Challah

Challah is one of my favorite breads. It's fairly foolproof and versatile. I've used the soft dough to make buns, loaves and different shaped breads. It's chewy and buttery and just perfection. Challah is a special braided bread that is associated with Jewish tradition. It is typically consumed on the Sabbath and other special holidays. The recipe is particularly different from many bread recipes because it contains both eggs and milk. I attribute both of these ingredients to the fantastic taste.

Here is the recipe I use for Challah using my KA mixer:
This recipe yields one very large loaf or can be split into two smaller loaves. I doubled the recipe this time.

• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 3 tablespoons margarine
• 3 cups AP flour
  
• 3tbl white sugar
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Directions:

Warm milk to about body temp, just warm to the touch. Add sugar and yeast and leave for a few minutes to let the yeast get started.


When the yeast is foamy add butter and eggs.


With the dough hook on begin adding a cup of flour at a time until all is incorporated (throw the salt in the mix also). Kneed on a medium setting for 8 minutes.



Let rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes or until about doubled in size.


Punch down, shape and let rise again about 30 minutes.

I doubled the recipe and made three different loaves from it:



Bake at 350* for 25 minutes until golden brown.

At this time your house will smell wonderful.

I also wanted to include what I like to do with my eggshells. I keep my eggshells in a container under the sink...

When the container gets full I throw the shells in my food processor and pulse until they are fine.

The eggshells are wonderful to sprinkle in garden soil and inside potted plants.

Happy Victoria Day to all Canadians and have a wonderful week <3

am

Literally folks, from the seeds!

I love this time of year. I am in love with this time of year.

It's been warm here lately which has helped many of my seedlings to get their start for the season. Sharing the photos brightens my day for sure, as well as sharing a recipe that always makes me warm inside. I know, I'm such a sucker for nostalgia.

Hello onion bulbs! Welcome to spring!


Beautiful carrot sprouts!


My bestest gave me a wonderful tea seed/leaf growing set and I finally felt it was warm enough to seed them. If you look in the left hand corner, that fuzzy green thing is a sprout!

Atlast my Rhododendron is budding! I've never seen it bloom before and for some reason I thought the flowers would be pink! This color looks magnificent. There are tons of Rhododendrons around here that have already bloomed and I was beginning to think mine never would!

Right, now for an awesome carbohydrate filled recipe. This is my mum's recipe for scalloped potatoes. I've had lots of variations of this recipe but hers is my favorite. It's comfort food, filling and delicious.

• Potatoes (I used around 6 small-medium ones)
• Can of cream of mushroom soup (cream of celery would work well too)
• Milk
• Pepper
• Paprika
• Grated cheese
  

In a bowl mix can of soup with about 1/2 c milk. If you are doing lotsa taters then add more milk to make the soup base go farther. To that add a good dash of pepper. I do just about a tsp. Add 1 tsp paprika. Whisk that baby up. Cut the potatoes into thin slices. Place one layer of potatoes in the baking dish and cover with sauce mixture, repeat this until everything is in the dish. Sprinkle with a bit more paprika (maybe half a tsp) and sprinkle a handful of grated cheese on top. Cover and bake about an hour and a half at 350* (until you can poke a fork in and it feels soft). In the last 20 minutes of baking remove the lid and sprinkle some more cheese and get it nice and brown.

Look at that lump of paprika! Mmmm I want that piece.

Lotsa love,

am

Good bites my dear!

Strawberry Smoothie:

Strawberry Smoothie:
handful of strawberries (frozen)
1 individual container vanilla yogurt
splash of fruit juice

Do you ever have days where you set out to do one thing and somehow a million other things pile up as well? I should be studying for my final today, but it's on Friday and I thankfully have Thursday off so I will be cramming them. Today however is a day for my kitchen. I set out to make chicken meatballs today, realized we needed bread and decided while I was at it why not dirty more dishes and make a delicious smoothie treat.

The delicious sweetness of smoothies make me long for summer to come. Something inside of me says this summer will be truly wonderful, oh I hope so.

Chicken Meatballs:

Can you guess which egg is organic and which is just free range? ;)

2lb ground chicken
1 tsp seasoning salt
1 tsp garlic seasoning
1 c bread crumbs
2 eggs
handful of Parmesan cheese
Combine all, form balls, bake at 400* for 15 minutes


Result: Delicious, I like freezing them in little batches for spaghetti and pasta dishes.

Light wheat bread:

So yummy, I just ate a slice slathered with PB. I generally don't like making bread recipes with so many ingredients because it raises the costs, but this was well worth it. I also used my Kitchen Aid for most of the kneading.

Recipe:

http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/01/light-wheat-bread/

So there's my update...
And as my grandma would say,
Good bites my dear! Good bites!

Am

Spring!

My goodness, Spring!

I love all seasons equally, each for different reasons. Spring to me is a bit of the teacher's pet though.. perhaps because it's birthday season for most of my closest friends, and for myself aswell. Spring is also the wonderful time to start seeding. I finally got the opportunity yesterday to seed some peas, edamame, onion bulbs as well as some bush beans. Here's hoping for a good crop this year!

