Friday, July 29, 2011

Foodie Friday: Pretzel Dogs

This fun, family friendly recipe is from Smells Like Home. While the process takes a while it is worth it in the end.

Pretzel Dogs
Ingredients:
-1 1/2 c warm water
-1 T sugar
-2 t kosher salt
-1 package yeast
-4 1/2 c all-purpose flour
-2 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled
-8 hot dogs, cut in half
For boiling:
-10 c water
-2/3 cup baking soda
To finish:
-1 large egg yolk, beaten with 1 T water
-Pretzel salt
Directions:
1. Combine the warm water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top.
2. Add the flour and butter to the yeast mixture. Attach the dough hook to the stand mixer and on medium-low speed, combine the mixture until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and appears shiny, roughly 4-5 minutes.
3. Spray a large bowl with non-stick spray (or lightly grease with vegetable oil) and place dough in greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap. Place bowl in warm area and let rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
4. Preheat over to 450 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Spray paper with non-stick spray. Set aside.
5. Place dough on greased surface and divide into 16 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a long rope, roughly 12 inches long. Carefully wrap each piece around half a hot dog. Pinch the ends together to seal the dough.
6. In a large pot, bring the 10 c of water and baking soda to a roiling boil.
7. Boil the pretzel dogs , one at a time, in the baking soda water for 30-45 seconds each. Using a slotted spatula, remove each pretzel dog from the water and place it on a drying rack to allow any extra baking soda mixture to drop off.
8. Place the boiled pretzel dogs on the lined baking sheets. Brush with beaten egg yolk and sprinkle with salt. Bake until golden brown, roughly 10-12 minutes. Transfer pretzel dogs to cooling rack for a few minutes before serving.
9. Serve with mustard, ketchup, or cheese for dipping.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Preggatinis Book

While searching for mocktail recipes, I stumbled across the book "Preggatinis; Mixology for the Mom-to-Be". And wouldn't you know it, my library just happened to have a copy. I was so excited!! With two cocktail events on the calendar for the week, I will definitely be trying some of these recipes out.
This book includes mocktail recipes for each trimester along with cocktail recipes for after the big day and for the father-to-be. The pictures are great and with the wide variety of recipes, there is sure to be one that hits the spot.
I will be sure to let you know how the recipes turn out.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

36 Weeks with Number Two

Here I am in all of my 36 week glory! We are entering the final countdown here. It is good to see the finish line right now. I find that I am more than ready to just bring on this next stage of our lives. While overall I am still feeling good, the extra weight and size are dragging me down a bit. I am at the point where getting comfortable can be quite difficult. Some nights sleep is descent and then some nights it is really hard to come by. Also, I really want to meet this little one. I love that we don't know if it is a boy or a girl, but I don't want to wait much longer. For the most part we are as ready to go as can be, so that is good. I even have two different announcements ready to go from the computer. Now it is just a matter of biding our time.
I had the last of my bi-monthly doctor appointments yesterday. Now we go to every week. Everything still looked good. The heart rate was at 135 bpm, I was measuring right on and best of all, the baby is head down!! Can I get a woot, woot???
Peachy didn't want to be left out, so here is her 2 year 11 week picture.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Alphabet Wall Art and Wall Mount Book Shelves

The kids' room is definitely coming together. (You can see some more posts here and here.) My parents visited this weekend and helped us to knock some more off of the to do list. One of the projects my dad and Mr. Cherry finished up was the wall mount book shelves. I had been looking for ideas for Peachy's books that we keep in the room for bedtime reading. Since the room is quite full, adding a book shelf wasn't an option.
Then blogland came through for me. I started seeing these posts about using Ikea spice racks as small wall mounted book shelves in children's rooms. It was the perfect solution and the $4 price only added to their appeal. We made a quick detour to Ikea on our way to Mr. Cherry's parent's house last month and the shelves were mine! All I had to do was paint them and have Mr. Cherry install them.
 I decided to add some sort of artwork above the shelves. In the end I made an alphabet print which I framed in a white frame from Michaels. (The mat was white when I purchased it, but I painted it aqua to set off the print.)

Edited: I wanted to share the alphabet poster with you, and first uploaded to docstoc. However, it appears that you can't access it without paying for a membership. I have since uploaded it to Google Docs. Hope that this works for everyone and sorry for any inconvenience. You can find the free download here.

I am linking to the following parties this week:


Making
Sumo's Sweet Stuff
The Girl Creative
Making Monday Marvelous Linky Party


Mondays @ All Things Fee!


Keeping It Simple
Tip Junkie handmade projects

Todays Creative Blog





Dragonfly Designs
















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Somewhat Simple


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Tidy Mom

Monday, July 25, 2011

Pretty In Pictures


A couple of weeks ago we met up with a friend in the park to get Peachy's two year pictures taken.
 I was hoping for the best as Peachy isn't all that interested in smiling nicely for the camera these days.
The night before I had laid out her outfits and a couple of pinwheels we would use as props.
And when she woke up the next morning, she was so excited to go and get her picture taken.
I was hoping that we could make use of the park's gazebo as soon as we got there, but it was already in use by another photographer.
Instead we headed straight for the playground.
Peachy loved it and it shows in the joy on her face in the pictures.
I did eventually talk her into heading to the gazebo and we grabbed a few pictures there.
The photographer also knew of a flower garden in the park and that is where we ended our session.
I love all of the shots we got that day.
The photographer did a wonderful job as did Peachy.
The range of expressions in truly priceless.
I am so happy to have caught my Little Peachy so clearly at this stage of her life.
Please send me a message if you would like more information regarding the photographer.