Peach and Plum Bruschetta & the Utah State Fair

When I attended the Utah State Fair this year I noticed an abundance of canned peach items.Some of them sounded very tasty (vanilla bean peach pie filling) while others might take me a while to get use to (green tomato, jalapeño and peach salsa). It was amazing to see what creative cooks abound in Utah. The peach syrups were lined up in different size jars and colored from light to dark amber- each of them having something extra to make their syrup just a little special. Jams, jelly’s, pickles, it was enough to make my head spin!

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I came home and made a recipe I picked up at the fair a couple of years ago when I was demonstrating in their kitchen. Kelsey Nixon was on just before and she made a version of this delightful peach bruschetta. It’s an appetizer, but could be used as a dessert or afternoon snack I suppose. I’ve used a variety of fruit in this from nectarines to pears, but I especially love plums paired with peaches. The lime juice adds just the right tang to bring the sweet together. Make a couple of loaves of Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day and you've got a delicious fall appitizer where you can taste the sweetness of summer all mixed up- it's delightful!

What will be your final farewell to summer's peaches?

Balsamic Vegetable Salsa with Cheese Toasts from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day

The other day I took a simple savory dish to a sweet baptism of a friend of mine. Many wonderful cooks had brought something to share to the bounty of this table and everything was very tasty- from the baked sandwiches, fresh salads, crackers and pepper jelly to the out of this world fabulous homemade Bear Lake raspberry ice cream. It was lovely to be together to celebrate with this family.

I made a simple salsa from some garden veggies served with cheese toast from the basic boule recipe of Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day. The toast was crunchy and a hit on it’s own, but with the salsa, it was delicious. It all came together very quickly and it’s one of the reasons I so love the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day- fresh, versatile and tasty. I used my balsamic rosemary reduction to flavor the salsa, so it was a quick fix as well.

I plan to do a post on the cheese crackers, and grilled pizza with Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, but if you are interested in the recipe before then, check out this blog, More Than A Mount Full with Chef Dennis for a great write up.

What is your favorite savory appetizer?

Chutney 101, and a Tart

Last week on Heaven Housewife’s blog I fell in love with a chicken salad recipe that I had to make. Do recipes ever get stuck in your brain and you can’t move forward with regular life chores until you “make the food”? This should have been a simple recipe to make, except that I couldn’t find what I’ll term as the most important ingredient- CHUTNEY. After visiting three local stores, I determined to substitute a crazy homegrown concoction by mixing peach jam with vinegar (sounds strange, but it actually worked surprisingly well). The following day I made some wonderful homemade chutney so that I wouldn’t be found in this mess again.

HH emailed me a few pointers about chutney that I would love to pass along to my readers.First of all, in her part of the world (United Kingdom) no store would be complete without 5 to 10 brands of chutney (imagine that!). Her favorite brand is Waitrose, for those of us in America, Major Grey’s is the gold standard. The most common use for this fabulous sauce is a great sandwich made from cheddar cheese, chutney with lettuce and tomato. As if this wasn’t enough help, HH sent me to a sight with this fabulous tart. Of course I made it and tweaked it because I can’t ever leave a recipe alone. It is completely delicious, as is the strawberry and blackberry chutney that I made. I made the tart with the basic dough from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day and it worked like a charm.

Chutney is a wonderful addition to anyone’s pantry and I recommend that before this season is over you preserve one of your favorite fruits into your very own chutney. Your friends and family will thank you all year long.

Thank you Heavenly Housewife for the help in understanding chutney a little better, you are the best!

P.S. Becky from Vintage Mixer has also made the chicken salad and has it it up on her blog in a little differnt version, you can never go wrong with anything she makes, check it out for a different twist.

Healthy Bread In Five Minutes A Day, Whole Wheat Master and Four Great Ways to Use It!

I've been known to say that fast food at our house means "cheese and crackers" and having made homemade crackers from the master whole wheat recipe from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day, fast food may become more common. These crackers turned out wonderfully. My daughter, Candace and I experimented with a pasta machine first, which we decided wasn't such a great idea and pushed on to the standard method - - a rolling pin.

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spread a bit of olive oil on the pastry sheet to give the crackers a crunch as well as keep them from drying out. Roll a grapefruit piece of dough as thin as possible. Brush olive oil flavored with fresh minced rosemary, sprinkle with Paula Deen's House Seasoning and paprika.
2. Cut into desired shapes and move to oiled cookie sheet, placing fairly close together but not touching.
3. Bake for 20 minutes, rotate pan and bake for an addition 10 minutes.
4. Serve with cheese, soup or eat as a healthy snack.
5. Store in a zip lock bag.

What we learned:

• Thin crackers are best.
• Cute cutters don't work on thin dough.
• Getting the right seasoning is everything.

The whole wheat artisan free form loaf has been somewhat of a struggle for me. Not the shaping or baking, but the seeds! The seed mixture that is given in the book has a tendency to burn in my oven. My answer is to throw the sunflower seeds out (too much oil in them) and the next batch I make will not have any flax seeds in them either, they just get too brownish black for my taste. I have had great success with shaping my loaf, dipping it into a bowl of sesame seeds right then, letting it rest for 90 minutes, slashing and baking.

