By Week 402. Winter 2023. I am 40 years old and standing in my kitchen — the Bench house kitchen, the one that held cancer and divorce and cinnamon rolls — and the stove is on and something is cooking and the house smells like soup and bread and this is my life. This is the life I built.
The garden is sleeping under mulch, resting for spring, and I stood in it this week and thought about dirt and time and the way both of them turn nothing into something if you're patient enough.
Mason is 12 and reading everything he can find and examining the world under a microscope with the intensity of a tenured researcher.
Lily is 10 and riding horses with the fearlessness of someone who has never considered the possibility of falling.
I made sourdough bread this week. The food continues. The food always continues. It is the thread that connects every week to every other week, every year to every other year, every version of me to every other version — the woman on the kitchen floor, the woman at the chemo recliner, the woman at the grill, the woman at the outdoor table under the string lights. All of them, connected by the food they made with their hands. All of them, me.
I didn’t make sourdough this particular time — I made this Carrot Pineapple Bread, and honestly it felt like the same thing: hands in the bowl, the smell shifting the whole house, something nourishing coming out of something ordinary. It’s the kind of bread that asks very little of you and gives a lot back, which felt exactly right for a week when I was mostly just grateful to be standing in my own kitchen, watching my kids grow up, noticing the ordinary miracle of it all.
Carrot Pineapple Bread
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 60 min | Total Time: 1 hr 15 min | Servings: 12 slices
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup finely grated carrots (about 2 medium carrots)
- 1 can (8 oz) crushed pineapple, well drained
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan and set aside.
- Mix dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg until evenly combined.
- Mix wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with the granulated sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Whisk in the oil and vanilla extract.
- Combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir gently until just combined — do not overmix. Fold in the grated carrots, drained crushed pineapple, and nuts if using.
- Bake. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top. Bake for 55–65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 195 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Carbs: 28g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 195mg