February DB Challenge: Healthier Apple & Pear Walnut Loaf

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Thank god for the Daring Bakers’ monthly challenges. Thanks to them I have been forced out of my no-blogging rut.

It has been more than a week since my last blog post. So what had been keeping me so busy?

Nothing.

Nothing of importance actually.

If you remember, I swore I won’t take any of my cooking pictures till I get my pending posts up (which obviously are still pending). And since I have not been taking pictures, I decided to take a break from blogging. It can be like a full time job sometimes- cooking, composing, photographing, cleaning up, post processing, writing, posting and then spreading the blog love. Blogging can be like a full time job (an unpaid full time job). Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy it. It keeps me busy. It gets good food on the table. And it teaches me so much. And thanks to it, I have met some really, really talented people.

But sometimes, you need a break from your job no matter how much you love it. And I needed a break.

I thought I would get my pending posts up, but for four straight days I did not feel like opening my laptop. And that is unprecedented (I can’t live without my laptop- so not feeling like working on it was a very welcomed feeling). I really needed that break. But, now I am back! Thanks to the Daring Bakers’ :)!

The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.

Quick bread is any bread that is quick to make because it doesn’t require kneading or rising time. That’s because the leavener in such a bread is usually baking powder or baking soda, which, when combined with moisture, starts the rising process immediately. In the case of double-acting baking powder, oven heat causes a second burst of rising power. Eggs can also be used to leaven quick breads. This genre includes most biscuits, muffins, popovers and a wide variety of sweet and savory loaf breads.

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Apple Pie Tartlets/ Mini Apple Pies

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This post has been lying in my drafts for two weeks now. With all the pictures placed, but no words.

I don’t know but whenever I begin to write this post I experience what you call a writer’s block (although in no way I consider myself a writer- a blogger block would be a better term. Blogger block- bet you cant say that ten times quickly! I digress.)

So instead of posting the recipe, each time I decided to leave it for later. Instead the nutella mug post got published. Surprisingly there was no block for that. I tried again to write this post and instead the follow-up to the most dangerous cake got published.

Not that this recipe isn’t great. Oh it’s plenty great but I just don’t know how to introduce it.

I generally have some story of mine to add to my posts or some memory that recipe brings up. But I have not grown up on apple pies. I am Indian. Nor has anything exciting happened to me over the past few weeks. In other words, nothing exciting worth telling. Hence the blogger block.

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An Apple a Day: The Heritage Cook’s Apple Crisp for September SRC

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With fall just around the corner and the apple picking season on in orchards in Arizona, V and I thought of showing my parents to the Apple Annie’s orchard in Willcox this Sunday.

Sunday being lazy days, made us doubt our decision to go (it was a two hour drive to the orchard and we are lazy people). But our experience last year to the orchard and the near-by vineyard was so much fun that we decided we must show them the place before my dad leaves on Wednesday for India.

To kick start the apple-y mood, and to make space for the freshly picked apples we would bring back from the orchard, I decided to make apple crisp from the store bought ones in my refrigerator.

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