Pumpkin Spice Bread

I quit my corporate job this week.

I feel like a free bird and God has answered my prayers.  Hallelujah.  I cannot say that enough.  I didn't know when this day would ever come and I'm finally working for myself.  I actually put those type of thoughts at the back of my mind in a deep dark well never to be resurfaced again.  However, the opportunity presented itself unexpectedly and I am so incredibly thankful.  I get to start 2012 completely anew.  My new role is going to be super demanding so my upcoming challenge will be how to manage my time and find balance.  I have had a lot on my mind the past few weeks so I decided to take a little breather and bake this bread.  I got this recipe from my coworker and adjusted it for less sugar and whole wheat.  It is still really yummy and satisfying without all that sugar and saturated fat.

I took the image below on my new desk for my home office which isn't finished yet (I blogged about ideas a couple weeks ago here).  I love my new desk and will post pics when my office is all done.  Thanks to my husband for finding it!  I have the best, most supportive husband.  Just wanted to say that!

Makes 2 loaves (one for you and one for a friend)

2 cups pumpkin
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar (if you want it to be sweeter, I recommend adding 1/2 cup of sugar)
1 cup canola oil
4 eggs
2/3 cup room temperature water
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup toasted walnuts
Butter for greasing the pans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 2 9 by 5 loaf pans with parchment paper and grease with butter.  Mix together the dry ingredients (the flours, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt, and baking soda) in a medium size bowl and set aside.  In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin, sugar, oil, eggs, and water with a whisk.  Gently fold in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.  Add in the walnuts and mix 'til combined (do not overmix).  Pour batter into the pans.

Bake for 60 minutes or 'til an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans.

I always do half all-purpose flour and half whole wheat flour.  If you do 100% whole wheat flour, it tastes a bit dry and grainy so the half and half strategy works for me.  Otherwise, I do 100% whole wheat pastry flour.  It doesn't taste so whole wheat-y if you know what I mean. 

My trick to getting the loaves out of the pans is to line the pan with parchment paper.  Trust me it works! I line the pans with the parchment paper, lightly grease the sides with butter, fill the pans with batter on top of the parchment paper, trim the long edges of the parchment paper with scissors, and bake.  I use the sides of the parchment paper to pull the bread out.  It is so much easier this way.

The loaves came out and they made my house smell delicious in the process.  

Mat's Favorite Zucchini Bread

This is my husband's favorite zucchini bread.  He always requests that I make this but it is hard to find the time to make them when I'm testing out all these different recipes.  Being the good wife that I am, I surprised him with them while he was at the gym Sunday night.  It really is the little things. 

Also, I am going to apologize in advance for the photos.  I'm an amateur photographer and I do not know how to shoot photos in dark lighting in our kitchen.  Our ceiling lights have a yellow glare to them so these photos look like they are vintage-y but I never intended them to look that way.  But it sorta looks like I did it on purpose.  Haha.  I will have to figure that one out especially since it gets dark around 4ish nowadays.  

Recipe

Makes about 22 to 24 muffins

Ingredients

2 c finely grated zucchini (about 2 to 3 medium zucchinis)

3 eggs

1 c canola oil

3 tsp vanilla

2 c all-purpose flour (you could use whole wheat pastry flour also)

1 1/2 c lightly packed brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 c chopped toasted walnuts (optional)

Roasted sesame seeds

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  

Finely grate the zucchini with a box grater.  Drain any excess liquid.  Add in eggs, canola oil, and vanilla and mix together.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and baking powder.  Gradually add the dry ingredients to the zucchini mixture in 3 parts.  Use a spatula or wooden spoon to fold the dry ingredients in.  Gently fold in walnuts.  

Place the batter into the muffin tins (I usually do 3/4 of the way up on the mufffin tin).  Sprinkle each muffin with roasted sesame seeds.  Bake for 22 to 25 minutes or 'til the edges of the muffins become lightly brown.  Use a toothpick to check to make sure the batter is completely baked.

In the past, I have tried to cheat the grating step and use a food processor to grate the zucchini.  It really does not taste the same because the zucchini is grated in larger pieces with a food processor so I went back to the original method with the box grater.

When you drain the excess liquid from the grated zucchini, give the zucchini a gentle squeeze.  There is no need to strain every little bit of liquid out but you don't want the zucchini totally sopping wet either.

I gradually added the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with a wooden spoon.

I love the roasted sesame seeds on the muffins.  It adds texture, taste, and a little extra fiber for you.  These muffins are super moist and yummy.  When you break one of the muffins open, you can see the little green specks in them.  

Pizza Party - Part 1 Pizza Dough

Pizza making parties at home are so much fun.  It's so much fun because everyone gets to make their own pizzas so your guests do as they like.  We make pizzas, eat, talk, drink, and repeat.  It's a perfect weekend activity.  When I am getting ready for the pizza party, I'm all about fresh ingredients so the first thing I do is prepare the dough.  It is a little tricky to make so I tried to make all my notes in this post so you can see that it's really not that complicated.  There are a few key things to remember though.  Fresh dough is well worth the effort.  Trust me on this one.

Recipe
Adapted from Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics
Makes 6 pizza doughs

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups warm water (100 to 110 degrees F)
2 packages dry yeast
1 tbs honey
3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading
2 tsp sea salt

Directions
Microwave water in a microwave safe container or glass measuring cup for 45 seconds.

Combine warm water, yeast, honey, and extra virgin olive oil in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook or paddle attachment.  When the yeast is dissolved (you can use your hands or spatula to help dissolve the yeast), add 3 cups of flour, then sea salt, and mix on a medium-low speed.  While mixing, add up to 1 more cup of flour, or just enough to make a soft dough.   Transfer the dough to a floured board and knead the dough for about 10 to 15 minutes until smooth, sprinkling it with the flour as necessary to keep it from sticking to your hands.  The dough should be smooth and elastic.

