This morning I woke up reeeeeeally excited.
Yes, I was “pumped” about going to BodyPump, which I did- along with 20 minutes of intervals on the elliptical. And yes, the grunter was there and was grunting her face off the entire class.
But what I was really excited about was what I left on the kitchen counter on the way out the door…
At 5:25am this morning, I whipped out my bread machine and prepared to have a warm, crusty loaf of bread waiting for me upon my return home. I used this Gluten Free Cinnamon Raisin Bread Mix that I received a few months ago from iHerb.com.
Well let me tell you, I thought about this bread during my entire BodyPump class.
FYI: Daydreaming about fresh baked bread while trying to concentrate on lunges is not a good idea. Almost tipped it over a few times…but anyways.
So by the time I got home and opened the door, I could smell it. Ohhh the aromas of fresh baked bread! Especially when we’re talkin’ cinnamon raisin. My timing was impeccable because within five minutes, my little machine went “beep beep beep,” alerting me that it was time to dig in.
So I ran right over,
opened up the lid,
grinning from ear to ear, AND…
Really? REALLY?!?
What the heck happened???
I mean, I thought I was done with the horrendous bread baking fiascos. It was supposed to be in the past! I’ve gotten much better at the whole bread baking thing, I swear. Thank goodness I at least have one loaf that I haven’t messed up…
My one saving grace was that it came out of the pan in one piece; otherwise, I was ready to chuck it right into the garbage. Talk about one ugly lookin’ loaf of bread.
But seeing as though it came out clean, I figured I’d try to slice into it and investigate the party that was happenin’ inside. I could only imagine, judging from the outside.
But much to my surprise, the inside didn’t look half bad.
So since you already know that I hate wasting food, I decided to snag a couple nibbles, which deemed themselves worthy enough to have for breakfast. Who knew?!?
Then again, anything that’s covered with almond butter and banana will always be delicious, right?
Oh, and in case you weren’t already impressed enough by my stellar bread baking skills, my ability to cut a slice of bread evenly is even better.
Along with my full slice, I had a couple other mini slices off of my nibbling piece, topped with a little more almond butter.
I’m going to go ahead and say that the first few bites I had of the bread were a little iffy. Since this is probably my first time trying gluten free bread, I wasn’t sure what to expect taste and/or texture wise. Top that with the fact that my bread baked atrociously, and well, you get my point.
But the more I ate of the bread, the more I liked it! It actually had a really good flavor to it, and as long as I stayed away from the top of the loaf (aka, where half the dry bread mix was still sitting) it was great!
Along with my disaster-turned-okay breakfast, I enjoyed a luke warm iced coffee. Yes, luke warm…Jay took the rest of the iced, brewed me another batch and put it in the freezer, but I was too antsy to wait any longer for it to really cool off. Sheesh.
Okay, so it wasn’t the smoothest breakfast on record, but I’d say it still turned out okay, wouldn’t you?
Now let’s just hope the rest of my day goes a little better than this.
Question for the Day:
What was the last kitchen disaster you had happen to you?
Lee @ Fit Foodie Finds says
1.) I love how you name people at the gym! I SO DO THAT. haha. It’s always interesting when you actually talk to them and they totally don’t match the persona you gave them. 2.) I WANT THAT BREAD MACHINE!
Emily says
I’m glad you got a little enjoyment out of it! Do you know what exactly went wrong?
We had a couple friends over awhile ago and I prepared a bundt cake. I forgot to add water to the recipe before I poured it into the pan. So I stirred the water into the batter – in the pan…and of course it stuck like crazy! But we enjoyed cake bites…it just wasn’t pretty!
Courtney says
I have no idea what happened?!? Usually if I’m home, there’s a timer that goes off where you can take the little paddle out so I usually do that and re-shape the bread. I’m wondering if it would have been better had I been home to do that? Oh well!
kate says
ahhh I want cinnamon raisin bread I might have to get my bread maker out… loaves that dont turn out are the worst you wait for so long and anticipate as your house smells amazing !
Claire @ Live and Love to Eat says
Looks just fine (and sounds like it smells even better) to me!
Nikki says
I want your breakfast! I think the bread looks AWESOME!
