Results for bread number one

Sorry all, I've been pretty busy with a sick child and wasn't able to post the results for the first attempt at cinnamon bread.

The results: a total flop.

The bread looked great on the outside, and smelled great too; but once I cut into the center, I noticed that the very middle was gooey and undercooked. It was a mistake on my part, it needed an extra five minutes or so to cook the center because of the filling.it tasted great, and no one had any complaints, but the gooey center was kind of unappealing for me, and it didn't keep for as long as my bread usually does.

The total results: it tasted great, but a different recipe would be better suited for this type of bread.

Overall: 7 out of 10

The Amazing Raisin Bread Challenge

I recently bought a box of golden rasins on a whim; they are my favorite type of raisin, but I don't really eat rasins a lot. So I was wondering what I could do with them (while eating some of course) and inspiration struck. Raisin bread. I searched Stumbleupon and came up with several recipes, all of which looked great. But the problem was that I couldn't pick which one to use first.

Enter the "Amaising Raisin Bread Challenge." I will be posting each recipe every week; and then I will make a loaf of the bread and post step-by-step photos along with the results to show how well the particular recipe worked for me. I will then do a taste test among my family and record their reactions on taste, texture, smell, and overall appearance. I will then post the results and, at the end of the challenge, the winners. you can do your own challenge and pick your own winner, or just try out the winning recipe.

My first recipe will be my all time favorite bread recipe (the one I make for just bread) and I will add the cinnamon sugar and raisins to it to make it into a raisin bread. This is, by far, the simplest bread recipe you could make, I found it in a children's cookbook, and a good place to start out.

Alright folks, here's the recipe, so let's get to work!

Bread

3 1/2 cup flour
1 package yeast
1 1/2 Tb butter or margarine
1 Tb brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup water

Cinnamon Raisin Filling
1 Tb melted butter
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 cup raisins

Mix flour, yeast, brown sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Rub the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingers until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Add the water and mix together to make a stiff dough. Knead the dough until smooth and elastic and then let rise for 40 minutes or until doubled in size. press the dough out into a rectangle and moisten with melted butter, sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar (mixed together) onto the dough and then spread the raisins onto the dough. roll the dough up, starting at a short end, and then tuck the ends under, pressing the edges to seal. Place into a loaf pan or onto a baking sheet or cooking stone and let rise again, until doubled. bake at 425 F for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when knocked. You can eat the bread however you like; for toast, with butter, or just plain.

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here are the pics for almost all my recipes up to date.

Nutella Mug Cake

I love Stumbleupon, its where I find alot of cool recipes, like strawberry jello shooters that are in real strawberries, or cupcakes with flaming strawberries. I might make those, someday; but today I want to share my absolute favorite recipe that I found on stumble: the Nutella Mug Cake. It is an amazing cake that is made in a unique way that I had never thought of before, you microwave it, which gives it a nice rich, dense moistness. I added a half of a Hershey's Symphony bar, the kind with the nuts and toffee and that made it insanely good, but it was so huge (I used a big soup mug) that I could only eat half of it, but it was good the next day.

Nutella Mug Cake
Ingredients
4 tablespoons self rising flour
4 tablespoons white granulated sugar
1 egg
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 tablespoons Nutella
3 tablespoons milk (I use almond milk of course)
3 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
Method
1. Combine all ingredients in a large coffee mug. Whisk well with a fork until smooth. Microwave on high for 1 1/2 – 3 minutes. (Time depends on microwave wattage. Mine took 1 /2 minutes.) Top with whipped cream and a little chocolate sauce if desired.
2. Top with whipped cream and chocolate syrup. Enjoy!

(it is a good idea to beat the egg before hand and to try mixing the ingredients together like you would a regular cake, mix the egg and sugar, then the rest of the wet ingredients, and then adding the dry ingredients. my first attempt failed miserably, there were cooked egg pieces in it and flour left sticking to the bottom; also, I used a large mug and the batter started running out of it, which is why I switched to the very large soup mug. Mine is a mammoth mug, I can fit a whole can of soup in it, with the water added.

this recipe is so good! my all time favorite recipe for cake ever. I am considering, however, in trying out some cake and pie "in a jar recipes" so that may change.

