Food Friday - Easy Peasant Bread

Our family loves bread.  As a matter of fact, we have some type of bread or roll at almost every dinner meal.  It is the one thing I know my kids will eat and my husband loves to have a roll or biscuit to eat along side his meal.  Sure, we love store bought crescents and biscuits but there is just something about homemade bread that just tastes so good!  I have a bread machine that I love and use it often but I also like good "oven" breads too.  When I ran across this recipe I knew I had to try it - it looked easy and the list of ingredients is short which is always nice too :-)

Easy Peasant Bread
adapted from Real Mom Kitchen

This is such an easy recipe!!  This is not a good recipe to try in the bread maker though . .. I tried it and it did not mix well at all.  The second time I made it, I did it "by hand" as the recipe shows and it turned out perfectly.  This not only is good with dinner but, if you like sandwiches (I personally am not a huge fan!) then I think it would make great sandwich bread too. 

1 package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
2 cups warm water
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups flour
Cornmeal
Melted Butter

Place yeast, water, sugar and salt in bowl and stir until dissolved.  Add flour and stir until well blended.  Do not knead.  Cover and let rise until dough doubles in size (about 1 hour).  Remove dough from bowl and place in 2 rounds on a greased cookie sheet sprinkled with cornmeal.  Let rise an additional hour.  Brush top of dough with melted butter and bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes.  Reduce oven temperature to 375 and cook for an additional 15 minutes. Serve Warm.

Just one tip - when putting the two rounds (blobs HA) on the cookie sheet, place them far enough apart that as they raise, they don't become one large round/blob :-)  I had to separate mine - they got too friendly!! 

Cookbook - check it out!

There is a blog that I've followed for well over a year called Calling All Angels.  Back in August of 2011 Kendra and her husband started on a journey and in doing so, they started a cookbook.  She received over 600 recipes - some are even from me - and then had the cookbooks printed. 

I was going to write a whole post on this but Kendra did it for me and posted it on Wednesday.  So, click on the link above and it will take you right to her post.  She really explained everything so well - I did not want to repeat it.  If you have a few extra minutes, take time to explore and read about there beloved Angel, Makenzie, and you'll understand her story even more.

I just got my cookbook last week and was very impressed with the quality.  I look forward to testing some of the recipes in the near future!

Too Cute Not To Toot!

As you well may know, we are slowing making changes to our kitchen.  I'm in the midst of finally painting the kitchen.  Once that is done, I'll be saving up to get the counter top paint so when I saw this post from Dukes and Duchesses I wanted to post it here for my benefit.  She did a great job painting a bathroom counter top - it looks fantastic!

I already have my St Patrick's decor picked out and am working on it this week but when I saw this idea from Sweet Rose Studio I had to share it.  I might have to add this if I can find the coins . . . it is just shiny.

Pink Polka Dot Creations shares a great little St Patrick's Game.  I love it and plan on printing it to use this year and in the future!

This next idea is from The Diary of Dave's Wife and is a great printable for birthdays.  My husband just celebrated his and I realized that it will be fun to have certain things like printables, a wreath and a centerpiece to use for all birthdays. 

Yes, my kitchen is actually painted so now I get to decorate.  I've been finding ideas on Pinterest but when I saw this idea from Today's Fabulous Finds I wanted to save it.  I'd love something "alive" in my kitchen and I bet I could make this idea into a herb garden . . .maybe :-)

I've seen all kinds of printable's for Subway Art geared towards St Patrick's Day and I'm not sure why I haven't shared more but I really liked this one from Maiden D'shade and wanted to save it for future reference.

Craftionary offers up links to all kinds of free printables for St Patrick's Day from signs to cupcake toppers. 

Craftionary also shares some very creative Magnetic Boards.  There are all kinds of ideas and ways to use this concept. 

Continuing on with the them of posts full of links to all kinds of ideas, Sassy Sites has provided lots of links of Rainbow Ideas - many of them food related which makes them even more fun!!

Well, I already have my St. Patrick's Day wreath planned but when I saw this one from A Night Owl I had to share it because I love it! 

One of the projects I've wanted to do is make a "House Rules" poster so when I saw this printable from Get outta my head please, well I had to share.  Maybe I won't have to create this from scratch after all :-)

That's it this week! 

