Oct 18, 2010

I Love Baking, But I'm No Professional

Monday morning Amanda blogged about baking a loaf of bread we had both seen on Jenna's blog: Cinnamon Walnut Bread. All day long I thought about this bread. Cinnamon, carbs, cinnamon, carbs. I was even tempted to skip Boot Camp just so I would be eating it sooner. Alas, exercise is just as important as pleasing my palate, so I met up with Amanda and Mary for class.

Class consisted of:
  • Warm-up laps (I missed bc I was late, oops), stretching
  • 4 laps around the park, 40 lunges, 40 push-ups, 40 crunches, 40 supermans (supermen?)
  • 3 laps around the park, 30 lunges, 30 push-ups, 30 crunches, 30 supermans
  • 2 laps around the park, 20 lunges, 20 push-ups, 20 crunches, 20 supermans
  • 1 lap around the park, 10 lunges, 10 push-ups, 10 crunches, 10 supermans
  • and then we did rows, bicep curls, tricep kickbacks, mountain climbers, chest presses, jumping jacks, wide squat jumps for 45 seconds each
  • Cool down stretching
Damn straight I was baking bread after that.

I used Jenna's recipe but made four changes...one because I'm sweet, one because I'm spicy, one because I'm creamy, and one because I'm dumb. Just wait.

First, I mixed the dry ingredients:
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/3 brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
 Oh snap, I forgot the sugar. There we go.
 I then incorporated the wet ingredients into the dry:

  • 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
  • 1 large egg

 I poured it into a greased loaf pan and baked for 35 minutes on 350*. 
 Then I attempted to clean up my mess. Told you I'm no profesh. 
And then Margaret called and I realized I forgot to fold in the nuts. The nuts for Cinnamon Walnut Bread. Really, Christina!?
Then, I committed my favorite baking sin. I opened the oven to take a peek and a pic. Sue me.
All mishaps aside, I created a beautiful loaf whose cinnamony sweet aroma permeated throughout my kitchen. 
The smell of this bread instantly erased all the push-ups and squats from my memory.
 I ate a big fat slice drizzled with honey.
And now I'm watching football. Life is good.

28 comments:

  1. The bread looks fab. I love it when it's way more dense- not light and fluffy. When it comes to carbs, there's no messin' around with the light stuff... :p

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  2. I would like it better Just Like This... no nuts! I would have left them out on purpose :D

    *I LOVE your bowl !!

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  3. that sounds delish! i like the sounds of it without the walnuts. even though walnuts are in the title of the recipe-haha. i think nuts make things taste worst...so job well done! i bet this bread smelled AMAZING!

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  4. You're so funny. Another baking sin I'm guilty off, I've actually forgotten to mix in the nuts on one of my recipes so I opened the oven, took out the muffins and put the nuts as topping and pushed them into the muffin. I thought I could just pick up where I left off and just make up the time it was out of the oven. NO, it does not work but my muffins were still edible.

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  5. Love your blog! Thanks for stopping by mine. We have alot in common, so funny we both live in Charleston, love Mr. Efron, chick fila and cooking! I look forward to trying out some of your recipes! I'm your newest follower;)

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  6. I've _Definitely_ forgotten ingredients before! Nothing like a little kitchen mishap to make life interesting :)

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  7. That looks really good! I love making loaves like that. Usually I don't add brown sugar. Going to try that! =)

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  8. That looks fabulous. Just sprinkle the nuts over it :)

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  9. That bootcamp sounds hardcore! But I think I'd love to do it. HA! And the bread looks amazing.....even without the nuts. ;)

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  10. I always forget nuts when they are included in a baking recipe! Muffins, cookies, etc... I always forget nuts.
    Glad it still turned out delish!

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  11. You look like a pro to me. I love the way the house smells after baking!

    You should have squished the nuts on top, lol. Always a way to rescue.

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  12. I think I can beat this. I forgot the bananas in banana bread once until I was right about to put it in the oven.

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  13. I've never made bread before - yours look beautiful! It would def make up for all push-ups and squats!

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  14. Baking + football watching - every man's dream! hehe Great post girl - i've never made bread but this looks awesome. Glad you realized the walnut leave out before it was too late!

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  15. There's nothing better than the smell of fresh bread right outta the oven--yours turned out great even without the nuts!

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  16. sounds amazing! LOve homemade bread of any kind...but especially that which contains cinnamon!

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  17. Looks awesome my dear! Btw I love honey!! Do you remember when they used to serve honey packets with chicken nuggets at McDonald's? Every here and there I whip out the honey with some chicken fingers and eeevveryone thinks it's nasty haha.

    Thanks for your blogging encouragement about pictures comment thing lol I neeevver care what people think so it really should not stop me. ;)

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  18. That looks so good! And even if you forgot the nuts, you could always top it with a crunchy nut butter! I bet that would be even better! I bet it also made your whole kitchen smell amazing :)

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  19. i love your cheetah (giraffe?) print bowl and you know i love baking and stealing your recipes, duh. and yes, i struggle at identifying animal print, but thanks for being my friend anyway.

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  20. I love that workout- so creative! 40 pushups?! Holy smokes, you must have arms of steel :)
    And, I'm so silly sometimes, I have honestly NEVER thought to put honey on bread- like banana bread, etc. I mean, I've put it on toast, but not on any flavored kind of bread.
    I always peek @ stuff in the oven while it's cooking..oops!

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  21. That is one hardcore bootcamp!

    And that bread still looks good, even without the nuts! I swear I always manage to forget at least one ingredient every time I bake. :P

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  22. Hahahahahahahaha. I do that all the time with stuff and am like "How did I forget that??" Annoys the crap out of me. That loaf looks pretty though. Loaf sounds dirty and I like that.

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  23. There are worse things than forgetting the walnuts...I mean, if you'd forgotten to add chocolate chips instead, it would have been a travesty. You should totally make that bread with chocolate chips, btw :) Looks delish!!

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  24. Homemade bread is the absolute best. I've been craving making some lately..I'm gonna have to finally cave after seeing this. :)

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  25. Mmmmm, that bread looks delicious! It's too bad you left out the walnuts but at least you didn't leave out something really important...like eggs! ;-)

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  26. funny i made Jenna's bread too but with Brown sugar and almond milk! i also used chopped almonds instead of walnuts because that's what i had. It was delicious. my boyfriend ate like 9/10ths of it!

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  27. Homemade bread? Your a FancyPants in my book!

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  28. YUM! I'm making this this weekend! Only one problem: I will eat it all by the end of the weekend (I have no doubt). ;)

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