Cheddar Spinach Quick Bread #BreadBakers

This Cheddar Spinach Quick Bread is leavened with baking powder and soda, no waiting on a rise. It mixes up quickly. Enjoy a savory, tasty loaf with only 55-60 minutes of baking.

This month my fellow Bread Bakers and I are sharing recipes to celebrate the harvest, using seasonal produce. Where I am right now, spinach is a year-round crop so it’s always seasonal! 

I almost always have a bag of fresh spinach in the refrigerator to eat as salad or to toss in pasta dishes, soups and stews. Spinach adds flavor and much needed vitamins and iron to any diet. I always have frozen spinach in the freezer! 

Cheddar Spinach Quick Bread 

This recipe was adapted from one on Every Day Healthy Recipes. Do not skip the spinach drying step to make sure your bread batter is not too wet. 

Ingredients

4 oz or 115g fresh baby spinach

2 cups or 250g flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

3 oz or 84g extra sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated

3/4 cup or 185g Greek style natural yogurt

3 tablespoons canola or other light oil, plus extra for the pan

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 large clove garlic, finely minced

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 9.5 in or 23cm loaf pan by greasing it lightly and lining it with baking parchment. 

Rinse and dry your spinach thoroughly with a salad spinner or, if you don’t have one, put the spinach in a clean towel and go outside and swing it around vigorously so that centrifugal force dries it out. If your spinach says wash and ready to eat, just do the drying part.  

Chop the spinach roughly with a knife then pulse it in a food processor until finely chopped but not pureed.

In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, soda and salt and stir thoroughly using a whisk. Tip in most of the grated cheese, reserving some for the top, and stir to coat it with the flour mixture. 

In another large bowl whisk together the eggs, oil, yogurt and minced garlic until well combined.  

Add the chopped spinach and stir until thoroughly mixed.

Pour the spinach mixture into the flour bowl and fold gently until just combined. 

Spoon the thick batter into your prepared pan, smooth out the top with a spatula or spoon and sprinkle the reserved cheese over the top. 

Bake in the center of the oven for 1 hour (or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean). If it browns too much before it’s cooked through, cover the top with foil. 

Remove the loaf from the oven and set aside for 10 minutes then lift out of the pan with the paper and place on a rack to cool. 

Once cool, slice to serve. This bread was wonderful just as it is and also excellent toasted.

Enjoy!

As I mentioned above, it's Bread Baker time and we are sharing recipes with seasonal produce. Check out the links below. Many thanks to our host Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm.

• Broccoli & Oats Sandwich Bread - Gluten Free by Sneha’s Recipe
• Cheddar Spinach Quick Bread by Food Lust People Love
• Cranberry Orange Beet Bread by Palatable Pastime
• Honeyed Spelt and Oat Levain by A Messy Kitchen
• Pomegranate and Blueberry Jam Milk Buns by Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Pumpkin Nasturtium Pull Apart Bread by Cook with Renu
• Sweet Potato and Cranberry Quick Bread by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Winter Squash Sourdough Boules by Culinary Adventures with Camilla

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

 

Pin this Cheddar Spinach Quick Bread! 

 .

Buttery Herb Millet

This buttery herb millet is first toasted then cooked with broth for added flavor. It’s a great change from pasta or rice, a flavorful side dish!

I just happened to have a pack of millet in the pantry when our Sunday FunDay host for today’s event chose millet for today’s theme. My plan was to grind it up to make millet flour for a completely different recipe. 

The problem was that I have searched and searched and I can’t seem to find that recipe online anymore. So the millet sat languishing unused. I was grateful for the nudge to find another recipe and just use it already. 

Millet is a really nice little grain with a subtle nutty flavor, enhanced by toasting it before cooking. I bought mine at an Indian supermarket but many Asian market sell it also or you can find it online. If you are bored with the potato-pasta-rice rotation, I think you are going to love this!

Buttery Herb Millet

Millet can be cooked with water or stock but I like the flavor the stock adds. If you choose to use just water, you’ll want to add a teaspoon of fine sea salt to the water as well.  

Ingredients

1 cup or 225g millet

2 cups or 480ml broth or stock (from a cube is fine) 

3 tablespoons butter, divided

1/2 medium or 1 whole small yellow onion, chopped finely (Mine weighed 130g)

Small bunch mixed fresh herbs, hard stems removed, chopped finely - I used a combination of chives, parsley, basil and thyme, as shown below.

Method

Toast the millet in a large dry saucepan over a medium heat, stirring frequently, until it turns a lovely golden-brown color. 

This takes several minutes. Be careful not the let the millet burn. 

The photo above is it toasted but it's hard to see the darker toasted color in my pan so I put some untoasted and toasted in little bowls for you, where it becomes more obvious. You are welcome!

Transfer the toasted millet to a pot with a tight-fitting lid. Add the broth to the pot and stir well. 

As the broth warms up, add one tablespoon of the butter and give it another stir.  Bring the broth to a boil.

Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer, covered, for 15-20 minutes or until the liquid is almost all absorbed. 

Remove the pot from the heat and set it aside with the lid still on, to rest for a further 10 minutes.

