Poppy Seed Bread

Yesterday was the day to bake something sweet (ya think!).  I was needing a bit of the tender side of life and this ditty I found on Tastespotting.com from Christy at “the girl who ate everything” blog,  truly fit the bill.

The story was darling, and one of my favorite aspects of baking something is the “just stir” method. Not easy to find, but always number one in my book. Less clean up,  so I’m all over that.

It turned out fabulous and I did make a few exceptions. First, I generally use butter instead of oil, and I didn’t have the butter essence but I zapped it with more orange juice. I also used organic sugar and it was fabulous. Didn’t feel as guilty. Also ran out of milk and used 1/2 milk and 1 cup half and half.

I highly recommend this recipe. It short on time, and long on taste. The orange glaze was so easy and it makes a wonderful crust on the top!!!

Poppy Seed Bread

Poppyseed Bread
by Karen Easdon and Martha McMullin

3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1 1/8 cups cooking oil
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups milk

Poppy Seed Bread

1 1/2 T. poppy seeds
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp butter flavoring extract

Mix all together. Pour into greased and floured baking pans. Makes 6 small loaves or 2 large loaves. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes for large pans and less for smaller pans. If you have a dark metal pan make sure to bake it for less time. I overdid this batch a little bit.

Poppy Seed Bread

Glaze:
1/4 cup orange juice
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp butter flavor extract

Pour all ingredients into a small saucepan and let cook on stove on medium heat until sugar dissolves. Remove bread from pans and pour glaze over warm bread. Use knife or spatula to bring the glaze that has run off up and over the warm bread until it

Poppy Seed Bread

stays on.

Poppy Seed bread, definitely wore the Poupon Apron!! The jazz station was the perfect background music too!

Bon Appetit!

Poppy Seed Bread

V8 Soup Reincarnated

My dear friend Tony was moving back east and I headed over to his place to send him off and say my farewells. Tony is a misplaced Massachusetts man who decided he had had enough of the left coast. Well, yes there is more to the story, but for this blog we will suffice it to say, it was time to go find his dream job in his dream town.

Tony was packing and getting ready for a long drive cross country.  While he was finishing off the move-out-throw-out process, discovered he hated the case of V8 he had just purchased. Yes, an entire case. That’s Costco for ya. I hadn’t even had a V8 in probably 10 years.  Wanting to help out in any way I could said “I’ll take it” and ended up with that case, minus one can. Hmmmmm.  I was quickly reminded, but not until I took it home and off his hands, how much I dislike the taste too!  Yeah I know it’s suppose to be good for you but so is a lot of other things and …………

Once I unpacked this case wondered if there was some way I could redeem this humble can of veggies. Soup! It’s soup. Yes, that was the only way I could think of redeeming this versus pouring it down the drain. I might have dropped it off at a food shelter if I knew where one was. Come to think of it, I should find out where one is!! But I digress.

Six cans of V8 later, not to mention a whole slew of other lovely tasting ingredients, I am happy to report a new soup to add to my soup log book. You can obviously add whatever veggies or meats you want. Heck it could be sauce for your lasagna or pasta, but I was going to keep warm with a bowl of soup.

V8 Soup

1 chopped onion

3 Cloves Garlic

6 Cans of V8

1 1/2 cup of Peas

1 1/2 cup of Corn

2 cup diced celery

1 cup white wine

3 T of olive oil

5 T chopped Italian parsley

Saute onion in the olive oil. Add 3 cloves of garlic when your onions are almost transparent. Add any dried spices you wish to incorporate here. I usually will add some Italian seasonings if I don’t have enough fresh herbs. Next add your celery, carrots, wine, and simmer low for 20 minutes. After that time add the peas, corn, and any other of your quicker cooking vegetables. Easy breezy. Make sure you serve with warm bread.

My great friend Tracy told me that her husband drinks beer with a healthy shot of V8. Hmm. Interesting. So, there are many ways to get those veggies into our stomachs!