Bethany says
It looks good! I’d eat it :) Last kitchen disaster I had was trying to cut a star out of a big cake and then ice it, it fell apart into a million pieces. No cake for memorial day :(
Tanya @ Sunday Baker says
As ugly as it looks, honestly it looks like it was yummy! One time I made a gorgeous, big and thick cheesecake for my husband on our anniversary. I pulled it out of the oven, perfect with no cracks. Wham! The bottom fell out of the springform pan and the cheesecake hit the floor and splattered everywhere. I actually cried!
Courtney says
Oh no!! I would have too! :(
Faith @ lovelyascharged says
I’m seriously world’s worst bread cutter…it always comes out wonky!
My last huge disaster was homemade seitan. Yeah…it looked like crap, and I tried it, hoping it would taste bettter…no chance. Gonna stick to the store-bought from here on!
Lindsey says
I can’t cook pasta without having the water over boil on me, and because we have a flat top stove it makes a huge mess and bakes to the top!
Paige @ Running Around Normal says
Oh geez! Well at least it tasted good :)
At least once a week, I forget to put the top part (the middle of the lid) on securely on my Vitamix. Then I end up with smoothie on the walls. It’s fine, really. :)
Courtney says
LOL…this really did make me laugh out loud :)
Rachel says
Oh man. I really love the mixed dried berries you can get at Aldi or TJ’s, but I always pick out the strawberries first. So, I decided to try my hand at drying some myself. I found a recipe and adapted for our hotter than average oven. Apparently our oven runs SO hot that baking those things at a reduced temp and for HALF the time was still too much…instead of being dried, they were crispy, sticky and brown. Hubs and I made the mistake of tasting them…I swear the taste is still lingering on my tongue. Burned strawberry is definitely the grossest thing I’ve tasted recently! I think we’re going to get a dehydrator soon. :)
Steph @321delish says
Oh no! I remember my mom used to have a terrible time with her bread maker. The bread would often Flop, kinda like yours did! At least you could salvage it!
Lisa says
My husband and I are still trying to figure out how to our my bread machine to make proper looking bread on the outside. Our bread always tastes great but looks deflated–and we have friends with the same exact bread maker who make gorgeous fluffy bread! Who knew… Anyway, you’re not alone, Courtney!
Courtney says
Whew! Well that’s good to know :)
Brooke @ bittersweetb says
Aw man, I hate when things like that happen. I’m prone to quite a few kitchen disasters myself. To name a few: pavlova that stuck to the pan and never rose properly, bottom burnt cookies, butter cake that turned out more like rubber than cake.
Sometimes I find these mistakes humbling and other times I get so frustrated! It just makes me that much more determined to get it right the next time.
Danica says
I (embarrassing) made a batch of cookies a few weeks ago and accidentally put in just one cup of flour instead of two. When the oven timer went off I pulled out a pan of just one newly-formed giant cookie! Whoops!
I REALLY want to invest in a bread maker, what brand do you suggest?
Courtney says
I really like my Cuisinart…it’s super easy to use…just ignore my inability to bake bread in it ;)
Khushboo says
Despite your ‘review’, your brekkie is still totally calling out to me! My last kitchen disaster involved a recipe for chickpea blondies that I found in the blog world! Put it this way: chickpeas are for houmous and butter is for blondies!
Courtney says
Agreed!
Melissa says
I made Chocolate Covered Katie’s chickpea blondies and they were so good! For real!
Krissie J says
My last disaster was on Sunday night when I tried to make buttercream frosting for my cupcakes. I used the Smart Balance Light butter I had which must’ve been wrong because the stuff was more soup than frosting. Fail.
Courtney says
Oh yes…there’s no good substitute for the real stuff in buttercream frosting! ;)
CK says
I tried making peach cobbler for the first time from scratch. Only thing is I didn’t have baking powder and couldn’t get a hold of my mom or my aunt to ask about substitutes, etc. My not much younger sister Jessie, who does do a little more cooking than me, tells me to substitute baking soda but in half the amount. Yeah, no. The cobbler came out picture perfect. Even passed the sniff test. But the first mouthful was like Arm and Hammer toothpaste. That is the last time I’ll listen to any baking advice from Jessie.
