First catering job :)

A couple of months ago, a friend of mine from work asked me if I ever catered parties. I thought she was just making conversation. "Well, no, except for my brother's rehearsal dinner last year."

"Would you want to?"

She asked me if I would be interested in handling the food for a bachelorette party she was throwing for another coworker. I put the date in my calendar, said I would for sure at least help if not cook everything myself, and promptly put it out of my mind until Thanksgiving was over.

Suddenly Thanksgiving was over, we were swamped with parent-teacher conferences, dance class, and various pre-holiday social engagements, and it was time for the party! Eek!

My hostess friend has absolutely no interest in or knowledge about food/feeding large groups, so she told me that the bride-to-be likes brie, teriyaki wings, and these special chocolate nut goodie bars from a local grocery store. She'd handle picking up the alcohol and nut goodie bars; the rest was up to me. Twenty guests, five o'clock on a Saturday.

I decided we needed another dessert (after all, some silly people don't like chocolate!), which ended up being a good thing because the store only had one small tray of bars. I made mini strawberry swirl cheesecakes, based off of this recipe from Annie's Eats. I replaced the raspberries with strawberries in the puree and baked the cheesecakes in my mini muffin tin in little foil papers. (The minis baked for about 18 minutes.) I was a little disappointed that the cheesecakes sank slightly in the middle after they cooled, but they were still pretty cute and very delicious. Definitely a recipe to make again.

For our "main dishes," I used this recipe from Tracey for crockpot teriyaki chicken wings. I upped the wings to four pounds, but was still surprised by how few there were. I would double the recipe for a large party next time. I didn't get a report on how these turned out, but the crockpot came back empty.

I also made these turkey-spinach-boursin roll up sandwiches. I first made this recipe for a baby shower, and have made them for several road trips. They are delicious and so easy to eat. Apparently they were a hit and completely disappeared.

Because you never want to run out of food, I whipped up an easy cold pasta salad to fill things out: a pound of pasta, eight ounces of fresh mozzarella, a package of halved grape tomatoes, sliced basil, sliced black olives, and a simple vinaigrette.

For the brie, I made a golden raisin compote from Cooking Light. I didn't have time to try it, but one of the party guests said it was so good, she could've licked it out of the bowl. :) I made six baguette using Peter Reinhart's pain a l'ancienne recipe from Artisan Breads Everyday - always a winner.

Finally (although maybe they should've gone first), I made two dips: my favorite red pepper hummus and a black bean hummus (not an attractive color, by the way!). I served the dips with sliced bell peppers, carrot sticks, and pita chips. And I added some grapes because a meal isn't complete without a little fruit.


Hubby drove me to the hotel and was my faithful assistant, helping me set up. Apparently the party was a smashing success; as for us, we went Christmas shopping for the kiddos.

I'd agreed to do this catering job to help out a friend, because it sounded like fun, but mostly, just to see if I could do it...and I did! :)

Unprocessed October: Productive weekend

Cinnamon-roasted almonds, maple-almond-vanilla granola, whole wheat butterscotch blondies (this recipe with all white whole wheat flour, the lesser amount of sugar, and only a cup of chips), homemade chocolate sauce (based off of this recipe), toast bread (made with white whole wheat flour), and whole wheat hot dog buns for a backyard pretend camp-out. (The almonds and blondies were for a house-warming gifts...not that we didn't enjoy the leftovers. :-) And I added a jar of granola to the gift, too.)

Gave these applesauce-carrot whole wheat muffins a try. And discovered a bonus of my new Vitamix. The recipe called for unsweetened applesauce; I cored a large apple, cut it into a few chunks, and pureed it. Then I needed grated carrots, so I peeled a couple, cut them into chunks, and ran the blender on a lower speed. Sweet!

I finally got the little guy his own Planetbox, and we debuted it at the zoo today. The Planetboxes make packing lunches so much fun, and they make eating so much fun, too. The kids love opening them up and evaluating each compartment. Normally I don't get to see their response to their lunches (of course, since they're at school), so it was neat for me to get to see what they choose to eat first and how they go about tackling their lunches.

