38 Power Foods, Week 20 -- Papaya -- Papaya-Candied Ginger Muffins with Cashews

A crispy-moist, very gingery muffin made with oats, whole wheat, and yogurt. Don't tell.

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Somewhere on toward 6:30 and there was no light anywhere that October morning. Only the too-lazy-to-make-their-own-coffee guys were struggling down the street to the gas station where ethanol-fragranced cheap brews waited.   No birds stirred.  The dogs slept on.  Donning jeans and t-shirt in the dark, she searched for her moccasins by sitting down and feeling around on the floor of the closet with her hands. Toddling down the hall to the bathroom, she made peace with her body, and then carefully made her way down the stairs, feeling each tread with her toes before proceeding to the next.

Happy Mother's Day--Prune Quick Bread (Reposted)

A bread for Jacque Franklin, who broke bread for me so many times.  Thank you and be well, my friend.

Before the quick bread post, click on the link below to send a Mother's Day Card that will work toward ending hunger...  from THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME--BLOGGERS AGAINST HUNGER.  HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, FRIENDS...

http://gifts.wfp.org/

                                                NOW ON TO THE BREAD!!

My husband loves this bread.

But, when I mentioned to him (before he tasted it)  that I was working on a recipe for prune bread, he made a face, rolled his eyes and laughed.  Sometimes, we never escape third-grade humor.

I don't cook a lot with prunes, but have remembered a couple of great recipes  lately...one was from THE SILVER PALATE.  I want to say it was Chicken Marabella and it was famous.  The other is a pork roast with prunes that's to exhale repeatedly over. French recipe. OOOOh.  It's lovely. So different.  So smooth.   So company friendly.  Reheats like a champ over the weekend after a Friday night dinner party.

Back to the bread.  I made this bread when I was working on an article called, "Quick Bread 101,"  in which I attempted to work out a basic quick bread recipe that let you add whatever you had on hand ...say bananas, apples, blueberries, etc.  I think I got it right, but this variation is my absolute favorite.  It would be a sweet Mother's Day gift, a great addition to brunch. 

I've been gone a few days to a funeral, so thought it was a good time to bring out the prune bread recipe and share it on the blog.  If you tried it from examiner, sorry.  I have re-written the recipe specifically for prunes.  It makes stuperous muffins!!  (stuperous is my word for something between stupendous and super)

Alyce's mom and nephew Michael.....

Prune Nut Bread        

makes 1 9x5x3  loaf

                                                         

1 c prunes, chopped

1 1/2 c orange juice 

     Simmer chopped prunes in orange juice for about five minutes.   Let cool slightly.

4T melted butter, cooled, or canola oil 

1 egg (you might want to use 2 at altitude)

     Mix cooled butter/oil and egg and add to orange juice and prunes. 

     Set aside.

21/2 c unbleached flour

1 c sugar

3 1/2 t baking powder

1 t salt

1 c chopped nuts

     In a large bowl, mix well all dry ingredients.  Add wet ingredients and stir just until well-mixed.

Spoon into greased and floured 9x5x3 loaf pan.  Bake about 50 minutes until bread is firm to the touch, is pulling away from the sides of the pan, and a toothpick inserted in the middle of the bread comes out with just a few moist crumbs.  Let cool in pan 5 min.   Bang pan on counter or board and turn out onto rack to cool completely before slicing.  Keep well-wrapped on counter for 1-2 days or freeze for up to 2 months.

Can be made into muffins.  Pour into greased muffin tins and bake at 400F 15 min.  Turn out on to rack to cool.

St. Patrick's Day Potato Soup and Irish Soda Bread-A Repeat Post

I had a farm in Ireland.......

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Not.  I did, however, visit once.

I wish I could go back.

I can't go today, but I can make Potato Soup and Irish Soda Bread on

St. Patrick's Day......

