Tag Archives: homemade

Dinner, Loaves

Potato Soup with Milk and Honey Bread

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March in New England is a fickle beast.

Temperatures in the 60’s with sunshine one week and 18 inches of wet, heavy snow the next, (great book reading weather!)

I just finished a great little novel by Jenna Woginrich. The $4.99 ebook is called Birchthorn.  It’s suspenseful with great characters and plot twists. There’s a scene in it where one of the characters, Eli, has a pot of potato soup on the stove.

Now, I have potato soup on the brain.

Since every great soup has to have a great accompaniment, we will start with bread.

Milk, honey and a little butter are warmed and yeast is added.

This mixture is combined with flour and salt.

While Marcy sleeps next to the radiator, I work the dough in a bowl with a wooden spoon.

It’s then covered with a towel and placed in a warm place to rise.

Next, potatoes are peeled and cubed.

We add just enough water to cover the spuds and season with a bit of salt and pepper.

Then, comes the bacon…

#bacon

A post shared by Jodi Rhodes (@homemadeandwholesome) on

Listen to those three halved pieces of glorious bacon sizzle.

Every potato soup needs a gorgeous little purple onion.

After an hour, the dough has risen and we are ready to knead.

It only takes a few flicks of the wrist to get a smooth soft ball of dough.

That ball of dough is placed in a cast iron skillet and allowed to rise again while the oven comes up to 350 degrees.

Once the potatoes are done, they are lightly mashed along with the water that didn’t evaporate.

A couple tablespoons of butter, the bacon-fat-sauteed chopped onion and that glorious bacon  are added to the pot of potatoes.

All that’s left to do is add a little more salt and pepper and place the pot over low heat, stirring every now and then.

A warm loaf fresh out of the oven.

And a hearty meal.

Take that March, you fickle beast.

Petite Milk and Honey Bread

  • Servings: makes 1 small loaf
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  • 3/4 cup whole milk
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for kneading)

Place milk, butter and honey in a microwave safe bowl or glass measuring cup and heat for 90 seconds. Sprinkle yeast over top and let sit for 5 minutes or until bubbly.

Stir flour and salt together in a medium sized bowl. Pour milk and honey mixture over top and mix with a wooden spoon and fully combined.

Place a tea towel over top of the bowl and let rise until double in size, about an hour.

Once risen, on a floured surface, knead dough until smooth, about a minute.

Preheat oven to 350F. Place the ball of dough in a cast iron skillet and make a cross on top to let the fairies escape. Place the tea towel over top to let the dough rest while the oven comes up to temperature.

Bake for 40-45 minutes. Slice/ break and serve.

Potato Soup

  • 3 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • 1/2 small onion, diced
  • 3 slices of bacon
  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • salt and pepper
  • sharp cheddar for serving (optional)

Place peeled and cubed potatoes into a medium sized pot and cover with water just to the top of the potatoes. Add some salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, turn burner down to medium-high and let simmer until soft.

Meanwhile, cook bacon slices in a skillet until crispy. Cut into pieces. Place diced onion into bacon grease left in the skillet. Saute on medium-low until translucent.

Mash cooked potatoes with remaining water, leaving some chunks. Add milk, butter, bacon and onions to the pot. Stir to combine and place back on the burner set to low, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, if you like.

Serve with shredded cheddar and warm bread.

 

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Breakfast, Wild edibles

Orange and Autumn Olive Pancakes

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Autumn Olive (Elaegnus umbellata) is ubiquitous. Right now in New England the branches are heavy with speckled red berries.

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The fruit is tart like a cranberry and what pairs well with cranberries? Orange.

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For us, pancakes always start with flour, salt and baking powder.

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The juice of an orange is combined with milk and added to an egg and a couple tablespoons of melted butter.

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The batter comes together studded with red berries and orange zest.

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This recipe makes four good sized pancakes that are packed with bright flavor.

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Enjoy with a little pure maple syrup.

Orange and Autumn Olive Pancakes

  • Servings: makes 4 pancakes
  • Print

This recipe is easily doubled.

