Best Compliment Ever

"You are everything good about life rolled into one."

Bon Voyage

Here is my shout out to Emma's friend Carson. He leaves for his mission to Romania tomorrow. It's been fun having him around these last few years. One of my favorite memories was playing the dance game at Thanksgiving. :) I don't have any pictures from then but here are some from our recent adventure in St George mini golfing.

Forever Family

This cute little family was so happy coming out of the temple.

These two looked adorable in their white dresses.

I loved having dinner with everyone after. It was fun to get to talk to family and enjoy a great meal made by Grandma Atkin. Listening to my uncles tell stories of their youth and laughing at their confessions was probably the highlight.

Bread

I recently started a new job which requires me to be able to do cooking demonstrations so this month I have been practicing cooking. One of the ladies I work with said she encourages people to start by tackling bread because "if you can cook with yeast you can do anything." I have had a mini bread maker for a few years and I have had a little practice with yeast so I dove right in.
(These recipes are from USU Extension)

french bread
1/2 cup warm water
2 pkgs yeast
2 cups hot water
3 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp salt
1/3 cup oil
6 cups flour
Combine warm water (1/2 cup) and yeast (2 pkgs); let stand 10 minutes.
In a large bowl blend hot water (2 cups), sugar (3 Tbsp), salt (1 Tbsp) and oil (1/3 cup); let cool.
Add yeast mixture and 3 cups flour; beat until smooth.
Add enough flour to make a soft dough that can be mixed with a spoon. (I had no idea what that meant!)
Leave spoon in batter and allow dough to rest 10 minutes.
Stir down and let dough rest again; repeat process every 10 minutes for 1 hour.
Turn dough out on a lightly floured surface. Divide in half; flatten into rectangles and roll up jelly-roll style.
Place on lightly greased baking sheets.
Brush tops with egg wash recipe.
With a sharp knife, slash tops diagonally 4-5 times.
Let rise until double (30 to 60 minutes).
Repeat egg wash. (Sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds.)
Bake at 400 degrees for 25-35 minutes or until light brown.
Remove from pans; cool on wire racks.

egg wash
1 egg
2 Tbsp oil
Beat egg and oil with a fork until well blended and creamy.

I didn't love this bread. It had a good hard crust like it was suppose to and was pretty fluffy inside. I just think I didn't love the recipe but maybe I will give it another try. (I halved the recipe and still had tons of bread.)

bread sticks
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 Tbsp yeast
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
4 cups flour
In a large bowl combine warm water (1 1/2 cup), yeast (1 Tbsp) and sugar (2 Tbsp); let stand 10 minutes.
Add salt (1/2 cup) and 3 1/2 cups flour; beat until smooth.
Add enough remaining flour (1/2 cupish) to form a soft dough. (Once again, how do I know what that means?)
Turn dough out on lightly floured surface; knead 3 minutes.
Cover and allow to rest 10 minutes.
Coat a baking sheet with margarine.
Place dough in maddle of pan and press outward to edge of pan. Spread topping over dough.
With a dull knife score dough down middle and across.
Let rise until almost double (15-20 minutes).
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

bread stick spread
1/4 cup margarine
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp parsley flakes
1/4 tsp garlic powder
Blend.

These were delish!! I loved them and ate them all up and was wishing I had made the whole recipe instead of half. I also didn't have anything on hand to make the topping so I just put butter, garlic salt (with parsley) and Parmesan cheese on them. Yummy!

In conclusion, these were pretty easy bread recipes. I think my previous experience with yeast helped. I learned some and am interested to try some other recipes. (My roommate has a recipes for Texas Roadhouse rolls she wants to try, it looks hard!) I did everything by hand and didn't use a mixer at all. It seemed easier that way, but with more dough that may be more overwhelming.