Not many days are lovely when they are rainy like this.  This one I kind of treasured though.  For starters, I was actually able to sleep in past 6 a.m.  That hasn’t happened since Halloween weekend and my body was getting kind of sick of that.  But really, this day was special because it was one where I felt a bit of a change in myself.  I’m pretty certain that life is going to be filled with changes, in myself and in the world around me, and adapting to those changes.  But lately those changes have been associated with me really figuring out myself and determining who I want to be.  Now, I didn’t exactly work through anything or come to any conclusions (I actually avoid making decisions today about grad schools. Whoops), and instead it was also based on feelings.  Somehow I came to this through baking and watching Pride and Prejudice. Baking has always been a strong passion of mine.  If I’m going through something difficult or just simply for a friend’s birthday or pick-me-up, I’ll bake.

I really cannot remember the last time I watched this movie.  Maybe 2 years ago? It’s certainly been a long time, and I think you have to be in the right mood for it because it is such a goregous love story. And I love each time I watch it I pick up on more and more subtle things.  The best part really was halfway through the movie, my parents joined in and were hooked.  They even continued watching when I had to leave for class! As for what I baked? I baked a hearty apple loaf. The original recipe comes from Sprouted Kitchen, but I improvised quite a few things because I didn’t really feel like wasting my time in a grocery store and just went for the ricotta cheese.  I wanted some yummy baked goods. Couldn’t help that!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of chopped apples
• 3/4 cups of whole wheat flour
• 1 cup of oat bran
• 1/2 cup of oatmeal
• 1 tbsp. of baking powder
• 1 tbsp. of cinnamon
• 1/2 tbsp. of ground ginger
• 1 tsp. of salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of buttermilk
• 1 tbsp. of vanilla
• 1 cup of buttermilk
• 1/4 cup of butter, barely melted
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• A little bit of lemon juice

How to go about it…

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter and flour the pans (not really sure what size I used. Just the typical bread pan maybe?)
• Coarsely chop the apples and then put them in a bowl with warm water.  Put a little lemon juice in the water.  Not a lot is needed; it is just to help prevent the apples from browning after being cut.
• Whisk together the vanilla, eggs, ricotta, and buttermilk.
• Mix together all of the dry ingredients. After stirring those all together, add in the buttermilk mixture bit by bit.
• Then drain the chopped apples in a colander and shake off any excess water. Then fold those into the batter.
• Pour/scoop/whichever the batter in the bread pan.  Sprinkle whatever excess brown sugar you may have on top of the loaf (I tried to cover the whole thing. It’s so delicious)
• And then put it in the oven for 45 minutes. When done, place it on a rack and cool for about 10 minutes.  Take the whole loaf out of the pan to ensure that it doesn’t stick later on.

The final result…