Friday, February 18, 2011

Lemon Stacked Monkey Bread

Baked Lemon Bread Slices

I've been baking a lot lately. Baking comforts me and it is something that warms the kitchen as the weather takes on a bitter chill. It's been quite cold here in Seattle the last few days!

Baked Lemon Bread3

I found this wonderful recipe for Lemon Coffee Cake on one of my favorite blogs. If you haven't discovered, "17 & Baking" then take the time now to read all of Elissa's words. She's in college now and working toward a journalism degree. I feel that she's going to succeed in the tough world of journalism.

I love Elissa's work so much that I once sent her a bunch of baking supplies from my work. (I worked with bloggers at my old company to help build up the brand's name). She was so thankful for the gift that she baked me the most delicious treat.

Baked Lemon Bread2

But back to the recipe at hand! I started making this in the morning and due to the two rises, didn't enjoy the bread until the afternoon. I'm glad I had to wait though as this dish does not last long and if I had finished baking this in the morning, I doubt I would have had any nutrition in my diet that day.

Lemon Bread

You start by making the sweet yeast dough and gently kneading it into a ball. Then you sit back and let the yeast do its' work.

Sugared Lemon Dough

Next you sprinkle the lemon scented sugar over the rolled dough and cut it into rectangles. This is where the fun comes in.

Stacked Lemon Dough

You stack the rectangle dough pieces on place them in a loaf pan. Don't worry if they don't fit tightly. Once the dough rises (for the second time), they will be snug.

Lemon Dough before Baking

Baked Lemon Bread
Once the dough has risen for the second time, it will be ready for the oven. Once it is baked and smelling delicious, it is frosted with lemony cream cheese frosting. Eat up quickly! This bread won't last long.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Tartine Obsession

I recently picked up a copy of Tartine Bread and have discovered a new obsession.

Tartine Starter

After carefully reading a majority of the book, I decided to make my own starter. I mixed the lukewarm water with the 50/50 white and whole wheat flour. I mixed it with my fingers until I couldn't feel any lumps.

Mixing the Tartine Starter

The starter now sits in my kitchen growing and forming. In a few days, I'll feed it and in a few weeks, I'll be able to bake with it. This new obsession is also teaching me patience.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Taco Tuesday

Taco Yum

Every Tuesday at my house is Taco Tuesday.  I love making Tacos. It's the same simple dish every Tuesday night but each time, with a switch of the protein, it's a completely different meal.


Taco Mushrooms

One of our favorite proteins is to fry up sausage with firm tofu and mushrooms. Add a bit of taco seasoning with olive oil and allow to warm until the sausage is cooked through. 


Taco Protein

The sides can also make or break Taco Night. We always have really good sour cream, avocado, cheddar cheese and veggies. I like to switch up the veggies. Some nights, it's spinach with caramelized onions and other nights, it's lettuce with scallions. 

Taco Fixin

Fill a corn or flour tortilla with the protein, veggies and cheese for a delightful Taco Tuesday meal.


Tacos for eating
Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day My Love

Hat Excitement
Happy Valentines's Day Scott! I'm so happy to be married to you. Here's to a  lifetime of smooshy-ness.
Sunday, February 13, 2011

Baking Day

Floured Spoon

I baked today and before cleaning up, I took some photos. I love baking. I love the richness of my red rolling pin. I love the feeling of flour in my hands and how it covers the counter top.  

Red Rolling Pin

I love the smell of baking bread. I love the watching bread rise. I love baking.

Baking
Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Wednesday Web Links

Penny Makes Beautiful Photos and she's pretty darn rad.

Blog like a Pro , you know you want to.

Beautiful Cookbook Design makes my heart swoon

This video made me finally buy the book Tartine and I'm pretty sure you'll be buying it after watching this.

Portland, Food and People's Love for Portlandia

A new life for a barn

Adventures in Renovating! I like renovation. I'm not sure I like all the hard work but I like the thought of it.

