Lemon Poppyseed Bread

I have always loved the crunch of a poppyseed in a sweet bread or on a fresh, warm bagel with rich cream cheese.  However, I have never been a fan of all the little black spots that you find stuck in your teeth.  Despite that, it has never deterred me from either eating or baking anything with poppyseeds!  In fact, I often crave them, especially almond poppyseed.

Well, as you can probably read, this is not an almond poppyseed recipe.  It seems so much more appropriate to use lemons, as it is June, however, I really don't think it matters what time of the year it is.  Eat it if you love it!

The recipe you'll find below is adapted from Joy of Baking.  (Funnily enough - I as I was looking for recipes to compare, I found one that had the words "adapted from Joy of Baking" that upon comparing the two recipes, was an exact replica.  I honestly can't even remember what the site was, which is for the best, but all that to say...  I promise, I DID in fact adapt this and it is not a 100% replication!  If you've read enough of my previous posts, you know I always have to tweak something).  :D

Lemon Poppyseed Bread

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbs poppyseeds
zest of one large lemon
2/3 cup butter (softened)
1 tsp lemon juice + milk to equal 1/2 cup
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350.

Butter and flour one loaf pan.  Set aside until ready to use.

In a bowl, combine lemon juice with remaining milk, vanilla, and the eggs together.  Whisk lightly to combine.

In a stand mixer combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, poppyseeds, and lemon zest.  Add in the butter and beat on low to combine, creating small clumps.  Add the first half of the egg/milk mixture, beating on low.  If necessary and the dough is not coming together, stop the mixer and scrap down the sides.  Add the second half of the mixture and combine on low until well mixed.  Pour batter into the loaf pan and bake for 40-50 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean (with just a few crumbs!).

Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan.  Drizzle with "frosting" is desired.

Lemon Drizzle

remaining lemon juice from zested lemons
powdered sugar or granulated sugar

This really is a "free for all."  If you like it sweet, use more sugar.  If you desire a nice tart topping, then use less of the sugar!  :)

On low heat, combine sugar and lemon juice into a saucepan and heat until sugar dissolves.  Pour over bread and let set for about 10 more minutes.  If you decide to use more sugar and get a thick frosting, you may want to wait until it hardens.

Strawberry Loaf & Feta Eggs

I have to be honest...  as I'm sure EVERYONE knows... moving is a TASK!!!  We spent three and half full days packing, loading the truck, three days driving to the East Coast, and then three whole days looking for a place to live.  PHEW!!!  Hence, if anybody had noticed, it has been a full TWO weeks since I have posted something.

I have managed to make a few tasty meals between everything that has been going on, but this is something I actually made a few months back.  It was one of those crazy evenings where we didn't have much and I was using all of our resources to scrounge up a dinner.  I accompanied these with feta topped eggs.  It's all up to your taste buds!  :)

Strawberry Loaf

1/2 cup butter (room temp)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries (thinly sliced)

Preheat oven to 350.

Butter and flour a loaf pan and set aside for later.

In a stand mixer on medium speed , cream butter and sugar together until it becomes light and fluffy.  Add salt and vanilla and mix.  Turn speed up to medium-high to high and add in eggs one at a time, allowing the mixture to become very light.  After about four minutes, turn off the mixer, add in the flour and strawberries and mix on low just until ingredients come together (careful not to over-mix the batter).

Scoop batter into the loaf pan (evening it out so it is proportioned and no strawberries are sticking-up.  Sprinkle with a little brown sugar (to desired sweetness, as the batter itself isn't too sweet, but your strawberries may be sweet enough to not want too much).

Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in comes out clean.

Feta Eggs

eggs
butter
salt & pepper
feta cheese

Heat the skillet with butter (about 1 tbs of butter per egg) on medium heat.  Once butter has fully melted, crack eggs into skillet, season with salt and pepper and allow the first side to cook.  Flip eggs, reseason with salt and pepper and top with feta cheese.  Cook fully and serve!

Orange Walnut Muffins

So, as some of you might have seen last night on Facebook, I (Lexi) was having a craving for muffins.  An extreme, or rather extremely distracting, craving that just wasn't going away.  I NEEDED a muffin!  It almost didn't matter what kind it was, I just wanted to pull out all the ingredients and get baking!

