So I bought my bread maker a million years ago at a yard sale I believe in Nor Cal. For those of you who know me you will know that it had to be a million years ago because my yard sale days are long gone. I was the proud owner of a Nor Cal 1940's Bungalow and I so enjoyed spending my weekends looking for treasures...especially retro kitchen products to accessorize my cute little casa. If you look in my garage today you would still be impressed by the fact that I own a complete set of Fire King Jadite dishes, an art deco mantel clock and a deco beveled mirror to name a few of the collectibles that have traveled with me throughout the years. However, today owning a 1970's residence just doesn't inspire the same level of desire to recreate that look...hmmm cant imagine why-shag carpet, lava lamps and bean bag chairs...yeah no.

Anyway I digress so I recently found my bread machine hidden in the hall closet and I decided to bring it out and try it again. Unfortunately I had lost the instruction manual over the years so I went on-line to try and remember how to use it....yeah its so old the manual is no longer on-line. So I found some generic bread machine recipes and decided to give it a shot. I made Herbed Vinaigrette Bread and as you know I never make a recipe multiple times however this bread recipe is so good that yesterday I  made it for the 3rd time in the last 6 weeks. I have also found that it is really good leftover and toasted with some butter spread on it. The bread has a subtle tang due to the balsamic vinegar and the herbs and onions give it a nice flavor. It is chewy on the inside but it has a nice hard crust on the outside. I highly recommend it!!



Herbed Vinaigrette Bread (1 1/2 lb recipe or 12 slices)

3/4 cup + 2T water
1T balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup chopped red onion
1T vegetable oil
3 cups bread flour
1 tsp dried tarragon
2T sugar
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp yeast

Put all ingredients in your bread machine in the order recommended by your bread machine maker. Select the basic/white cycle and use medium or light crust.



I served the bread with a Sausage and Vegetable Stew which was perfect considering it was actually cold. I went for a run at 0830 and it was 42 degrees...although I love running in cold weather  I felt like a human popsicle for the first 2 miles and then of course I was way too hot after that. So there I was stripping off layers of clothes halfway through my 6 mile run and trying to figure out where to tie, stash or carry the rest of my additional clothing. But I was bound and determined to get in my run because I was a spaz and decided to sign up for a half marathon for next weekend...yup nothing better than a cold turkey half marathon...hope I can walk after.

Back to the stew you saute the onions and garlic in olive oil which smells heavenly. Then add 1T paprika which gives the soup its pretty red color. I used smoked paprika to give it more of a well I guess smokey flavor haha. The broth is just water but between the sausage, paprika, salt, pepper and butter it truly has a great flavor. The stew is laden with vegetables-carrots, parsnips and potatoes. My only suggestion would be to go with the low end of potatoes unless you truly are a carb lover. The recipe calls for 6-8 red potatoes and my potatoes were medium sized and I used 7 of them and there were a lot of potatoes. The kielbasa adds an additional smokey flavor and makes the stew a little more hardy. It is served with an herbed sour cream and I just have to say don't skip it because it gives the stew an additional creamy and fresh contrast.

Hope everyone is staying warm and dry this weekend. And I will miss you next week as I am out of town for work so unless I can figure out a way to write about creative microwave meals in hotel rooms I probably won't be doing too much cooking. Cheers my friends!