Oh, just look at that Strawberry Craisin Bread. So pretty, delicious and beautiful. How on earth could I be one frustrated foodie? Because of this:
Dum, dum, dum, duuuuuum….
I will not say where I got this recipe from because it is a foodie I admire but let’s just say the meal was awful! I had to eat the crappy leftovers from the night before that I also hated because I could not stomach this meal. It is supposed to be a chicken stew with red wine and figs but it was nasty.
Not only that but I burned one hand the other day. Last night I sliced my finger open on the other hand. I am suffering from a lack of inspiration in the kitchen. Every recipe looks boring or unappetizing to me. My kitchen is almost always dark so my photos are disappointing. Yeah, I haven’t been a super happy foodie lately.
I am determined to change this! How do I do it? I go back to the basics. I make recipe I know I love thus enjoying food again. Also, I get help from the tools in my kitchen to make life in there as easy as possible. I have posted this recipe before but I am always tweaking it and I like this version even more. Enjoy!
Strawberry Craisin Bread
Ingredients
1 1/3 cups water
1 egg
1/4 cup skim milk powder
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp coconut oil, shortening or room temperature butter
3 3/4 cup bread flour or all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp bread machine yeast
1 cup of dried cranberries, this time I used cranberries that were naturally flavoured like strawberry
You put the ingredients into the breadmaker in the order they are listed in except for the dried cranberries and put the breadmaker on the 2 lb / 1 kg light setting and on the sweet cycle. Once the breadmaker starts beeping to let you know you can add stuff to it, add the cranberries.
That, is a beautiful and inspiring and tasty sight!
So I went back to the beginning. Bread making with a breadmaker is where I first started to bake. This was the second recipe I ever tried and it was love at first bite. This is true comfort food and a good place for me to begin to reconnect safely with food in the kitchen.
I would love any advice from you and hear how you stay inspired in the kitchen. Or am I the only one having issues? Do you have some great dinner recipes you would like to share? I find baking easy but good dinners are so hard to find. I know casseroles and stews are kind of “out” but at this time of year the are what I yearn for. I am looking for insight, inspiration and flavour. What do you need in your kitchen. Can I help?
oh suzie. poor you! i loled a bit (in sympathy, i swear!) when you mention having to stomach the leftovers. ok, maybe it was the word nasty that got me but im still giggling.
like i mentioned to you on twitter, i go in and out of cooking phases, baking phases. i have been cooking since i could reach the stove, so i too LOVE being in the kitchen, i just wish i had the energy to want to cook!
so – what do i cook in the winter as comfort food. hmmm. hey – i did make a really yummy cream of zucchini and pear soup that my family raved about. why dont i dig that one up and fire it along. it was a really nice, mellow soup, and the combo was glorious. maybe i should make it again and post it?!
the other thing i wanted to mention was the appetizer i had last week at the European Union Film Festival. One of the embassies had a reception and i had the most amazing little bite of loveness. Like I mentioned on twitter it was a 1.5 inch piece of chorizo, sliced 3/4 of the way through lengthwise, a fig tucked inside, wrapped in a piece of bacon, secured with a toothpick and baked in the oven. It was glorious. So, if you have any leftover figs and some chorizo (which i have noticed you use in the past) then fire some of these badboys up. appetizers for dinner are my favorite!
so I hope you feel inspired soon, but you are right, the familiar are often what bring us back. its great to try new stuff out, but do what you love. you dont have to do it ALL 🙂
oh, and i hope you are healing well from all the junk! careful you!
I’ve always noticed that, for every dinner recipe I find that is so delicious that it becomes part of my “repetoire” (such as it is), I have to try at least 20 other recipes that range from “meh” to (as you so eloquently put it) “nasty.” It’s a numbers game.
I’m sorry you’re feeling so frustrated! I wish I could help, but honestly I have a hard time being inspired when it comes to making ‘real food’ too. I tend to enjoy baking more. If I find something I think you’ll like, though, I’ll email you.
poor baby, poor baby, POOR BABY!!
The bread sounds delish!
I also find myself going in fits & spurts – I’ve always been a chef who had standards (rice n lentils, sourdough raisin rolls, etc) & who *rarely* cooked exactly from the recipe (my kids always teased me on that one – but also tend to adapt recipes)
One of the things I find inspiring is ‘new’ (to me) cookbooks! & I love the library for that. I read recently that folks usually only make a few (maybe 5 or 6?) recipes from a new book, which makes these library finds a good way to take a few, & move on!
Yesterday I was shopping at Bi-Mart (a NW worker owned chain) & found a sweet book with a bunch of dog treats – I blog about it over at the Vale . . .
Hugs, & oh! Don’t know if your medical kit contains lavender essential oil, but that’s GREAT for kitchen burns! It not only relieves the pain, it actually promotes healthy tissue growth! I’ve had little ‘scalds’ heal overnight – important when you’re a Massage therapist!
N for cuts, I love poltices! & hypericum homeopathic helps with nerve pain, esp for finger injuries, & externally, a cream or tinct with hypericum speeds the healing 🙂
HUGS!
Your bread looks delicious!
When I need inspiration, I start going through all my cookbooks and magazines looking for ideas. Usually, I’m uninspired because I’m bored, and when I start looking through books & magazines, I start seeing new stuff that makes me want to cook & bake.
Yes, it’s perfectly natural to lose your cooking mojo every now and then. I find mine works best in the winter when soups and stews/casseroles are the order of the day. There are many easy ‘dinner’ recipes on my blog. Spanish Chicken is my new fave, it’s easy peasy and tastes great.
Hi! POD sent me. She left a link on my blog and simply said, “Go there…she has something yummy!” So I did. And you do! Will be trying that recipe in my bread machine tomorrow.