Scalloped Tomatoes with Croutons

In Dayton, Ohio, where I grew up, there’s a well-known steakhouse.  I’ve never actually had a steak from there, but every once in awhile, when we got really lucky, my dad would pick up their burgers on the way home from work.  As I’m sure you can imagine, burgers from a steakhouse are pretty darn good.  However, the burgers weren’t my favorite part of the takeout order. 

What I looked forward to (and often ordered double servings of) were the stewed tomatoes.  They were warm, a little sweet, and a little tangy.  They were also topped with cubes of toasted bread that were crunchy on top and a little soggy where they touched the tomatoes.  Those stewed tomatoes rocked my world.

Unfortunately, I haven’t found anything similar since I moved away.  Surprisingly, it never occurred to me to try to make stewed tomatoes myself.  It wasn’t until I came across today’s recipe for Scalloped Tomatoes with Croutons that my cooking wheels started turning.  And then my friend and I made the recipe for lunch one day.  And I nearly fainted – in a good way.

These Scalloped Tomatoes with Croutons are warm and bubbly.  The tomatoes are sweet and savory and a little tangy.  The homemade croutons add fantastic texture and crunch.  The Parmesan cheese, while not a part of the tomatoes of my youth, adds a lovely (and I think, optional) richness.  All in all, I’m in love with this recipe.  It reminds me of childhood and takeout burger nights with my family.  It’s a good thing.

Blueberry Bread

If you follow The Well-Fed Newlyweds on Facebook (and if you don’t, you should!), you will likely recall the blueberry-buying extravaganza I went on a couple of weeks ago.  For those of you who didn’t see my thrilled/horrified posts, let me fill you in…

Whole Foods had a 1-day sale on organic blueberries – they were selling pints for less than the non-organic berries at my local supermarket.  Clearly an excellent deal, right?  So I went and I bought… a case. A case contains twelve pints.  In my defense, two pints were purchased for a friend, but the other ten, those were all mine.

Since I didn’t know what to do with them, I turned to you, my helpful, recipe-suggesting readers.  And like always, you came through.  I came up with a plan for how to use those blueberries – and then I completely abandoned my plan and made different recipes instead.  (Not to mention the massive amount of berries consumed by the handful.)

Today’s recipe for blueberry bread is one of the healthier ways I used my blueberries.  The loaf is made with white whole wheat flour and oatmeal so it is hearty and a little dense.  It’s a quick bread, so it’s easy to make.  And the entire loaf is filled and topped with fresh blueberries bursting with sweet juice.  It’s the perfect breakfast bread, snack bread, dessert bread… It’s also the perfect way to use up some blueberries.  You know, in case you’re like me, and sales make you go a little shopping-crazy.

Cocoa Banana Bread

I keep telling myself I’m not going to post anymore banana bread recipes. At least not for awhile. At least not until you’ve forgotten how many I’ve already posted in the past year. And I’ve kept good on my promise for a little while. It’s been three months since I’ve posted a banana bread/muffin recipe. I even tried a new recipe during that time, decided that it wasn’t good enough to merit breaking my vow of silence, and didn’t tell you about it. I’ve been so good. Will you forgive me now for not being able to resist any longer? It’s for a good reason, I promise.

I knew this banana bread would be a winner from the get-go. The ingredients are fabulous – and simple. Butter and buttermilk to guarantee moist, rich bread. Lots of cocoa powder for gorgeous, dark color and deep, chocolaty flavor. Bananas, of course, and chocolate chips too – you know, just in case this bread wasn’t rich enough already. From tasting the batter alone, I knew it would be divine.

The baking time for recipe is a little longer than most banana breads I’ve made, which makes sense given the heft and density of the loaf. To keep the top of the loaf from getting too dark before the middle cooks through, you just have to place a little foil tent over the bread about halfway through baking. I was skeptical if this would work, since my oven runs hot, but it worked perfectly. My loaf came out beautifully, just begging to be sliced into – but I resisted and let it cool completely so it would be easier to slice. And when I did… chocolate banana bread bliss, totally worthy of breaking my vow of silence.