My Friend Hobo, classiest dog on the planet. And super trooper car dog!

And I am happy to report that Tony made it safely to Massachusetts in something like 3 1/2 days. Impressive. But if you have ever driven cross country with animals in your car……it is so not fun getting them into a hotel at night. So kudos and may there be a dream teaching job without any V8 in the cafeteria for Tony.

Bon Appetit!

My mini apron was splashed with some V8, but what’s an apron without any stories. Bigger the stain, better the story.

Baked Beets and garlic!

While the holiday weekend was approaching, easy breezy meals were in order. Also, the summer like weather which I was just getting used to seemed to get back under the covers. I wanted to warm up my home slightly, so baking was a good idea.

At the markets this week I picked up some great beets and thought I would try to bake these.  I love beets. Just love em! My usual boiling method seemed inappropriate, however I always use the beet stock in my favorite soups. That’s a win win in my book, especially since I truly wanted to “not” spend too much time in the kitchen this week.  My fabric was beckoning me…..I kid you not.

This smart little cheese plate with garlic (which I baked with the beets at the same time), goat cheese and pears, with some gorgeous Italian parsley was completely a perfect meal. Of course I baked the french bread with the orange essence and black sesame seeds (for recipe find under French Bread Blog). Truly a surprising simple and complete meal. Mind you I wasn’t feeding a line backer, but the vitamins in this meal alone sets your engine running and your hunger pangs to rest.  Even more complete with a glass of Zinfandel.

This was so simple I am going to have to ditch the boiling method for now. And call me crazy, but this was all I needed to get back to the salt mines! Minus the Zinfandel, that was much much later.  And Honestly, I should get the nutritional charts for you. Beets are so good for you as is garlic, parsley and pears. Why do I hear Simon and Garfunkel all of a sudden?  Hmmm.

So for now enjoy the weekend, and may our wars end soon and forever. Here is a quote to celebrate your Memorial Day weekend.

“The world is too dangerous for anything but truth and too small for anything but love.”

William Sloane Coffin, Jr.

Bon Appetit!

I of course wore my Poupon Apron. The yellow sunshine color was much needed!

www.chanteusedesigns.com

Carrot Soup

It’s been awhile since I have made carrot soup but I found this recipe which looked incredibly easy and simply had to go for it.

I absolutely love carrot juice (in moderation mind you) and have a juicer that producers the sweetest morning wake up drink you can imagine. You probably can. So, without further delay, enjoy this lovely light and slightly sweet soup with some homemade bread and cheese. I would top with créme fraiche and italian parsley.

Golden Carrot Soup
(Adapted from The Low GI Diet Cookbook by Prof Jennie Brand-Miller, Kaye Foster-Powell and Dr Joanna McMillan Price)
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
5 large carrots (about 1kg / 2 lb 4 oz), diced * use winter carrots, as they have more flavour than the tiny spring and summer carrots
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 bay leaves
1.25 litres (44 fl oz / 5 cups) beef or chicken stock ( I used more stock as 5 cups wasn’t enough)
Freshly ground black pepper
Flat-leaf (Italian) parsley, to serve

Method

Carrot Soup

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the carrots, onion, garlic and bay leaves and cook for 10 minutes.
Put the stock in another saucepan and bring to the boil. Pour the boiling stock over the vegetables and simmer for 15 minutes, or until tender.
Remove the pan from the heat and remove the bay leaves. Allow the soup to cool a little, then transfer to a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Season with pepper. If the soup is too thick, add some extra stock.
Serve garnished with parsley.
Note: As a variation, garnish the soup with small pieces of grilled bacon, or top with a dollop of garlic-flavoured low fat yoghurt. (I prefer créme fraiche)

This was such a delightful dish. I used the beef stock because I am emptying out all of the non vegetarian products in my cupboard, but I would have liked to use a vegan broth. Though to make it lighter a chicken broth will still not take away from the sweet carrot base. Again, use only organic carrots and use pure water when making your home made broth.