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I've been making this meal for a long time.  I love it, but I don't make it any other time of the year.  I don't know why.  Perhaps it wouldn't be special if I made it, say, in May or September.  You, however, have no holiday strings emotionally strumming over these recipes and could make them next week or next year.

Go you.  So, here's the soup...........and then the bread--

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Potato Soup

2 slices of bacon, diced; 1/4# Canadian bacon, chopped*

2 onions (different kinds are nice), chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 leeks, chopped

3 large pototoes, peeled and cut into 1" pieces  

1 turnip, peeled and cut into 1" pieces

1 parsnip, peeled and cut into 1" pieces, optional

6-8 cups unsalted chicken broth

Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

1/2 c Greek yogurt or sour cream

parsley or dill

In an 8-10qt soup kettle, saute bacon until about half-done; add Canadian bacon.  Cook until well browned.  Remove meats  from pot and drain on paper towel-lined plate.  Cool and  refrigerate until you're going to serve the soup.  Pour out all but enough bacon grease to coat the bottom of the pan well.  Add onions, garlic and leeks and saute until almost golden, stirring often.  Add potatoes, turnip and parsnip and cook 2-3 minutes until hot.  Add chicken broth.  Bring to a  boil and lower the heat.  Simmer until all vegetables are soft, about 25 minutes.  Salt and pepper to taste.    Puree in food processor, with hand-held blender or by hand using potato masher.  Serve with a dollop of sour cream, a bit of the bacon and ham and a garnish of fresh parsley or dill.  Make sure there's fresh ground pepper at the table.
*You could choose to use all bacon.

There isn't much better than soup and bread anywhere.  If you're cold.  If you're really hungry.  Can you think of anything better?  I have a friend whose husband doesn't like soup,  Just doesn't like it at all.  He did, however, eat soup at my house once.  And asked for the recipe later.  Such folks are few and far between.  Who doesn't walk in a house, smell soup simmering or bread baking and go, "Wow!  It just smells so good in here."  And, while we can't always put our fingers on what makes us happy in life, we do know we like it when the house smells like something good to eat.  Those  "Wow"s come with big smiles and anticipatory movements that include looking around for the delighting elements.  So, here's the bread.  More on the provenance later.

Irish Soda Bread - American Style

4 cups flour

1/4 c sugar

1 tsp salt

1tsp baking powder

1/4 c butter

1 1/2 c currants or raisins

1 1/3 c buttermilk

2 large eggs (3 if at altitude)

1 t baking soda

Grease a 2qt  round bowl (ovenproof), casserole or  deep cake pan.

Preheat oven to 375F.

In food processor, or large mixing bowl, measure dry ingredients and mix well.  Cut in with blade attachment or with knives or pastry blender, the butter.  In a large mixing cup, whisk together the buttermilk and eggs; add the currants and baking soda.  Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry and mix well to form a very wet dough.  Turn dough into the prepared baking bowl and bake for about an hour or until bread is very well-browned and firm in the center.  A wooden skewer stuck in the middle of the bread should come out clean.  You may have to test several times.

Let this bread sit 15-20 minutes before cutting or it will crumble.  Cool completely before wrapping tightly in foil and storing in the refrigerator.  Will keep 3-4 days.

 Excellent leftover just as it is, but even better for toast made under the broiler. 

2012 update:  If you'd like to make whole wheat Irish Soda bread (very traditional), read my post on Darina Allen's bread here.

  

copyright 2012 alyce morgan

 

Me and the green.

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A couple of notes on the provenance of the recipes:

I began (and later changed) the potato soup years ago from a recipe called  "A Cold Winter's Day Potato Soup" from THE EASTERN JUNIOR LEAGUE COOK BOOK, edited by Ann Serrane and published by David McKay in ??1980.

The bread recipe is one I have no idea about from whence it came.  It's on a recipe card I've had for so many years.  I'd guess I copied it out of a magazine or a book at the library one day as a young wife. 

