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Jam and Cream Cheese Braid

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JamandCreamCheeseBraid

This is one of my all-time favorite recipes to serve for brunch or a Sunday morning breakfast.  The Jam and Cream Cheese Braid is also beautiful for Holidays!  My grandma used to make this on Christmas and it quickly became a family favorite.  I tend to make it quite often because it’s SO easy and looks like you spent hours in the kitchen.

The recipe involves yeast, but DON’T be afraid!  I know working with yeast can be intimidating, but all you need to remember is that yeast likes the same temperature that we do.  When you are dissolving it in water, you want to use water that is the temperature of bath water.  If it’s too cool the yeast won’t activate and rise.  If the water is too hot, it will kill the yeast.  Test your water with your finger.  If you wouldn’t set foot in a tub of water that temperature, adjust it until it feels just right.

Jam and Cream Cheese Braid
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
1 loaf 20 minutes
Cook Time
25 minutes
Servings Prep Time
1 loaf 20 minutes
Cook Time
25 minutes
Jam and Cream Cheese Braid
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
1 loaf 20 minutes
Cook Time
25 minutes
Servings Prep Time
1 loaf 20 minutes
Cook Time
25 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: loaf
Instructions
Bread
  1. Dissolve the yeast in warm water. Combine Bisquick, egg, 1 Tbsp sugar, and yeast/water mixture. Turn the dough onto a floured board and knead until it is no longer sticky. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Roll the dough into a 14"x9" rectangle.
Filling
  1. Combine the 8 oz package of cream cheese and 1/2 cup sugar. Spread down the middle third of the dough. Cut lines on each side of the dough at 1 inch intervals. Fold each strip over, alternating sides.
Baking
  1. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven. Spoon jam down the center and bake for another 5 minutes.
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Front Yard Benches

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Just as you walk up to my house, I have always had a bench, two chairs, and a small table.  I’ve had these for about 16 years.  I got them when I earned my Master’s Degree in 2000.  They have always been perfect in the front of the house for sitting and enjoying the neighborhood or watching my family play basketball in the driveway.

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Every year I would pressure wash the benches, sand the wood, and restain them.  You can tell that they need a little TLC by the end of the Summer.

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One of the wood slats finally broke this past Summer and I decided that it was time to replace the 16 year old chairs and bench.

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I’m thinking about white Adirondack chairs in the front of my house and some pretty white hydrangeas.  I saved all of my birthday money from last year so I could fund this little front yard adventure.

Let the shopping begin!

 

Northwest Flower and Garden Show

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The Northwest Flower and Garden Show was in Seattle in Mid-February and I was lucky enough to find time to go!  I suggested, to my husband, that we should go but before I even got the whole sentence out he was already shaking his head and responding, “Maybe that’s something Diane would like to do with you!”  When I told my friend Diane (she’s the one who is working on my blog with me, lives a few doors down, and kid-shared with me to save on child care) we were high fiving and already making plans.  Well, life got in the way and the Saturday of the show she texted and told me that we were missing it!  We both scrapped our Sunday plans and decided to venture to the BIG city.  (Diane works downtown Seattle but I’m terrified of the place. I much prefer small town life to the big city.)

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The displays were stunning!  I can’t even imagine the amount of work it takes to haul in rocks, dirt, and all of those plants.

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My biggest take-away was that I NEED CHICKENS and I need an adorable chicken coop like this one.

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Seriously, I left with plans to talk with our Home Owner’s Association and petition to get chickens.  My hubby claims that he is 100% sure there will be “someone” sitting at that meeting in the very front row making sure chickens are not allowed.  (Can you guess who that “someone” might be and how he is so sure?)

Another take-away is that I can totally make this:

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Snickerdoodles Recipe

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It’s my week for treats and staff room clean up at my school this week and I made some Snickerdoodles to bring in to work.  I’ve shared the recipe on here before, but it never hurts to share it again.

Here’s the recipe for the softest, cinnamonny-sugariest, cookie ever.

1 Cup Shortening
1 and 1/2 Cups Sugar
2 Eggs
2 and 3/4 Cups Flour
2 tsp Cream of Tartar
1 tsp Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
Cinnamon and Sugar to roll cookies in

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix shortening, sugar, and eggs. Add flour, cream of tartar, soda, and salt. Mix all ingredients.

