When I was married before I had a husband who made beautiful bread.  When he was home he would crank out about 5 or 6 loaves a few times a week and it would all get eaten.  He was really good at it and the kids practically inhaled it.  He would make the kitchen table dance across the kitchen floor when he was kneading it.  He also made a huge mess, which I got to clean up, but I wasn't complaining because his bread was excellent and it was worth the price of cleaning up!



 I have never made good bread.  I am not sure why.   I gave up trying a long time ago, but lately I have been wanting to try again and have been searching for just the right recipe.  I do have a bread maker, which I could use, but I have been wanting to bake a loaf from scratch with my own two hands.  Just moi and nobody else.


I found a recipe the other day on the Brown Eyed Baker Blog called My Favourite White Bread.  It looked really good.  She got the recipe from someone's Grandmother. She doesn't say who, but she did say that it was such a good recipe that she was baking it a couple of times a week.


She was tempting me with her praise for this recipe. I went back and looked at the recipe a few times over the past few weeks, and then finally today, I printed it out and decided I was going to have a go at it!


I confess I did not follow her instructions exactly.  I did everything by hand.  Totally by hand.  I popped the LDS Music channel on and sat at the table and mixed and kneaded it all by hand.  It was very cathartic.


I kneaded it and I thought  . . .  I thought and I kneaded . . .  I listened to the dulcet tones of good music, and all the while I was channeling my mother earth insides . . .


I felt almost like Ma Ingalls . . .  seriously.  It rose like a dream with the first rising . . .  and then it rose like a dream with its second rising.  I didn't know whether I dared hope I would have some success or not  . . . I did cut the recipe in half as there are only two of us and I don't have enough room in my freezer for a loaf of bread  . . .


Colour me pleasantly surprised because I had tremendous success!  The loaf turned out perfect.  It is beautiful bread with a lovely taste and texture.  I was so happy!  I just might make it my goal to bake a loaf every week.  Todd was quite enthusastic about the results and we are both looking forward to sitting down tonight to a slice of fresh white bread with butter and strawberry jam for our supper.  Diabetes be damned!



3 TBS melted butter, for brushing


Dissolve the yeast in the 178ml (3/4 cup) of warm water, stirring.  Let sit for 5 minutes.  Add the remaining water, sugar, salt, room temperature butter and 625g (5 cups) of the flour, stirring to combine.  Using a wooden spoon stir in the remainder of the flour a little bit at a time until the dough is soft and tacky, but not sticky.  Continue to knead until a soft ball of dough forms that clears the side of the bowl. This will take about 10 minutes.  Not a problem. Just put some music on that you love listening to and lose yourself in the music as you knead.  Shape into a smooth ball and place in a lightly greased bowl.  Cover with a clean tea towel and set aside in a warm draft free place for  45 minutes to 1 hour until the dough has doubled in size.  I finger inserted into the dough should leave a hole that doesn't fill back in.  Tip out onto a lightly floured surface.  Gently press all over to remove any air pockets.  Divide the dough into two.  Pat each half into a 9 by 12 inch rectangle.   Working from the short edge, roll tightly into a cylinder.  Pinch any seams shut and tuck in the ends.  Generously grease two  9 by 5 inch loaf tins.  Place the cylinders of dough into them seam side down.  Cover loosely and place into a draft free place to rise, once again until doubled in size.  30 to 45 minutes.
Brush the loaves with some melted butter.  Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, rotating it halfway through the bake time until the loaves are golden brown all over and the bottom sounds hollow when lightly tapped.  Let stand for 10 minutes, tip out onto a wire rack and turn right side up, brush with the remaining melted butter and allow to cool completely before slicing.  Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.  Alternately it can be frozen for up to one month.

If you are looking for a really good bread recipe that is simple to make then look no further.  This one is a winner!  If I can have success with it, then anyone can!  Bon Appetit!

I think you all must know by now how very much I love salad.  I eat it all the year through. When we were first married my husband was not convinced that salad was a very good thing . . .  he called it rabbit food.  

This is a chocolate chip cookie recipe I adapted from a soft back cookbook/magazine I bought several years back called Delicious Baking, put out by Delicious magazine.  I love Delicious magazine.  It is one of my favourites.  I used to have a subscription to it, but when I lost my job a few years back I had to cut back and magazine subscriptions was one of the first things to go.  *sniff *sniff*



There is nothing unsual about chocolate chunks, or even about using two types of chocolate  . . .  the difference is that you use DARK chocolate in these, which counterbalances the sweetness of the white chocolate perfectly . . .



Another difference is that it uses DARK soft brown sugar, which gives these cookies a light whiff of molasses smokiness . . .  oh so good.


Crispy edged . . .  with sweet vanilla chunks and bitter dark chocolate . . .  with a slight chewiness in the middle.  I think you will agree with me when I say that those things all tip these cookies over the edge towards spectacular!



