Pumpkin Beer Bread – the BEST pumpkin bread recipe! The beer helps it rise so it’s super soft and fluffy. Plus it has the perfect amount of pumpkin and spice!
Originally published October 22, 2015. Updated September 18, 2020.
First up: This is the best pumpkin bread I’ve ever had.
It is soft and fluffy and has the perfect amount of pumpkin and spice.
Don’t be worried if you aren’t a beer fan – you won’t taste it! The yeast in the beer just helps the bread rise and is what makes it so fluffy.
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Cheesy Garlic Knots – soft and fluffy garlic knots filled with mozzarella cheese. Easy recipe and practically fool proof! These garlic knots are perfect for pasta or pizza night.
Originally posted November 21, 2013. Updated September 8, 2020.
I’m obsessed with these garlic knots.
I’m not even a garlic knot person. I have no problem turning down a garlic knot in a restaurant.
But these are so perfect. Maybe it’s because they’re so soft and fluffy right out of the oven. Or maybe it’s because they’re full of mozzarella cheese.
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Meyer Lemon Zucchini Bread – moist and delicious quick bread with a sweet and tart glaze. The perfect way to use the seasonal fruit!
Originally published January 5, 2015. Updated January 29 2018.
As a rule, I don’t like zucchini in sweet recipes.
I don’t like zucchini cake, I don’t want zucchini in my cookies, and I judge you hard for putting zucchini in brownies.
I just don’t like it.
The only exception is this Meyer Lemon Zucchini Bread recipe that I make every January when meyer lemons show up in the grocery stores.
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This post originally published on March 14, 2011. Photos updated on March 1, 2016.
I avoid the Irish soda bread trend every Saint Patrick’s Day. Partly because I’m a party pooper and only do themed posts for the super important holidays but mostly because every other food blogger has a post about soda bread going up about this time. Plus bread with raisins? That doesn’t even have yeast? Not my thing.
As I mentioned in my recent post about pasta with raisins, I’m trying to be more open-minded with food and even though I was convinced this was going to come out as a hard disk filled with sugary-sweet raisins, I forged ahead. (It’s also a good idea to ask someone you really trust for a recipe!)
I cannot tell you how shocked I am! This bread reminds me of something, maybe a biscuit? It’s soft and fluffy inside with little pockets of sweetness from the raisins and richness from the butter. I’m not sure you could make a better bread, to be completely honest. And I threw it all together in about 15 minutes! Seriously.
[clickToTweet tweet=”The BEST Irish Soda Bread recipe! So easy and so delicious!” quote=”The BEST Irish Soda Bread recipe! So easy and so delicious!”]
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I have a giveaway for you on this lovely Tuesday morning!
But first, I have to tell you what I did for my first day of freeeeeeeeeedom (aka the day all the kids went to school).
The husband is actually home right now which is a first. I’ve had kids in school for 4 years now and he’s never been home for it. So he was able to walk the kids to their classrooms with me and then we went and sat at Starbucks for coffee. I don’t think I’ve sat down in Starbucks and had coffee in… well, probably since I worked there. In 2006. Then we ended up having froyo for lunch together.
I know this is, like, regular everyday stuff for normal people but I’ve spent a lot of time alone with kids these past few years (thanks deployments!) and it’s weird to be like a real person who gets coffee and is able to hunt for Pyrex without saying “STOP TOUCHING THAT!” over and over again.
Thankfully, the kids all loved their first day and are looking forward to going back today. Fun fact: Fat Baby (who’s not a baby) said his favorite part of the day was “sleep time”.
Did you notice the gorgeous cutting board under this Maple Bacon Bread?
Yeah, that’s the giveaway! Get excited.
Cutting boards are one of the most used items by home cooks everywhere. They are used for everything from slicing and dicing, allowing meat to rest before slicing, or even as a beautiful platter for serving.
CuttingBoard.com is a boutique retailer of cutting boards and butcher blocks. They also carry the world’s largest selection of John Boos boards and take care to house their boards in a climate and humidity controlled environment. What makes them different from other retailers is that all of their products are 100% environmentally friendly and have been harvested from renewable resources.
I was lucky enough to receive the Teak Cutting Board and it is absolutely perfect. When I’m not using it, I’ve been displaying it on my dining room table because I just want to look at it all the time. It’s extra large at 24×18-inches and peak is naturally resistant to water which makes it easier to clean and maintain.
And just look at how pretty it is! I can’t get over it. Enter below using the Rafflecopter widget so you have a chance of winning your own board from CuttingBoard.com!
About the bread?
It has maple and bacon so of course it’s delicious! And I love yeast breads that are supposed to be rustic looking because you really don’t have to pay a lot of attention to shaping and slashing and all that. Just form it into a ball and let it do it’s thing.