Beer Bread

I love quick breads. I’ve told you this before. They’re just so, well, quick to make! And I’m all about tasty results with minimum fuss. Except when I have moments of major fuss and kitchen destruction… but that’s another post for another day.

Most of the quick bread recipes I’ve posted thus far are for sweet, fruit-flavored breads. We’ve had cranberry orange nut bread, banana bread, lowfat oatmeal banana bread, banana chocolate chip oatmeal bread – are you seeing a trend? I like me some bananas. (Plus quick breads are the perfect way to use up dead, mushy bananas.)

On the savory side, I’ve told you about a delicious, rich, savory cheddar-chive bread. That one was good, but today’s recipe takes the cake in our house. Beer bread – so easy to make you will not believe. Take six ingredients and less than five minutes and you can have homemade bread baking away in the oven. (Minus the scary yeast part. The natural yeast in beer does all the work for you!) I’ve made this bread three times in the past two weeks and have the recipe committed to memory.

Beer bread is great with dinner; it’s great with eggs for brunch; and man, is it good alongside a steamy bowl of soup. The recipe is also quite adaptable. Use more or less melted butter to adjust the richness (and calorie count) of the bread. Throw in a handful or two of grated cheese to make it a little gooey. Try adding some seasonings like garlic or onion powder. However you make it, just try it. And then be sure to tell me if you come up with something delicious!

Chicken and Dumplings

So I have to tell you, I have not been inspired in the kitchen this week. Not at all. Nothing sounded great, nothing tasted exceptional, and there were no fall-inspired baked goods to be seen. What could cause such a case of the culinary blahs? I’ll give you one guess… and it has something to do with expanding waistlines. (More mine than Stan’s.)

If you guessed I’m on a diet, you’d be mostly right. I like to call it an exercise in portion control – it’s less depressing. But don’t worry, I have plenty of delicious recipes coming your way, healthy and sinfully not. Some of them are recipes I’ve been itching to tell you about for a while now. Others are ones I’ve been lining up for test runs in the kitchen. Either way, you don’t need to worry. My waistline issues need not have any effect on your culinary adventures. And let’s be honest, I don’t see this being a long-term self-improvement project. There’s a whole lot of holiday baking on the horizon, after all. (Please do not make judgments about my willpower. Or lack thereof. Thank you.)

Personal sharing aside, I do, in fact, have a new recipe to share with you today. And it is wond-der-ful. When I took my first bite, I’m pretty sure I said something like, “holy crap, this is good”. (Embarrassing, but true.) Let me tell you friends, you must try this version of chicken and dumplings. Imagine a rich chicken broth, full of poached chicken and veggies, and topped with light, biscuit-like dumplings. It is warm, hearty, and pretty much perfect for chilly fall evenings. I am certain you will enjoy it as much as we did.

Happy 1st Birthday!

I can hardly believe today is the one-year anniversary/first birthday of The Well-Fed Newlyweds. Thank you to all of you who have been with me since the beginning, joined us along the way, and told your friends to check us out, too. It’s been a great ride so far, and I can’t wait to see what we cook up in the coming year.

(Clearly this is an out-of-season, not exactly recent picture, but it's all I had!!)

In case you haven’t been with us since the beginning – and let’s be honest, at the beginning most of my readers were related to me – I wanted to share with you some of our favorite recipes from the past year. These are recipes that we’ve loved enough to make more than once (something that doesn’t happen too often), recipes that changed our thinking about certain foods, and recipes that got rave reviews from our family and friends. I hope you enjoy them as much I we have.

Banana Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bread

As I mentioned in my last post, fall has finally arrived in Nashville. (Ok, let’s just pretend I didn’t see the weather forecast predicting 80-degree temperatures this coming weekend). Fall’s cooler temperatures mean that, in addition to pulling out my favorite turtlenecks, I get the green light to fire up the oven and heat up the house again. Which is great because I love baking. Yeast breads, quick breads – I’m looking forward to cranking out big batches all fall and winter long.