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THE TWO-DOG KITCHEN IS REALLY SOMETHING ELSE AS TUCKER HITS FOUR MONTHS......

While we are making the potato soup, Tucker tries to figure out if he likes onions skins.   Nah....

Sing a new song,

Alyce

all photographs copyright Alyce Morgan 2003 and 2010

PLEASE NOTE:  ORIGINALLY POSTED IN MARCH OF 2010.....REPEATING BECAUSE IT'S GOOD.   Happy St. Patrick's Day, 2011!

Root Vegetable Barley Beef Soup or Where's the weather, Craig?

Solution for a cold winter's day

 You know how you feel you know your weatherman?  Dave and I refer to the ones we like (Mike and Craig on channel 5 in Colorado Springs -NBC affiliate and Al Roker on TODAY) by their first names, though they wouldn't know us from Adam.

"What's Craig say today?"
or
"Did Mike say what the temperature would be tonight?  Should I bring the herbs in?" (cover the annuals, shut off the sprinklers, bring in the car.... oh the things governed by Mike.)

"Why is Al in another studio?"  "And what's he wearing?" "How'd he lose all that weight?"  Answer is always, "I dunno."

Today these intimate friends have forecast all day long for horrible weather...across the country, including Colorado Springs.  I canceled a trip to go oversee an inspection on our new house (actually quite old-built in 1915) in St. Paul:

 So the snow would come and go and disappear.  But the sky stayed gray.  Which it doesn't in Colorado Springs.  Except once a year or so.  But bad weather?  Not happening.  Not here.  Not yet.  No how.  Maybe later or tomorrow. 

Who knew, though?  Bad weather?  I make soup.  I make bread.  And I did.

The soup is hearty enough for a Super Bowl stew; it's a beef vegetable soup with nearly only root vegetables and  some barley.  Maybe it could be made from your pantry; I did it from mine.

The bread is a recipe from one of my favorite food writers,Mark Bittman- New York Times.  It's the quick version of the famous 2006 No-Knead Bread.  If you haven't yet made that bread, here's the link to the original article about Jim Lahey (Sullivan Street Bakery) and the bread.  It's world famous, by now.   Well, nearly.  Definitely the most famous recipe in the New York Times, at least for Bittman, in ten years.  That's what he said in his last (boohoo) column.  That's saying something.  ( I have made the "regular" no-knead bread, as well, and will include a pic of that below.)   And, yes, the longer version is definitely better, but the the quick one's good and it's short!  We don't always have 20 hours.  Here's how:

Root Vegetable Barley Beef Soup for a Bad Weather Day (right)

• 3T canola oil
• 5 # beef chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 1" cubes
• 3 large onions, chopped, divided
• 1 bunch celery, including leaves, chopped coarsely; divided
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 carrots, cut into 1" pieces; divided
• 3-4 parsnips, peeled and cored (if large) and cut into 1/4"-1/2" pieces; divided
• 1 large turnip, peeled and cut into 1/4"- 1/2" piece; divided
• 2 qts water
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1 c fresh parsley, chopped finely; divided
• 2 qts beef stock, low sodium (your own fresh or frozen or boxed/jarred from the store)
• 1 28 oz can chopped tomatoes, no salt
• 2 c shredded green cabbage
• 2 t kosher salt
• several drops of Tabasco
• 2/3 c medium pearled barley
• 1T basil or 1 t dry thyme, optional

1. In a very large stockpot, heat oil over medium heat and add half the beef.  Let brown well and turn.  Let that side brown and remove meat to a plate.  Add rest of beef to the pot and repeat.  Add in onion, the garlic, and 1/3 of the celery, carrots, parsnips and turnips.  When meat is well-browned, add the already-cooked beef and stir well together.
2. Pour in the water and add the bay leaf, pepper and half of the parsley.  Stir well and bring to a boil.  Cover and reduce  heat.  Simmer until beef and vegetables are tender, 1 1/2- 2 hours.
3.   Bring back to a boil and add the rest of the vegetables (including the cabbage), parsley, stock, tomatoes, salt, Tabasco, barley and basil or thyme, if using.  Cook until barley is tender, 40-50 minutes.
4. Taste and adjust seasonings.
5.  Serve hot in large, warmed bowls with hefty hunks of baguette and butter if you didn't make the bread.