This loaf would be perfect toasted with jam, great for sandwiches, or just on the side of dinner.
If you are looking for recipe & entertaining inspiration and would also like to see the cutting boards that inspired them, plus earn additional entries for the giveaway, check out the recipes for Pulled Pork Pizza, BBQ Chicken Puffs, Ancho Smoked Pork, Easy Macaroni Salad, Chipotle Chili Fish Tacos With Peach Pineapple Salsa, Maple Bacon Bread, Chicken Cordon Blue Pizza, Casual Entertaining / Cheese Board, Grilled Sweet Corn & Zucchini Panzanella Salad and Buffalo Chicken Salad with Spicy Ranch Dressing.
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I am having the worst writer’s block recently. I have several recipes that I’ve made and photographed but I just can’t come up with anything to talk about.
My life is so boring right now, guys.
And yeah, I know my life of Pyrex-hunting, dog parking, and grocery shopping in Colorado Springs wasn’t exactly exciting but it was more exciting that my life right now.
We sold my husband’s car before the move and it’d make no sense to buy another one because hashtag deployment so we’re toughing it out. Which means I’m home all. the. time.
And uggggghhhh, I’m so bored.
Anyway, I’m gonna tell you the story of selling my husband’s car.
Also known as the day I almost killed my husband. Twice.
It took months to convince my husband we needed to sell his car. (Which is a total exaggeration because we only had 6 weeks to prepare for the move but whatevs.) He was convinced the Army would pay to have it shipped. And I was all, “Bro, I’ve been waiting for a referral from Tricare since October – the Army isn’t paying for anything they don’t absolutely have to.”
So literally 3 days before the movers came, he finally agreed.
Our neighbor told us to take it to Carmax (which I highly recommend – they were awesome) and after they looked at the car, made an offer, blah blah blah, my husband says, “I think I threw the registration out.”
Yeah, he cleaned the car out before we drove down there and threw EVERYTHING out. EVERYTHING.
So we drove the 30 minutes home, dug threw the trash (that was already at the street for pickup), found the registration and drove back.
And then he realized he didn’t have the title either.
Omg.
So back home we went but he didn’t remember seeing the title in the car so we tore apart the house because at this point, I’m panicking. I didn’t know what we were going to do if we had to move this car with us.
Around this time I also realized that I’m a hoarder because while tearing apart my closet, I found prescription packaging from, like, 2006. And paystubs from earlier than that.
So he eventually found the title. In a bag that went to Afghanistan with him.
WHAT.
HOW.
And then, 5 hours after starting this ordeal, we finally got rid of the dang car. And then got Chinese food as celebration of not having to take a 15 year old car with no a/c on a 2 day drive to Texas.
Anyway, Glazed Lemon Bread!
I finally remembered to buy baking powder and baking soda and all that! And this was delicious. In fact, I had a perfectly Paleo day yesterday and ruined it with a slice of this. Because I have no willpower.
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Hot Cross Buns – sweet yeast rolls with cinnamon and raisins and topped with icing. Traditional Easter treat.
I think Easter’s my favorite holiday.
And yes, I realize that I say that for literally every holiday but I’m serious this time. I think Easter’s my fave.
I mean, Easter candy is most definitely the best candy. Plus you get to decorate with fun, bright colors and dye eggs. And you get to watch Hop as many times as you want and no one can judge you for it.
That’s what the kids and I do. We watch it over and over and over again. It’s our fave.
And finally, Easter food! I love the ham and the salads and, most important, the Hot Cross Buns!
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Happy Thursday! We’ve almost made it to the weekend.
It’s actually officially the weekend around here. My kids have a 4-day for parent/teacher conferences – it’s nice to have them home but ugggghhhh, conferences. You guys know I cry every. single. time. that I have to go in there.
So for the first time in the history of me, I pointed at my husband and said, “I’m not going. You do it.”
And he is.
Basically, today is the best day of my life.
To make today even better, I’m going to make French toast with this amazing Cinnamon Chip Bread that I made yesterday.
Guys, I’m into the yeast again.
This is supposed to be like the Great Harvest cinnamon bread but I’ve never tried it so I can’t really confirm. But I just looked it up and we totally have a couple Great Harvests here so I should probably go compare theirs to mine while my husband deals with the conferences. Right?
I can tell you that it’s the lightest, fluffiest bread ever and I love those cinnamon chips so much. And I love that some of the cinnamon chips melted a little during kneading so it almost looks like there are cinnamon swirls in the bread.
