Soft Pretzel Recipe

• 4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
•  
• 1/2 cup baking soda
• 4 cups hot water
• Coarse Salt. Or cinnamon and sugar

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in warm water. Let sit until frothy, I usually wait about 15 minutes.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, and salt. Make a well in the center of flour and add the oil and yeast mixture. Mix and form into a dough. If the mixture is dry, add one or two tablespoons of water. Knead the dough until smooth, and elastic,  about 7 to 8 minutes. Oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a tea towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). In a large bowl, dissolve baking soda in hot water.
When risen, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into equal pieces. 

Roll each piece into a rope 

and twist into a pretzel shape. Once all of the dough is all shaped, 

dip each pretzel into the baking soda solution and place on a baking sheet.

Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes, until browned.

Rub Butter onto pretzels and sprinkle salt on top, if you would rather have cinnamon and sugar pretzels add that after the butter instead.

We decided to enjoy our pretzels both ways! We had the salted ones with some cheddar cheese soup that I had in the pantry, it was perfect! These are so simple and way cheaper to make than to buy from the mall!

Side Dish : Fried Green Tomatoes

I was looking for something to do with the rest of the tomatoes left in my garden that aren't turning red because of the weather now. I came up with the perfect idea, Fried Green tomatoes! This is a traditional southern dish that is so easy to make and yet so delicious. 

Ingredients:
Green tomatoes
Fish seasoning
Eggs
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
Corn Meal

Chop tomatoes into 1/2 in thick slices

Beat eggs
Mix corn meal and fish seasoning in bowl











coat tomatoes in eggs and then coat in corn meal batter

 submerge in hot oil and cook on each side for about 5 min each










This is so quick and easy it doesn't need much preparation and the cook time is very minimal. Bon Appétit!

Perfect Pork Roast

Pork pot roast:

Brown the roast on all sides in a pan with olive oil or butter.

Ingredients: lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, s&p, red wine vinegar, olive oil
rosemary, garlic, onions, potatoes (I used Yukon golds), carrots, Brussels sprouts

Layer ingredients in Crock Pot- I like to put potatoes on the bottom and onions and garlic cloves on top... With a healthy sprinkling of salt and pepper over every layer. Make the sauce to taste using red wine vinegar, Worcestershire, olive oil, chopped rosemary, crushed garlic, and s& p. You don't want the sauce to be too acidic, with just the right amount of sweetness. Have the juices come up to just barely above the meat.

My uncooked roast, ready to go.

Cook on high for 6-8 hours (check temp!), keep warm till plating.

Optional- make a gravy from the juices to put on the meat and veggies by taking some juice and flour, and shaking them together vigorously (in something similar to a martini shaker) and then adding back to the rest of the juice. Keep the heat on until the gravy is nice and thick, repeating the above step until yo reach desired consistency.

Serve with a slice of freshly baked bread and a glass of Pinot Noir.

Cheers!
-Melanie

Homemade BBQ sauce!

Amanda and I made homemade BBQ sauce a few days ago, when most of my kitchen (pics coming soon!) was still in boxes. We used the recipe on the back of the molasses jar, and it came out super yummy!! We poured it over pieces of chicken thighs and baked for just over an hour at 400*.


 1 cup ketchup                                1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup Grandmas Molasses          1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 cup vinegar                              1/4 tsp Trappys red Devil hot sauce (we used franks red hot sauce)
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Combine all Ingredients in bowl and mix well.

Our first time making it, we added way too much ketchup, and it was ruined. Keep mixing and tasting to find the perfect flavor!



And of course, BBQ chicken wouldn't be complete without a sticky messy pan. I got to wash this glassware in my new dish washer for it's very first real run, and oh my goodness! It works so beautifully!! Check out these before and afters... The importance of a good dishwasher!

Before:

After:

Super easy and yummy main dish! Enjoy!
-Melanie

Rainy Day Chicken Soup

I am the biggest fan of rainy days and thunderstorms, and always make a warm cozy day out of them. Warm cup of chai, fleece blanket, plants vs zombies, and hot chicken soup. *love*

My soup is super easy to make. I always use my crockpot when I get the chance, because everything that goes in always comes out delish!

To start, take a few chicken breasts, some chicken bouillon and water (or stock), a couple stalks of celery chopped up and a couple just halved (you'll take them out at the end and toss), 2 big carrots chopped up, and half an onion diced.
Put that all in the crockpot early in the morning, to be on low all day.
Add fresh parsley and thyme (dried's ok too, but fresh is so much better!), dried bay leaves (2 or 3), sea salt and fresh pepper. Don't add too much salt at the beginning, but check it later on, because the flavors all mingle together so well, too much salt at the beginning can ruin it. Leave that all on low for 6-8 hours.
Pull out the chicken when it's cooked through (around hour 4) to shred it with forks, then put that back in the pot.
When the celery and carrots are tender, it's ready!

(While my soup was simmering, I whipped up a double batch of bread dough- 3 loaves, 1 dozen rolls, and 8 homemade hot pockets- recipes coming soon! You can also see my hard boiled eggs cooling in the sink... my kids love to eat them straight with a dash of salt.)

Take the bay leaves out (or don't, and the finder does the dishes), and serve with a slice of buttered fresh homemade bread (in another post).

Days like these call for some knitting or crocheting, can't wait till Amanda teaches me how!

-Melanie