I’m starting out the season with another banana bread. I know I’ve already given you two banana bread recipes in the past year, but this one is different, I swear. Like the low-fat oatmeal banana bread I made a while back, this version includes old-fashion oats in the batter. The oats give the bread great texture and chewiness. This bread is also a little healthier than your typical banana breads thanks to those oats and the use of some whole-wheat flour. There are, however, chocolate chips sweetening up this bread, so you probably don’t want to eat half the loaf in one sitting. But don’t worry, I won’t judge you if you do.

Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

I had another recipe I planned to tell you about today. Actually I have quite a few recipes lined up to tell you about over the next few days. But these biscuits just couldn’t wait. They are total line jumpers, and I am okay with that. Because these biscuits are so fluffy, so rich, so tender, so simple, so… well, amazing, that I needed to tell you about them today.

Since moving to the South, I have had the pleasure of trying many biscuits. Usually they are the kind that have been rolled out and cut into perfect rounds. While they are delicious, I don’t often have the patience to make that kind of biscuit at home. When it’s breakfast time, I’m hungry, and I want to get to the eating – not to the rolling and the cutting. Enter the drop biscuit, the lazy biscuit-maker’s best friend. These little beauties require no dough rolling and no cutting; you just drop spoonfuls of dough onto the baking sheet and pop them in the oven. Easy as could be and quick enough to get on the table before rumbling tummies start to roar.

This particular recipe uses melted butter and buttermilk to give the biscuits rich flavor, a tender crumb, and a crisp exterior. Brushing them with a little melted butter right after they come out of the oven makes them even more decadent. They are delicious on their own, but you could certainly sweeten them up with a drizzle of honey or a smear of jam. I also think they’d make incredible breakfast sandwiches with some eggs, cheese, bacon, sausage, or whatever else you like tucked into the middle. However you serve them up, I dare you to eat just one.

Raspberry-Topped Lemon Muffins

Summertime, to me, is fresh fruit heaven. Are you with me on this one? Peaches, cherries, and oh, the berries. (Please note: I am purposely not mentioning the crown jewel of summer produce – tomatoes – until they come into season here. Once that happens, look out. I’ve been stockpiling tomato recipes all year long, just waiting for farm-fresh tomatoes that taste like the sun rather than those mealy wintertime imposters.) But I digress. Back to the berries. So juicy and sweet it’s merely an added bonus that they are incredibly good for you.

Now you already know I’ve been indulging in blueberries for awhile, but really, I am an equal-opportunity berry eater. You’ll understand, then, why I got so excited when I went grocery shopping this week and raspberries were on sale. Large containers of plump, ripe, jumbo-sized raspberries. I might have swooned. Hopefully not. These raspberries were just begging to be eaten straight from the container.

And while I did eat many just like that (after washing, of course), I could not resist sacrificing some of the berries for a baking project. After tasting the muffins, I can hardly call it a sacrifice anymore. Imagine, if you will, tender, just-sweet-enough, cake-like lemon muffins. Take those muffins and add fresh raspberries baked right into the muffin tops. If your imagination is working well you should end up with muffins that are juicy, sweet, and just a little tangy. They are summertime condensed in muffin form.

They are also utterly delicious – and forgiving. I accidentally forgot to set my timer while baking these muffins. While they were in the oven, I went to take a shower, figuring I’d hear the timer when the muffins were ready. Oops. Fortunately I only over-baked them by a minute or two, and they were still quite moist. The tops were just a tad darker than I would have liked (as you can see in the pictures). The fact that the muffins survived my mental slip made me like them even more. Try them out, and I promise you’ll like them too.

Oatmeal Blueberry Applesauce Muffins

I know, I know. I posted about blueberry muffins not too long ago, and I told you they were perhaps the ultimate blueberry muffin incarnation. I stand by that assertion. Today’s muffins don’t aspire to be the absolute tastiest blueberry muffins you’ve ever had – they try to be the healthiest (while still remaining tasty). And healthy food is a good thing, right? Especially during a holiday weekend when almost everything we eat veers into the less than healthy camp.