For my afternoon snack yesterday, I smeared a pretty large piece of the bread with sunflower butter and then sprinkled more cinnamon chips on top… best snack ever.
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Cheesy Garlic Crescent Rolls – only 4 ingredients! Crescent rolls stuffed with mozzarella and brushed with garlic butter!
Two breads in a row!
It’s carb week on Fake Ginger!
Just kidding.
It’s carb week every week in my life.
Have I told you guys that I’ve been obsessed with Captain D’s recently? Yeah, the fast food seafood place. It’s one of the stranger things that’s happened in my life. I mean, I (very lovingly) make fun of my friends that aren’t from areas by the water when they say that Red Lobster is their favorite restaurant. And now I’m obsessed with Captain D’s? What is life?
I don’t know, guys. The hushpuppies. They call my name.
And the clams. And the lobster bites. And the fries that are so delicious dipped in tartar sauce.
I’ve been at least 3 times in the last couple weeks. Possibly 4.
I’ve vowed not to go anymore and now that I’ve publicly shamed myself, maybe I’ll stick to it.
So these Cheesy Garlic Crescent Rolls!
Canned crescent rolls are probably my favorite bread to serve with dinner but I very rarely do it because I could easily eat all 8 before dinner is even on the table. What do they put in them to make them so addictive?
I decided to make them even more addictive by slathering them with garlic butter and then stuffing them with mozzarella cheese. And you better believe I ate so many that I was too full to even have a bite of the spaghetti that was supposed to be dinner.
Super simple and I bet you have all the ingredients on hand already!
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It snowed on Friday!
Yes, snow!
I know!
This is our 4th winter in Colorado and we’ve never had snow before November. I didn’t believe the weather people when they started saying we’d get snow. Mostly because we never get snow when they say we will. I think they just like to play with my emotions. And then it’s when they say that we’re gonna have an unseasonably warm day with absolutely no precipitation that we get half a foot of snow.
That’s just how it works here.
But yeah, I was so disappointed when I woke up and couldn’t see anything coming down because it was so dark. And then I let Penelope (the husky) in and she was covered in the white stuff! It was pretty exciting.
It didn’t stick and never really got heavy so both my kids in school had recess in it which always sounds really cool to me because I’m from Mobile, Alabama and the 2 times in my life it snowed, we just got sent home early.
It also made me incredibly aware of the fact that my kids have basically no pants. So at 6:30 on Friday morning I was ordering all the boys pants that H&M has and possibly a poncho for me. What am I going to do with a poncho? I mean, really?
I think I’m even more excited for fall and winter now. The kids and I went to an apple farm yesterday and bought 10 pounds of apples and 3 big pumpkins. The pumpkins are definitely not going to last until Halloween but, ugh, I couldn’t help myself!
I also made Pumpkin Swirl Bread because once again, I couldn’t help myself. This version is so yummy. It’s a typical pumpkin bread but has a layer of sweetened cream cheese in the middle. It also has raisins which I considered leaving out but I’m really glad I didn’t. I really enjoyed them in this!
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Happy Monday!
I hope you had a fabulous weekend. Mine went by waaaaaay too fast but I’m lucky that we don’t have preschool today which means that technically I can stay in sweats all day and skip makeup. So yay!
I feel like I did nothing all weekend. Like, I even skipped yesterday’s post because I was feeling so lazy. Plus we were about halfway through the zoo on Saturday before I realized I didn’t have anything made and photographed and at that point, it was a lost cause.
Yesterday I bribed my children with gumballs to get them to go thrifting with me. We found one beautimous green Pyrex but here’s the problem. Now, I need the lid that came with it. Which is going to cost me at least $16 on Ebay after shipping. So, a $4 dish with a $16 lid. Makes perfect sense.
Then I watched all 7 episodes of Graceland on my DVR. It’s one of those shows that I literally say “Ugggghhhh” when I realize it’s the only thing I have left but after about 20 minutes of the first episode, I am INTO IT and can’t walk away until I watch every episode.
During my Agent Briggs (let’s be real, he’s the only reason most of us are watching Graceland) marathon yesterday, I had a crazy craving for cornbread. I’m telling you, the carb craving is real lately.
So I made this awesome Bacon and Pepper Jack Cornbread. Typically I go for a sweet cornbread with nothing added in but this one was exactly what I was craving. It’s spicy from the pepper jack and just a little sweet from the honey. And bacon makes everything better!
Of course, you have to smear it with butter and put more honey on top! That’s the only way to eat cornbread.
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PB&J Banana Bread – peanut butter banana bread with a drizzle of jam and topped with a streusel topping and chopped peanuts. Everything you love about pb&j in banana bread!
I’m going through this weird sandwich thing right now.
