I used to take it for granted. The smell of yeast as it foams in the bowl, gnawing away at the sugar feeding it. It is a smell I’ve always known, one that would greet me as I walked into either of my Grandmother’s kitchens as they prepared loaves of bread for sandwiches or rolls for Sunday meals with the family. And the site of my aunt’s green bread bowl gently draped with a crispy pressed flour sack towel sitting by the warm oven is one I won’t likely soon forget either.

After I’d married, I was given a fancy bread machine to make homemade bread. It now sits idle in a top cabinet of my kitchen, having been moved from home to home over the past 16 years and only having baked a couple of loaves. After using it, I quickly realized that I enjoyed the process of making bread as much, if not more, than I enjoyed eating the results of the effort. Something was missing in the translation from the ingredients to the finished product for me.

When making bread, I’m right back in the kitchens of the women I grew up admiring. Scuffed floors polished to shine as best they could and counters worn from years of meals made and served on their tops. Just the thought of those kitchens makes my shoulders immediately go slack as I relax in the rhythm of mixing simple ingredients of yeast, water, flour, and eggs together and then later as I roll and knead it on my counter top.

It’s a peacefulness that I don’t quite feel when making brownies or cookies even.

Biscuits? Maybe.

But the smell and the feel of making yeast bread takes a bit more patience and allows me time to think. I believe you could say it is a therapy of sorts. Maybe I’m trying to learn to be a bit more patient as I grow older. Or maybe I’m just realizing that like fine wine and cheese, there are other things that just get better with time.

Lately, I’ve noticed that I choose a certain type of bread and then make it over and over for my family. At least one Friday afternoon a month, you will usually find a bowl of my favorite Challah Bread Dough rising on the counter top to ensure French toast, bread pudding, cinnamon rolls, or other tasty treats throughout the weekend. By Sunday afternoon, the loaf has disappeared only to have me thinking of my grandmother’s homemade yeast rolls or a sturdy loaf of bread she would bake for the week’s sandwiches and such. But the Challah Bread is definitely one of our favorites. Easy to prepare, it most certainly is a versatile dough. In it’s true form as a loaf though, each flaky, buttery, eggy bite can not be mistaken.

No heavy mixers or fancy equipment are required to make this Challah Bread. A bowl, a spoon, a few traditional ingredients, a warm oven, and time are all that you need. Well, that and your hands. Maybe that’s where the therapy part comes in.

Here’s how I make it.

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Post Categories: Bakery, Bread, Breakfast, Cooking, Recipes
Post tags: Cooking, eggs, yeast

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Bright green stalks of asparagus are popping up all around lately – at our local farmer’s market and in the produce department at my grocery store. I keep kicking myself that they would also be shooting up in my garden right about now if I’d just have planted them a few years ago when I should’ve.

Oh well. I’ll support the local farmers who did think about planting them instead.

But, where ever I find them, I’m definitely snatching them up as quickly as I can. My family loves asparagus, especially Little Buddy. I think it has something to do with the after-effects of eating a great deal of it and the humor of a 10 year old little boy.

I think you catch my drift?

Right? {hello, did you go away?}

If your family enjoys asparagus as much as mine, I really think they’ll love this tart.

Place your sheet of pastry dough onto your tart pan. I used my long, skinny tart pan that has become one of my favorites lately. I love the size and the removable bottom to the pan. It makes tart serving so easy, peasy.

Anyway, once I have laid my pastry dough onto my tart pan, I make sure that it is not overstretched for the inside of the pan. Then, to trim the dough, I simply use my rolling pin and roll along the edge of the pan. It makes a clean and neat cut every time!

Next, place your Gruyere cheese slices on the the bottom of your tart dough. I had my cheese cut at the deli of my local grocery store. This is what she called “deli cut.” I have no idea if that is really the name of a cut or if she was pulling my leg. Either way, it is not too thick and not too thin. Just right.

Next, trim the bottoms of the stalks of your asparagus. For my tart, I decided to use five stalks going in one direction and five for the other. I just placed two stalks of asparagus end to end in my tart pan to decide how much needed to be trimmed. While this doesn’t have to be perfect, it is nice when they are trimmed evenly so that the presentation looks nice.