Cook's Note:  This is a one-afternoon soup in Alyce's tradition of making the stock and the soup nearly all together.  While it's not a perfect solution, it's tasty and workable.  You cook the meat with a few vegetables and make a stock, adding the rest at the end and including some store-bought stock to round out the soup.  It's definitely not original, but I worked it out myself raising a houseful of kids who needed meals every night for about twenty years.  Before adding the second round of vegetables and jarred/boxed stock, you can also remove the already cooked vegetables and puree them, if you like.  Of course, you throw them right back in the pot.  It gives you the opportunity for having only freshly-cooked veg in the final soup if that's important to you.

Cook's Note for the Bread: Read the recipe and instructions thoroughly before beginning.

A little gallery for you:

House so cold, I had to leave bread in the oven and take a temp; it needs to rise at 70 F.

Here's the bread trail... If you print the recipe from the link, you'll understand.

Simple, great crumb, lovely crust.. yummy.

Heat bowl 30 min 450F first

Smelling and tapping... Anyone remember James Beard's bread book?


Note:  Above bread is the quick version of the No-Knead Bread.
Below is the regular version, which is NOT so quick, but still simple.  (Click on link.)

Two-Dog Kitchen and Around the 'Hood

Cooked up the beef trimmings for the pups...

80th Birthday for Grandpa Gene--Quite a party!

Prayers for peace in Egypt....particularly for the food supply.

Thinking of friend K. preparing a difficult Bartok piece for double piano; the concert's this week. 

Safe travel for my niece.

Thanks to folks in St. Paul putting our house through inspection.

Blessings on First Presbyterian of Champaign, Illinois, where we worshiped Sunday with family.

Warmth and safety to all those facing the weather in our country.

A great semester to daughter Emily and all her fellow-seminarians beginning the second semester of the school year.

Went to see "True Grit" with Dave, Bill, Lorna and Gene.  Come back, John Wayne?

 

Sing a new song, 

Alyce

Pumpkin-Ginger Bread--or Alyce Tweaks the Pumpkin Bread One More Time

Muffin version in front of my winter herb window

PREVIEW:  DROP IN AND DECORATE IS MONDAY, DECEMBER 20 4-8PM

COME BY ALYCE'S TO DECORATE A FEW COOKIES, SHARE A MEAL OF SOUP AND BREAD, OR TO JUST ENJOY THE SEASON.  COOKIES WILL BE HAND-DELIVERED TO THE BRIDGE, ASSISTED LIVING CENTER THE FOLLOWING DAY.  PUT IT ON YOUR CALENDAR.  SEE YOU THEN!!!! 

One or two things I make during the holiday season go from September-January.  Pumpkin bread is one of them.  If you know me well, you've eaten my pumpkin bread.  I have several versions and every one is different and unique and yummy and... special.  I kind of work of it from year to year.  My choirs eat it; my husband lathers cream cheese on it.  I make it into muffins; my friends husbands say to their wives, "Why don't you make anything like this?"  (Mostly because they're eating cake at dinner.) 

This year, I had sweet ideas. Whoa:  Candied ginger.  Black pepper.  Cayenne.  Pumpkin seeds.  I tried it out.  Twice. Increased the ginger the second time.  Passed it around at home and elsewhere.  I took some to St. Paul, where we visited for Thanksgiving, froze our butts off, made it through a job interview (me-whewgladitzovah), 13 houses,  and came home drop-in-bed sick from.  We ate it there for breakfast.  Every day. Ah.  Thanksgiving time!  So I'm keeping this version.  It seemed to go over well, even with Sue's friend Gladys, a top-notch cook and baker at 91.  She did say, however,

"WHAT is in this?  I don't like eating stuff when I don't know what's in it." 