While it rests, melt the rest of the butter over a medium heat in the pan you used to toast the millet. Add in the chopped onion and sauté until softened, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the chopped herbs, reserving a little bit for garnish, and cook 1 minute more.

Fluff the millet with a fork. 

To make sure you don't leave any butter behind in the pan, use a rubber or silicone spatula to add the onions and herbs to the pot. Use the fork to lightly mix them through the millet.

Serve warm, garnished with the reserved chopped herbs. 

Enjoy!

As I mentioned above, it’s Sunday FunDay and my friends are all sharing recipes using millet. Check out the links below. Many thanks to our host Renu of Cook with Renu. 

• Buttery Herb Millet by Food Lust People Love
• Puffed Millet Granola by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Ragi Idli With Drumstick Sambar/Murungakkai Sambar by Sneha's Recipes
• Ragi Rotti by Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Porso Millet Idli by Cook with Renu

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

Pin this buttery herb millet! 

 .

Sticky Pudding Carrot Pineapple Cake

This vegan sticky pudding carrot pineapple cake is aptly named for the sweet ingredients and the more-ish texture. It is divine alone or with a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of double cream. Decadent for sure. 

November is World Vegan Month so I thought it would be fun to celebrate that with my Foodie Extravaganza friends. There are so many ingredients and dishes that we eat that are “accidentally” vegan that it makes me crazy when people turn their noses up if they see the label. 

If you’ve ever eaten a salad, vegan. Ditto literally every vegetable or fruit. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, vegan. Peanut Butter Cap’n Crunch and Life cereal, vegan. Kraft Creamy Italian Salad Dressing, Campbell’s Mushroom Gravy, Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup, vegan. Lay’s Barbecue Potato Chips, Fritos Barbecue AND Original, all vegan. You can find an ENORMOUS list with just a click. 

And that list is just some of the processed food. 

Cooking at home without including dairy, eggs and meat is super easy. I’ve found some delicious recipes searching not for vegan food but for orthodox lent recipes. Lots of Middle Eastern and Greek dishes that do not disappoint, like my bulgur stuffed peppers! So good. 

Lots of Asian recipes are also accidentally vegan as well, like my coconut chickpea new potato curry and baby eggplant curry (made in an Instant Pot - so quick!) 

Don’t get me wrong, we do eat dairy and meat and eggs but it’s healthier for us and for the planet to try to add meals without them to our menu as well. So that’s always a goal. 

Vegan Sticky Pudding Carrot Pineapple Cake

In the case of this delicious sticky cake recipe, the only substitution required is an alternative “milk.” I did a quick search and most people in my non-judgy vegan Facebook group (they like you wherever you are on the curve of trying to eat more plant-based food) agreed that, for baking, soy milk was best, so that’s what I used. This recipe is adapted from one on Nora Cooks. 

Ingredients

1 lb or 450g peeled carrots

2 1/2 cups or 312g all purpose flour, plus extra for the Bundt pan

1 cup, firmly packed, or 200g brown sugar

1 cup or 200g white sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 cup or 120ml canola oil, plus extra for the Bundt pan

1 cup or 245g crushed pineapple

3/4 cup or 180ml plant-based milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 10-cup Bundt pan by brushing it liberally with oil then coating it with flour. Do not skip this step! Mine stuck on one side, despite my amply preparations. 

Note: I considered afterward that if I baked the cake in a normal pan instead of a Bundt one it might have turned out less puddingy but I have no regrets. My multiple taste testers loved it and that's good enough for me. 

Grate your peeled carrots finely. 

In a large bowl, add all the dry ingredients then whisk well. 

Pour in the canola oil, crushed pineapple, milk and vanilla and fold until just combined with a spatula. 

There may still be a little flour showing and that’s just fine. 

Now fold in the grated carrots. Do not over mix the batter. 

Pour the cake batter into the prepared Bundt pan.

Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a wooden skewer comes out clean from the middle. Put foil over the top if it browns too much before it’s cooked through. 

Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. 

Allow to cool for about 20 minutes before loosening the edges and carefully inverting the pan onto the wire rack. I’m not kidding about how sticky it is. If some sticks to the pan, remove it carefully and stick it back on the cake. 

Yeah, that's what going on on the far side. It's not pretty but it's tasty. 

Once cooled completely, slice to serve.  

Enjoy! 

As I mentioned above, it’s time for my Foodie Extravaganza friends to share their recipes, in honor of World Vegan Month. Check out the links below.

• Baba Ghanoush from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Bhendi - Okra Masala Dry from Sneha’s Recipe
• Capsicum Potato Curry - Aloo Shimla Mirch from Sara's Tasty Buds
• Chickpea Falafel Salad from Palatable Pastime
• Lumina Pumpkin Olan from Magical Ingredients
• Sticky Pudding Carrot Pineapple Cake from Food Lust People Love
• Sweet and Sour Eggplant Salad from A Day in the Life on the Farm

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays by cooking and baking together with the same ingredient or theme each month. Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board.

Pin this Vegan Sticky Pudding

Carrot Pineapple Cake! 

 .