Buttermilk Quick Bread

Mar 7, 2012 by lovelypantry

I’m quite fond of quick breads. I love how easy they are to make and the wide variety and variations of each recipe that I come across. I have yet to make a quick bread that I did not like. Granted, I scrutinize the ingredients very carefully before I decide to make it. Please allow me to formally introduce you to Buttermilk Quick Bread. A very simple bread that I have been making on the weekends if I have any buttermilk in the fridge. I found this recipe on one of my daily sources of inspiration: The Kitchn, and knew as soon as I saw it, that I was going to make it. I’ve made it 4 times already – twice plain, once with raisins and this past weekend, with blueberries. Versatile little quick bread, isn’t it? The original post, has a few other variations that look interesting to try too – like Pesto Loaf. (Are you imagining a green quick bread?)

I love that this plain bread is like a canvas. You can tweak it to your liking and chances are, it will turn out great.

 

The consistency of the batter is quite thick, so you have to gently spread into the corners with a spatula.

 

 

Ah! Perfection!

 

 

It’s best to use a serrated knife to cut this bread since it is a bit delicate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like that because the batter was so thick, the raisins didn’t have the chance to sink to the bottom of the pan 🙂 For some recipes with a batter of thinner consistency, like the Ginger Carrot Bread, you have to toss the raisins (or small fruit like blueberries) in flour before folding them into the batter. So nice that I was able to skip that step.

 

 

Finally, with Blueberries. I wanted to cut the loaf to take a quick photograph however, I was entertaining so I did not want to cut it before we were ready to eat it. Everyone loved it!

 

 

Happy Wednesday! I hope the week has been off to an awesome start! I’ll be back soon.

Cheers for now.

Lyn

 

 

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Chicken, Linguine and Crimini

Mar 2, 2012 by lovelypantry

I’m getting to like this business of freestyle cooking (cooking without a recipe). It adds a little mystery to meals. It’s kinda cute when my husband asks “whats cooking?” and I say “Oh, you’ll see *bats eyelashes*” when what I really mean to say is “Honey, I have no idea!”. I’ve always been pleasantly surprised at how great the meals turn out. I LOVE it. One of my recent freestyle meals was Smoked Paprika Chipotle Chicken with Spirali Pasta and Kale Pesto. I had ingredients that I wanted to use and I ran with it.

My ingredient for today’s post is Crimini Mushrooms. I can’t say that I’m a big fan, however I wanted to be adventurous and incorporate it into a meal. It’s a great thing to challenge yourself. I knew I wanted pasta, and I knew I wanted it creamy. I just wanted a quick way of doing it, while utilizing items in my Pantry. So anyway, the idea was born on a recent trip to the grocery store. Crimini Mushrooms were on sale so I grabbed a pack and here is what I came up with.

 

 

I will say, that when I am preparing a freestyle meal, I get really focused and sometimes I don’t get to take photographs of the process. So I only have the finished result today. It tasted great and I got my little man to eat it! He only questioned the mushrooms half way through, but he ate everything in his plate. You should have seen him slurping the pasta. The things that bring mothers joy. *insert big smile here*

 

 

Hows that for dinner in a jiffy?

Have a great weekend!!!

 

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies

Jan 18, 2012 by lovelypantry

I wanted to post the recipe for these cookies for a few days now but alas, I’m slightly behind in my posting. I’m so happy to share this with you though, as these are my husband’s favourite cookies. I kinda love them too. I promised him I’d make a batch this week so me posting is great timing. I love the simplicity, and also that I’m using  low-fat peanut butter, less sugar than what the original recipe called for plus I used dark chocolate chips. Sounds like some good stuff right? You can substitute peanut butter for the organic kind. I plan to use vegan dark chocolate peanut butter to see how it comes out. I may omit the chocolate chips to avoid overkill. We’ll see!

This recipe is adapted from Everyday Food.

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t you just want to dive in? Seriously.

 

 

Take good care guys! ~ Lyn

 

 

 

 

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Almost Lasagna

Oct 31, 2011 by lovelypantry

 

There are some days when I am willing to make Lasagna, and there are days when I wonder why go through all the layering. Don’t get me wrong, we love lasagna. It’s a beautiful thing. This is a recipe that happened one day when I started to make lasagna but never quite made it. You just never know how things will turn out  in my kitchen. This was a great meal!

 

 

Add colourful veggies. Serve and enjoy!

 

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Roasted Chicken & Potatoes

Aug 30, 2011 by lovelypantry

 

Have you ever had company over and didn’t have a clue what you were making for dinner? This happened to me recently. I did not plan for company that night, but thankfully had some drumsticks ready to be cooked. I reached in my cupboard and found a cookbook called Easy Chicken 🙂 It had the recipe I needed based on the ingredients I had available. There is though, that nervousness when you try something for the first time and share with friends. Essentially you’re winging it. If you like taking chances and trying recipes for the first time with visitors, well here’s a safe bet. Of course, this is my own version of the recipe.

 

I had no idea how this meal was going to turn out, but based on the ingredients alone and my track record for selecting tasty meals –  I knew it would be good. And it was. I’d prepare this again in a heartbeat.

Enjoy!

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