBSP butter
2-3 TBSP apple juice (I love Simply Apple)

For the pie filling, everything gets mixed together in one bowl, minus the crumb topping (that gets sprinkled on top of the pie before it gets covered with the shell). For the pie crusts, after I mixed all the ingredients together in a bowl with a fork, I put them in the freezer for about 15 minutes (the recipe said to refrigerate them for at least an hour before use, but I didn't want to wait :D!).

I rolled each of the pie doughs out separately between two sheets of parchment paper, making sure to add flour to the bottom paper and the top of the dough before rolling the dough out into a circle shape large enough to fit/cover the pie pan.

After I arranged the crust in the pie pan, added the filling, then sprinkled the crumbly topping on top of the filling, I topped the pie with the shell. I then pinched the crust and shell together with my thumb, making sure to keep an even distance as my thumb went around the pie.

Before placing the pie in the oven to bake, make sure there are some small slits on the top shell of the pie so that air can escape while the inside of the pie bakes. I wish I could've created a great design (maybe after a few more pies), but I just used a knife to make a tulip shaped design/slit on top of the pie.

The recipe I followed said to bake the pie for 40 minutes at 375, I feel that is too long, since my pie came out a little charred around the edges. I think 25-30 minutes would've been perfect, next time I'll make sure to monitor it a little more (I was making hamburgers while the pie was baking...I know, it was a very all-American day in my kitchen :). Oh! I talked to a friend at work today and she actually said that it's best to cover the edges of the pie with foil so that they don't burn, since burning is a common occurrence.

I think this is a great recipe to try if you're a first-time pie maker, it's a lot of fun and not intimidating at all. My pie-baking fears are behind me now :)!

Berry Vanilla Cake

I love berries. They not only taste delicious but they look beautiful, even when they're sitting in a plain white bowl. I'm not much of a berry pie fan, but I do find that berries add a freshness to desserts when they're mixed into something like cake or muffin batter. I came up with this berry cake recipe about a month ago, but never got around to posting it. The nice thing about this cake is that it tastes great with something as simple as a glaze; a creamy frosting would take away from the natural flavors the berries offer. (To make the glaze, I mixed a bit of melted butter, powdered sugar, and blackberry jam in a bowl and poured it on top of the cake.) So if you're a big fan of berries, this cake is for you. It's colorful, flavorful, and comes together in a flash :).

3 cups flour
1/2 cup canola oil
3 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt 2 cups mixed berries (these can be frozen)
1/4 cup lite sour cream
1 cup nonfat milk
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp baking soda


Since baking soda was involved, I mixed the dry ingredients in one bowl, then the wet in another, and later combined the two. I baked the cake in two round 9" pans, in a 350 degree preheated oven for 20-23 minutes.

Sticky Toffee Pudding and a homemade lightbox!

Because I often found myself running outside to get that perfect picture with just the right amount of natural sunlight, even when it was painfully cold outside, I came to the conclusion that something needed to change! I read a few informative online food photography articles, but they all pretty much offered the same tips about what kind of camera to purchase. Though I'd love to buy one of those gorgeous little pieces of technology, they are a little over my budget...actually, more than a little bit. Thankfully, Jose came across a site that offered a solution to my problem, an easy and cheap solution, at that. I am still very, very ignorant when it comes to photography, so the concept of creating a homemade light box deeply intrigued me. Though quite a bit of cutting and measuring was involved, all in all, making the light box was fun and really easy. I picked up a few supplies at the local fabric and home appliance stores, threw a huge pan of sticky toffee pudding in the oven, then got started on the light box. It came together in a little over an hour, and after messing with my camera's settings for a few minutes, I took a few shots of the heavenly and very loaded sticky toffee pudding. Yes, this pudding is unbelievably delicious, and although I can only handle a few bites without my gut regretting it the next day, I would gladly make it again for friends and family, using this same exact recipe I found on Key Ingredient. Even Jose agrees that this might possibly be the tastiest dessert on Earth. Too bad the person who posted the recipe on Key Ingredient remains anonymous, they certainly deserve a high five and a ton of brownie points!

