Instead of making the infamous list of New Year’s resolutions, I prefer the phrase “start fresh”. Starting fresh for me means to examine my priorities, come up with new and different plan(s) to make life work better, a new focus, renewing friendships that have been neglected, or trying all (or some) of the recipes that I have printed and piled in a special place.
One reality from this last (crazy) year – time is not on my side. No longer do I have the leisure of planning one special project on a lazy Saturday. On any given day, most of us can only accomplish the “must do” list. For most of us, the days of having multiple hours to organize and clean our home is truly a thing of the past. The real truth… we are struggling to seize time just to keep up with the daily tasks of family, food, laundry, schedules, and work. So with this thought, I went on a quest to figure out a better way.
I have found what I think will be a huge help to “Glo-girls” everywhere and will enable us to keep up with some things that we have to overlook due to time restraints. Check out the “5-10-15 Minute De-Clutter Plan” from Better Homes and Gardens. I think you will see several suggestions in the article that might make your life easier. Who knows, it might even afford you some time to prepare this week’s yummy recipe – Walnut Streusel Bread.
Walnut Streusel Bread
- Yield: Serves 16 (serving size: 1 slice)
- Hands-on:15 Minutes
- Total:1 Hour, 15 Minutes
Ingredients
- Streusel:
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Dash of salt
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
- Bread:
- 9 ounces all-purpose flour (about 2 cups)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 5 tablespoons butter, softened
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup fat-free buttermilk
- Baking spray with flour (such as Baker’s Joy)
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. To prepare streusel, combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl. Add 2 tablespoons melted butter, stirring until well combined. Stir in nuts. Set aside.
3. To prepare bread, weigh or lightly spoon 9 ounces flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Combine 5 tablespoons butter and granulated sugar in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium-high speed until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition; beat in vanilla. Beating at low speed, add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; beat just until combined. Scrape half of batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with baking spray; sprinkle with half of streusel mixture. Spread remaining batter over streusel; swirl. Sprinkle remaining streusel on top of batter. Bake at 350° for 50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs clinging. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Remove from pan; cool completely on wire rack.