0 Giving A Little Support

Operation Baking GALS (Give A Little Support) was started by fellow Daring Baker Susan of She's Becoming Doughmesstic back in July. She wanted to send some homemade baked goods to her cousin stationed in Iraq and asked for some volunteers to help her out. Little did she know the positive response she would receive from friends, family and fellow bloggers. So she decided to make this monthly event. Teams of 25 make care packages filled with baked goodies for a specific soldier and the soldier shares the goodies with his/her fellow troops. The kicker is that we all mail our packages at the same time so that they are bombarded with them all at once. You can read all about the operation on the website.

For this third round of Operation Baking GALS I'm proud to be part of the team hosted by Fran of Apples Peaches Pumpkin Pie. Fran and the rest of the team are baking for Richard Martin of the 10th Mountain Division - Army Light Infantry. He mentioned to Fran that he will be sharing the care packages with a lot of soldiers so I wanted to fill my box with as much as I could.

I've never sent anything to the Middle East before so I did some internet research to find out more about how best to do it. Even when using USPS priority mail, it could take up to 14 days for the package to arrive so I was a bit concerned about freshness. I don’t know if this is true or not, but I read that using vegetable shortening is better than using butter since the baked goods can stay fresh a bit longer with shortening. I'm not in the habit of buying shortening and was actually surprised by the cost. I usually pay around $2/pound for unsalted butter. The Crisco shortening cost me $3/pound. Why would a manufactured food like shortening cost more than a real food like butter? But I digress.

There are some restrictions when sending packages to the Middle East. No pork products and no alcohol seem to be the most important things to know. So soaking cakes in booze to keep them fresh was out of the question. I even read somewhere that vanilla extract should be omitted from recipes because of the alcohol content.

Other ladies mentioned that sending anything that can melt (like gummy candies or chocolate) is not advisable. But then I read on the Nestle website that chocolate chip morsels are okay if they are baked into a cookie or brownie. Of course I don’t know if I can believe Nestle since they are the maker of chocolate chips and they want us to buy and use as many chocolate chips as possible.

I decide to throw caution to the wind and make some cookies bars with chocolate chips. I figured if I wrapped them really well then the chocolate chips would be okay. My cookie bar recipe is based on this one from the Nestle website, but I made some modifications.

I wanted to fit as much as possible into the flat rate shipping box, so I measured the disposable plastic container that I planned to place the wrapped cookie bars. I made a 4x6 inch template out of foil and I cut the cookie bars to size. I was able to fit almost the whole pan's worth of cookie bars into my one plastic container.



I also baked some snickerdoodles for the troops. I normally use an all butter recipe, but for the reason I mentioned above, I used an all shortening recipe this time. The snickerdoodles made with shortening tasted a bit more "old-fashioned" than the ones with all butter, but they were still really delicious (especially hot from the oven!). I just love that smell of warm cinnamon sugar. Yum.

I was pretty amazed at how much I managed to fit in the flat rate 12x12x5 priority mail shipping box. I didn't have to use much padding or bubble wrap since all the food was packed well and jammed into the box tightly. The clerk at the post office was impressed that I could fit 11 pounds of goodies in the box. The contents: 3 dozen snickerdoodles, oatmeal chocolate chip cookie bars (five 4x6-inch pieces), 1 pound beef jerky, 2.5 pounds trail mix, instant oatmeal packets, tea bags and Jelly Belly jelly beans. I hope Richard and his fellow soldiers enjoy this small token of gratitude for their bravery and service.

If you want to participate in the next round, please visit Operation Baking Gals for all the details.



Snickerdoodles
(makes about 4 dozen)

Cookie dough:
2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract (I omitted this since I was sending to the Middle East)

Coating
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375F. Lightly grease cookie sheet pans or line with parchment paper.

Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cream of tartar in small mixer bowl to combine. Set aside.

Beat shortening and sugar in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add flour mixture and mix until combined.

To make the coating, mix the sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl.

Roll cookie dough into 3/4 inch balls. Roll the balls into the sugar-cinnamon coating and place them 2 inches apart on your prepared cookie sheet pans. Using the bottom of a glass, flatten each ball to about 1/2 inch thick.

Bake at 375F for 8-10 minutes, or until they're just golden brown around the edges. Cool on a wire rack.

~*~


Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars with Dried Cherries
(adapted from here)
(makes one 15x10-inch tray)

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup vegetable shortening
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons water
1 tsp vanilla extract (I omitted this since I was sending to the Middle East)
12 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chip morsels
2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal, uncooked
1 cup chopped dried cherries

Preheat oven to 375F. Butter and flour a 15x10x1-inch jelly roll pan (or line pan with parchment paper).

