Fresh Herb Dinner Rolls

I decided to try my luck with making dinner rolls tonight. I was slightly intimidated because I don't have a bread machine, but I figured, what the heck?

These rolls are SOOOO good! Don't be intimidated by bread-making.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 tablespoon white sugar

1 cup warm water

1 cup milk (room temperature)

2 eggs

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons of butter, softened

6 cups bread flour

1 egg white

2 tablespoons water

Whatever herb/seasoning your little heart desires

Directions:

1. In small bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in 1 cup warm water. Land stand until frothy/creamy; about 10 minutes.

2. In a large bowl, stir together the yeast mixture with milk, eggs, salt, butter, seasoning and 4 cups of flour. Add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until dough has pulled together. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic; about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and out in a warm place to rise until doubled in volume; about 1 hour.

3. Grease two cookie sheets ( I used parchment paper.) Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into little balls and place on prepared pans. Cover the rolls with a damp cloth and let rise until doubled in volume; about 40 minutes.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, slightly whisk the egg white with 2 tablespoons of water; brush egg wash over the tops of rolls.

5. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Enjoy!!

Rise little dough ball, rise!

The house smelled SO yummy!

Yummm!!

Dear non-pregnant women...

I stumbled across this gem while using Stumbleupon.com. I wish I wrote this, but I did not. I love this, so I decided to share.

Dear Non-Pregnant Person,
I hope you find these guidelines helpful in your interactions with pregnant women, as failing to follow them may result in serious physical harm. If you are thinking, surely she doesn’t mean me – then you should probably read this twice.

1. The appropriate response to a couple telling you they are having a baby is ‘Congratulations!’ with enthusiasm. Any other response makes you a jerk.

2. Through the wonders of science, we now know that babies are made ONLY by the mother and father – not grandparents. Unless the baby is in your uterus or you are the man that helped put it there, you may not ever use the phrase ‘my baby’.

3. On the same note, unless you made the baby as defined in 2, the pregnancy, birth, and raising of the child are not about you. You do not have input. No one wants to hear your opinion unless they ask for it…

4. The body of a pregnant woman should be treated the same as any other body. You would not randomly touch someone’s stomach if they were not pregnant, nor would you inquire into the condition of their uterus, cervix, or how they plan to use their breasts. Pregnancy does not remove all traces of privacy from a woman.

5. Likewise, no woman wants to hear comments on her weight…ever. A pregnant woman does not find it flattering that you think she is about is pop, must be having twins, looks swollen or has gained weight in her face. Telling her she looks too small only makes her worry that she is somehow starving her baby. Making such comments invite her to critique your physical appearance and you may not act offended. The only acceptable comment on appearance is ‘You look fabulous!’.

6. By the time we are 20-30 years old, most of us have picked up on the fact that the summer is hot. We are hot every summer when we are not pregnant. We don’t need you to point out that we will be miserably hot before the baby comes. Nor do we need to know how badly you will feel for us because we will be pregnant during the summer and how glad you are that YOU will not be pregnant this coming summer.

7. There is a reason that tickets to Labor & Delivery are not yet sold on Ticketmaster. Childbirth is actually not a public event. It may sound crazy, but some women really do not relish the idea of their mother, MIL, or a host of other family members seeing their bare butt and genitals. Also, some people simply feel like the birth of their child is a private and emotional moment to be shared only by the parents. You weren’t invited to be there when the baby was created, you probably won’t be invited to be there when it comes out either.

8. Like everything else in life, unless you receive an invitation, you are NOT invited. This includes doctor appointments, ultrasounds, labor, delivery, the hospital, and the parent’s home. You do not decide if you will be there for the birth or if you will move in with the new parents to ‘help out’. If your assistance is desired, rest assured that you will be asked for it.

9. If you are asked to help after the birth, this means you should clean up the house, help with cooking meals, and generally stay out of the way. Holding the baby more than the parents, interfering with breastfeeding and sleeping schedules, and making a woman who is still leaking fluid from multiple locations lift a finger in housework is not helping.

10. The only people entitled to time with the baby are the parents. Whether they choose to have you at the hospital for the birth or ask for you to wait three weeks to visit, appreciate that you are being given the privilege of seeing their child. Complaining or showing disappointment only encourages the parents to include you less.

Sincerely,
All the Pregnant Women in the World

9 Months Old

My little love bug,

Today you are nine months old! Three more months until your very first birthday. I can hardly believe it. I have already started to plan your birthday. I have been looking online for ideas and themes. It's bittersweet. I am so excited that you are becoming your own little person, with your own likes and dislikes, but my heart aches when I think that you will only be a baby for a little while longer.

I wish time didn't have to go so fast...

You are growing at lightning speed. You are a totally different baby from last month. You actually do things now, as opposed to just sitting on the floor watching Daddy and I walk by.

