Honey Whole Wheat Bread

I have a love/hate relationship with bread. I love it when it is good bread.  A sandwich on good bread.  Toast on good bread. Amazing!

Bad bread can and will ruin anything. I never want to have bad bread.  I have had a lot of homemade bread in my life so when it comes to grocery store bread it just doesn't work for me.

Last year I made a resolution to make bread once a week.  That lasted about 3 weeks. I know better than to make it a resolution now but I am still trying to work more homemade bread into my baking plans.

This recipe is simple and sweet.  It is literally full of honey and makes very moist bread. 

I had this mostly as toast topped with different nut butter spreads.  It definitely fell into the good bread category.  

Note that if you have bread making experience this dough is very sticky after the initial knead.  I was nervous at first but trust me it works out in the end.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

by Emily Morris

adapted from: Find It Love It Share It

Prep Time: About 5 hours with rise time

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Keywords: bake bread

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Ingredients (1 loaf)

• 1 1/2 Tbsp instant yeast
• 2 c. warm water
• 1/3 c. honey
• 3 - 4 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt

Instructions

Combine yeast, water and honey; let sit for 5 minutes or until frothy and bubbly.

Add salt and 1 1/2 cups of flour. Add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until you get a soft dough. At this point the dough should barely pull away from the sides of the bowl and it will still be sticky.

Scrape out dough onto a floured surface and knead working in more flour until the dough is less sticky. You can also knead for 4 minutes on low adding a bit more flour in the stand mixer. Place dough in an oiled bowl and cover. Let rise until doubled, about 2 hours. 

 Punch down and shape into a large loaf (spray hands with cooking spray).

Put in a greased loaf pan and let rise again until doubled.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes.

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Monday Morning Breakfast: Strawberry Banana Pancakes

To get you started on a Monday morning I thought I would bring to you a wonderful summery breakfast. Strawberries and bananas are a combination I think of when smoothies come to mind but that is about it.

This morning though I had both on hand and I was craving pancakes. One, Two, Three and presto they were together.

I am telling you that pancakes to start off the day make everything better.

Especially when loaded with good for you fruit and whole wheat flour.

I topped mine with more strawberries and bananas as well as some maple syrup.

Best way to start the day.

Almost enough to forget it is Monday.

Strawberry Banana Pancakes

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

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Ingredients

• 2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 Tablespoons honey
• 1 banana, diced
• 1/2 cup strawberries, diced

Instructions

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs.

Melt butter and stir in honey until dissolved. Add to buttermilk.

Whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just combined (mixture will be lumpy). Gently fold in strawberries and banana pieces.

Heat a griddle or large cast iron skillet over medium heat. Grease lightly with oil.

Spoon batter onto griddle 1/3 cup at a time. Cook until edges are set, 3 to 4 minutes Flip, and cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes.

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Whole Wheat Banana Carrot Muffins

My favorite time of the day is morning, right when I wake up. I typically wake up before the alarm clock especially during this time of year.  I love it when the light is just starting to peak through the curtains.  Everything is peaceful and quite.  I grab my coffee, turn on the news and check emails.  It is just me.

Lately I start to toss around 5:15am and am up and ready to go at 5:30am.  These days I can get so much done before work.  This particular day after enjoying the first few sips of my coffee and was determined to make these muffins.  Last week the days were hot and humid and I couldn't bring myself to turn on the oven.

However at 6am the day has not yet warmed up. You don't have to get up quite so early to enjoy these muffins. You can get a head start the night before measuring out the dry and wet ingredients in two separate bowls. In the morning you combine and pop in the oven.  I had these babies out at 6:15. Enough time to let me run to the gym before work.

I came back from the gym to still warm muffins (and a few missing before I could snap a quick photo for the blog). I added some cinnamon raisin peanut butter and I was go to go for the day.  They taste like banana bread with a bit more flavor.  They are filling. Don't let the whole wheat flour fool you.  The cup of brown sugar leaves them plenty sweet.

Whole Wheat Banana Carrot Muffins

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

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Ingredients (12 muffins)

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 cups finely chopped/grated carrot
• ¼ cup quick cooking oats
• ¼ cup coconut
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1tsp cinnamon powder
• 2 ripe bananas mashed into a paste
• ½ cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 1 cup brown sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.

In a separate bowl combine all the wet ingredients and mix well.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix till combines. The mixtures will be quite hard. If it looks too dry add a little more yogurt. Don’t be tempted to make it too watery.

Scoop the batter into the greased muffin tray. And bake till done, approximately 20 minutes.

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Beans and Rice...Rice and Beans

The other week I saw one of those recipe that hit me as "I have to make this."  It was booked marked and saved.  My usual MO is to do this and then months later realize that I haven't given said recipe a second thought.  I broke that trend this week when I made the recipe less than one week after spying it on Roxana's blog or guest post I should say.

I have been on the search for some different side dishes to add to our meals that aren't too spicy or fatty and will last a long, long time. This rice and beans dish is a throw it all into a pot and forget about it recipe. We made the full batch and have been eating it little by little all week.

