This post is brought to you by Dannon Activia Harvest Picks.
Sunday mornings are for sleeping in and eating brunch. It is the only day of the week where our family isn’t rushing to a basketball game or swim meet. Instead, everyone wakes up when they feel like it and eventually we all congregate in the kitchen. The kids and my husband look forward to a warm hot breakfast where we can sit down and enjoy a family meal at a leisurely pace. It is a nice change to most mornings when we are all trying to get out the door to get the girls to school on time.
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Three words. Homemade buttermilk pancakes. As a recovering boxed pancake mix addict, I’ll be quite honest. I think boxed pancake mixes have a more consistent flavor and texture than many homemade pancake recipes I’ve tried and tested from magazines, cookbooks, and the internet. Time and time again I would experience such disappointment with these recipes that I preferred to use packaged mixes because I wanted certain results.
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In my early twenties I used to wait tables at the Old Spaghetti Factory across the street from Pier 70 in downtown Seattle. It’s the type of family friendly restaurant where the energy is always high, flipping tables is a must, and the smell of spaghetti never washes out of your clothes. Most of the entrees are served as a budget-friendly three course meal. Free bread with garlic or plain butter, milk (tea, or coffee), side salad with your choice of dressing, entree, and a scoop of spumoni or vanilla ice cream for dessert. Back when I used to work there, all of this could be yours for under $10.
The most popular salad dressing choice was their creamy pesto dressing. Served on a bed of chopped iceberg lettuce and seasoned croutons, this salad dressing developed a cult-like following. People would come into the restaurant just to buy pints of this stuff! I used to spread it on bread, so good! [click to continue…]
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I missed the the No-Knead bread phenomena in 2006 when Mark Bittman posted Jim Lahey’s recipe for No-Knead Bread in the New York Times. Lahey’s ridiculously easy method for mixing bread dough and his method for baking it in a pot went viral as people around the world discovered they could, too, bake beautiful crusty artisan rustic bread at home without the fuss. It wasn’t until a couple years ago I heard about No-Knead bread when my neighbor brought over a loaf and we ended up sharing slices of yummy white bread slathered in buter and jam.
When Sarah told me how easy it was to make bread at home I didn’t believe her. I thought she was joking because I believe in the saying, if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is. But it was gloriously true. And since then I have become a convert.
I’ve always hesitated to write about this bread because it’s already been done. What left can be said about this bread? However, I’ve been baking two loaves every other day the last couple months and I thought it would be a great idea to share with you how I like to make this bread because it is faster and easier than Lahey’s original way of doing it.
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With my favorite cranberry sauce cooked and a turkey brining in my refrigerator for tonight’s dinner, I am also making a few Thanksgiving inspired side dishes to go along with our pre-Thanksgiving turkey meal.
Even though it is not quite Thanksgiving yet, I can’t imagine eating turkey without butter topped mashed potatoes to go with it… and don’t even get me started about gravy.
Last year I posted a recipe on how to make creamy mashed potatoes using Yukon Gold potatoes and passing the potatoes through a metal mesh strainer. But today I would like to share with you a more traditional mashed potato recipe using Russet potatoes and a potato masher. [click to continue…]
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