Cinnamon Bread. Quick and Simple.

I love quick breads. Mix the batter, pour it in a pan, pop it in the oven to bake. That's it. No long, drawn out process required.

A while back I had a craving for cinnamon bread. I was thinking of a traditional loaf with yeast and all, but was too lazy to go through the motions necessary for my desired result. Ever been there? Yep. Me, too. Quick bread to the rescue!

I found a recipe to try at Allrecipes.com, gave it a go, and was happy I did. It's not the prettiest loaf I've ever seen, but it sure is yummy. There's a nice sweet crust on top, and the cinnamon flavor can be tasted throughout. Since the "swirl" technique is used, I wasn't sure that would be achieved -- glad I was wrong. Craving fulfilled.

Want another peek?

Go ahead.  Get your drool on.  I won't tell.

OK.  You've been (fairly) patient.  Recipe after one more.

Simple Cinnamon Quick Bread

Submitted to Allrecipes.com by bettina.

Original recipe advises to wrap finished (and cooled) loaf in foil and let sit overnight before slicing. I totally did not do this. (Who could wait? I had a craving, remember?) But I'm quite sure the slices would have looked prettier had I followed this direction. :-)

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup + 1 cup granulated white sugar
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a 9"x5" loaf pan.
2. Mix together 1/3 cup sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining 1 cup sugar. In another bowl, combine egg, milk, and oil. Add wet ingredients to dry. Stir until moistened.
4. Pour half the batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with 1/2 cinnamon and sugar mixture. Repeat with remaining batter and cinnamon / sugar. Run a knife through the batter to swirl all together.
5. Bake for 45 - 50 minutes. Use the toothpick test to ensure doneness. Let cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: (1) 9"x5" loaf

Shared at Simple Saturdays, Simply Natural Saturdays, and some of these other fine hops.

How to Make and Store Your Own Dried Orange Zest

Have I ever told you about my love for my dehydrator? (Heh, Heh, of course I have.) Well here's yet another task it can handle for you!

How to Make and Store Dried Orange Zest

The zest of an orange is the outermost, colorful part of the peel. It contains concentrated, highly flavorful oils great for baking delicious sweets and breads. You can most certainly use it in savory cooking, as well.

All you need to do to make zest is remove this colorful part from the orange. You can do this by using a knife to cut strips, a simple grater, or a utensil more specifically designed for zesting. (I have a Microplane and wouldn't trade it for the world.) The important thing to remember is not to go into the pith, or white part of the peel. This has an unappealing flavor. Also, don't forget to wash your fruit before zesting.

If you're lucky and find yourself with a lot of oranges, making a large quantity of dried zest is made easier by using a food dehydrator. (I have a dwarf orange tree right outside on the patio. It's producing intoxicatingly fragrant blooms and fruit -- I'm impatiently waiting for those babies to ripen.)

Additional note: I also watch for oranges (or lemons or limes -- you can zest them too, ya know) in the reduced section of my produce department. I can sometimes find 3 lb. bags of oranges for 99¢!

To dry your zest, simply spread it out on a shelf of the dehydrator and set your temperature to 135°. Walk away and let it do its thing until the zest is completely dry. Alternately, you can use your oven if the temperature can be controlled to that low degree, and you have the time. You can also simply let the zest air dry on your counter top (I have no idea how long that would take, though).

BTW, if you end up with too many oranges to eat, run them through a juicer (this is mine). That's what I do. I then freeze the juice in these little stackable Ball freezer containers and pull one out to place in the refrigerator each night before I go to bed. Freshly squeezed juice is ready to drink in the morning.

Your fresh-dried orange zest can simply be stored in a jar with a tight lid in your pantry. I can't say exactly how long it will last. I can say I've had some in my pantry for a few months, and it still has flavor.

How much does it make / save? I got about an ounce out of three large oranges. I've seen this amount go for $3 - $4 in stores...made mine for pennies!

Shared at All Things Thursday, Fabulously Frugal Thursday, Thrifty Thursday, and some of these other fine hops.




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Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a very small commission if you click the link and buy something. This helps support my mountain homestead dream as well as my blogging activities, and the price you pay will be no different than if you arrived at the same destination through any other link. My opinions are my own, to be sure. If I link to a product and say I like it -- I truly like it! :-) Thanks for reading and following Stephlin's Mountain.

Make Your Own (Ragin?) Cajun Spice!

I like rice, and I like spice. So much so, I'll say it thrice. (Sorry. I'll stop now.) Anyway, one of my favorite dishes is dirty rice. In my "cook-from-a-box" life, I loved to fix Zatarains. I'd fix it midday and eat it for lunch and dinner. Yum. So, as you might imagine, I've been looking for a homemade dirty rice recipe to try. Many I've come across are quite involved -- not interested in those. Then I found Alecia's Easy Dirty Rice recipe at Detours in Life (more on that total meal tomorrow).

One of the ingredients called for in the recipe is Creole seasoning. I know that can be bought at the grocery store, but I didn't have any on hand so I went looking for a homemade version. I soon found the terms Creole and Cajun were often used interchangeably. I made a feeble attempt to search for a true difference between the two, and basically came up empty. I'm sure folks from each camp can rattle off the difference, but I'm not going to try here.

I ended up mashing up recipes I found, and came up with the following concoction. Next time I might add some garlic powder, but was shockingly out this time. Even as is, I liked it very much.

Cajun Seasoning

The more red pepper flakes you add, the more "ragin" this Cajun seasoning becomes!

Ingredients

• 1 to 1 1/2 tbsp kosher salt
• 1 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp ground cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp onion powder (make your own!)
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Instructions

1. Mix all ingredients together in a jar. Can be stored in a cabinet for months.
2. Note: You can use a spice grinder if you want everything to be the same size and consistency (ground). I didn't mind the non-ground bits.

Yield: abt 4 tbsp (or, abt 2 oz)

Shared at Homemade Mondays, Homestead Barn Hop, the Monday Funday Party, Natural Living Monday, and some of these other fine hops.

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Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a very small commission if you click the link and buy something. This helps support my mountain homestead dream as well as my blogging activities, and the price you pay will be no different than if you arrived at the same destination through any other link. My opinions are my own, to be sure. If I link to a product and say I like it -- I truly like it! :-) Thanks for reading and following Stephlin's Mountain.