Pillsbury Bake Off $1 Million

I was just watching a repeat of last year's Pillsbury Bake Off. The winner, Anna, has her own cookie blog, Cookie Madness. She posts almost daily cookie recipes with pictures. What a find!

The next bake off has the 100 finalist. All of the recipes are available on Yahoo food.

And while I was motivated by the show to think of my own recipe, I will have to wait until 2009 to enter and 2010 to be one of the finalist for the million dollar prize- start thinking of your winning recipe and join me!

Click here to support breast cancer research by purchasing an original Breast Cancer No Excuses T-Shirt

Instant Pancake Mix

We love pancakes in our house but I hate buying the pre-made stuff. I found this recipe for instant pancake mix from Alton Brown on The Food Network. You mix it up and store it in the fridge, just like the pre-made. It taste great and is easy to do. I don't usually have buttermilk, so I use milk, but it does taste better with buttermilk.

I made bread!

I love to cook, but I have only made bread a few times. I make some great rolls from scratch at Thanksgiving (I don't know why I don't do it more often!) and I make pizza dough occasionally. I have been so concerned with the high fructose corn syrup you find in ALMOST every loaf of bread in the store that I have been telling everyone to check what you are eating. Someone once told me they heard a doctor say that our bodies know what to do with sugar because it has been around forever, but high fructose corn syrup is new and probably what is causing obesity. It is in everything. So my friend Kristen told me she made bread the other day and it was not too hard. She even made it without a bread machine. And then my niece Gabriella had to make bread for a 4th grade school project, and hers came out good too. So I decided, why not? I found this cookbook that had been my grandmother's called The New York Times Natural Foods Cookbook (this particular copy was copywrited 3 years before I was born!. In it our tons of bread recipes. I choose crusty white bread. You did not even kneed it! It turned out pretty good, I even impressed my mom! :)

5 cups unbleached flour
1 tsp sea salt
1 package dry active yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
1/4 cup olive oil
2/3 cup milk plus 1 tablespoon
1 egg, lightly beaten

Mix the flour and the salt together. In a separate bowl, mix the lukewarm water and the yeast and dissolve the yeast. Add 2/3 cup milk and the oil and stir well.(**I learned one time do not make the water too hot, it kills the yeast!). Combine with the flour mixture. Mix it vigorously until combined. Place in an oiled bowl. Cover and let it rise double. (This takes about 1 1/2 hours). Punch it down and divide it into two halves. Roll each to 1/2 inch thick and then roll into a jelly roll. Leave both on a oiled cookie sheet and let it rise double again (this takes about 30 minutes). Mix beaten egg and 1 tablespoon of milk and brush over the top of the bread. Put a pan of hot water into the oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cook at 400 degrees for 15 minutes then lower to 350 degrees for 15 minutes until browned.

When you make it, you can control what is in it! I challenge you t make some bread soon!