Raisin Bread: The Bread Machine Way

Good news! I finally got a real  run in yesterday. We got out of class two hours early so I was able to hit up the indoor track. I quickly realized why I did not enjoy running on it while I was an undergrad (overcrowding, dry air, boooring), but it felt awesome to get in some speed.

Anyway, two weeks ago, while I was on my "detox" I had the BIGGEST cravings for raisin bread. The weird part is I couldn't remember the last time I had had it. Where was that craving coming from?

So once my "detox" was over, what do you think I made?

Whole wheat raisin bread

While it satisfied my craving, it could have used more than 1 cup of raisins. The raisins soaked in water an hour before being added into the bread dough, but perhaps a longer soaking time would have made them better. 

Whole Wheat Raisin Bread

Adapted from Food.com

Ingredients 

1 cup water

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 cups all-purpose flower

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon 

2 1/2 teaspoons yeast

1 cup raisins, soaked*

*Soak the raisins in a bowl of water before adding them. I soaked them about an hour, but perhaps a longer soak is needed*

Directions

1. Add ingredients to the bread machine, leaving out the raisins. 

2. Set bread machine to "sweet" bread and begin baking process

3. Add raisins on first beep. 

Serve warm with butter and enjoy!

New Duds Chili Cookoff

Do you like Chili?

I wouldn't touch it when I was little. I had a weird thing where I wouldn't eat the foods that my dad ate. Peppers, onions, pickles, frog legs, Italian sandwiches, you name it. He thought I was the pickiest eater. I thought he just ate weird things.

Little did he nor I know that I would be dating a guy that LOVES chili. The first time I ate it was my senior year in college. Or perhaps it was our junior year. Anyway, that's when Tom started his chili-making tradition and since then it has earned a place at our dinner table each winter. 

Yesterday New Duds hosted their THIRD ANNUAL CHILI COOK-OFF!!! (Can you tell that I was excited about it?)

There were 13 different Chili recipes to try and this year was by far the best tasting year. I had five favorites, each very different from the others. It was difficult for me to make my voting decision. 

Tasting plate # 1

My favorite was from this guy, Ben. His chili, called "Good Mems", included chocolate and Heady Topper by the Alchemist. His lime croutons were absolutely delicious, and were perfect with the chili. We couldn't stop munching on them after the judging. 

More photos from the event are on the New Duds Facebook page. 

Tom didn't compete this year but tested out a new Chili recipe a few weeks ago from Tracey's Culinary Adventures: her Slow Cooker Tequila Lime Chili.

It was delicious! It had a touch of tequila and lime and the spice was perfect for Dani's tastebuds. We even made it a second time so we could have more left overs. And no chili would be complete without cornbread.

I used the cornbread recipe from Baking Illustrated. I've said it before and I'll say it again: this is an awesome baking book and would make a great Christmas gift for the baker on your list! I have yet to come across a bad recipe. In fact, I don't believe it's possible for these people.

Oh, and remember how I wouldn't touch the foods my dad ate? I now love all of the items I listed. Except for the frog legs.... 

CSA: Weeks 6 and 7

Summer is in full swing which means we're starting to get the REALLY good veggies! I've been quite happy with the type of veggies we've gotten over the last two weeks, but we discovered that we've needed more than the CSA has been giving us. I found myself going to the farm stand at work or to Montpelier's farmer's market on Saturdays to get extra veggies. It seems odd to be going out for extra veggies instead of extra desserts!. I'ts been really neat to see new, random veggies, like purple carrots and purple peppers.

Last week's CSA included Mesclun mix, red Norland potatoes, colorful (purple!) carrots, (purple!) sweet peppers, pearl onions, turnips, parsley, kale, eggplant, and tomatoes.

We've made a lot of dishes over the last two weeks. While they were good, none have looked appealing enough to take a photo. There's been baked haddock with peppers, onions, and tomatoes, as well as kale chips (which are super easy to make). We used the eggplant on Saturday night to make eggplant Parmesan with fresh basil. A safety dish that's always delicious is oven roasted potatoes. Last night I threw in the carrots, onions, and parsley to jazz up the dish. 

My most favorite thing to make this time of year is bruschetta. Actually, I could eat it all year round. Tom's become the master bruschetta maker: He chops up a tomato, adds some garlic, olive oil, and basil, then adds it to the top of fresh bread. Next he adds Mozzarella cheese before putting it in the oven to broil. He went a little overboard with the garlic last Wednesday.There's no way either of us were getting close enough for a kiss after that meal!

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

I randomly get cravings for zucchini bread, but they usually occur throughout the summer when zucchini is in season. That wasn't the case this weekend.

I ended up working at Hannaford both Saturday and Sunday. Everyone was buying zucchini and summer squash. Why? Because it was 99 cents/lb! After coming to that conclusion, I decided to make zucchini bread! I decided to try a new recipe. Life gets boring if you use the same one time after time.

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups grated zucchini

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup vanilla yogurt

1 egg

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

3/4 cup chocolate chips (more or less for your liking)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of 5x9 inch bread pan.

2. Grate zucchini and add brown sugar, olive oil, yogurt, and egg. Mix well.

3. Mix dry ingredients (all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg)

4. Add dry ingredients to bowl of wet ingredients and mix. Add chocolate chips and mix.

5. Pour mixture into the greased loaf pan. Bake in the oven for 50 minutes or until a toothpick through the center comes out clean.

I enjoy this recipe quite a lot. The bread was super moist and the chocolate chips made it a great dessert. It was a bit dense, so it filled me up quicker than other breads. I would definitely make this recipe again, but maybe bake it a few minutes longer (as a personal preference for not-so-moist-bread).

Thanksgiving

I'm starting to get used to living in Montpelier, however, I'm getting too much into a pattern. I get home from work and am too tired to do anything. I watch TV at night, something I never did before. Not that it's bad, but I'm not being as productive as I'm used to. I signed up for a cake decorating class at Michael's that starts this coming Monday. I'm hoping that'll jazz things up a bit and make my work days better since I'll have something to look forward to when I get out. It has four classes that'll meet during the next two weeks, and it was actually very cheap, only $22.50. I'll have to buy my own supplies during the first class, but since I'll have them for years to come, I'm quite OK with that.

This Thanksgiving I went home to my dad's house. It was just us, my brother, and his girlfriend. I made my very first apple pie the night before. We also had a Costco pie there as well so I was able to compare the two. I have to admit, I liked mine a lot more. It didn't look pretty, but I liked the taste. I got the recipe from Martha Stewart, except I used Hannaford-brand pie crust instead of making my own. The only think I would have changed was to put less lemon juice in it.

I also had my first attempt at making homemade rolls. They didn't come out as fluffy as I was hoping, and I definitely realized why we buy our bread in the bread isle already sliced. It took me so long to make them. I know that I could have bought rolls or even the frozen dough, but Thanksgiving for me is about home-cooked-meals, that take time. It's one of the few times I get to go home and have a meal with my family.

I really enjoyed the time at home (even though it was 83 degrees in my house!). It's always a little bitter-sweet since my mom's not there with us. I don't think I'll get used to holidays without her.

So it's now Christmas season, which means its time for me to start making fudge. I had wanted to make some today and it was one of the reasons that I took today off. However, my car decided to crap out on me. I need a new muffler badly. I brought it to a garage that wanted to charge me $419. If only I was made of money... Luckily my brother offered to fix it tomorrow. I'd so much rather pay him than someone else but I feel bad for taking time out of his weekend. I'm definitely very lucky to have him and my dad around.