Yes, that's Feeding My Enthusiasms...I used to use FME as the starting letters of any saved photo I planned on using on the blog. Now I just file them under the year and if they are savory or sweet.
2018 - most of the months had between six and eight posts, right around normal, except for November, which had 30 since I decided to do the challenge where you write something every day in November, this time with a theme of food memories. So you could just go straight to November and have a whole bunch of recipes and links to recipes! Of note is the fact that in early January the blog hit the million pageviews mark. It took a bit over 12 years to get there. Now we are up to one million, three hundred nineteen thousand five hundred forty pageviews in an additional three year, plus a few months. Guess it will take about another 12 years from the first million to the second million.
Since I'm still baking with the Bread Baking Babes, we'll start with bread from 2018. The Bread Baking Babes celebrated our 10th Anniversary in February by baking the Royal Crown Tortano that was baked the first year.
Some other BBB delights include Tartine Polenta Artisan Bread,
and Red Pepper Coques with an alternate topping that has figs and walnuts instead of red pepper and pine nuts (although I did both toppings as you can see),
Lariano Style Bread for those with Sourdough Madness (which happened to some well before the pandemic!),
and Egg Bagels which were delicious but not my favorite version of bagels.
Some sweet ones including perfect-for-tea Singing Hinnies (which you really must check out to see why they have that name) and
Baked Yeasted Currant Doughnuts.
I also made some delicious quick breads including Almond and Fresh Raspberry Muffins
and classic Blueberry Muffins.
Last, but not least, is the post in November where I'm exploring food memories...as I do throughout most of November and this time I posted my Dad's recipe for Sunday White Bread.
Since I'm still baking cake with the Cake Slice Bakers, let's see what cakes I posted in 2018. While we were baking from the Perfect Cake book I didn't include recipes. I'm thinking of going back to add them, but that might no happen by the time this look at 2018 gets posted. Probably my favorite is the Queen Mother Cake with Cherries, a flourless chocolate cake enriched with cherries and enrobed in a deep chocolate ganache...sooo good.
Continuing with the chocolate flavor, we have Chocolate Beet Cupcakes, which were so good I didn't need frosting,
plus an old fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake with a 'pudding' base which was delicious, although the frosting wasn't - too sweet.
Two other cakes I enjoyed were the Gateau Breton from Brittany
and the Lemon Sheet Cake which feeds a crowd.
Pies, tarts and cobblers are always enjoyed, especially by Sweetie and there were a few memorable ones this year. My favorite was the Frangipane Apricot Tart with complementary flavors of apricot and almond.
Sweetie really enjoyed the Spiced Apple Caramel Pie baked in a cast iron skillet.
Then there was the Rhubarb-Strawberry Streusel Pie that had the different parts cooked and baked at different times, then put together. It was awesome.
Last, but not least we had a delicious Blackberry Cobbler in the summer when the berries were ripe.
Before we leave Sweets, let me share some great cookies of 2018. There are two kinds of Blondie bar cookies - Mixed-up Blondes with 2 full cups of sweet and salty mix-ins,
and darker Dusky Blondes with coffee in them. Both are well worth making.
Three cookies are classics - Zingerman's Oatmeal Cookies,
Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies with Nuts
For our gluten free friends, here is a wonderful cookie that everyone will love - Gluten-Free Chocolate-Dipped Almond Cookies.
Because I love quiches, I want to share the Chicken and Broccoli Quiche
and also the Crostata that wasn't a quiche but had similar mealtime qualities and boasted two fillings - a chicken filling on one half and a sausage filling on the other half.
Entrees and veggie side dishes are always fun to try. In 2018 after I visited Kate in LA and tried Jerk Pork in the InstaPot, I decided to try making it at home as a braise in the oven. Slower but just as delicious.
Kate and I met Kayla for brunch near the beach and up the coast and I really enjoyed the lentil dish they served for brunch. It came with an egg in it and I made something similar once I returned home; Lentil and Tomato Stew with Eggs and Spinach.
Another main dish that is great in the cooler months is Lamb Shanks with Red Wine and Herbs. I like to serve them with mashed potatoes to soak up the flavorful juices.
Sometimes I try to get more vegetables into the main dish and that works well in Yam and Pork and Veggie Hash.
During the warmer months Sweetie likes to cook out back on the BBQ grill. This Shrimp BBQ with Citrus Marinade was delicious.
In November as I was writing about food memories, I did one post on oysters, particularly Fried Oysters. This recipe is the family one as improved upon by my brother Phil and his sons.
Another food memory was of making Hot Cocoa from scratch, using Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder, sugar, salt, water, milk and vanilla. It's still my favorite cocoa, although now I use soy milk.
Breakfast treats include fresh Strawberry Tartines.
This recipe uses ricotta cheese, but you can also use Zesty Lemon Curd Trust me, it's worth the effort to make it yourself - you end up with a silky, deep yellow, tangy, sweet but not too sweet spoonful of deliciousness. You can use it so many ways, too, including as a filling for cakes, tarts and macarons.
You can also use Quince Jelly to fill cakes or doughnuts or slathered on toast. Finding the fresh quince is the challenge, but sometimes you can find them at the farmers market.
Last of all I'm linking to the recipe for Non-Dairy Pesto. You really don't need cheese to have a delicious pesto!
If you have enjoyed these links to posts with recipes, feel free to visit the blog and explore other posts, too. You'll find lots more yummy recipes in the 2018 posts. Nice food photos, too, including the one of sliced tomatoes at the top of the post.
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