Carrot Soup

For the bread, I have been baking it with a tiny sampling of a Blood Orange flavoring. It got rave reviews, much to my surprise. Jury isn’t out yet, but I added a few tablespoons of sugar and the bread rose a little too much. However, it got a 1o from my guests so maybe I have been making too much bread these days to be a fair critic.

Unlike California, you only need one card for any library. Here, I am already up to 3 library cards for 2 different counties! Good thing there are those drop boxes. My record library card count is 5, but that was when I lived in a different continent!! So many great cook books you can find in the library. Not to mention surprise cd’s.

I wore my Poupon Apron, over my pajamas. It was that kind of day.

Bon Appetit!

www.chanteusedesigns.com

Caprese Salad

One of the best things about summer is the Caprese Salad. Though of course it can be made year round and will always be delicious; fresh heirloom tomatoes right out of the summer sun make this beyond simply wonderful.

Hmm, that’s a mouth full right there. While I was entertaining my favorite guests this week, I found some beautiful organic basil, which had been difficult to find lately, and then some perfect tomatoes. So with those two items scored the only thing to do was to make a Caprese Salad.

It is idiot proof for those who don’t like being in a kitchen. Can’t even comprehend the species, but that’s life. Always full of a variety of surprises.

Caprese Salad

Three ingredients make this a perfect side dish, appetizer, or for those of you like me  (who used to forget to eat before she started this blog), it’s breakfast lunch and dinner! Hardly any cleanup.

Caprese Salad ingredients consist of Tomatoes, Mozzarella Cheese and fresh organic basil. Preferably you have grown two of the important items. But if time has you on the run, any of your high end organic grocers or Farmers Markets are the place you want to pick them up. Stay away from those large chains. They might say organic but it’s not always so.

I prefer a heavy Balsamic Vinegar and the best grade of Olive oil. There are no hard fast rules on this salad as well. I start with the olive oil, salt and pepper before I top the cheese and the basil with the balsamic vinegar.

As you can see, this salad was gone in minutes. Literally disappeared before my eyes. I made a second plate as I honestly didn’t want to move on to the main meal.

Caprese Salad Disappears

Do yourself and your family a favor.  Prepare this meal more often than you planned this summer. It’s health benefits and low grid production will make you green inside and out!

I believe you can conjure up some fabulous adventures too in a picnic basket with this salad.

I wore my uncharacteristic mini apron. It was just one of those rainy, simple kitchen days. With lots of laughs among friends!

Bon Appetit!

Eggplant Lasagna

This meal is one of my favorites. I’m an eggplant lover that goes way back, but trying to perfect this dish for some reason didn’t come easy for me. Good thing I didn’t give up on it/me. Eggplant is such an easy vegetable to grow (at least in Northern California) and can be eaten all by itself (grilled with olive oil and herbs), but in combination with certain specific flavors really blossoms.

Organic Eggplant

This is a throw together dish, so you don’t need an awful lot of time if you are looking for something quick and easy to put together. If you make batches of your own kind of sauce, it’s pretty much like putting a sandwich together.

Why I didn’t switch from Ricotta cheese to Cream cheese sooner, I’ll never know.  I don’t think we are going back. This was so smooth and yummy with the cream cheese that we are converted forever.  (Gavel sound!) Talk about a perfect combination.  Ricotta will remain in my heart (and certain dishes) but not in my lasagna.

Lasagna in the Making

Eggplant Lasagna (No Noodles)
4 Medium Eggplants thinly sliced, salted and slightly cooked for 10 minutes on lightly greased cookie sheet
3-4 cups Tomato Sauce
6 cups Spinach (Steamed and drained)
8 large Mushrooms Sliced
1 Tablespoon each fresh basil, parsley and time, or Italian Seasoning.
8 oz Cream Cheese
1 egg
1 cup Parmesan Cheese
8 oz Mozzarella Cheese
Capers-optional
Beet Leaves-optional

Lasagna in the Making

Preheat oven to 350˚ degrees. In a casserole dish layer the dish starting with the sauce. Next make a layer of prepared eggplant. Layer of spinach, then mushrooms, then cream cheese mixture (cream the cheese, egg and herbs together). Next layer with the sauce again and another layer of eggplant. Top with mozzarella cheese.

