I Love My Bread + Some Recipes

I once weighed forty more pounds then I do now. I gained all that weight after I quit smoking. It took me six years to take off thirty pounds and then I was stuck. I tried every sort of diet and nothing seemed to work, until I added bread back into my diet and then the extra ten pounds disappeared. Go figure. It is good news for me, because I love my bread.

Delicious Pastries and Bread at Tous Les Jours

Normally I eat very healthy bread, made from whole grains, preferably baked by me with very little sugar or honey. If it is going to be store bought, I buy the multigrain bread at Costco. But I really love croissants and crusty French bread.

This morning I got up early and swam. Afterwards I went over to H-Mart http://www.hmart.com/ on Blalock to have a chocolate croissant and coffee at the bakery there called Tous Les Jours http://tlj.co.kr/ . Check out the website it’s interesting, even if you do not know Korean.

At Tous Les Jours it is only $1.75 for the chocolate croissant and $1.55 for regular coffee, I was in heaven. The croissant is flakey with enough chocolate to be distinctive without being overly chocolate or to sweet. The coffee was excellent as well. Before I discovered this Korean / French bakery my favorite chocolate croissant was at kraftsmen bakery http://www.kraftsmenbaking.com/ on Montrose and cost $2.95. Quite frankly Tous Les Jours got it down pat. I have tried their apple pastry and a cheese one, which were fine, but nothing compares to the chocolate croissant. I also like their banquette at $1.99.

Recipes Made from Recent Purchases

I frequently buy things that look good and are on sale, and then I am tasked with figuring out what to make them with the ingredients. From time to time on this blog I will put a picture of something I made and give you a brief outline of the dish and how I put it together. Please do not expect that I will measure out the ingredients – it just is not going to happen.

Farmer’s Market Arugula

I bought arugula and cremini mushrooms at the farmer’s market on Saturday. I made a pasta dish with it. Ingredients For Pasta & Arugula:

• Chopped garlic
• Sliced cremini mushrooms
• Pignoli nuts
• Diced cherry tomatoes
• Arulga
• Cooked bowtie pasta
• Virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Sheared parmesan cheese.

I sautéed the garlic with the mushrooms in olive oil, then added the pignoli nuts and salt and pepper. When the pasta was done, I tossed it with the garlic, mushroom, pignoli nut mixture and the tomatoes and arugula, sprinkled it with parmesan cheese and added some fresh ground pepper. I drank a Pinot Noir with it.

Trip to H-Mart: 21-25 Count Shrimp on Sale $3.99 a Pound

The shrimp looked delcious and the price was right, so I picked up a little over a half a pound and brought it home. Now I had to figure out what to make. I decided on making what I am calling: Houston Black Bean Shrimp Salad.

Here are the ingredients:

• Zest of lime
• Lime juice (same lime I zested)
• Black beans, one can rinsed
• Cilantro
• Peeled and diced tomato
• Poblano pepper diced
• Diced scallion
• White Wine vinegar
• Cooked shrimp, peeled and deviened then cut lengthwise and in half again
• Salt and pepper

I mixed the cooked and sliced shrimp and black beans together. I mixed the remaining ingredients together and poured that over the black bean and shrimp mixture. I chilled the salad in the refrigerator for about an hour. It was yummy, but I bet the leftovers will be even better tomorrow.