Courtney says
Ooooooo…I’ve done that before! No fun :(
Freya says
OOHH I adore this post! That bread looks so funny, I love it!!! My food always looks pretty ugly, especially my baked goods :/
I don’t remember my last fail..the last batch of muffins I baked weren’t stellar, although my mum and stepdad have already eaten 6 in 24hrs!
Ruthie Hart says
haha well the good thing is that you know YOU didn’t do anything to mess it up! it looks delish!
Jamie aka "Sometimes Healthy" Girl says
That bread turned out pretty good once you dressed it with some almond butter and banana. Good move!
I haven’t had any kitchen disasters lately because I haven’t cooked much :-(. I need to change that! I hope to make some healthified cake pops this weekend! That has kitchen disaster written all over it.
Courtney says
healthified cake pops?!? YUMM!!!
Farrah says
I think you are selling yourself short by using the bread machine. You would be shocked how easy it is to make your own bread by hand. I was actually mad at myself when I realized I could have been doing it all along. I have some great and REALLY easy bread recipes if you’re interested…
I even made my own hamburger buns the other day! So yummy!
I highly suggest starting out using “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day”. Once you get comfortable you’ll be making all kinds of delicious breads by hand without batting an eyelash.
My last kitchen disaster was when I used a cedar plank on the grill and even after soaking it for more than an hour (per the directions), it managed to start on FIRE and ruin my dinner!!! I wasn’t happy when I had to throw out all that expensive meat!
Emily says
I always have trouble cooking loaf breads for some reason and always end up undercooking them :( I’m glad you were able to salvage something out of it!
Colleen @ The Lunchbox Diaries says
I tried to make “healthy” blondies and they turned out to be quite disgusting! Looks like I’ll stick to the normal not-so-healthy but oh-so-tasty blondies.
Gina @ Running to the Kitchen says
haha! this gave me a good laugh! I would’ve tried it too, I can’t stand the thought of wasting food. My last failure was popovers at Thanksgiving. they looked great in the oven and the second they came out they just concaved in on themselves and were a gooey sloppy mess. I still ate it.
Amanda (Eating Up) says
I made a terrible peanut sauce last week for a tofu, rice bowl. Too. Much. Soy. Sauce.
Sarah says
I didn’t know Bob’s had cinnamon raisin bread mix!! Gonna hafta check that out. And I can’t standddd grunters at the gym! I guess you can use it as motivation?
Nicole @sugarcoatedsisters.com says
Last week my sister and I baked 4 dozen cupcakes worth of batter and then realized we forgot the dry mixture… it was disappointing beyond belief. At least they were “brownie” cupcakes, so leaving out the dry mix left us with brownie-like “cupcakes”! It ended up not being too bad of a disaster ;)
Kayleigh says
Oh my…where do I begin with cooking disasters?! Anything that I make with friends is a cooking disaster! (Side note, I’m 19 so I’m not very skilled in the cooking/baking department). One time, my (non-Indian) friend and I (also not Indian) tried to make an Indian dish. One of the funniest moments of my life. Still ate it, though. Looked awful, tasted pretty good. I think you should always try your creation. Worse case scenario? You throw it out. Best case scenario? You have the perfect homemade treat!
Alexis says
haha never judge a book by it’s cover! or in this case don’t judge the taste by it’s looks. :D I’ve never tried to make bread in a bread maker but I think you’ve just inspired me to give it a go!
My WORST kitchen fiasco was when I spilled a pumpkin pie in the oven oops! but recently I tried to use peanut flour in my donuts and that was a big old fail :(
Jordan says
haha awww what a bummer!! well that bread actually looks pretty delicious! i’m glad it ended up tasting alright! :)
my last kitchen disaster was this morning when i stuck my oatmeal in the microwave because i was too impatient to wait for it to cook on the stove…and it definitely overflowed ALL over the microwave. fail!
Samantha says
I tried to make your crabcakes last night – um, I have NO IDEA what happened but they were awful! I think my pieces of crab were too big, they didn’t form nice cakes, and it was too hot to turn on the oven so I tried to grilled them. Oh my, now I’m craving good crabcakes so…
Im definitely going to try again!
