My boss is having a birthday next week, and the office celebrated today at our staff meeting. Yesterday afternoon I found myself wondering what I could make to contribute to the party. The meeting was to take place in the morning, so standard chips, dips, cheese & cracker snacks were out.

Thinking about my pantry, I remembered I had a large bag of dried cherries needing to be put to good use. I wondered if I could make some sort of fruity sweet bread using the dried cherries in lieu of raisins, blueberries, or other fruit. Then I thought about how well cherry and almonds go together, and voila! Cherry-Almond Bread was born.

I searched the internet and cobbled together a recipe based on a few separate sites. I liked the idea of using an Amaretto glaze, but since I don’t drink alcohol and really didn’t want to go buy a bottle for just one recipe, I chose to improvise.

Results are below!

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The other day I stopped in at Panera Bread to grab some lunch. I tried the sample bread they had out, and LOVED it, so I ordered a loaf. Tomato Basil. How can you go wrong?

Over the weekend I used it for toast and sandwiches. On Saturday morning I made myself an egg sandwich and oh my...so good!

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We also made heavenly grilled cheese sandwiches last night. Tomato Basil bread, sharp Australian aged white cheddar, fresh basil, and sliced tomatoes. Grilled to perfection and served with tomato soup and garden salad. Alas, no photos. But holy cow. You should try it. Yum.

The tastiest and best quick bread experiment so far this season. Soooo yummy!

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Another recipe from this cookbook.

I noticed this little recipe blurb only AFTER I had finished cooking the bread:

All the measuring is conveniently done in the yogurt carton for this large, moist loaf.

PLEASE. I never EVER want to hear the phrase “large, moist loaf” again. Never. Ever.

Despite that, the bread turned out really tasty. And the novelty and convenience of doing all the measuring with a yogurt carton is pretty sweet.

I doubled the recipe and made 2 loaves. I also made a pineapple glaze to drizzle on top. Mmm. Tropical!

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If I ever make this in the future, I think I'll have to call it co-yo bread. :)

From page 37 of this cookbook.

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This recipe is apparently from Epicurious.com and Bon Appetit Magazine, but I originally saw it in the Seattle PI.

I don’t like pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread, but yesterday just felt like the kind of day that begged for something warm and spicy in the oven. I had 4 hungry roommates at home, all in the midst of mid-term studying, and the quiet kitchen was all mine. So I decided to give it a go.

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On Tuesday I popped into Trader Joe’s on my lunch break just to browse the aisles a bit. I grabbed some dried pineapple, and while I was in that section, I noticed a package of dried hibiscus calyces, known in Mexico as jamaica. I love hibiscus herbal tea, and the package was pretty cheap, so I couldn’t resist.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised! The flowers have a sweet flavor – almost like a cross between strawberries and cranberries without the tartness. Very tasty. I decided they’d be good in scones. A quick internet search yielded 0 hibiscus scone recipes (go figure), so I modified a cranberry scone recipe instead.

( Orange-Jamaica (hibiscus flower) Scones )

*Of course, I used the dried hibiscus flowers in place of cranberries for this recipe.

I didn’t use unsalted butter, and I should have. Or less salt. The scones turned out a bit too salty for my liking. Otherwise, they’re pretty good.

I still have a few flowers left, but I may have to buy more, because I found an awesome hibiscus flower agua fresca recipe that I am dying to try.

Recipe and photos behind the cut.

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I made these to go with dinner last night, but they are also pretty good for breakfast. I had one with an egg. They’d be good with an omelette, as well.