His: whole wheat pumpkin muffin (from the freezer), apple slices, pickle, pb & j on whole wheat toast bread, and a tiny piece of blondie bar

Hers: pistachios, cashews, apples and peanut butter, pickle, almond crackers, and a tiny piece of blondie bar

I posted this on the wonderfully supportive Unprocessed October 2013 Facebook group, about an unprocessed parenting win this weekend: I have been trying to be moderate in my expectations for my little ones (ages 5 & 6) following October Unprocessed. All of their packed lunches and dinners at home are unprocessed, but when grandparents give them a store-bought cookie or muffin or something, I haven't been freaking out. We talk a lot about food, but I don't want to be so hard core that they rebel whenever possible. I was rewarded today when we went to the zoo and they each received a package of fun-sized skittles. They were so excited! And then after eating a few, they decided they were done and threw away the rest. :-)

100% whole wheat lunches!

On Monday, I begin making four school lunches each morning because somehow (don't ask me how), my little one heads off to kindergarten this week.

I think the biggest change is going to be preparation... I can occasionally fly by the seat of my pants when making lunch for hubby and myself... And I was able to punt with the little guy's lunch a couple of times last year. But she doesn't eat the pre-prepared organic snacks (jammy sammies, smoothie pouches, applesauce pouches) that I used as emergency back-ups for him. And they prefer such different foods. And then I have to take into account time: I need to put in easy-to-eat foods that they can get through in their super short lunch period. And the little guy is much hungrier these days.

Anyway, I need to prepare. Today, I spent four hours of the afternoon making some 100% whole wheat lunch box goodies: Hamelman's toast bread, KAF's whole wheat blueberry muffins (for him), KAF's whole wheat chocolate chip muffins (for her, made with a little less sugar and less than half of the called-for chocolate chips), and KAF's whole wheat chocolate chip cookies (for all of us, made with half the called-for chips, in tablespoon sized for this weekend and teaspoon sized for lunches).

I've started making a lunch schedule, too, which hangs next to our weekly dinner plan. Wish me luck!

The miracle ingredient ~ and Joanna's kefir bread

My little girl has been having tummy troubles for a while, although we've only recently realized that she's probably had some version of acid-reflux for quite a long time. I thought she was just burping incessantly to annoy me (bad mother award!). Her doctor prescribed antacids, which seemed to do the trick; but after a month or so, I began to get concerned about giving a five year old antacids twice a day...if we even missed one dose, she was back to burping and tummy discomfort. Were we supposed to do it forever? But my research indicated that long-term use could cause all sorts of problems.

Browsing online, I looked for natural helps for acid reflux, and a common one was chewing gum after meals. So we tried that. It seemed to work okay, although not quite as efficiently as the antacids. And then I thought, isn't it crazy after all of our work to switch to real foods to be giving my daughter something that is nothing but chemicals twice a day? *sigh*

Finally, I was talking to my girl friend, and she mentioned that when her little one was having GI problems, they tried kefir and the problems cleared right up. Ke-what? I'd never heard of kefir. I started researching, reading, questioning, and it truly seemed like the miracle ingredient: cures acid reflux, any tummy troubles, some even claim diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer.... Will it clean my house?! Just kidding. But seriously, I couldn't find any negatives of drinking kefir anywhere. So we bought some; I was skeptical that she would drink it, but she did and she loved it and it seemed to make her feel better. And it contained a lot of sugar. And was something like $4 for a tiny little bottle that only lasted us a couple of days, and that was only if the rest of us didn't have any.

So back to research. I discovered that if you got some healthy grains, you could make kefir yourself, and then you could decide how to flavor it and how much sugar to add...and it reproduces eternally, as long as you do it right, so you don't have to keep buying it. I purchased some milk grains from the KefirLady. It was harder than I thought; at first, it tasted and smelled really funky and we had to toss jar after jar. But after a week, I tried rinsing the grains and then I bought some fancy organic whole milk instead of grocery store 2% milk. And sure enough, we immediately noticed a difference.

Adding fresh milk; kefir grains on the left

Since then, we've been producing about 3 cups a day, enough for all of us to have kefir smoothies once a day, and for me to make "kefiracles" (extra kefir smoothies frozen in popsicle molds). But because kefir needs to be made daily (gotta feed those hungry grains!), if we miss a day of smoothies, I end up with extra kefir.

