Whole Wheat Quick Bread

My Grandfather, Angelo Pietro de Angelis, was a baker for Rossi's bakery in Trenton, New Jersey. My family has sophisticated taste in bread. We travel well, breadwise. We like it all, from baguettes to pane rustica to bialys.

I went to culinary school. I can bake and braid a challah, but why? I go to Kaplan's Bakery on Third and Poplar. I will go the extra mile for a hard crusted Russian Black Bread or a fragrant golden Onion Rye.

Click Me!

I do not let them slice the bread and put it in a plastic bag. I am green. I just put the loaf in my shopping bag and boogie. Makes me feel so European. I have a bread knife and that is one less plastic bag clogging the universe. I get myself a kasha knish to eat while I wait.

Sometimes I give in to convenience and buy supermarket bread because it is there. I prefer to make the loaf below.

Although this is a quick bread made without yeast, it is not particularly sweet, slices well and makes excellent toast. Do not cut it until it is COLD. I make a simple vegetarian Green Pea Soup to go with this bread for a satisfying, comforting meal. Perfect for Meatless Mondays.

Whole Wheat Quick Bread

Mix together:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Combine, then mix with dry ingredients. Do not overmix. It is okay if there are a few lumps:
1 beaten egg
1 and 3/4 cups buttermilk (or whole milk soured with 2 T. vinegar)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

Fold in:
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins

Turn into a greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 to 60 minutes. Makes one loaf.

Note: My children are not raisin fans. So I make this with dried cranberries to keep the peace.

Spinach Casserole for the Vegetarian in Your Life

Spinacia oleracea in Flower

It is challenging to come up with a vegetarian entrée that even meat eaters will enjoy. This casserole is The One. It is simple to make and tastes delicious. I serve this to my Vegetarian on holidays every year.

Spinach Casserole

2 Eggs, well beaten

6 tablespoons Flour

1 package chopped frozen Spinach, 10 ounces

1 1/2 cups Cottage Cheese

1 1/2 cups Cheddar Cheese

1/2 teaspoon Salt

Thaw Spinach and drain thoroughly. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat eggs and flour in a bowl until smooth. Stir in Spinach, Cheeses and Salt. Pour into a greased 1-quart casserole. Bake for one hour. That is it. Eeezy Peezy. Enjoy.

Ghetto Garden Fabulous #3 - Desperately Seeking Containers

When you garden in a small area like a city garden, a hi-rise building terrace or a narrow alley, one of the ways you can gain or increase planting space is the use of containers. We have even developed a phrase for this avocation: Container Gardening. Yes, you can grow potatoes in a laundry basket. 

If you go to your standard garden store and price containers, you may find them costly. I mean, it is triage. What do you want more? Exotic new plants or fancy containers?

So many choices in life. How stylish do you want to be? Some people like funk. Some people like glitz or techno. Or whimsy. 

So I thought I would present you, cher Readers, with some creative, varied and unusual containers I have gathered from a glorious google tour of the net container gardening universe.

Look at junk with a creative eye. Anything you have that will hold soil is a possible container. Use industrial horse troughs. Use those capacious old aluminum pots from the thrift shop.

Do not forget that you must punch holes in the bottom of any container you plant in. Do not drown the Petunias.

The Kitchen Fairy Garden below is one woman's answer to the Fairy Garden craze.

Now this is what I call Ghetto Garden Fabulous. Your ghetto garden may be created from necesssity or otherwise.  Maybe we are witnessing the rise of a new, whimsical and environmentally sound genre in gardening. Whatever is happening, I like it. 

Gardening as Workout

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt. ~ Margaret Atwood

Quindins de YaYa - Comida Latina

Quindins de Yaya is a Brazilian dessert made of grated coconut. It is also the name of a Brazilian song you may recognize. Yaya means "young girl" in a Brazilian dialect.

Here is the song Os Quindins de YaYa  followed by a recipe for this delightful dessert.

I found this recipe in Comida Latina, a cookbook published by Center for Latin American Studies at Stanford University in 1977. It is the simplest version I have found. Another name for these little cakes is Mae Bentas. Recipe courtesy of Rollie E. Poppino.

