Strawberry Goat Cheese Bruschetta - Wine Flight Pt. 1

also known as:
"This Will Leave You Speechless Bruschetta"
No jokes! Strawbs, goat cheese, basil, and balsamic? It's genius, really.
And aren't they such little beauts?
They were so pretty for Christmas, but would be even better in the summertime, when strawberries are in peak season here.
I understand if you can't wait.
I couldn't either. 

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

I love making homemade bread. Something about the smells and the warmth are so cozy on a fall day.
Breadmaking is known to be difficult, so every time I succeed, I feel accomplished and get complete satisfaction out of it.
Plus, kneading dough is fun and feels pretty radical. I love squishing and punching and twisting it in my hands.
Today I got called off work. It was rainy and chilly outside, and I had nothing but time on my hands. This equates the perfect breadmaking day.
While I was waiting the two hours for my dough to rise, I snuggled in a blanket, caught up on all my girly shows Eric won't watch with me (Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl don't appeal to him, really?) and did some reading.
I love days off. And homemade bread. Did I already mention that?

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon honey
2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
Nonstick cooking spray or butter (to prevent the bread from sticking to the bowl and pan)

Mix the yeast according to the directions on the packet.
Add melted butter, milk, sugar and salt to the yeast mixture and stir. Add two cups of flour. Start stirring, and then add the flour about 1/4 cup at a time every minute or so.Keep stirring and adding flour until the dough is still slightly sticky, but it doesn’t stick to your hands in any significant way.

Lightly cover counter or tabletop in flour where you will knead the dough. Knead for about ten minutes. To knead, take the dough, punch it flat, then fold it back up into a ball again, and repeat several times. You can also squeeze and twist it.

After ten minutes, shape it into a ball and place ball of dough into presprayed or buttered bowl. Cover bowl with cloth and place it somewhere fairly warm for an hour (I turned on the heater and set it in front of the vent).

After an hour, your dough should be roughly double in size. Punch the dough down, then lay it out on the floured area and spread it out into a rectangle shape, with one side being roughly the length of the bread pan and the other side being about a bread pan and a half long. Then roll it up and tuck the ends in underneath. Cover with cloth again and let sit warm place for one more hour.

Then, place loaf in sprayed bread pan and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

Brown Butter Banana Strawberry Bread

I love baking bread. I adore bananas in desserts. Strawberries are in season, and completely irresistable. And who can say no to the insanely good smell of browned butter sizzling in a pan?
When I found this bread recipe on Joy the Baker's blog, there was no doubt in mind I had to make it, and as soon as possible. Who would've ever thought of adding strawberries to banana bread? Not me. Delicious. Genius. SO YUM.
Thank you, Joy. You are a goddess in my mind.

Brown Butter Banana Strawberry Bread
(inspired by The Amateur Gourmet)

6 ounces unsalted butter, melted and browned to just over 1/2 cup of butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup plain yogurt (any fat content) or buttermilk
1 1/4 cup mashed banana (from about 3 medium bananas)
1/2 cup diced strawberries plus 1 strawberry very thinly sliced, for topping

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9×5-inch loaf pan and set aside.

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Butter will begin to foam and crackle as it melts. When the crackling subsides, the butter will begin to brown. Swirl the pan as the butter cooks. When the butter browns and begins to smell nutty, remove the pan from the flame and transfer the butter to a small bowl. Taking the butter out of the hot saucepan will stop the butter from overcooking and burning. Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, vanilla extract, and yogurt or buttermilk. Whisk in the mashed bananas. When butter has cooled, whisk in the browned butter.

Add the wet ingredients, all at once to the dry ingredients. Fold together, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to reveal any hidden pockets of flour. Fold in the diced strawberries. Fold together ingredients, but try not to over stir.

Spoon batter into prepared pan and top with thinly sliced strawberries.


Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to rest in the pan for 15 minutes, before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Banana Bread With Cinnamon/Sugar and Chocolate Topping

Is that title an irresistible mouthful, or what?
I am salivating just writing it. Not to mention it is baking to perfection right now, and the smell alone emanating from the oven is making me "go bananas" with anticipation.
I have a real thing for breads/desserts with bananas, chocolate and/or peanut butter as its main ingredients. Any combination will do just fine. I seriously spend a few nights per week scouring the internet for recipes. Google Search: Banana Peanut Butter/Chocolate ______, then click! click! click! on links in search if the most delicious concoctions out there. So, it's no surprise that this particular banana bread recipe called my name. I saw it and I said, "you are mine, alllllll mine." And the rest is history.
I found this recipe from the awesome new blog I discovered called Orangette (more about that later). Here it is, in all it's glory. And I must say, it a complete cinch to make!
Chocolate Banana Bread With Cinnamon & Sugar Topping:

3 ripe bananas
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

For topping:
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
1/8 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter or spray 8 inch bread pan.
In medium mixing bowl, mash bananas well with a fork. Add the eggs and stir well to combine. Add the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and vanilla. Add 3/4 cup of chocolate chips and stir. Pour the batter into prepared pan.

In a small bowl, stir together topping ingredients. Sprinkle the mixture evenly oven the batter in the pan and top with remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips.

Bake for 35-40 minutes (although mine took quite a while longer), OR until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 15 minutes.

And WA-LA! The final product - nothing to it!

This bread is a-mazing warmed up for about 25 seconds in the microwave with a little butter on top. After Eric's first bite, he became weak in the knees, fell to the floor and said "you must make this every day." That's how good it is.