Simply artichokes!

What can be better than some freshly steamed artichokes? Nothing! Take your artichokes - the globe type are so lovely... trim off the prickly parts on the end if you can be bothered. If not, steam them for an hour in a pot with water, white wine and some garlic. Enjoy with some fresh mayo or as we do the melted butter.

Pull off the leaves, dip, scrape and enjoy! The heart is located right under that fuzzy choke which you can easily pull off with a knife!

Breakfast revisited

Been extra busy here at chez Schwake. Less time for new recipes. Today however was one of those days where Rainer stepped in to do a little special love breakfast just for me. I guess he knew I needed it.

Who wouldn't want to wake up to this little butterfly breakfast? It cheered me immensely.

How to do:

Shake scramble (Julia Child style) your two beaten eggs in a nonstick pan with some butter.

Roll them onto the plate

Cut your toast into butterfly wings

Sprinkle with fresh chives from the garden

Cut two longer chives for antennae.

Enjoy!

Friday: no recipe but a round of applause!

This lovely dinner was made by our daughter Chloe. We enjoyed this fabulous meal of Sauteed BBQ Chicken, Herbed carrots and beans and greens. No recipes as she sort of made it up as she went along and did it on her own. It was so very good. Chloe, "cook of dinner", hooray!

Thursday: Spinach salad, best ever

I will admit it, I really don't like to make salads. I love to eat them however. But today I was craving something in the spinach salad department and no one would make one for me. I had to do it myself and make do with what I had in the larder. Sometimes that makes the best combinations! Today was a really good mix so I thought I would share it here.

For one:

Rinse and spin out 3 cups of baby spinach leaves

Place in bowl and add on top:

1 chopped yellow delicious apple

1/4 sweet onion chopped

1/2 cup crumbled goats cheese

1 carrot peeled and sliced thinly

1/2 cup of raw sunflower seeds

Drizzle over the top:

1/2 a squeezed lemon

1/4 cup olive oil

Toss and enjoy. Man this was so good!

Wednesday: Blueberry Corn muffins

Always delightful. Here's what to do:

• 1 1/4 cups unbleached organic flour
• 1/2 cup organic cornmeal
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup frozen blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
2. Sift flour, cornmeal, brown sugar, salt and baking powder together into a large bowl. Dredge the blueberries in the sifted ingredients. In a small bowl, combine the milk, butter and egg. Stir the wet ingredients into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Let muffins sit for 10 minutes before removing from the pan.

Tuesday: Eggs in the rough

eggs in the rough

Oh the egg the egg the incredible edible egg! (flashback from the 70s adverts on eggs from the egg council)

These eggs are so yummy and easy to make. They don't have to have the bacon of course but when you feel a little wicked, why not? Our dear dear friend Judith gave me a dozen from her hens and we whipped these up one night when we were feeling a bit tired and peckish. Fast and easy.

Here's how:

Start with the freshest organic eggs and chives, mix up six eggs and generous amounts of chives

In a large flat frying pan stir fry:

1 cup of cooked rice, two heads of broccoli florets, half of a chopped onion and five strips of uncured organic bacon.

Add salt and pepper and some rosemary and stir fry the ingredients until bacon is crispy

Pour in the beaten eggs over the veggies and bacon and let it set up. Then you can fold and separate the eggs until they are cooked through. Serves 3-4 people for lunch or dinner or sunday brunch!

Monday :: Fish Tacos in Brooklyn

Just back from a lovely lovely vacation with my darling family down in Brooklyn. We missed seeing our beautiful friends there so much as well as doing the things we love in the city! We missed it so much that the five days were chockerblock full of wonderful adventures and of course some eating adventures too! I was pleasantly surprised to find amazing food like these fish tacos at the Flea though -- so I had to put them down in words here for you to try too.

These fish tacos were served up right at the Brooklyn Flea on Saturday and man were they tasty. I found a recipe which seemed quite close to these so am sharing that with you here. Of course you should try and make some handmade tortillas too - but I want to get a friend's recipe for those as we have done them together. For now, grab yourself some fine multi grain ones for these babies. Here is a recipe I found and modified from All Recipes

Fish Tacos:

• 1 lb of very fresh fish fillets - codfish or haddock please!
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil

• 1 doz corn tortillas (3 tortillas per person)
• Vegetable oil or butter for the tortillas to fry in in the pan

• Salsa
• 1 ripe Avocado

• Red Cabbage
• Cider vinegar
• Salt

1 Prepare the salsa. Either use store bought or make your own. (See above link for Mango Salsa, which is especially good with fish.)

