Nellie's Irish Brown Bread

Homemade bread made easy!

If there’s a baked good to enjoy on St. Patrick’s Day, it’s definitely traditional Irish soda bread. I shared my family’s favorite recipe for it with you guys a couple years ago if you’re looking for a tried and true favorite that’s really easy to make and guaranteed to hit the spot. It was also the first Nellie themed post on A Peek into the Pantry! 

But if you’re looking for something new and different, I think I’ve found something that will fit right in to any Irish themed festivities you might be planning that’s just as easy, and way tasty. Whether you’re eating it with a nice stew or a morning cup of tea, this bread is definitely worth checking out.

Nanea's Guava Bread

Just like Mrs. Mitchell used to make… more or less!

I really can’t gush enough about how hungry I was reading Nanea’s books. It seemed like her mother was always taking the time to make some delicious treat for special occasions, average weekend mornings, or to bring comfort to friends in need. One treat that came up over and over again was her guava bread, which the Mitchell family would often enjoy for breakfast. 

I’m going to say right off the bat that it didn’t live up to my expectations as a fruit bread. However, as a nut bread? I think we have a winner. Read on to find out what went in to making this Mitchell family favorite!

Julie's Zucchini Bread

The 70's health food craze that's turned into a difficult sell in my house!

When I was a kid, one of my favorite picture books was In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak, because apparently I've always been obsessed with food. In it, a boy named Mickey winds up in the "Night Kitchen" and is almost baked into a cake by three bakers. He then constructs an airplane out of bread dough and flies off to retrieve milk for the baker's cake. After his successful return, he winds up back in bed again. It's a silly story - although there are apparently much darker themes in it than I realized when I was a kid - and I remember being so outraged that apparently in this universe, cake was an appropriate thing to eat for breakfast. I'd never heard of such a thing and was pretty resentful that I was apparently being denied this totally appropriate sweet start to the day.

Fittingly, it was first published in 1970, and the recipe I'm featuring today is also a 70's classic. It's also a cake that people ate and presumably still eat for breakfast, and was once considered a health food! Obviously I was just born in the wrong decade if things like zucchini, banana and carrot bread were being promoted as a healthy start to your day.

These days, I feel like zucchini bread has become tough to market to people, while banana and carrot cake still appear at bakeries and on family tables all over the world. I know I've definitely turned my nose up at it in the past! So how did this bread come to be such a well loved staple, and how has it fallen out of favor? Let's find out!

Nellie's Barmbrack

A traditional Halloween treat, and that's no trick!

Happy Halloween, everyone! And a blessed Samhain too, if you celebrate today as the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. Although many people think of Halloween as a very American holiday because of the popularity of trick or treating in the States and Canada, it actually traces its roots back to Ireland and Scotland, and the Pagan holiday Samhain! Irish and Scottish immigrants brought many of their Halloween customs and traditions over to North America in the 1840's.

Today, we're going to talk about - and make! - some of those traditions. Okay, we're only making barmbrack, but I found out a lot of interesting information while I was doing research for this post, and I'm excited to share it with you!

Nellie's Walnut Banana Bread

A tasty treat enjoyed by people of all levels of Edwardian high society.

Did you know banana bread comes from England? I didn't, before doing this blog post! I would have guessed it was an American invention, but according to my new favorite cookbook, it was actually popularized by the English. Good for you, guys! And to think most people don't have very nice things to say about English cooking.

Banana bread is one of those items I usually buy from our local gigantic, commercialized farm stand - they make a really yummy chocolate banana bread I always have to fight my brother off to get a slice of it - and it's not something I'd really considered trying making myself until this recipe caught my eye. Making tea breads is definitely one of my favorite things this blog has taught me how to do, and since banana bread is such an iconic baked good, it seemed like trying my hand at it was long overdue.

So, what makes this something Nellie O'Malley might have enjoyed?

Nellie's Sweet Caraway Luncheon Loaf

Good for more than just your next luncheon!

