Strawberry Almond Bread...and a little post on Freedom :)

Sometimes I have a craving for something I can't place; I'll have it for weeks before I actually figure out what it is I've been craving. Ever have that happen to you? Maybe it hasn't happened with food, but with things far less tangible though just as necessary for a healthy existence, like strength of mind with a heaping cup of fearlessness thrown in for added flavor. Those are two ingredients that play the same role in life as salt does in a batch of chocolate chip cookies. Without them, life's just flat and bland - you know something's missing, even when it's only a pinch.

I'll admit, there are moments when I need more than a simple dash of fearlessness and strength of mind to spice up my life, more like a gallon! Thankfully, I still have a mustard seed of faith lying around somewhere; it keeps me going when the reserves are low. But I really love it when I come across an inspiring blog post, that also revitalizes me and gives me a reality check. Take this post written by Oscar of Freshtopia, for instance. Here is a man with enough strength and fearlessness to get him through the hardest of knocks, like a brain cancer diagnosis.

What reveals his strength? There's enough evidence in that blog to safely say he's a loving man who truly understands what it means to be free, even when inflicted with an illness that would make most feel physically limited and emotionally defeated. So what does that have to do with freedom? Everything. The worst oppression is the kind that's self-inflicted, losing your personal freedom to negative thoughts and bitterness. The first sign of this? A mentally insatiable craving for something more; feeling like life owes you something, and focusing on that so much that you lose yourself and the ability to love in the process.

Freedom comes with acknowledging your blessings in the midst of what seem to be curses, and that's fairly impossible without strength of mind. Reading Oscar's post made me think of a kind of independence that all of us should strive for. Happy 4th of July!

...and because this is a food blog ;), here's a recipe for some tasty Strawberry Almond Bread!

Cupcakes and Biscuits: A Carb Lover's Heaven :)

(This week's dish for "Traveling the World One Plate at A Time" is Italian. A friend let me use a recipe from her significant other's grandmother's collection, but I want to make sure it's ok to put the recipe on here first...so I probably won't be posting the dish until later this week :)

I kind of went crazy with baking this weekend...I think it's because I secretly wish I had 60 batches of cookies to bake, but now that I've jumped over that hurdle without skinning my knees too badly (there were a few accidents, but I survived them!), I have a greater desire to bake than I did before the cookie baking task was assigned to me. My husband is very happy with that, even if I do turn the kitchen into a floury disaster zone every now and then. Thankfully, I had success with Celine's (Have Cake, Will Travel) Lemon Rolls with Rosewater Filling recipe. Though I couldn't get ahold of any rosewater (I gave them a vanilla twist instead), they were still a delicious and comfort-foody dessert that hit the spot. I've never even thought of making anything other than cinnamon rolls, so it was refreshing coming across this lemony recipe. She also has a recipe for pumpkin rolls posted that I plan on making later this week, how delicious!

Saturday night, after watching the very cute movie, Ratatouille (it's such a sweet movie -- Remy reminded me so much of my witty guinea pig, Yoshi!) I decided to bake up a batch of strawberry cupcakes. Now, these are not your ordinary strawberry cupcakes, they're much more than that! With strawberry filling hidden in the center to surprise you after the first bite, and a moussy frosting that's light but fruity and flavorful, any cupcake fan will fall for these yummy and appropriately pink sweet treats. You'd never guess they were dairy and egg free -- these vegan cupcakes are close to perfect...but the frosting is kind of hard to work with, particularly if you don't have much experience working with vegan butter (aka margarine that's hydrogenated oil-free). I'm quite inexperienced! Now here's where I start making a mess of the kitchen and get frustrated as a result of my ignorance :). (Whenever I start feeling like I've made a major mistake in the kitchen, the thought of throwing my failed "creations" away really disturbs me. Yes, if it tastes horrible, I throw it out, but even that bothers me. I have this idea that food turns into money as soon as it hits the trash bag. I hate wasting!)

This is what I discovered after making a few mistakes:

1. I added way too much batter to the cake pans, and sadly, these little cupcakes sink in the middle when that happens. Next time, I'll follow the cupcake rule (usually I just make huge cupcakes that rise easily -- can't do that with these)!

2. It's best to refrigerate the frosting over night. Vegan butter melts very quickly at room temperature. Also, next time I'll refrigerate the cupcakes as soon as they're frosted!

3. These cupcakes darken quite a bit as they bake, so next time I'll be sure to check on them more ofen; they don't take 20 minutes like the instructions say (more like 15).

I decided to take a break from the cupcakes after I realized that I was getting more frosting on myself than on their sunken tops.