2 Prepare the cabbage and avocado. Thinly slice cabbage. Put in a small serving bowl. Sprinkle with cider vinegar (about a Tbsp) and salt (about a tsp). Mix in the vinegar and salt. Peel avocado and remove seed. Chop and reserve for later.

3 Heat the tortillas in a pan with the fat you chose from above.

Remove the tortilla from the pan and place it folded on a plate. If the pan is large enough you can prepare two or more tortillas at once. Continue until all the tortillas (estimate 3 per person) are cooked. Set aside.

4 Cook the fish. Soak the fish fillets in cold water for at least one minute. Pat dry with a paper towel. Heat a large stick-free skillet to medium high heat. Add a couple of teaspoons of olive oil to the skillet. Place fish on skillet. Cooking time depends on the thickness of the fillets. Coat them a little with some loose cornmeal/flour combo before turning ... A thin fillet may take only one minute on each side to cook. A thicker fillet may take a couple of minutes. Fish should be still barely translucent when cooked. Break off a piece and test if you are not sure. Do not overcook the fish. Remove from pan when done to a separate plate. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

5 I think tacos are best when you assemble them yourself. Place the plate of tortillas, the plate of fish, the salsa, the cabbage, and the avocados on the table and let everyone assemble their own.

Recipe rest ...

We are on vacation this coming week - visiting our dear friends in Brooklyn. I will attempt to fill these pages upon return with some of the amazing meals we had while away. As it's Sunday I can already tell you that this has included a wonderful dinner last night at Downtown Atlantic - a warm brussle sprout salad - yummy bagles and bialys... more to come!

Friday: Quick vegetable stirfry

Fridays are fry-days for our house often. Fry as in stir fry - (not the deep fry type!) It's a fast healthy meal and keeps the dishes and clean up to a minimum. So - get out an assortment of vegetables. Here is my list:

Half a cabbage, chopped fine

Four carrots thinly sliced

1 cup of frozen corn

1 cup of frozen chopped spinach

1 can of artichoke hearts quartered

2 zucchini sliced thin

Throw them into a good sized saute pan with three tablespoons of olive oil and 1 tablespoon soy sauce, fresh ground pepper and 2 teaspoons of worcestershire sauce. Add two cloves of garlic and a few shakes of cilantro, oregano and ginger. Stir fry until everything is all tender and add a little more ginger at this point too.

In another pan, cook up your favorite brown rice and put the cover on the vegetables pan to stay hot - and meld the flavors together.

Serve with or on the rice and enjoy the leftovers the next day. It will taste even better the second day.

Thursday: Shrimp Scampi

Oh the lure of the shellfish. I didn't make this meal - but Rainer did and it's not too hard, from what I watched and saw. It also can be made in a frying pan a top of the stove, so not to panic dear Grace.

Take a pound of raw shrimp and make sure the tails are off and they are nice and clean. Put into a pan a tablespoon of butter and olive oil. Start that up and chop finely a quarter of an onion and four cloves of garlic, handful of parsley leaf and plenty of salt and pepper. Squeeze a little lemon into this and then mix it up and throw it into the pan. Let it heat up a bit then add the shrimps.

Cook them until they are pink and start to curl up - but not too long as you are not making rubber erasers out of them!

Serve them the way you like or the way Rainer did with thin carrot chips, steamed asaparagus, and a nice jasmine rice with tumeric. Yummy!

Wednesday: Rosti fries

in the first turn they look sort of like this

the second turn like this

add freshly snipped chives (thanks lisa c. for this lovely herb keeper!)

and at the end they look like this!
Sometimes it's ok to have a fried potato. Especially if you do it yourself. These are so good and really not tough to master.

First thinly slice (i use a zyliss slicer) to a "see through state" two young potatoes like Yukon Gold or fingerling. Fresh is upmost of importance here.

Heat up a nonstick frying surface and coat with a tablespoon of oil. Place the potatoes one layer thick and sprinkle with coarse salt. Heat at 4ooF and keep an eye on turning them. I usually turn them five or six times. As they brown snip some fresh chives into the mix and keep turning them. When they are brown and crispy - they are done! Good with most anything ... or alone with garlic mayo or organic ketchup!

Tuesday: Simple tea

A simple tea can be the break which saves the afternoon from total despair. Tea can be most any little nibble you can conjure up. Here is a recipe for my favorite little bits when lunch didn't happen or was never enough to begin with.

