Goodbye Bread

Dear Bread,

You are delicious.  I have loved you for a long time and in all varieties.  When I was in gradeschool I used to make PB and J sandwiches on Butternut, or sometimes mayo and banana pepper for a change of pace.  That's a little gross now that I think about it.  Or remember when my gradeschool BF and me wanted to open up a grilled cheese restaurant?  We tested a lot of bready cheesey sammies out in those days.

In high school I became addicted to paninis.  Is there anything more delicious than a warm and gooey panini? I don't think so.  You've always kept me company in restaurants, giving my hands something to do while I chatter away, dipping you in balsamic and olive oil.

On my trips to France I gained a whole new appreciation for you, and by gained I mean I gained 5 pounds.  But who could resist a fresh crusty french bread covered in smelly camenbert?  yum.

Yesterday I had lunch at an organic cafe, it's my favorite place to eat here.  I had coconut and butternut squash soup served with a slice of thick, fresh, yeasty multigrain.  It was the perfect accompaniment to my soup.  Hearty, but spongy and delicate at the same time.

However, 15 minutes after lunch I started to get a stomachache.  And by the time we were driving home from work I felt like someone was stabbing me in the gut.  It was pretty painful.  And I know it was your fault, bread.  I feel really upset about this, because I have enjoyed your company for so long, but it seems we're not good for each other anymore.  I am trying to say good bye but it hurts a little.  I'm not sure what's worse, the pain that eating gluten causes or trying to rid myself of the emotional attachment I have to you, and your various comforting friends, like pizza crust and pasta and baked goods.

I guess what I'm trying to say is this is going to be a tearful goodbye, but this doomed relationship needs to be over.

I'll miss you dearly, but I'm hoping getting rid of you will make me feel better and better.

Love,
Kelly

ps.  Friends if any of you are gluten free and have any tips or tricks for baking I would appreciate it!

Bread Dumplings with Mushroom Cream Sauce

For my family's first day in Sheffield we decided to keep things low key and we had dinner at our house. 

I saw this recipe for bread dumplings in mushroom cream sauce

 on Design*Sponge and I needed an excuse to make them.

See I usually try to avoid eating bread and cream for dinner,

 but my parents arrival was just the justification I needed...

I followed this recipe pretty well...

 except I doubled it and fried the dumplings in butter.

Judge me, whatever.

I'm starting a juice detox on Wednesday if you must know.

Anyways, then we smothered them in this white wine mushroom cream sauce...

Now thats what I call a double whammy!

If you're trying to serve a meat and potatoes kind of guy (my dad) vegetarian food, 

I would recommend this stodgy deliciousness.

Cheers to that!

Then Nick and I took Lizzie out on the town to "analyze European culture."

Somehow we ended up buying her a lot of drinks. 

(In typical youngest child fashion, everything gets handed to her.) 

This college girl can definitely drink me under the table.  

I'm such a lightweight now that I'm an old married woman.

Eeeeeek!

Hope you had a good Monday!

Spicy Cornbread for Chilly Snow Days

The "Big Freeze" is upon us in England right now.  We've had about a foot of snow and I love it!  My good friend Stuart from Australia is here visiting now, and before he arrived I thought I needed to make a little something to take the edge off the cold for him and his warm weather acclimated Aussie self.

Enter Cheddar Jalapeño Cornbread muffins.  I was SO excited to find cornmeal in the grocery store last week - you hardly ever see it around here.  And thanks to those kind people at Total, I used their delicious Greek Yogurt in this recipe and it turned out perfectly.

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 450 ml or 1 3/4 cup Total Greek Yogurt
• 50g melted butter*
• 65g plain flour
• 1tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp salt1 
• tbsp brown sugar
• 275g fine cornmeal
• 1 jar (about 100 grams) Old El Paso jalapeños - drained and chopped.
• 100 grams sharp cheddar, diced

Preheat oven to 200 C (300 F) In a large bowl, whisk 2 eggs, 450 ml Total Greek yogurt, and 50g melted butter.  In another bowl, sift dry ingredients together - 65g plain flour, 1tsp baking soda, 2 tsp salt, 275g cornmeal, and 1 tbsp brown sugar.  Fold in the jalapeños and cheddar.  Bake for about 15 minutes.

