Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread I plunk a zucchini plant in the ground every single summer, even though I don't technically like zucchini. I can't help myself; it's just so green and reliable. Maybe the carrots are mediocre or the beans are wimpy. There will always be the loyal zucchini plant! It says, "You can grow things. Look at me! I turned into a baseball bat overnight! Love me!" I try to return the affirmation, "You are a good plant. You are strong and green. You are one of my top producers." But I think it knows how I secretly feel about its bland, watery existence. That I give it away at every opportunity. That I shred it and freeze it, not Keep Reading
Whole Wheat Shortbread Cookies recipe
Whole Wheat Shortbread Cookies The other day, my mom watched my kids and sent me home with a bag of these Shortbread Cookies. Talk about a good deal. I think the idea was that I was supposed to eat one and share the rest. Hmm. It didn't really work out that way. I ate three and hid the rest for my husband who ate them in hiding while the children were distracted. What can I say? We are giving people. We are also big fans of these cookies. My husband actually said, "Oh, these would be so good with ganache!" Ganache? Who are you and what did you do with my husband? THEN! He proceeded to make the recipe all by himself with said ganache. Martha Keep Reading
100% Whole Wheat Pizza Crust recipe
100% Whole Wheat Pizza Crust recipe When my husband and I were dating we'd go out for pizza at this little hole-in-the-wall place in Chicago. They either did a brisk takeout business or were a front for some mob activity because we always had the place to ourselves. And we always ordered the whole wheat thin crust pizza. It was a nice change of pace in the Land of Deep Dish. If you read much about the relationship between whole wheat flour + pizza crust, recipes will warn you to Be Careful! Take it Easy! Don't go further than two-thirds whole wheat flour! Or your crust will turn out tough or coarse or crisp or sandy tasting, and you'll regret it Keep Reading
Ginger Peach Muffins
Ginger Peach Muffins I have always loved reading good books. One of my favorite genres is cookbooks. Nonfiction at its best. Wait. Cookbooks count, right? I would've done a book report on one in fifth grade had it been allowed. I have stacks of them sitting around my house. A pile on top of the refrigerator. Two sitting on the dining room table. A few on the coffee table. And a handful more on hold at the library. I study the recipes. I read the notes. I devour the pictures. My current favorite cookbook is Good to the Grain: Baking with Whole-Grain Flours (Amazon) by Kim Boyce. Boyce experiments with all kinds of wonderful combinations, starting Keep Reading
Oatmeal Molasses Bread Recipe
Oatmeal Molasses Bread (recipe) Last year, for Mother's Day, my daughter made me a flower bookmark. On the back, she wrote, Dear Mom, Thank you for making bread. Love, Elly. I don't need flowery poetry or a string of xoxo's. This bookmark was perfect. I have similar happy memories of my mom baking bread. Even now, the smell takes me back to my mom's kitchen, where everything was good and warm and right. I want to create those same memories for my kids. Maybe when they are adults, it will remind them to call their mother. I have often been surprised how certain scents can instantly transport me back to specific points in time. For me, most of Keep Reading
Making vs. Buying: When you should make, buy or grow
I'm a simple girl. Give me a good cup of coffee or a surprise sale on cheese, and I am happy as a clam. Would I love to travel the world? Sure. But I am really quite content tickling my children and booking camping trips to exotic locations like... Eastern Oregon. Another thing that always gets me excited is learning new skills. I dream about sitting in front of a piano or a sewing machine and producing something that actually sounds or looks beautiful. Until then, I have my sights set on a more familiar and comfortable setting: my home. Specifically, my yard and kitchen. One goal I have for myself each year is to make or grow more food from Keep Reading
No Knead Bread Recipe Variations
No Knead Bread Variations There are countless ways that making food from scratch offers a huge savings over buying the pre-packaged version in the grocery store. One of the best examples is Roasting Whole Chickens and Making Chicken Stock. A very close second would be baking your own bread. It's no secret that we're crazy about Jim Lahey's No Knead Bread around here. This big, beautiful loaf can be made in your own kitchen for less than $1 a loaf. You would easily be paying five times that in a bakery or grocery store for something of similar size and quality. Multiply that over the course of a year and that is some serious savings. Enough to Keep Reading