First start with the tea.

Heat a pot of filtered water to boiling. Put two tea bags of your choice into the pot which has been prewarmed by the boiling water swirled around in it. Fill the pot, put on the cosie and let steep for five minutes. Pour into special cups. Serve with lemon, sugar, honey and milk so everyone can have it the way they like!

On a plate arrange any of the following:

tiny biscuits filled with whipped cream and strawberry jam

oatmeal digestive biscuits with butter

french toast - with or without jam or syrup. it's my favorite.

assorted cookies

fruit of any sort

little sandwiches made from bread with the crusts removed and chutney and very thinly sliced cheese.

scones. of any sort

pound cake slices

lemon tarts

you get the idea!

Monday: Roasted Lamb

Once in awhile, usually around the holidays or whenever people are getting antsy for a meaty meal, I make my lamb roast. Here is an illustrated version of my simple (stolen) recipe from a nice Greek man who I met at MJ's house. He seemed to know his stuff and the recipe below was ripped right from his lips to my modifications to your plate. Enjoy!

First: Preheat the oven to 350F

Then: find someone who is really ready to tackle the de fatting of your organic boneless leg of lamb. You can get a semi boneless or bone - in as well - the bone in will be easier to keep from drying out if you must hold it for sometime before guests arrive. (note the raised eyebrow to those who were out last night learning to drive a stick whilst the lamb was waiting...)

Have said person get most of the egregious amounts of surface fat off.

In a roasting pan coat the bottom of the pan with EV olive oil and add to this:

a handful of coarse salt, much freshly ground pepper, the juice and the rinds of two lemons and 6 or more crushed cloves of garlic.

Add the lamb to this and roll it around to coat it fully in the mixture. Now it is ready for cooking. If you wish you could add four sprigs of fresh rosemary. I do this about half the time. I like to mix it up now and again and go without that extra flavor as I did yesterday.

Roast uncovered in the pan until the internal temperature of the meat is 150F which will render a beautifully slightly pink middle and perfectly browned outer edged roast. I really don't like any meat cooked to a red state *or undercooked* to that state and actually, if you go all the way to 160F it is not a travesty due to the fact the lemons and oil will have made a lovely flavor for your lamb. It's a personal thing, but I like to slice it all at once and serve on a preheated platter. Perhaps you like to do battle with the carving on the table, but I personally have never felt like dealing with that! I scrape the pan drippings add a little boiled water and pour over the top. Serve with roasted roots, or in the spring - tiny potatoes and peas, brussel sprouts and a little sprig of mint!

Sorry about the lack of the final picture. It never happened! The roast was being held for the student driver and her instructor and so when they finally hopped in (30 mins late) we just gobbled it up!

Friday: Happy Birthday Cake Mom!

Today is my mom's 85th birthday! We celebrated a little early last night with our family and friends and this cake was part of the deal. It's a very easy to make and pretty tasty without that overly sweet feeling found in so many recipes. It was a hit and I improvised (what's new?) the frosting which I am pretty pleased about. Here's the recipe below - try it try it and tell me what you think!

Simple golden cake - makes two 8 or 9 inch layers - prepare pans with shortening and a dusting of flour - preheat oven to 350F

Cream together:

6 tbsp. butter and 1 cup of sugar

Whip until fluffy. Add in slowly three egg yolks reserving the whites in another bowl, a tablespoon of vanilla and 2/3 cup of milk.

To this mixture add in three parts and beat vigorously for 5 minutes

1 and 3/4 cups of sifted cake flour and 2 tsp of baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt

Beat the egg whites in another bowl until they are peaked, but not dry

Fold them into the mixture and pour into the pans!

Bake until golden colored - about 25 mins. but keep an eye on em.

Frosting:

1 stick of butter whipped to a fluffy consistency

add in 1/2 cup of whipped cream cheese and a tablespoon of vanilla

when completely mixed add in powdered sugar 1/3 of a cup at a time up to 1 cup or until the mixture holds peaks nicely.

Cut the cakes in half if you want four layers and on the layers spread 1/2 cup of raspberry jam and part of the frosting. Put the layers together and spread the remainder on top. Add single raspberries for decoration!

Thursday: Leftover Chili?

ok, not a pretty photo but it is still yummy!
This is no April Fool! It's one of the best loved make ahead meals here at our home. It is Tamale pie and the best thing leftover chili has ever met. It's so good you can make more chili just to make this  So, if you have enough leftover (or ready to make more)  - grease a baking pan with olive oil - 8x8 or 9x13 depending on how much chili you have. It should be about half filled.