Upon reflection, it seems I’ve been on a bit of a healthy baked goods kick lately. Or really, and oatmeal-in-my-baked-goods-kick, if we’re going to get right down to it. First there was the low-fat oatmeal banana bread. That was good. Then more recently there were the peanut butter banana oatmeal muffins. Those were really good. Both of those are recipes I will make again.

I’m a little more on the fence with today’s muffins. In theory, oatmeal blueberry applesauce muffins sound both healthy and delicious. And they were. But there was something about them I just didn’t love. While the fresh blueberries popped with juicy flavor and the muffin tops got nicely crunchy, I found the muffins to be overly sweet and too oat-y. I debated even posting this recipe, but Stan really liked the muffins. He even declared them “perfect”. While I’m sure he was exaggerating just a bit, he doesn’t hesitate to (nicely) tell me when he doesn’t like something. So I have to believe he really liked these muffins.

If you’re looking for a healthier alternative to the standard blueberry muffin, these are certainly worth trying. And if you do try them, let me know what you think. Are you with me on the sweetness or, like Stan, did you love them? Also, if you have a favorite healthy muffin recipe you’d like to share, please do. I love getting new ideas. In the meantime, I wish you all a safe and happy Fourth of July!

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Muffins

Peanut butter and banana. Oh how I love thee. You are one of my oldest and most favorite flavor combinations. I have loved you ever since Mom made me peanut butter banana toast for breakfast. And you know that was a sacrifice for her, since for reasons I can’t fathom, she doesn’t like peanut butter.

While I will always adore you on toast, my beloved peanut butter and banana, I am always looking for fun new ways to enjoy you. Take today’s muffins, for instance. Moist, chewy, and redolent with peanut butter banana-y goodness. Filling from the oatmeal and healthy to boot. (No added butter or oil!) These muffins are a delicious and certain to be frequently enjoyed addition to my peanut butter and banana-loving repertoire.

Low Fat Oatmeal Banana Bread

Low fat. Banana bread. Two things I like. Two things that don’t usually go together. Until today, that is. Today’s recipe takes classic banana bread and lightens it up a bit. There is, however, nothing light about the taste or texture.

This is banana bread you can feel good about. Unlike its more fattening peers, this bread doesn’t have any butter in it. Surprisingly, that doesn’t seem to matter. The bread is moist and rich tasting with a strong, but not overpowering, banana flavor.

It’s also more heart-healthy than your typical banana bread because it is chock full of oats. Being something of a banana bread purist, I wasn’t sure how I’d like oats in my bread. Much to my surprise, they added a really nice texture and chewiness. The oats also helped keep me full a lot longer than my usual banana bread, making it a great breakfast option. I will definitely be making this banana bread again – especially as we head into summer and bathing suit season!

Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry muffins are, to me, a quintessential breakfast food. I started making blueberry muffins at a pretty young age. At the time I used Bisquick, which I must admit, I used for many of my baking endeavors. (Honestly, it wasn’t until I got much older that I discovered waffles I liked better than those made with Bisquick. And if I’m being really honest, I still love Bisquick pancakes, even if I almost never eat them.)

As I’ve gotten older and into more complicated baking, I’ve experimented with many different recipes for blueberry muffins. Some used butter, other used vegetable oil. Some used fresh blueberries, others frozen. Pretty much all of them were tasty, but I’ve never quite found “the one” – at least not with regards to a blueberry muffin recipe.

This morning, in honor of a friend who is visiting from out of town, I tried another recipe for blueberry muffins. This recipe called for a little butter and a lot of sour cream. I’m of the opinion that sour cream makes just about anything taste better – especially baked goods – so I was intrigued from the get-go. I also liked that you could use either fresh or frozen berries for these muffins. I always have frozen blueberries on hand, so I was good to go.