Courtney says
Oh NO!! Definitely try them again because I promise, they’re awesome!!
Samantha says
Okay, I’ll definitely try again!!!!
Hannah says
I love love fresh made bread.. some how brings back memories of childhood when my mom would make whole wheat bread in the over.. and the smell of the bread with a little smear of butter. yumm! i dont have room right now for all those fun gadgets… cannot wait.
my last kitchen disasters were banana muffins.. i dont know why .. they just didnt taste good… also tried to make cranberry bars.. also not so good! i was just experimenting sooo.. just gonna keep trying. just got the cook book- 100 recipes every woman should know – and made some yummy cupcakes.. going to keep trying! :)
Tara Burner says
I had to laugh about the cutting the bread evenly, I cannot cut ANYTHING evenly…bread, tomatoes, onions, nothing! Used to drive my ex nuts with that! my last cooking disaster…a cake that I have no clue what happened but it looked wonderful on outside and when I put another tier on top of it the whole thing sunk and crumbled :(
Katelyn @ Chef Katelyn says
As I like to say, sometimes fugly food tastes the best! :) I want to try out that mix, I miss cinn-raisin bread like no othaaaa
chelsey @ clean eating chelsey says
haha! You are too funny – I never ever have success with my bread machine! The loaves are always horrible!
Lauren (Sugar Spice and Daisies ) says
I really want to try a body pump class, but I am too scared! I think I would like it because I love P90X! The bread looks perfect when it’s sliced. Just cut it up and noone will know! ;)
Courtney says
Don’t be scared! It’s an AMAZING class!!! Get someone to go with you if you’re nervous…that will help a lot with anxiety. That’s what I did for my first class, and it was a HUGE help!
Courtney @ The Granola Chronicles says
Almond butter makes everything better, that’s for sure!
I made homemade pizza a few weeks ago, and the crust stuck to the bottom of the pan – completely tore in half! It ended up being a half-crust pizza…mainly just toppings.
kerry says
it still looks good!! i looove cinnamon raisin bread!
tina @ vanillandspice says
I think it looks good! I love cinnamon raisin bread I would have eaten it too. This post actually made me laugh, I loved it.
Courtney says
:-P
Tara says
hehe, that does look funny! But now I really want cinnemon raisin bread!
Tiff @ Love, Sweat, and Beers says
I hate wasting food too. The last time I made mediocre muffins I just slapped some peanut butter on there and kept right on munchin. :)
Mila @ loftyappetite says
Thanks to your link above for iherb.com I got my first time trying Xanthan Gum free! I’ve been looking for it EVERYWHERE and could not find it. Thanks for the referral $5 off!
Courtney says
Awesome!! :)
Shayla says
Well, this isn’t really a “food” catastrophe….but our house is on the market and to reduce our kitchen clutter our realtor suggests we put our toaster in the oven to hide it….yeah well space cadet me forgot the other night that it was in the oven, turned it on, and it started to smell the delicious scent of burnt rubber, haha! Luckily I caught it in time and I saved the toaster, otherwise it would have been a hot mess!
Btw, where did you get that fruit holder?! So cute and I’ve been wanting to get something cute like that to hold my bananas! :)
Courtney says
Oh my gosh!! :-O
I think I just searched “fruit basked” on Google one day…I honestly don’t remember where I got it!
Shayla says
haha ok I’ll try googling that, thanks! :)
Shayla says
Oooo I actually just found it on Amazon!!! If someone else asks here’s the link: http://www.amazon.com/Wrought-Banana-Fruit-Holder-Basket/dp/B001VZ4RTI
:)
Courtney says
Oh awesome!! :)
Mandee says
my recent kitchen disaster isssss that i forgot to put baking soda in my banana cupcakes that i had talked up all week long–resulting in the saddest memorial day cupcakes ever! and it was the best chocolate frosting that i’d ever made! totally wasted in the garbage :( painful!
your bread doesn’t look TOO bad though! Maybe it was the mix? But, as long as it tastest good, who cares! I eat some scary looking lunches sometimes hahaha!