Recipes, Recipes and a Little More

First off, I teased in yesterday's post that I was baking a no-knead bread. There are a ton of versions floating around out there, but I stick with my adaptation because it is literally the easiest bread EVER.

Here's what you "knead" .... alright, that was cheesy.

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, white or wheat. Just like in the sweet bread, I prefer wheat, my husband prefers white.
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1½ teaspoons salt
1½ cups water. I actually use a little less because it is so humid here. But if it's not insanely wet where you are, it works fine.

Mix all of the dry ingredients well. You can also add seasonings to taste. I really like rosemary in my bread.

When the dry ingredients are mixed, mix in the water until you have a goopy mess.

After it's mixed, cover it with either saran wrap or a dish towel and let it sit 12-24 hours.

I know you're thinking that mixing salt and yeast is a big baking no-no, but with the amount of time that the dough sits, the salt really doesn't hinder the work of the yeast.

Once your time has passed, preheat your oven with a Dutch Oven inside to 450.

Pull out your Dutch Oven CAREFULLY... that sucker hurts when it burns you.

Pour in your dough from the bowl with the help of a spatula.

Put the lid on the Dutch Oven and place it back in the oven for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, pull out the Dutch Oven, remove the lid, and place it back in for another 11 minutes. This gives the crust its crisp.

When it's done, carefully slide it out and let it cool. And there you have it, artisan bread that you'd spend a fortune on at the bakery for cheap at home.

Now, if you're like me and like to read about recipes on blogs, you've probably heard about the pumpkin spice cake I'm about to mention. It is even easier than the no-knead dough.

I'd love to try this from scratch, but I didn't have the time today, so I followed the lead of many other women and just went to the store.

All you need is a cake pan, a spice cake mix, and a can of pumpkin. Please excuse my crock pot, I was cooking roast for dinner. And man, was it good. There's no recipe there, I just wing it. Put the frozen meat of your choice in, put your seasonings on top, cover it with stock and cook it on high for 5 hours. I'm a magician! Right?

Anyway...

One can of pumpkin.

One box of mix.

Preheat your oven. I used a 9x13 pan, so it was 350 for me. And, yes, I require all of those condiments for regular use. That doesn't include the spice rack to the left of the box of spices in the pantry.

Mix your ingredients, pour them in the pan, and let it bake for 30 minutes or so.

While it's baking, enjoy the batter. Here is my assistant in her monkey apron.

She REALLY enjoyed it. I figured since it didn't have raw eggs, she could have at it. And, oh did she. She kept wanting to take it into the living room onto our white couch... sigh. There was a meltdown while I washed it so she could hold it for the rest of the evening, but she greeted Daddy at the door with a smile and a whisk. She kept calling it a "pumpkin" coz of the batter. It was adorable.

I forgot to take a picture of the after, but it's good. It was a hit after dinner. I was Wife/Mommy of the Year tonight between the stew and the cake. lol

Not only did she love the cake and the whisk, but she loves her apron, too. If I have an apron on, she has one too. I love it. I didn't have any domestic influence/guidance/whatever growing up, so to instill in her a love of taking care of those around her and baking and cleaning and cooking is so sweet to watch.

This is our new set up for the entertainment center. There used to just be one shelf up top holding my ancient CD player and the DVD player was down on the bottom. Well, someone got quite keen on stealing DVDs out of the player, so it had to be remedied.

Up top now is the CD player, the DVD player, the remotes (which really don't serve a purpose except turning on subtitles now - I HAVE to have my subtitles), and our collection of library movies.

This is what it looks like to the left of the TV now. I made the initial plaque in the back out of some scrapbook paper and Mod Podge. I even painted the frame to give it a distressed look using a country white and a copper paint. It doesn't look too bad for a 5 minute project. The clock is the one our church gave us Thursday evening.

The right side still hasn't changed much. When we have a little spare money, I'm thinking of getting a Scentsy to replace the candle. Their warmers are soo cute. The jar in the back used to be filled with potpourri. I wanted to get a long candle to put in it to use. Well, that was a bust. The inside is meant to hold a taper candle. The bottom actually comes out so you can clean it. So the long candle is now on a gangster lean until I get a taper to put in it. I guess I could have taken out the potpourri before I got the candle to learn about that to begin with. Live and learn.

The cross is momentarily elsewhere because a little set of hands accidentally broke it. I wasn't upset... mostly shocked that it happened. But, a little super glue and it will be as good as new. That is, if I could ever find the super glue.

And down at the bottom are just a few of our books. There's more in the drawer to the right. Some in the office. Some in the spare room on the book shelf. Some in the bed room. Some in the car. I'm telling you, they're like bunnies. Included in this collection is a book that my good friend let me borrow that I still haven't read yet. I'm thinking it'll give me something to occupy myself while in labor ;)