3 Times In 2 Days

I realised that I've been doing a lot of baking and cooking lately. I like to cook in general, but lately I've begun baking more. Yesterday I baked a bread, which I do often. In fact, I bake all of our bread now. This way I know exactly what is in it, plus it a lot cheaper than buying a similar bread in the store. I have posted about this before, but just in case you are interested, I use the recipe for No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread published by Mother Earth News. I've linked to the second page of the article here, but if you are interested in baking and you are not already a baker, read the article for lots of extra info. I think it is perfect for morning toast, lunch sandwiches, hummus dipping, brie spreading, soup soaking, and all the rest.

Today I baked chocolate chip cookies from a recipe in the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. Captain Adorable helped me and they were supposed to be a treat for both him and Captain Obvious, who has been diligently working on the family room (just tonight he painted the mantle white, then had to sand it down again because there was still lacquer preventing the paint from sticking in a few spots and repaint!). They are pretty good, fabulous chewy texture, but...I don't know, maybe they need some nuts? Or the fact that the chocolate chips are weirdly flat (Ghiradelli) affects them or something...

Tonight I made soup beans and corn bread and steamed broccoli for dinner. Had planned to go out to dinner with a friend, but she had to cancel on me at the last minute because of an emergency at her house. :( So, I wanted to come up with something yummy to go with the beans I made yesterday. Did I tell you that my New Year's Resolution was not to buy canned beans anymore? Two reasons: better taste and to avoid the BPA plastic used to line the cans. Anyhow, we don't eat beans that often, but during recovery from surgery I did buy canned a few times. But with coaching by NonFiction over the phone, I pulled it off and the beans are fab and I made enough to freeze for quick dinners in the future.

So, the corn bread was good (hearty yet light! much more Northern than Southern) and used some of the lovely grass-fed organic buttermilk we had in the fridge. Except that the medium-grind on the corn meal was a bit intense for my big Captain. Next time I will have to buy finely-ground corn meal. It was lovely to put those yellowy squares steaming into shallow blue bowls with beautiful soup pinto beans...mmmmm...gorgeous green broccoli on the side...

So, back to the point. I baked 3 times in 2 days. I think I get some type of prize for that--perhaps a gold star?

Future plans include baking my own pitas and focaccia...will keep ya posted, as per usual.