So Delicious, and So Easy

This is one of my favorite side dishes, which actually doubles up pretty well as a dessert.  Fresh figs really shine when they're in season, and enhancing the flavor just a bit more can make you wonder why you bothered with the rice and pork chops!  The ones above are too easy.  Cut fresh figs in half, drizzle with local honey, and top with some very finely chopped (or dried) basil.

What more do I need to say?

The Essence of Simplicity: White Bread

I've made my share of fancy loaves - mustard-flavored,veggie-based, saffron-infused, long-rising sourdoughs - but it doesn't always need to be that way.  Over the weekend, I felt strongly that I was ready to take it back to basics.  It doesn't get much simpler than a nice white bread, and before you think "but that's the unhealthiest of them all!" - this isn't the preservative-laden version that's so common on store shelves.  Real ingredients make real bread, albeit really simple bread.

1 cup milk
1/4 cup water
4 tsp olive oil
3 cups bread flour
3 and 1/2 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp active dry yeast

As is my standard, this makes a 1.5 pound loaf, and is of course baked on the white bread cycle on your machine (what else would you use it for?).  It may originally look pretty dry when it's mixing up, but it quickly turns into the perfect ball of dough, and bakes in to a light and fluffy loaf.  It's a Wonder, when you think about it!  ;)

It's ok to make bread simple, and to just have something relatively plain (yet familiar) to enjoy in the simple ways we've become accustomed to throughout our lives.  Cold and hot sandwiches, breadcrumbs in meatloaf, toast, slathered in butter - you have a blank canvas and ideas from your childhood to work with!  A minor obsession of mine is the tuna melt.  I had one for dinner tonight and I'll probably have 3 more as the week goes on.  How's this for screen-licking goodness?