Bake for 15 - 18 minutes until golden brown.  Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes on the pan prior to scooping off onto a wire rack to cool completely.  Store in an airtight container.




Now you might not think the fact that this recipe only makes about sixteen large cookies is a bonus . . .  but to me, who has absolutely no self control at all, this is a big plus.  There is a lot less cookie danger for me to be tempted by!! Bon Appetit!

 With raspberry season being in full swing at the moment I had a real hankering for a raspberry cake!  Oh, I do love raspberries any way I can get them, but they really shine in cakes!


 
Especially this one which had a delightful homemade raspberry sauce baked right into the middle of it.  Just look at that sweet tart lucious raspberry oooze  . . .


 
Oh boy but this is some good.   The batter is a sour cream coffee cake type of batter.  Not as in coffee flavoured batter, but as in a cake batter for a cake that you would want to enjoy with a nice hot drink either in the morning or for your break time . . . this batter is flavoured with almond and vanilla, not coffee.


 
This cake just screams winner!  It is not officially raspberry season until I bake it at least once!!  mmmm . . .  moist almond flavoured cake with a beautiful sweet/tart seam of raspberry deliciousness running through the middle.

 
Another really good thing about this cake is that you can also bake it in the depths of winter with frozen berries . . .  ahhh . . .  a sweet taste of summer.  You just got to love that!

 
Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs, almond extract and vanilla.  Sift together the flour, soda, salt and baking powder.  Stir this into the creamed mixture along with the sour cream and combine to give you a smooth batter.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.  Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares to serve.



I did dust some icing sugar on top to serve  . . . just to dress it up a bit.  Every gal shines a bit more in her frills don't they!  Bon Appetit!

 
The original recipe used dried Italian salad dressing mix (in its unmixed, dry form) along with brown sugar and some butter for dotting.  We don't have dried Italian salad dressing mixes over here.  It is possible to get it at a premium price from some sites which carry North American goods, but generally speaking it doesn't exist.


 This chicken is really, really good however, and so I had to come up with a way to adapt it to what I could get over here because it is a chicken I just crave every now and then!



I combined a mix of herbs and powders to approximate the same flavours I might get from the dressing mix . . .  garlic and onion powders, basil, oregano, thyme, salt and cracked black pepper  . . . a bit of dried pepper flakes for some heat.  All the flavour, but none of the preservatives.

 
It actually might even be better than using the dry mix because of that.   This mixture gets mixed with some brown sugar and then sprinkled over bone in, skin on chicken thighs, dotted with butter and baked until all those flavours penetrate the chicken and that skin gets all sticky crisp and finger licking good!


Sure, it's not a low fat kind of a dish, but once in a blue moon this makes a really tasty treat. You could use chicken breasts if you really wanted to, but be sure to cut the bake time way down, and of course you won't get that lovely crispy skin.  You can also use one package of dry Italian Salad Dressing Mix if you want to instead of my combination of flavours.  Just mix it in with the brown sugar as per the recipe and leave my additions out.


2 TBS softened butter



I think this is sure to become one of your favourites as well.  If it doesn't well . . .  there is just no accounting for taste eh?  We are all different.  Bon Appetit!

I confess I am really, really fussy about the tuna I buy however.  I only ever buy Albacore . . .  white tuna, sustainably sourced. I know it costs a bit more than normal tinned tuna, but it is worth every penny in flavour.  It just tastes sooooo much better than the cheap stuff.  This is a case where you really do get what you pay for.



We humans are such funny creatures.  We will think nothing of paying 3 or 4 pounds for a pound of minced beef, but when it comes to a tin of tuna we balk at spending 3 pounds for that!


 A tin of tuna goes just as far when properly prepared and you don't pour half it down the drain, and let me tell you . . .  a tin of solid pack Albacore white tuna in spring water is worth every little penny!  Trust me on this.  That same Italian Nonna told me to only ever buy blunt nosed carrots.  She said they were sweeter, and once again she was right.  You have to trust those Italian Nonna's.  They know what they are talking about!


Back to the tart. This is such a simple bake and really won't heat your kitchen up that much.  The bake time in total is only about  10 to 12 minutes.  And it is sooooo good!  Simple and good!


The crust is made from baking mix and boiling water, which gives you something almost like a bread, but there is none of the waiting for rising etc.  I use my own homemade baking mix, which works very well.  You can find that recipe here.
 


You just roll it out and make a rim and bake it for a few minutes until golden and then top with the tuna melt mixture some sliced tomatos and cheese slices and then bake it for a few minutes longer.  This is absolutely delicious!  A salad on the side and dinner is served.  Your family will think you slaved all day! Kids love this easy bake!


Remove the crust from the oven. Spread the tuna mixture over top thinly, covering it completely. Top with the tomato and cheese slices in a decorative manner.  Return to the oven for 3 to 4 minutes to melt the cheese.  Cut into wedges to serve.  Serve hot.