Amaranth, Raisin, and Nut Loaf

 

I've been struggling lately with blogging. I haven't been posting much lately due to a strange version of bloggers' block. It seems that the food I want to cook and the stories I want to tell don't always match.

I have been cooking as much as always and I have many pictures of things to share with you. I've got creative vegetable ideas, both main dishes and sides. I have some healthy baking (like this loaf), and plenty of tasty meal ideas. So I'm fine with food to post about.

Gingerbread Cake (Whole Grain)

I was a tomboy as a teenager. I refused to wear dresses (sorry, Grammie, you did try to tempt me) and I never owned anything pink. My beanpole body helped, too: I was tall and straight as a board for all of my pre-adult years. Jeans and baggy T-shirts were my uniform, along with chunky boots or trainers. My long (lanky) hair was the only thing about me that could be described as remotely feminine. (Here I am at 16 with my friend Delia. Doesn't she look like a lovely girl?)

Zesty Grapefruit Cake (Whole Grain)

My good friend is allergic to milk. She came over to bake with me last week and we whipped up this delicious cake. It's made with grapefruit and is zesty, delicious, and has no milk.

I have never tried a cake with grapefruit before - but it's an inspired surprise. It's a sharper taste than orange and more flavourful than lemon. The springy cake is topped with a glaze made with grapefruit zest and juice.

How to Write Recipes to Make Cooking Easier - Carrot and Apple Muffins

I was making carrot and apple muffins for my colleagues. Every muffin recipe uses two bowls and the recipe is always much the same. Wet ingredients go in one bowl, dry in another. They are combined with a few strokes, then the batter is dropped into the muffin tins and baked. Muffins are designed to be easy; hence the reason I make them so frequently. But the recipe I was (roughly) following for the muffins was making the process harder.

My Sugar-Free Experiment - and Pumpkin and Almond Loaf

The more I read about sugar, the more convinced I am that I should give up sugar. So I decided I would during October and November, as an experiment. I wanted to see if I would have more energy and fewer cravings. Don't dismiss the idea of quitting sugar! Read on to find out more.

Strawberry and Nutella Muffins (Whole Grain Baking)

What could be better than strawberries and Nutella together? These whole wheat muffins are stuffed with strawberries and each one contains a dollop of smooth chocolate and hazelnut spread. I adapted this from the wonderful blog Two Peas & Their Pod; the main difference is that my muffins are whole wheat; theirs use white flour. To accomplish this without drying out the recipe, I added some orange juice. It's indiscernible at the end, but it keeps the whole grain flour moist. And the acid in the juice means there's no need for buttermilk, which is good, because it's too complicated for me to buy here in Hong Kong.

These muffins were set upon with eager hands just after baking. If you don't have Nutella, what else could you use? You could just put a square of dark chocolate in each muffin, halfway up the cup. Or peanut butter, perhaps?

Whole Wheat Courgette (Zucchini) Buns

If this blog had a different title, it would probably be: For the Love of Veg. I do love everything about vegetables. They are so versatile and tasty. I try to fit vegetables into everything. This month's Fresh from the Oven challenge was perfect for me: bread with vegetables. I made these hole wheat courgette rolls and I want to make them many more times in the future.

However, I had a major mishap along the way; shall we say it was an extreme case of "user error"? It was my own fault. My buns were much too big for the pan I had prepared, and as a result they didn't bake as quickly as expected. But I was too intent on following the recipe directions and I took them out of the oven only half baked. Sadly, I didn't notice this until an hour later, when they were cool. What was I to do at that stage?

ginger and peach muffins (whole grain baking)

I think peaches may be my favourite summer fruit. And summer is the perfect time for eating juicy peaches in every way possible! How about these ginger and peach muffins? They are made with oat flour and whole wheat flour.

creating blog community -- and party pinwheels

How do you increase community connections on your blog? This is a key question for successful bloggers. We try to create a feeling of camaraderie here on our blogs and recently I have felt very much befriended and involved with others on the web. One strategy that has helped me was joining blog events like this one, the Secret Recipe Club. My assignment this month was Jam Hands, written by Ali. She uses some incredible methods for improving the community on her blog--simple ideas that are effective, too. (Oh, and she makes some mighty tasty party pinwheels.)

whole grain onion flatbread

Possibly the easiest flatbread ever, and also 100% whole grain. Just whisk together, let it rest while the oven warms up, then pop it in. Simple.