Nearly Cheeseless Pizza Calzones

There is nothing that I love more than homemade pizza. Except for homemade calzones. Individual sized pockets of pizza goodness brimming with sauce toppings... and, regretfully, cheese. Fortunately, when you make them yourself you can easily adjust the amount of cheese you put in each pocket. Just add more for the cheese lovers, and non lactose-intolerant members of your family, and less (or even none) for you.
I had made calzones before, sometimes with disaterous results: the small ones popped, the big ones took to long or burnt, and store bought dough mix just didn't work right. But, with a little tweaking, and the right dough recipe, these calzones taste amazing, even with hardly any cheese.

This dough recipe is from another old cookbook of my mother's, New and Easy Red Star Yeast Recipes copyright, 1974,1983

Pizza

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 package Red Star Instant Blend Dry Yeast (but any yeast will do)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons shortening

Oven 400 F

This recipe makes four twelve inch pizzas, but since you want the crust to be thick on the calzones, this recipe will make two calzones that you can use as individual servings or to share.

In medium mixing bowl, combine 1 cup flour, yeast, and salt; mix well. Add warm water (120-130 F) and shortening. mix by hand until almost smooth. Gradually stir in remaining flour to make a firm dough. Let rest 15 minutes (I had to add about 1/4 cup more flour because my dough was too sticky to work with. You want the dough to be firm, but still slightly sticky and stretchy.)

This is where we go off away from the recipe. After the dough rests, cut it in half and take one of the halves and flatten it out onto a CORNMEAL covered surface, coating your hands with cornmeal to prevent the dough from sticking. The cornmeal is key to a really great taste and is the secret to most resaurant doughs.

You want to get cornmeal on both sides of the dough and to stretch it out to roughly 7 or 8 inches wide and tall (I made the dough into a rectangle for ease of transfer). Pick up the dough by one side and place it on a baking sheet that has a lip to it and add the sauce (just a little bit, too much can cause leakage), cheese, toppings, and more cheese (if you desire)on half of the dough ; and then fold the other half over to completely cover the toppings and pinch down the sides, folding over and pinching again to seal.

Cut vents in the top for steam to escape (I use my trusty kitchen shears) and pop it into the oven to bake at 400 F for 25-30 minutes. you want the crust to be golden brown and to have a hollow sound when you tap on it.

Banana Bread

Warm and chewy, soft, sweet and fragrant; banana bread is a lactose-free dieter's dream dessert, and I'll tell you why: banana bread is not only a great comfort food and a really good use for brown bananas, it has no dairy in it whatsoever. Unless you put real butter in the mix of course.

My banana bread is wonderful, soft and almost flaky when warm, with a chewy denser texture after it has cooled. What's my secret? Margarine. About one fourth of the reccomended amount of fat called for (usually shortning) in the recipie of your choice, you subsitute with margarine. Do that and you will be in banana bread heaven, the margarine gives it a richness and it keeps me from slathering the stuff on it a half inch thick after it is done; which is by far worse than the small amount that I add to it.

To make this recipe even more decadent I spread it with my favorite sandwich topping: Nutella, giving a chocolate-banana feel. But I prefer to eat it plain.

With my recipe, the three close to black bananas that I had lying around made a loaf and six muffins, about a recipe and a half.

Banana Nut Bread (from the Better Homes and Gardens *New* Cookbook Copyright 1976)

1/3 cup shortening

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2 bananas)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I left out the nuts, not just because I didn't have any, but because I wanted my one-year-old to be able to eat the bread too)

Cream together shortening and sugar; add eggs and beat well. Sift together dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture alternately with banana, blending well after each addition. Stir in nuts (or not).

