Garlic Slathered Stretch Bread

I made this bread this past weekend and it was a huge hit!

My brother Broc proclaimed it the best garlic bread he's ever had!

It does take some time to rise but it's worth it.

You could probably use a store bought crust and just use the topping if you wanted.

Garlic Slathered Stretch Bread

Adapted from A Passion for Baking

Dough

2 cups warm water (100 - 110 degrees)

1 3/4 tsp rapid rise yeast

1 3/4 tsp salt

4 tsp sugar

4 cups bread flour

Garlic Slather Topping

6 cloves garlic, finely minced

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup mayonnaise

1 cup Parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp dried Italian seasoning

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and drizzle with olive oil.

In a mixing bowl hand whisk water and yeast together and let stand 3 minutes to dissolve yeast. Then whisk in salt, sugar and most of the flour to make a soft dough. Knead with dough hood on lowest speed for 5 to 8 minutes, adding more flour as necessary until dough is resilient but not tough. Remove dough hook and spray dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover bowl with plastic and let dough rise 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Turn out dough onto a floured work surface and gently deflate. Cover dough loosely with plastic wrap while you make the topping. Using a mortar and pestle smash the garlic and salt together to make a fine paste. Remove to a bowl and add the mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, and olive oil.

Divide dough in half and stretch each into a long oval on baking sheet. Divide topping evenly between the 2 pieces of dough and spread with the back of a spoon. Top each with the mozzarella cheese. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake until nicely golden brown about 20-25 minutes.

Catch up

I honestly feel like this year is flying by.

Yesterday I checked to see when the last time I had put a post on here and it was October 4th!

So this one is just going to be some highlights of what has been going on around here.

• Liv got some cowboy boots from her great grandpa pop. Which she proceeded

  wear every day for a week straight it seemed like.

• Kellen is up to 7 teeth now! He has been pulling up for the past month and

  is now starting to let go and just stand by himself.
• Some fun days at the park.

• Liv and I went and got our hair cut. This was the second time she has

  ever got it trimmed. And when I say she got it cut, she has probably had

  a total of a half inch cut off in her whole 2 1/2 years of life.

• While getting her haircut they put bright red lip gloss on her. She loved it!
• My birthday was in the middle of October. Liv loved blowing the candles out

  and her favorite thing to say for about 3 weeks was "Happy Birthday TO YOU!"

• We've had lots of picnics in the playroom. Mainly eating "cake and carrots."
• I've been trying to meal plan for the week. It's hard to come up with new things to eat, but Pinterest has been very helpful :)

• The night before Halloween Liv and I made pumpkin and ghost cookies.

• Halloween was fun. Liv was Little Red Riding Hood, and Kellen was the Big

  Bad Wolf, or as Liv would say a "good wolf."



Mom and Kellen



• Kellen is starting to take one long nap in the middle of the day. For the past week
  I have got them both to go down for naps at the same time and its been wonderful!

• We've taken some nightly Kubota rides.

• We went to my parents house and Liv loved playing on the mulch piles. Kellen
  enjoyed riding on my mom's shoulders.

• I'm loving looking through my pictures after Liv plays with my phone. She's
  getting pretty good about taking pictures and actually getting a subject in the frame.

• Joe and I's anniversary was last week. We ended up trying a new Italian restaurant.
  The food was fabulous and I can't wait to go back!

• Last night Joe's sister came and spent the night with us. Liv was really excited for "Rachie"
  to stay. We had a great dinner that included some yummy garlic bread, which I'm going to try
  and get posted on here sometime this week.
  
  
  So there is a short recap of our last couple of weeks!

Perfect

Sometimes when I follow blogs I get caught up in how

wonderful other peoples lives seem.

I have to remind myself that it's not always perfect even though

 they make it seem that way.

I mean seriously, who wants to whine and complain or put up pictures of

their kids screaming?

I'm sure there are lots of blogs out there that do that but I don't

happen to be following any of them.