So, I have two things to apologize for. First, I'm not actually technically done with the holiday posts yet, and two, this should have gone up three days ago. Oh well, real life comes first!

The reason this should have gone up three days ago is that the sixth of January is Little Christmas, or the Feast of the Epiphany. It's celebrated in a lot of different ways all over the world, but in Ireland, some families have adopted a pretty nice tradition they call Women's Little Christmas. Why? Because after wives, moms, aunts and grandmas break their backs over the holiday season (and the rest of the year), Women's Little Christmas is a day where their husbands and male relatives take on the household chores and dote on them. They're taken out to lunch, given presents and get together with their female friends to chat and catch up. Mother's Day is starting to replace this tradition, but it's still practiced in several parts of Ireland as it has been for generations.

Although there isn't much documentation about how this tradition got started, it's an old one, and one I'd never heard of before doing some research for this blog. Because of that, I was excited to find a recipe to help showcase it here!

Addy's Turkey Stuffing

Just in case you feel like being a little more adventurous than Stove Top this year...

When it comes to Thanksgiving, I don't think I'm alone in being more into the side dishes than I am into the main meal itself. I don't have anything against turkey, don't get me wrong! But I'm more likely to try and run off with the entire bowl of mashed potatoes than I am to start a fight over what pieces of turkey I get.

Certain other family members feel the same way about stuffing, and while I'm not sure this is going to replace Stove Top for some of them, I have to admit, this authentic Civil War era recipe for turkey stuffing was pretty tops, if I do say so myself. It won my heart for being easy to make, tasty, and flexible enough to go with just about any entree if you make it on a random day to accompany whatever else is being made for dinner.

What can I say? Thanksgiving is still a couple days away, we're not making two turkeys this week!

Cécile's Chèvre on Toast

What's not to love about cheese on toast?

Are you looking for something quick and easy to make for breakfast? Lunch? A lazy dinner that doesn't involve a lot of clean up, prep time, or much of anything else? Or an appetizer for a party you're throwing to prove what a sophisticated, high class adult you are?

Look no further. These little cheese toasts look elegant and are simple enough for even the most inexperienced cook to make. Although they're not my personal favorite thing I've ever made for the blog, they seemed to be a hit with my taste testers and were happily gobbled down almost as soon as I took them out of the oven, which will hopefully be the case for you, too if you ever decide to try your hand at this French treat!

Molly's Nut and Raisin Bread

A tasty bread for breakfast. Or lunch. Or dinner. Or for a snack.

I'm going to apologize in advance: this is a long post. Like, a really long one. Maybe longer than any other one I've done so far on this blog, and so if you're in a rush, I promise I won't judge you for skimming. Or just looking at the pictures.

(There are a lot of pictures.)

So why, you may ask, is this post so long? Was this recipe especially complicated? Did it require more than one attempt. Yes, and no respectively, and you'll hear all about that in a minute. Long story short, for Columbus Day weekend, I went down to visit my aunt and uncle in Washington, D.C. and this was the recipe I picked to bring down with me and feature on the blog. And because I'm me, and we were in D.C., we did a lot of wandering around museums and memorials dedicated to one of my favorite periods in history to study. Since I'm always looking for ways to keep this blog fresh and interesting, I decided to share some of the trip with all of you!

Rebecca's Pretzels

Bringing one of my personal favorite snacks off the streets and into your kitchen!

While street food is definitely something that can be enjoyed year round, I don't think I'm alone in thinking it's during the summer and spring when wandering around outside cramming food in your face is a lot easier than say, in the middle of a snowstorm, or just bitterly cold weather in general. That being said, pretzels are kind of a year round treat in my book, and I'll eat them pretty much wherever they're available. It's hard not to think of them as sporting event or theme park food though, and so when I was trying to think of a good recipe for Rebecca to do in the summer time, this was kind of a no brainer.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about and research into Coney Island lately (Marvel Cinematic Universe enthusiasts can probably guess why) and fantasizing about being able to head down to a theme park like I usually manage at least once during the summer, and where I'd be eating at least one soft pretzel during my visit, so that pretty much sealed the deal that this was something I definitely wanted to make before summer ended.