Pour into well-greased 9x5x3-inch loaf pan. Bake in moderate oven (350 F) 45 to 50 minutes or till done (my loaf took the full 50, but the muffins took less time, about 35-40 minutes). Remove from pan; cool on rack. Wrap and store overnight.

I love looking at older recipes, especially ones that my mom collected from the sixties and seventies. It is interesting to note that baking soda is called just "soda" and a "moderate" oven was 350 degrees farenheight. Older recipes give insight into what was popular in the food world at those times and how important cooking was by how complicated the dishes they chose to prepare were.

UUUUGH!!!

My husband has no guilt reflex. He can't have one,it doesn't seem to be a possibility for him. He has no weakness for puppies with their puppy eyes (or me with mine for that matter), and crying children do not fill him with a need to make them feel better (except for our son, and only when he's seriously hurt and I'm not around), and the sight of me crying, especially after he has said something especially well barbed, nothing; at least nothing that I can see anyway. It's like he's a fortress of steel or something. We had a fight (sort of) TWO DAYS AGO and he's still not deemed me worthy of his forgiveness, today he didn't say a word to me, besides what was necessary, and he's hardly looked at me. I f this keeps up, I feel like I might get depressed from being so upset for so long. I have a headache, a literal headache, from crinkling up my eyebrows because I'm so worried about it all.

So, what did I do about it all?

I ate cake. Well, I also finished a book that turned out to be sad, and happy all at once and that made me cry and then I ate some cake (a yummy strawberry shortcake/cheesecake thingy my mamaw made) but halfway through my cake my husband walked out the door (I swear as long as I've been in the living room today he has been walking out the damn front door to smoke on purpose, just so I have to look at him and feel guilty all over again) and him walking out the door made me upset, which, ofcourse made me cry. I hate being a human waterfaucet! I swear! I feel sad, I cry; really happy, I cry; mad, I cry! my emotions are connected to my freaking tear ducts! To make it all worse I can't talk and cry at the same time. I try and its unintelligeable, I croak, and no one can understand a single word. So therefore, I can't tell my husband what's wrong, I never win a fight, and I was a complete wuss in school because all somebody had to do was say one mean, hurtful thing and I became a water fountain (though there was one time I snapped and started yelling at two preppy girls, but that's another story).

So basically, I am a social introvert. My husband has to force me to join a conversation, even when I know the people we're talking to (though sometimes I don't talk for other reasons, like when I'm around my asshole brother-in-law who thinks he knows everything and whos favorite pastime is taking cracks at me and generally lowering my already low self-esteem into non-existence while my husband looks on because he thinks it doesn't bother me). I also don't do too well on in-class participation, and on presentations. Basically any form of public speaking with an audience of more that five or six i get nervous about. I guess you could say I have cronic uncureable stage fright, I even took classes, (let's just say that my public speaking professor probably now believes that there really are people who cannot be cured). I probably have about as much self-esteem as a mosquito. In fact, I was shocked, absolutely stunned, when my husband first told me that I was pretty. I had never, before then, thought of myself as even remotely pretty, except maybe when I was little and my mom told me. But when this amazing man told me, and even when he tells me now, that I am hot, I was blown away from the thought.

God. Its late. well goodnight dear readers, I'm off into the fray of marriage to see if I can possibly patch things up; wish me luck!

Bye bye!

Got Milk?

Today's subject is milk. Lactose-free milk, that is. There are several options out there for lactose intolerant sufferers, including lactose-free milk, as well as dairy-free varieties.

Lactose-free Milk

Lactose-free milk is cow's milk that has been treated with a lactase enzyme to break down the milk's sugars to make it easier to digest. Nutrition-wise, lactose free milk is the best choice because it has all the benifits of regular milk.