And wouldn't you know it, right as I had an extra batch of kefir, Joanna posted this recipe for date syrup kefir bread! Well, that was meant to be, wasn't it? Jo helpfully suggested that I could use honey (I didn't have any date syrup), and I got to work, following her instructions and bread formula. I made the preferment and left it to bubble for 18 hours. It's a little shocking to use kefir, water, flour, and honey, and have it bubble...with no yeast or sourdough starter.

Joanna's formula worked perfectly for me (I used part KAF bread flour and part KAF white whole wheat) ~ and it made a nice, supple, soft, slightly tacky dough. It smelled just like a sourdough. Like sourdough, it took a long time on its first rise; for a while, I wondered if it was even rising. But when I did stretch-and-folds, I could feel the dough deflate, so I knew there was some rising going on. I pulled out my old round banneton and shaped the dough into a boule (haven't done that in ages!). I was expecting another long rise, but the dough filled the basket in only about 90 minutes.

Eggs-in-a-nest for breakfast...made from fresh kefir bread!

I used an egg wash, and baked it for...probably about 40 minutes? First at 470º and then lowering it to 360º. I tented it with foil at the end because it was getting so dark.

I'm still in awe that kefir could make such a perfect sourdoughy loaf...the bread was delicious, made excellent toast. It was sourdough-like without being too sour. And it didn't have any store-bought instant yeast or sourdough starter. And I didn't have to spend a week waking up my sourdough starter. How cool is that?!

Our kefir smoothies:
Little girl: 1/2 c plain kefir, 2 T (ish) homemade chocolate syrup, 1/2 banana, 3 ice cubes
Hubby & me: 1/2 c plain kefir, 2 T homemade chocolate syrup or small handful of chocolate chips, 1/2 banana, 1 T natural creamy peanut butter, 5 ice cubes
Little guy: 1/2 c plain kefir, various amounts and combinations of frozen fruits

Cooking out West

As I said yesterday, we have just returned from spending almost a month with my in-laws. Last summer, their house was in complete disarray; they were in the process of putting in an addition, as well as doing a complete kitchen remodel. Last summer, my mother-in-law moved all of her kitchen into her dining room and survived by cooking with only a microwave. But this summer, we got to enjoy the fruits of the labor, and I enjoyed every minute working in the new kitchen.


While we were there, my in-laws welcomed some friends whom they hadn't seen in twenty years. My mother-in-law and I had great fun preparing a dinner to feed 13 people, centered around her famous garden linguine recipe. I made two batches of Peter Reinhart's pain a l'ancienne (recipe here), most of which I turned into garlic bread. (A couple loaves were left plain for the non-garlic lovers.)

I also baked a batch of these banana split brownies to go with my sister-in-law's homemade Tagalong ice cream.


The next morning, my hubby baked a batch of his famous fancy scrambled eggs (eggs with onions, ham, and cheddar), and, having had both cinnamon rolls and blueberry muffins requested, I made both! I used Peter Reinhart's all-purpose sweet dough recipe for the cinnamon rolls (recipe here) and a Cook's Illustrated recipe (via Tracey's site) for best blueberry muffins. I actually baked the muffins twice over our vacation; they truly are the best.


Finally, we took our annual camping trip to Yellowstone. In previous years, we've just brought cold foods in the cooler and visited Yellowstone restaurants, but this year, hubby decided we should actually cook at the camp site. As we pulled into the campgrounds, dime size hail began to fall on the car, and my intrepid hubby built our fire through a continuous rainfall.

For dinner, I'd prepared hobo packets. Hubby was expecting the traditional simple ground beef, potatoes, carrots, and a little butter, but since I was preparing them at home, I decided to go a little fancier. I was inspired by this post on 100 Days of Real Food, and I used her marinade (olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, basil, thyme, oregano, and salt). In the packets, I included chicken sausage, onion, potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, and a green pepper (only in hubby's...the rest of us don't like peppers). With our packets, we had yogurt and fruit. We, of course (we were camping after all), enjoyed s'mores for dessert.

For breakfast the next morning, we made campfire eggs-in-a-nest, which was about the most delicious way possible to start our day.