Now I got a bunch of organic beets at the market this week and recently found some recipes where they were finally (or where have I been) using the beet leaves.

Beet Leaves

Being a huge swiss chard fan, which what the leaves remind me of,  wanted to use them. As you can see from the photo at left,  I topped the dish using them which held the mozzarella cheese and top layer beautifully.  Then because I had another bee in my bonnet threw in some capers. They were so good. It was, for a change, a nice wild hair actually that worked.

Bake for 40 minutes.

Lasagna in the Making

Dancing around the kitchen in my Napa Apron, listening to Nora Jones……Bon Appetit!

Vegetarian Lasagna

My dear friend James came by for dinner the other night so I made him something out of the ordinary….at least for us. James and I are particularly fond of outdoor grilling, but since the season isn’t quite here yet and I no longer live on the lake, it’s just not the same. And I am no longer willing to cook steaks so I hoped/thought this would fill the bill for him. He’s such a great trooper!

I got this recipe from the Pink Parsley blogger and only have a few slight variations on the quantities. I also made my home made french bread which I actually really improved on my previous posting (yes it has to do with kneading the dough) but boy what an improvement in texture and taste!! Same recipe, just done with a bit more elbow grease. Fantastic.

Pesto Lasagna with Spinach and Mushrooms

Popeye

adapted from Cooking Light
serves 8

* 4 cups torn spinach (I would make this 8 cups next time)
* 2 cups mushrooms, diced into medium pieces (I would leave out and I LOVE mushrooms or saute with the spinach and drain)
* 1/2 cup pesto; commercial or homemade
* 1 1/2 cups fresh mozzarella, shredded
* 1 (15-ounce) carton part-skim ricotta cheese

Spinach Mushroom Sundried Tomatoe

* 1 large egg, lightly beaten (Small egg is even better)
* 3/4 cup (3 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
* 4 cups tomato-basil sauce; homemade or jarred (I needed more but I made a huge tray)
* 1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce (I used paste but I make my sauce Doctored)
* Cooking spray
* 1 (8-ounce) package precooked lasagna noodles (12 noodles) (I used more)

Preheat the oven to 425. (I put on 350˚ and bake for a 45 min – hour so I can visit. Just a timing thing.)

Finishing Touches

Spray a casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Steam the spinach and drain the excess moisture.

Combine the mushrooms, pesto, spinach in a small bowl and set aside. In another bowl, combine ricotta, 3/4 cup mozzarella, egg, and 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese. Combine the tomato sauce with the pasta sauce.

Spread 1 cup of the pasta sauce in the bottom of the saucepan. Layer 3 lasagna noodles, followed by 1 cup of the spinach mixture and 1 cup of the cheese mixture. Repeat the layers, following the order of pasta sauce-pasta-spinach-cheese. Sprinkle remaining parmesan and mozzarella over the top.

Bake, covered, for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake an additional 15 minutes, until top is bubbly and golden.

As you can see by one of my photos, at the last minute since I didn’t make enough spinach I threw in some sun dried tomatoes. Do double the spinach.

Serve with warm French bread, a delicious garden salad with Blue Cheese and almonds and I skipped dessert. Bread always takes it out of me!! When the grill season comes in……grilled peaches served with vanilla ice cream. I love Friday nights!

When it’s Italian, you can be rest assured it’s my Napa Apron which gets put on! Still my favorite.