Live the Language - Paris Paris is this place that you really must visit more than once. You just can't get it in one visit. It requires a few and I think that is why people are so full of wanderlust for it. This video makes me want to go back again. But then this video about London makes me want to go there instead. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE England more than words can say. It's been almost 4 years since my last visit which means, I need to go back. I need to visit my friends.

Sometimes you find a new blog and it causes you to fall in love. I might have become a bit stalker-ish and obsessive when I found Joy the Baker but this blog does that to you. You want to read every single post and then find Joy the Baker and make her become your friend. Joy! I like to bake! We could be awesome friends. I'd try all your treats. I'd make a good friend!
Sunday, February 06, 2011

Pinwheel Quilt Progress

Supervision

Under the careful supervision of Mel-B, I worked on the Pinwheel Quilt this weekend. I have four more blocks to complete and I all I want to do is work on these quilt blocks!

SewingMistake

My progress was slowed this weekend by a bone-head sewing mistake. I sewed all my HST's together wrong side out and had to spend the next few hours ripping out my mistake!

PinwheelProgress

I'm quite excited about this blanket. It's looking super good!
Thursday, February 03, 2011

Banana Stuffed French Toast

French Toast Delight

Last week while sick and convalescing in bed, I flipped through some catalogs and cookbooks dreaming of cooking. I spotted this recipe for Banana Stuffed French Toast and knew I had to make it. As soon as I felt better, I ran to the kitchen and fired up the grill (ok, the panini press) and started making Banana Stuffed French Toast. We had (as we usually do) some bananas that were just almost too ripe and I had picked up some Challah bread a few days before which meant it was just the perfect kind of stale for french toast.

Carmelized Bananas

This recipe is a bit of a time-suck but the carmelized bananas and soggy yet crisp bread is so perfect. It's worth the effort. It's funny, I used to hate french toast. I worked in a cafeteria in college and made a lot of french toast which I never tried. I did not like it. I was told many times though that I made really good french toast which I did not believe because for me, there was no such thing. I have to say this recipe makes REALLY GOOD FRENCH TOAST! It's really that good.

Stuffed French Toast

There is magic in how you stuff the Challah bread with the bananas. It makes them plump and look a bit pita-like. I mean, look at those carmelized bananas peeking out of that bread. It's delicious looking.

Soaking French Toast

The recipe says to use an immersion blender for the egg soak which I originally scoffed at and used my trusty whisk. While you could use your trusty whisk to make this, I do have to recommend the immersion blender. It really mixed up the egg soak, making it just the right consistency once I ditched the whisk.

Cooking French Toast

Again, this recipe recommended using a panini grill to cook the french toast and since I had one, I used one. It's a great time-saver as it cooks both sides of the bread at once. However, I think a grill or a saucepan would work just fine. Just remember to flip!

Creme Fraiche French Toast


Monday, January 31, 2011

Pinwheel Blocks Wheee!

Pinwheel Blocks 1

Last week, Jocelyn commanded that I start working on my Pinwheel Sampler Quilt again. Since she inspired me to start it over a year ago, I decided that it was only right that I listen to her directive. And since I found my sewing mojo during my Crafterday with Rachel, I spent a lot of my Sunday sewing.

Pinwheel Blocks 3

I am happy to say that I am halfway through the Pinwheels. It has been nice to see that my sewing skills have improved over the past year. I compared a block I made about a year ago with one I made today and there is a vast improvement! There is hope for me yet.

Pinwheel Blocks 2

I have the fabric cut for 6.5 more blocks and have run into a bit of an issue. I've run out of cream fabric! The one fabric I've been using to tie the quilt together. Normally this wouldn't be an issue but I joined the Stashpact in a solid attempt to use up my craft supplies instead of just adding to them.

Pinwheel Blocks 4

I think breaking the pact in this instance will be ok though. I'm only buying fabric to ensure that I finish a project I've started. Not buying the fabric would mean an unfinished project which is not really in the spirit of the pact. I am however going to buy my fabric online. If I head into a fabric store full of pretty, pretty fabric, I'm sure to fall down and buy something I don't need.