A journey to whole wheat

When I first started baking, I followed every recipe exactly...most breads and all cookies/muffins/etc relying exclusively on unbleached all-purpose flour. Some of my bread recipes during my various challenges called for other types: whole wheat, rye, pumpernickel, corn. My cabinets filled with different types of flour, but it was still the all-purpose that we purchased in twenty pound sacks and cycled through at unbelievable speed.

Eventually I heard enough/read enough to realize the benefits of whole grain and, following many recommendations, I started subbing in whole wheat - and then white whole wheat - for a quarter of my all-purpose flour. Gradually I started adding more and more, until finally, with this unprocessed challenge, I wondered, "What would happen if I used all white whole wheat...would anyone even notice?" The simple answer is: No.



Burger buns: I used KAF's best beautiful buns, but subbed in 400 g white whole wheat and 20 g vital wheat gluten. Made twice - gorgeous, fluffy, buttery buns both times.



Crackers: I used this buttermilk whole grain cracker recipe, subbing in a combination of white whole wheat and ground flax seeds. Yum!



Muffins: I've been subbing in increasing amounts of white whole wheat flour for the all-purpose in our muffins: garden harvest, banana chocolate chip. Scones, too, starting with Smitten Kitchen whole wheat berry scones. Sometimes I put in a scoopful of all-purpose, but the majority is always white whole wheat. Everyone gobbles them up just as quickly as before.



Pizza crust: I tried my first 100% whole wheat pizza crust this past week, and it was amazingly delicious. I used this recipe from KAF, omitting the sunflower seeds.



Spaghetti noodles: I've already written about these; we love them!



Tortillas: My biggest unprocessed/whole wheat success story may be these tortillas. We've had them with fajitas three times in the past two weeks, and they are so good. The kids aren't big fans, but they've tried them every time, in the hopes that eventually the taste will become more acceptable. Hubby and I love them, though, and I am getting so much better at making them. Last time, it took me only 20 minutes to roll and cook the whole batch!



Cookies: While this unprocessed challenge has helped us cut down on sweets a lot, every once in a while you need a little something, and I was intrigued by these 100% whole wheat chocolate chip cookies from KAF. It's true that they have a fair amount of processed sugars, but we tried them anyway. The little girl and I had fun baking them together this afternoon. We made tiny teaspoon-sized cookies, which baked perfectly in eight minutes, and hit the spot as a little after-dinner treat!

What I've been up to: a mishmash

Oh, my, has it really been that long?! One post in October, zero in November, a few in December, and one in the first six weeks of the new year.

The funny reason that I've been so absent (besides the normal full-time-working-mother with a partner with a broken kneecap complaints of being busy) is actually technology. My work computer (my only computer) was ancient in technological terms: seven years old, too old to run our grading program, too old to accept any updates, too old to find the internet. I stopped bringing it home, instead relying on my iPad and iPhone, both of which I love and am addicted to, but neither of which is great for typing. And thus, no blogging.

Happily, when our building tech committee reviewed the applications for new computers, they chose me! And last Friday, my new computer was delivered. It is amazing: it not only finds the internet, but even jumps from site to site in seconds. Beautiful. So I'm hoping to get back into the swing of blogging...while it sometimes feels like a chore, I've missed writing about cooking and recording my baking adventures...and mostly, talking to like-minded food bloggers about food. :)

A couple of weekends ago, I tried these cinnamon roll muffins from Tracey's site. I liked the idea of cinnamon rolls that could be made on a moment's notice, as they are frequently requested here, and the kids are not always happy to hear that cinnamon roll dough takes a while. These muffins were incredibly quick. The kiddos weren't sure about them at first, but the dozen disappeared in a weekend, so I guess they were a hit. Even knowing ahead of time that they would be biscuit-like, I still missed the cinnamon roll texture, so I'll probably stick to the real thing in the future.



Although I haven't been blogging, I've still been talking to my Twitter pals, and I jumped on board when several people were baking these Asiago bagels from KAF a few weeks ago. I made them for bookclub, and they were a hit, although (no big surprise) the kiddos didn't like them. I am not a big cheesy bread person, so they weren't my favorite either, but it's always fun to try a new bagel recipe.









