Modern family, a mug cake, and mah blog.

I know I said I was quitting the mug cakes but my microphone didn’t work in my Body Pump class tonight so I had to yell through the entire thing and after that exertion I earned it. Run on sentence. Crazy loud girl with a barbell.

I almost made a mug cake last night because I stayed up until 2 am doing homework which, for me, is the equivalent of an all nighter. Usually I’m in bed by 11. Somewhere during my acoustics haze I took out all the ingredients and then snapped out of it and put everything away. Addiction.

This is the cool thing I made this weekend! Yay.

Now Baba’s and Panera Bread will have to fight over me.

It was summer weather this weekend but I still wanted to make soup. This one has all my favorite things in it!

Spicy Tomato Soup

1 28 oz can whole tomatoes

1/2 onion, diced

2 gloves garlic, minced

6 or 7 basil leaves, chopped

2 cups chicken stock

big pinch of red pepper flakes

olive oil

salt and pepper

Remove the tomatoes from the can with a slotted spoon and spread onto a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast at 350 degrees for a half hour.

Saute the onions in olive oil until translucent. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes, then tomatoes, juice from the can, and chicken stock. Let everything cook together for about a half hour. Blend until smooth in a food processor or blender, or make me jealous with your immersion blender. I swear if I had one I’d find a way to use it all the time.

Continue to cook for another 15-20 minutes, then add basil. Serve in a bowl made of PRETZEL. Or eat it cold out of tupperware at school because you’re too lazy to walk 10 feet to the microwave, and call it gazpacho.

Moving on to pretzel bread! Our friend Travis asked me a few weeks ago if I could make it, so I did my research (foodgawker) and decided to give it a shot. I only made a little in case it didn’t turn out right. I shouldn’t have doubted myself.

There are a few things I love about this recipe. 1) It’s easy. 2) It comes from a blog called “Stresscake.”  3) The author of said blog wanted to be authentic and use pretzel salt so she ordered a pound and a half of it off the internet. I think we would get along.

Pretzel Bread

1 ½ cups warm water

1 tbs active dry yeast

2 tsp sugar

4 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 tsp kosher salt

4 tbs unsalted butter, melted

large saucepan of water

1/4 cup baking soda

1 egg, beaten

salt for the top

Combine the water and yeast and let it sit for 5-10 minutes. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, sugar, and salt. Add the melted butter and yeast mixture. Mix with your hands or dough hooks until it’s soft. (I had to add a little extra water to mine.) Knead for a few minutes until smooth. Let it rise in an oiled or buttered bowl for an hour.

After the initial rise, separate into rolls or bigger portions if you’re going to make bread bowls. You could also do a loaf, but you’ll need a big pot to poach it. Cover and let rise for another half hour.

Boil a large pot of water, then add 1/4 cup of baking soda. Place the rolls into the water- do it in shifts so you don’t crowd the pot. Let each sit for 30 seconds then turn it to the other side and take it out.

Brush with beaten egg. Note to self: buy pastry brush. Hands are NOT an adequate substitute.

Cut slits in the top then sprinkle with salt. Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes.

And then I made it into a bread bowl for my soup!

I generously gave Kelly a piece and she compared it to Auntie Anne’s and asked when I can move up to the cinnamon sugar kind. That will be my next endeavor.