Bon Appetit!

www.chanteusedesigns.com

PS For French Bread recipe go to my archives and look for Home Made French Bread, then skip all the stirring. Instead knead for 5 minutes, turn in oiled bowl and let rise for 45 minutes (It’s ok if you totally get distracted…….) Punch down, let rise again for 35-minutes. I always brush with milk 25 minutes after I put in the oven. Bake as directed, but you can time it for your dinner if need be by turning it down, you just won’t get the type of crust you were thinking you wanted. It will STILL be de-lish! Bread is much more forgiving than humans, but not dogs!  ;-)

Yeast

Stepping up to the diving Board....

A disappointing 9.7 from the Russian Judge

the bread is thinking it's next move.........

Pineapple Pizza for Ben

Once upon a time when I lived in Sausalito, every Friday night I would invite the gang over for some home made pizza. I had this pizza book that I got from ….somewhere, and you know my love affair with baking bread and yeast go way back. So it sorta made sense. Not to mention it was a lot of fun.

It has been awhile since I have made pizza though I don’t know why because it is so darn easy. Lucky for me that my friend Tracy’s son wanted exactly that recently. A home made pizza made by me, but ready to be baked at his house. No Problem.

So I was really glad I dusted off that book, looked at the very lovely stained pages of use and got back in the saddle.  This recipe is from James McNair’s book ‘Pizza’ – so appropriately named. It would make a great pizza party night as there are so many creative pizza ideas.

This pizza was a pineapple one with “nothing else on it”.  (Gosh it’s good to be 9 yrs old) That was what the order was. I tried, begged and pleaded for something else but a 9 year old knows what he wants. Did I get an easy job or what? Hence it looks a little pale in the photo, but I was told it was oh so yummy!  You can put anything your heart or stomach desires on yours. See how accommodating pizza is. What’s not to love?

Ingredients for Pizza Dough

• 3 1/4 cups of Bread, semolina or all purpose Flour
• 1 Tablespoon Honey
• 1 cup of warm Water
• 1 envelope active dry Yeast
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

In a small bowl dissolve the honey in warm water that registers 110˚ to 115˚F.  Sprinkle the yeast over the water and stir gently until it dissolves, about 1 minute. When yeast is mixed with the water at the proper temperature, a smooth, beige colored mixture results. Let stand in a warm spot until a thin layer of foam covers the surface, about 5 minutes, indicating that the yeast is effective. Combine 3 cups of flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in center of the flour and pour in the yeast mixture and the oil. Using a wooden spoon, vigorously stir the flour into the well, beginning in the center and working toward the sides of the bowl, until the flour is incorporated and the soft dough just begins to hold together.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Dust your hands with the flour and knead the dough gently in the following manner: press down on the dough with the heels of your hands and push it away from you, then partially fold it back over itself. Shift it a quarter turn and repeat the procedure. While kneading, very gradually add just enough of the remaining 1/4 cup flour until the dough is no longer sticky or tacky; this should take about 5 minutes. As you work, use a metal dough scraper to pry up any bits of dough that stick to the work surface. Continue kneading until the dough is smooth, elastic and shiny, 10 to 15 minutes longer. Knead the dough only until it feels smooth and springy; too much kneading over develops the gluten in the flour and results in a tough crust.

After mixing and kneading the dough shape the dough into a ball and place it in a well oiled bowl, turning to coat completely on all sides with oil. This oiling of the dough prevents a hard surface from forming that would inhibit rising. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap to prevent moisture loss, and set to rise in a draft free warm place (75˚F to 85˚F) until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes for quick rising yeast or 1 to 1 1/2 hours for regular yeast.

Dough

With your first punch down the dough as soon as it had doubled in bulk to prevent overrising. Shape it into a ball, pressing out all the air bubbles. If you are using bread flour or semolina flour, turn the dough in an oiled bowl to coast once more, cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate it until puffy, from 35 minutes to 1 hour. Omit this step if using all purpose flour.

Dough

If you cannot bake pizza within 2 hours after rising, punch the dough down again, turn it in an oiled bowl to coat once more, cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate. Let chilled dough come to room temperature before proceeding.