You stood on your own for the first time last weekend. You were holding onto my knees, and you just let go to play with the remote. You were standing like it was no big deal. I started to scream, " Oh my gosh!!" and it freaked you out and you plopped down onto your butt. Nice going, Mom...Since then, you have only done it three or four more times.

You finally eat solids! You mostly love fruit, but I can get you to eat peas, carrots and sweet potatoes. You love any kind of finger foods. There has never been an issue in that department. Your favorite thing ever is apple wedges. You love chomping on them. You are already trying to use a spoon. When I am feeding you, you have to have your own spoon in your hand. When you see me come at you with my spoon, you grab onto it and pull it to your mouth.

You are talking up a storm. You mimic faces Daddy and I will make and you will repeat things we say like dada mama baba etc. If we clap, you clap. If we cough, you cough. I am not going to be one of those annoying parents and say that those (mama/dada) are your first words. Until you can look at Daddy or I when I ask "where's Dada/Mama?" then I am going to say that you don't quite know what that word means yet.

I am not sure how tall you are or how much you weigh since we haven't had a doctor's appointment in months. You are still in size 4 diapers, and you wear 12-18 month clothes. You have two bottom teeth now and I think you are working on your first top tooth.

You caught your first cold last week from me, and you were miserable. It broke my heart to see you feeling so cruddy. There wasn't much I could do to help you either. You would freak out when I tried to use the nose sucker thing on you and you hate having your nose wiped. It was a long week...

You are still breastfed. My goal is to make it to a year. Once we hit that point, we will figure out the best way to ween you. Right now, I am content nursing you. It makes no sense to stop breastfeeding just so I can go spend a ton of money on formula that tastes like a penny.

You can almost wave bye bye. You give high-fives and you slap your legs when you are excited. You started to dance when a song comes on the tv. You do this adorable booty squat thing, I love it. You will randomly make silly faces just to see us do it back, then we all laugh together.

You are such a lover. You always crawl to us just so you can lay your head on our shoulders. You LOVE giving slobbery open-mouthed kisses. You love your Daddy so much, and you LOVE wrestling with him. You tried to wrestle Mommy last week, but that just ended in a shower of kisses. Daddy does all the cool things like throws you in the air and cool flips.

You laugh REALLY hard every time we open the door to leave the house. You get so excited to go on adventures. We just switched you to a convertible car seat because you already grew out your infant one!

I could write all day on all the adorable and silly things you do, so I better stop now. I love you more than you will ever know little boy. You are the best thing that ever happened to Daddy and me.

Stay sweet and stay little. Please?

Bomb diggity pizza dough

Kyle and I have been trying to eat cleaner. By that, I mean that if ingredients allow, I try to make everything from scratch to avoid consuming unnecessary preservatives. We got tired of buying crappy Boboli pizza doughs when we wanted to make pizza at home. Have you ever had one in your pantry that NEVER molded? Something is just wrong about that.

Anyway, I found this recipe here. This recipe is so easy for those of you, like myself, who don't own a bread machine.

1 cup warm water

1 tablespoon white sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Italian seasoning (I used a lot! I LOVE herb bread)

1. Stir water, sugar, and yeast together until dissolved. Add the olive oil, italian seasoning and salt. Stir in the flour until well blended. Cover the dough with saran wrap and let rest for 20 minutes.

2. Pat the dough on a pan or pizza stone using wet hands. Bake in oven for about 5-10 minutes (you just want to slightly cook the dough). Remove from oven and top with favorite pizza toppings and bake for 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Baked Apple-Cinnamon French Toast

I came across this recipe in a magazine the commissary gave me for free. It sounded super good so I gave it a shot. It is a smidge bland, so add lots of spices and apples/raisins.

Cups nonfat milk

2 cups pasteurized liquid egg whites (egg beaters)

3 tablespoons honey

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoons salt

1 1-pound loaf sliced whole-wheat bread

1 cup chopped dried or fresh apples

1/2 cup raisins

cinnamon

nutmeg

powdered sugar

1. Whisk milk, egg whites, honey, vanilla and salt in a large bowl.

2. Trim crusts off 8 bread slices and set aside. Cut the crusts and the remaining bread into 1-inch pieces. Toss with dried apples, raisins, cinnamon and nutmeg in another large bowl.

3. Coat a 9x13-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Transfer the bread mixture to the pan.

4. Lay the reserved crust-less slices evenly on top, trimming to fit. Whisk the milk mixture one more time, then pour evenly over the bread. Press the bread down with the back of a wooden spoon, making sure it is evenly moist. Cover with parchment paper and then foil and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours.

5. The next morning, remove from fridge. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the casserole, covered, for 40 minutes. Remove the parchment paper and foil and bake another 20 minutes until puffed and golden brown. Let stand for 10 minutes, dust with powdered sugar and enjoy!

Per serving: 183 calories; 1 g fat; 1 mg cholesterol; 33 g carbohydrate; 10 g protein; 4 gram fiber.