The Best Thing I Had In My Mouth - Beer Bread

Over the weekend, my friend made this amazing beer bread.  This was the first time I had beer bread, and I must admit I fell in love.  It has a buttery, crunchy exterior and a dense, chewy interior.  Here is the recipe he used.  Best thing I had in my mouth!

Check out some things I made last year:

-Tomato and Parmesan Omelette
-Lime Squash
-Mexican Scrambled Egg Tacos
-Potato Pancakes
-Banana and Walnut Pancakes

Chopped Salad

I am currently obsessed Jamie Oliver's chopped salad from his Food Revolution cookbook.  I have been throwing it in my weeknight menus for the past couple weeks and loving it.  This could easily serve four, but I have no problem eating half of it.  Jamie's recipe calls for olive oil and two avocados, but I think it is just as delicious and healthier to remove the olive oil all together and reduce the avocados to just one.  Overall, the salad is crunchy, creamy, slightly tangy, and has a bit of heat from the mustard and scallions - a great combination!

New Year's Resolutions

A lot of people don't do New Year's Resolutions because they ultimately fail at them.  I actually like them though, and see them as a long term goal instead of a whole new lifestyle by the first of the year.  Last year I decided to make all the recipes in The Clinton Street Baking Company Cookbook.  I ultimately failed, but made a ton of them.  I actually lost interest in the book, because some of the recipes just seemed off.  The book still makes the best pancakes I have ever made though!  I also made a conscious effort to be more aware of my environment.  I got rid of my use of paper towels altogether, and started making my own cleaners.  So easy!

This year I want to learn how to make bread and also explore all the awesome bread in New York.  To counterbalance the carb-fest I am also going to try to get more into juicing (BluePrint Cleanse inspired me)!  Check out these two amazing pages from New York Magazine.  I am definitely going to be slowly checking off these breads as I try them!

Check out these New Year's Fritters we make every year.  Or my Great Grandma's Nut Rolls.