Cinnamon Bread and Snow

So this is what I woke up to this morning... snow. I am trying to stay positive about this. If I am lucky this will get rid of the 8 billion birdhouse gourd volunteer seedlings sans weeding.

The poor sweet robins are dutifully sitting on their nest. I will help them out a bit and set out some worms in a tray. Robins are primarily sight hunters. So if I show the male the worms and set the tray a few feet away, he hops down and grabs a snack.

I am lucky I didn't get around to planting tomatoes and peppers. I was ready to, except the recent moisture from previous rain had triggered an explosion of bindweed and thistles. Between starting summer crop seeds in pots, weeding, baking and the sudden need to clean screens and windows, I never got around to planting tomatoes. Water with a splash of vinegar and a little dish soap worked wonders on the glass... except I had to keep the dog away. Something about the faint smell of vinegar and he can't help but taste test the just cleaned glass. I did the main floor glass, then went upstairs.. when I came back downstairs he had licked 'em all.

I actually managed to take a picture before they attacked the cinnamon bread!! That is a huge feat in this house. Usually when I bake something I have to fend off the husband and daughter. They are relegated to standing far away from the kitchen.... usually drooling and well armed with their bakery warfare forks.

This is a sweet cinnamon quick bread, it is a dessert. It had swirls of cinnamon inside and was mildly sweet. Perfect with coffee my husband says. Ironically, I can't eat any of it as I am diabetic. One of the loaves went to my husband's coworker (let's just call him Bob) as it was his birthday the next day. My husband gave him the loaf, joked and said it was up to him if he wanted to share.

The company was a small one that got bought out by a bigger corporation. So the small company tradition of bringing in a cake to celebrate whom ever's birthday vanished with the cut backs, downsizing, etc. Anyways.. Bob is hilarious. He announces in the break room he must be allergic to wheat and therefore has been on a wheat free, sugar free diet for several days now. Mind you, he is announcing this while trying to devour single faced and double handed a box of chocolate glazed doughnuts someone brought in.

Husband: "Bob... you are eating wheat and sugar right now."

Bob: "No, these don't count and they are chocolate glazed, not sugar."

Husband: "I don't think Krispy Kreme has started making doughnuts with spelt and stevia yet Bob."

Bob: "These don't count. When you squish them down it takes 4 of them to make a real doughnut anyways, so really I have only had 2."

So Bob shaved off slices to share at the office and proceeded to inhale the rest of the loaf at his desk. I will make this again with apples & cinnamon, and later in summer a zucchini variety. Right now I am getting ready to make a double batch of Banana Crumb Muffins. If I make them now, I am more likely to remember to take a picture before the family inhales them leaving only a wake of muffin papers in their wake.

Lasagna sounds good for dinner. I may just be motivated enough to make the pasta as the weather is keeping me out of the garden today. I experimented with a sourdough herb bread (I blended herbs from my garden last year in olive oil and froze it in ice cube trays or ziplock bags frozen flat so they store easily. I pop some out and thaw them to use in salad dressings, marinades, toss in at the last minute with veggies or pasta... or add them to make an herb bread. When the herbs come in strong I end up putting them in everything. Butter, olive oil, cream cheese, etc.)

My daughter's favorite summer sandwich:

herbed cream cheese (chives, green onion, garlic chives)
on toasted bread (she loves everything bagels, I grew up with German grain breads.. love it)
thick slices of tomatoes from the garden
dust the top with onion powder
salt & pepper

Seems a lot of picky eaters like it too. She has several of her friend hooked on that open faced sandwich and her best friend who would live off Mac-n-cheese if allowed now requests tomatoes when his parents go to the store. My daughter laughed as his Mom asked him "Who are you and what have you done with my son?!"

Quirky family, I appreciate them. Our kids have been best friends since kindergarten.. they are now in 7th grade. Both are only children, they decided in 1st or 2nd grade that they were siblings.

I better get back to work. I reallllllly want lasagna now and that is going to take awhile so the dough has time to chill and then enough time to dry after rolling out.