Why, Hello Quick breads! I adore you!

Yes, quick breads. The name used for those breads that do not get their RISE from yeastie beasties. I love quick breads. Pumpkin, apple, lemon and even date. I love to make them. I love to give them away. Mostly, I love to eat them.

The following are my two favorite recipes. They also happen to be my family's favorite two recipes. One I made myself by loosely following a recipe I found online. The other is printed on an old recipe card given to me by a dear friend to which I've "lightened up" a bit over the years.

Tray's Cinnamon Bread

2 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 heaping tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 stick of butter (1/2 c.)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 c. buttermilk

Heat oven to 350.

Mix together first 5 ingredients (flour through butter) until it resembles coarse crumbs. Reserve 1 c. for the top. Pour 1/3 c. of mixture into bottom of a greased & floured loaf pan. Add into mixture 1/2 tsp. baking soda and mix well. Pour in buttermilk and place batter into loaf pan. Top batter with reserved crumb mixture. Bake for about an hour or until toothpick comes out clean.

Cool for 15-20 minutes and then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely.

Cook's notes:
Use your food processor to make the crumble part. It takes just seconds!

I've also made the following changes with decent results:
Cut down the sugar to a scant cup full.
Exchange one cup of all purpose flour for one cup whole wheat flour
Use 1/4 c. (1/2 stick) butter and instead add in 1/4 c. oil or apple sauce when you add in buttermilk. This results in a more powdery crumb texture, but it doesn't change the taste.
Use 1/2 c. yogurt (plain or even vanilla works well) and 1/2 c. lowfat/fatfree milk instead of the buttermilk.
Use mini loaf pans (cooks in about half the time - great for gifts). 1 recipe of cinnamon bread yields 3 mini loaves.



Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread

3 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
2 eggs
1/2 c. yogurt (plain or vanilla)
1 c. applesauce (I like the granny smith kind)
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla
2 c. grated zucchini
1 c. sliced almonds (or whatever kind of nuts you like)

Preheat oven to 325

In a small bowl combine the flour, salt, soda, powder & cinnamon. Set aside.

In large mixing bowl combine the sugars, yogurt and applesauce. Add in the eggs and vanilla. Carefully add in the dry ingredients followed by the zucchini & nuts. Mix just until blended. Pour into two 8" loaf pans. Bake for 40 minutes to an hour or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes and turn out onto wire rack to cool completely.

Cook's Notes
The recipe I loosely followed for this had over 2 c. of sugar and a cup of oil. While the bread was delicious, you might as well had made a cake! This version is something that I don't mind sticking in my kids' lunchboxes for snack AND it still is sweet enough for a dessert.

**I wanted to add that if you are worried about the whole wheat flour part of this bread or that this bread will be dry, you shouldn't be. I have NEVER made a bread that is this flavorful and moist that didn't call for butter or oil. Seriously, try it. I promise you won't be disappointed.**

Three Bean Chicken Chili & Cornbread

So dinner yet again was a spur of the moment type thing. I remembered I had 6 chicken thighs frozen and I'm usually well stocked with dried beans so I decided to whip up a chili. It was pretty decent and while it had a little bit of heat, I toned it down for the kids.

As far as the cornbread, I am always in search of "the recipe" that has the flavor I'm looking for. The cornbread I love the very most is made at a local supermarket's bakery and has an astronomical price per small tray. I suppose I could ask if they had a recipe, but I'm terribly afraid it is from a box mix. So even though this recipe was not the one it was very moist and I will likely play around with it some more to see if I can get it right. I should mention that the "general" recipe came from the back of the cornmeal container. The additions and changes I made will be in the Cook's notes.


Three Bean Chicken Chili

6 frozen bone in chicken thighs
1/2 bag of black beans, dried
1/2 bag of red kidney beans, dried
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 can small tomato paste
1 can cannellini beans
1 c. frozen peas
1 large onion, diced
2 Tbsp. oil
2 Tbsp. honey
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 1/2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. white pepper
Salt & black pepper

Soak beans either using overnight method or quick method. Boil chicken thighs in large stock pot until cooked through. Drain, saving cooking liquid. Remove meat from thigh bones and set aside. In same large stock pot, heat oil and add onion cooking for a few minutes until onion is translucent. Add in garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano, peppers & salt. Add in chicken liquid to bring liquid level up to about half (doing this through a sieve will keep out any chicken scum). Add in thigh meat, beans, peas, diced tomatoes, tomato paste and honey. Simmer for about 2 hours or until beans are tender. Serve with Mexican blend grated cheese.

Cook's notes: So I pretty much whipped this up off the top of my head as I went along. I liked it although truth be told I'd prefer it spicier and thicker. The kids did really well with it although the littlest one hates anything that resembles a soup or stew.

Cornbread

1 1/4 c. flour
3/4 c. yellow corn meal
1/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. skim milk
1/4 c. oil
1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 400. Grease 8 or 9" baking pan. Combine dry ingredients. Stir in wet ingredients until just moistened. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 20-25 minutes or until light golden brown & toothpick comes out clean. Serve warm. 9 servings.


Cook's Notes: I doubled this recipe and made the following changes: I added one can of creamed style corn and 1 c. of low fat plain yogurt as a substitute for one cup of the skim milk. I also melted 4 Tbsp. of butter and poured it on top of the batter once it was in the greased 9x13 pan. I did not serve the cornbread with butter/margarine and it didn't need it. Both my hubby and the kids loved the cornbread so I guess this will be the go to recipe - I will play around with the flour to cornmeal ratio as well as the sweetness. If I get it right, I'll re-post my recipe.