Quick Peppery Cheese Bread

My friend at work shared this recipe with me, so I decided to try it this weekend!   This goes wonderfully with soups, but especially my potato cheese soup.  My friend sent me this recipe from "The Southern Lady Cooks!"  Their website is http://thesouthernladycooks.com/.  Being from the south, this site is right up my ally!  I love southern recipes!  Makes me feel like I'm home :)

You can make this bread gluten free if you use a gluten free flour.  The recipe is so easy my kids loved it!

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (or gluten free flour if you are gluten free!)
• 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese (or use your favorite cheese)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine or 8 tablespoons or 1 stick, melted
• 2 eggs

Directions:

• In a large bowl, combine the flour, cheese, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pepper.
• In a smaller bowl, beat the eggs, melted butter and buttermilk together with a whisk.
• Add to flour mixture and mix with a spoon just enough to wet all the ingredients.
• Pour mixture in 9x5 inch loaf pan that has just the bottom sprayed or greased.
• Bake in a pre-heated over at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.
• Allow to cool for 15 minutes before removing from the pan.
• Makes one loaf.  Store in refrigerator.

Lemon Blueberry Muffin Bread

I have been in the mood to bake since Thursday...and this is weird for me because I typically don't enjoy baking as much as I do cooking.  But I ran into a recipe that I have been dying to try so I made it today.  It taste SO incredibly good that I made 3 loaves.  2 regular loaves and 1 gluten free loaf. It tastes like a big Ole blueberry muffin!!!

I found this recipe from a woman by the name of Jenna Weber.  She is a pastry chef and you can read more about here at this site: EatLiveRun.com.

By far the BEST loaf of bread I have ever made and you CAN make this gluten free!!  For the Gluten Free loaf, I used Bob's Red Mill Homemade Wonderful Bread Mix.  For the regular loaves, I used King Arthur Bread Flour.  

I also have to take a minute and tell everyone about a new product I have fallen in love with. The bread came out as well as it did because of the bread pan I used. It will absolutely make your baking experience better.  The company is called Demarle.  You may have heard of this product because Martha Stewart made the silipat famous, but the cookware is amazing.  It's silicone and glass.  It bends and twists and I promise you will NEVER user another 13X9 Pyrex dish once you try this.

I get so sick of using the silver metal bread pans because they rust very easily.  When I found out about this bread pan, I had to try it.  Since it's silicone and glass, you don't have to use any cooking sprays or oils, butters or Crisco.  That makes me SUPER happy because if you read the ingredients in those products (like PAM)...it's a bunch of added preservatives we just dont need.  For my bread loaf, I poured the batter in and let it cook.  Took it out of the over, let it cool for 10 minutes, turned the bread upside down and it came out PERFECTLY!  No sticking, no crumbs, no breaking...it was perfect (see my 2nd picture below)!  The product is from France and I HIGHLY recommend it.  If you need to order one, message me and I can give you my consultant's number.

Anyway - enjoy the bread and remember that the products you use really do help your cooking/baking experience and the quality of the food!

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour (Or use Gluten Free flour if you are going Gluten Free)
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups blueberries (12 oz)
• 2 tsp lemon zest
• ½ cup vanilla yogurt, regular or lowfat
• Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together your flour, baking powder and salt. Add the blueberries and lemon zest and toss to combine.
3. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the yogurt then the dry ingredients, mixing only until incorporated and being careful not to crush the blueberries.
4. Scoop batter into your prepared loaf pan and bake for 1 hour 10 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before inverting gently onto a plate.
5. Yield: makes 1 loaf

Quinoa Banana Bread

I have talked about Quinoa before on my recipe blog and how good it is for you.  Did you know that Quinoa can also provide small amounts of the omega-3 fatty acid, alpha-linolenic acid (ALA)? Recent studies are providing us with a greatly expanded list of anti-inflammatory phytonutrients in quinoa. This unique combination of anti-inflammatory compounds in quinoa may be the key to understanding preliminary animal studies that show decreased risk of inflammation-related problems (including obesity) when animals are fed quinoa on a daily basis.  I found this chart interesting.  Here are the nutrients breakdown in uncooked Quinoa in 0.25 cups. For more Quinoa benefits - check out this link http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?dbid=142&tname=foodspice
manganese58.5%

tryptophan31.2%

magnesium29.6%

phosphorus28.1%

fiber20.7%

folate19.4%

copper18%

Calories (222)12%

Now - onto my recipe :)

My suggestion for this recipe is the riper the bananas, the better.  This recipe also doubles very well.  I found this recipe at livingwithout.com and they have a lot of great gluten free recipes!  Take a look at this site. I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients:

½ cup + 2 tablespoons quinoa flour
⅓ cup quinoa flakes
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt, more to taste
2 or 3  very ripe bananas, peeled
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons honey or pure maple syrup
(add some walnuts if you would like- makes it even better!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan.
2. Place dry ingredients in large bowl and mix together until well combined.
3. In smaller bowl, mash bananas. Mix in the eggs and honey until combined.
4. Add banana mixture to dry ingredients and beat until combined and batter has a smooth consistency.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes until done.