I don’t eat sandwiches often, I’m just really not a fan. Like, twice a year I’ll crave a Subway Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki but that’s basically it. And y’all know I’m addicted to Jimmy John’s but since I get the lettuce wrapped sandwich, I consider that more of a portable salad.
A portable salad with mayo oozing out the sides but a portable salad nonetheless.
In the past two weeks, I’ve had Subway, Jimmy John’s with actual bread, and Schlotzsky’s. Because I want ALL THE SANDWICHES. I even plotted out a route for this week’s Pyrex search that takes me right by a Firehouse Subs since we don’t have one in my part of the city.
It’s bad.
And it gets worse.
On Monday, I walked the kid to school, put the other two in the car and drove straight to Walmart for bagels, chive & onion cream cheese, and…
Spam.
And then I came home and fried the Spam and made a bagelwich.
Something has happened to my brain. That’s the only explanation.
Today’s recipe is a not a sandwich but don’t be shocked if you see me instagram a BLT or something equally weird on this PB&J Banana Bread soon.
Banana bread is fine on the counter for up to 4 days. Make sure it’s covered or in a a container of some sort. The texture will start to change the longer it sits because it will start to try out. So it’s best to consume within the first couple days.
Yes, banana bread freezes wonderfully! I like to freeze inividual slices so when we want one, we can just pull it out but you can also freeze an entire life. Wrap in foil tightly and then put in a freezer bag, squeezing out as much air as possible.
Deforst overnight on the counter before serving. Or to defrost quickly, remove from bag and foil and microwave for about 20 – 30 seconds.
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from Fall Baking
You guys, my stove is fixed!
A guy came out last week, looked at it, and said “Yeah, I’m gonna have to get someone out here to fix this.”
And I was all, “Waaaaait, I waited here all afternoon for you to come out here to tell me that you were going to have someone come fix it?”
Like I’ve said, the Army is all about efficiency.
So, they sent out their resident stove expert yesterday and all 4 burners immediately lit up when he tried it. The universe really likes to make me look stupid.
But luckily, the next time he tried, none of them turned on.
Five minutes later, he had all the burners working and 2 out of 3 of my children had decided to become “stove fixers” when they grow up.
Stove Saga 2014 is officially over and I will not mention it again! Woohoo!
I made Chocolate Chip Banana Bread to celebrate! I’ve been really craving banana bread for some reason and since the only way to improve banana bread is to add chocolate, that’s what I did. It was so moist and so chocolatey. I’m pretty excited to have another piece later today.
You guys know that my baking pet peeve is quick bread that only takes up about 1/3 of the baking pan. Unfortunately, this one is one of those. Ugh. If you’re like me and like a quick bread that takes up the whole pan, try a couple mini loaf pans instead!
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We have less than a week until Big Brother.
Who else is excited?!
I wait all year for Big Brother. All year. I bought the live feeds weeks ago and plan on staying up 24 hours a day, reading all the forums, and basically being a psycho. So if you don’t hear from me for the rest of the summer, you know why.
Also, if you want me to respond to an email/tweet/text/whatever, you may want to mention the show. I’m telling you, for the next 3 months, my life is Big Brother.
It’s such a weird thing to be obsessed with, right? Like, a bunch of strangers move into a house with cameras on them 24/7. And they’re always boring 23 hours of the day. But that one hour of fighting or crazy drunken antics…
I can’t explain my own obsession.
But today I bring you bread! Really, really easy bread made from Bisquick (or whatever baking mix you use) and cheese sticks. They aren’t the prettiest breadsticks but my kids ate the entire batch the night I made them and them begged me to make them the next day.
It has been awhile since I’ve done a yeast recipe but yesterday just called for one. Despite the weather people saying we were just going to get a few flurries, it snowed pretty steadily for a couple hours. And that kind of weather requires a cheesy, comforting meal with a fresh-out-of-the-oven yeast roll.
And y’all, I have to say that I’m kind of ready to be done with snow. I love it, I look forward to it, but this year has been so weird! Normally it melts within a day for us but half our backyard is currently a big slab of ice! Plus the snow means I’m without a car since my husband still hasn’t replaced the broken windshield wipers on his car that I complained about 10 months ago. In his mind, there’s no point since he’ll just be deploying soon anyway.
Men have weird brains.
But that has nothing to do with these fabulous Honey Yeast Rolls. I really love when yeast breads have honey in them and I really, really love when they are brushed with honey butter after coming out of the oven. These guys are so soft and fluffy and basically my idea of the perfect dinner roll. My husband has already claimed the leftovers to make sandwiches.
One year ago: Iced Oatmeal Cookies
Two years ago: Thai Chicken Quesadillas