Non-dairy Milks

There is a wide variety of nondairy, plant-based milks on the market these include:
* Oat Milk
* Multigrain Milk
* Potato Milk
* Hemp Milk
As well as the more familiar:
* Soy Milk
* Almond Milk
* and Rice Milk

If taste is what you are after, then the Lactose-free milk is the way to go; but if you are lactose intolerant and vegan, or if you just want to try out something new, then, taste-wise, almond milk is the best to try (as long as you don't mind the taste of almonds). If it is nutritional value you seek, then soy is the best for your money, with plenty of protien, about 5-10 grams per 8 ounces, to almond milks 1 gram per 8 ounces (though I reccomend getting the flavored soy milk for drinking). A plus to plant based milks, no fat means no cholesterol.

As well as drinking, all lactose free milks can be substituted for regular milk in any recipe, cup for cup. I usually keep a half-gallon of each lactose-free and almond milk. The lactose free milk for drinking and the almond milk for smoothies and some cooking, thought I tend to use the lactose-free milk for family recipes.

For dairy products like cheese, yoghurt, sour cream and ice cream, there are non-dairy alternatives available, but for tastes sake, I reccomend just stocking up on a lactase suppliment that you take with each meal or just avoiding it all together (if possible).

Burrito Dogs: because you can never have too little creativity

Although I am lactose free, there is one dairy product that I absolutely CANNOT live without. Cheese. I can go without yogurt or regular milk, or even ice cream; but cheese, not on your life. So my husband and I were looking around for something to eat yesterday, we had some leftovers from the other day for burritos, and three leftover hotdogs, and inspiration struck me: instead of making the three hot dogs and a few burritos to share amongst ourselves, I thought to myself why not put the hotdogs inside the burritos? So we did. My husband was skeptical at first but the end result looked and tasted great!

*note: this is definitely something to eat with a salad or something else healthy because for obvious reasons, its not good for you.

What we did basically was assembled the burritos like normal (burrito size tortillas work best) with your fav. ingredients. I used refried beans, black beans, taco meat, and cheese (my husband had the same minus the black beans) and then drop the hot dog inside before you fold it. Then all you do is fry it up in a hot pan with some butter until both sides are golden brown and crispy, mmm.....

Smoothies: Fruity Fun toe the Rescue!

Living lactose-free, for me, is a series of give and take. There are things that are easier for me to give up than others. Yogurt and cheese are the two things that I still allow myself to eat, while ice cream on the other hand, as long as I have the ingredients to make these great smoothies (or a stash of Edy’s Fruit Bars™ or frozen grapes on hand) I can easily resist the temptation to have a scoop.

Basic Banana Smoothie

1 ripe banana

8-10 oz. almond
milk*

* If you don’t have, or don’t like, almond milk, use regular milk and plain yogurt for a thickener

Banana Berry Smoothie

1 ripe banana

8-10 oz. almond milk

1 Edy’s Fruit Bar™ either strawberry or wild berry**

** I usually get the variety box with strawberry, lime, and wild berry

Vitamin C Morning Wake-up

1 ripe banana

¼ c frozen orange juice concentrate

8-10 oz. almond milk

Tropical Sunrise

1 ripe banana

¼ oz. frozen orange juice concentrate

½ c fresh or frozen mango

8-10 oz. almond milk

POM Wonderful™ Berry-Banana Bliss

1 ripe banana

1 Edy’s Fruit Bar

¼ c POM Wonderful™ Pomegranate juice

1 6 oz. container plain Greek yogurt***

*** All these smoothies can be made with or without yogurt, I like greek because its thicker and has a nice tang

Banana ChocolatDream

1 ripe banana

2 T chocolate syrup

8-10 oz. almond milk

2 T peanut butter (optional)****

**** a warning to those who try peanut butter, although it makes a great smoothie, it is very hard to incorporate into the mix

Blend in a blender
(I use my magic bullet, it works especially well) until smooth

Smoothies are an almost regular part of my morning routine, but they also work well as an ice cream craving cure, especially if you use vanilla almond milk, then it has an almost milkshake feel.

Hello

Hi there,

I have started this blog as a way for myself and other lactose-intolerant sufferers to connect and share ways to enjoy our eating experience even if we have to skip out on the dairy.