I opened my fridge this morning and, to my surprise, the frosting was the perfect texture! I took a bite of one of the poorly frosted cupcakes and they were delicious -- I even ate one (and a half) before breakfast :). Thanks to my husband who suggested that I let the frosting cool in the fridge over night, these cupcakes were saved :). Oooh, and as he was keeping me company in the kitchen (watching me turn into someone resembling the Pillsbury Doughboy's sister, because I was getting covered in the powdered sugar I was using to try to thicken the frosting) he surprised me with a gift :)! He ordered me a copy of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and My Sweet Vegan! I'm looking forward to baking some very tasty cupcakes with the help of these two fantastic books that my sweet husband ordered me.

So if you'd like to make a batch of these tasty cupcakes, you can click here for the recipe.

If this entry is entitled Carb Lover's Heaven, it should have at least 2 carby recipes, right? So here it is...

Well, I came across another recipe online this weekend that I didn't have much luck with... I've been trying to find a great biscuit recipe that isn't loaded with butter and shortening. I still haven't found one worth holding on to. Sadly, I had to throw away the biscuits from the about.com recipe I used (I could literally taste the baking powder, the after-taste was even worse). Thankfully, I had enough energy left over afterward to make another batch. This time, I was determined to create my own recipe. I remembered that a dumpling recipe I used in the past called for canola oil, so I thought I just might be able to use that very ingredient in the biscuit recipe I'd be putting together. It worked! I did use some butter, just enough to give the biscuits a buttery taste... here's the recipe for these low-in-saturated-fat biscuits :).

Lightly Buttered Buttermilk Biscuits

2 to 2 1/4 cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup buttermilk
3 to 3 1/2 TBSP melted butter
¼ cup canola oil
¼ tsp salt

1 TBSP butter, for brushing

Bake at 325 for 10 minutes. Remove biscuits from oven, use about 1 tbsp of butter to brush on all the biscuits. Bake for 5-7 more minutes at 350, until golden.

These taste great right out of the oven with a bit of honey or jam. Store them in a plastic container and they'll be ready for you to eat the next morning with breakfast. I bet homemade gravy would taste really good with these too!

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 :)!

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!

christmas gingerbread loaf

This weekend, Jose and I baked a loaf of gingerbread using this recipe. It was pretty good, though I do think that anyone who tries to make this should really follow the recipe and use the crystallized ginger...we didn't have any, so I think we should've added more ginger because it needed a stronger kick. Despite the tablespoon of ginger, it wasn't spicy enough for me, but it did have a light Christmasy gingerbread taste.

Tomorrow a cold front is moving-in to the Austin area, and I am so excited. I made some soup for dinner tonight, even though it was still in the 80s outside while it was sitting on the stove...I just couldn't wait! I'm designating tomorrow my baking day. I figured, since I won't be turning on the heater, I might as well bake! I am very excited! I picked up a bunch of fun cookbooks at the library this weekend, and I am soo ready to bake a new dessert!

harvest bread

This is fairly easy to make, and it bakes in about 45 minutes. This is the first bread I've made without using a recipe. I wanted to make something new, sweet, and carby so I looked around my kitchen for ingredients that would work well together in a bread. I'm happy with the results (and how it smelled up the apartment with a pleasant wintery/fall scent), Jose thinks there should be nuts, but I wasn't feeling very nutty yesterday--which is surprising considering how much I was cooking/baking :D. Anyway, this bread is very moist and falls apart if you try serving it right out of the oven without letting it cool for about 20 minutes...I was impatient, so that's how I found this out :). It's a good idea to store it in the fridge, both as a way of helping it cool and keep.

Harvest bread recipe:
1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cups brown sugar
3/4 cups sugar
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 TBSP sour cream
2 TBSP butter
2 TBSP canola oil
2 TBSP apple butter
2/3 cups unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 cup raisins
1 medium fuji apple, chopped (about 1 1/4 cup)
2 eggs

I baked this in a bread pan for 45 minutes (in the pre-heated 350 degree oven). I also made sure to cover the pan with foil for the first 30 minutes, then let it bake uncovered for the last 15. While it was baking, I made a glaze which includes simmering the following ingredients together in a sauce pan for a few minutes (about 5):
1 TBSP butter
3 TBSP apple butter
3-4 TBSP apple juice
1 1/2 TBSP brown sugar
2 TBSP powdered sugar
After the bread cooled, I covered it with this glaze...then we ate it :).

spaghetti with (ground TURKEY!) meatballs in a homemade sauce and Italian bread on the side!