My friend Rebecca tweeted about these pretzel rolls a while ago; they are a favorite at her house. She talked about how easy they were to make, and how delicious they were. I asked for the recipe, but it took forever for me to try them. This Monday, the kiddos and I had the day off from school. We had some big plans, but ended up spending the entire day playing in our pjs, and I finally had a chance to try the pretzel rolls. As promised, they were easy, and had a delightful pretzely flavor and light, fluffy texture. Hubby and I loved them. We weren't able to finish them, so he brought them to school this morning, and I heard they were an absolute hit with his first block students.






I also made these scones for breakfast, subbing in strawberries for the raspberries, and adding a handful of white chocolate chips. I really think these are the best scones I've ever had, so incredibly moist. I baked one tray the first morning and froze the rest. They have provided us with a delightful breakfast treat on two other mornings, and I already have plans to bake another batch.







Finally, we've been reading a lot of Harry Potter around here, and after reading about the delicious butterbeer, I decided we had to try it. I found a bunch of recipes online, but eventually settled on this one, which is apparently served at Disney, and which (apparently) JK Rowling says tastes the way she imagines butterbeer tastes. I used the not-so-simple recipe at the bottom of the article, subbing in vanilla extract for the rum extract. Fun to make and fun to sip, but holy moly was it ever sweet! No one could have more than a sip or two at a time.

And that's the start of what I've been up to! I'm hoping to get up some other posts over the next few days...and hoping that will get me back into the swing of things. We shall see!

The gift of years

When I started this blog a little over three years ago, I was an enthusiastic baker (and cook), but not a very experienced one. I wanted to broaden my horizons, but was nervous to try new recipes, reluctant to stray from recipes as written, and quick to panic when anything didn't go as planned. I eagerly joined challenges (the BBA followed by the Modern Bakers and the Mellow Bakers), hoping to learn more.



This Christmas, I really felt the difference the past few years have made. For one thing, I made everything - Christmas Eve dinner (chicken wild rice soup in bread bowls, salad with poppyseed dressing, doughnuts), Christmas morning breakfast (BBA cinnamon rolls), and Christmas dinner (glazed ham, mashed potatoes, rolls, green bean casserole, sugared cranberries, rustic apple pie, and vanilla bean ice cream) completely from scratch, and without asking our guests to bring anything.



Recipes that just a couple of years ago gave me fits - Maida's big apple pie, which I swore I would never make again - came together without a hitch.

Mishaps were easily dealt with: when the roll dough I was working with (a new recipe that I'd altered slightly - still not sure what went wrong) just would not behave normally, even after an hour of doctoring/waiting, I tossed it and was still able to have fresh rolls on the table at 6:00.



I was able to add two new recipes: these sugared cranberries which looked beautiful and were a good way to use up part of a leftover bag of berries, and this from-scratch green bean casserole which I absolutely loved (but I'm glad I didn't try it for Thanksgiving because I don't think it would've gone over well with the traditionalists).

When I realized in the midst of getting ready to put the ham in the oven that I'd forgotten to buy apple cider, I confidently subbed in chicken broth, and wasn't upset when it meant that the final product wasn't quite as good as last year's.

I'm so happy that even though everything in my kitchen doesn't turn out perfectly every time, I now have the experience and confidence not to panic, or get frustrated and give up, or even worse, let it ruin the celebration. Because a happy, healthy family, gathered together around the table, laughing and eating, is of course what the holidays are really about.

Wordless Wednesday: Bread Geek Pretty

I love this kind of Sunday

Hubby spent the day reading The Fellowship of the Ringto the kids and then watching football while the kids were upstairs building giant forts out of every pillow and blanket in the house.

I spent the day in the kitchen. Hadn't planned on it, but things kept coming up, and at the end of the day, I was looking at this counter full of food. I love it.



Today's breakfast treat was pumpkin doughnut muffins, recommended by Di. I made a half recipe, which made eight muffins. I baked them for 26 minutes; we loved the flavor but they were a tad dry...I'll take them out earlier next time.