Pinwheel Blocks 5

Once I have more cream fabric, I'll be able to finish sewing up more blocks. Since I'm halfway done, I'm going to try to have this quilt finished by the end of March. It would make a wonderful Spring quilt!
Sunday, January 30, 2011

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Saturday morning, after a week of sickness, I awoke with a bounce in my step and a desire to cook. A few weeks ago on Twitter, someone spoke about delightful Lemon Ricotta Pancakes. This triggered a memory of some Lemon Ricotta Pancakes that I enjoyed in Portland back in December at Jam on Hawthorne. I knew that today was a day in which to enjoy such a delight.

Blueberry Compote

These pancakes take some time to prepare but that first bite makes it all worthwhile. They are a light and yet flavor punched pancake. Add blueberry compote and you have a serious treat on your hands. Add a bit of bacon and eggs to this meal for a breakfast that will carry you throughout the morning.

Blueberries


Friday, January 28, 2011

Just Breathe

Scott and I go to Portland, a lot. He has family down there and we like to visit them. The drive though can get boring. I mean, there is Olympia, an All-American City and we have our joke about Sleater-Kinney road and the all-girl punk rock band named after the road. We have our regular pit-stops (the Starbucks outside of Kelso has nice bathrooms).

On our last few trips, I decided to spice things up by taking photos with my iPhone. Then I decided to make a movie. This is that movie. I hope you enjoy it!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Blog Updates

I upgraded to the new blogger (which I think has been out for a few years now) and unfortunately lost your old delightful comments. Let's not worry about the loss and instead know that I love your comments and hope to see more of them in the future.

Now fingers crossed that I got everything back to the way it was before. Please ignore anything that looks wonky. Hopefully I'll get everything settled shortly.

Dining Room Re-deux

Along with finishing up the laundry room, I've also recently finished re-doing our dining room. It's been suggested that before photos make these decor posts much more fun, so without further adieu, here are the "before" photos from the real estate brochure.

North Ballard House 4 (2)

North Ballard House 5 (2)

Of course when we moved in, the furniture was gone and we were left with bare green walls, a cool chandelier and these great wood floors. Our inspector told us that the wood floor was probably original as it is top nailed oak flooring which was common in 1948 when the house was built.

Dining Room 1

The first thing I did was paint one of the walls a dark purple (Martha Stewart Chianti) and painted the other walls a sightly different shade of green (Martha Stewart Oolong Tea). I had to repaint all the walls as there were dings and holes from the previous owners. Also a nice fresh coat of paint always helps a room feel great.

Dining Room 3

The next step was to order furniture! I found this great table and buffet at Dania. It's a mango wood table and the chairs are extremely comfortable. We were a bit shocked as to how expensive chairs are. The six chairs were more expensive than the table. We're thrilled with our selection though.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Wednesday Web Links

Naughty Kitta Koo
Unrelated, Silly Photo

One of my favorite things about Not Martha is Meg's posts where she links to her favorite things from around the web. I've decided to stop hoarding all of these great links and start sharing them with you, my favorite people.

Without further adieu, here are some of my favorite links from around the web this week.

Crispy Spice Brined Pecans from Food52

Slow Cooker Vietnamese Chicken Pho Ga Noodle Soup from Steamy Kitchen

Fake Blueberries Abound in Food Products

Simply Perfect Chicken Enchiladas

Freezer Management

Julia and Ideas in Food

Silver

House Guest Welcome/Survival Kit

Yoshimi Looped Scarf

Bread by Capt. Mouffette

My Craftastic Board from Pinterest


Monday, January 24, 2011

Estoy Enfermo!

Read All About It

I had a wonderful vacation last week and this week when I returned to work, I was stuck down with a cold! I'm sick!

Athenian

I'll get better but I'm not pleased about this sick business! I guess it just means I'll have more time with the kittah-koo. She's sure to like that.

Kittah


Sunday, January 23, 2011

Shiny, Scrappy, Quilty

Star Blocks

I spent last week working hard to get my One Shiny Bee quilt blocks finished up.

Scrappy Block

And I'm quite happy with them! I'm now ready for some red and white quilt work that I hear is coming in February!

Scrappy Blocks


 
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