For many years now I’ve had a desire to share money saving recipes with you. I try to make healthy foods here at home. Sometimes I don’t do too well at that. For example my Strawberry Jam recipe, Double Chocolate Chip Cookies and Best Rice Pudding Ever…. all have white sugar in them.

There’s just something about those old fashioned recipe that I like and can’t seem to give up completely. I think now and then its ok to have some treats like those recipes.

This is a bread recipe that is pretty much thrown together and came out good. The molasses is the signature flavor.  The yeast, salt and butter is essential but everything else is mix and match. You can substitute flours for what you have on hand.

I really enjoy bread making. I put up my hair, put on music that I like and don one of my old aprons …then tune out everything else for a while as I measure, add, mix and knead.

So get your hair put up and put on that music and make this delicious bread. I think creating good food is a great way to relax after a long day or the best way to begin a busy day.

Light Whole Wheat Bread

1/4 c. water
1 c. milk
1/4 c. molasses
1/4 stick room temperature butter (1/8 c.)
1 T. brown sugar (or you could use honey)
3 c. unbleached flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 1/2 t. salt
2 1/2 t. yeast

Warm the milk to about 110*F. When warm, add yeast and a pinch of the brown sugar. Allow to stand and foam about 3-5 minutes. If your butter is cold, you can dice it up and add to the milk to soften and melt.

In a large mixing bowl combine all the other ingredients. Add the yeast mixture and mix.

You could use any kind of flour you have on hand. I used 1 cup bread flour, 1 cups all purpose flour and 2 cups whole wheat flour this morning when I made it.

This recipe just makes one loaf, so its perfect for slow mornings when you get up earlier than the kiddoes and want to make something delicious for their breakfast.

Knead until the dough is smooth and stretchy, about 10 minutes. Add a little more white flour if the dough is too sticky.

Turn into a greased bowl. Cover with a clean towel and allow to rise til doubled in size.

Grease a loaf pan and place the risen dough in the pan.Slice the top of the dough with a small very sharp knife. Paint with milk. sprinkle with oats if desired. Allow to rise again in a warm place, about 40-45 minutes.

Bake at 350*F for about 35 minutes. Cool pan for about 10 minutes, turn the loaf out of the pan and allow to cool slightly before slicing.

“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…….”

Every time I heard that song during the first 23 years of my life I wondered what a chestnut was and how to roast one.

And what it tasted like.  Was it sweet? Was it rich? Do you coat it with sugar or cinnamon?

The thought of chestnuts roasting on an open fire conjured up visions of snow and hot chocolate and family togetherness. A kind of Currier and Ives-ish Christmas. All from one little nut.

Did I ever tell you about the chestnut roasting fiasco of  1982?

We lived in West Virginia where my husband was working on a Phd. Apparently we had lived a sheltered and pitifully uneducated life in the South because we’d never seen a chestnut, much less eaten one.

“Oh, you have to try chestnuts!”

“Why we used to buy paper cones of roasted chestnuts from a street vendor while we were shopping at Christmas time. They’re delicious!”

“No! You don’t put anything on them, they are delicious by themselves.”

“What? You’ve never had chestnuts? What do you people put in stuffing?”

Well, first of all, we call it dressing where I come from and that should probably have been my first clue.

So we’re at the grocery store one day before Christmas and I see little bags of chestnuts in the produce area. I was so excited! Finally! Chestnuts would be roasting in our home on Christmas.  I bought a bag and they. were. pricey.

My husband took one look at the bag and said, “You paid what for a bag of buckeyes?”

There are no instructions on the bag of chestnuts and I figure how hard can it be?   Indeed.

I ask a decidedly northern neighbor what temperature to roast them.  “Around 400*F”. Thank you, I’ve got this now.

I preheated the oven and got the chestnuts all lined up in a baking dish. Placed them in the hot oven and set a timer.

About 15 minutes later we’re watching tv and enjoying the evening when what sounds like gun fire going off in the kitchen nearly causes heart failure in us both. We had only been living there for a few months. What kind of neighborhood had we moved in to?

I ran in the kitchen, looked through the glass window and watched as the rest of the little nuggets of treasure exploded mush all over the inside of the oven.

What. A. Mess.

I scraped and wiped the inside of that oven for 4 days. It still smelled like burning wood when I used it for weeks.

Moral of the story:  Be sure  you get all the info about how to cook something for the first time. I had no idea you were supposed to score the nut shells. I guess if I’d really thought about it, it would have come to me but I was so excited.

Fast forward to this year.  Twenty nine years later. I see chestnuts in the grocery produce isle at Christmas. “Oh, you tricky little things. I will not let you get the best of me again.”

I bought them. Scored them all around the outside edges. Baked them. They opened up like little clam shells to give up the treasure.  I smelled the aroma wafting out of the oven. I was on pins and needles to see if it would work! The timer went off and I took the pan out of the oven. They hadn’t burst! And the taste?

Meh.

My plan for next year, now that I can roast them without having an adrenaline rush, is to use them in stuffing and to make Marron Glacés because around here, everything is better with a sugar syrup.