(This is the lightbox, a cheap,cardboardy magic box!)


and here is a close-up of the strawberry mouse I adopted from the thrift store yesterday (this pic was also shot in the above lightbox):

You'll be needing this recipe, oh and make sure to top it all off with caramel sauce!

The Perfect, Classic Buttermilk Pancake

Though I love baking, it wasn't until just last week that I realized buttermilk's significance; it really is an ingredient all bakers should have in their refrigerators at all times. The smell isn't exactly pleasant, but I can't imagine a tasty pancake recipe without it! I made a few batches of buttermilk biscuits last week (I still haven't "perfected" a healthy version of this typically butter-ridden, starchy morsel-this is why they aren't on the blog yet) and I loved the flavor and texture it gave the biscuits.

For a few months now, I've been making pancakes from scratch. I was happy with the recipe I came up with, but I knew there was something missing. I know many pancake recipes call for buttermilk, but I thought I could get away with not using it. To be honest, I was afraid that I'd buy a small container of it and have a lot left over, but that was before I realized that buttermilk really is a wonderful dairy product. Despite the stinky whiff I get in the mornings when I open up the small carton containing this curdled, yogurt-like substance, it really gets me jumping out of bed and running to the kitchen to prepare a batch of classic buttermilk pancakes for breakfast. Using buttermilk instead of regular milk gives the pancake a lighter, fluffier texture; if you choose to use milk instead, you'll find that the pancakes will be heavier. Personally, I'm a fan of the fluffy pancake, that's why I switched to buttermilk...and I will stop this dairy product advertisement now :).

I found this recipe on Key Ingredient, and though I don't know the name of the lovely gal who posted this recipe on her profile, I will give her credit by including it below...you need to try this recipe! In my opinion, pancakes are the perfect midnight snack...so you don't have to wait until breakfast to eat them!:

Sweet Potato Walnut and Cranberry Loaf

Yesterday, I steamed a large sweet potato to serve as a dinner side dish and had quite a bit left over today (it tastes so good steamed then drizzled with honey!). Loaded with vitamins C and A (check out the health benefits of this veggie here), sweet potato is one of my favorite veggies that also doubles as a healthy dessert. I love pumpkin bread, and because sweet potato's texture reminds me of pumpkin, I thought it might also serve as a nice bread base. I was right! This is a very hearty and harvesty, lightly sweetened bread that can be eaten alone or with your favorite bread topping.

Since this recipe was the result of a kitchen experiment, after I mixed all the ingredients together, I thought I might actually end up with cookies instead of bread. The dough was very thick. The last few bread doughs I threw together were more gooey in texture. So, I decided to first use some of the dough to make a few cookies before rolling it all up into a dough loaf. Well, the "cookies" came out very bready in texture, so I figured it'd be a good idea to proceed with the initial bread idea. The cookies came out very tender, and I wanted a much crispier bread. I added a few things to the outer layer, to create a sweet, golden, and crispy crust that would result from keeping it in the oven for almost an hour...and here are all the ingredients I used to make this filling bread:

3 1/3 cups flour
2/3 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup molasses
1/3 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup sweet potato (first steamed or baked then mashed)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 TBSP cinnamon
1/2-3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup cranberries
3/4 cup walnuts

I mixed the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet ones in another, then combined them in one bowl. Before baking the dough, I rolled/shaped it into a loaf and brushed the top with about 1 1/2 TBSP of butter. I then placed it in a loaf/bread pan and covered it with foil. I baked it for 20 minutes at 350, then took it out of the oven so that I could sprinkle some cinnamon and brown sugar on top (add however much you want). I removed the foil and put the loaf back in the oven for another 30 minutes. That's about it!

P.S. This new, cute layout was designed by Sharnee! Thanks for all your hard work!