Rebecca tweeted about Sara's baked applesauce yesterday, conveniently a day we spent at the orchard. I made 5 pounds of apples with a sprinkling of sugar, cinnamon, and fresh nutmeg, and they baked for about 55 minutes. It made a much smaller yield than I'm accustomed to, but this is easily the best applesauce I've ever tasted in my life (and that's with forgetting to add the pats of butter!).

My little girl has a cold and was sneezy and drippy all morning; I said, "What about chicken noodle soup for dinner tonight?" "YES! [it's a favorite] With flour bread!" That's what the kiddos call ciabatta, because of the dusting of flour. I got right to work, using the recipe from ABED, and letting five hours in the middle of the day sub for the overnight rest it's supposed to get.

And then I remembered reading Deb's post for chicken noodle soup the other day, and decided to give it a try. I always make turkey stock for gravy, but believe it or not, I've never made my own chicken stock for soup. I ended up using a combination of Deb's recipe and the recipe from ATK's family cookbook. Knowing that I wanted broth for tonight's soup, as well as tomorrow's dinner, I upped the recipe by about half. The soup was so good, with a light and clear broth. I'm not sure it will fit into our schedules to make it this way all the time (we eat chicken noodle soup a lot), but if I have a Sunday at home, I can certainly see stocking up (hehe) again.

Finally, I picked up a bag of Meyer lemons at the grocery store today and it's been ages since we've had homemade ice cream, so I whipped up a batch of Meyer lemon curd frozen yogurt.

It was a good day.

Homemade chicken stock
makes 13 cups broth, 6 cups cubed chicken
5 pounds chicken pieces (I used 4 leg quarters and 2 bone-in breasts)
1 1/2 onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 T salt
freshly ground pepper
12 c water
1 T safflower oil
1. In large stock pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook until softened and beginning to brown, about 4 minutes.
2. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and add half to the pan, making sure the skin is touching the bottom of the pan. Cook 10 minutes, until chicken is nicely browned. Remove first batch of chicken and repeat with second batch.
3. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer with the lid mostly on until chicken is done (took about 45 minutes for me; some of my chicken pieces were very large). (Skim off scum as necessary.)
4. Remove chicken. Let cool, remove skin and bones, and chop.
5. Strain stock into a large measuring cup.

Chicken noodle soup
makes 7 servings
2 tsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 parsnips, chopped
1 small potato, chopped
1 tsp dried thyme
8 c broth
6 oz egg noodles
3 c cubed chicken
1. Heat oil in large stock pot (I used the same one I'd cooked the stock in) over medium heat. Add veggies and cook for 4 minutes.
2. Add broth, bring to a boil, and simmer 15 minutes.
3. Add noodles and cook for time on package, adding the chicken for the last 2 minutes of cooking time.
4. Serve with flour bread and fresh baked applesauce. :-)


A simple meal, but it makes me happy to know that I know the ingredients of everything I put on the table because it was all made right here.

Rebecca's challah

I love twitterbakes. When I heard that Kayte, Margaret, Nancy, and Di were all going to bake Rebecca's family challah recipe one Sunday, I just had to jump on board. Most of the challah recipes I've tried have just tasted like enriched white bread; the only one that tasted like real challah was the very first one I tried, Joan Nathan's recipe via Smitten Kitchen.

It was so fun to get challah updates throughout the day and to read about everyone's different braiding experiences. Due to house guests, I was behind most everyone else, but finally finished my bread late Sunday night (mine did not take the full 30 minutes to bake). This bread was fabulous; the flavor was spot-on challah. We nibbled on slices plain for a snack, and then enjoyed a big dinner of French toast. The kids brought the rest of the loaf to Grandpa Daycare the next day for a French toast breakfast.

Rebecca posted her challah just in time for the Jewish New Year....L'Shana Tova!

Whole wheat rolls (TWD: BwJ)

I seem to be in a once-per-month swing with TWD, but such is the busy life of the beginning of the school year. I was happy to see that one of the September recipes was a nice, easy bread. I know bread baking stresses some people out, but it requires so much less attention and thought than some fancy-schmancy dessert; it's just perfect for me for this time of year. :-)

This whole wheat dough was gorgeous and so easy to work with.....I only had 13 ounces of whole wheat flour, so I used white whole wheat for the other 2 ounces required, and I used bread flour for the rest. Using the info at the beginning of the book, I weighed out the flour, using 5 ounces for each cup of flour. The measurements were just perfect; I didn't have to add anything else.

