Posts tagged under Bread. Show all posts.
Gadget girl I am, but crouton girl, I never have been…until I tasted the new White Cheddar & Onion croutons from Marcy’s (a great mom-run business btw). Baked from fresh calabrese onion bread and flavoured with white cheddar cheese and parsley, they add a little something to a simple tomato and lettuce salad that makes it restaurant-special. If you’re feeling more ambitious, there is a delicious bread salad recipe on Marcy’s site that would be great as a side with a grilled steak or chicken breast for a perfect simple dinner. I think I know what I am going to be serving up at my BBQs this summer!
I just got back from a little trip south where the produce was fresh and luscious so I went a little crazy with one of my fave ingredients—tomatoes. They are a critical ingredient in so many dishes and especially the sandwich.
On the top of my savoury sandwich list is a very simple tomato and basil combo. The key to making this sandwich the best is to use very fresh baked bread (sorry, you have to use white here so the flavour of the bread doesn’t take over). Then add a dollop of mayo (I never said this was the healthiest of sandwiches), big thick slices of ripe tomatoes, lots of salt and pepper and a generous amount of basil. If you are an arugula lover you might want to switch greens and then add a very thin shaving of parmesan cheese.
Keep your ingredients fresh and ripe and this sandwich will surprise you, I promise.
What did you have for lunch today?
If your bread box looks anything like mine, at any given time you can find multiple ends (apparently they are referred to as heels) of loaves (raisin, whole wheat, flax…) sitting unloved in the bottom of it. Making your own breadcrumbs with these leftover heels of bread makes so much economical, nutritional and savvy sense and it is easier than you think.
As you finish a loaf, throw your ends into a bag in your freezer. Once the bag is full, remove the bread slices and lay them out on a cooling rack or cookie sheets for the day to dry out. Once they are dry and brittle, throw them in a food processor (a few at a time) and pulse. The end result is a container full of fresh, wholesome breadcrumbs waiting in the freezer whenever you need them.
Some of my favourite uses for breadcrumbs include coating chicken strips, coating fish, sprinkling on casseroles, or making meat balls.
What are some of your favourite tips or tricks?
Next to the daily challenge of packing a nutritious lunch for the kids, is the daily challenge of providing them an after-school snack that will fuel them through ballet class, hockey practice or a piano lesson but not fill them up so much that they don’t eat any dinner.
Most children need to eat every three to four hours to replenish energy stores and recharge their bodies, and an after-school snack is a necessary component of a school-age child’s overall nutrition intake. In other words, it’s kind of like their fourth meal of the day, so I like to treat it that way and think of the Food Guide Pyramid to plan after-school snacks, just as we do for meals. Although I do include the occasional cookies or other sweet snacks, I also try to:
Some mini-meals my gang enjoys after school include:
What are your kids’ favourite after-school snacks? Savvy moms want to know!
She may not be in school quite yet, but Ally loves apple and cheese as her afternoon snack.
When you catch a glimpse of the new Dempster’s Thin Bagels, the million dollar question that comes to mind is how many calories are actually in a regular bagel? Because while these new thin bagels only have 100 calories, they are significantly smaller than what we formerly knew as a bagel.
And we’re OK with that, because we’ll confess to a love-hate relationship with carbs. Smaller in diameter and in thickness, they are nonetheless very yummy and give us the bagel satisfaction we need along with a soft texture, and three varieties to choose from (White with Whole Grains, Multigrain with 100% Whole Grains and Cinnamon Raisin).
Googling to try to answer the afore-mentioned question was not conclusive—estimates ranged from 200 to 500 calories—but I do recall a nutritionist once telling me that eating a bagel was the same as eating five slices of bread! Dempster’s Thin Bagels are great for kids, too, as they offer a more appropriate portion size for them.
And that’s the ‘hole’ story.