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 medium sized orange
  • milk
  • 1/4 cup autumn olive berries

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl combine egg and melted butter. Zest the orange and set aside. Squeeze orange into a 1 cup measuring cup and add milk to make 1 cup of liquid. Pour into egg and butter mixture and mix well. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir just until incorporated. Fold in the berries and the zest.

Pour about a half cup of batter into a cast iron skillet set over medium heat. Cook both sides until lightly browned and serve with pure maple syrup.

 

Loaves

Pumpkin Walnut Loaf with Chocolate Chips

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October is upon us, which means pumpkin.

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We collect our ingredients in the sun strewn kitchen on this beautiful Sunday morning.

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Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and all spice speckled flour is incorporated into creamed butter and sugar.

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Alternate with pumpkin puree until mixture is smooth and orange in color.

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Chopped walnuts and a healthy dose of chocolate chips are folded into the batter before it is placed into the loaf pan.

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More walnuts are sprinkled over top before it is placed into the warm oven.

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While the loaf is baking, we mix cinnamon and nutmeg into confectioners’ sugar and milk for a decadent glaze.

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Pumpkin Walnut Loaf with Chocolate Chips

  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon allspice
  • 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips
  • 1 cup walnuts, chopped

Glaze

  • 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a loaf pan.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time until incorporated. In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Add flour and pumpkin, alternately beginning and ending with flour until smooth. Fold in chocolate chips and 3/4 cup walnuts.

Bake for 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack.

Combine glaze ingredients in a small bowl and pour over the top of the baked loaf.

Slice and enjoy!

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See what I see

Apple Season

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Here in New England, September is apple picking time.

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Out of all the fruits in this world, I like apples best.

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We chose a sunny day to go to the orchard to pick our share of Macs.

Now, what to make?

My usual would be the Blue Ribbon Apple Pie, always a favorite.

Then there’s the traditional Apple Crisp, you can’t go wrong with that.

Maybe I could turn the apples into Spiced Apple Braid Bread.

I made Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake last week and it was gone in just one day.

If I had some puff pastry in the freezer, I could make a Caramel Apple Tart.

Or I could start the day with a German Apple Pancake!

An easy cake to make: Apple Butterscotch Cake

Cinnamon Sugar Apple Biscuits are easy to make and delicious.

I could go with Oatmeal Apple Cookies but I’m thinking more along the lines of Baked Apple Donuts.

(If you click on a link, it will bring you to the original post, complete with pictures and instructions.)

If you have an apple recipe worth sharing, please leave a comment!

xo Jodi

Bars

Apple and Walnut Blondies

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My mother-in-law has always had shelves upon shelves of cookbooks. Like me, she sits and reads these cookbooks as if they are novels, with pen and paper in hand to write down the shopping list for the week.

A few months ago she gave me a few dozen of those cookbooks that she no longer needed. She knew I’d cherish them, and I do. Thank you Pam, my second mom.

One of the many recipes I eyed, was what the Yankee’s Country Fair Cookbook calls Apple Brownies. I tweaked the recipe to my own liking and found it made more sense to call them Blondies.

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From here, we’ll let the pictures tell the story.

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Apple and Walnut Blondies

  • Servings: makes 16 squares
  • Print

  • 1 cup all purpose unbleached flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 3/4 packed dark brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 3/4 cup walnuts, chopped
  • 3/4 cup apples, peeled and chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 inch square pan.

Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Cream butter and sugar in another bowl. Add egg and mix well. Stir in walnuts and apples.

Spread into prepared pan. Bake 30-40 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack before cutting into squares.

Blondies are good served with ice cream and whipped cream or plain with a cup of coffee.

Bars

Peach Bars

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Mid-August=peaches. It was a hot day for peach and nectarine picking but we enjoyed walking through the rows of trees, heavy with fruit, at an orchard a few towns away. Once home, we got straight to work making a sort of shortbread cookie dough.

