Cherry Bread

In honor of our final days living in the Cherry Capitol of the world, we decided to make some cherry bread!

I took my inspiration from my mom's famous cinnamon raisin bread -- and just exchanged the raisins for dried cherries!  

It was a hit.  Delightful for breakfast, that's for sure.  

Cherry Cinnamon Bread - Adapted from Mom

{Print Recipe}

3 1/4 C bread flour

2 tsp. salt

2 T dry milk

2 T butter

2 T honey

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 C dried cherries

10 1/2 oz. water

1 1/2 tsp. yeast

Place the ingredients in your bread machine in the order listed by the manufacturer.

Except -- add the cherries right away.

Trust me.  Don't listen to your machine on this one.  

Bake in the bread machine using the regular bread cycle.  

Cool, slice and enjoy -- fresh or toasted. Or, in French Toast!

This recipe is linked to:

• Tasty Tuesdays
• Tuesday Tastes

Friday Favorites

Here are the treats for this week... I can't wait to try out many of these in my new kitchen!!

Cheese Curds

from Sunday Baker

Cherry Brown Butter Streusel Muffins

Blue Ridge Baker

Homemade Cherry Garcia Ice Cream

Playing House

Roasted Potato and Zucchini with Fried Egg
Meet Me in the Kitchen

Blueberry Pudding Cake
Baking and Creating with Arvil

Blueberry Orange Bread
What Megan's Making

Pineapple Limeade
Real Mom Kitchen

Oreo Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies
Our Happy Home

Chocolate Cherry Pound Cake
Getting Freedom

Zucchini {yeast} Bread
A Latte' with Ott, A

Homemade Cream Puffs
Sabby in Suburbia

Blueberry Jam {without pectin!}
Like a Bubbling Brook

Cheesy Beef and Potato Bake
The Frugal Family Manager

Blueberry Oatmeal Bread
1 Sentence Diary

Italian Sausage Spinach Penne

We had just one can of tomato sauce left.... one package of spinach... one package of Italian turkey sausage and a few boxes of pasta when I stumbled across this recipe.  

It was as though it was meant to be.  

We're glad we stumbled across the recipe -- it was delicious and great as leftovers too!  Frog Prince loved taking it in his lunch.  His colleagues were jealous.  

Italian Sausage Spinach Penne - from Pam's Midwest Kitchen
{Print Recipe}

1/2 lb. whole wheat penne
1 lb. Italian {turkey} sausage
3 T chopped garlic
1 (16oz) can tomato sauce
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. basil
salt and pepper, to taste
1 (8oz) pkg. frozen spinach, thawed
1/4 C freshly grated mozzarella or Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions... or if you're looking to save some heat and energy, try these directions.

Meanwhile, cook the Italian sausage (we cut ours into rounds) until no longer pink.  Drain the excess grease.

In the same skillet, saute the garlic in the pan.  I had enough grease/coating in the pan to do this without adding olive oil.  If not, add in 1 tsp. olive oil.

Then, add in the tomato sauce, and spices.

Toss in the spinach, and season with salt and pepper.

Mix well and heat through.

mmmm....

Then, toss the sauce with the pasta. Or, serve over pasta.

Serve warm, topped with freshly grated cheese.  We loved topping it with mozzarella... yum!

Lemon Curd

In honor of our 3rd wedding anniversary, we celebrated by re-creating our wedding dinner -- including the wedding cake.

A dear friend of ours made our wedding cake, which was such a treat because I knew it would be safe for me to eat!

Inside that cake was a beautiful family tradition -- white cake with lemon filling.

Back then, we used a box of lemon pudding for the filling. But, over the last three years we've pretty much eliminated processed foods from our lives. So, this year, I needed to come up with another way to make our wedding cake!

I tried my hand at Lemon Curd for the filling...

And, it was amazing!

Nice and tart -- an excellent contrast to the sweet cake and yummy vanilla frosting.

Lemon Curd - Finding Joy in My Kitchen
{Print Recipe}

1 medium lemon
3 egg yolks
5 T sugar
2 T butter

Begin by zesting the entire lemon.

Then, combine the zest and the three egg yolks in a saucepan.

Add in the juice from 1 lemon, which should equate to 1/4 C lemon juice. And, then the 5 T sugar.

Mix well.

Heat the mixture over medium heat...stirring constantly. You don't want your eggs to cook, so be sure to heat gently and only until little bubbles form around the edges and the mixture thickens.


Remove from the heat and add your butter. Allow the heat from the curd to melt it.

Cover, and refrigerate until you're ready to use!!

Then, enjoy celebrating your anniversary!!

Oatmeal Antioxidant Cookies

For our recent girls/guys night, Kim and I made yummy cookies!

Full of oats, wheat flour, cherries, blueberries, craisins and dark chocolate, these are high fiber, antioxidant cookies that pack a delightful flavor!

What's better -- there is no egg in this recipe... so all you egg-allergic folks can enjoy them too!

We almost didn't share them with the boys.  They were that good.  

Oatmeal Antioxidant Cookies - Adapted from Good {Cheap} Eats
{Print Recipe}

1 1/2 C brown sugar
10 T butter, softened
1/2 C buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla
3 C quick cooking oats
1 C old fashioned oats
1 3/4 C whole white wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 C dark chocolate chips
1/2 C craisins
1/2 C dried blueberries/cherries

Begin by creaming together the butter and brown sugar.

Then, add in the buttermilk and vanilla.

Next, stir in the oats.

Yes, there are a lot of oats.

Mix together the flour, salt and soda. Then, add these to the mixture.

Find 1 C of dried fruits -- we used dried cherries, craisins and blueberries.

Add these to the dough.

Remember: there are no eggs. You bet you can snitch some cookie dough ;)

Add in the dark chocolate chips and mix.
The dough will be very dense and sticky.

Scoop the cookies out using a tablespoon, and using wet hands {don't skip this step!} form the cookies into oval disks.

Then, bake at 375 for 10ish minutes, until cookies are lightly browned. Don't over bake these gems.

Cool on a cookie sheet for 1-2 minutes after removing from the oven, and then transfer to a cooking rack to finish cooling.  

Enjoy!