The ButchFemmePlanet Kitchen

[labete]

Yummy thread, Arwen!

Mel, you can enhance iron absorption by adding acidity, as others have said, and you can add iron to any food by cooking in iron cookware. Lots of us think of just iron skillets and cornbread or frying, but iron is useful for a lot more than that. You can use an iron dutch oven for just about anything you can use a crock pot for, and they are especially fabulous for pot roasts of beef, pork, or chicken.

Tommi, monkfish tastes like more like lobster than fish, so if you like lobster, try that.

It's kinda funny to see some of my family classics, like rum balls and sausage balls on here. I can vouch for the popularity of both of those. I still love the versatility of my beer bread because it's easy, hot, filling homemade bread that can be adapted to virtually any meal and made by anyone (unless you do like I did at write14u's house and triple the sugar trying to make it from memory, LOL!). It is a little dense and slightly sweet (more or less depending on beer used). If you like the crust, bake it in muffin cups.

Basic beer bread

3 cups self-rising flour (or 3 cups flour, 3 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt)
1/3 cup sugar
1 12 oz. beer

For best results, sift the flour, but the bread will survive if you don't. If you choose not to sift, use a spoon to fill the measuring cup so it's not packed down.

Mix all ingredients together and bake in greased full size loaf pan (9x5, it will spill over smaller pans) at 375F for 45 minutes to an hour. For a nice buttery crust, brush melted butter over the top anywhere between 30-50 minutes into baking time.

That's it! So easy. But there are lots of fabulous variations possible. Here are a few:

Cinnamon-raisin beer bread: add 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 cup raisins, 1/2 cup chopped pecans to mixture (or cranberries, chopped dates, or blueberries, whatever you like!), brush top with butter and brown sugar

Italian beer bread: add 1 tbsp fresh ground rosemary (or to taste), 2 fresh chopped cloves garlic, 1/2 cup parmesan, sprinkle top with coarse salt

Cheddar beer bread: add 1 tbsp minced garlic (or substitute 1 finely chopped jalapeno), 1 cup shredded cheddar, sprinkle a bit more cheddar on top

Honey beer bread: use a honey wheat beer or honey lager and brush top with mixture of honey and melted butter (don't add straight honey to your mixture!)

Hearty beer bread (goes well with stews): use whole wheat flour with Guiness