Use a cookie scoop to form a perfect ball. Roll the dough ball in a cinnamon and sugar mixture. I like to roll the whole dough ball in the mixture, including the bottom.

I bake my cookies on a Silpat baking mat. Using a Silpat ensures that my cookies don’t stick to the tray. It also ensures that the sugar on the bottom of the cookie does not caramelize.

Bake the cookies for 7-8 minutes, at 400 degrees. I use a standard oven, not convection. When they come out they will be slightly undercooked. They will set as they cool and make the perfect soft cookie.

They are as simple as that!

Enjoy, friends!

Backyard Garden Tour

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Oh, if the rain would only stop!  I’m ready for some dry weather and planting season.  I want to plant my window baskets, get some fresh herbs growing, and do some relaxing in the sunshine.  I spend every waking moment in my garden, when the weather cooperates.  My wish for some spring-like weather had me browsing through some old garden posts that I’ve written on my blog.

Are you ready for the garden tour?  Keep in mind that my yard looks nothing like this right now.  It’s currently in a muddy, mucky, can’t-imagine-anything-worse, kind of place.

Here we go:


Do you open your doors and have a backyard party at the drop of a hat? Are you the first person to invite friends over for a Bar-B-Que when the weather warms up? I love to watch shows like Landscape Smart and Landscapers Challenge. As the designers ask questions, the homeowners usually say things like, “Well, we love to entertain.” Do they really like to entertain? Or do they just like the idea of entertaining?

I really do love to entertain, but I will admit that it causes panic attacks and crabby mom syndrome in the days leading up to a party. I find that I hold off on inviting people over because my house or my yard isn’t “done”. Well, NEWS FLASH… it will probably never be “done”. There will always be something more I’d like to do or a messy project I’m right in the middle of.

So, here’s my yard. I’m throwing open my doors and inviting you to my backyard party. (If you all lived closer, I’d invite you over for real.) I didn’t mow the lawn for you. Heck, I didn’t even sweep off the deck.

Here’s the view as you come in the house. I love my little benches out front. I made the pillows this year, out of Sunbrella outdoor fabric. My hydrangeas are finally in bloom. I just added some True Blue to the soil, which will turn these into… well, true blue.

We spend quite a bit of time out on our deck. We bought the outdoor set at Target, a few years back. Our deck is fairly shady, so it makes a nice place to take a break on a hot summer day.

Our deck extends down the length of the backside of the house. Ahhh, this is one of my favorite spots to sit and watch the kids play in the yard.

Here’s the view from the deck.


When we moved in, this area inside the brick retaining wall was empty. I had no idea what to plant in this large space. After living with the empty space for a year, we decided this would be the perfect spot for a vegetable garden. We built a path out of rocks that were already in the yard. This space sits empty for a good portion of the year, but it makes us so happy in the summer. The kids loved digging the potatoes.

In addition to veggies, I have quite a few flowers in the garden as well.




These little guys don’t grow as well as my mom’s, but they give us a little summertime snack.

I’ve always thought I needed a window box on my cute little garden shed.  I haven’t gotten around to buying one yet, so I moved my old wagon over to the shed.  It adds a little “vintage” to the shed.

I had just repaired my wagon when a large branch fell on it and broke the wheels off again.  It’s not functional anymore.  It just looks cute.

I also added a potted hydrangea back behind my little plow. It hides the fact that we haven’t finished our wall and that the fence is falling down.

The Annabelle hydrangeas, on the side of the house, are my favorites.

I’m just loving my Country Gardens inspired shed.

In case you’ve never seen my “before” picture.  This is what the side yard looked like when we moved in.

Here’s the inspiration from Country Gardens:

Thanks for hanging out in the backyard with me. Stop by anytime. If I don’t answer the door, you know where to find me. I’m probably out back.



Happy gardening.  It’s almost here!

 

Cub Scout Cake Bake Ideas

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It’s been many years since my son was in Cub Scouts, but every year my son’s cub scout troop had a cake bake. It was a dad and son cake bake. No moms allowed. (Keep that in mind as you are scrolling down because they will make your jaw drop.) They auctioned off the cakes and the money went to the food bank. My hubby and son made the milk and cookie for Santa and we bought a really cute cake pan to make it happen.

There were so many cakes, and over the years, I just kept snapping pictures.

Can you believe this!!! Unreal.

 


Those little popcorn balls are actually cake pops.  So cute!

