And here comes number eleven!

That’s right, I’m still plugging away at The Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge and the next bread up is Cranberry Walnut Celebration Bread.  But since Mr. Reinhart gave us the option of choosing different dried fruits and nuts, I decided to celebrate cherry season and use tart dried cherries and pecans in my bread.

Although it is definitely a gorgeous loaf worthy of a celebration, this bread was surprisingly easy to make!  No unusual ingredients for this one, just bread flour, yeast, sugar, salt, buttermilk, eggs, butter, water, lemon extract, dried tart cherries, and pecans.

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So, I started jogging.

That’s my big confession.  Not much of a confession, you say?  Ok, here’s my confession:  I can’t jog.  Not good enough for you?  Well, I can’t do push-ups either.  Not one.  Not even the girlie kind on my knees.  I don’t like to tell people that because as far as I can tell, I’m pretty much the only person in the world who can’t even do one measly push-up. Continue reading →

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My sister is a huge fan of roasted red pepper hummus so she was one inspiration behind me creating my own version at home.  The other inspiration was my fancy new blender that I just knew would create the smoothest, creamiest hummus I’ve ever made.

And I was right.  This was the smoothest, creamiest hummus that has ever come from my kitchen.

I’ve been without a regular blender for over a year now.  The last one I owned, an overpriced and under-performing Kitchen Aid blender, broke as soon as the warranty expired.  And I wasn’t in a big rush to run out and replace it with another piece of junk.  I’ve never been a huge fan of blenders because I have never owned one that worked really well.  Sure, they all claim to crush ice.  But they never really do. Continue reading →

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Can you believe I’ve made it through the tenth bread in The Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge? I was a little surprised to see a quick bread recipe in the book, but I’m really happy that Mr. Reinhart decided to include this corn bread.

It’s sweet and dense, without being too heavy.  The slices were crispy on the outside, but very moist inside.  The sweetness of the fresh cut corn is nicely balanced out by the salty bacon on top.  I pretty much loved everything about it!

Of course I’m from California and I grew up eating a fairly sweet corn bread.

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To tell you the truth, I wasn’t so sure about this one.  I love raisins, but I generally prefer my cinnamon bread to be raisin-free.  And walnuts?  Well, they’re great in banana bread, but again, I like my cinnamon bread the way my mom made it, thank you very much.

But I was wrong.  So so so wrong.  Not about my mom’s Cinnamon Swirl Bread, of course.  That one will always be a favorite.  But this Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread is now tied with Casatiello as the favorite bread I’ve baked so far in The Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge.  This bread is good.  And I mean really good! Continue reading →

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Adapted from Cowgirl Chef’s Mom’s Peach Cobbler.

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Actually, it’s twitter that brings the world closer together.  And it’s because of twitter that I got invited to eat bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches with friends from around the world today.  Virtually, of course.

It all started with a conversation about bacon between Cheryl in New York and Ellise in Paris.  Cheryl had bacon, but no lettuce and tomato.  Ellise had lettuce and tomato, but no bacon.  They joked about getting together for a BLT lunch.  Never one to miss out on a conversation about bacon, I chimed in that I had all the fixings for a BLT and had already planned on making one soon.  Next thing I knew, I had been invited to the virtual BLT Lunch on twitter! Continue reading →

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