fueling up on carbs before watching the olympics

On Thursday night, my newly married friends, Jo and Thad, invited some friends over to enjoy the Olympics and a nice meal.  In doing so, they were also able to show off some of their wedding gifts. And by show off I mean that they haven't really unpacked any of their gifts (sorry friends of Jo and Thad) and the boxes in the kitchen allowed us to eat our meal right in front of the television.  There were no complaints about the dinner table location.  Half-pipe snowboarding  followed by mens figure skating calls for dinner in front of a TV; even if you don't like the sports, the uniforms for figure skating are entertaining enough.  Jo and Thad made an amazing peppery pesto pasta with soy chicken, which we ate with a spinach salad dressed with blue cheese, cranberries and a vinaigrette dressing.  My contribution to the meal was far less healthy, and its only introduction was "Jo - do you have any butter?  This needs to be eaten with butter." 

No-knead bread was first introduced to me by one of my favorite blogs, Big Girls Small Kitchen.  You should check out the blog if you haven't yet.  It is GREAT.  This bread is extremely easy to make, and is an excellent addition to any meal (or a meal in itself).  Since I am on an annoyingly tight budget, making this bread has become pretty regular ; I think I have made 8 loaves in the last month (possibly 4 too many).  Since most of the ingredients exist in almost every kitchen, it is a good way to stretch a small budget, and it is always a crowd pleaser.  I like to put the whole loaf in the oven to reheat (although a toaster works just fine), and eat with butter, jam, or cheese...you can eat it with anything.  Find the recipe here.  And be sure to follow Phoebe and Cara's blog if you haven't  yet.

[photo credit: josephine sittenfeld photography]

The best part about this particular loaf is that I convinced Jo to photograph it for me.  Both Jo and Thad are photographers.  More of Jo's work can be seen at josephine photography.  And a blog entry about  Jo and Thad's New Year's Eve Wedding in Providence to come soon.

Enjoy your bread, and enjoy the Olympics.
-S-