They are so delicious warm and perfect for a quick snack after a day of making snow angels and frolicking in the winter wonderland  They're the perfect comfort food and the cheddar/jalepeno combination is always one of my favorites.  Total Greek Yogurt kept the texture perfectly moist as well.  I would HIGHLY recommend you makes these... ummm right now!!  

The only thing I would do differently next time is to cook these in a small greased baking tin instead of in muffin cases.  They seemed to stick to the sides of the cases a little more than I would've liked.  

*I used salted butter accidentally and therefore added a tbsp of brown sugar to cut the saltiness, but I'm not sure this would be necessary if you used unsalted butter.  

Trois Bananes Jaunes

When I was 14 I went to France with my Aunt Suzy and her family.  In order to prepare me for my trip to France, my mom hired a french tutor.  She was a nice lady but I was being forced to learn french (aka study) over summer, which meant I really didn't try in these classes too much.  When I finally left for France surprisingly the only phrase I seemed to have picked up during these tutoring sessions was "trois banane jaunes" french for "three yellow bananas". In case you were wondering, I can't really think of a reason this phrase would ever be useful in France.  Unless entertaining your English-speaking French relatives with stories of your mother's failed attempts at providing you with a French education.  Money well spent mom!

However, if you have trois bananes jaunes lying around your house then you might want to make some banana bread with them.

Ingredients

• trois bananes jaunes
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/3 cup chopped nuts

Preheat the oven to 350 F or 180 C.  In a large bowl, mash your bananas, then add the rest of the ingredients and stir.  Put the dough in a greased loaf pan and pop it in the oven for 55 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

This banana bread is really easy to make, which is its strong suit.  It tasted good but for some reason it kept falling apart when I sliced it.  Oh well, Bon Appetit!

French Bread and Cheese - It's a Classic

As promised I made my own French bread to go with the cheeses we bought at the festival on Sunday.  I found this recipe on La Fuji Mama's blog and it was pretty darn easy and super tasty.  It definitely wasn't exactly the same as real French French bread.  The texture was a bit denser - this seems to be the problem with all my breads - I want fluffy bread!  Does anyone know how to fix this?  But still you can't beat fresh from the oven bread, even if its not entirely fluffy.

I cut the ingredients down from the original recipe so I only made one loaf - which disappeared quickly between three people.  Here's the recipe for one delightful loaf of bread...

Ingredients

• 1 packet (7 grams or 3/4 tbsp) dry active yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1 cup hot water
• 1.5 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 1/4 cup oil
• 3 cups all purpose flour

In a small bowl dissolve yeast with 1/4 cup warm water and 1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar.  In a large bowl, mix 1 cup of hot water with 1.5 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tbsp salt, and 1/4 cup oil.  Add 1.5 cups of flour to this and mix well. Then add your yeast mixture to this.  Add another 1.5 cups of flour and mix again.  Let the dough sit like this for one hour.

It'll seem like a gooey sticky mess - but thats OK.  After an hour take the dough out and on a heavily floured surface roll it into a rectangular shape.

Then roll your dough into a log, folding it under at the ends to form the iconic French bread shape.  Spray some PAM on a baking sheet and put your dough on it and let it rise again for a half hour or so.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F or 200 degrees C.  After your bread has risen slice the top of it diagonally 3 or 4 times and then pop it in the oven for 25-30 minutes (this is the time according to the recipe - ours needed about 35 minutes).

And you will get something that looks like this...

Which you can serve with something that looks like this....

And there you have it.  French bread and cheese - an unbeatable combination!