happy new year.....

here is a toast to bringing in all YOUR beauty this 2011!!

letting go of all the other things...

and allowing only beauty...

as it can save the world....

giving, loving, receiving, understanding,

stretching, growing, trusting, listening,

riding the waves of this beauty....

thank you so much for supporting RM &

my journey to inspire & empower BEAUTY

into your worlds, your kitchens, your hearts...

see you on the other side.... love & BEAUTY! xxx

persimmon bread.

first, i must acknowdledge the deep blog guilt i have been wrestling with.... i am 38 weeks pregnant & to get to this blog is a luxury, to sit here and make it happen is like baking a cake which can be really easy depending on the cake OR it can be next to impossible which is really what it has been! i had to get that out of the way to share this most amazing persimmon bread yumminess....

if you are at any of the markets or whole foods... you can find extremely ripe hachiya persimmons. that is what this breads pulp is made of... the fuyu's are harder and very crispy... (in a post below).. they are also amazing just cut, peel the skin (if you want.. you can eat the skin) and eat.. no cooking necessary... it's like the pumpkin fruit of the fall.

here is the recipe (created a hybrid of the james beard/david leibovitz recipes)

3 1/2 cups sifted flour (bob's red mill organic)

1 1/2 tsp. salt (coarse kosher)

2 tsp baking soda (bob's red mill/aluminum free)

1 tsp ground nutmeg

2 - 2 1/2 cups sugar (organic cane)/ more sugar makes the bread moist

1 cup melted, room temp, unsalted butter

4 large eggs, room temp, lightly beaten

2 cups persimmon puree (you can put it in cuisineart to break up strands if you want... no need to)

1 - 2 cups toasted/chopped/walnuts or pecans

1 cup semi sweet ghiradelli chocolate chips

you can use (2) 9" loaf pans or (1) 9" and 3 little ones or muffin tins... i tend to try different

shapes out b/c i like to give the bread away as gifties and seeing how many ways it can happen.

*butter the 2 loaf pans, line with parchement paper & dust with flour

*preheat oven to 350

*sift first 5 ingredients in a large mixing bowl

*make well in the center (you can also do this in your kitchen aid)

*stir in butter, eggs, persimmon pulp

*then nuts & chips

*bake 1 hour or so....

enjoy every morsel, it's so good. see you in the kitchenxxx