Back in my pre-kid days I went through a 6 month bread-making phase. Without a bread machine. It takes some time but is so totally worth it. What goes better with bread than soup?

My friend brought over some chayotes. (Thanks, Rebecca!)

I didn’t take this picture. Obviously.

Photo from Palace of Latin Food blog.

Have you had these? I hadn’t. Having no idea what to do with them, I found this recipe for chayote soup. It was really easy & yummy – but much better the second and third day. Then I went crazy and made this excellent bread to have with it. YUM!

Here’s what you need for the soup:

Where’s the lid?

INGREDIENTS:
2 tbsp butter OR olive oil
1 small yellow onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 chayote squashes, peeled & diced
[OPTIONAL] 3 large carrots, sliced
3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
salt & pepper to taste
crushed red pepper to taste (start with 1/4 tsp)
2.5 cups vegetable broth
1 veg bullion cube (use a chicken flavored one if you can find it! – I actually threw in an old chicken bullion cube I had in the cabinet but Ralph’s has vegetable ones that have a chicken flavor without the poor chicken!)

1. Prepare onion, garlic & chayote.

NOTE: I am no chayote expert but did read about a milky white substance that weeps out of the chayote when you skin/cut it which can cause skin sensitivities. That’s why I wore rubber gloves when cutting! ‘Course I might just be a real Nancy but Lord knows my hands are dry enough & don’t need any added irritants.

2. Melt butter in large saucepan. Saute onion for 4-5 minutes or until translucent.
Add garlic for another minute. Add chayote, carrots,  2 tbsp cilantro & red pepper. Stir to coat with butter.

As you can plainly see, I forgot to add the cilantro. And the carrots. But you won’t!

3. Stir in vegetable broth, bullion cube & 1 tbsp cilantro. Heat to boiling & then simmer on low for 30 minutes. I think I simmered mine over an hour – I kept tasting my chayote to see if it was tender.

4. Ok. Here’s the tricky part. I couldn’t even photograph this since I needed both hands and was using my phone to take pix. In a blender or food processor, puree the whole kit and caboodle until smooth. I did a little at a time because last time I tried to puree a hot soup in the blender there was a LOT of clean up on the surrounding environs. If you like it a little chunky – just puree it a little.

You’ll notice I have whole carrot slices in my soup. That’s because I added maple glazed carrots as an afterthought. I actually have these in my refrigerator all the time for Bea. I will add a link to that recipe as soon as I get a chance! Anyway, they are really tasty but I definitely wouldn’t make them JUST for this soup – carrots do add a nice sweetness though.

5. Pour into bowls & garnish with cilantro or even a dollop of sour cream.

This soup tastes better the second, third & fourth days. VERY healthy yet it seems creamy!

Adapted from AllRecipes.

Now for the bread!! Ooooooohhhh the bread!!

Whoever wrote the directions did it so perfectly I have to just repeat them verbatim. No way to improve on them…

Here’s what you’ll need:

(I just realized I put that Flax Seed in the picture but then forgot to add it to the bread dough. Anyway – you can add a little to the bread dough for extra fiber, lignans & omega 3 fats.)

INGREDIENTS:
2 c boiling water
1 c rolled oats
1/2 c honey
2 tbsp butter
2 tsp salt
1 (.24 oz) package of active dry yeast (or 1 1/4 tsp)
1/2 c warm water (NOT hot – hot will kill your yeast)
1.5 c whole wheat flour
4 c bread flour

2 tbsp milk
2 tbsp honey
handful of rolled oats

1. In large mixing bowl (stand mixer bowl if you have one), combine boiling water to oats, honey, butter and salt. Let stand 1 hour.

2. In small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

Someone forgot to take a picture of this.

3. Pour the yeast mixture into the oats mixture. Combine wheat flour and bread flour in separate bowl.

Add 2 cups of flour mixture to oats mixture and combine well.

Continue adding flour mixture to mixing bowl by 1⁄2 cup increments until dough pulls together.

It’s starting to pull together:

But you can see it needs a little more flour:

This will happen when between 5 1⁄2 & 6 cups of flour has been added. You may not need the last 1⁄2 cup of flour. (I did!)

4. When the dough has pulled together, turn it onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Or add your bread hook to your mixer and knead for a few minutes.

5. Lightly oil a large bowl, place dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hr. (I preheat the oven for about 5 minutes then turn it off, make sure it’s warm but not hot and put the bowl in there to rise, this seemed to work best because for this recipe is there is much more flour than yeast).

Risen dough:

6. Deflate the dough and turn it onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into two equal pieces and form into loaves. Place in 9 x 5 greased loaf pans and cover with damp cloth & let rise again until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. (I return the pans to the oven for this step too.)

7. Preheat oven to 375. While oven is preheating mix milk and honey together in mug and microwave for about 20 seconds. Brush warm milk mixture over loaves and generously sprinkle with rolled oats.

8. Bake loaves at 375 for 25‐30 minutes or until top is golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Let cool before removing from pans.

Can we see that again from another angle?

Whole Wheat Honey Oatmeal Bread recipe copied verbatim (pix are mine!) from Fly Through Our Window

You can freeze this – just wrap in foil & then put in an airtight Ziploc Freezer Bag.

She’s got a PDF file as a link on her site!