I live at a high altitude and the first several batches of dough resembled hocky pucks. I felt really bad about this until a dear neighbor and excellent baker, Bonnie bought the book and had the same experience-- exactly. I have learned that IF you use freshly ground flour you MUST weigh your ingredients. My amounts are different from the books. If you are interested in what they are feel free to contact me. Cristie at TheTableRunner dot com

The final piece to this post on the master whole wheat dough is the epi, or wheat stalk. It has become one of my favorites. It is shown here with a delicious spread made from a homemade pesto (thanks Bonnie!) mixed with cream cheese--neither lasted long, they just seem to be made for each other.

For many wonderful ideas go to the third bread braid of the Google group for

Healthy Bread in Five at Michelle's blog, Big Black Dogs.

Containers for holding Food- Cambro Cam Squares! BPA Free or close to it . . .

Almost exactly a year ago I went on a cleaning frenzy in my kitchen and reorganized all my cupboards so that they would be more user friendly. Part of this redo included changing the containers that held my baking ingredients, and other food stuffs. A fellow food blogger and dear friend, Jenny of SimpleLifeLove had gotten me excited about doing this. I have continued to learned about Cambro containers (Cam Squares) and thought I would share what I've found out.

If you visit the Cambro web page you can click on a document on BPA that states Cambro's position on this issue. Here is an excerpt:

Bisphenol-A (BPA) can be found in products manufactured by Cambro with polycarbonate (CW) and high heat material (HP). BPA is not found in polypropylene or polyethylene storage containers or in most Cambro tumblers which are made from the resin SAN.

Recent news coverage has suggested that all plastic containers and bottles labeled with the number “7” contain BPA. While all polycarbonate plastics containing BPA are labeled with the number “7” recycling category, not all number “7” contain BPA. Based on the combination of materials used, some of our products that do not contain BPA fall into category “7” for recycling.

I've talked with Nate Strong of Cambro regional intermountain west office who led me to the customer service number for Cambro 1 (800) 833-30030, who got me in contact with Gary L. Stephens of Cambro's office of Quality Assurance. We discussed the entire line of Cambro products. I've also received an email from Bruce Hutain from Cambro stating "The “non-BPA” plastic solution for most storage requirements can be achieved with containers made with polypropylene or polyethylene. Neither contains BPA, and both are recyclable. "

Bottom line --- If you want to avoid BPA, do not purchase anything that is polycarbonate if you are planning on storing food in that container.

So, yes the containers I have are not clear, they are translucent and are made from polyethylene but I can sleep through the night knowing that they are the closest I can get to being BPA free.

Having worked with the two books Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day I knew that I would want to use one of these Cambro containers to hold the dough. I have chosen the square 6 quart, 5.5 liter (order number Cambro 6SFSP for container, and for the lid SFC6). The 6 qt. containter should run about $8 and the lid $4. They can be ordered on line here or purchased at a local restaurant equipment supply house. The trick may be finding them in stock!

Santa's Workshop, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day, Oatmeal Date and Cranberry Wreaths

A dear neighbor just stopped in with a Christmas gift and walked though my incredibly messy family room and kitchen. It looks like a bomb went off or a tornado whirled through my house. She graciously called it "Santa's Workshop". What a true friend. I love her even more than I did before she came. As I shut the door and took a closer look at my house I realized that the word workshop did describe my space. No less than five projects were going on, all unfinished- but moving along with the hope to be done before the big day, Christmas.

I made some great bread from a book that is quickly becoming a favorite, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, Oatmeal Date Bread on page 191-193. I added some cranberries to make it festive and formed the loaves into wreaths and of course like the other recipes in the book changed it to allow for the high altitude issues (and made a few other tweeks). A fellow HBin5 lover suggested putting a ramikin of something yummy in the middle which I did- cherry butter. This project is now complete and delivered to neighbors and friends.

Yippie! One less project cluttering up the house, one thing on the list checked off, and hopefully a few friends enjoying this delicious bread and butter to remind them of how much we love them. If you haven't completed your shopping think about giving this book or getting one for yourself.

Merry, Merry Christmas!! See you in a week!

Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day & Whole Grain Challah with Cranberries and Orange Zest AND a New Coffee Cake for the Holidays!

Today I got to make challah for Hanukkah! It wasn't a regular challah loaf, but a unique one for two reasons-- 1st, it's made from the technique taught in the book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, and 2nd it has some special additions to the regular challah loaf as you can glean from the title- Whole Grain Challah with Cranberries and Orange Zest. This is the second bonus recipe for the Google group HBinFive. It has been a delightful dough to work with. You can go here to see the original recipe by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François. I made some modifications after reading several emails from the HBinFive Google group. I only used white whole wheat flour, replaced wheat bran flakes for wheat germ and increased the salt and vital wheat gluten to rounded portions ( I do live at a high altitude). I loved how this bread has turned out!