Place the dough in a well-oiled bowl and turn it to cover it lightly with oil.  Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Dump the dough on a floured board and section it in 6 equal parts.  Put the dough portions into a baking pan lined with parchment paper and cover with a damp kitchen towel to let it rise 10 more minutes.  Use the dough immediately or keep the dough covered in a damp kitchen towel 'til you are ready to use it.

Wow.  My kitchen island counter top is super messy!  First note, make sure that when you are making  the dough that your bowl is not super cold.  This will deactivate the yeast and deter the dough from rising properly.

Do not put the salt directly into the wet yeast mixture.  This will also deter the dough from rising.  Remember... flour, then salt, mix, and more flour.

Kneading the dough for a long while is such an important step.  It totally changes the texture of the dough.  Make sure to take your time and knead the dough 'til it's pretty and smooth.

Sometimes I put the bowl in the oven (when it's not on) to let it sit undisturbed but since I was using both ovens I left it out on the counter.  Just make sure that it's not sitting in a cold place.  The dough rises better in a warm place.  After rising, the dough should at least double in size.

The dough should rise and turn really soft and pillow-y.

Roll out the individual dough portions on a floured board.  I like thin crusted pizzas so I try to get mine as thin as possible.

Place the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  No oil is needed on the parchment paper before baking.

I will continue the pizza party series tomorrow.  To be continued....

Banana Bread Muffins

It's Mat's birthday today so I doubled this recipe and made him a dozen of these muffins to take to work today and made him oatmeal cookies too.  I just picture him at his desk smiling to himself while he eats the goodies and it makes these muffins and the cookies so much sweeter.  It really is the little things in life.

Recipe

From my personalized cookbook

Makes about 14 muffins

Dry Ingredients

3/4 c sugar

1 1/2 c all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients

1/2 c sour cream

1/2 c canola oil

2 eggs 

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 ripe bananas mashed

Directions

Mix dry ingredients

Mix wet ingredients except bananas

Combine dry and wet ingredients together

Add bananas

Put muffin papers in a muffin tin and scoop batter into them (I always use this ice cream scoop for tasks like this)

Bake at 350 degree F for 20 minutes or lightly golden on the top

I had the perfect ripe bananas to use for this recipe. They were tender and speckled with brown spots.

Did you know you can replace sour cream for plain yogurt in baking recipes?  I have done it countless times and have never noticed a difference in the end result.  I always have non-fat plain yogurt in the fridge but rarely have sour cream so this is just a convenient swap for me.

I quickly mashed the ripe bananas with a fork before adding it to the batter.

The key to making good banana bread is NOT to overmix because it will ruin the texture of your bread.  You want the bread to be light and fluffy not dense and deflated.  I used my Kitchenaid mixer with a paddle attachment to combine the wet and dry ingredients barely together and then used a big rubber spatula to fold the batter a little more and then fold the bananas into it.   There are a lot of youtube videos on how to fold batter if you don't know the technique.

I like making banana bread as muffins instead of a big loaf because it helps me to monitor how much I eat!

I don't know why but the last bite is always the best.

A Lazy Sunday Afternoon

I was feeling a bit under the weather today so we stayed in and I thought of my "go to" banana nut muffin recipe.  It's from an old Oprah mag from January 2008 and I kept it in an organized recipe binder ever since.  I've made this recipe many, many times and enjoying the muffins in the morning is always a great way to start off a work week. 

Banana Muffin Recipe

(from my Oprah Mag January 2008)

5 1/3 tbsp unsalted butter

1 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 c honey
1/2 c cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 to 2 mashed bananas (about 3/4 cup)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 c plain yogurt
1 c walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2.  Sift together flour, baking powder, and baking soda; set aside.  Place butter, honey, sugar, cinnamon and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.  Beat on medium-high until fluffy (about 5 minutes).  Scrape down sides of bowl, add bananas and vanilla, and beat on medium speed until bananas are smashed (about 1 minute).
3.  Reduce speed to medium-low.  Add egg and yogurt; mix until incorporated (about 10 seconds).  Reduce speed to low.  Add flour mixture in 3 parts, mixing just until no traces of flour remain (about 10 seconds), gently fold in walnuts.
4.  Transfer batter to prepared muffin tins.  Bake 22 to 25 minutes.  Transfer to cooking rack.

Then, I proceeded on making salad for dinner from the produce I picked up at my Saturday morning trips to the farmers market.  I have learned that after making a farmers market trip, I always wash and prep my lettuce for the week. I probably get double the amount of salad with a big head of romaine for the same price (I usually pay $1 for a good head of lettuce at the farmers market) as buying the pre-washed bagged salad at the store.  Besides the cost savings, the lettuce is SO much more fresh and lasts me all week.  I hate it when I buy salad in a bag and in a couple days, half of it is limpy, soggy pieces of salad.  That's very unappetizing for me.

Strawberries are in full blown season and the cherries and peaches have just started coming in.  Yay!  I am the loser who gets excited about these things.  I ate all the cherries in 1 sitting yesterday so I made a simple salad with the strawberries, peaches, homemade spiced nuts, romaine lettuce and a dijon mustard vinaigrette.

And I don't know what my life was like before gorgonzola cheese.  I used to hate blue cheeses but now I absolutely adore it in my salads.

Now I am off to take a nice hot bath with lavender essential oil and epsom salt to mentally prepare myself for another Monday work day.....  It's a perfect lazy Sunday!