i'd rather be baking

It’s no secret that I like a good shortcut now and then. I’m at the bakery piping buttercream by seven each morning, so I’ve taken to brewing coffee the night before and pouring it over ice on my way out. Lately my straightener doesn’t see the light of day for more than three seconds until Friday each week. I lay out my clothes each night like a second grader. These are my twenty-more-minutes-of-sleep shortcuts, and I take them unapologetically.

I grew up eating those Pillsbury-popped-from-a-can cinnamon rolls every Sunday morning, and gosh, they taste good. My cinnamon roll sensibilities have improved a little but I think I have those childhood Sunday mornings to thank for my recent cinnamon hankering. I wanted to make cinnamon rolls from scratch, but didn’t want to wait around for three or four hours of rise time before church. That’s why I got really excited when I read this recipe.

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I may have completely lost my mind.

I put both jalapeños and cheddar cheese into a loaf of bread. And now we can’t stop eating it.

This bread has now been eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It has happily provided a vehicle for egg sandwiches and some particularly fantastic BLTs. This is certainly not the healthiest bread I’ve ever made, but Ryan quickly pronounced it the best. I’m not sure I can argue.

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Everybody makes banana bread, right? That’s what I thought until I began bringing it to share with coworkers at various previous jobs of mine. People would go nuts. They couldn’t believe it. One lady told me that she makes her family banana bread from a boxed mix. What? I didn’t really know such things existed.

I was raised to believe that banana bread was what you did with those nasty looking, brown-spotted bananas that are otherwise completely disgusting. Mash them up, stir in some wet and dry stuff, stick it in the oven and something magical happens. That’s basically ten-year-old Laura’s understanding of the whole process.

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I’ve been wanting to make focaccia bread for a really long time, but I’ll admit, I’m a little lazy when it comes to the overnight proofing of breads. The whole concept kind of annoys me. Patience isn’t my forte.

I’ve had this focaccia from Simply Recipes flagged for quite a while for just that reason: no 12-hour wait is necessary! And last week I got a rather urgent craving for my favorite summer salad from Panera Bread. You know, that one with big chunks of bread, mozzarella, tomatoes, and red onions. The focaccia would wait no longer.

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It’s been an unseasonably chilly, snowy week here. I honestly thought I’d never tire of snow, but today, as May begins, it’s getting old.

And honestly, the cold, dreary weather feels like a reminder of other kinds of dark and dreary, of lonely and tired and frustrated. You know, the kinds of dark and dreary that plague us all from time to time, but seem more prevalent in places and roles that still feel new and uncertain.

And still I find myself reminded that beneath the snow, there are golden daffodils and bright pink tulips, poking their persistent heads through winter’s grasping chokehold, choosing to embrace what little sunshine they can find. It would be easy for them to succumb to the unexpected cold snap, but they don’t.

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