Beer Cheese Bread

I am a carbo-holic. If I ever post about my decision to go on the Atkins diet you can be sure that icicles are slowly forming in that fiery place down below. The other night I was looking for something doughy and cheesy that wasn't too time consuming to eat with my turkey soup and I found this recipe from November 2008 Cooking Light on Capital City Mama's blog. I have to say, the bread was great. It mixed up in no time, and those are the times when you just have to love a quick bread, and it tasted great as well. It was soft and the onions and garlic give it a great flavor but it's not overpowering at all. But I think that the best thing about this bread is that it didn't get stale right away. I used it the next night for my turkey burger and it was fantastic again. I ate it all week long and it tasted great. I'd originally planned to cut it in half and put half in the freezer for later but it's all gone to a better place -- my hips. No, it's from Cooking Light so that means that there are no calories, right? Regardless, it's wonderful and I will definitely make it again. I think next time I might make it in muffin cups and see how that goes.

Basic Beer-Cheese Bread

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
13.5 ounces all-purpose flour (about 3 cups)
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese (I used Pepper Jack because that's what I had and it was yummy!)
1 (12 ounce) bottle lager-style beer
Cooking spray
2 tablespoon melted butter, divided (I only used about a tablespoon and it was still very good)

1. Preheat over to 375 degrees.

2. Heat oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Add onion to pan; cook 10 minutes or until browned, stirrings occasionally. Stir in pepper and garlic; cook 1 minute.

3. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk; make a well in the center of the bowl. Add onion mixture, cheese, and beer to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Don’t over stir.

4. Spoon batter into a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan that has been coated with cooking spray. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of butter over the batter. Cook at 375 degrees for 35 minutes. Drizzle other tablespoon of butter over batter. Bake another 25 minutes or until the bread is a deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool five minutes in pan on a wire rack, then remove the bread from the pan. Cool completely before slicing.

So, I was starving when it finished baking because I'd waited too long to start making it so I cut it right away. It's really, really good hot with butter. Does that win for obvious statement of the day? Because what hot bread is not good with butter?