On top of the chili put

1 cup of salsa - spread over the entire chili surface. Add 1 cup of shredded cheese - sharp cheddar is great, but anything works. Then mix up some cornbread:

1 cup of flour

1 cup of cornmeal

1 tsp baking powder

3 tablespooons of sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup of milk

1/4 cup of oil

you can add to this to jazz it up a bit:

1/2 cup of whole kernel corn

and/or

2 chopped jalepeno peppers for some additional zip!

Mix up and pour over the top of the mixture. Bake in a 375F oven for 20 -25 minutes.

Serve with avacado, sourcream, additional salsa or just as it is. It's a good one.

Wednesday: Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

Sometimes the occasion calls for cookies. Nothing will do but homemade. Here is my adoptive recipe from The New Basics cookbook. We love these so much. Super easy, rave reviews! Let March go out "sweetly" ...

Take out:

1 cup of all purpose flour

1/2 cup of rolled oats

1/2 tsp baking powder

dash of salt

1 stick of sweet butter plus two tablespoons of Spectrum vegetable shortening

6 tablespoons of brown sugar

6 tablespoons of white sugar

tsp. of vanilla

1 large egg

1 cup chopped lindt dark chocolate bar (your choice of flavor but make it dark!)

Heat up the oven to 375F. Grease the baking sheets

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.

Cream the sugar and butter and egg in another. Slowly add this to the flour mixture.

Stir in the chopped chocolate. You can add nuts, but make sure they are chopped well.

Drop onto the sheets 3 inches apart. They spread. Bake for 5 minutes then take out of the oven and rap them on the counter twice and then return to the oven. Bake until they are done. The rapping makes them flatten and cook better. These are pretty yummy. I like to make them small and tea sized so you can eat a bunch and feel less guilty. Crazy huh? Makes about 2 dozen regular sized cookies. You can double this recipe easily.

Tuesday: (Vegan) Chili today, hot tamale!

OK so I am being a little silly, but this might be the last of the cold weather here for a while... it's meant to be warmer as the week goes on, so now is the time to get your CHILI on.

In a large pot on top of your stove put:

1/4 cup olive oil

3 chopped sweet onions

1 chopped green pepper

1 chopped red sweet pepper

2 jalepenos sliced

4 cloves of minced garlic

Saute these veggies until they are soft. To this mixture add:

1 can of drained organic black beans

1 can of drained organic white kidney beans

1 can of drained organic red kidney beans

1 can of drained organic pinto beans

3 large cans of diced organic tomatoes or Cento if you can't get the organic ones.

2 tablespoons of chili powder

1 tsp seasalt and ground black pepper

1 tsp sugar

Stir these additions and then simmer them for three hours. This can be done in a crockpot if you have to leave the kitchen. Just make sure that you do the first step in a pan on the stove!

After the cooking is done, adjust salt and pepper to taste and serve in a nice bowl with corn chips and avocado slices. Pass the sour cream if you are so inclined and have some extra salsa and hot sauce on hand for those who like to "spice it up" more! A nice IPA goes well with this dish.

Monday: French Toast!

My favorite breakfast is French Toast. I love everything about it. It is hard for me to keep it to once a month, as the gluten thing is a big problemo, but when I have it I enjoy it even more so. mmmmmm. So here is the deluxe recipe.

Use a semolina or batard, baguette loaf. Slice into thick slices.

In a bowl mix up:

4 organic large eggs

1/2 cup milk or soymilk

add to this mixture:

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 tsp cinnamon (more to come later)

lots of freshly ground nutmeg

Take the bread and soak it in the mixture. I like to coat both sides and let it sit for about 5 minutes while I prepare the frying pan with a teaspoon of butter. When it's melted I place the prepared bread in the pan.

At this point - it is cinnamonfication time. That's right. You can't get enough of the cinnamon here. Sprinkle it liberally onto the toast's raw side and then flip when the bottom side is nice and golden.

Cook until done. Serve with traditional maple syrup. Or get all European. Which simply means you have not most likely HAD real maple syrup and opt for things like: apple butter (very very good) or nutella (evil) or jammies of all sorts (ok, if you are simply out of maple syrup)

Eat until you are going to pop.