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Post Categories: 30 Minutes or Less Recipes, All Recipes, Cooking, Cooking Style, Easter, Holiday and Occassion, One Dish Meal Recipes, Recipes, Shower, Simple Recipes
Post tags: asparagus, cheese, Cooking, vegetables

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Mother’s Day is just right around the corner and it always seems to bring with it the endless advertisements for kitchen appliances and gadgets. Those things are definitely special and as a Mama who spends a great deal of time in her kitchen, I more than appreciate any of those that I receive. However, there is one thing that I want more than anything else for Mother’s Day each year – to spend the day as leisurely as possible with my husband and son.

The thought of waking up and enjoying brunch with my guys on our back porch followed by riding bikes or scooters, taking a long walk through the woods, or even giggling as we race through the sprinklers would be fine with me. There is truly no possession in the world greater than the time spent together and maybe watching Little Buddy show off his new whittling skills he learned in Scouts as we laze through the day.

Regardless of what activity or non-activity we do or don’t do, I plan to soak up every delicious second of it.

And if my special fellas decided to make brunch for me, this Strawberries and Cream Stuffed French Toast would be on the top of my list.

But if not, I know that I’ll make it again soon for them. And for myself. And for anybody that stops by my house long enough for me to feed them a bite because it is so scrumptious that I think everyone needs to taste it at least once.

I hope you make it soon. Or print out the recipe and leave it all over the house so that your family makes it for you.

Or just drool over it, enjoy whatever meal you have for Mother’s Day and know that it was made with love.

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Post Categories: 30 Minutes or Less Recipes, All Recipes, Breakfast, Cooking, Cooking Style, Holiday and Occassion, Mother's Day, Recipes, Valentine's Day
Post tags: cinnamon, Cooking, eggs, fruit, strawberry

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As the school year is winding to a close, I realized my niece will be starting her final summer of high school. Which caused me to then realize that this time next year, she’ll be off to college!

Where did the time go? It just seems like yesterday we were celebrating her fourth birthday with a birthday cake that made the skirt of a doll.

Now a car, cellphones, and college plans have replaced her days of playing dolls for hours on end.

So I decided I needed to slow things down just a bit and have a supper to celebrate the end of her junior year of high school and the beginning of so many exciting things life has in store for her.

We were just a wee bit early in our celebration, but I knew the final days of school would be rush-rush with prom, final exams, and tennis tournaments. I knew I needed to catch her while I could!

I planned an easy, breezy get-together with fresh tulips in Mason jars along with a light supper of chicken kebabs, pasta salad, romaine wedge salad, and a dessert that absolutely screams summer – Cranberry Pineapple Sorbet.

Let me tell you a little bit about this sorbet. It has to be the easiest thing I have made in such a long time, but it tastes like you have worked and worked and worked to get the perfect combination of sweetness with a little bit of tartness in each bite.

With just two simple ingredients and a few minutes, you have the most delectable and refreshing sorbet I believe I’ve ever tasted! Are you ready for the recipe? Pay close attention now, because you are going to be amazed at how simple this recipe is to make!

It all begins with two cups of Simply Cranberry Cocktail. This juice cocktail is delicious right by itself and in this sorbet, it absolutely SHINES! It is very different from any of the other cranberry juice cocktails I’ve tried over the years and is a refreshing blend that definitely delights the taste buds.

Next, you’ll add one 20-ounce can of crushed pineapple that has been carefully drained. And guys, that’s it! That is absolutely all you need for this amazing sorbet. Simply make the sorbet according to your freezer’s directions. For mine, the Cranberry Pineapple Sorbet was ready in 15 minutes, and I had the perfect amount of 1 1/2 quarts for my party.

Let me tell you, this sorbet is going to make a regular appearance at my house this summer. That is if I can keep the Simply Cranberry Cocktail on hand. It seems like as soon as I buy it, my husband and son have it gone in smoothies and afternoon drinks.

Thankfully, Simply Cranberry Cocktail is kept well-stocked, in both 59 oz. and 13.5 oz. sizes, in my area grocery store in the refrigerator section alongside the other Simply beverages of Simply Orange, Simply Lemonade, and all of the others. It’s always in the refrigerator section because they keep it chilled from the time they blend it, using not-from-concentrate cranberry juice and a gentle pasteurization process that doesn’t involve preservatives.

If you can’t find it in your grocery store yet, be sure to ask for it. You definitely don’t want to miss it!