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Ethan likes to be the one that twists or “cracks the code” in order to open the peach.

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We sauteed two sliced peaches in a sprinkling of sugar and a dash of nutmeg.

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About 3/4 of the dough is spread into a nine inch pan and the peaches are layered over the top.

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The remaining dough is dropped on top of the sweet peaches to create a crumble topping.

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And the rest is history.

Peach Bars

  • Servings: makes 9 bars
  • Print

  • 2 medium sized peaches
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Slice peaches and place into a skillet. Sprinkle granulated sugar and nutmeg over peaches and cook on medium for 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy using a handheld mixer. Add egg and vanilla and mix until fully incorporated.

In a small bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the butter mixture and mix until all flour is incorporated.

Spread 3/4 of the dough into a 9×9 pan. Arrange peach slices over top and dot remaining dough over the top of the peaches.

Bake for 30 minutes or until light browned. Let cool on a wire rack before slicing.

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Or try these peach recipes:

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PEACH PIE

 

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PEACH COBBLER
Cookies

Oatmeal Apple Cookies

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Even though fall is a more than a month away, I’m getting my taste buds ready.

Here we are combining hearty oats with crunchy apple bits and warm cinnamon spice.

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If you have an apple in your fridge, it’s a sure sign that you are destined to make these cookies.

Let’s do it.

The dry ingredients are tossed into a bowl and the apple is finely chopped.

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We add a bit of apple sauce to bump up the flavor and add some moisture. Once it’s tossed all together, rounded spoonfuls of dough are placed on a cookie sheet and baked for about 12 minutes.

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The texture is soft; the flavor is fall, the cinnamon and nutmeg spices will warm you from within.

Oatmeal Apple Cookies

  • Servings: makes about 20 cookies
  • Print

  • 1 cup old fashioned oats
  • 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • pinch of nutmeg
  • 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 unsweetened apple sauce
  • 1 small to medium apple, cored and finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix oats, flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar in a large bowl. In another bowl, whisk melted butter, egg, vanilla and apple sauce until blended. Add to the dry ingredients and mix util fully incorporated. Fold in the apple. Drop by rounded spoonfuls to a cookie sheet and bake 11-13 minutes or until set. Let cool on the pan for a minute before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy with a tall glass of milk.

 

Cake, Wild edibles

Wild Berry Lemon Cake

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The inspiration for this recipe came while forest bathing, what the Japanese call shinrin-yoku, or the medicine of being in the forest. It is simply going out into the woods and just being; listening to the birds, watching the wind blow through the leaves of the trees, feeling the sun on your face and eating wild food.

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This is a wineberry (rubus phoenicolasius), or wine raspberry. It was introduced into the United States from Japan, Korea and China in the late 1800’s and is an invasive species. Wineberries taste sweet and tart and are juicy, just like raspberries.

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We also came across a thicket of blackberry bushes and added them to our container.

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This very fragrant cake starts like a lot of cakes, with butter.

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Said butter is creamed with sugar and the zest of three bright yellow lemons.

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Eggs are added one at a time until the mixture is pale yellow and fluffy.

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After scraping down the sides of the bowl, we alternately add the dry ingredients and the yogurt.

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Once the dry and wet ingredients have been fully incorporated, the wild berries can be carefully folded into the lemon zest flecked batter.

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The batter is poured into the prepared loaf pan and while it’s in the oven, the glaze, simply sugar and lemon juice, can be made.

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Once out of the oven, it is left to cool for a while in the pan.

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Once cooled, the prepared glaze is poured over top and it is ready for slicing!

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Wild Berry Lemon Cake

For the cake:

  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • the zest from 3 lemons
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
  • 1 cup fresh wineberries and blackberries

For the glaze:

  • 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
  • 2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a loaf pan.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter, sugar and lemon zest and cream until light and fluffy.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one.

In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

Add flour and yogurt alternately, starting and ending with flour, mixing well after each addition.

Fold in the wild berries and pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes and then turn out and cool completely before drizzling with glaze. Slice and enjoy!

