It is official!  I have made the most awesome bread ever 🙂  I got the recipe from here and tweaked it just a little bit.  I used a new-to-me pan too, a 4 1/2 x 12, which I love. It got done so much quicker!!  The bread is nice and light but still holds together well, and the taste from the fresh milled flour is soooo good.  Even if you don’t have fresh milled flour, it will still be good!

Whole Wheat/Kamut Bread

• 2 1/2 cups wheat flour – I used hard white wheat
• 1 cup kamut flour (Bob’s Red Mill)
• 1 tablespoon vital wheat gluten
• 1 teaspoon salt (I used fine grain)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 tablespoons honey

I melted the butter in the water in the microwave, about 1 1/2 minutes on high.  Add the honey.  I mixed all of the dry ingredients and yeast in the kitchenaid and then added the liquid.  I mixed until it all came together and then let it rest for about 10 minutes.  Then just turn on the mixer to knead the bread for about 10 minutes.  I ended up adding 2 tablespoons more of flour.  You know the rest, let rise, shape, rise again.  Mine baked at 350 degrees for just under 45 minutes.  We tried to let it cool, but that never happens 😆

I definitely think we have a new standard bread recipe!!!

Who knew they would be so good?!  We tried homemade spears given to me by a friend, and some store brand chips.  I voted the spears the best!  The Boyfriend liked the chips better.  We made some fry sauce for dipping.  They were seriously good, but I could only eat a few.  I would definitely do this again!!  If you are interested, we used Alton Brown’s recipe.  

It almost makes me want to try a deep-fried Snickers bar.  Almost.

I roasted our last pie pumpkin last night 😦  I may buy one more but that will be it, since we still have a ton of assorted squash downstairs.  I used half of the puree, about 1 pound, for this pumpkin bread.  It made two decent sized loaves, and only one stuck to the bottom of the pan!  😆  I need to be patient and let it cool more before I try to take it out of the pan I guess.

I loosely followed this recipe found at The Fresh Loaf.  I ended up using about 3 1/4 cups of flour, and I also used white sugar but added a few tablespoons of molasses.  I also used butterscotch chips and chopped up some unsweetened chocolate to add in.  The cook time for the smaller loaf was 40 minutes and the larger loaf took about 50.  It turned out really good!!  I ate waaaay too much last night, oops!  So I skipped breakfast today to make up for it.

What will I do with the other half of the puree?  I’m thinking another batch of pumpkin beer is in order…

I have buying bags of bananas at the grocery store to bring home and freeze for smoothies.  Normally I prefer organic bananas, especially for eating.  I like them before they get too spotty and the non-organic ones usually have less flavor and leave my mouth feeling coated, and well, they don’t taste very good.  But they seem to be okay left to get really ripe, then frozen, and used in bread or smoothies.  This batch was for smoothies.

Anyway!  I had 3 that wouldn’t fit on the plate so I decided to just make a batch of muffins.  I used Mark Bittman’s recipe for Muffins, Infinite Ways with some changes of my own.

Here’s what I did.  Mixed:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup fresh ground whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup wheat germ
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sucanat

I’m craving all kinds of soup lately.  Last night’s was creamy roasted squash.  Today I had the fixings for a posole kind of soup.  I don’t know how authentic it is, since I just kind of threw things in, but it was very tasty!  We had it with some fresh bread and rolls with cornmeal in them.  I didn’t think it was going to be very spicy but it ended up pretty hot!

Here’s what I put in the mix:

• About 1 pound of spicy pork sausage – I got mine from the Real Foods Market in Orem
• Bacon fat, about 2 tablespoons but you could use less
• 4 small carrots cut
• 2 1/2 medium yellow onions
• 1 bell pepper
• 2 anaheim peppers, one was orange
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon chicken base
• About 3 cups of water
• 1 pint of home canned diced tomatoes
• 1 can of hominy

I wanted to make a pumpkin cheesecake, but didn’t want to use 3 packages of cream cheese and tons of sugar.  I was searching for a pumpkin cream cheese pie, but didn’t like what I found.  So I decided to wing it, and I really liked the results!!  It’s not quite pumpkin pie, it is creamier.  It’s not quite cheesecake, though I did do a crumb crust and used some cream cheese.  Whatever it is, it is very tasty!!  It is a little small on top but I didn’t mind that.  Here’s my recipe:

Creamy Pumpkin Pie

For the filling

• 1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree – I baked my own
• 1 8-oz package cream cheese – I used full fat
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• nutmeg, cloves, allspice, ginger – or pumpkin pie spice I guess (I don’t know I’ve never used it :lol:)

• 4 tablespoons melted butter
• about 2 cups crispy gingerbread cookie crumbs

Mix the crust in a springform pan and press out evenly.  I used foil around my pan just in case of leakage.  Cream sugar and cream cheese together until well mixed.  Add pumpkin puree and mix well.  Add eggs, vanilla, and spices and mix well.  Pour the filling over the crust and bake at 350 degrees for about 35-40 minutes until mostly set but still a little jiggly.  Cool completely.  Enjoy!!  We didn’t have any but some whipped cream on top would be pretty good 🙂