A passion for...

Cookbooks. I LOOOOVE COOKBOOKS. I honestly couldn't tell you why. I just love them. Everytime I go into a bookstore, any bookstore, I make a bee line for the cookbooks. Even children's cookbooks *coughDisney'sTiana'scookbookcough*. Of course I can't afford ALL the ones I want! I have a great deal of cookbooks that I am always looking through but here are a few that I am dying to to call my own not the library's!

1) Baking: From My Home to Yours- I want to join the Tuesdays with Dorie. It just sounds fun!

2)Take this Dish and Twist It - He's got some strange but tastey looking stuff

3) Mastering the Art of French Cooking

4)The Dessert Bible

5) Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

6) The Golden Book of Chocolate

7) Pastry: Savory and Sweet

8) Incredibly Easy Entertaining

9)All New Cookie Dough Fun

10) The Rice Krispies Treats Cookbook

11) Baking Artisan Pastries and Breads: Sweet and Savory

12) The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Book of Desserts

13) Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey

14) Pillsbury Kids Cookbook

I'm sure there are more I just cannot remember them. Maybe I should start baking and cooking from the ones I do have before I get more.

By the way, The bread I made a few nights ago...YUM! It was very good. I ate like half myself. The recipe is as follows:

Quick Bread Low Calorie Recipe Ingredients
2 ½ cups of flour + excess flour for kneading
1 Tablespoon of Yeast (1 package)
1 Tablespoon of Sugar
½ Teaspoon of Salt
1 Cup of Hot Water
2 Tablespoons of Oil ( I used canola)

Egg wash
1 Egg + 2 Tablespoons of Skim Milk (or any variety that you have on hand) (I actually did not use an egg wash I used melted margarine to spread on the dough before i put it in the oven)


In a large, deep bowl combine the flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Next, add the hot water and oil. Stir; mixture will be sticky.
Spread a bit of flour onto your kneading surface and begin kneading the dough for five minutes. Add flour as necessary so as dough doesn't stick to surface BUT take care not to add too much or dough will be tough and bulky.
Place kneaded dough back into the mixing bowl and cover with a cloth that has been dampened with cool water. Allow Quick Bread to rise for 30 minutes.
Spray baking pan with cooking spray to prevent sticking. Transfer Quick Bread to loaf pan OR shape into rolls if desired. Before baking, brush surface of bread with egg wash (or melted margarine). Bake in a preheated 400-degree oven until golden brown. approximately 20-25 minutes.

For extra prettiness, brush melted margarine or butter onto the bread while it is still hot

Source: adapted from Diet Bites

A milestone has been marked

WOOHOOOOO! Ladies..and gents if there are indeed gents that read this blog. I have successfully made my very FIRST yeast bread. Well two actually but one was steamed buns which I WILL but the recipe up here for because they were nummy.

But here is the first BAKED bread: It's a "low calorie" white bread, and i haven't cut into yet so I'm not sure how it tastes so I will let you know. But at least I know that I CAN indeed do it! For so long I was terrified of yeast. I didn't know how to make it active how long I should let the dough rise, etc. So I never made it. THen I made the dough for the steamed buns (nom nom) and it worked so I thought "hey lets try a baked bread" and voila!!!

Ok so the picture sucks because it's from my phone. I have GOT to start using my GOOD camera. I have to find that stupid memory card. But yeah! EEE! I'm excited. I can finally baked bread! *happy dance* SO next post will beee on Thursday OR Friday. I have a black bean and chicken chili to make along with 2 loaves of beer bread (so super simple and so tasty that if you don't make it you will be punished), AND jalapeno and cheese cornbread. Wish me luck!

Steamed Buns Recipe

6 cups flour

1¾ cup warm water

¼ cup sugar

1 tbsp active dry yeast

1 tbsp baking powder

2 tbsp shortening

Place the flour in a large bowl and set it aside.
In a medium sized bowl, mix together the warm water and the sugar. Stir thoroughly until all of the sugar has dissolved.

Next, add the yeast and stir it in gently. Let the yeast sit for 10 minutes so that it activates.
While the yeast mixture sits, add the baking powder to the flour stirring it with a fork until it is mixed through. You can sift these two ingredients together if you wish, but it is not necessary.
After about 10 minutes the yeast should be active. The mixture should have a large amount of foam on top. Once the mixture has accumulated the foam, pour it into the flour while stirring.
Then add the shortening and continue to stir until a stiff dough forms.
Once a dough forms, use your hands and mix everything together thoroughly.
If the dough feels too dry and is breaking apart, add just a little water and continue to mix it with your hands. At this point, the dough should be a bit sticky and malleable. Continue to mix until all of the flour is incorporated into the dough.
Once everything is mixed through, knead the dough with your hands for another 10 minutes. Use the heel of your hands to press into the dough and knead it.
Once the dough is done, cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit for 2 hours.
After 2 hours, this dough is ready to be used in a delicious bun recipe.

TO make use a steamer or if you don't have a steamer (like me) take a ball of the dough (filled or unfilled) wrap a clean damp towl around it and put it in the microwave for aboout 45 seconds to 1 minute. It's probably not the same but it'll do in a pinch! And they are good with savor or sweet butters. You can fill them with mince meat, meat, jams, jellies, and a bunch of other stuff. They are sooo good. and can get very addicting. Especially at 3 in the morning. Don't ask. I ate them too fast to take a picture! I bet you can you the same dough for dumplings as well!