Anadama Bread

A very interesting bread. First, the story intrigued me on how the bread got its name. Apparently, a man in Massachusetts was upset because his wife had left him and also for only leaving him with a pot of cornmeal mush and some molasses. The man was very angry and tossed yeast and flour together with the mush and molasses. During his mixing he yelled, "Anna, damn 'er!". Later as the story was retold, the bread became Anadama.


This bread is made with "cornmeal - preferably coarse grind, also known as polenta". It makes a a great, fresh sandwich style bread. It would compliment many, many flavors.


The recipe comes from the book, The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. There is a cook-along blog group, from Pinch of Salt, who are cooking every recipe in this book. The group is rumored to be closed to newcomers, but I wanted to join in too. So I'm cooking along with my other foodie friends, I mean Bread Baker Apprentice Groupies :)


BIG TIP: I found Corn Grits, otherwise known as Polenta. Bob's Red Mill brand. The corn was large cut corn and left a gritty, crunchy flavor in the bread. It was still great bread but there was a definite texture. Be sure to find Coarse Ground Corn Meal and don't be persuaded by the Polenta comment like me.


Be sure to check out Pinch of Salt's detailed photos of the bread making process. Perfect!

Fridge Friday: Show Us Your Hots!

I enjoy following mizmaggieb on Twitter. She always gets us posting pictures of our fridge every Friday. This Friday she has started a new blog specifically for Friday Fridays and this week has a theme...to show all your hot sauces/spicy items.

I had to actually rearrange things so all the hot items were in one location, otherwise it would have been like 16 photos of a completely messy refrigerator!

The homemade canned jalapeno chunks are not really that cloudy, not sure what camera technique filters that out. Also I noticed, we hardly use Tabasco and yet have two?? Second question relating to Tabasco is, if we hardly use it, how old are those two bottles? OY.

Next, I noticed that we don't have near enough spicy ingredients in the fridge as we should. I love spicy foods. You would have thought I have 14 different kinds. Hmm. Maybe need to check the back and deep in the drawers. Scary thought.

At least it's not FREEZER FRIDAY. That would cause total panic. And I might not have enough wine to cure a total spin-out.

BBB - Italian Knot Bread

Although I'm not an official "Bread Baking Babe", I did follow this recipe posted by Ilva on her blog, "Lucullian Delights - an Italian Experience".

One of my favorite foodie friends, Katye, said everyone was making the Italian Knot Bread. I couldn't dare to miss out, it looked so wonderful! She directed me to Ilva's blog and once there I scrolled down to her post titled, "PANE DI PASTA TENERA CONDITA or ITALIAN KNOT BREAD". Just reading it made me want to be in Tuscany with her and make those beautiful rolls.

I made this the next days and the rolls were very tasty. I ended up with about 18 rolls and froze some as well. Even defrosted the rolls taste fresh and smell nice and yeasty.

Chicken Salad On Foccacia

I try really hard to use up leftovers. Even make them into a different dish. It also helps to try other aspects of results on a recipe. Take this Foccacia bread I made. I froze the remainder and then defrosted it and made some excellent chicken salad sandwiches for lunch. The bread came out great, I will be making that recipe again.

I'm still working on eating my way through that freezer! I'm down to about 2 weeks left to eat up everything I can. Then I'm getting a new freezer and selling the old chest style. These chicken salad sandwiches were made with chicken thighs.

Chicken Salad Sandwiches

1/2 pound chicken thighs
3 cups chicken stock
3 ribs celery, chopped - include some leaves
2 green onions, chopped
fresh parsley, chopped
3T of mayonnaise
2T dijon mustard
salt, pepper, dried dill weed, garlic powder, onion powder

1 half of the rosemary focaccia, defrosted and warm/lightly toasted a bit in the oven

Poach the chicken thighs in chicken stock for about 6-8 minutes. Chop the chicken into bite size pieces. Mix with the remaining ingredients.

Serve on focaccia.

Catching Up!

Hello Friends!

I've been delinquent in posting, but I have to say I've been busy doing some fun things! Tonight's dinner is just a repeat of a previous blog post, but it's so good! Shrimp Caesar Salad.

I went Morel Hunting over the weekend. It was awesome! I hope that I've now finally figured this out. I managed 14 and although that's not alot to the professional 'shroomer, I picked those during my last 30 minutes. I am so excited to do it again because now, I think I'm on to something.

Whisk Wednesdays are now on menus and more of one big day of cooking. The menus look fabulous and I hope to get some of those recipes made soon.

Yesterday I braved the local greenhouse and purchased basil, thyme and chives. I also have those same three in seedlings that I started. Now I can replenish as I use.

Happy Spring All!