Photoshop Phriday: Jabrill Peppers

At the start of last football season many Michigan football fans were excited to see what impact freshman Jabrill Peppers would have.  Peppers, a defensive back who also was a running back in high school, was one of the nation’s top recruits coming to Ann Arbor.  Unfortunately just three games into the season Peppers began to have injury problems (ankle, then leg) and would end up sitting out the rest of the season.  He was granted a medical redshirt, meaning last season won’t count against his years of eligibility.

Peppers has popped up in the news recently when it started to circulate (mostly because of Peppers himself) that he would switch from cornerback to safety next season.  His exceptional general athletic ability (see: how he was able to be a standout defensive and offensive player in high school) would certainly be an asset at the position.  He has kept healthy in the offseason thanks to a steady diet of bell peppers (as opposed to cereal and gatorade) and is certainly ready for spring practice to start (Photo credit to Melanie Maxwell).

 

Sriracha, Sesame, and Kaffir Lime Roasted Cashews

You may remember a few weeks ago when I posted about a butternut squash and sage linguine with a cashew cream sauce.  For the cashew cream I had gone to Meijer in search of raw cashews and the smallest bag I found was about half a pound.  So after using just half a cup I was left with most of a bag of raw cashews, not knowing what to do with them.

I kept thinking I would come up with some super creative use for them and incorporate them into a dish, but it never happened.  So one Saturday I decided I would just roast them.  This was the obvious and simple solution but led to an unexpectedly complicated problem; what was I going to put on them?

Photoshop Phriday: University of Michigan Squirrels

I woke up on Wednesday to find my Twitter feed overrun by posts about Squirrel Appreciation Day.  Most of my Twitter follows are related to U of M/Ann Arbor, the Nationals, and bread, so at first glance it may seem strange that these posts were everywhere.  But for those unaware the squirrels on U of M’s have quite the reputation, and the U of M twitterverse (twittersphere?) was giving our great campus squirrels their proper recognition.  They are exceptionally friendly, inquisitive, confident, and as a result very well fed.  Among Michigan’s 1,375 student organizations is a Squirrel Club.  If you really need a squirrel fix, check out the 11,000 pictures one staff member has taken.

If you come for a visit to campus it is pretty hard to miss them and once you leave you’ll realize just how small others are in comparison.  When I used to give tours I would describe the squirrels on campus as domesticated.  With over 40,000 students running around they have adjusted well to a large human presence and it is just as likely that squirrels will get out of your way as you have to get out of theirs.  Two years ago (and you’ll just have to take my word for it), I saw a squirrel use a crosswalk at the corner of State and William, which is pictured above.  In the fall you’ll see squirrels packing away for the winter and perhaps enjoying a special treat of a squirrel sized loaf of buckwheat apple cider sourdough (Photo courtesy of UM Social Media).

 

Garlic Knots

Most weekends I spend busy in the kitchen and catching up on all sorts of things.  This weekend I wanted nothing more than to stay in bed under the covers, occasionally leaving to work on a puzzle or read.  But yesterday morning I woke up and realized I didn’t have a bread to post about.  Enter these garlic knots.  They are the perfect lazy day food.  They are quick, involve little work, and I feel like soft bread with garlic and butter just kind of fits the atmosphere of a lazy day.

I don’t think of garlic knots as something that you eat in a fancy restaurant, but more pulling them apart and eating them on the couch while you watch old episodes of Lost in your Michigan snuggie (you can probably figure out how I spent my Sunday).  When I was looking up recipes so many of them told people to just use crescent rolls or something similar from a tube.  With about 5 minutes more extra work (and a 90 minute nap while it rises) you can makes these from scratch!

Photoshop Phriday: Tyrone Wheatley

As if he were Ron Burgundy and his news team, Jim Harbaugh has been steadily assembling his cadre of assistant coaches since taking the head coaching job.  One of the later pieces to fall into place was former Michigan RB and new coach Tyrone Wheatley.  Could there be a more perfect last name for a Michigan themed bread blog?  I could barley contain my excitement about the hire (that is the only terrible bread pun in this post I promise).  Wheatley averaged an astounding 6.1 yards per carry in his four years at Michigan, including 7.3 in the 1992 season when he was selected as the Big 10 Offensive Player of the Year.

Wheatley capped that incredible season with an even more impressive Rose Bowl agains the University of Washington. On just 15 carries he scored 3 touchdowns and racked up 235 yards (including an 88 yd. TD run).  He was drafted to the NFL in the 1st round and after a 9 year career with the Giants and Raiders he took up coaching.  For the last two years Wheatley was a RB coach for the Buffalo Bills.  It is expected that Wheatley will bring his trademark bag of hard red winter wheat to make sure there is always fresh flour on hand for recruiting visits.