Whisk flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in small mixer bowl to combine. Set aside.

Beat shortening, sugar, and corn syrup in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in eggs, water and vanilla.

Add flour mixture and beat until flour is barely incorporated. Mix in chocolate, oatmeal and dried cherries.

Spread batter into your prepared pan. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely in pan on wire rack before cutting into bars.

bbq bacon wrapped scallops... jumbo sea scallops nestled on a broccoli timbale with baby carrots...













i mean REALLY !!!!!!

white corn, fresh from the CDM farmer's market this morning...this was a fab combo !

FIBER-FULL BREAKFAST

homemade yogurt, TJ's fiber apple cranberry muffin, fresh fruit sprinkled with Psyillium husk makes for a filling fiber treat...

0 Daring Bakers Go Vegan

This month's Daring Baker challenge is a milestone. Natalie from Gluten A Go Go and Shel from Musings From the Fishbowl chose lavash crackers for this month's Daring Bakers' challenge and for the first time in DB history, we are going vegan for the challenge. They even included a recipe for gluten-free lavash if we wanted it to be both vegan and gluten-free. They also asked us to make a dip or spread to accompany our crackers as long as the dip or spread is vegan too. They gave us a lot of freedom to personalize the challenge.

I wasn't feeling too creative (my fault, not the challenge's fault) and I decided to go basic. Sesame seeds and sea salt to sprinkle on my lavash with a hummus for my dip. The lavash was really easy to make. I guess the hardest part was trying to roll it thin enough. I only had a rolling pin to help me. A pasta roller would've helped but I lost mine while moving a few years ago and I haven't bought a replacement yet.




After rolling out the dough, I trimmed the edges a little to make it fit my baking sheet pan. I used the edge scraps to make some short and skinny "breadsticks".



My nosy curious cat had to come by and take a sniff while I was taking pictures.



Overall I really like this recipe. It's a definite keeper. I plan to use it again for making breadsticks or even a thin crust pizza. Thanks Shel and Natalie! And please go to the Daring Bakers blogroll for links to other posts.



Lavash Crackers
(recipe from "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" by Peter Reinhart)
(makes 1 sheet pan of crackers)

* 1 1/2 cups (6.75 oz) unbleached bread flour
* 1/2 tsp (.13 oz) salt
* 1/2 tsp (.055 oz) instant yeast
* 1 Tb (.75 oz) agave syrup or sugar
* 1 Tb (.5 oz) vegetable oil
* 1/3 to 1/2 cup + 2 Tb (3 to 4 oz) water, at room temperature
* Poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, or kosher salt for toppings

1. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, salt, yeast, agave, oil, and just enough water to bring everything together into a ball. You may not need the full 1/2 cup + 2 Tb of water, but be prepared to use it all if needed.

2. Sprinkle some flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Knead for about 10 minutes, or until the ingredients are evenly distributed. The dough should pass the windowpane test and register 77 degrees to 81 degrees Fahrenheit. The dough should be firmer than French bread dough, but not quite as firm as bagel dough (what I call medium-firm dough), satiny to the touch, not tacky, and supple enough to stretch when pulled. Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

3. Ferment at room temperature for 90 minutes, or until the dough doubles in size. (You can also retard the dough overnight in the refrigerator immediately after kneading or mixing).

4. Mist the counter lightly with spray oil and transfer the dough to the counter. Press the dough into a square with your hand and dust the top of the dough lightly with flour. Roll it out with a rolling pin into a paper thin sheet about 15 inches by 12 inches. You may have to stop from time to time so that the gluten can relax. At these times, lift the dough from the counter and wave it a little, and then lay it back down. Cover it with a towel or plastic wrap while it relaxes. When it is the desired thinness, let the dough relax for 5 minutes. Line a sheet pan with baking parchment. Carefully lift the sheet of dough and lay it on the parchment. If it overlaps the edge of the pan, snip off the excess with scissors.

5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit with the oven rack on the middle shelf. Mist the top of the dough with water and sprinkle a covering of seeds or spices on the dough (such as alternating rows of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, kosher or pretzel salt, etc.) Be careful with spices and salt - a little goes a long way. If you want to precut the cracker, use a pizza cutter (rolling blade) and cut diamonds or rectangles in the dough. You do not need to separate the pieces, as they will snap apart after baking. If you want to make shards, bake the sheet of dough without cutting it first.

6. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the crackers begin to brown evenly across the top (the time will depend on how thinly and evenly you rolled the dough).

7. When the crackers are baked, remove the pan from the oven and let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. You can then snap them apart or snap off shards and serve.



