Cinnamon Sugar Bread

Sometimes, you just need some sweetness in your life.

Every once in a while, throw caution to the wind. 

I have been doing so well lately eating well and living an active lifestyle.  (I have lost twenty pounds over the past eight months!)  I feel amazing. 

But here’s the thing-I love baking sweets.  LOVE it.

But I refuse to gain weight and eat an unbalanced diet.  Again.  (I am soooo over that phase.)

So, I have come up with the perfect solution for still occasionally getting away with eating not so healthy (but incredibly delicious) food:  Host parties.

Karl and I live in “the inaka” (Japanese countryside)  and most of our friends have a ways to travel when they visit.  Because of this, we usually end up with overnight guests.  I have no problem with this.  When I have a bunch of friends over to share with, I can get away with baking a pie, or cookies, or…

…this delicious bread.  Ever since I saw this recipe on one of my favorite food blogs, Joy the Baker, I have been mentally drooling. 

Finally, last month, I tried it.  Three weekends in a row.  It really makes for a perfect weekend breakfast.  Especially the morning after a party when you have friends with whom to share it.  

Delicious! 

Season of Soup Part 3: French Onion

I’ll be honest.  I really wanted to make this soup because I finally had the perfect dishes in which to serve it.

Is that weird?

Don’t get me wrong: I also made it because it is stupendously delicious.  But I am of the opinion that presentation can help make food taste even better.  

The last time I made French Onion soup was because I had been given around thirty pounds of onions by a fellow teacher.  That was my first time making it, and it was good. 

But this time, it was better.

I followed a different recipe this time.  The only real difference was the addition of thyme.  I also melted provolone on top...because it's what I had.  It was delicious!

Find the recipe here.

Season of Soup Part 2: Tortellini Spinach Pesto

I know I have complained before of some ingredients being difficult to find in Japan.  (Cheese is one, if you recall.) 

Making Chinese soups is a snap.  Finding ingredients for Asian recipes is usually not too hard.  Things like fresh shiitake mushrooms and bamboo shoots, which would otherwise be dried or canned. 

Fabulous.

After the Schezuan soup, I was in the mood for something different.  So I looked to Italy.

I have found and used some great soup recipes on the Eating Well website.  This particular recipe I based off of Eating Well’s Chicken and Spinach Pesto recipe-it's delicious. 

When I made this soup, I basically made the Chicken and Spinach Pesto soup, but added tortellini.  If I could get my hands on Italian sausage, I would have substituted it for the chicken, but alas.  I have yet to discover Italian sausage in the Land of the Rising Sun.  Sigh.

But the chicken is still delightful.  It's an excellent soup.

I recommend wine and Italian bread on the side with tiramisu for dessert. (In my book, these three things go with any meal.)

Yummy!

Find the soup recipe here.

they just keep getting better

There’s a thing about making bagels…you can make them taste like any season you want.

It’s awesome.  And really fun to come up with delicious flavor combinations.

It's Autumn in Japan.  We just had Halloween.  Leaves are changing into a brilliant matrix of color. The air is crisp and fresh. 

So how do you make bagels taste like autumn? 

Easy.

Pumpkin.

Cinnamon.

Allspice.

Ginger.

Cloves.

Result: the best bagels I have (yet) made.

Ready to be boiled.

 

Autumn Pumpkin Spice Bagels

5/8 cup warm water

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

2 T honey

1 t  salt

2 t  pumpkin pie spice

1 1/2 t cinnamon

3 1/3 cups bread flour

2 t  active dry yeast

1) Mix flour, water, salt, honey and yeast.  Knead, let rise for an hour.

2)  Separate dough into six sections and shapes into bagels. (I knead the dough into a small ball then poke a hole through the middle with your finger to form the hole.)

3)  Allow formed bagels to rise for 20 min.  Prep your pot of boiling water.

4)  Drop the bagels gently into the pot of boiling water for about 1 min per side.

5)  Place on a baking sheet dusted with cornmeal.  

6)  Bake at 400 F for 20-25 min.

Expanding Horizons

I am used to regular cheeseburgers.  You know, made with cheddar cheese.  To me, this is “normal.”  The “regular” version, if you will.  (ps-that junk they put on fast food burgers is not even real cheese. In fact, those aren’t even real burgers…or real food for that matter.)

For some reason, using other cheeses to top burgers never occurred to me.  Until a couple of years ago, that is.  I really started getting into other types of cheese. 

Since there is a significant lack of good cheese in Japan, cheeseburgers are not something we have on a regular basis.  Besides that, even Costco doesn’t fulfill my greatest dreams of cheese.  It is missing one of my all-time favorites…

…Jarlsberg.

Sigh.

Fortunately, I have been able to go on a Jarlsberg binge lately because some fantastic people sent me some for my birthday.  Best gift ever!  (In case you’re wondering, vacuum packed cheese does very well when sent overseas. Winkwink!)

Occasionally, Karl and I get our America on and have big, fat cheeseburgers for dinner.  The most recent instance resulted in the best burgers I had ever made.  Ever.

Remember these?  After devouring the steaks, we kept the leftover marinade.  It would have been a horrible waste to toss it!

I mixed some of the marinade into some ground beef with some panko and an egg.  Then fried them nice and slow.  They didn’t shrink at all.  Which means they fit perfectly onto the toasted bread.  

They were veritable gourmet hamburgers. 

Beef and Barley

Alright.  I know I have said this before…but I truly love cool weather and the foods that come with it.  Soups and stews, in particular. 

My awesome sister who lives in New Zealand recently mailed me a bag of barley.  Awesome.

Of course, this means…beef and barley soup.  How could it not? 

I, again, searched through one of the best food blogs I know.  And again, it did not fail me. 

She does not kid: this is the easiest soup ever to make.  I followed it near exact, with a few added carrots and a couple more cloves of garlic.  It was perfect…

Warm.  Comforting.  Aromatic.  Delicious. 

Served with a fresh slice of buttered bread, (that my husband made-What!? How lucky am I?!) this meal hit the spot. 

It’s definitely on my make again list.  

Find the recipe right here. 

If at first you don't succeed...

Last month, I turned 25.  I had an awesome party.  I ate delicious food.  I drank delicious drink.  I spent time with excellent people. 

I also received some awesome gifts, one of which was a bagel cookbook.

Remember this episode?  My first attempt at bagel making: result…disaster.  But hey, you can’t win ‘em all.  Right?

Well this time, I actually read the directions and…

Ta-da!

Mission accomplished.  Delicious bagels acquired. 

They were so easy and quick to make…I can’t wait to try more of the recipes.

I’ll keep you updated in my bagel adventures. 

Maybe blueberry for next time…

Baking

I miss baking. 

It’s just too hot now.  We are trying to subsist on salad and sandwiches and anything that doesn’t require cooking or baking.

But in order to make sandwiches, you need to have bread.  Sure.  We could buy bread.  But finding delicious whole wheat or whole wheat bread here is next to impossible. 

And we like whole wheat bread.

So sometimes, I turn that AC on and bake.  In the name of bread.