Tonight my brother stopped by to see the kids and I.

Liv was running around playing with a stick while Kellen and I were

lying on a blanket under a tree.

The first thing he said to me was "Man your life is perfect."

I'm not sure what I responded but I"m sure it was something like, "Yeah whatever."

But then I looked around.

I have 2 wonderful healthy children.

A roof over our heads.

We always have food on the table.

And a husband that I love and would do anything for us.

So, yeah, I guess he is right.

My life is pretty perfect :)

Sure the laundry may not be all folded or the dishes might not all be done.

But I honestly can't complain about much.

So on those days that I look at other blogs and think how great their lives are

I just need to take a step back and realize that to me, my life is as good as it gets!

Blessed

There are times in my life when I feel like God is really looking out for me.

Today was one of them.

I had a minor, well I wouldn't call it an accident, but I guess that's the

closest thing it would be called, with my car today.

I had both kids in the car and I just thank the Lord that they weren't hurt.

I know He was watching over me today and I'm so thankful that

I have a great relationship with the Lord.

So don't forget to say "I Love You" to those you care about everyday

and thank the Lord for watching over you. :)

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Liv and I whipped up a batch of these cookies tonight.

One of our favorites!

Liv was more interested in trying to stack and then

eat all the peanut butter cups. 

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies: 2 1/2 cups (325 grams) all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup (160 grams) light brown sugar

3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Garnish:

48 miniature peanut butter cups, unwrapped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in the center of the oven.  Butter, or spray with a non stick vegetable spray, 48 miniature muffins tins.

 

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter. Add the sugars and beat until light and fluffy (about 2 - 3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated. Fill each miniature muffin cup with about one tablespoon of batter.

Bake the cookies for about 8 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly browned around the edges but still soft in the center. (Note: While the cookies are baking remove the foil wraps and paper liners from each peanut butter cup.) Remove the cookies from the oven, and gently press one miniature peanut butter cup into the center of each cookie. The peanut butter cup should be even with the top of the batter. Return the cookies to the oven and bake an additional 3 minutes or until cookies are golden brown. Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack before removing the cookies from the pan. These can be stored for several days at room temperature or in the refrigerator, or they can be frozen.

Makes about 48 cookies.

We took family pictures last night and I can't wait to see how they turned out!

So for now here are a few we took earlier this week. 

Southwestern Chopped Chicken Salad

My computer had been on the fritz for the last couple of months.

Well since I last posted it completely crashed.

Not even turning on.

I probably should have taken it in to be worked on earlier.

Especially since it would take me at least 30 minutes to turn it on.

But no, I guess I just thought it would magically fix itself.

Well, 2 weeks in the shop and a hefty bill later its back :)

Lots has happened in the past couple of weeks.

Kellen got his second tooth.

Liv is getting her back bottom molars.

Kellen started eating food for the first time.

Potty training is going great! I would say we are 95% done.

Started working on Kellen's Christmas stocking.

I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can remember.

Here is a recipe I made for dinner Friday night.

Liv and I loved it.
She kept grabbing little pieces out of the bowl and eating them!

Southwestern Chopped Chicken Salad

Adapted from Pearls Handcuffs and Happy Hour

2 cups shredded or chopped chicken

 1 can black beans, rinsed

1 can corn, drained

2 Roma tomatoes, chopped

4 green onions, chopped

2 avocados, diced

1 head of iceberg lettuce chopped

optional: tortilla chips or Doritos

Dressing:

1/2 cup mayo

2/3 cup Greek yogurt

1 Tbsp. ranch seasoning

1 Tbsp. taco seasoning

First make the dressing by mixing all the ingredients, set aside.

Next mix the chicken, beans, corn, tomatoes, onions, avocados, and lettuce together.

Add the dressing to the salad and give it a good toss.

Grab a bowl and add some crushed chips to the bottom then spoon some of your salad on top!