February Goal Recap

At the beginning of February, I posted my Goals and now, I want to recap what I did and did not accomplish.  Right up front, I totally lost focus this month - I did not even remember to look at my goal list after the first week of the month.  So, many of these will carry over into March - I'll post that list later this week.

1. The mantel: Here's a photo of the top of the fridge - part of what I consider my "mantel"

I also had decor on my dining room table - the rest of my "mantel". 

2. Holiday Celebrations: We did not make it to Playworld but we did go to a roller derby instead.  I did get birthday cards mailed on time but did not complete anything on the birthday board.

3. Date Night: Check :-)  We went out for Darryl's birthday :-)

4. Daily Something Special: Fail :-( LOL  Where did February go?  That is all I have to say.

5. Pinterest goals:  Ummm . . I have no idea what I even posted but considering the fact that I haven't done a Pinterest Challenge post in two weeks I don't think I accomplished much :-)

6. Too Cute Ideas:  Blah. :-)  Same as above!!

7. Quiet Book:  Nothing, Nada, Not a thing happening.

8. Celebrate Me: I did practice piano once this month, does that count?

9. Misc Items: I have the stuff to make my March Mantel items - they will get done this week

10. House Items: The Kitchen is painted WHOO WHOO!!

11. Scrapbooking: The boys books are updated, the family album is updated and January 2012 is completed as well!!!  So happy to be working on current stuff!

That's it :-)  I plan to do better in March!!!



I love this song - I've sung it many times and it is still one of my all time favorites.  I have to say that this isn't the best version but it is the only one I could find. 

Why do I love it so much?  Because the song is based on my all time favorite verses:

Romans 8:35-39

³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”^[a]

³⁷ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What are your favorite verses?

Weekly Menu - February 25th

Wow, February is almost done, can you believe it?  This year is flying by already!!  Last week was one of those weeks.  On Monday, for the first time in a very long time I just did not want to cook dinner.  No way no how.  My husband jumped at the chance to go grab Taco Bell :-)  Tuesday, I tried a meatball recipe that I'll share on Tuesday in my Pinterest Post along with one of our favorites, Fried Rice.  The rice made the meal - it was so good!!!  Then came the birthday pizza :-)  On Thursday we had an old favorite but it didn't turn out like it normally does so it was just ok.  Hoping for a better week!  Originally my husband I were going to go out to dinner on Friday but we got hit with a pretty big snow storm so instead, I pulled out a roast and made beef drips - partly because they cook all afternoon and make the house smell wonderful.  The perfect fit to a snow day!!! 

This is the plan for the coming week!

Saturday:  My husband's family has always celebrated February birthdays because there are so many of them (His great-grandma's birthday was in February, along with his grandma's, his sister's, his niece's and, of course, his) and today we are all gathering at the nursing home for cake in the afternoon.  With that said dinner will either be something out (we might do some shopping after the party) or the kids will have sandwiches when we get home and we'll order out after they go to bed.

Sunday: Last Sunday, my husband had to work so the boys and I just grabbed McDonald's on the way home from church meaning that I just moved the meal - Sweet and Sour Crockpot Pork, green beans, and rice

Monday:  My Father-in-law is coming over so I'm going to do a big crock-pot full of Chili and have homemade bread.

Tuesday: This is another carry over from last Monday when I did not want to cook -- Mini Sausage Quiches, Lemon-Blueberry Poppy Bread, and Fruit

Wednesday: Coconut Chicken, Onion Rings and Carrots.  (Honestly, if my husband goes to practice tonight, the kids and I will probably have a frozen pizza HA)

Thursday: Swedish Meatballs over egg noodles, Broccoli and yeast rolls.  This recipe is new and is supposed to be "light".  We'll see if it is as good as I've read it to be!

Friday: This is the "re-do" from last Friday's snow day.  My parents are coming for the day giving my husband and I a chance to go out for dinner without kids.  I think my parents are planning on treating the kids too.


Some of the sweet treats I'm planning for this week

Super Moist Low Fat Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate glaze
Apple Cranberry Crumble (I may substitute a can of cherry pie filling for the cranberries depending on price)
Strawberry Fluffy Trifle
Lemon Cake with Lemon Filling and Lemon Butter Frosting
Chocolate Mint Candies Cookies

** Now before you think I'm crazy, you need to understand that my husband enjoys sweet treats but gets bored.  So things like the cupcakes and cookies I can make and freeze in small batches and pull them out to have something different on a day. The trifle I can actually make as individual cups and just have them one night (then enjoy left over filling with fruit at lunch)   The crumble I will probably make early in the week (like on Sunday) and then the cake will the one that may get pushed to next week but it sounds so yummy!!)  I've just found that by Wednesday, he is bored of whatever we have OR we run out and I haven't planned for anything else.  This is something new I'm going to try - to actually plan for several items and see what happens.