Now, equally easy: describing something as 100% whole grain when it is, in fact, all whole grain. Or saying that a colleague gave 100% effort when they did actually do so. Why do some people say that they gave 110% effort?

Five Clever Ways to Use Leftover Rice--Including Brown Rice Pie Crust

My fridge always seems to be filled with a revolving collection of leftover rice. No sooner have I managed to incorporate the remains into a new meal, the shelf refills with more. My husband loves rice so much he sometimes begs for it, and all this leads to eternal remnants. Do you have this problem? Thought so! Let's chat about ways to use up that rice!

brown rice pancakes

Perhaps tonight you will cook rice for dinner. The leftovers (there always seems to be a bit of rice left over!) will go into the fridge. Then tomorrow morning you have a craving for pancakes for breakfast. Well, you have hit the jackpot with this recipe! It uses cooked rice to make a very satisfying breakfast.

My Life from Scratch by Gesine Bullock-Prado--and whole wheat cream scones

April's Kitchen Reader selection is My Life from Scratch: A Sweet Journey of Starting Over, One Cake at a Time by Gesine Bullock-Prado, chosen by Shelley of My Little Chickadees. Although I ordered this book in the first few days of the month, delays meant that it arrived on the 28th. Fortunately, it's a slip of a book, and very easy and enjoyable reading. A few epic bus journeys later and it was finished off. My Life from Scratch is a memoir by the sister of Sandra Bullock, who found herself hating her Hollywood job in the Bullock sisters' production company. She finally decided (with her sister's blessing) to leave the glitz for small town Vermont, where she set up a pastry shop. This fascinating book had some magical portions, but also left me unsettled.

hot cross buns (whole grain baking)

While cleaning through my stored boxes in my parents' basement a couple of years ago I found this little book. My mother had found it at a thrift store and then tucked it into my boxes for me. It's a treasure. It has a selection of Easter breads from around the world, accompanied by charming line drawings, and background stories.

Broccoli Cornbread Muffins

I do love making muffins--those little bite-sized morsels. Sweet ones are good as snacks or breakfast, and savoury ones are great with soup or salad for dinner. These beautiful muffins are golden cornbread on the outside and bright green broccoli on the inside. They would be a great side dish for a luncheon; I can imagine a bit of a surprise when friends bite into them!

beetroot brownies

I brought these beetroot brownies in to work to test them out on my colleagues. I'm experimenting with beetroot as an ingredient in baked goods. (It's analagous to carrot in cake. Or parsnip in cookies.) I asked the other maths teachers for constructive feedback on my new recipe idea. What did they say?

black sesame soft pretzels (whole grain baking)

As part of the Velveeters group, I made pretzels for the first time this month. I was thrilled to try out a whole wheat recipe, especially since I recently picked up some vital wheat gluten. This makes whole wheat bread dough more fluffy--and this dough recipe was so fluffy it overspilled the bowl while it was rising. The result is a soft, chewy pretzel that's also amazingly 100% whole wheat.

struan bread (whole grain baking)

I have spent the last few months researching how to incorporate more whole grains into my baking. For example, I have learned that a substitution of whole wheat flour for white flour is best accompanied by more liquid, some of which should be orange juice. The orange juice is indiscernible after baking but offsets the tannic flavour that some people dislike in whole wheat.

applesauce muffins

My main reasons for eating? It tastes good! And it's healthy! That is to say, it can be healthy when I make good choices. Taste is most important for me, though. And you?

But I'm interested in whole grain baking because it is good for me and so I've been learning a lot about it lately. You can expect to read more about baking with whole wheat flour and other healthy stuff over the next few months.

But is whole grain baking tasty? If not, why bother? May I present Exhibit A, these applesauce muffins.

kiflice, Serbian mini cheese rolls

November's Fresh from the Oven challenge was these inventive cheese rolls called kiflice, from Serbia. Chosen by Maja from Cooks and Bakes, they are a yeasted mini bun that encloses a cottage cheese filling. For my version, I made a whole wheat dough and used onion and chive cottage cheese for the filling. The buns are glazed with milk and egg yolk, and, just for more shiny goodness, the baking pan is covered in dots of margerine. All this makes for a rich, cheesy snack.