Cinnamon Raisin Bread?

On a whim a few months ago I bought baking raisins (the kind already plump and moist) and have had baking with them on my to-do list since then. I finally got around to it today as my apartment smelled weird and old and I needed something to spice up the air around here.

I found this recipe on www.100daysofrealfood.com. Now it is not 100% vegan as it does use honey as the sweetener. I am a vegan that uses honey, so if you don't, use agave or vegan cane sugar, or brown rice syrup. I wanted to try this recipe out because it uses coconut oil in it. A lot of it in fact. I bought some a few months ago after reading about some delicious things my sister-in-law was using it for and have been really bummed out by it in my own adventures. I have used it only twice...1) Made a grilled cheese for husband with it. Didn't get good reviews as he doesn't like his coconuts and cheese mixing. 2) For frosting. What a disaster. Due to its consistency, it just kept melting and sliding off the cupcakes. I had to add so much powdered sugar to the frosting to get it firm up that my teeth ached after one bite.

Now...this baby just came out of the oven. And wow....adding a 1/2 cup of oil to it just makes it fabulous! I had to improvise from the original recipe as my bread machine turned off by itself half-way through the process and I had no idea when to add the raisins (btw...I did it after the bread rose for about 45 minutes). This bread is so moist. The bread machine massacured my raisins, so there is really not a single whole raisin in it, but raisin bits throughout it. Honestly, this bread takes like the dark rye bread they serve at Outback Steakhouse (I haven't had it in a few years, but I remember it fondly).

So to sum up...coconut oil in baking bread is awesome. No coconut taste and incredibly moist bread. Baking raisins are a joke, but when your bread machine purees them, it gives your bread a rye taste. And somehow after following a recipe for cinnamon raisin bread I made Outback Steakhouse bread. Sounds like a success to me!

Here's a link to the recipe... http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/05/25/recipe-whole-wheat-cinnamon-raisin-bread-for-bread-machine/

Best Blogger In The World

First off, I love my husband. Dearly. He is the sweetest, most wonderful man ever. But goodness gracious, when he gets an idea in his head, he doesn't let it go. At all. So here I am, back to blogging, since I am apparently the 'Best Blogger In The World.'  My husband is the biggest cheerleader ever for this blog and so after five months of silence, I am back in action on the world wide web. He puts this intense amount of peer pressure on me to blog and even comes up with blog ideas for me, but alas, I don't do them ever, so he brings them up again, and again, and again. So I have caved.

I, Ashlee, have declared that for the next three months, I will blog every darn day, so help me. Right now, I apologize for the inane comments, pointless observations and all around silliness that will be sure to occur. Now....on to the blogging.

I really appreciate that my husband finds me so hilarious. I think though, he finds me way more humorous than anyone else. He loves whenever we watch movie previews together and after the preview ends, I usually subconsciously give a one-sentence comment/review of the movie. Even though these statements are boring, not that insightful and probably have no merit whatsoever, he adores him. Reasons like these are why I love him so. But....he thinks that these reviews would be absolutely hilarious/fantastic idea on the blog. I disagree, but as stated earlier, he is an elephant and never forgets an idea. So here we go.... a brand new feature on my blog..... One sentence movie reviews!

Black Swan: "Despite the fact that Natalie Portman is my Arch Nemesis, I really want to see this movie."

Ta Da!!!!  I can already hear my husband giggling .....
Don't worry, I will make this blog better. Promise.
PS.... I had cuban food for the first time tonight and I think I am in love. My husband, grandmother and I went over to a friend's house for dinner and she gave us a 3-course home cooked cuban meal. And then hired a magician for after dinner. For reals. A real magician. Sweet!!