Hummus
(makes about 3 cups)

4 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Two 15-ounce cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
2/3 cup well stirred tahini
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted lightly (optional)

On a cutting board mince and mash the garlic to a paste with the salt. In a food processor purée the chickpeas with the garlic paste, the tahini, the lemon juice, the oil, and the water, scraping down the sides, until the hummus is smooth and add salt to taste. Add more water, if necessary, to thin the hummus to the desired consistency. Transfer the hummus to a bowl. The hummus may be made 3 days in advance and kept covered and chilled. Sprinkle hummus with the pine nuts if desired.

chocolate chunk with pecan...

re-mixed with a touch more flour, more choc and more peacans

chocolate CHUNK cookies...like the devil in a little ball....

0 Campton Place Coffee Cake

Campton Place Hotel is a boutique luxury hotel in San Francisco. My senior prom date was quite the foodie and he took me to the restaurant in the hotel for dinner before the prom. This was 20 years ago so I'm not sure if foodie was even a word back then. Looking back, my prom date was pretty sophisticated for an eighteen year old. Campton Place was on his list of must try restaurants. It was my first "fancy" restaurant experience but I hardly remember much about it. I remember being surprised that there were only 3 or 4 entrees on the menu to choose from (and I ended up having the lamb entree). I'm guessing teenagers in poufy prom dresses and tuxedoes dining among adults in power suits must've been quite a sight in that small elegant dining room, but the staff was gracious. They made sure that our limousine was out front waiting for us when we were done with dinner. I guess I would've expected service like that from a place like that if I was an adult, but as a teenager, service like that was a wonderful, magical thing.

What does my senior prom dinner have to do with coffee cake? Well, early in Sherry Yard's pastry career she spent four years as a pastry chef at Campton Place and this wonderful coffee cake was part of their breakfast menu. The sour cream makes the cake rich and keeps it moist. And the fruit layered among the cake has the perfect hint of spice and sweetness. The recipe called for fresh or frozen peaches but I decided to use cherries instead. The cherry season is so short that sadly most of the year is spent without any fresh cherries. Luckily frozen cherries are available year round in the supermarket. Of course frozen ones aren’t as good as fresh ones but, during the off season, they will do in a pinch.

BTW, my senior prom theme was "Always and Forever" (a song by Heatwave) and the prom colors were silver and periwinkle. I know, cheesy. Care to share your senior prom theme?



Campton Place Coffee Cake
(adapted from Sherry Yard's "Dessert By The Yard")
Makes 1 bundt cake

Cake:
3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened at room temp
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs, at room temp
2 cups sour cream

Filling:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (either natural or Dutch-processed)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
10 to 12 ounces pitted cherries (fresh or frozen)

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and flour or spray a 9- to 10- inch Bundt pan.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside dry ingredients.

In the bowl of stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy about 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

On low speed, in 3 additions of each, mix in the dry ingredients and sour cream, alternating the dry and wet ingredients until ingredients are just blended. Be careful not to over mix batter.

Make the filling by mixing the sugars, cocoa powder and cinnamon in a medium bowl.

Scoop in 1 ½ cups cake batter into your prepared Bundt pan and spread evenly to cover the bottom. Sprinkle one-third of the filling and scatter one-third of the cherries over the filling. Scoop in 2 cups cake batter and spread evenly. Sprinkle one-third of the filling and scatter one-third of the cherries over the filling. Scoop in 2 cups of cake batter and spread evenly. Sprinkle the rest of the filling and cherries. Add the rest of the cake batter and spread evenly over the cherries.

Bake for 50-60 minutes at 350F until a cake test inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow cake to cool in pan for 30 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack, remove pan and let cool completely before serving.

peach jello jiggler parfait...only 40 cals

black cherry jiggler parfait

0 Just Peachy

Mid-autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month of the Chinese calendar. This year it fell on September 14th. My mom likes to celebrate the Mid-autumn festival by cooking an elaborate 9 course meal for the family. She varies the menu from year to year, but we always end the meal with moon cakes.

Moon cakes are made with a pastry crust and filled with a sweet paste. There are many different varieties of moon cakes. Some are filled with traditional ingredients like lotus seed, red bean, or date pastes. Some are filled not so traditionally with chocolate, coffee or even ice cream. My favorite moon cake is filled with white lotus seed paste and salted egg yolks. The crust of the moon cake can be embossed with Chinese characters, flowers or animals. Moon cakes are normally 3 inches wide and 1 inch thick, but more and more bakeries are making miniatures. Since they are fairly rich, we usually cut each regular sized moon cake into 8 portions.