This cake won the Best of Live Auction.
I thought this cake was very clever!

 

This cake was amazing!  It even played cricket noises.
The construction cake included a remote controlled backhoe.  The kids had so much fun playing around with it before the auction!

 

 

Did I not tell you that these cakes are amazing?!?
Are you ready for the least appetizing cake of the bunch?
My son made Poop-Cakes In The Yard.
I’d say these Cub Scout Cake Bake cakes are pretty clever and extremely well done!
Happy baking!
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Dreaming of A Vegetable Garden

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When my son was about 2 years old, I decided I needed a hobby. Pre-baby, my life had been teaching, working on my Masters Degree, and reading A LOT of books about reading and literacy in early childhood. Post-baby, my life was all about my new bundle of joy, teaching, and learning to balance the two.

My son loved to be outside (still does), so I decided gardening might be a good hobby for me. I wasn’t new to gardening. We grew up with a very large vegetable garden, all-you-can-eat raspberry bushes, and many hours of cleaning beans to freeze for the winter. Many years ago my husband, 2 year old, and I started our own garden. We eventually moved to a new house with a bigger area for gardening. It brings so much joy every year.

Here’s the family picking berries in the yard, several Summers ago. (That’s my Riley Dog right there. He died of cancer not long after this picture was taken.)

Here’s my freshly planted garden, as it looks from my bedroom window.

The area that the vegetable garden is in was completely empty, other than one REALLY big rhody bush when we moved in. We saw the idea to make rock pathways in one of my Country Garden’s magazines. My son and one of his preschool buddies (he’s 15 now) moved rocks from other areas of the yard to build the paths.

I usually grow veggies from seed, but the year I took this picture, we bought starts. Our new puppy, Cooper (he’s now 6), didn’t really know the “rules of the garden” like Riley did. I thought starts might be a better option.


Since my mom has really been the one to inspire my love of gardening, I thought I’d share a picture of her vegetable garden in the beauty of the Summer sun. She always says that no one sees her garden, so let’s show it off.

We built the raised garden boxes when she moved into this house. Her vegetables always grow about twice the size of mine. Her yard looks fabulous and very park-like.

As you can see, I’m getting very excited about planting and gardening! On the garden list, this year, I’m planning to plant potatoes, Walla Walla Sweet onions, parsley, cilantro, basil, tomatoes, and I’m hoping a few more berries.

Happy gardening!

Honeysuckles and Hydrangeas

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I could happily spend my Summer days working in my garden. My yard is filled with honeysuckles, hydrangeas, fresh herbs, berries, and daliahs.

My Annabelle hydrangeas are probably my favorite hydrangea in the yard.

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The big white blooms make the watering and tending worth the time.

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I don’t live working in my yard in the cold winter months. Yesterday was hydrangea deadheading day. Technically, this should be done right after the flowers are done blooming, but that also coincides with back to school craziness. So, most years Annabelle has to wait.

Here’s how she looks today. Yep, looks like a bunch of dead sticks to me! Notice how dark, gloomy, and mucky it looks?

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In this same area of our yard, but along the fence, is the spot I planted my honeysuckle plants.  I wanted something to cover the ugly fence a bit. When I first bought them, I didn’t trellis them up because I wanted to see if they grew ok in that spot.

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They seemed to be very happy there, so I worked on weaving the vines through trellises yesterday.

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Vines are really not fun to untangle, but I know these honeysuckles will be much happier when they aren’t falling over and getting trampled by the dog.

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Looks like it’s time to pressure wash that fence!

It was muddy and cold out there, but at least I can check honeysuckles and Annabelle hydrangeas off of my To Do list!

Happy gardening!

My Favorite Chocolate Cake Recipe

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My friend, Diane, has partnered up with me to be the brains behind this blog-thing that I’ve been doing for the past 6 years.  She knows technology and how to do all of the complicated stuff like HTML.  (Plus, I’m trying to convince her to write on here because her house is awesome and she’s done it all herself!) She told me that this cake recipe has been a favorite on Pinterest and my blog.  (She knows how to track that stuff!)  It even made its way onto the Pinterest homepage!  Who knew??  This is my go-to cake, anytime I am supposed to bring a dessert anywhere and I don’t really have time to bake.  It’s SUPER simple and it’s just about the yummiest thing on the planet.