These muffins had a few more steps than many of the recipes I’ve tried in the past, but they were all very simple. The batter came together quickly and easily. And while I’ve never been tempted to try raw muffin batter before, I was today. Deeeelicous. Seriously, if you’re not afraid of a little raw egg, lick the bowl or spatula when you’re done. I won’t tell. The batter was a good indication of how the muffins themselves would taste – light and fluffy in texture with a rich flavor from the sour cream. Chock full of blueberries, these muffins are a good contender to be “the one”.

Paprika Cheddar Drop Biscuits

If I told you that you could have some of the most unbelievable, buttery, flaky, homemade biscuits you’ve ever had, on your table in under 30 minutes, would you believe me? What if I said you could probably make them with ingredients you already have on hand? Or that the biscuits would be so easy to make that even a baking novice could master them? Would you believe me? You should.

Since I cook and bake all the time, I have pretty high standards for things coming out of my oven. As I continue to build my skills and expand my palate, it takes more and more to seriously impress me. (I’m my own harshest critic.) Needless to say, these biscuits impress me. They impress me greatly, so much so that I actually said “wow” out loud after my first bite. And I was the only one home.

Now let’s talk taste. In a word: un-freakin-believable. I don’t often make biscuits at home, but I can honestly say I’ve never made such rich, flavorful biscuits. Probably because, back in the day, I made mine with Bisquick. Not that there’s anything wrong with Bisquick, it’s just not the same thing as made-from-scratch. And when made-from-scratch is this easy, why not give it a try?

These biscuits are light and flaky on the outside with a soft, tender center. They are even richer than your average biscuit thanks to a generous amount of cheddar cheese running through the dough. Smoked paprika gives the biscuits that extra something special, enhancing both their color and flavor. You can serve them as a snack (straight from the oven perhaps?) or alongside eggs for breakfast. The biscuits would also make a great accompaniment to soups, stews, salads, entrées, bread baskets… you get the idea. I don’t care how you serve them – just promise me you’ll make them.

Irish Soda Bread - Part 2

Yesterday I told you about my first disastrous attempt at Irish soda bread. If you missed the post, suffice it to say, the recipe was a total flop. After throwing the bread in the trash, I wasn’t really feeling the love for the Irish soda bread. I thought about throwing in the towel and moving on to greener pastures, but I promised you another (better) soda bread, so I preserved. I know, so selfless.

I am, however, glad I sucked it up and tried another recipe. This Irish Wheaten Bread (aka brown soda bread) was worth it. The dough came together easily and formed a nice sized loaf. When it came out of the oven, the crust was lightly sweet and crunchy, and the inside was moist and flavorful. I cut off a couple of slices for us to sample plain, and then I wrapped the rest up and popped it in the freezer. I plan to thaw it out this weekend and serve it with some good butter and a side of eggs. I can’t think of a more perfect weekend breakfast.

Irish Soda Bread - Part 1

If you follow The Well-Fed Newlyweds on Facebook (and if you don’t, you should), you know that I embarked on something of an Irish soda bread baking frenzy this week. Don’t ask me why; I’m not even sure myself. You see, for one thing, I’m not remotely Irish. I also don’t get into celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, so that can’t be it either. If I had to guess, I’d have to say my baking spree was brought about by this month’s Bon Appétit magazine.

In the March issue, Bon Appétit features an article written by Andrew McCarthy. Yes, that Andrew McCarthy, the actor, and former Brat Packer. Apparently he does some writing these days, and in the latest Bon Appétit, he chronicles his quest for the perfect Irish soda bread. I was intrigued, as I respect the significance of a culinary quest. (I may have undertaken one or two myself over the years.) I thus made a mental note to try out what he determined to be the ultimate soda bread.

And then it got really interesting. I think I was sort of brainwashed. Being the week of St. Patrick’s Day, I was bamboozled with images and articles about Irish food, Irish soda bread in particular. I’m an easy target for a promising sales pitch (I’m afraid to watch infomercials for fear of buying everything), so I was quickly drawn in. Irish soda bread had me firmly on its hook. So I picked three recipes (choosing to ignore the question of how the two of us would possibly eat that much soda bread before it went stale), and I got to work.