Winner of the week......

Baking, cooking, creating.  It's what I love to do.  So many recipes and so little time.  Unless I truly love something, I usually don't make/bake the same thing twice, save the tried and true classics and staples.

These binders are half filled with recipes I love and half filled with recipes waiting patiently for their time to be created in the kitchen.  All in due time.


I have some winners and not so winners this week to share with you all.  Let's begin.
 
                       Sourdough Bread courtesy of Annie Eats

 

The much anticipated Sourdough bread.  I will not be making this again anytime soon.  I am not sure what the secret is to true Sourdough but I  obviously don't know it.  This bread did result in some very delicious French Toast, so it wasn't a complete failure.  

What made me feel a little better was after making Lentil Soup for dinner last night I ran over to Great Harvest and bought a loaf of Sourdough to go with it and although delicious, it didn't pack that sour flavor.  But their Irish Ale White Cheddar Bread is delectable.  Toasted so the cheese studded throughout the bread was slightly melted, yum.  It went great with the soup, I highly reccomend that!


Salt & Vinegar Roasted Chickpeas courtesy of Angela at Oh She Glows

I had such high hopes for these as Salt & Vinegar Chips are my kids favorite.  I thought, "perfect, a healthy salty vinegar snack".  Emry likes them and they did get eaten, but every time I ate them I thought "do I like these?" and then kept eating more to see if I did, ha ha, please say I am not the only one who does this.


           Baked's Root Beer Cake courtesy of Vanilla Sugar

 

If nothing else I have just given you one of the greatest gifts.  Dawn's pictures are absolutely to die for, her blog is one of my favorites and I am in awe of her photos.  This cake, not so much.  But then again I am not a cake lover.  Bread Pudding, Apple Crisp, Sticky Toffee Pudding, Tiramisu, Yes!!!!!  Cake, not so much.  But it was Ethan's birthday so that called for a fun creation like Root Beer Cake.  


Most people only detected the Root Beer once they knew it was there.  Once you know you go, 'oh yeah, I can taste root beer'.   But it was choclatey and dense and I think everyone really liked it........just not me.  Oh yeah, I am also not a fan of frosting, I know, shameful.


Chocolate Crunch Dessert Granola courtesy of Angela at Oh She Glows

 

Perfection!!!  As I've said befor I am a self proclaimed Granola Connossieur.  I love Granola so much.  Jeannette and I have been making granola since we were teenagers in our little kitchen on Sunwood Drive in San Jose.  And as I've said homemade beats anything you could get in the store by a million miles, and it is so easy (and easy to cater to your specific taste) so why not.  


This is more of a granola you would eat in the afternoon with bananas and milk, or with frozen yogurt.  It has a lot of chocolate so it's more of a snack than a breakfast food.  But if you like a healthy dose of chocolate with your breakfast, who am I to judge?


This recipe calls for Brown Rice Syrup.  I was a little hesitant to buy a $5 jar that to me looked a whole lot like honey .  I happen to have about 100 lbs of honey in my garage that is routinely used for granola.  But Angela said the syrup provided the clump factor, and I want clumpy Granola, so I bought it.


So Glad.  I am sold on Brown Rice Syrup for my Granola.  Thank you Angela.  I am actually making more of this today.  And you should too!