Have you heard of The Cake Mix Doctor?  If you aren’t familiar with this book, you need to see it. The author takes a regular old cake mix, adds a few other ingredients, and makes miracles happen!

Here’s the recipe:

Darn Good Chocolate Cake
Grease and flour bundt pan.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Add the following ingredients to a large bowl. Mix for 3 minutes.
1 Package chocolate cake mix
1 Package (3.9 ounces) instant chocolate pudding
4 Eggs
1 Cup sour cream
1/2 Cup warm water
1/2 Cup vegetable oil

Fold in:
1 and 1/2 Cup chocolate chips (I use Mini Nestle Chocolate Chips.)
Bake for 45-50 minutes.

In times when I didn’t have any chocolate chips in my pantry (can’t believe that’s even possible since I buy them in bulk) I used semi-sweet chocolate squares instead. I chopped them up and really liked the small little chocolatey bits they added to the cake.

I used my Pampered Chef bundt pan to make the cake.

Here’s the cake fresh out of the oven.

And cooling…

Don’t you just love a vintage cake pans?  I have a couple of them.  This one is a treasure I found at Goodwill.

It was only $2.50! Such a cute little vintage cake carrier, and so perfect for transporting my cake.  The reason I made this cake, this time, was for Senior Night for the basketball team at the high school.  I didn’t take my cake in the cute little carrier this time.  I’m afraid a bunch of hungry boys wouldn’t appreciate the cuteness.  Instead, I put the cake on my $2.oo silver tray.  Every time I walk into a thrift store I look for silver trays or platters.  They are usually under $3.00 and I’m never sad if my plate doesn’t make it home.  You can’t even buy a plastic platter at the Party Store for that price!  Ok, back to that cake.

 

I think of the keys to this cake’s yumminess is the frosting.  Homemade frosting, instead of that canned stuff, makes all the difference.

Mix together:
3 and 1/2 Cup powdered sugar
1 Cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 Cup butter, softened
1/2 Cup room temperature milk
2 tsp vanilla

Here’s the finished cake.

It’s moist, really yummy, and so cute in the little cake carrier.

Happy baking!

Barn Wood Shelves

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I’m feeling a bit like Joanna Gaines right now.  You see, a few weeks ago I decided that my hubby and I each needed a work space in the craft room/den.  On days that he worked from home, I would clear off my sewing table and he would use that as his desk.  I’ve been fine with sharing, but I decided that he really should have his own space.  He was setting his computer on my cutting mat and whenever he reached for a pencil he’d grab one of my fabric/chalk pencils.  It was time to give him a designated office space.  I started by clearing out the book shelves and paper cupboard that were currently in the space.  (My kids were calling me a hoarder through this whole process.  IT’S NOT HOARDING IF IT’S IN LABELED BINS, PEOPLE!)  Once the space was clear, we had room to move a desk and shelves in.  This is the part of the story where I channel my inner Joanna Gaines.

See those shelves there?

barnwood shelves

A couple of years ago I saw these pieces of barn wood leaning up against my cousin’s barn and started begging to take them home.  They’ve been in my garage waiting for the perfect project.  Well, the perfect project is this one!

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I had three long pieces of barn wood, which we only had to trim a little bit.  I looked for cute brackets but couldn’t find anything that I liked.  We ended up using L-brackets that really weren’t meant to be shelf brackets.  They were sturdy enough and had kind of an industrial look.

I still need to find a few office-type organizing pieces for the wall between the table and the first shelf.  I was thinking about some sort of  wire wall basket to hold papers, and maybe a few mason jars mounted to the wall to hold pens and pencils.  This space is also pretty dark, so I’ll be on the lookout for a lamp for the area.

We found the long skinny table, on sale, at Cost Plus World Market.  I already had all of the baskets.  I wish they still sold them because I could use a few more now.

(Please excuse the blurry pictures.  I’m still trying to figure out why WordPress is making my photos blurry.)

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Not bad for some reclaimed barn wood and an inexpensive table, huh?  My hubby likes his new office space.  I kind of think his favorite part might be not having to fight with all of my sewing projects for space.  I was feeling pretty proud of myself for thinking of using these pieces of wood!  I have to admit that it wasn’t ALL my idea.  I just asked myself WWJD (What would Joanna do?).  Now, if I could just tear down a few walls, find some rustic light fixtures, and add a few farm animals out back!!

Happy decorating!