breads of distinction Archives

breads of distinction

holiday walnut bread povitica

First of all, let’s pronounce ‘povitica’. It’s Po-vuh-teet-zuh. And, it’s a Croatian holiday walnut bread. Growing up this was an EXTRAordinary treat. Mom would use the entire kitchen counter or table to roll out the dough, yes, always made from scratch, until it was paper thin. She’d be almost covered […]

english banana bread

To crunch or not to crunch. That is your choice with this amazingly easy and tasty English banana bread! When I say crunch, I’m talking about the topping that is optional that you can put on top when baking. It’s a simple step that uses a little more butter, brown […]

pumpkin fig date nut bread

I have several friends who are gluten intolerant. And, I have a handful of friends with Celiac’s Disease. Then I have friends and family who want to cut out some of the gluten in their diets. That’s why I created this pumpkin fig date nut bread. It’s something that I […]

appalachian white bread

Funny how siblings that grow up in the same family have their own unique memories and perspectives on childhood, life, family, friends and other things as they get into their adult lives. Each of us remembers things differently. Each of us was impacted by things differently. We’re all affected by […]

applesauce currant walnut bread

This is really a nutty bread! I used not only chopped walnuts but almond flour, so it’s quite nutty and tasty! While I don’t specialize in gluten-free, nor practice it in my eating lifestyle, it never hurts cut back a littler here and there when I can. Besides I love […]

grilled flatbread

There’s nothing like fresh hot bread right out of the oven or right off the grill! What makes this bread totally the best is when you eat it HOT! Yes, get ready to toss it back in forth in your hands trying to cool it down just a bit, then […]

pumpkin walnut bread

When do you know you’ve created something that’s off the charts boholicious? When your 2 1/2 year old grandson, who’s my #1 Sous Chef, chants, ‘Mooore Mama Allllweee…mooowrre!’ That’s precisely what happened when I made this ‘Pumpkin Walnut Bread’! He was like glued to the prep table sitting on his […]

skillet cinnamon rolls

One of the most special days of the week for me growing up was Thursday. No it was anything like #tbt. In my wild wonderful West Virginia small town nestled in the mountains, after walking home from school I’d run to my Grandma’s house because that was the day she […]

chunkie banana nut brown sugar bread

Seeing the bananas and not just tasting them is what this chunkie banana nut brown sugar bread’s all about. Since I knew I’d be traveling and couldn’t eat them nor wait for the nanners to ripen to the good ol’ mushy blackened stage, I decided to preserve their beauty in […]

buttermilk biscuit waffles

The reason I don’t use a waffle iron for making these biscuit waffles is that I don’t want them smooshed…I want them puffy and biscuity. So in order to accomplish this, I used a waffle ‘skillet’ (i.e., Nordic Ware)…it’s a handy little gizmo that you can get at big box […]

olive oil cilantro croutons

It’s simple little things that are EZ and basic that can take your dishes to the next level. There’s just no need to buy croutons~~I mean how many times have you had stale bread~~and, why wait until the holidays to use it for dressing! These olive oil cilantro croutons are […]

Lemon Olive Oil & Sea Salt/Pepper Toastees

Sometimes the bread I make is hit or miss…for some reason, my last few loaves were very dense and ‘heavy’, so instead of tossing in the trash, I decided to slice the bread thin and make ‘toastees’ using various toppings. These are kind of like ‘bagel crisps’ not quite as […]

dan gourmet flatbread

Why in the world do I call this ‘Dan Gourmet Flatbread’…well, because that’s where I learned to make this flatbread~~in Tel Aviv at the Dan Gourmet Culinary School…I’m not sure I paid enough attention because my dough didn’t raise like my fabulous Chef instructor’s did, but the end product was […]

emerald green dipping olive oil

Sometimes the simplest things are the most striking and stunning. So, this idea came while Ben and I were in Steamboat Springs, Colorado~~we’d ridden our Harley there, amazing countryside and there’s nothing like feeling the freedom of life with the wind blowing in your face, sitting on the back of […]

foodie mistress warm spiced skillet bread

I know it’s a strange name for this bread. But, there’s a story behind it. See I have these wonderful friends on Facebook who follow my cooking adventures—Bob and Laura—well, early on, Bob, who has a wicked sense of humor, deemed me his ‘foodie mistress’! Now, Bob and Laura share […]

Applesauce Coconut Cranberry Walnut Bread

This ‘Applesauce Cocnut Cranberry Walnut Bread’ is a pure form of enjoying the delicious coconut, cranberries, nuts and sweet bread without being distracted by too many competing spices…in fact, I didn’t put one spice in here, unless you consider the vanilla a spice. You can vary the dried fruit you […]

chocolate banana buttermilk bread

I call this houdini batter~~the better batter than can become just about anything you want it to be. Need brownies? Well, then put this batter in a square or rectangular baking pan. Need a bundt cake? Pull out the bundt pan and bake it. In the mood for muffins? How […]

date & chia grilled bread with bacon & chives

This is a fabulous recipe from my gal, Alice Lau, from Sydney, Australia~~it’s a slight adaptation and version of her Shanghai Spring Onion Pancakes—a popular street food in China! Alice is one of the most creative and talented foodies out there—we met on Google+, never in person—I was basically drawn […]

pomegranate grilled cheese

Recipe creation is a major form of creativity~~brain power~~a combination of right and left brain and then the emotions and feelings that are settled somewhere in the mind. It’s no different than song writers, artists, dancers, sculptors and other forms of beautiful creation! When I go into my recipe artistry, […]