Here’s the recipe you can print and/ or save to your recipe box.

Print

Cranberry Pineapple Sorbet Recipe {Simply Cranberry Juice Cocktail}

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 1 1/2 quarts

A simple, refreshing, two-ingredient sorbet that screams summertime!

Ingredients

• 2 cups Simply Cranberry Juice Cocktail
• 1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple, drained

Instructions

1. Combine ingredients and make according to your ice cream maker's instructions.

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$100 Visa Gift Card Giveaway

Simply Cranberry Cocktail is also sponsoring a great giveaway to one lucky member of the Add a Pinch community.

What is your favorite way to make a party or get-together at your home more festive? Tell me about it in the comments for a chance to win a $100 gift card!

Disclosure: I am participating as a BlogHer Reviewer for Simply Cranberry Cocktail Cocktail. This is a sponsored post; however, thoughts, comments and recipe are my own.

“Simply Cranberry_™” is a trademark of Simply Orange Juice Company.

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Post Categories: All Recipes, Birthday, Cooking, Cooking Style, Desserts, Father's Day, Fruit Desserts, Giveaway, Holiday and Occassion, July 4th, No Cook Recipes, Recipes, Shower, Simple Recipes
Post tags: Cooking, pineapple

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Growing up, one of my favorite meals that my Mama would make were her tuna melts. Now, I’m sure they were most likely like every other tuna melt that Mama’s across the country were making for their families, but my Mama’s tuna melts always tasted extra special.  Even better than the tuna melts that I’d sometimes have when I ate at a friend’s house.

I’m not sure if her tuna melts were better because she buttered and toasted her bread so that each bite was crunchy and held up to the tuna salad or if it was the cheese. She would slice a hunk off of a hoop of cheese and then cut into individual slices. Then, she would let me help her by peeling off the outer red rind on the cheese and carefully place a slice on each tuna melt before she slid the pan into the lower oven. My job was to stand and watch the tuna melts through the oven window to alert Mama as soon as the cheese began to slightly bubble on top – signaling the perfect amount of melt on the cheese.

The other night, I was rushing around doing laundry while I was also packing clothes into the RV for my husband’s and son’s all-guy’s camping trip for the weekend. Time completely slipped away from me until my sweet Little Buddy came up beside me and said, “Mama, what’s for supper?”

Now, you should know by now that I simply do not forget meals. I’m usually planning what’s for lunch as I make breakfast and what we’ll have for dessert with supper before I’ve gotten the breakfast dishes washed. It’s just what I do. So, for my ten year old sweetie to have to ask me what was for supper, I knew I had better get busy in a hurry to get supper on the table.

That’s when I remembered how quickly Mama could have her tuna melts on the table after coming home from a long day at work.

I decided to spice Mama’s recipe up just a titch and added a seeded and diced jalapeno to the tuna salad. Little Buddy helped me pile on the cheese and took the much-honored spot of watching through the oven window for the cheese to melt.

Within a few minutes, we were sitting down to the table to say our blessing. I said an extra thank-you for my Mama’s tuna melts and oven windows.

Here’s how I made them.

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Post Categories: 30 Minutes or Less Recipes, All Recipes, Cooking, Cooking Style, Fish and Seafood, Main Course, Recipes, Simple Recipes
Post tags: celery, cheese, Cooking, jalapeno, onion, tuna

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My husband and son are in and out this weekend so I decided to make myself a quick lunch just for me. What is it about cooking for yourself when you are used to cooking for everyone else that leaves you scratching your head as to what you want to eat? I walked around my kitchen no less than 10 times opening the refrigerator like surely something would speak to me from inside of it telling me what I should prepare.

I’m so used to preparing meals that I know my husband and son will love, meals that include their favorite things, that it takes me a while to realize what I’d actually like to eat when they aren’t with me.

Finally, I pulled ingredients from the pantry, refrigerator, and the freezer and tossed together one of the best lunches I’ve had in a long time! I quickly cooked a little pasta and thawed some precooked shrimp from my freezer. And remember the arugula and walnut pesto I made earlier this week? I scooped a few tablespoons of it onto my pasta, sliced a few tomatoes, and then tossed it all together until my pasta was well dressed.

It was heaven on a plate. So quick, so easy, and oh so delicious.

Here’s how I made it.