Friday: chop suey

Such a New England dish - one that at the ripe young age of 11 I came to know from the school cafeteria, or "caf" as they called it in Vermont. It was so much fun to be a foreigner from the midwest and not know what "soda" and "hamburg" and "chop suey" was! Since that time, it's been part of our meals here in chez schwake - in a variety of forms. Mine comes with the dreaded soy crumbles and rice pasta, due to my issues with all things wheat and animal. Rainer however was at the stove last night and whipped up a pretty darn good version as you see it below. It's easy to change out your personal favorites for the main ingredients too, so please. Take liberties!

Boil a 12 oz box of elbow rice pasta, rinse and drain (change out for your favorite elbows)

In a large deep pan cook down two cans of Cento diced tomatoes with basil, oregano, garlic and chopped onion to taste.

In another fying pan cook up a pound of ground organic turkey (or you use my soy crumbles in the next step)

Drain and mix into the tomato mixture. Add the noodles and stir until hot all the way through.

Serve with a variety of cheese toppings. We like parmesan, feta and as pictured, my choice: crumbled goat's cheese. C'est manifique!

Thursday: Collard greens and beans Italiano

A light vitamin packed salad for spring and summer, easy again to make and good to make ahead for a meal later!

Boil up one chopped bunch of collard greens in salt water.

Drain and cool.

Place in a bowl and top with:

1 sliced and halved organic plum tomato

3/4 cup organic kidney beans

1/3 cup thinly sliced zucchini

Drizzle balsamic vinegar to taste over the top, with a splash of olive oil and a good grinding of black pepper and seasalt.

Keep cool until ready to eat - right away or the next day is fine too. Serve with a nice crusty bread and a slice of cheese.

Wednesday: Coconut pancakes

I know you are missing these in France dear daughter. When you told me that, however, I had little sympathy - what with croissant, baguette, pain au chocolat? Mais non, today I made these just for you and realized how they are not too shabby and plain. You of course can make them too in your petit cuisine!

In a small bowl:

Whip an egg with

1/2 cup soy or moo milk

1 to 1 and 1/2 cup flour

3 tbs melted butter or oil

1 tsp baking powder

healthy dash of cinnamon

Add more flour to make puffier pancakes (see the amounts above). Heat up a frying pan with a tiny bit of butter until quite hot. Pour the batter on and then sprinkle a tablespoon of coconut on the raw side. When golden on the underside, flip and cook until done!

Eat with maple syrup if you are able to - or I was thinking Nutella would make these babies dessert - an Almond Joy!

Tuesday: Beet Salad

OK ... this week was crazy busy but I will catch up, right? Here is the latest on the salad front. Spring has sprung and salads will be on the rise here in the posts.

Boil or roast (if you can) four large beets. (Keep the greens for another dish!)

When they are cool, peel them and cut them into bitesize pieces.

Arrange in four bowls some romain lettuce leaves, trimmed and sized to fit in the bowl.

Top with the cooked beets

Chop into tiny cubes 2 oz. of organic cheddar cheese - or crumble some feta - equally good!

Sprinkle over the top 1 oz of balsamic vinegar and salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

That is it!

Monday: Rolled omelette with mushrooms

Easy peasy breakfast, brunch, light dinner or lunch!

Wisk 2 eggs to a froth in a bowl. Add a dash of salt, pepper and basil.

Slice thinly, four button top mushrooms and a little sweet onion or scallion.

Heat a shallow frying pan to red hot and coat the pan with a teaspoon of butter.

Fry up the veggies until soft and browned. Set them on a plate.

Wipe the pan clean and reheat it with the butter again.

When nice and hot, put the egg in and coat the pan. Start to shake the pan vigorously back and forth to set the egg and get the runny egg under the cooked part. Use a spatula if need be a bit!

When it is all set up -- put the veggies on top and start to shake and roll the egg to one end.

Flip it onto a plate, sprinkle with minced parsley and serve with toast points!

Thursday: Apple cinnamon muffins

Simple and slightly sweet --

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tsp cinnamon

generous gratings of nutmeg

1 egg

3/4 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

Mix the dry ingredients into the wet. Add 1 cup of finely diced apples and mix quickly. Mixture will be lumpy.

Bake in papers or greased tin -- makes 12 -- bake for 25 minutes at 380F keep an eye out on them, they might need a minute more or less!

Wednesday: White bean soup

Easy to make and great to have as a light meal or first course.

Start with a quart of stock (find the recipe here on the blog) and add another quart of filtered water.