Ingredients

3 cups grated Coconut

2 cups Sugar

1 tablespoon Flour

6 Egg Whites

10 Egg Yolks

1 teaspoon Salt

Small amount of Sugar and Butter for the muffin tins. 

Separate Eggs. Mix all ingredients. Butter small muffin tins and sprinkle with Sugar. Fill tins 3/4 full. Set muffin tins in a pan of water and place in the oven. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. 

This recipe may also be made as a single cake baked in a mold. Double the baking time but watch cake carefully. Done when a knife comes out clean. Some recipes are flavored further with the addition of Vanilla and/or Cinnamon. You will have fun experimenting, if you like. I like the plain version the best. 

First Day of Spring 2015

“If winter comes, can spring be far behind?” ― Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ode to the West Wind

Today is the official First Day of Spring. And the United Nations declared this is official Happiness Day.

Humbug! We are expecting 3 to 5 inches of snow today. Drat. Happy Spring all the same. I am planning my garden. It must be Spring.

The cartoonist is Jeffery Koterba. You can see more of his work HERE.

Junk Food Chicken

This is down and dirty you-make-dinner-365-days-a-year cooking.

Ingredients:

Leftover Pretzels, Chips, Cheese Curls, Crackers, etc.
4 slices toasted Bread
1 1/2 pounds boneless breast of Chicken
Mayonnaise

Crush Bread, Pretzels, Chips, etc. in a paper bag with your rolling pin. Or a food processor. Wash and dry the Chicken. Dip into mayonnaise and then crumb mixture. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees about 30 minutes or until fork tender. Has great flavor kids love. Thank you, Mary Jean Clift

The image of the Armada Stove comes from the Old Design Shop.

Chinese Fried Chicken Neither Chinese Nor Fried

I quote the author of Country Flavor Cookbook, Haydn Pearson, verbatim.

"Here is a delicious and different way to use Chicken. The recipe is from Miss Ruth McKinlay, of the Old Crombie Gift Shop, Francestown, New Hampshire. No one seems to know how it gathered the name Chinese Fried Chicken."

Chinese Fried Chicken (neither Chinese nor Fried)

1 broiler cut in pieces

2 cups of cream in which dissolve:

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried mustard
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce.

Roll pieces of chicken in flour seasoned with salt and pepper. Pack chicken in a baking dish with straight sides. Fill cracks with pieces of bread and the liver. Pour over all the sauce. Let stand in the refrigerator for several hours. Cook one hour at 400 degrees in a covered dish. Remove top and let brown. Serves 4 to 6." 

I make this chicken regularly. My children love it. It is very rich and totally suitable for company. And it is easy on the Cook because the ingredients are simple and so is the preparation.

Debutante's Cake

This easy cake comes from French Family Cooking by Audrey Ellis. This cake stays moist for a week. Most young cooks in France learn to make  this cake before attempting to make pastry.

The illustration is from Marjorie Torre Bevans. 

Debutante's Cake 

4 cups all-purpose Flour sifted with 4 teaspoons Baking Powder
5 Eggs
1 and 1/3 cups Sugar
1 large Lemon
pinch Salt
3/4 cup Corn Oil
1 and 1/4 cups Milk

Sieve the Flour into a mixing bowl. Make a hollow in the center.

In an other bowl, beat the Eggs with the Sugar, grated zest of Lemon and the Salt. Beat in the Oil and the Milk, adding a little of each alternately.

Pour the mixture into the flour, drawing it in gradually, then beat until smooth. Pour into two greased and line 9x5 loaf tins and bake in a moderate 350 degree oven for 50 minutes. If necessary, cover the top of the cakes with greaseproof paper or foil after 25 minutes to prevent over browning. Test with a fine skewer, cool for a few minutes in the tin and turn out.



A friend of mine makes this moist cake in a fluted tube pan. When he serves the cake, he fills the center with Raspberries and surrounds the cake with Whipped Cream all around it on the plate. Perfect.

The cake is so moist it needs no frosting. Might be nice with a tart Lemon Glaze. But there is really no reason to gild the cake as it is lovely all by its lonesome.