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Post Categories: 30 Minutes or Less Recipes, All Recipes, Cooking, Cooking Style, Fish and Seafood, Main Course, Pasta, Recipes, Simple Recipes
Post tags: Cooking, herbs, pasta, shrimp, tomatoes

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Lately, I’ve been craving pesto but have gone through all of my basil pesto that I made and stored away last summer. Unfortunately, my basil hasn’t come in for major use. What has been plentiful lately at my grocery store has been fresh arugula. I decided to make a arugula and walnut pesto to fill my pesto cravings.

Just a few simple ingredients are needed to make this pesto – arugula, walnuts, garlic, olive oil, salt and Parmesan.

I think the garlic makes pesto.

Don’t you?

I threw the arugula and garlic into the bowl of my Kitchenaid food processor. Let me just tell you, this food processor makes quick work of making pesto and anything else you toss its way. It has a permanent place on my countertop beside its stand mixer brother I use it so much.

I added in the walnuts, salt, and then poured olive oil through the shoot of the food processor.

At the very end, I added Parmesan cheese, gave it one more quick pulse.

Doesn’t that look so fresh and delicious?

I think I could eat it every day.

Here’s how I make it.

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Post Categories: 30 Minutes or Less Recipes, All Recipes, Appetizers, Cooking, Cooking Style, No Cook Recipes, Recipes, Sauces, Simple Recipes
Post tags: arugula, cheese, Cooking, garlic, nuts

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I woke up with an undeniable craving for banana muffins the other morning and I had an idea to make them over-the-top delicious. I could taste them long before I even got into my kitchen to make them. Let me just tell you… they were every bit as good as I’d imagined.  Each bite was absolutely glorious. A blend of sweet and salty, creamy and crunchy, ooey and gooey at its very best.

Salted Caramel Banana Nut Muffins.

Just the name alone makes my mouth water.

I knew as soon as my husband looked up from his first bite that I’d be hard pressed to make banana muffin any other way again.

I can’t wait to hear how you like them.

Here’s the recipe that you can print or save to your recipe box. You definitely want to make these soon.

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Post Categories: 30 Minutes or Less Recipes, All Recipes, Bakery, Breakfast, Cooking, Cooking Style, Father's Day, Holiday and Occassion, Muffins, Recipes, Shower, Tailgate Recipes
Post tags: banana, caramel, Cooking, nuts

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Lately, I have only been buying all-purpose flour at the grocery store. A few years ago, I kept a canister filled with all-purpose flour and another filled with self-rising on my kitchen counter. What I noticed was that I used my all-purpose flour a lot more quickly than I used the self-rising, leaving the self-rising to not be as fresh when I reached the bottom of the canister as I would like for it to be.

I also do not like having to have two kinds of flour when we travel in our RV. The space is absolutely treasured and I do not take one single inch of it for granted!

My solution?

I now make my own self-rising flour as I need it.

It’s really simple to make and only takes about two seconds.

Here’s how I make it.

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Post Categories: All Recipes, Camping, Cooking, Recipes, Simple Recipes
Post tags: Cooking

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Grape salad is one dish I could always guarantee would be served at our family reunions when I was growing up. Usually, it would be stuck on the backside of the long counter of the church fellowship hall beside the relish trays. But I have to tell you, it was one of the dishes that I looked for every year. I sought it out like my life depended on it.

After running and playing with my cousins for what seemed like hours while we waited on everyone to arrive, I was hot and couldn’t wait for the cool, refreshing, sweet burst of flavor from those grapes. It didn’t hurt that were coated in the most delicious, creamy concoction. I seriously could have made off with the entire bowl for my lunch and would have been a mighty happy girl at those reunions.

I feel certain that my aunt had no idea how important that one dish she brought each year could seem to a young girl.

From time to time, I make my aunt’s grape salad and remember those family reunions that we had in the dead heat of July. But the other day, I decided to change her recipe for a bit of a lighter coating on the grapes.

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Post Categories: 30 Minutes or Less Recipes, All Recipes, Appetizers, Camping, Cooking, Cooking Style, Desserts, Fruit Desserts, Holiday and Occassion, July 4th, Recipes, Shower, Simple Recipes, Southern Favorites, Tailgate Recipes
Post tags: Cooking, cream cheese, grapes, honey, sour cream

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