The recipe takes about 40 minutes to cook but the hands on time is only 2 minutes. I feel like we are going to be making this on a more regular basis on the weekend.  It has been such a lifesaver this week having this ready to heat up for pretty much every meal we have eaten.  Head on over to see Roxana's post for the recipe.  You won't regret it.

Misadventures of the Weekend

Goodness I don't even know where to start.  I feel like I have been completely MIA from the whole blog scene this last week.  Here is the recap:

1.  Wednesday I was promoted at work to Regional Account Manager.  What does this mean?  Well, more work, more travel, more responsibility, and a little bit more money.  I wish the increase in work load was equal in the rise in salary.  It's not but money isn't everything.  At least that is what I keep telling myself.  I am super excited though.  My first trip as manager is in another week to the great state of Kansas.  Yehaw!  Are there cowboys in Kansas? I better read up before I take off.  I also switched desks at work. 

Isn't it pretty?

2.  I am pretty sure I caught my husband counting to himself for the length of time he needs to dunk his cookies into the milk to make them the right consistency.  When I started laughing uncontrollably, he complete denied what he was doing and tried to reassure me that you don't need to count because you can just feel when it is ready by the change of texture in the cookie.

3.  Saturday, Mr. J promised to do whatever I wanted. This was purely because he had slacked on household work all week and because he was going golfing all day on Sunday.  However, at 11am when he got confirmation that his shipment had arrived at Cabela's our plans completely changed.  I was alright with this because Cabela's is about 10 minutes from my favorite bread store, Great Harvest Bread Co.  I have been itching for some good bread but it is hard to justify an hour ride for loaf of bread. 

We got honey whole wheat and pesto Parmesan.  As you can see it didn't take long to for me to taste test.  Both are delicious!  I might have also snagged a monster cookie - flourless peanut butter chocolate chip.

4.  Our inpromptu trip to Hartford also gave me the opportunity to go to Penzey's spice store.  For our wedding one of my uncles got me an assortment of spices from here. 

They were amazing.  As with anything amazing I find I have to do some research to find out more.  I started googling and eventually signed myself up for the catalog. 

The catalog is equally amazing because it contains tons of recipes.  The spices range from traditional to unique blends and mixes.  I had a coupon for a free jar and ended up with some ancho chilli blend.

5. I scored big at the gym this morning.  Not only did I get in a great workout - 5.5 miles on the treadmill - but I made some friends.  If you know me, I am not the most friendly to strangers. I have been told I walk around with a sour look on my face.  I just think I am deep in thought.  I do smile at people but I am never out to just make friends with any fool I meet on the road.  Anyway, that is a story for another day.  Today though I made friends we the two men who were working behind the counter.  Every Sunday I see the morning paper sitting on the counter.  I want it for the coupons.  I have mentioned before that I love coupons.  However, I am too cheap for the $1.50 cost of the Sunday paper without knowing how good the coupons will be.  I hate spending money to save money; I think it defeats the purpose.  I normally get a local paper that has one packet each week but this week there were none.  Back to the gym, after my workout I went up the the counter to flip through the coupon packets to see if it was worth a trip to the store to actaully (gasp) buy a paper.  These two men were clearly having a good time singing this song, which they later told me was called "Hussle".  I have no clue who or what this song was but we started talking and after a bit I muster the courage to ask if I could have the 3 packets of coupons.  It was a good week for coupons.  They chuckled and said sure.  I could probably say this made my day. Maybe it pays to make friends with strangers?

The cookie monster strikes again

What is a girl to do when it is cold, snowy, windy, and has a sick husband?  Well rule number one is to stay away from the sicky, but next up is to bake.  I am still in a mood for chocolate chip cookies and I have a grand recipe for you from the new cookbook.  I also whipped up some bread.  The cookies came  about because the bread was not nearly as therapeutic as I had hoped.  I will post about that soon but...

Tada, here are the cookies!

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
Shortened from Good to the Grain
By Kim Boyce
Awesome cookbook you must go BUY!

Ingredients:
3 C whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
8 oz cold unsalted butter
1 C dark brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees.

2. Sift dry ingredients into large bowl.

3.  Add butter and sugars to standing mixer bowl.  Mix with paddle attachment until blended.  Scrape down the sizes and then add eggs one at a time.  Add vanilla.  Scrape down the bowl again.
 

4.  Add flour mixture to bowl.  Turn on low and combined, about 30 seconds.  Scrape down bowl.

5.  Add chocolate pieces and mix on low until evenly combined..

6.  Scoop cookie dough into balls about 3 Tbsp in size.  Leave about 3 inches apart on cookie sheet, about 6 cookies per cookie sheet pan.

7.  Bake about 16-20 minutes in the middle of the oven.  Transfer to rank to cool.

Cookies are best eaten warm from the oven or day of baking.  They will stay up to 3 days in airtight container.  It took a mighty effort to not eat the six cookies I baked off right away.  These are seriously the best cookies I have eaten in a long time.  I ate one today though - 3 days out and it was super delicious still.