back to the bake-a-long . . .

First, a delicious brunch Dan and I prepared this morning:

After I got the potatoes in the oven and started the kale, Dan was on omelette duty (chard, mushroom, and swiss,) while I juiced a couple of grapefruit that have been languishing in our produce drawer. Bring on the vitamins!

I think Crystal, Victoria, and I are all in agreement that our bake-a-long has lost a little momentum lately . . . being busy will do that! After completing the rye part of our bake-a-long a couple of weeks ago, I finally got around to making the pumpernickel today. I also made my own caramel color, since I couldn't find a place locally that sold it. (Plus, homemade is always better, right?) Made the dough yesterday, baked the bread today:

Holy hell, this is some DAMN tasty bread! I love the rich depth and slight bitterness the coffee, molasses, cocoa powder, and caramel color lend the loaf, and the super-crisp, crackly crust was an added bonus. :)

We enjoyed slices of lightly buttered pumpernickel with our dinner tonight:

"Old-Fashioned Cream of Mushroom Soup," from Love Soup by Anna Thomas, bread, and crisp, green salads. I sense I have been craving a palette of colorful food lately!

And don't forget dessert . . .

Pumpkin cinnamon rolls . . . heck yeah! What a thrifty girl I am, using up that partial can of pumpkin that has been sitting in my fridge for over a week!

Off to drink tea and read magazines on the couch -- hope you had a great weekend, too!

week-old backlog

I fell way behind in the posting this past week! Sheesh -- some of these photos are from last weekend. Oh well, better late than never, right?

For example, I'm pretty sure this is what we had for lunch last Saturday:

Oh artichokes, how I LOVE thee! At the first hint of spring, (i.e., slightly warmer MN weather when you still have to wear the parka, but long johns are optional,) giant artichokes usually appear at the co-op for somewhat reasonable prices. Somehow, I mind less splurging on a vegetable than on junk food! We panfried up the rest of the leftover homemade spicy Italian vegetarian sausage links, and oven-roased some potatoes, too. SO good. Hearty and healthy and comforting!

I really love it when blogger rotates photos for me:

Sideways slightly lower fat snickerdoodles are tasty! I didn't intend on making these lower in fat, but when I discovered I forgot to bring TWO sticks of butter (instead of one) to room temperature, I improvised with 1/2 cup applesauce. The cookies turned out soft and cakey, not what I'd prefer necessarily, but still delicious!

Dinner Sunday Night:

Carribbean Red Beans and Brown Rice from The New Mayo Clinic Cookbook, with greens and panfried plantains on the side. Good and spicy! Wahoo!

Dinner Monday Night:

I think we make too much pizza. Why? Because almost every day, the kids at work ask me, "do you have pizza for lunch today?" :) Anyhow, here's another one. Artisan Bread crust, Muir Glen organic pizza sauce, mozzarella, parmesan, spinach, onion, mushroom, green pepper, and Yves "Meatless Pepperoni." Meatless pepperoni? Prepared pizza sauce? Well, the kids at work wanted to make a pizza, and SOMEONE had to do something with the leftover ingredients!

"Deli-Style Rye," as part of our bake-a-long:

I didn't follow the recipe exactly, since I completely forgot I was supposed to brush the loaf with a cornstarch wash and cover it with seeds, but, oh well. Floured crust looks pretty, too! I also had a chance to use the charnushka seeds that Dan's brother bought me for Christmas, in place of the more typical caraway. Thanks, Ryan!

We'll cut into the rye tonight with our dinner . . . to be continued!