Even though we have the moon cakes, I always make some kind of dessert for our Mid-autumn festival dinner. This year I made peach turnovers. I guess they are more like tiny pies since I used pie dough for the crust.

The pie crust I used is adapted from two recipes: one from Shirley Corriher's "Cookwise" and another from Rose Levy Beranbaum's "The Pie and Pastry Bible". Part of the all purpose flour in a traditional pie crust recipe is replaced with instant flour. The most well known brand of instant flour is Wondra. What is instant flour? Instant flour is wheat flour mixed with a small amount of malted barley flour. The wheat flour is moistened with water or steam, heated and then dehydrated which basically "cooks" the flour so that it will dissolve quickly. Malted barley flour helps to break down starches in dough and because it has less gluten, the resulting dough will be more relaxed and gives a softer, moister crumb.

The water and vinegar in the traditional pie crust recipe is replaced with sour cream. Sour cream contains butterfat, milk solids and acidity. The extra butterfat makes the dough more tender and lends a buttery flavor to the finished crust. The milk solids add flavor and contributes to a smoother texture. The acidity inhibits some of the gluten formation and makes the dough less elastic. Less elasticity means easier rolling and less shrinkage.




I used a minimal amount of sugar in both the crust and the peach filling, but feel free to adjust the amount of the sugar to your taste. I know that letting the fruit macerate, draining the fruit over a colander to collect the juices and reducing the liquid is a bit fussy, but I wanted try out Rose Levy Beranbaum's method for decreasing the amount of thickener needed for the fruit filling. Since I was making miniature turnovers, I think the method really helped. The filling wasn't too thick or gummy from the cornstarch and the juices weren't so runny that the crust got soggy from the fruit juices.



I didn't really get to enjoy most of the summer fruits this year since I wasn't feeling well enough to eat them. But now that I'm feeling a bit better, I'm lucky that the farmers' market still has some late summer peaches available. I used white peaches for my turnovers, but I think I prefer the yellow ones since they are a bit more assertive than white ones especially when baked. Nevertheless, my peach turnovers were totally delicious.



Mini Peach Turnovers
(makes 22-24 miniature turnovers)
(adapted from Rose Levy Beranbaum's "The Pie and Pastry Bible")

Sour cream pie crust (see recipe below)

Filling:
1 pound peaches, peeled, pitted and cut into approximately 3/8-inch dice
2-3 tbsp granulated sugar (depends on the sweetness of the peaches)
1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp lemon zest

Optional glaze:
1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 tbsp water
1-2 tsp granulated sugar

To make the filling:
In a bowl, mix diced peaches, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, and salt. Let mixture sit for 30 minutes and up to 1 hour. Transfer fruit to a colander suspended over a bowl to capture the liquid.

In a nonstick pan, reduce the liquid, with the 1 tablespoon butter, to about 2 tablespoons. Let liquid cool for about 10 minutes.

Toss the peaches with the cornstarch and lemon zest. Add the cooled reduced liquid to the peaches and toss gently.

To assemble the turnovers:
Roll out your chilled dough to about 1/8-inch thick. Using a 4-inch round cutter, cut out 4-inch circles. (You can reuse the dough scraps once. Lay the scraps, side by side slightly overlapping and roll them between plastic wrap. Refrigerate dough for at least 15 minutes before cutting out more circles from the rolled scraps.) You should get about 22-24 circles.

Spoon about 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons of the peach filling, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Brush the edges lightly with cold water (to help the dough stick) and fold dough in half. Using your fingers, press the border to seal it and then press the border using the tines of a fork. Refrigerate filled turnovers for 30-60 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400F. If desired, brush the chilled turnovers with egg glaze and sprinkle lightly with sugar. Use a sharp knife to cut 3 steam vents into the top of each turnover. Bake at 400F for 12-15 minutes or until the pastry is lightly golden and the filling is bubbling. Let turnovers cool for 15 minutes before serving.


Oh so flaky

Sour Cream Pie Crust
(makes enough pastry for 24 miniature turnovers OR one 9-inch double crust pie)

8 ounces (2 sticks / 1 cup) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup instant flour (you can use 1/2 cup all purpose flour if you can’t find instant flour)
2 tsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sour cream, cold
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1-2 tbsp ice cold water (optional)

Freeze the butter pieces for about 15 minutes.

Place the flours, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade. Process for a few seconds to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the frozen butter is the size of cornmeal or very tiny peas.

Add the sour cream and lemon juice and pulse 6-7 times. Pinch a small amount of the mixture to see if it holds together. If not, add 1 tbsp water and pulse 3 times. Try pinching again to see if it holds together. If not, add another 1 tbsp water and pulse 3 times.