I think it was the candied ginger and the cranberries.  Of course the black pepper might have done it, too.  Or the cayenne.  Well.   I like pepper in bread; sue me.  And I'm gonna go right on making it. Like that. It does make super gifts and can be made as tiny loaves, muffins or big loaves.  Maybe even T-tiny muffins for a buffet.  Try it; you'll like it.  Everyone else did.  Better make a bunch.  (Provenance:  I think the original recipe for this came from THE FANNY FARMER BAKING BOOK.)  Freezes well.  (No longer than 2-3 weeks, though)

Pumpkin seeds.  Use some in the bread.  Eat the rest.  Good for you.  Great in bread!

Alyce's Newest Pumpkin Bread Featuring Candied Ginger and Black Pepper.  OH, and Cayenne, too.

• 1/2 c dried cranberries
• 1 c boiling water
• 2/3 c butter, soft (to cut fat, use half apple-sauce--no more than that)
• 2 c pumpkin ( a can is 15 oz now; add applesauce to complete the  2 c)
• 4 eggs
• 2 1/4 c sugar
• 1/3 c candied ginger, minced
• 2/3 c evaporated milk, low-fat or fat-free  (can use regular milk instead)
• 3 1/3 c unbleached white flour
• 2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1 1/2 t salt  (sorry, left out of original post--corrected  11/18/11)
• 2t Chinese or Vietnamese cinnamon
• 1/2 t freshly-ground nutmeg
• 1 t ground cloves
• 1/2 t black pepper, freshly ground
• 1/4 t ground cayenne pepper
• 1/4-1/3 c salted or unsalted pumpkin seeds (I like salted)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F for bread or 400 for muffins. Grease and flour pans.  For muffins pans, grease only.
2. In a small bowl, stir together cranberries and boiling water.  Set aside.
3. With hand-held electric or standing electric mixer, beat together in a large bowl butter, pumpkin, applesauce, eggs, sugar and candied ginger until light and fluffy.  Beat in milk until well-mixed.
4. On top of the wet ingredients, measure dry ingredients:  flour, soda, baking powder, spices.  Carefully mix just the dry ingredients with a spoon or rubber spatula, trying to avoid mixing the dry ingredients into the wet.  Using electric mixer, beat wet and dry ingredients together until just incorporated.  Don't over beat.  Drain cranberries well and stir into batter gently.
5. If desired, sprinkle pumpkin seeds into bottom of prepared pans (9x5) or baby loaf pans (3x5 or similar) or muffin tins.  Use ice cream scoop for muffins. 
6. For loaves or baby loaf pans, bake at 350 for about an hour or half-hour, respectively.  Test for doneness with a toothpick or skewer; it will come out almost clean when the bread is done.  Leave in pans 5 minutes.  Bang bottoms of pans on board, floor or counter before turning out on to racks carefully to cool completely.   If sticking, use thin, sharp knife to go around edges.  When absolutely cool, wrap well in foil.  Store on counter 1-2 days, in frig for 2-3 days, and in freezer up to 2-3 weeks.
7. If in muffin tins, bake at 400 F for maybe 15 minutes or until nicely browned and firm to the touch.  Turn out immediately onto metal cooling racks.  Follow storage instructions above, though muffins store well in large plastic containers that are freezer safe.

This is a great pumpkin bread pan loaf.  Pan available at Williams-Sonoma.  (Design changes year to year.)

Just thought you'd like to see the options....