(I'm having a really hard time wrapping my mind around that. It seems like it just got here, and now we're almost done!)

Nellie's Irish Soda Bread

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

While St. Patrick himself probably wouldn't love how modern people choose to celebrate his feast day - he was kind of a giant stick in the mud, by our standards - my family traditionally tries to get together and do something festive. My grandmother likes to make corned beef and cabbage for my grandfather, and while it might not be an authentically Irish dish, it's the Irish American version of bacon and cabbage, and is thus totally legitimate to eat on St. Patrick's Day, or any day you feel like honoring any Irish immigrants you might have in your family. Don't let the naysayers who half read a Wikipedia article fool you!

One of our favorite traditions is making Irish soda bread, and this year, I got to be the one who made it! I was a little intimidated to be the one in charge of making this family favorite, but I am pleased to report that everything worked out very well.

There's only one character to host a post like this, so I'm very pleased to formally introduce you to...

Marie-Grace and Cécile's Traditional King Cake

Spoilers: this was kind of a disaster, but it seemed like a good idea at the time!

Mardi Gras - or some variation thereof - isn't a tradition that's unique to New Orleans, but I think when the holiday comes up, it's the first place people think of. It's another floating holiday, marking the day before Ash Wednesday and thus the official start of Lent, or one of the Christian traditions I've always been really lousy about actually participating in. Since observing Lent traditionally means making some personal sacrifices and changing your diet to something considered simpler and less rich, that means cutting down on things like butter, sugar and basically everything else delicious.

Mardi Gras is a celebration of everything that Lent kind of isn't, and is hugely popular in New Orleans. People go all out with decorations, parades and parties, and pretty much any piece of media featuring the city involves it in some way - even The Princess and the Frog takes place near and on Mardi Gras, and so obviously the two girls from New Orleans couldn't be left out of that party.

I'm sorry to say that this was kind of a culinary disaster, but after the effort I put into making it, I definitely wasn't going to keep my attempt to myself! Let's just say King Cake turned out to be a lot harder to make than it seemed to be.

Kirsten's St. Lucia Buns

A tasty breakfast snack!

As I mentioned in an older post, although I'm not Swedish, St. Lucia Day is something that thanks to Kirsten and American Girl has been a part of my life from the time I was very small. Picking a recipe to feature for Kirsten was incredibly easy, and it's been one of the ones I've been most looking forward to doing. According to my mom, I've actually had Lucia buns before thanks to my kindergarten teacher (who was apparently the one to suggest that I represent Sweden during our children around the world concert), but I can't remember eating them, so I was definitely excited to see how these would taste.

The recipe comes from Kirsten's Cookbook and is the first one I've ever tried to make from it. Historically speaking, I'm not a huge fan of Swedish food - I remember being horribly disappointed by Swedish meatballs at a historic farm in Massachusetts that was hosting a Kirsten themed event - but I'm always willing to try new things in the name of the blog, so expect to see us working our way through the rest of the recipes listed in here sometime in the future!

Felicity's Brunswick Stew, Spoon Bread and Apple Pie, straight from Colonial Williamsburg!

A great fall meal that will definitely feed a crowd!

One of the things that's really encouraged me to keep up with this blog and make sure I'm doing a couple posts a month is how enthusiastic my friends and family have been in wanting to try out another cool new recipe. Case in point, my aunt and uncle were stopping by for the day on their way back home, and when I asked if they were interested in trying something that would be featured on the blog, they responded with an enthusiastic yes! As it turned out, we were also joined by my grandparents, my mother's brother and his family, plus my cousin's friend, so I had a full house to feed and have been cooking almost all day. I definitely have a greater appreciation for how difficult it is to organize a big dinner after starting this blog!