Yummy Homemade Bread

Tonight's meal was Grilled Cheese on fresh homemade bread and Garlic Mashed Cauliflower, a personal favie!

As a new wife and a resident of Utah, I feel as though I've got to learn to make bread sometime! I found a recipe online that looked simple enough! Thanks to "Simply Go Good"! I could have shaped the dough a bit better but overall, it was a success! It was SOOO good!! Put a dab of butter on that... mm mmm! NOTHING is better than fresh homemade bread! Check out the recipe (or website)  to make it yourself!...

Crusty Bread

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 3/4 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon yeast

1 1/2 cups water

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt and yeast.  Add water and mix until a shaggy mixture forms.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 12 - 18 hours.  Overnight works great.  Heat oven to 450 degrees.  When the oven has reached 450 degrees place a cast iron pot with a lid in the oven and heat the pot for 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, pour dough onto a heavily floured surface and shape into a ball.  Cover with plastic wrap and let set while the pot is heating.  Remove hot pot from the oven and drop in the dough.  Cover and return to oven for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes remove the lid and bake an additional 15 minutes.  Remove bread from oven and place on a cooling rack to cool. 

Summer Lovin'

Sam finally finished all of his dental applications. What a great feeling!! Now we just play the waiting game. We also went to Oregon to spend time with my family. We went on a hike, had amazing dinners, watched the 4th of July parade and even saw a bald eagle flying on the 4th! It was so fun to play card games with everyone at night. The lodge my dad got for us was soooo nice!

Lucky for us, we were also able to go to Bear Lake last weekend with Sam's family. We rented a ski doo, laid out on a tube in the water, card games and lots of "hillbilly golf". So fun! We were able to go to a Peruvian festival today. It was great to be able to taste the new foods and enjoy some music, even though it was 107 degrees! And we finished off the day at the Jordan River temple. Quite a fun summer we've had!

Tonight on the menu was Homemade Sweet and Sour Chicken. It turned out AMAZING! Restaurant quality! By far one of the favorite I've tried. Below is the recipe:

                                                    Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken

The chicken coating:
 3-4 boneless chicken breasts
salt + pepper
1 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil

 The sweet and sour sauce: 
 3/4 cup sugar 4 tbs ketchup
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tsp garlic salt

1. Start by preheating your oven to 325 degrees.
2. Rinse your chicken breasts in water and then cut into cubes.
3. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Dip chicken into the cornstarch to coat then dip into the eggs.
5.  Heat your 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet and cook your chicken until browned but not cooked through.
6. Place the chicken in a 9x13 greased baking dish.
7. Mix all of your sweet and sour sauce ingredients in a bowl with a whisk and then pour evenly over the chicken.
8. Bake for one hour and during the baking process you will need to turn the chicken every 15 minutes.