I made this beautiful and delicious bread the other day and just thought I'd share it with you. I love when something that looks great is great! Best of all I had everything in my pantry. I also loved that it didn't have to rise as long as some breads do. This is a keeper!

Garden Herb Braid

4 to 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons sugar

2 pkg quick rise yeast

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3/4 teaspoons each:

          thyme

          parsley flakes

          basil

          oregano

         dried rosemary, crushed

         rubbed sage

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup butter, cubed 

1 egg

In a large mixing bowl combine 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar, yeast, salt and herbs. In a microwave safe bowl combine milk, water and butter. Heat to 120-130 degrees. Add to dry ingredients, beat just until all dry ingredients are moistened. Add egg and beat until smooth. Stir in remaining flour to form a soft dough.

Knead on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, just a few minutes. Cover and let rest for about 10 minutes. Divide dough into thirds and shape into a 15" rope. Place ropes on a greased baking pan and braid. Pinch ends and tuck under braid. Cover and let rise until doubled, only about 20-30 minutes.

Bake at 375 degrees fro 25 minutes. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle a few left over herbs on top (optional). Remove to wire rack to cool. (yields 16 slices)

Giana just loves being in the action!

My bread making buddy

Ponytails!

"Where's Giana?"

I don't know why it excites me so much to the extent that I just have to get the camera and yell to daddy to come look but first ponytails are just so cute! I love the straggles that don't just quite fit in and fall on the nape of her neck. I love the odd, huge, ca-lick on her right side of her forehead. I love the tiny ponytails that just barely curl under. Yes I guess you can just say I'm obsessed. Needless to say, if you know Giana she didn't wait long at all to tug on them and they didn't last long. We will just have to do them again. :-)

A new hobby

 So I admit it, I'm obsessed. I'm afraid that at this point my ideas and designs way overwhelm my actual abilities but hey everyone needs something to work for right?

It started out with Alyssa's first birthday cake. There was no way that I was going to shell out our hard earned money on something too pretty to cut into and eat. And I knew I was able so I took the plunge. Hours later and a very tired me I had an adorable giraffe cake, perfectly decorated. But nope, I didn't stop there but made two other kinds of cupcakes. A white sprinkle cupcake with buttercream frosting topped with cute "African" animals, and a chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing and peanut butter cups to form "monkey" faces. Yup, that was the beginning of it all. From there I just made the girls birthday cakes putting my all into it.

This was I my first attempt at fondant. Some positives were the flawless covering to the cake. It just looked perfect! It rolled on nicely and was ready to decorate right away (although if you had time it's suggested to let it rest for a bit). The roses were fabulous to make. I had found a simple youtube clip on how to make them out of fondant and ran with it. The negatives, hmmm alot of rolling, this is thick stuff! and I didn't love the taste. It didn't taste awful, just blah. I put plenty of buttercream under the fondant so it served as more of a "safe covering" then party of the edible cake.

Happy Birthday recipients.

I think I'll keep this hobby. It's actually one my hubby has absolutely no complaints about. And I think everyone should have something to "work" on and be able to stretch their abilities on. This is mine.

A little peek into the day to day occurrences at our home

 

What a big helper!

She just loves the dishwasher.

I had to get a shot of these three.
Apparently the one on the left is Papaw and the right is Mamaw. Hmmmm

I caught the girls playing hide and seek.
Alyssa found a great hiding place but unfortunately the lid was see through. :-)

Our little library and toy nook with a bit of Rwandan flare.

I gave her raisins for a snack, she "planted them" in her garden.

I don't even know what to say here...it was just one of those days!
But notice there isn't just sauce on that face. We've had our share of "snotty" days!

Searching for ...

I'm back. I've noticed that I just way too much on my plate. As much as I love reading blogs I enjoy writing but it's often hurried or just something funny from my day, which is fine but I find myself searching for something more. My desire is to share our life, my path in life is still here. So here is to a better attempt at keeping up with my blog and actually dedicating a bit of time to it. I'm sure there will be missed days or weeks but anyone with children will totally understand.

Recently I've been following several blogs, all which are wonderful, but very different. Some are just fun cooking or baking blogs, then some are just so much more than that.  Mine has been a smattering of fun from life and kids. Pictures sprinkled here and there and little musings all around. It's been to keep some of you in touch with our lives here in PA, and other posts have just been tidbits of life. But lately one blog has challenged me to get real, to put things out there. I'd normally say I'm an honest person but I can also guarantee there is alot people don't know about me, my faith, my family and just my life. Getting "real" is what I desire, getting real is what we are put here on earth for, getting real is what God desires too. So here's to being authentic.

Well it's been way too long. I've been fighting with the question "does anyone really read this?" but I'm feeling the need to have a secure spot for my thoughts. So I'm hoping to do better at this blog thing. I'm on my iPad, (thanks honey) which is awesome but just not the same as an actual computer when it comes to typing. Our iMac crashed so hopefully things will soon be back up so I can actually type faster!

More to come soon!