(Available at major grocery stores on March 18, $3.79)
If your garden is home to a zucchini plant, it’s no doubt taking up prime real estate by now. If not, you’ve likely noticed them sitting front and centre at your grocery store or local farmer’s market. Folks, it’s officially zucchini season.
While there are more ways to use zucchini than there are people to write about it, the most common is sure to be a zucchini loaf or muffin. I remember our freezer being packed silly with them every August, and we would especially love the loaves that were flecked with dark chunks of chocolate.
I do the same for my kids now, and zucchini bread is a breakfast, lunch and sometimes even dinner food in our house.
Last year, though, I eschewed the traditional sweet variety of this bread and made a savoury version as well, one peppered with a few chili flakes, handfuls of cheddar cheese and buttermilk. The result was delicious and one that paired well with a simple salad, or made for a sugar-free afternoon snack for the kids.
How are you enjoying zucchini this summer? Do you have any favourite recipes to share?
Zucchini Chocolate Chip Loaf
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Zucchini and Cheddar Cheese Biscuits
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Tried making the Zucchini and Cheese Biscuits and can’t say they were fabulous but they weren’t bad would give them a 3 out of 5. I made these in the hopes that my daughter would like it as a snack (she is super picky) and she did not like them. So might make them again but not over ecstatic. BUT…. these might be really nice with a bowl of chile or Ratatouille something warm and fallish like that.
My son recently made his school football team, and to celebrate, I thought it would be fun to make some football-themed food. As I brainstormed ideas, it occurred to me that there are very few foods that I would consider healthy when thinking of traditional football fare. But there are some delicious ones, like pretzels.
And the good news is that they’re also easy to make and super fun for the kids who can twist little snake-shaped dough into a myriad of shapes and symbols. It’s like edible Play Dough, and for once the kids will be encouraged to eat what they’ve made.
I like to serve my pretzels with a honey-mustard sauce, but any favourite dip will do. The tops can be sprinkled with coarse salt, fresh herbs or sesame seeds, and they always taste best when warmed prior to serving.
(Especially when you’ve scored your first touchdown.)
Tell me, what are your favourite game day snacks?
Soft Baked Pretzels
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The last time I wrote about serving food in jars, I was asked to keep the ideas coming. With the Super Bowl only a few days away, I thought it might be fun to add a twist to my traditional chili and cornbread recipe. It’s great for the big game day, weekend entertaining or even regular weeknight dinners.
The assembly couldn’t be easier, which makes them a perfect option for entertaining. Make the chili in advance and scoop it into the jars. Then, assemble the cornbread topping, pour it on top of the chili and bake it just before serving. The time in the oven will ensure the chili is warmed through evenly, and the glass vessels will keep your mess to a minimum.
Baking time for the cornbread will depend on the size of jar you use. Large 500 ml jars make a ‘man size’ serving, but small 125 ml jars are the perfect addition to a buffet filled with other foods, or even as an appetizer before the main course is served.
Tell us, do you like to do food in jars? If so, what’s your favourite meal to serve this way?
Any of these chili recipes would work well for this idea:
To see the full printable recipe, click here: Easy Chili & Cornbread
The idea of making no-knead bread has been circulating around the Internet for a few years now, but for good reason. Ridiculously easy to make, baking up a daily batch of rustic crusty bread seems almost too good to be true—but it isn’t.
I’ve been using this method to make our bread for at least two years now. Sometimes I fall off the bread-making wagon, but I’m on it more often than not, simply because there are few things I enjoy more than a slice of crusty bread, especially when topped with a hunk of aged cheddar and a dollop of jam.
Two of the most popular methods are Jim Lahey’s No-Knead Bread and the technique used in the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. My way of doing it takes the best of both recipes and combines them to make something slightly easier, if that’s even possible.
Have you tried no-knead bread? Would you make bread for your family on a regular basis?
To see the full printable recipe, click here: No-Knead Bread
Comments
I make pesto in August and freeze it in ice cube trays for the Fall/Winter. We use it all year with pasta and I make pesto and brie mini pizzas for my boys lunch.