No Knead Dinner Rolls

Hello, everyone!  Happy Tuesday!  As I have stated many, many times before, I love bread.  I don't just love bread.  I adore it.  Every time I walk by the bakery at the store, I have to stop and breathe in the fresh baked bread smell.
If they sold a candle with the fresh baked bread smell, I'd buy those in bulk.  I'm sure they do, but I'm afraid to look, I don't think we could afford to have a spare room full of fresh baked bread candles.

But it would smell amazing.

Strawberry Stuffed French Toast

Good morning, everyone!  How does a nice, hot breakfast sound?  Strawberries are definitely the favorite fruit of this house, so I always have a container (or two!) in the fridge!  I have to find different ways to use them, although just eating them straight is always a popular option!

Blueberry Sour Cream Pancakes

Hello, everyone!  It's Thursday again, so I figured I'd do a simple, yet impressive weekend breakfast.  Pancakes really are a crowd pleaser, but people rarely make them from scratch, of which I'm guilty, too.  While it's easy to just grab the big yellow box of pancake mix, it is just as easy to mix these up from scratch.

Biscuit Doughnuts

Hello, everyone!  Happy Tuesday!  There's not much that starts your day off better than a fresh, hot doughnut, am I right?  Yes, yes I am.
However, what are the odds of driving past a doughnut place that has freshly cooked doughnuts, at the exact right time?  Pretty slim, in my case.  Even so, the closest chain doughnut store is about thirty minutes from my house.
I have to be pretty desperate for a doughnut for that.

Challah Bread

Hello, everyone!  I hope you're having a lovely Tuesday!  On the weekends, my daughter likes to have either pancakes or French toast, so I figured I would take an afternoon this past Saturday, and make some Challah bread for French toast on Sunday morning.  

This bread looks very impressive, but it really was very simple to put together.  The most difficult part of all of this, was waiting for the dough to rise!  That doesn't sound too hard, does it?

Honey Loaf Bread

Hello, everyone!  Lately, we've been getting a little stir crazy around my house; it's too cold to go outside and play, and even if we wanted to, there's not even any snow to play in.  It's just cold, and grey, leaving us stuck inside, trying to figure out how to keep a 3 year old entertained.  

However, as we all know by now, my daughter loves to play in the kitchen, so, in an effort to keep all of us on good terms with one another, I decided to have her help me make a honey loaf bread!

Nutella Strawberry Shortcake

It's Thursday again!  Hello, everyone!  Is it just me, or does 2015 already seem to be flying by?  My husband and I were going over our calendar, and by the time the dust settles around here, it's going to be June, we (for now) have a seemingly slow summer, then the holidays are here again, and it's 2016!  All you seem to hear while you're growing up, "Time flies as you get older!  Just you wait!"   And, of course, as you get older, you want it to fly by...you can't wait to do everything adults do; they make it look so fun.
Now that I'm a full fledged adult (when did that happen?!), I like to look back over my favorite foods as a kid, and try to get some of that time back, even as it whizzes past me at lightening speed.

Chicken 'n Dumplings

Hello again, everyone!  I'm going to let you in on a little secret today.  I hate that my husband travels so much for work, however, when he does, I get to make my favorite dishes that he doesn't like!  

I cannot for the life of me understand what he has against chicken 'n dumplings, but, I guess that's more for me!  The broth is comforting, and the dumplings are tender!  

Homemade Pita bread

Hello, everyone!  I am so excited about the posts for this week!  Today,  I'm going to go over making some homemade pita bread, and then Thursday, I'm going to make up the rest of these amazing gyros, with homemade Greek chicken, tzatziki sauce and olive topping.  This has a few steps involved, but they can be done ahead of time, and the end result really is so worth it!

Easy Sourdough Bread

I love to bake bread, and I've never had a type of bread give me more problems than sourdough.  Mostly because you have to wait for weeks while you grow a starter, which usually turns out pretty well for me, but when it comes to actually baking the bread, something goes wrong, and it has never turned out well for me.  This recipe calls for sour cream and Greek yogurt (with live, active cultures in it) instead of a traditional bread starter, which I found to be really interesting!

While playing around on Pinterest a couple of weeks ago, I found a pin that claimed to be the quickest sourdough bread recipe you'll find!
It did take a full day, but it is a homemade bread, so they take some time.  However, 99% of that time is just waiting for it to rise, and not actually involved in labor.

Fluffy yeast rolls

Alright, in part 3 of this "fancy pants supper" series, we're looking at yeast rolls!  When I was writing my post about fresh bread, I spoke about how much I love the smell of fresh bread, just out of the oven.  There is only one smell that I can think of that can compare is the smell of yeast rolls baking in the oven.  I suppose since it is still a type of bread, but the smell of yeast baking in the oven is something just magical.  

The fact that these are easy to make just makes them that much better!

Banana Bread

One of my favorite things to do in the kitchen, is bake.  I love reading over a recipe, and adding a little of this, taking a little of this out, thinking, "Hum...this is good, but how would it be if I changed this??  I'm going to try this next time!"
And, yes, you could do that with any recipe, to do it with a baked good, to me, is to really make it your own.  

Baking does need to be an exact science, with the basics.  You can't take out a cup of flour, and expect the recipe to behave the same, but you can, for example, add chocolate chips, and have a whole new experience with a recipe!  

Fresh bread!

When you think of a comforting smell, what comes to mind?  I mean, something that you'd love for your house to smell like 24/7?  Vanilla?  Cookies?  Flowers?  All good answers, but for me, I'd say my favorite smell is fresh out of the oven bread.  Smear some butter on it, and forget about it...I'm in heaven!  

Lavender Earl Grey Tea Scones

I remember when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade, my teacher had a chef come in, and show the kids how to make scones.  I was fascinated.  I'd never heard of scones, but they were pretty easy to make, and I loved the process, and, of course, I really loved eating the finished product!  

Flash forward to the other night, I was catching up on "Downton Abbey", and thought that it would be fun to make some scones!  Now, what kind of scones to make....hum....lavender Earl Grey tea scones sound fancy enough to be served to Lady Grantham, and if they're good enough for her, they're good enough for me!

Cornbread

I love making breads from scratch, it makes me feel very accomplished, and this is one of the easiest breads to make!  Aside from being easy (or, maybe because it is so easy!), cornbread is a southern staple.  This bread is a little bit sweet, and the corn taste really shines through, from the cornmeal.  Start to finish, it takes just under an hour to make a 12" skillet of bread.  I always make mine in a cast iron skillet, partly because its tradition, and partly because I have yet to find another baking dish that will develop a perfect crust on the bread.  And, its nonstick!  Let's get started!