Breakfast, Frozen Treats

Zucchini and Blueberry Waffles with Lemon Ice Cream

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Last week I made Lemon Ice Cream. A delicious yet overpowering flavor if eaten alone, but when coupled with a vegetable and fruit studded waffle, it is pure perfection.

Ice cream has become my hobby, there are so many flavors to discover.

For the ice cream:

  1. Start by placing 1 1/2 cups each of milk and cream in a saucepan over medium heat.
  2. While the milk and cream are warming, whisk 4 egg yolks in a bowl with the zest of 2 lemons, 3/4 cup granulated sugar and a pinch of salt until it is pale yellow and velvety.
  3. Once the milk is hot, whisk a little of it at a time into the yolk mixture until the yolks are tempered.
  4. Pour the yolks into the saucepan with the milk mixture and cook until it reaches about 160-170 degrees on a candy thermometer.
  5. Pour into a heat-proof bowl with the juice of 2 lemons and place into the refrigerator over night.
  6. Pour the mixture into the chilled bowl of your ice cream maker and churn according to your maker’s instructions.
  7. Place churned ice cream into a freezer-safe container and chill a couple hours or more until it reaches desired consistency.

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The waffles begin with shredded zucchini.

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Place the shredded zucchini into a colander and press down to remove as much moisture as possible.

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Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl, while melting 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter over medium heat in a skillet.

Pour a cup of milk, an egg and the melted butter into the large bowl with the dry ingredients.

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Fold the shredded zucchini and a handful of fresh blueberries into the batter.

Using a half cup measure, drop batter onto your preheated waffle iron and cook according to your machine’s instructions.

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You’ll end up with a gorgeous purple and green studded waffle.

One scoop of bright lemon flavored frozen cream will add the precise amount of sweetness and tang.

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Zucchini and Blueberry Waffles

  • Servings: makes 4 large waffles
  • Print

  • 1 cup shredded zucchini
  • 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (could substitute gluten-free flour)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 cup milk (could substitute almond milk)
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (could substitute coconut oil)
  • handful of fresh blueberries

Using a grater, shred a medium sized zucchini. Place zucchini in a colander and press out as much moisture as you can. Set aside.

Preheat a waffle iron.

Whisk flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add milk, egg and melted butter and mix until combined. Fold in zucchini and blueberries.

Using a 1/2 cup measuring cup, scoop batter up and pour onto preheated waffle iron and cook according to your iron’s instructions.

Place a scoop of lemon ice cream on top and enjoy!

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Cake, Wild edibles

Mulberry Rhubarb Crumb Cake

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Mulberry (Morus rubra) is a deciduous tree that grows wild here in New England. If you’re walking along and you see the ground covered in what looks like black berries, look up.

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The trees can grow up to 70 feet tall.

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The blackberry-like fruit is ripe for picking in early summer and varies in flavor from tree to tree.

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The berries of the red mulberry tree start out white, turn pink then red and finally to a purple color. Make sure to only harvest the ripe fruit.

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We foraged the berries that would have otherwise fallen to the ground.

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The question was, what to make with these beauties?

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Since we had some rhubarb fresh from the garden, we decided on crumb cake.

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A cup each of rhubarb and mulberries…

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folded into a cake batter…

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Sprinkled with a crumb topping and baked to perfection.

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Slice and enjoy!

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Mulberry Rhubarb Crumb Cake

  • Servings: makes 12 bars
  • Print

Crumb

  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • pinch of salt

Cake

  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 cup chopped rhubarb
  • 1 cup mulberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×9 baking pan. Prepare crumb topping by placing all the ingredients into a bowl and stirring until crumbly.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time until fully incorporated. Stir in vanilla. In another bowl, whisk flour, salt and baking powder and add to the creamed butter mixture. Fold in chopped rhubarb and mulberries.

Place cake batter into prepared baking pan and cover with crumb topping.

Bake for 45 minutes until golden brown.

Let cool on a wire rack before slicing.