Beer Bread

This is some of the easiest and tastiest bread to make. It takes a few minutes to mix together and is delicious to eat right out the oven!

Ingredients:
3 c flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
2 T honey
12 oz beer--anything works but preferably something with a little flavor

Preheat oven to 300 F. In a large bowl sift together the dry ingredients, then add the honey & beer. Mix quickly and pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake 55 minutes until hollow on the bottom.

Remove from pan, brush with butter, and serve.

Chocolate Banana Muffins (and other flavors)

Muffins are some of my favorite, most-satisfying recipes to make for breakfast because they are fast, flavorful, and easy to change depending on what ingredients are available.

Today I had one very ripe banana and was craving some chocolate, so I made chocolate banana muffins.

This recipe makes 1 dozen muffins.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 c flour

3/4 c sugar

2 1/2 t baking powder

3/4 t salt

1/2 c cocoa powder

1 beaten egg

1 mashed banana

1 c milk

1/3 c oil

Variations:

Regular muffins: reduce sugar to 1/3 c, reduce milk to 3/4 c, omit cocoa powder

To these you can add 3/4 c chocolate chips, blueberries, nuts, chopped apples + 1 t cinnamon, or mashed banana. If adding banana use 1/2 c milk. 

You will need 2 bowls, 1 large & 1 medium. In the medium bowl combine all wet ingredients with a whisk: egg, milk, oil, banana, & sugar. Sift the dry ingredients into the large bowl and make a well in the center. Pour the wet mixture into the well & mix together quickly so the batter is still lumpy & just moistened. Do not overmix!

Divide into a greased muffin tin or loaf pan. If making muffins, bake at 400 F for 18 mins. If making a loaf bake at 350 F for 30 mins. They are done when golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy warm!

Oatmeal Pan Bread

This recipe makes perfect homemade chewy bars with lots of oatmeal, cinnamon and options to add fruit and nuts. It is also really simple too. Everything gets tossed into one bowl, mixed together, and baked for 30 minutes.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c oatmeal
1/2 c flour
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
*pinch nutmeg
1/2 t salt
1/2 c milk
1/4 c butter, melted
1 egg
*1/2 c dried cranberries or raisins
*1/3 c chopped almonds

*optional ingredients I have added to make these bars more delicious

Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine ingredients in a large bowl & mix completely. Spread evenly in a 9'' x 9'' greased pan and bake for 30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean and the edges are browning.

Quinoa Vegetable Salad

I came up with this dish after being inspired by a friend I saw making quinoa with fresh veggies and basil. In the past I’ve made rice salads with veggies but never quinoa. It was time to experiment!

This was very easy to make as a last-minute meal, and great for leftovers. It’s good hot or cold and can easily be reheated in a pan with a scrambled egg for another nutritious meal.

**Note: anything can be added to this—I just used things I had in my fridge that went well together.

Cook the quinoa for 15 minutes

Prep the veggies while the quinoa is cooking

Ingredients:

1 c quinoa

1/4 t salt.

3 medium tomatoes

½ red bell pepper

1 carrot, peeled & sliced

1 clove of garlic, minced

fresh herbs (I used basil, but anything will work), finely chopped

2 T olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

Rinse quinoa. In a medium pot measure out 2 c water and add quinoa and salt. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes, slightly covered. Stir occasionally.

While the quinoa is cooking prepare the vegetables. When it is done, toss it in a bowl and add the vegetables, garlic, basil, and drizzle with olive oil. Toss together and season with salt & pepper to taste.

Alex's Chunky Guacamole

My roommate Alex makes some good spicy Mexican and Southern food. A few weeks ago he made delicious guacamole and let me share the recipe on here.

Ingredients:

5 ripe avocados, halved & scooped out

2 Roma tomatoes, large dice

1 red bell pepper, large dice

5 cloves garlic, peeled & minced

1 small onion, large dice

jalapeño peppers (1 with seeds, 3 without seeds depending on desired spice level), finely chopped

juice of ½ lemon or lime

salt & pepper to taste

dash of tabasco sauce

2 T olive oil

In a bowl add the avocado pieces and mash them up into large chunky pieces. Add the garlic, bell pepper,  onion, jalapeño, and tomatoes with juices. Add the lemon juice, tabasco, olive oil, & mix together with a fork or potato masher to keep the consistency chunky. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately with chips.

I love this guacamole because of the chunky pieces; you can distinctively taste flavors of tomato pepper, and avocado while eating. It is definitely something I will be making on my own!

Peanut Butter Favorites

Named appropriately, these cookies are favorites of all my friends who enjoy peanut butter cookies. Once you eat one it’s hard to resist having seconds, thirds, or more!

Ingredients:

¾ c peanut butter

1 stick butter*

1 ¼ c flour

½ c sugar

½ c brown sugar

1 egg*

1 t baking soda

¼ t baking powder

*at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease a cookie sheet.

Sift the dry ingredients into a small bowl and set aside. In a large bowl cream together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Add the eggs one at a time until combined. Blend in the peanut butter. While mixing, slowly add the dry ingredients until combined but still a dry consistency. Be careful not to overmix here—if the dough gets too wet the cookies will not have a delicious crumbly texture.

Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls and place on the cookie sheet approximately 2’’ apart. With a fork cross each cookie then place in the oven and bake 10-15 minutes until set and the edges are browning. Let the cookies sit on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before moving to a cooling rack.

Pistachio Biscotti

Wow, that was a long break from blogging! I moved to a new city/job/apartment for the winter. In addition to getting into a new groove (buying ingredients, baking pans, etc.) I’m living in an apartment without internet access so it will be harder for me to get online to upload recipes. I had originally planned to access my blog for recipes while traveling, but without internet access that proves to be a bit difficult.

Thanksgiving and Christmas have come and gone. For these holidays I made mostly recipes that were already posted on my blog—boring I know—but I did make some fun pistachio biscotti for dessert on Christmas Eve.

This recipe is a family classic. It makes some of the most authentic biscotti I’ve had outside of Italy. Please let me know what you think after you’ve tried them! I added pistachios to the batter because that was all I had around the house, but they can be easily substituted for any other nuts, chocolate chips, cranberries—anything you like. You can also melt chocolate and dip the biscotti after they come out of the oven, yum!

Ingredients:

1 c nuts

2 ¼ c flour

1 t baking powder

½ t salt

3 eggs *room temperature

1 c sugar

1 t vanilla

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Measure out 1 c nuts and coarsely chop. Set aside.

In a large bowl beat the eggs, then add the sugar and beat together, add the vanilla and mix in. In a separate bowl sift together the dry ingredients. While mixing with one hand add in the dry ingredients until everything is just combined. Err on the side of under-mixing. Add the nuts and stir until evenly distributed.

On a greased baking sheet, pour the dough into 3 flattened logs, approximately 4 inches wide. Bake 30 minutes until golden and the inside is cooked.

Remove from oven, place on wire rack or cutting board, and immediately cut into ¾’’ slices diagonally across the logs. If you have a wire rack available, lay each cookie down on the wire rack and place the rack back in the oven for another 10 minutes. If a wire rack is not available, place them back on the cookie sheet and back 5 mins each side until they are toasted.

Remove from oven and let cool. When they are cool they will be very crunchy and ready to serve with tea or coffee.

I’ve actually never made biscotti with pistachios before but I LOVED them! (I also happen to love pistachios—go figure). I used salted pistachios and the subtle saltiness that hits the tongue before the sweetness from the cookie is absolutely wonderful. I definitely recommend them.