Simple No Knead Bread

I love good bread. I love the crusty-on-the-outside, chewy-on-the-inside kind of bread. I found this recipe on Simply So Good blog and I've been making a loaf every 2 weeks or so since. I adjusted the measurement for water and baking time to make it work for my environment. This is how it looks right out of the oven. I love the crackling sound it makes as it cools!

And the inside looks like this:

So simple and yet so good! That's just my kind of recipe. :)

Simple No Knead Bread Recipe
Adapted from Crusty Bread by Simply So Good

Ingredients
3 cups all purpose flour plus some for dusting
1-3/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon yeast
1-1/2 cups and 2 Tablespoons water

• Whisk together flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl.
• Add water and mix well. The dough feels pretty wet. Please refer to the picture from the original recipe linked above as your gauge.
• Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and let the dough sit for 12-18 hours. Do not refrigerate.
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
• While the oven is preheating, take the dough out onto a heavily floured surface and make it into a round shape. Cover the dough with the plastic wrap removed from the bowl.
• Once the oven is preheated, place an empty dutch oven (with a lid on) in the oven for 30 minutes.
• Carefully place your hand underneath the dough to pick it up and drop it in the heated dutch oven. This step is a bit tricky since the dough is pretty loose and sticky. Make sure to flour your hands before picking it up.
• Put the lid back on the dutch oven and place it back in the oven for 25 minutes.
• Remove the lid and bake for additional 10 minutes.
• Cool it on the rack.

Voila! As tempting as it is to slice it while it's warm, try to wait until it's completely cooled.

Tutu is REQUIRED

My daughter went to a trial class at a ballet studio the other day. The studio has a no observation/filming of any kind rule, but they let me peek a few times during the trial class. It's a small class with 6 or 7 3-year-olds. So cute! The uniforms are leotard (in any color), pink tights and ballet shoes. Tutus are optional. Riiight. All kids were wearing one. It is such an adorable outfit for a little person. Of course, many parents will choose to dress their little ones in tutus if given a chance! I'm no exception. :) I wanted my daughter to have one too, so I decided to make it for her. I only used my sewing machine to connect the waist band. After that, I cut tulle in the length and width I wanted and started wrapping the waist band with them. Super easy. I'm not sure how long it will last, but I just hope she likes it!

CSA

We decided to sign up for a CSA this year. This is our 3rd week to get the locally grown goodies. We weren't sure if we could consume everything each week for 25 weeks, so we decided to share the box with another couple to make sure nothing goes to waste. It's been so much fun to use such good quality, fresh produce in our meals. Here is the picture of our first box. Doesn't everything look so fresh and delicious??

Here is a stir fry I made with some of the above ingredients. With good ingredients, we usually don't use a lot of seasoning. That way we could enjoy as much of the flavor of each ingredient.

Here is the picture of what came in our box this week. We're already excited for our next box! :)

Pumpkin bread

My daughter and I have been on a baking kick lately. I know spring is not really a pumpkin season, but I had a craving for pumpkin bread. So that's what we baked today. We took it with us to visit our friend who just had her second baby a few weeks ago. The bread turned out very moist and not too sweet.

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 cups pureed pumpkin
• 2 cups whole wheat flour plus some for dusting the pan
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• Powdered sugar (enough to coat the top)
• Spray oil

Recipe:

• Preheat the over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease and flour the pan. I used the 8-inch round pan and muffin pan with only 1 tablespoon of the batter in each muffin cup
• Cream the butter and sugar until smooth
• Beat in the egg, then pumpkin puree
• Add flour and baking soda and stir until combined
• Pour batter into the pan and sprinkle almonds on top.
• Bake for 35-40 minutes until a tester comes out clean. I put both pans in the oven at the same time, took out the muffin pan after 20 minutes, and continue baking the round pan for another 15 minutes.
• Cool on the rack and coat the top with powdered sugar when cooled.

Buckwheat cookies

My daughter and I usually go for a short walk or to a park together after I pick her up from preschool, but it was pouring outside when I picked up my daughter from preschool the other day. So we decided to just go home and bake some cookies instead. :)

We took a basic cookie and tweaked a bit just for fun. Here is the recipe for this buckwheat cookies.

Buckwheat Cookies Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
• 1 cup all purpose flour, plus some for dusting
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp  baking powder
• dash of salt
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1/8 cup milk

Recipe:

1. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well
2. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out to 1/4 inch thick sheet
3. Cut the dough in the shape of your choice
4. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and bake for 12-14 minutes or until it's lightly brown on the edges
5. Cool on a rack and enjoy!

Dill Bread

I've been exploring Pinterest lately and I wanted to try a recipe I found while I was browsing in Pinterest. I actually baked this bread about a few weeks ago but here it is. I used dill for my choice of herbs.

It doesn't look nearly as good as the picture I found on Pinterest, but it was plenty yummy!

Craft therapy

I felt just a little "off" today and couldn't really focus at work either. So I decided to sew to brighten up my day a bit. I have 2 light-weight fleece jackets that have become too short and were sitting in a pile to get dropped off at a second hand store. I used to wear them when I first got them but once they became too short I haven't been wearing them much. So I decided to do something about it. Here is how it looked before.

I forgot to take a picture of the jacket on me, so it's a little hard to tell. The hem came just to the top of my jeans and that's a little too short for my taste. Here is what I did to it so it's longer. The length before the transformation was probably to the middle of the pocket.

And this is how it looks on me. Much more comfortable!