Poppy Seed Bread and Plenty More

I found this recipe in an old church cookbook and gave it a try this weekend.  I take breakfast breads such as muffins, coffeecake, quick breads along with fresh fruit to church for some Adult Education classes.  Along with baking muffins for my DH's cross country team, this gives me the chance to try some new recipes.

I have some poppy seed bread recipes that start out with a cake mix but I don't always have a cake mix on hand.  Also, I wanted a recipe that wasn't lemon.  The amazing thing about this recipe was that I had the three flavorings in my cupboard.  It was truly delicious and moist and what was left after Sunday School was taken to the youth group and they finished it off. 

Poppy Seed Bread - Makes 2 loaves

3 cups flour
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 cups milk (I use powdered milk reconstituted in the water)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
1 1/2 teaspoons butter flavoring

Combine the flour, sugar, poppy seeds and baking powder in a mixer bowl and mix well.  Add the milk, oil, eggs and the extracts and flavoring.  Beat for 1 to 2 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally.  Spoon batter into two 5 x 9 inch greased and floured loaf pans.  (HINT:  I cut a piece of parchment paper to fit in the bottom only of the loaf pan and then I butter the paper.  This makes it so easy to get the bread out of the pan without tearing the bottom of the loaf.)  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.  Cool in pans for 5 minutes. 

I didn't do the next step as I wasn't sure how sticky it would make the tops of the loaves and I also thought the bread was sweet enough. For those who want to try it, here are the rest of the instructions.

Combine the following in a bowl and mix well:  3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup orange juice, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/2 teaspoon almond extract and 1/2 teaspoon butter flavoring.  Drizzle over the tops of the loaves. 

I wasn't sure if the sugar would dissolve well enough and perhaps I will try this the next time but I will use powdered sugar instead of the granulated sugar.

Now as to what I have been up to:  DECLUTTERING!!  I have more to do, but that will have to wait for another week.  In the meantime I am leaving tomorrow for Kansas City to go to a church conference and will be back Friday evening.  I have been doing laundry and some cleaning in hopes that my home won't look like a disaster when I return. 

When my son asked what he and my DH were going to have to eat for dinner when I was gone, I simply said "your dad will take care of it."  No way was I going to spend time thinking about this.  My DH's response is that he will fire up the grill and they will have hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken.  I told both of them that there were plenty of things to eat from the freezer and my DH's reply was "we will be fine." 

My husband is the best.  He doesn't worry about meals when he is home alone as he is pretty self sufficient.  He isn't much of a cook but he can grill meat, make eggs, pancakes and French toast along with a few other things.

It is unusual for me to be gone for 3 days and I am looking forward to being with friends from church and to also make some new acquaintances. 

This morning's newspaper reported the high numbers of those living in poverty and also individuals receiving assistance from food banks.  I started thinking about what it would take to come up with 3 days' worth of groceries to give away.  I've thought about this for a long time as a possible "missions" project at our church.  I am pondering items to put into 2 brown paper bags or even one brown paper bag that would be enough food to make meals for 3 days for a family of four.  In the brown bag could be recipes and instructions of how to make those items into meals. 

These meals would definitely be low cost meals as we would want to be able to make up as many brown bags as possible.  I envision any meat being kept in a freezer in our church that we could drop into one of the bags when someone needed food. 

Food banks are being stretched to the limit and although several churches in our community provide 3 evening meals at the end of the month for anyone in our community, I keep wondering about what else we can do.  I worry especially about children during school vacations and holidays and for that matter weekends, when they are not receiving school breakfast and lunches.  No one should go hungry.

I'll be back blogging Friday or Saturday.  If anyone makes the poppy seed bread tell me how you like it.  Also remember that we are coming into the "holiday" season with Christmas only 3 months away.  Many of you may be like me looking for possible recipes for food gifts to give away.  This poppy seed bread fits the bill.