Because I needed to start making school lunches, I decided to make rolls for lunch sandwiches. My little guy is in his first few days of kindergarten. (sniff) I made nine 3 1/2 ounce rolls and then froze the other half of the dough to use some week when I'm too busy to bake.

My kindergartener. (And apparently the only picture I managed to get of this bread.)

Unfortunately, my little guy didn't like the bread. He hates honey with a passion, and could even detect the small amount in this bread. So I ended up making simple white whole wheat buns for his school lunches. But luckily, hubby and I thought the flavor of the bread was outstanding, and hubby happily ate the rest of the buns for his school lunches for the remainder of the week.

Check out the recipe here: Michele from Veggie Num Nums and Teresa of  The Family That Bakes Together

CI veggie soup

The cool breeze in the air (it was in the 40s when we got up this morning!) makes me anxious for fall baking, and we started today with these pumpkin donuts from KAF.




But it's not fall yet, and we still have a fridge full of CSA veggies to use up. We are nearing the end of our CSA summer, and I'm breathing a little sigh of relief that the pressure to use all of these veggies will soon be gone. At the same time, I'm sad to say goodbye to the abundance of summertime produce...not to mention summertime weather. :-)

With school back in session, my free time to browse magazines and websites for veggie recipes is just about zero, so I was beyond excited to see a recipe in my newest issue of Cook's Illustrated (the iPad version, which I just love!) that used up almost every single vegetable from this week's box: eggplant, summer squash, tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, basil.

I was a little skeptical because the recipe didn't call for any typical soup filler: no meat, no beans, no pasta. Still, I wasn't going to pass up a perfect opportunity to use up my veggies. I made the soup this morning; as long as it called for a 20 minute rest to "let the flavors meld," I figured it wouldn't hurt to let it rest all day. Besides, soups are usually better when they're reheated.

The flavors in this soup were just amazing, so complex and interesting; it has to be one of my favorites ever. I served it with cheese, fruit, and ciabatta from ABED. A perfect summer-turning-to-fall dinner.



I adjusted quite a few of the ingredient amounts because I just used what I had in the fridge. I get the feeling that this is quite a flexible recipe, and I would happily make it again with whatever amounts of the veggies I receive next week.

Italian vegetable soup
adapted from Cook's Illustrated
makes 6 servings

1/3 cup fresh basil
2 T dried oregano
2 tsp minced garlic
2 T evoo
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1 eggplant (mine was 7.5 oz), peeled and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1 large onion, chopped
1 1/4 lb potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
2 T tomato paste
2 c water
28 oz fresh tomatoes, peeled and diced (or 28 oz can), save juices
1 - 2 summer squash (mine was 12 oz), cut into 1/2 inch chunks
2 bell peppers (mine were orange), seeded and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1 1/2 tsp salt
4 T olive oil
basil

1. Process the first five ingredients (basil through red pepper) in the food processor to make a paste.
2. Toss the eggplant with 1tsp salt and lay on a plate covered in coffee filters. Microwave on high until shriveled, about 8 minutes, tossing half way through.
3. Heat 1 T oil in a large dutch oven over high heat. Cook eggplant, potatoes,and onion for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Push veggies aside and add 1 T and the tomato paste, cooking until the tomato sauce starts to brown, 1 or 2 minutes. Stir the sauce in with the veggies.
4. Add the tomatoes, tomato juices, and water to the pot, and bring to a boil. Turn down to medium, cover, and cook for 20 minutes.
5. In a large skillet, heat 1 T of oil over medium-high. Add the peppers, squash, and 1/2 tsp salt. Cook for 10 minutes, until veggies are browned and softened. Push them aside and add the paste from step 1. Cook for a minute until fragrant, and then stir it in with the veggies.
6. Turn off the heat on the soup and then add the squash/pepper mixture. Pour a little liquid from the soup into the skillet and use it to scrape up any browned bits; stir those in to the soup, too.
7. Cover and let the soup rest for 20 minutes, or refrigerate until later in the day. Add fresh basil before serving.