SPINACH BREAD

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spinach bread The Novice HousewifeSpinach Bread The Novice Housewife

Spinach Bread The Novice Housewife

Today was coffee at my house. Its always fun having these coffee meets. Get to talk and learn so much from the diverse group of friends I have. We had a new girl join us. I remember, how, about 8 months back I was new to this group. And now the group feels like family- people I can count on when I need someone here. Its always fun to cook for them- they are all so generous with their compliments! Also, it gives me a platform to not only experiment by baking extravaganzas, but to introduce my friends to Indian food. They now all know about Samosas, kathi rolls, mint chutney and I feel happy to have made them taste that part of the world. Today, though, I did not go Indian. I kept it simple with buttered garlic on a home-made Spinach bread and carrots served with tzatziki dip. For the sweet tooth there was fruitcake and I also kept some olive-cheese-pineapple on a stick appetizers. Surprisingly the latter were quite a hit with the children!

spinach bread The Novice Housewife

The idea for Spinach bread had been haunting me for a while. I had a bunch of spinach in my fridge and thought it would be an interesting way to use it up. Found a recipe here. I wanted to add some feta cheese but did not have any in the fridge. And cheese had to go in the bread! So instead I added some parmesan cheese. I also added roasted garlic to the dough. The bread came out very flavorful. I served the bread baked with some garlic-herb smothered butter and everyone devoured them!

spinach bread The Novice Housewife

Next time I will replace some of the all-purpose with whole-wheat flour – you know, make it all healthy and all ;). Would also add some powdered flax seeds! Oohh, the sound of it makes me want to run to the store and grab a bunch or two of spinach. (What would you know, we finished both the loaves at the coffee today- yes! it was that good!)

UPDATE:

I have tried this recipe with whole wheat flour substitution and while the taste isn’t as good as white flour bread the recipe works fine with it. Instead of substituting the entire amount of bread flour with whole wheat flour, I have started substituting only 1 cup with whole wheat flour and  add about 2-3 tbsp flax seeds, 1-2 tbsp wheat germ and sometimes hemp seeds as well. 

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RASPBERRY GREEK YOGURT POPPY SEED CAKE

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Since I am going to India in a few weeks time, I am in a major fridge cleaning spree. I know V won’t use any of the baking stuff that I have stored up and am sure they won’t last till the time I am back. I also have to make enough room in the fridge to stock up food for V’s coming forced bachelor days. At least for the initial few days- then he is on his own. I had been planning to make a cake for my mom’s birthday- which was yesterday, the Jan 12th. The idea was to make a red velvet cake with cream cheese filling. But, then I had raspberries- so it became red velvet with raspberry cream cheese. But, there was no cream cheese in the fridge. Thought of going to the store to get some- and just as I was about to I remembered I had some greek yogurt that had been sitting in the fridge. Hmm…can I use it as a substitute- googled but did not find any confident yes in the search results. Tasted it and thought it might just work. So the cake became, Red Velvet cake with a raspberry greek yogurt filling. That’s what I thought!

I decided to make the filling first. Thank god that’s what I did. The yogurt creamed really good, but when I added the raspberry puree it thinned down. I tried thickening it, with my amateur techniques, but nothing helped. Looking at the consistency, I thought of turning that batter into cake batter. Added some flour, leavener, poppy seeds- and put it in the oven for it to do its trick! I decided to take the cake for my movie afternoon with my friends and they looooooved it- even the one who is on a strict diet and avoids all sweet stuff- she ate three pieces one after the other. I am so proud of myself! 🙂

(I just hope I wrote down all the components correctly! =/ )

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IT’S SPREADABLE FRUIT TIME WITH CHUNKY APPLE PRESERVE!!

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Only a few days back I was wondering to myself- its been ages since I caught a cold. And, well, what would you know, the age ends! I’m sick and with a bad cold! If insomnia wasn’t enough, the cold surely is. Hardly slept last night thanks to it. Had soupy Maggi for dinner (my all time favorite comfort food :)), and have been drinking ginger-spiced tea but to no avail. The cold still prevails and so does the feverish feeling accompanying it :(!

Even though I was pretty much drained from the cold last night, I had planned to make this chunky apple preserve from Sarabeth’s Bakery. I could have delayed it, but I’m starting this new thing- Office Thursdays! (I thought and thought of a better name, but the brain cells have been killed by the cold- so Office Thursdays it is!) The whole concept behind Office Thursday’s came up after V and I had a fight over how I bake things and I end up eating them (lucky thing- he doesn’t have a sweet tooth, so doesn’t get tempted to eat things I bake..I, on the other hand, love all things baked and hence my constant struggle with weight gain..sigh!) We had to come up with a solution since baking is the only solace I get and to do without it will surely bring me to sheer madness! Now, every Thursday V has a meeting in his office that he conducts. Sometime he takes some donuts, or someone else gets something sweet to eat. Aha! That’s it, we thought. I bake for his office people. That ways, I get to bake, but don’t end up putting any calories. Of course, I will put aside two pieces- one for V and one for me, but the rest goes in the tummies of his colleagues. Brilliant!

Today I decided to make Apple Turnovers for his office. For that, the puff pastry was already ready, I just needed to make the filling- the chunky apple preserve. So that’s why I had to suck up my cold and make the preserve, else I would have had to wait till next Thursday- a thing that an impatient me can’t do! (Here’s the recipe for the Apple Turnovers) I am glad I did because the joy of making homemade preserves is a pretty good mood lifter. And with an outcome so delectable, I was on top of the world!

Now, I did not have any canning pot or canning tongs. So I used whatever was available. I did take a risk, though, because the jars are pretty hot and without the proper tools, either you could end up breaking the jars, or worse, scalding yourself pretty bad. Fortunately, nothing happened to me. But, to be on the safer side I would suggest, if you plan to make preserves and jams more often, get the right tools!

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