And finally, I'm also trying to plan my lunches and some things to snack on a little better.  So my plan is to make up a bowl of Brushetta and a dish of Hot Spinach Dip (which I can re-heat throughout the week) to use with/as my lunch and also to grab a quick afternoon snack.

I'll let you know how my plan goes next week!

Food Friday - Stuffed Cabbage Casserole

Stuffed Cabbage is one of those odd things that I would have thought I did not like but since my husband loves cabbage, I have made it and, yes, I like it.  It's basically the same filling as what goes inside a stuffed pepper but . . well . .with cabbage :-)  Recently I came across this recipe for Stuffed Cabbage Casserole that sounded good; then a week later another blog I follow posted about how great it was so I decided to sneak it into our menu a few weeks ago. 

Stuffed Cabbage Casserole
adapted from Gina's Skinny Recipes

This was a surprisingly great recipe despite my unintentional errors :-)  As I was putting it together I realized I had picked up two cans of diced tomatoes and did not have a can of Tomato Sauce.  Shoot, I didn't even have a can of tomato soup to throw in for a "thickener" or to add the sweetness you get from Sauce.  Instead I added about a teaspoon of sugar to off-set the acid in the tomatoes.  A couple of other things - I used ground pork only because it was more than a buck cheaper a package that week at the store and we loved it.  This recipe does call from a head and 1/2 of cabbage - I think that is too much.  I only used about 3/4 of the pre-cooked cabbage in the recipe.   The next time I make this (and I will again!) I will make it in a 8x8 pan - keeping all the ingredients the same but I'd probably use a little less cabbage (and yes, I would use two cans of diced tomatoes PLUS a can of tomato sauce )

Ingredients:

2 teaspoon olive oil, divided
1 pound ground beef
1 large onion, chopped fine
1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon sweet Hungarian Paprika (I used regular Paprika)
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 1/2 head green cabbage, coarsely chopped
1 can (14.5 oz) petite diced tomatoes with juice
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
1/4 cup water
2 cups cooked brown or white rice
2 cups mozzarella cheese

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9 x13 casserole dish.

Heat a large frying pan on medium heat; add ground beef and cook until it's browned and cooked through, breaking it apart as it cooks.  Remove ground beef and set aside. In the same pan, add 1 teaspoon olive oil, chopped onion and cook over medium heat until the onion is translucent and starting to brown,a bout 5 minutes.  Add the minced garlic, dried thyme, and paprika and cook about 2 minutes more.  Then add the diced tomatoes with juice, tomato sauce, and ground beef.  Add water to the pan.  Simmer until it's hot and slightly thickened, about 15-20 minutes.

While it simmers, cut cabbage in half, cut out the core, and remove any wilted outer leaves; chop the cabbage coarsely into 1 inch pieces.  Heat remaining olive oil in a large frying pan or dutch oven; add the cabbage and cook over medium-high heat until the cabbage is wilted and about half cooked, turning it over several times so it all wilts and cooks.  Season with salt and fresh-ground black pepper. 

When the meat and tomato sauce mixture has cooked and thickened a bit, stir in the 2 cups of cooked rice and gently combine.  Spray casserole dish with non-stick spray and layer half the cabbage, half the meat mixture, remaining cabbage and remaining meat mixture.  Cover tightly with foil and bake 40 minutes or until the mixture is just starting to bubble on the edges.

Remove foil and sprinkle on cheese (if using).  Bake uncovered on additional 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and starting to slightly brown.  Serve hot.



On the other blog I mentioned earlier - when she made it she put all of the cabbage on the bottom so that those in her family that did not like cabbage could easily push it aside and just eat the meat portion. 

There are a couple of things with this recipe I do want to point out - it is a lot of work with a lot of steps which create a lot of dishes.  It is one of those recipes that you need to plan ahead for and actually have everything ready before you begin :-)  Just  something I learned the first time I made it!
See that bread in the photo - check back next Friday for the GREAT recipe :-)