Basket Weave Cake

Here is the end product of level 2 of the Wilton Cake Decorating class. We made flowers every week this month, and learned how to do the basket weave technique tonight to finish it all off. Not my favorite scheme, but still fun to do. Level 3: Fondant and Tiered Cakes starts next Monday!

More Bread!

Whole wheat bread is so healthy, and while I know this....I also know that white bread tastes so much better! There needs to be a happy medium. I really like the wheat recipe that I posted here. It tastes great and is so soft, but it doesn't stay nice and soft longer than a day. So I've been on the search for a good half and half recipe that stays soft for more than 24 hours.

I've been trying lots of recipes lately. This Amish White Bread is my favorite. Also this Oat Bread is fantastic. The Amish white bread is very sweet, you could half the sugar and be fine. I made this with white flour, then tried it with 4 cups of white, and 2 cups of whole wheat flour. It was very good. I need to try it with bread flour, but I didn't have any, so I've been using all-purpose wheat and white. The kids LOVE that I am making bread all the time now. Dallin was excited to bring a huge slice with butter to preschool for his snack yesterday! And as usual, I use my bread maker to do all the work, then take the dough out for the final rise in the pan and bake it in my oven.

I have a recipe for honey butter at the bottom of this post!

Amish White Bread

2 cups warm water
2/3 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
6 cups bread flour

In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast.

Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam. (no need to do this if using a bread machine to make the dough).
Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes. Take out of pan immediately and cool on wire rack, then wrap in plastic wrap to keep soft.

This makes 2 loaves.

Honey Butter

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 T. honey

Combine in small bowl and beat until fluffy. I put 2 T. at a time of this on waxed paper, rolled it up, then froze it. It made several packets, and I pull them out as we use it. I made a mini loaf of bread for my friend Alba today and brought her a little butter pat from the freezer with it.

Homemade Baby Shoes!!

I was SO excited to try this tutorial! The pattern was for 6-9 months, but they barely fit Kaylee so next time I'll enlarge it a little bit. I love Robeez soft soled baby shoes, but never want to pay the $$$ for them. One pair is $26! For BABY shoes, sheesh. I buy the knock-off ones for my babies on E-bay for $10. Now I can make my own out of fabric and find some leather for the bottoms when they get to the walking age! These are all fabric as opposed to the all leather ones on E-bay, but I like the varitety of fabric. This tutorial is FANTASTIC. Check it out! :) Kaylee gets comments on these little shoes wherever she goes, I LOVE this fabric and am working on a little dress to match :)

Taco Soup

This is one of my favorite soups to make, so easy!

1/4 c. dried onions
1 (16 ounce) can chili beans or pinto beans (drained, rinsed)
1 (15 ounce) can black beans (drained, rinsed)
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
3 cups chicken broth
1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes undrained
1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning

1 small can of diced green chiles (mild)
1 whole skinless, boneless chicken breast, cooked and shredded

toppings (shredded cheese, tortilla strips, corn chips, green onions, sour cream, etc)

Place all ingredients in a crockpot and cook on high for 4 hours. OR, you can put all ingredients in, plus the chicken (uncooked), and cook on low for 5 hours, take chicken out and shred it, then place back in crockpot with soup for another hour. Depends on how fast you need it! I go the quiker route. Enjoy! Oh, and my picture looks bland because I only add chips to my bowl of soup. I eat it with chips and guacamole on the side. I don't like cheese or sour cream! One of the few out there...

Valentine's Stuff!

The boys helped me make this cute garland for the foyer. They glued conversation hearts onto cut out hearts and we strung it with ribbon! Derrick and I don't get into these kind of holidays very much, but I like to do them with the kids and decorate! Valentine's Day was always fun in elementary school. I loved passing out cards to all my friends.
For our little friends out of state, who are too little for gum, we made little foam puppet sticks for Valentine's Day! Derrick bought these for the kids 3 years ago! They came with so many and last forever. Aaron had fun picking out some to make for himself too.
Dallin signed the Valentine's for his preschool class. They are skateboards with a stick of gum slid into each little slot! I actually ordered these LAST year, but they didn't get to Alaska in time to use for Valentine's Day, so he is using them this year! We had enough for his whole class and extras to send to our little friends out of state!
To a "Pop Pop Popular Teacher!". I made these to give to Dallin's preschool teachers. This idea came from Family Fun Magazine. So many cute ideas on that site/magazine! I hot glued a package of microwave poporn onto the back of each scrapbook paper cutout of a popcorn box.
We are still working on ideas for Grandparents this year, but I won't be posting those since they check the blog, and it wouldn't be a suprise!

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