There's something comforting about a muffin.  I have a favorite muffin from my childhood that my mom would make once every two or three months (pure butter, sugar, and cinnamon) that we called French Breakfast Puffs, and, let's just say, they would never last that long.  I guess there was a "good" reason they were reserved for special days, as they call for a large amount of butter.  But when you're eating them, you suddenly forget about that small thing called calories (and indulge yourself!).  Someday we'll make those, because they melt in your mouth and are o-so-addicting, but today was a day for a slightly "more healthy" muffin.  Or rather, just one without two sticks (or more...) of butter.any

With all the delicious muffin ideas people suggested, can you believe that I basically didn't have ONE ingredient for any of those?!  So, after raiding the cupboards to see what I had and what my options could be (I figured it was better to use what I had rather than let things go to waste and go to the store to buy more food, when really, there's plenty here to be used), this is what I settled upon.  Someday friends, I shall make the other suggestions.  :)

Orange Walnut Muffins
6 tbs butter (melted)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups flour
1 tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup yogurt (I used maple!)
zest of one orange
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp orange extract

Preheat oven to 350.

Start by mixing the butter and brown sugar together until smooth and slightly fluffy.  Then mix in eggs, and next yogurt until creamy.  Add vanilla, orange extract, and orange zest and mix just until blended.  Toss in walnuts last and mix for just a few seconds.

In another bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together until blended.  Pour dry ingredients into wet mixture and mix just until incorporated (do not over work the batter).

Depending on your preference, either place liners in your muffin tin or butter and flour.  Divide batter evenly, filling just about to the top.  Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

This recipe yields 12 muffins.

Vegan Made Easy

So tonight, in honor of our dear vegan friends, we have given this evening to you!  That's right.  You heard us correctly.  Here are two, count them, TWO recipes for you guys.  Pasta and cupcakes!

This pasta dish is light and filling, but packed full of a lot of flavor!  And guess what "non-vegan-ers," these are SO easy to make "non-vegan" if you choose with a few adjustments.  If you're not interested in this being a vegan recipe, saute-up some chicken with garlic and olive oil or toss some parmesan or feta on top, or even serve this as a side dish!

As for the cupcakes?  Well.... have we not seen a trend lately?  And really, who's going to pass-up a cupcake?  Just pretend these are healthy since they're banana based, minus the frosting.  :)



Sun-Dried Tomato, Red Pepper, and Spinach Farfalle Pasta
1 large onion
1 large red pepper
3/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
6 oz fresh spinach
3 cloves garlic (chopped)
olive oil
salt
pepper
1 tsp red pepper flakes
tricolore farfalle pasta (8 - 16 oz, depending on pasta/sauce ratio preference)
truffle oil (for drizzling at the end)

Begin to boil water and prepare pasta as directed.  If you'd like, you could substitute another pasta.

Dice onion, red pepper,  and sun-dried tomatoes.  In a large, pre-heated skillet, add about 2 tbs olive oil, garlic, onion, and red pepper, and cook down.  Once vegetables have begun to brown, add in the sun-dried tomatoes and continue to saute (adding the oils from the jar).  If needed, add more olive oil so the vegetables do not become dry or stick to the bottom of the pan.  Season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.  You may decide that you want the dish more or less spicy and add or omit some of the red pepper, however, it adds a nice, subtle zing to the dish.  :)

Once the vegetables have browned evenly, add the fresh spinach in and mix until lightly wilted (about two minutes).

Remove from heat and dish over pasta.  Drizzle with truffle oil, if desired, or more olive oil.


Banana Nut Cupcakes

1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup oil
4 ripe, ripe bananas (mashed)
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (toasted if you'd like)

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix dry ingredients together in a separate bowl and set aside.

Mash bananas well and add to mixing bowl.  Brown bananas are great for baking, since they have such a high sugar content.  Make sure the bananas you use are nice and brown like the ones above!

Add oil, maple syrup, and vanilla to banana mash and mix until well incorporated.  Slowly add the dry ingredients in halves and blend into the wet mix.  Add walnuts last (if desired) and mix.  You may decide to toast the walnuts for a few minutes like we did (since the oven has already been preheated for the cupcakes themselves, but toss the chopped walnuts onto a cookie sheet and toast until lightly browned or desired darkness).  If you don't like nuts, omit them all together.

Bake for 17-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  (Look!  Everything in here is vegan!)

Frosting
4 oz cream cheese (substitute)
4 tbs butter (margarine or other substitute)
1 - 2 tsp vanilla
powdered sugar

In a stand mixer or a bowl with a hand mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Add the vanilla and powdered sugar until you reach desired sweetness and/or texture.  If you're not a vegan, then, by all means, use the regular ingredients, but here's a recipe that's easily made with substitutions!

Without the frosting, these are really just muffins... shhhh don't tell anyone!