Monday, 2 November 2009

My Bread (Year 2)

Over the weekend, I tried out a new bread book – My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method, by Jim Lahey.

Lahey’s basic recipe is very similar to the basic Artisan Bread 5 Minutes a Day recipe in I’ve been working with for a year now.

The biggest difference is the cooking method – in a pre-heated covered dish at a slightly higher temp vs. placing a small dish of water in the oven and cooking at a slightly lower temp.

Same ‘baking with steam’ concept, without the loaf shaping.

The result is a gorgeous loaf with a fantastically crunchy crust and a slightly less custardy interior.

My Bread

Friday, 2 January 2009

Recipe: Quinoa Muffins with Craisins

Qunioa muffins are one of my favorite breakfasts – second only to long breakfasts over a selection of raw milk cheeses – they’re dense as dark matter and full of mouthfeel.

And, I’m tired of Googling for this recipe when I’m in the mood to make these for breakfast. So, I’m posting it here, so I’ll always know where to find it.

Yes, the recipe is originally from Martha Stewart.

Ingredients

    Dry

  • 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus more for pan
  • 3/4 cup packed dark-brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup raisins (Garrick’s Note: I prefer orange-flavored Craisins)
    Wet

  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil, plus more for pan
  • 3/4 cup whole milk
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring quinoa and 1 cup water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer; cover, and cook until water has been absorbed and quinoa is tender, 11 to 13 minutes. (Garrick’s Note: quinoa shouldn’t be fully cooked, so don’t follow the instructions on their packaging.)
  2. Brush a standard 12-cup muffin pan with oil and dust with flour.
  3. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, Craisins, and 2 cups cooked quinoa
  4. Whisk together oil, milk, egg, and vanilla.
  5. Add milk mixture to flour mixture, and stir just until combined; divide batter among prepared muffin cups.
  6. Bake 25 to 30 minutes – until toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool muffins in pan, 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Monday, 15 October 2007

Wednesday, 8 August 2007

HomeMade Pizza Company coming to Minnetonka and Wayzata

One of the things I still miss from our time in the Central Street neighborhood in Evanston is the HomeMade Pizza Company take-n-bake pizza. Clean, open storefronts, amazing ingredients. Cooked up in the comfort of your own home.

My favorites are the Spinach Pie and the Savory Pie. Both are so much tastier than Davanni’s par-bake or the nastiness that is Papa Murphy’s.

Jen just called, reporting a citing of a bus ad for HomeMade, and their site confirms locations opening soon at Hwy 7 & Hopins Crossroad in Minnetonka and 830 East Lake in Wayzata.

Sure, it’s not in walking distance from my house (or I would’ve known sooner), but it’s here and will make the occassional trips to those neighborhoods so much better.

Saturday, 2 June 2007

Thursday, 22 February 2007

KRAFT Wants My Opinion on “Food”?

Listen to me read the actual email I received from a kraft.com domain.

I question its authenticity, but then, its from the place that brought us cheese food.

UPDATE:
I just received confirmation that the message did come from a Kraft “Senior Associate Brand Manager”, and I’m not the only one in PodcastMN land to receive the message. More updates to follow.

While it’s not astroturfing or splogging, it still gets added to the “How not to engage bloggers for marketing” pile.

Thursday, 1 February 2007

The Power of 1 Slice of Bread

Every wonder why there aren’t as many open-face sandwiches for sale in your local supermarket. No?…..well, it’s political:

“USDA inspects manufacturers of packaged open-face meat or poultry sandwiches (e.g., those with one slice of bread), but FDA inspects manufacturers of packaged closed-face meat or poultry sandwiches (e.g., those with two slices of bread).” – U.S. Government Accountability
Office, High Risk Series: An Update

The upshot is – by adding one more piece of bread, sandwich manufacturers can sell their product without explicit approval from a government acronym and get inspected every 5 years – rather than daily.

Tuesday, 23 January 2007

Friday, 3 November 2006

A Warning to Restaurants: I Can’t Taste You

There’s been more than a couple times I’ve ordered something to drink or eat out with family and the order gets mixed up and we don’t realize it until I’ve already eaten not my order.

Turns out, unless the food’s flavors are obvious, loud, and complex, I don’t notice them.

This so clearly explains why I can’t tell the difference between a pineapple or a banana milkshake and the difference between a roast beef or an italian sandwich at Potbelly’s.

Sure puts my restaurant reviews in a different light.

  1. Oh, how do you know if you should apply for special parking as well:
    Dump a packet of Sweet-n-Low into a high ball of water.
  2. Stir
  3. If you taste overwhelming sweet, welcome to the club. If you taste crazy bitter, you’re probably not crazy about vegetables.

Thursday, 10 August 2006