“Back” in the Kitchen (or, “Bake to the Future”)… Recipe Included!
Now here’s a blog post I never thought I’d write.
I’m really not very good at baking. I used to do it more often — and when I did it, even though I fucked up a lot, I was rather proud of my occasional successes — and now after an extended break I’m just starting to pick it up again. And besides, few things in life give me quite the same satisfaction as somehow managing to whip up something without accidentally blowing up my kitchen.
So last week, when I was bored and hungry, I decided to see what I could bake from the limited ingredients that Dirk and I had on hand in our kitchen. We usually eat scrambled eggs and grilled chicken, and certainly don’t bake very often, so our pantry is pretty limited… but I found a recipe for blueberry quickbread online and decided to give it a go. And — if I do say so myself — it was actually pretty good, as evidenced by the fact that Dirk and I basically devoured the entire loaf in less than 30 minutes. 
Here’s the recipe if you’re interested (courtesy of AllRecipes.com, with a couple of modifications by yours truly): Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Mix the flour, sugar[/Splenda], baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Stir the milk, oil, egg, vanilla extract, and lemon juice into the flour mixture until the batter is just blended. Gently fold the berries into the batter (not too much or the bread will turn blue!)- and pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake for about 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. The quickbread only takes about 10 minutes to prepare and an hour to bake — the hour gives Dirk and me a chance to proactively work off some calories, link NSFW If you do try out the recipe, please let me know how it goes in the comments below. I must say it’s been fun getting back in the kitchen… I think I’ll start doing it some more!
— but try to let it cool for at least half an hour before you try to remove it from the pan… if you have the willpower. 
As a Executive Chef that looks very tasty and good you gave it a shot, I like the tooth pick insertion but I would use a knife I not much of a bake but I keep on working on my baking skills.
As a Executive Chef that looks very tasty and good you gave it a shot, I like the tooth pick insertion but I would use a knife I not much of a bake but I keep on working on my baking skills.
Very creative you are Jesse able to create something so good with what you have in the kitchen at the time
That recipe reminds me of a dessert bread/cake recipe I got out of a Weight Watchers cookbook, of all places — low-calorie portions, but what they considered a “portion” would make you cry. Instead of berries, though, that recipe used golden raisins — but since I can’t eat raisins, I substituted wild blueberries. And I thought my mouth had died and gone to heaven. If you can get your hands on wild blueberries — canned are just fine, and almost mandatory unless you know someone who (a) knows where the little suckers grow wild, and (b) is actually willing to part with any — try them. You will thank me. You will call me in the middle of the night to sing, not my praises, but the praises of wild blueberries.
Hey Jesse
I’m making your bread this afternoon…