I have returned

I had the baby a little tiny girl, go here and here if you like to read birth stories. I’m back in my kitchen sort of. Thankfully one of the things I did get done was to freeze a whole bunch of meals so that I don’t really have to cook yet. Instead I’m baking. I invented this recipe today to use up some oranges that we were given that crossbred with lemons and are very sour. I think if you were to use orange juice this would be a whole lot sweeter. If you use lemon juice it will turn out close to the same as mine, not too sweet and a little bit addictive.

Lemon/Orange Ginger Bread Loaf

3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup of butter
1 cup lemon or orange juice
1/2 cup molasses
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (I used white winter wheat)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ginger
1 cup chopped nuts

Combine ingredients in the order listed. Pour into greased and floured 9 by 5 loaf pan. Bake at 325 for 50-60 minutes. When a toothpick comes out clean it is done.

Notes, try using less sugar with the orange juice if you want fewer calories, or lower GI.

We also made molasses cookies this week. I’ve been messing around with throwing everything in a bowl until it looks right and this week’s batch was really good so I think I’m ready to share. The one thing is that I did add Sucanat to this recipe, which I’ve avoided before, and darn if they weren’t the best ones we’ve ever had. I’ve been making them sugar free up to this point, and though my kids like them, and you can do this recipe without the Sucanat, it won’t be a very sweet cookie. Let’s just say their friend wasn’t all that impressed, even though the Boy ate them by the handful.

Molasses Cookies

1/2 cup of butter
1/2 cup Sucanat
1 egg
1/3 cup black strap molasses
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
2 teaspoons ginger
1 cup ground almonds
1 cup whole wheat flour

Mix everything together in a bowl. Drop onto nonstick cookie sheet, we flattened ours with a fork; they were at least a tbsp, maybe bigger in size. Bake 9 to 15 minutes at 350. You can also roll these out if you refrigerate the dough first.