Vanilla Bean Sweet Butter

Confession Time~~I love butter! As a kid, probably about the age of 3 or 4, I’d sneak into the kitchen, open the retro refrigerator, grab a stick of butter, peel back the paper and eat it like a push up! Of course, I’d run into the back yard, find a […]

Sweet & Spicy Saigon Spread

It’s just so easy to make your own ‘designer’ inspired spreads, and you can control everything about it~~the flavors, the textures, the colors, the ingredients! So starting with my main ingredient, ‘Sweet & Spicy Saigon’ spice from Simply Asia…thanks to them for sending me a box of products…I decided that […]

Crunchy Yeast Buttermilk White Bread

What I’m finding about bread-making is that it’s not as hard as you think! Now, I do mine the ol’ fashioned way~~knead with my hands~~don’t even own a bread-making machine! There’s just something tactile and luscious about getting your hands into the sticky dough, flicking on more flour, pushing and […]

Italian Yeast Peasant Bread

When Ben usually eats something I’ve made, he’ll say, ‘This is the best thing I’ve ever eaten!’ Well, I’m like Ben on this one~~this is the best bread I’ve every made! Moist, tender, dense, yet light, a heavenly yeasteee aroma cooking and pull apart fluffy and soft! It reminded me […]

Crispy French Toast & Grilled Brown Sugar Apple Slices

I make a lot of what I call, ‘rustic peasant bread’…now these breads are really easy, you’ll find many on my website by just putting in the search box the word ‘bread’! Since it’s all natural, as in no preservatives to make it last until my youngest child graduates from […]

Oatmeal Cranberry Nut Breakfast Cake (Gluten Free)

I’ve been experimenting more and more with different types of flour for baking purposes…some of this is spurred on by the gluten-free movement, some of it’s just because I want to branch out from regular wheat flour and try some of those cute little, albeit expensive for sure, packages of […]

Gluten-Free Golden Flax Seed Bread

I’m a bread lover. Most all of my breads are made from wheat products, so when one of my most treasured foodie friend, Lauren Kelly, sent me her cookbook, which is ‘The Everything Wheat-Free Diet Cookbook,’ I was opened to a whole new world of ideas for cooking gluten-free. Lauren’s cookbook […]

a west virginia cornbread

The amazing thing about food is that a lot of people have a passion for it~~while they may not be bloggers, have a website, FB fan page, run a restaurant, etc., their zest for creating good food, sharing recipes, and giving their love through food is there loud and clear. […]

Cinnamon Almond Rolls

These are what I call ‘hearty’ cinnamon rolls…they’re not like ‘Cinnab0n’ cinnamon rolls~~yeasty and soft. These are like cowboy cinnamon biscuit rolls! A texture that has some dense mass, some bite and chew…don’t expect them ‘melt in your mouth’ like marshmallows~~you’ll need to bite then chew the love and feel […]

Spiced Pumpkin Pecan Oatmeal Bars

Double duty~~that’s what these ‘Spiced Pumpkin Pecan Oatmeal Bars’ are~~ well, really triple or quadruple duty! They’re not real sweet, so they can handle the cream cheese icing and chocolate ganache. If you don’t want to do that, then don’t!! Leave them ‘au naturale’! You might want to eat them […]

gluten free banana bread

***Tap Tap Tap*** This is a test, only a test! I decided to use the rice flour in my pantry in this morning’s banana bread, which, by the way, was not planned, like a lot of little chillins in families! The four black bananas on my kitchen counter were either […]

Buckwheat Buttermilk Banana Pancakes

Since I didn’t have any white flour, I decided that if we were to have pancakes they’d have to be whole wheat. Funny how things always work out wonderfully when you don’t think you have to follow the way you usually do something~~and, for me, pancakes are ‘usually’ made with […]

Spicy Hot Olive & Almond Romesco

If there’s ever something that I could bottle and sell and make so many people happy, it’s this ‘Spicy Hot Olive & Almond Romesco’! This is the second in a series (hummmm, that sounds important, huh?) of Romesco sauce-making for me…who knows what might be next. My first was an […]

Artisan Lettuce Romesco~~Anthropologie Nibbles

I was introduced to Romesco by Chef Anthony Sasso of Casa Mono Bar Jamon in NYC. Now I’ve made ‘Artisan Lettuce Romesco’! Chef Anthony came to cook in my Colorado kitchen preparing a spectacular meal for Ben and me and ten of our most favorite guests! That entire soiree was an […]

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