Stolen French Bread/Les Miserables

I was really proud of myself for this pairing.

My original intention was to make some fancy French recipe like a bouillabaisse or a galette for this movie. Seeing as how I'm a wee bit behind on the Oscar countdown, it was a double whammy when I came up with this easy but relevant idea.

I'm making Jean Valjean's stolen french bread. Duh.

Before we get to that, though, I will give you an update for my Oscar picks. Once again I remind you that these are not the movies that I think are going to win; they are simply what the Academy of Kim picks (although the nominees are not what she would have picked in the first place, but we won't get into that right now.

Kim's picks:
1. Beasts of the Southern Wild
2. Amour
3. Silver Linings Playbook
4. Les Miserables
5. Django Unchained

And the Kimmy goes to...

Recipe: Jean Valjean's Stolen French Bread

Rosemary Root Vegetable Soup/Rosemary's Baby

I BROUGHT THE SNOW TO MASSACHUSETTS

I also still don't know how to spell Massachusetts, despite living here for almost 7 months. Thank goodness for spell check.

It was really cold and snowy here so all I did was cook. All day long. Alongside this homemade soup and bread in this entry, I also made pasta, pesto, muffins, salad, and salad dressing - all from scratch. Yes, even the pasta. It was the perfect way to spend the day. Watching Rosemary's Baby was the perfect way to end it. I wish every day was Saturday.

The recipe for the bread came from this awesome book called Ratio, which I would highly recommend for any aspiring baker. It gives you the basic ratios for the main ingredients in staple foods such as bread, pasta, and even sausage. You can then add things as you wish and pretty much end up with something delicious. It reads more like a book than a cookbook, with long detailed explanations behind the methodology of each recipe. So far, it gave me the best damned bread I've ever had. It was a great gift from a great person :)

Get it!

Recipe: Rosemary Root Vegetable Soup

Elmo's Sweet Potato Biscuits/Being Elmo

Every soup needs a bread! And I had a lot of sweet potatoes. I'm not a huge fan of the sweet potatoes covered in butter and brown sugar, so once I came across the recipe for these biscuits, I knew I had to make them. I also appreciated that there was no butter; just a bit of olive oil as the fat. As much as I love the pockets of butter in my baked goods, I would rather not eat that every day. Also, the were super easy, and come from a Sesame Street cookbook. I got the original recipe from here - unfortunately I do not own said cookbook.

The biscuits were DELICIOUS with the everything-soup I made last week. Lunchtime was very exciting. They turned out to be a cross between a biscuit and cornbread, but that worked for me because cornbread is awesome.

Eat them with some SOUP

Recipe: Elmo's Sweet Potato Biscuits