Bake now while it's quiet one night.  Wrap up your treasures carefully in shiny foil. You can even put ribbons on them before you put them in the freezer.  Be ready as you move through Advent into Christmas.  Or as you hit the second day of Hanukkah.  Breathe and study.  Live and love.  Don't get crazy over what you're supposed to do.   Or as you live through another day...
Don't let the light go out (see and hear song, LIGHT ONE CANDLE)  and, while you're at it, pray that I see the the path where God is undoubtedly shining it if I just could only be aware enough...
 
Alyce

Joshua Makes Bread or How I Get Fresh Rolls for Saturday Supper

After a long week of writing, cooking, baking, directing, practising and dogsindogsout/getthecatoutfrom underneath that stairway, it's just cool to kick back and grill a few lamb chops for dinner.  Maybe steam some cauliflower and add a little gouda on top.  Open a Christom Syrah.

What's better?  Maybe add a good friend and baker to the mix.  Enter Joshua.

Bread Baker Par Excellence

And, wow, he gets kneading

And kneading

And kneading...

Really, not so much kneading for this recipe, because it's mostly done in the bread machine.  Mixed and risen (1.5 hours) in the machine, taken out and shaped, put in buttered pan, left to rise just a bit (I threw it in a 200 F oven for 3 minutes to push the second rise), covered and left to sit and amuse themselves while they got bigger for about and hour, baked for...oh, 20 minutes+/- at 350F.

Pretty handy fellow to have around, eh?

Making the tiny buns....

Pinching each roll...

Brushing the butter on the rolls...

Whole Wheat Rolls in the Bread Machine

--adjusted here for making at altitude--*

Adapted from a recipe by Bill Kalbus, Montana Hotelier and Baker

Bill may have developed this from an old Betty Crocker recipe, but I'm unsure about that.

 

1 c water plus 1-2T at room temp

1/4 c honey

2T butter, soft

2 eggs

--

1 1/4 c whole wheat flour

2 c bread flour (all-purpose white will work, too)

1t salt

2 teaspoons dry yeast (1 pkg), NOT fast-rising--you can use fast rising yeast at sea level, but just not at altitude

1T wheat germ

 In a medium bowl, whisk together water, honey, butter and eggs.  Set aside.  Into the bread maker (mine makes 1 or 2 # loaves and there's plenty of room), place the flours, salt, yeast and wheat germ.  Pour the liquids on top and turn the machine on the "Dough only" or Mix and rise setting.  My old Oster takes about 1.5 hours to mix and rise this dough. My new Zorjirushi takes 1 hour, 28 min.  As dough is quite forgiving, you can mix it by hand, by electric mixer w/ dough hook or in your bread machine, which I think does the best job mixing. 

After the dough has risen and about doubled (over an hour usually), punch down dough and remove it from the machine onto a well-floured counter.   Knead a bit to take away the sticky and add a dusting of flour as needed.  We needed probably another 3-5T and had to knead about 2 minutes total. 
Divide the dough in half and in half again and in thirds so that you have 12 fairly even pieces of dough.  Roll each one into a ball, pulling together at bottom like a  purse and pinching together.   Place seam-side down in a buttered 9x11x2" metal cake pan.  Brush with about 2T melted butter. 

Rolls after the second rising.

•   Let rise another hour or so (stick it in a warm oven for a couple of minutes if you want to "push" the rise), covered by a heavy towel or a buttered piece of plastic wrap. 
• 
  
  Preheat oven to 350 and bake on center rack about 20 minutes until quite brown.  Let sit a minute or two (or longer) before eating with honey and butter or as you see fit. 
• 
  
  These keep, well-wrapped for a day or so and freeze very well for up to 2 weeks.  Lovely to make ahead for Thanksgiving.

*When I make these rolls at sea level, I raise the yeast to 3 teaspoons and eliminate the extra tablespoons of water.  The wheat germ is optional, but gives the rolls a bit more depth of flavor and makes them look more brown and quite lovely.

Saturday

Bread

Joshua

Nice combination

Sing a new song,

Alyce

additional photos added november, 2012