Challah is no ordinary bread, and I knew that I needed to treat it with a measure of respect. I was happy to see this explanation on

Kosher Foods For Body and Soul:

The dough is made with an especially large number of eggs, and sweetened with honey. The dough is traditionally cut into three rope-shaped pieces and then braided together before baking. An egg wash is applied to the dough to give a golden color after being baked. Poppy or sesame seeds are sprinkled on the bread before baking; the seeds represent manna that God gave to the Israelites to eat while they wandered in the desert.

After making my challah, I took my finished loaf to my neighbors for a picture with their beautiful menorah. They explained to me the Hebrew letters running down the middle represent the Ten Commandments - I love that. Getting the right picture took longer than it should have, I have the most gracious neighbors!

Next recipe: Cranberry Orange Coffee Cake filled with an Almond Cranberry Relish

Same dough, Whole Grain Challah with Cranberries and Orange Zest, just put together in a different manor for a different audience. This is something you could serve at breakfast or brunch- it's both sweet and tart with a great crunch. I used a simple technique of rolling the dough as you would for making cinnamon rolls, then changed it up a bit. Check out the pictures to see how it is made.

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This dough, Whole Grain Challah with Cranberries and Orange Zest will become a standard at my house during the holidays. It works like magic, try some and let me know how it goes at your house.

You may also like my version PUMMPKIN PIE BRIOCHE AND EBELSKIVERS

And don't forget to get online and get your self or someone you love one

of the best gifts for the kitchen,

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day & Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day!

Pumpkin Pie Brioche and Ebelskivers, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day

I am a member of the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day google group, and the first bonus assignment was to make this fabulous seasonal brioche- the deadline has passed, but I decided to go ahead and make it anyway and I'm glad I did. You may want to make this delicious bread for your table as well, Pumpkin Pie Brioche.

The Pumpkin Pie Brioche recipe was available on the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day web site, but has now be removed. You can access it from Michelle's blog {Big Black Dog} who has permission from the authors of HBinFive, Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. The changes I made in the original recipe were made because I live at a high altitude. I took the suggestions that were made in the book -- they worked beautifully. Here are the changes: 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon yeast, 1 rounded tablespoon kosher salt, and 2 rounded tablespoons vital wheat gluten.

The dough has a wonderful consistency and I found it easy to work with. I absolutely had to make a brioche, which will find it's self turned into french toast in the morning, but decided that pumpkin ebelskivers would be just the thing to best use this flavorful dough and they worked like a charm.

Christmas brunch at my house finds me making ebelskivers, it's been a tradition as long as any of my children can remember. These delicate puff pancakes can be quite delicious but unfortunately a bit of a time eater as well. This Pumpkin Pie Brioche dough worked out famously to cut down in the time area because I was able to make the pinch balls and set them out to rise and then cook them up quickly. I may have to think about mixing this into my menu this year. It is a winner recipe served with nutmeg syrup and orange butter.

When I make ebelskivers I use a cast iron pan. I love cast iron. It cooks these cute little pancakes evenly and perfectly light brown. I put the cast iron in a hot oven for about 15 minutes before I'm ready to cook to get the pan nice and hot. Once it's hot, place it on the stove top on a low setting. Put a little canola oil in the bottom of each round cup and place one of the risen pinched balls carefully into each hole. Watch them attentively until you get an idea of how quickly they will cook. You need to have a tool to turn with, I've used everything from a bamboo skewer to tongs. This year I have a set of new tools that I picked up at Williams-Sonoma made by Littledeer. They made quick work of lifting and flipping the delicate little babies. They were a bargain at $12. Once the ebelskivers are done, sprinkle them with powder sugar, serve and and watch them disappear.

Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day & the their NEW BOOK!

I have been singing the praises of the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day ever since I checked it out from the library and then quickly bought my own copy back in the winter months. Because I am a bread maker myself, I was hesitant that this would really work- but I couldn't have been more wrong. Last week I demonstrated to 30 women just how fabulous this book really is- and honestly once you've tasted the bread and seen the technic in person you're sold.

In our busy world where most of us barely have time to purchase bread, little lone make it-- this is a gift to anyone who wants to have a wonderful product without spending copious amounts of time making it. By utilizing different master recipes you can bake artisan free form loaves, flat breads, peasant bread and things as delicate as brioche. I would recommend if you are interested in learning this technic that you watch this youtube, visit their official web address and give it a try. The authors Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois are very down to earth and approachable and will even answer your questions on Twitter or their website. It doesn't get better than that . . .

Except that their new book just hit the bookshelves yesterday! Now we can all make a healthy version of this incredible bread. Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day offers whole wheat and other whole grains and whole vegetables versions as well as a chapter on gluten free bread. I will certainly be giving this book a try and can hardly wait for mine to arrive. Check out this segment for a recipe that you could try today with ingredients you may already have in your pantry as well as a link to purchase the new book at a great rate.

If anyone would like to see how this is done in person, contact me and I would be happy to give you a lesson. I have two different types of dough in my fridge at the moment just waiting and hoping for a good home. Happy Baking and tasting!