Ever since I was a little boy, I always loved raisins. Whether they were right from a box, inside pastry, added in main courses or in my favorite… bread - I always loved them. Raisin bread is on e of my favorite things to eat. Freshly sliced with a butter on top….. I could eat it all the time. Now I tend not to get raisin bread that much at the bakery/grocery store but from time to time I like to indulge.

But this time around I thought I would try and make a loaf from scratch - it is an old family recipe and sometimes we use to add walnuts. I am not crazy about walnuts on their own but inside this bread they are actually quite tasty. They give the bread a nice texture as well. So below is the recipe for zesty’s raisin walnut bread - I hope you enjoy it!!

Ingredients

• 1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
• 3/4 cup raisins
• 2 cups lukewarm water (105° to 115°)
• 2 Tbs. honey
• 2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 - 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup walnut halves, coarsely chopped

Method

1. In a large mixing bowl, stir together honey and 1/2 cup of the lukewarm water. Add yeast and stir to dissolve. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Stir in remaining 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water.
2. Add whole wheat flour, 1 1/2 cups of white flour and salt. Stir until well combined. Add enough of remaining white flour until dough leaves sides of bowl.
3. Sprinkle flour on a flat dry surface. Turn dough onto the surface and knead 5 to 10 minutes, adding more flour if necessary, until dough is smooth and elastic. Don’t make the dough too dry.
4. Lightly oil a large mixing bowl. Place dough in bowl and turn to coat. Cover with damp cloth and set aside in warm place to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours. Place a piece of parchment paper on a large baking sheet.
5. Punch dough down and turn on to floured surface. Knead raisins and walnuts into dough. Shape (round, long, square,) into 1 large loaf and place on prepared baking sheet. Cover with damp cloth and let rise until almost doubled, about 30 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 425°F. Using a spray bottle spray loaf with water. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375°F and bake 30 minutes or until nicely browned. Cool on rack before slicing.

Well I thought I would share a typical breakfast in the life of me zestycook aka Cory. Now I don’t eat this all the time by any means but it is pretty common. I like to touch off most of the food groups for a balanced start to the day for sure.

Below I have 3 boiled eggs with fresh ground pepper. The only tip I have for boiled eggs is about 7 minutes ( if you like them soft as I do). If i am really in the mood for a treat I add a little homemade jam to the eggs and the spoon it on the toast.

Can you really enjoy toast without butter? For me, I usually always have butter on it unless I go with peanut butter or jam/jelly. What do you enjoy on your toast?

For my fruit selection I went with some peaches and blueberries mixed in with some vanilla yogurt as well as a tablespoon of ground flaz seeds. There is really no recipe here… just throw in what you like and enjoy.

Well it was a busy day at the house after work. We had to prepare the pool for winter, cut the grass and go for a walk. I didn’t have anytime to cook so I thought it was a good excuse for one of my favorite take out joints.

Even though I tend to call myself somewhat of a healthy eater and try to eat form all the food groups daily, every now and again you just have to break away and indulge.

This double cheese burger is amazingly juicy and very flavorful. With my favorite toppings ketchup , mustard, relish and sauteed onions…. What a gem! Not too mention killer fries with a little crunch and some hearty coleslaw and fresh cracked pepper.

After devouring this meal…. the best you can do is lie down on the couch and let your stomach stretch. It does it too me everytime even though I keep coming back for more. While I don’t want to promote eating this food as a good thing - it is definitely not a bad thing in moderation.

What I would like to hear from everybody is what are their favorite burger toppings. The toppings that are a must have for you!

It is baking night at Zesty’s! Nothing fancy but I thought I would share with you a family favorite for a quick yet satisfying dessert. I sometimes add nuts but they are not a huge hit at our house so I left them out for this one.

 

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 3 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate
• 1 oz. semi-sweet baking chocolate
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Topping

• Chocolate Sauce (for topping)
• Cherries
• Ice Cream

Method

1. Grease bottom of an 8 inch square baking pan.
2. Melt both chocolates with butter in a medium saucepan stirring over low heat until smooth (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat.
3. Stir in sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in flour, salt, vanilla,  stirring only until mixture is smooth and ingredients are combined. Once flour has been added, do not overmix to prevent toughening.
4. Spread mixture into prepared pan.
5. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until brownies begin to shrink from sides of pan.
6. Allow to cool before cutting into squares.

Note: if your brownies are dry or tend to be overbaked consistently, reduce the temperature of your oven by 25 degrees.
Recipe can be doubled by baking twice the amount of all ingredients in a 13X9 inch pan. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

Driving home from work yesterday afternoon, I was starving and realized that I did not take anything out for supper. At that point I decided to pull into the super market and attempt to put a meal plan together on the run. I made it to the meat department and noticed that Pork Loin Chops were on sale so the wheels started turning as I came up with an idea for pork chops. They were so thick and looked incredible yummy.

I picked up two of those and moved along to the seafood section. I thought that I was craving scallops and grabbed 10 fresh scallops to atop the pork. I then needed a vegetable or two as I thought that maybe some brown rice would go well with my already developing recipe. I walked over and grabbed a fresh package of shitake mushrooms and some baby spinach and I was on my way. Once home I came up with a sauce and because it was pork I thought I would go with an apple based sauce but kick it up with some sweet chili sauce. Follow along below to see the process.

Ingredients

• 2 Pork Loin Chops Center Cut Bone-In
• 10 Scallops
• 2 cups of Baby Spinach
• 1 cup of Shitake Mushrooms ( coarsely chopped )
• 1 cup of Apple Juice
• 1 Tbsp. Garlic chopped
• 1 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
• 1 Tbsp. Sweet Chili Sauce
• Cracked Black Pepper

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 Degrees
2. Season both sides of Pork Chops with cracked black pepper
3. Pan sear the pork until golden brown crust forms
4. Place pork in roasting pan and place in oven for about 10-12 minutes until cooked through
5. With the pan drippings still in the frying pan, add apple juice, garlic, soy sauce, sweet chili sauce and bring to a boil and then let reduce.
6. Once reduced by half, add mushrooms and spinach to the sauce.
7. Start another Sautee pan and heat up some olive oil and sprinkle some red pepper flakes in the oil.  Once hot place the scallops in and sear on both sides until golden brown.  Once complete remove from heat and set aside.
8. After the mushroom and spinach cook through add the scallops to the sauce as well and stir to coat the scallops.
9. Ready to plate. I like to place a big scoop of brown rice on the bottom of the plate and then set the pork chop on top followed by the delicious reduction of sauce, mushroom, spinach and most of all tender juicy scallops.