It looks like I only cook pasta, at least this blog would give visitors that impression! But I don't, it is one of my favorite things to make and dress-up, though. I was in the mood for some spaghetti and meatballs today, but I wanted to make a sauce that wouldn't feel like I was just eating, as Jose called it, a bunch of plain noodles lathered in tomato puree. I've gone to quite a few Italian spots, never really finding a place that serves a good and tasty spaghetti and meatball plate. It does seem that most of the sauces are overly-tomato tasting, and it doesn't seem like much thought actually goes into the sauce. I hate boring food, and this is definitely not a plain pasta dish. Pasta and french/garlic bread go perfect together, at least I think they do, so I decided to spice up a baguette I bought at the grocery store just yesterday, giving it a little bit more of a kick with a sauce that isn't just butter and garlic based. So here's the recipe and instructions on how to make this flavorful stuff:

As far as the meatballs go, they alone carry quite a bit of flavor and can definitely be used for meatball sandwiches if any are leftover. Oh, I almost forgot to mention, I used ground turkey for the meatballs. My parents used to cook with it a lot when I was growing up, and it was actually my mom who taught me how to make these meatballs from ground turkey. It might sound a little odd if you've never tried it, but ground turkey actually has a much milder taste than beef, so it can showcase/hold the flavor of spices much better, in my opinion. It's also a lot leaner than beef, and you definitely won't have to worry about mad-cow disease if it's your meat of choice for this meatball recipe (by the way, this recipe makes enough servings for about 5 people):
1 pound ground turkey breast (or whatever ground meat you prefer)
1/4 cup chopped sweet white onion
1/2 cup garlic and herb bread crumbs
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 TBSP mustard
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1 egg
All these ingredients can be mixed together in a bowl, then rolled into little 1 inch balls before being placed in an all-purpose pan to lightly fry in some olive oil, I used 1/4 cup and that might sound like a lot, but it actually wasn't since the pan I used was a good size.

As the meatballs cooked for about 25 minutes over a low-medium flame, I got started on the sauce, this is what went into the sauce:
15 oz can of Muir Glen salt-free organic tomato sauce
3/4 tsp garlic and herb spice
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp sugar (to balance out the sourness of the plain tomato sauce)
3 whole bay leaves
1/2 tsp ground sage
1 3/4 tsp parsley
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp vegetable broth powder
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
a pinch of nutmeg (everyone on food network does it, so I figured I should too :)
1/4 cup water (the sauce is kind of thick and will continue to thicken as it cooks)
1 cup portabella mushrooms
So I let this sauce simmer for about 10 minutes before adding it to the meatballs, which should now be browned on the outside. After I added the sauce to the meatballs, I let them simmer together while I cooked the pasta.

As far as the pasta goes, I just used a 12 oz bag of spaghetti. After I cooked it in the boiling water with a little bit of olive oil and garlic salt, I just added about 2 tsp of butter, a few shakes of Parmesan cheese, and a couple of olive oil sprinkles (as you can see, I definitely cook with a lot of this stuff :).

Now here's the Italian bread recipe, it's so fast and easy to make it could be served alone as a snack.
Preheat oven to 375
1/2 small baguette (horizontally halved--basically, it makes enough for 3 people)
1/8 cup melted butter
1 tsp olive oil
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
These ingredients can be mixed together in a cup, then drizzled with a teaspoon on the bread right before sprinkling it with about 1/2 cup of fresh spinach and 1/8-1/4 cup of a mozzarella/parmesan cheese blend. The baguette can then be placed in a 375 degree oven for 7-8 minutes. Afterward, you can garnish it with a few sliced roma tomatoes, and slice it into 3 medium-sized pieces, or about 4-5 small ones.

Funny thing about this spaghetti & meatballs plate is that I've actually made it before, but it came out so much better now that I actually measured the ingredients...even though it's my recipe. I don't get it haha! Happy cooking, next time I'll post something non-pasta related ;)!

Not-So-Buttery Nutty Chocolate Brownie Bread

This "bread" is as easy to make as chocolate brownies. To be honest, it was my initial intention to make brownies, but the consistency of the finished product was a little lighter, less dense; I came to the conclusion that it's probably because I used less butter than most brownie recipes call for. There are times I can fool tasters into thinking that certain desserts I make aren't lowfat, the texture is pretty deceiving, not this time, though. Still, not all who wander in the world of recipe-making are lost! No, this was definitely not a failure, far from it.

Jose was having kind of a busy/stressful day at work/school today, and being the chocolate addict that he is, I knew I had to make something chocolatey to cheer him up...this worked! Yes, getting to lick the bowl filled with the remains of a chocolate bread dough is definitely a mood booster, but I know the bread also helped, since he did ask for one more piece of this brownie bread not long after finishing the first. I had a piece myself, and the best way I can describe it is with these words: light, not too sweet, and definitely not overly greasy.

So here's the recipe, I baked it in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes (I used a 9 by 13 inch baking dish)

1 1/4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 whole eggs
1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup milk
3 tbsp sour cream
1 tbsp cream cheese
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup sweetened cocoa powder
1/3 of a 12 oz bag of chocolate chips
1 1/2 ounces walnut chips