I love how evident spring has become in my yard:

From my strawberry plants that have come back nicely,


To new plant markers that will be dotting my garden,

And Mums, my goodness, my Mums survived the winter!

Spring has also blanketed itself on my lawn:

Courtesy of the blooming apple tree:

Spring has arrived in the form of Tulips (that none of us planted). We have come to the conclusion that perhaps squirrels brought the bulbs to the yard.

Spring is evident in my eager pup, who will be enjoying her first spring on this earth with our little family.

I can feel my toes warming up at last, what a wonderful feeling!

Am

Stirfry Love...

The Inspiration:

Beech Mushrooms


Deliciously epic. That's right I said epic.

Am

This needs few words:

Inspiration:


My new favorite everything. Avocado.


+


+


scrambled egg and parmesan

=

(salsa + the yummy avocado)

Here's the icing:


and

Okay I'll stop procrastinating now.
am

A french press and H&M.

I love treats. I believe treating yourself every once in awhile is a great way to pick yourself up, or just to feel special. I don't think treats have to be stuff, treats can be just taking a minute and spending time with the ones you love or stopping to snuggle with your zoo at home for just a few minutes longer. My recent treats have been in the form of stuff, and I'm inspired to share. Especially because my zoo is snuggled next to me (kit on the left and pup on the right) and I can't exactly move for another 20 or so minutes for fear of waking them.

First the french press. On a recent trip to Ikea with my best bud (blog pimp, click Reckless Bliss on the right hand side to see her wonderful blog) she spotted a french press that she knew I'd been craving. The price (only 9.99) had me at hello. I've had the press for not even a week now and have used it quite a few times. I have to say that the coffee that a french press makes is some of the best I've tasted, and the best that I've made at home. It's clean and smooth. The thought of it gives me goosebumps. For a gal that drinks decaf, finding a great cup of coffee at home is a beautiful thing.

I decided a few days ago to try making tea (using tea leaves) in the press. My tea leaves are a type of black tea. I can't remember the exact name of them. The taste is like a nuttier, fuller English breakfast.

I generally use one of these to make tea via leaves:

They are adorable but do let through a lot of the leaves which makes for the undesirable sludge at the bottom of the cup. The french press almost eliminates this, I only have found a few tiny specks in the bottom of my cup.

Now, without further delay, the press:

Steepage:


Hello lover:

Let me introduce you to pottery barn cup. Pottery Barn cup meet everyone. In March Reckless Bliss and I went to PB and Restoration Hardware for her birthday. It was a really, really fun trip and I think it may become a tradition for us, I'm considering requesting the trip for my birthday coming up in May. These stores are a real treat. They are expensive, for the most part out of my current financial reach, but they are wonderful spaces where you can really dream. And drool. If you aren't obsessed with cute little bird cups and gorgeous sheet sets then these stores will bore you to death. For those that are obsessed with beautiful linens and little bird cups they will envelop you and eat you whole.

Moving on...


Add some brown sugar to your favorite cup. It might look like too much brown sugar but this mug is huge, and I fluffed up the brown sugar. When I add brown sugar to warm delicious beverages I find no other flavor enhancer, such as vanilla or cinnamon is needed. The sweet maple flavor is perfect.

Just about now things should be all steeped:

I just love that color. I didn't have great lighting in my house today that's why all the photos in my kitchen look a little dark and dreary.

And done... I would have frothed some milk and added that but the batteries in my frother are dead. Oh well, this was still perfection...

Steamy perfection.

Right.. moving on. Yesterday Reckless Bliss scooped me up and we went to this really nice outdoor mall that is pretty close to where I live. We visited a few stores and among them was H&M. I have only briefly been in this store before and never purchased anything, I think we were both H&M newbies. My goodness I have been missing out. Reasons why I love this store...
1. No pushy sales associates, like none whatsoever. I don't think they are on commission so you are left to shop alone.
2. Amazing prices. Amazing. I used to work in retail at a middle priced store and these prices I believe were better even with my discount at the other.
3. Great fitting rooms. Mirrors inside. A nice 360 swivel mirror.
I could go on...

This store reminds me of what Old Navy used to be like maybe 8 years ago. I also found some great buys:

Adorable.

I think this would be used for a cosmetics bag but I scooped it up for a new pencil case. I just love this detail:

Wonderful cardigan on sale for 15$:

And the best buy of the trip: a really cute summer jacket. It was actually in the mens area of the store.. but as Barry pointed out to me later on in the evening it is double breasted. Not many men wear double breasted jackets. I like that it is a little masculine and a little feminine.

My favorite part about the jacket I think is the pockets. They are perfection:

This concludes the longest blog post ever.
Loves!
Am

P.S.
Reckless Bliss I'm hinting at you posting about your buys. The world has to see the adorable jewelry you scooped up!