Turn dough out and wrap with plastic wrap and flatten into a disc. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.

(Alternatively, you can make the dough by hand. Place the flours, sugar and salt in the bowl. Add frozen butter pieces to flour mixture and toss gently to coat butter. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter or two butter knives or with your fingertips until butter is the size of cornmeal or very tiny peas. Fold in the sour cream and lemon juice. Pinch a small amount of the mixture to see if it holds together. If not, add 1 or 2 tbsp water. Turn dough out and wrap with plastic wrap and flatten into a disc. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.)

BBQ scallop dinner monday night....

haricot vert...baby green beans...whatever you call 'em...

sprinkle a little lemon zest to really bring alive the flavor

BLACK COD...


absoltely "melt in your mouth" good...

0 Back to School

A heat wave descended upon San Francisco and the rest of the SF Bay Area earlier this week. That could only mean one thing…our "summer" was finally here. San Francisco's summer weather is best in late August / early September (aka Indian summer). It always seemed to coincide with back to school time which makes sense since we always went back to school the day after Labor Day which is in the beginning of September.

I am no longer in school but this weather always brings back memories of parochial school. I can recall many first days of school carrying home a backpack full of heavy textbooks in the hot afternoon sun, sweating in my new wool school uniform, and complaining about how my new shoes hurt my feet. As part of our uniform, girls had to wear soft soled non-sneaker shoes that were brown or white. I usually wore Famolares since they had the big wavy soft soles and they came in many shades of brown. Hard soled shoes would scuff the pristinely waxed floors in the school hallways and the school janitor Vittorio hated cleaning the scuff marks. I don’t know why our shoes had to be brown or white. Our cardigans were green and our skirts were gray. Knee socks had to be white or green. I think that black shoes would've been a better match.

Why was I carrying home all my textbooks on day one? It wasn't because of homework. It was because we had to cover all our textbooks. On day two the nuns would check to see who covered and who didn't cover their books and I never wanted to be in the latter group. At the time I didn't really know or care why we had to cover the books. I just did it without question. In hindsight I realized that the school wanted us to cover the books as a protective measure since we were borrowing the books for the duration of the school year. But honestly, how much protection can a thin sheet of butcher paper, brown grocery bag paper, or gift wrapping paper provide against the wear and tear that a child can do?

I wanted to make something to celebrate this time of year. A lot of schools no longer allow peanut butter since so many children seem to be allergic to peanuts, but a peanut butter and jelly sandwich always says childhood to me. So I decided to make peanut butter and jelly muffins. I had printed out this recipe a while back and I can’t remember where I found it otherwise I would be giving "you" the credit.



Whole Wheat Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins
(makes 12 muffins)

1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour *
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
2/3 cup natural peanut butter **
6 tbsp (3 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
Approximately 1/3 cup fruit jam (I used strawberry)

Preheat oven to 375F. Line 12 (4-fl.oz. capacity) wells of your muffin pan with paper liners (or butter and flour each the wells).

In a bowl, sift together all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside dry ingredients.

In a large mixing bowl, mix peanut butter, butter, and brown sugar. Mix in egg and vanilla. Mix in buttermilk and stir until evenly mixed. It should become smooth as you stir but it's also okay if the mixture looks a bit curdled.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix gently until just moistened. You don't want to over mix the batter.

Spoon in about 2 tablespoons batter into each of the 12 wells of your prepared muffin pan. Spoon a heaping teaspoon of jam in the center (do not spread jam over the batter). Cover the jam with the remaining batter.

Bake at 375F for 15 – 18 minutes until muffins spring back when touched lightly. Cool in pan for 5 minutes and then remove muffins from pan and let them cool on wire rack for about 20 minutes before serving.

* If you don't have whole wheat flour you can use all purpose flour.

** I used a natural peanut butter instead of a commercial one like Skippy or Jif, but if you decide to use a commercial PB, the muffin will end up a bit sweeter and maybe even a bit softer since they have added sugars and oils to prevent separation.

BBQ'd fresh true Cod with black beluga lentils

finger drippin' good...whole wheat breakfast wrap with Tapatio, of course...

un-wrapped egg wrap....

a "DONUT" peach ???...you must try one if you haven't....

Fancy P's "country apple pie"...

ahhh...the cooling stage

mom's fresh baked banana bread..you can almost smell it...the recipe is from NANIE, my highschool boyfriends' grandmother...so you know it's good

three little loaves ready to go....

this summer's seedless grapes were sensational...they literally popped in your mouth...