Banana Rye Muffins for #BreadBakers

Being able to multitask in the kitchen is a valuable skill.  If you want separate components of a meal to finish at the same time it not only takes planning but also requires the ability to potentially monitor several pots and pans at once.  But, there is a point where it is probably a good idea to take a step back and let a few things wait.  Last week when I made these muffins I was simultaneously doing several sinks full of dishes, prepping dough for six loaves of bread, and making gnocchi.  This, I discovered, was too much.  I managed to only make one mistake, but it was a doozy.

This months #BreadBakers theme was rye and I was excited to try out this muffin recipe.  I made the batter, used our great silicone baking cups, and popped them in the oven.  I went back to doing dishes and after a few minutes turned around to get something on the kitchen table.  And there I noticed my small bowl with 2 cups rye flour, baking soda, and salt.  Yes, that’s right.  I had poured a mixture of sugar, oil, butter, vanilla, and bananas into muffin tins and at no point did I think ‘Hey, this is missing something’.

Butternut Squash & Sage Linguine with Cashew Cream

Throughout the summer I mentioned the bumper crop of cabbage that consistently found its way into our CSA box.  Well in our last box we didn’t get cabbage but instead got a butternut squash which sat on our kitchen table for a few weeks.  We’ve cooked with lots of different types of squash and I wanted to find a new way to use it.  I came across this recipe involving a cashew cream sauce, something I had never heard of.

Cashew cream is nothing more than a blended combination of cashews and water and is commonly used by vegan cooks as a substitute for dairy cream.  All you do is soak the cashews in water for a few hours, then blend until smooth.  We don’t make too many heavy cream sauce pasta dishes and this presented a healthier option.

Photoshop Phriday: Bennie Oosterbaan

Before moving into a new building a few years ago the Michigan football team practiced in Oosterbaan Field House.  If they had wanted the University would have been perfectly justified in giving the same name to the basketball or baseball facilities.  Nowadays there are few prominent college football players that see action on both sides of the ball and even fewer play multiple sports.  But from 1924-1928 Bennie Oosterbaan managed to play 3 sports, and play them all exceedingly well.  He was a five-time All American selection, three times for football and twice for basketball.  On the football field Oosterbaan did it all.  He was a star receiver, defensive end, and a quarterback when needed; in 1927 against OSU he threw three touchdown passes.

When not playing football or basketball, you could find Oosterbaan on a baseball field.  In his senior year Oosterbaan won both the Big 10 basketball scoring and baseball batting titles.  After a star athletic career he transitioned to coaching right after graduation.  He was the head coach of Michigan’s basketball team from 1938-46 and then in 1948 took the reins of the football team.  Given everything you already know about him, it should be no surprise to find out they won the national title that year.  How did he have the energy for three varsity sports?  Lots of seedy salt bread of course!

Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread

While I haven’t taken a break from blogging recently today is my first day back at work in about two weeks.  Working at a university I sometimes forget that the overwhelming majority of people don’t get so much time off at the end of each year.  When I was a student my parents would ask what I wanted to do over winter break and I would firmly state, “nothing”.  And I kept my word.  I was very good about having a wholly unproductive and enjoyable two week vacation.

Nowadays things are different.  It is a great time to spend all day trying out new recipes, stocking up the freezer, and going with friends to SkyZone, an indoor trampoline park in nearby Canton (where I can finally dunk on a 10 ft. hoop).  The extra time gave me the opportunity to make more involved breakfasts and this bread was a part of several of those.  Given the sugar content though a piece can just as easily function as a dessert.

Photoshop Phriday: Junior Hemingway

Former Michigan wide receiver Junior Hemingway was a member of a particularly resilient senior class at Michigan.  Like me, Hemingway came to Ann Arbor in 2007 when Lloyd Carr was coaching the football team.  Following Carr’s retirement he played for three years under Rich Rodriguez, then Brady Hoke as a fifth year senior.  His fourth and fifth years were his best when he had yardage totals just under 600 and 700 yards, respectively.

In his final game, the 2012 Sugar Bowl, Hemingway had just two catches but he made them count.  The first got Michigan on the board at the end of the first half and the second was an incredible catch in the back of the endzone in the third quarter.  In one of the most bizarre Michigan games of the past few years, this was enough to earn him MVP honors.  My one impression of him off the field is another great memory.  A few years ago when flying home for winter break he was waiting for a flight at the gate across from mine.  Some young kids recognized him and approached him to say hi and get an autograph.  He ended up talking to them for about 15 minutes and they left with huge grins and their day made.  As this Melanie Maxwell photo shows, Sugar Bowl MVP honors earn you a loaf of bacon shallot sourdough.