Chop finely:

One bunch of spinach

One half of a small head of cabbage

One onion

Add the above to the stock with

One clove of whole garlic

Bring to a boil then simmer for 45 minutes.

Add to this 1 and 1/2 cups of white cannelli beans. Heat through and serve with a nice crusty bread.

Tuesday: Crepes

a bit of a mis flip - but still yummy!

Oh the beauty of the three or four ingredients:

Flour

Butter

Eggs

Milk

Whip up two eggs, a half a cup of flour and two tablespoons of melted butter. Whip in the milk until runny like heavy cream! Add a little guava or sugar or maple syrup to make it sweeter if you are having something sweet inside or keep them savory by adding a little salt and pepper or additional spices: curry, chopped scallion, basil, pesto sauce, etc...

Cook until they look like the bottom photo and then flip! Go as thin as you dare and roll them up sweet with:

nutella

banana slices

apple slices *thin*

maplesyrup and chopped pecans

bits of peaches and yogurt

it's endless!

For savory you could always put in any vegetable chopped up with some grated cheese or not! bok choy and tofu mixture is good too with scallions -- saute them first and then put inside the crepe!

Brie and apples. ... just dream!

Monday: Baked Pears

Another simple dimple lovely yummy dessert surrounding fruit!

Take a pear and core it.

Plop it into a baking pan.

Stuff it with mango chutney, cardamom sprinkles and a little butter stired up.

Bake until it is soft.

Eat it with cream or ice cream.

Enjoy!

Friday: Egg in a hole

The days when we start a little slower, we often turn to eggs. This little mess is good and yummy for a day starting slowly...

Take a little pat of butter and melt it in a small frying pan. Drop in a mini bagel half. Crack an egg over the hole, sprinkle in some freshly ground pepper. When it is set, flip it over and grate some lovely hot pepper cheese (not too much) on top. Chop up some fancy little bits of french salami and cook until melted. A lot of decadence in one little plate, but sometimes you just have to do it!

That is all there is to it.

Thursday: Bread, homemade

Bread bread bread. The staff of life or the "pain" in my life...(very tiny french joke)../ I love it. with a passion. And it makes me sick. So when I do inbibe as I have said this week already once before, I do it with something really good. Like homemade good. I have been making bread for 30 years or more and love to make it, love to feel the dough on my hands and the satisfying goal of a perfectly lovely loaf at the end. Don't be intimidated- just do it!

This is a recipe which always works, is great tasting and lovely smelling while it is baking.

Get on it now with this recipe!

Take out a large mixing bowl and put into it:

4 cups of bread flour, white or white wheat

1 tablespoon of seasalt

2 tablespoons of baking yeast

Stir these up!

Add to it:

1 cup of very warm water - almost so hot you can't touch it but you still can

inside the cup of water add 1/3 cup honey

Mix this into the flour mixture

Add to this one more cup of flour and pour it out onto a floured surface.

Knead the bread for about 9 minutes, in a lazy rhythmic fashion. Folding over, pushing down, keeping it in a ball like shape as much as possible. Add more flour if it is too wet, or add a little more water if it is too dry. You can also add a handful of oatmeal if you wish. It's not an exact science, you really have to feel it as you go. Be brave!

Once the dough develops soft wrinkles on the surface it is ready to rest and rise.

Put it back into the bowl you originally mixed in -- but first -- add some olive oil around the bowl to keep it from sticking. Cover the bowl with a damp warm tea towel and set to rise in a draft free warm spot. This might be:

On top of your fridge, inside your oven, on the counter in the sun, or in another room!

After the dough doubles or more in bulk or you push your finger into it and it doesn't fill up again, it's ready to be punched down and kneaded again.

Knead it again, and at this time if you want to get fancy -- you can add to the kneading process:

1/2 cup of sunflower seeds

or 1/2 cup raisins and cinnamon

or sesame seeds or pumpkin seeds

or dried onion flakes and basil flakes

or keep it as it is! At this time you can shape it into a loaf or small rolls and place it onto a greased cookie sheet. I also like to whip up another egg and brush it over the top of the loaf or rolls and sprinkle seeds on the top, or not.

Let these raise up again for about an hour or two to size with a greased wax paper sheet on top and then pop into a preheated 350F oven and bake for about 20 -30 minutes or until the loaf makes a nice deep "thump" sound when tapped on the bottom. Some ovens take longer than others so 40 minutes might not be out of the question. Check it out!

Let cool if you can possibly manage it, then slice into amazing pieces of heaven. Butter a must!