Cinnamon Raisin Bread and Cooking Flops

While I did manage to post a few new recipes in the past week, I feel as if I had more kitchen messes than kitchen successes over the weekend.  I did a lot of experimenting and did not come up with anything brand new to post, but do have a recipes which will remain in the category of "great idea... still needs work!"  These recipes include:  Millet "Meat" Balls (a recipe I found on Bob's Red Mill), Sweet and Sour Chicken with Peppers and Onions over Basmati Rice (I intended to use the Millet Meat Balls for this dish but the texture was not quite right), and Wheat Bulgar Tabbouleh.  The Millet Meat Balls are in the freezer until I can decide what on earth to do them, the Sweet and Sour Chicken is what I am eating for lunches at work this week, and the Tabbouleh wound up in the trash... such a shame!  It's a long story.  Oh, and I grilled portobella mushrooms on the grill on Saturday when the boys had steaks.  I marinated them (the portabellas... not the boys... hee,hee!) in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and rosemary.  Let's just say... I can STILL taste the vinegar more than 24 hours later!  Yikes!!!!  The Cinnamon Raisin Bread with Walnuts and Millet is in the freezer and I am having it for toast in the morning... with peanut butter of course.  I think I like this bread better toasted.

Since I did not think the boys would like my wholesome version of Cinnamon Raisin Bread, I made them their own loaf the next day.  This recipe baked up really nicely in the bread machine. For years, I used to just make dough in the bread machine and then bake the loaves in the oven.  Once I wore my first bread machine into the ground and got my new Sunbeam Bread Machine ($40.00 at WalMart!), I've been having better success with the loaves turning out nicely when I let the machine do all the work.  It's a good thing I took a few photos of this loaf before the boys got to it... they gobbled it up in no time flat.  Here's the recipe:

CINNAMON RAISIN BREAD

Ingredients:

3/4 cup warm milk (I used light soy milk... the boys did not notice)

2 eggs

3 cups bread flour (I used all purpose flour)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt (I used Kosher salt)

3 tablespoons softened butter or margarine

1/4 sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2/3 cups raisins

2 teaspoons active dry yeast (I used Fleishman's Bread Machine Yeast)

Directions:  Place all ingredients in bread pan, select Light Crust setting, 1 1/2 pound loaf size, and press start.  After baking cycle ends, remove bread from pan, place on rack, and allow to cool before slicing.  Recipe adapted from book called "Bread Machine Magic" by Linda Rehberg & Lois Conway.

Some raisins do get minced up when the machine kneads the dough but you know they are in there!

Sweet and Sour Chicken with Peppers and Onions... good enough for my lunches, but not ready for posting.

And finally... Bob's Red Mill "Millet Meat Balls".  Basically, cannelini beans, onion, garlic, and cooked millet rolled in bread crumbs... fairly nice texture on the outside and tastes like creamy hummus inside.  Interesting recipe... they are in the freezer hibernating until I can figure out how to use them.  Hmmm????