Bread

Garlic Irish Soda Brea

Posted by Rachel Ashley on Jun 20, 2012 in Appetizers, Bread, Fashionably Organic | 0 comments

The other night I made Italian food for dinner, my favorite!  I had leftover Irish soda bread, so I decided to use it for my garlic bread. Even though it had rasins in it, it was a sweet compliment to the savory flavors of typical garlic bread.  When making garlic bread, I love to heat the bread through, enough that it is warm to the touch.  I then take a garlic clove and rub it against the warm bread, infusing the bread with that great garlic taste.  I love garlic and whats even better is it’s great for you!

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 stick of organic butter
12 (1/2-inch thick) slices Irish soda bread
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons of fresh dill
2 garlic cloves

Recipe:
To make the garlic bread: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Drizzle the oil over the bread slices. For additional creaminess spread a thin layer of butter on each slice.  Arrange the bread on a baking sheet.  Heat the bread through, enough that it is warm to the touch.  Then take a garlic clove and rub it against the warm bread, infusing the bread with garlic.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper and freshly chopped dill.  Place the bread back into the oven and bake until the bread is crisp and golden, about 5 minutes.

Ricotta Chocolate Chip Muffins

Posted by Rachel Ashley on Feb 21, 2012 in Bread, Breakfast, Chocolate, Dessert, Fashionably Organic, Sweets | 2 comments

Good Morning!  I had so much fun baking in my kitchen a couple weekends ago for a family bridal shower.  I was in charge of the sweets, which I always find fun!  As most of you know I always try to put a healthy spin and/or organic ingredients in every recipe I make.  Although, sometimes they turn out more  like a science experiment, but that also make baking healthier more fun!  Most of the time I can successfully replace unhealthy ingredients with healthy ones.  This recipe was adapted from Skinnytaste.com.  I came across one of Gina’s pictures on Pinterest and I am so excited to have found her blog!  I had leftover ricotta cheese and I wanted to find a recipe that I could incorporate it into before it went to waste.  These little muffins are super moist and with the added sweetness from the chocolate chips makes them perfect with your morning coffee!  Chocolate is my weakness so if I can make something healthy and get my sweet tooth fix, I’m happy!

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup Organic Butter – unsalted
3/4 cup of Stevia
3 large organic egg whites
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chip morsels

Recipe:
Begin by preheating the over to 375 F. In a medium size bowl mix together the whole wheat pastry flour and baking soda. In a separate bowl (I used my Kitchen Aid mixer) cream the butter and sugar together. Then slowly add the egg whites to the butter/sugar mixture while the beater is on medium speed. Add the ricotta cheese and then slowly add the flour/baking soda mixture. Add the vanilla and then fold the chocolate chips into the batter. You will need a muffin tin and cupcake wrappers or spray the muffin tin so the batter doesn’t stick to the pan. I like to use an ice cream scoop to spoon each muffin spot with about 3/4 of the batter.

Bake the muffins at 375 F for 15 minutes.  Remove muffins from the muffin tin and place on a rack to cool.

This recipe yields a dozen muffins.

Comfort Food Favorite

Posted by Rachel Ashley on Jan 6, 2012 in Bread, Fashionably Organic | 0 comments

I know, I know, I am talking about comfort food and you all are trying to avoid your favorite comfort foods in order to meet your new years resolutions.  Well, what if I told you that you can have your cake and eat it too.  If you must know I am referring to cornbread and I have to say I have a pretty yummy recipe that tastes just as good as your grandmas or JIFFY’s!  Last week, I made a very hearty soup, full of beans and vegetables and honey baked ham, it was delicious.  On Sunday, we were sitting around watching football and it was a little chilly outside and we decided some leftover soup sounded excellent.  And you know that cornbread and a hearty bean soup are  two peas in a pod, so I had to make some.  But in effort to get in shape and not bust a seam in our pants, I wanted to make sure I made my cornbread from scratch and it wasn’t full of sugar and other junk.  The recipe is fast and easy and you don’t need very many ingredients.  Try out my soup here and be sure to try this yummy cornbread recipe too!

XO,

Rachel Ashley

Ingredients:

1 cup of whole wheat flour

1 cup of course cornmeal (you don’t have to use course meal, if you prefer the fine, that works too!)

1/4 cup of Stevia

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 cup plain nonfat yogurt

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup of honey

Recipe:

Preheat over to 400 degrees F.  Lightly grease an 8×8 inch baking pan.  In a large bowl, mix flour, cornmeal, Stevia, baking soda and salt.  Stir in yogurt and eggs.  Do not over-mix, stir only until well blended.  Pour batter into prepared pan.  Bake in a preheated oven for 20 -25 minutes, or until center of bread springs back when gently pressed (I shouldn’t have left mine in the full 20 minutes as the bottom started to brown, so be sure to keep and eye on it, everyone’s oven is different).

Banana Zucchini Bread

Posted by Rachel Ashley on Jan 22, 2010 in Bread, Fashionably Organic | 2 comments

It is a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and with a ice box  full of fresh fruits and vegetables, I decided to use a few of them up before they go bad.  Last week I was unable to eat all my bananas before they started spotting and softening up, so I threw them in the ice box, knowing I could whip them into banana bread in the near future.  So today, I decided to use my zucchini and use the frozen bananas in my ice box, and make Banana Zucchini Bread.  The bread came out perfect, when I pulled it out of the oven my kitchen was perfumed with the sweet smell of bread.  The bread tickled my taste buds, it was warm and moist and paired perfect with an afternoon coffee, while I sat in the backyard enjoying the cool breeze and the Sunday newspaper.
Coffee is my ultimate weakness, and I get so excited when I can pair something tasty with it, whether it is a yummy breakfast or a sweet tanitlizing dessert. In this case, I was able to pair the sweet hearty bread with my coffee all week long.  It made an easy healthly on the go breakfast on my way to work.

Recipe:
2 medium bananas, peeled and mashed
2 organic eggs
3/4 cup organic sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup of canola oil
1 1/2 cups of zucchini, peeled and grated
3/4 cup organic oats
1 1/4 cups of organic whole wheat flour
3/4 chopped walnuts or nut of your choice (optional)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Prepare loaf pan or muffin tins with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, beat together bananas, eggs, sugar, vanilla and oil.
Stir in grated zucchini.
In a separate bowl combine the remaining ingredients.
Stir flour mixture into banana mixture.
Pour into prepared loaf pan or muffin tins.
Bake approximately 45 minutes for loaf pan and 25 minutes for muffins until a toothpick comes out clean.

Fashionably Organic