Memories of Poppy Seed Bread!

20 years ago
Tracy and Kimmie started off on their road to wedded bliss. And what's amazing is that each day just gets better than the day before.

I don't think that there ever was a more Happy or Excited girl than
I was the day I married the love of my life.

I was SO excited to be a WIFE
(especially Tracy's wife)
and was SO excited to cook and to feed my hubby...sending him out the door each day with breakfast, a kiss and lunch box of yummyness and greeting him at the door each night with a hug and kiss and also making a yummy meal each night for him to come home to as well.
20 years later
this same excitement is still very real and still very much a part of my daily life.

When I got married
I had never made bread before,
never made a pie,
never soaked and cooked beans or
never did any type of canning.

This was back before the
"World Wide Web"
and so I read encyclopedias, LOVED reading magazines and many other books about cooking, trying to learn basic cooking skills. There was no such thing as going online and querying "how to make bread", or "how to cook dried beans", or "recipe for Beef Stew", etc....
************************

(WARNING...Crazy photos showing how Kimmie used to be a little "skinny minnie" and check out the post-80's hair-do! Tracy used to call it "The Claw", LOL! I look at these photos and go "what was I thinking with doing my hair like that?!?)

This photo is of our cute little kitchen in our first apartment. I spent the first four years of married life cooking in that little space. All the counter space you see, is all that I had.
I wanted to be a wife and homemaker SO badly
that I didn't let that little space keep me from cooking and baking.

Many batches of breads and rolls were rolled out on that tiny counter top, as well homemade pies at Thanksgiving time. Many pots of soups and many of beans were soaked and cooked on that stove.
There was nothing that I wasn't willing to try making in that Tiny little kitchen.

Which brings me to the reason for this post...
I had a roommate in college that left me a box of recipes when she went home claiming that she didn't need them and probably would never cook any of those recipes. Two of the recipes in that little box became some of our family favorites...
Buttermilk Biscuits and Poppy Seed Bread.

I still remember the first time I made this bread...it was shortly after our 2nd wedding anniversary. Tracy couldn't believe how yummy it was (in his words...
this was worthy enough to be sold in a bakery)
and so we took a loaf to his parents to enjoy.
"Wow" and "Delicious"
were the words were kept hearing out of everyone's mouths.

Last week I noticed a lonely orange in our pantry and decided that it had been awhile since I made this yummy creation and so I baked up a batch and heard the same familiar words out of my kids and Tracy's mouths.
"Wow"..."Yummy"..."Delicious"

Here is the yummy recipe so you can enjoy it as well. I have made adjustments to it as it called for melted Shortening and I used my famous 1/2 applesauce 1/2 oil mixture and decreased the sugar to 2 cups and it turned out perfect!

Poppy Seed Bread
3 cups flour
1-1/2 cups milk
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil (I use 1/2 cup applesauce 1/2 cup oil)
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1-1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp. Almond extract
2 tsp. Poppy seeds

Mix together and bake 1 hour at 350 degrees until toothpick inserted in comes out clean. (Makes 2 large loaves)

Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
¼ cup orange juice (I just squeeze 1/2 an orange)
2 Tbsp butter
½ tsp. Almond extract
Melt together ingredients in a sauce pan.
Pour Glaze over loaves while still warm.

“You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces - just good food from fresh ingredients.”

Julia Child