The Featherlight Roll

Several of you have asked me how I shape the featherlight roll. 

I have a short video for you. 

You can view it by clicking here.

A big "Thank You" to Hannah for shooting the video!

Bread Dipping Spice

Have you ever eaten at Carrabbas?  If you have, you know how yummy their bread is and how much yummier it is with their olive oil and dipping spices.

I made the French bread and it is very yummy -

BUT MUCH YUMMIER WITH OLIVE OIL AND DIPPING SPICES!!! 

Don't worry - I sliced up more bread to polish off this plate of oil and spices.

I figured out the spices they use and I made some of my own.

This is SUPER easy to make and it makes plenty to refrigerate and use later.

1 Tablespoon of basil

1 Tablespoon of parsley

1 Tablespoon of garlic

1 teaspoon of thyme

1 teaspoon of oregano

1 teaspoon of black pepper

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of rosemary

1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon of olive oil

1/8 teaspoon of lemon juice

Put is all in a bowl and stir and mash it around with a spoon. 

It will look a little crumbly. 

Mix 1 teaspoon of spice mix with your plate of olive oil. 

ENJOY!

Fortune

Yesterday evening, Michael headed out to a men's Bible Study with a few other guys. Their plan was to swing by Wendy's for supper. When Michael returned, he brought home Sweet and Sour Chicken from a Chinese resturant. He forgot until this morning that he had brought home a fortune cookie for me to eat. He knows I love to eat those little cookies. I always crack up at how silly the 'fortunes' are. Of course, I do not believe them. But, this one had to be the best fortune I have ever gotten. I told Michael it came true before I even broke the cookie!

TOOTHLESS

Check out my toothless girls.

It was quite a funny story.  Michael was in the bathroom pulling Hannah's teeth.  Cari and I were in the bed snuggling and we were praying for Hannah to be brave and for Daddy to be able to get her teeth out.  (I know you have seen the pictures of her crooked front teeth for the past couple of weeks. They NEEDED to come out.  Her gums were starting to turn red.)  About 5 minutes after that, we heard Hannah yell, "MOM!!!"  So, we both ran in there. He had finally pulled the first of her two front teeth. After she got it to quit bleeding, he said, "Let me see the other one."  Cari and I returned to the bed and began to pray for her second tooth to come out.  Then, we were laying there chatting and picking around.  I was tickling Cari and she swung her hand up to block me and popped herself right in the mouth!  Her eyes got HUGE and she said, "I JUST LOST A TOOTH!!!"  I said, "WHAT????!!!!"  Then, she handed me the tooth!  She went running down the hall screaming, "DADDY!!!!!"  Michael was in the middle of trying to pull Hannah's second tooth and was confused about what Cari was screaming.  You have to imagine her trying to talk with a mouth full of cold water and her trying to explain what happened.  I finally got her moved into the kitchen and then in about 2 minutes, Hannah had her second tooth out.  Neeless to say, yesterday was a very eventful day.  First all the snow and then three teeth falling out.  I tried to convince them it was because they ate too much snow.  They kind of looked at me funny and then realized quickly that I was kidding.

Then, today, of course, Hannah said the most hilarious thing.  Michael's grandpaw and uncles always pick with the girls and push out their false teeth.  Today, Michael was talking about them and she said, "Now I'm part of the family!"  I know you are cracking up!  I started laughing about it again just typing it here in the blog. 

A Day In The Snow

First things first... SNOWCREAM!

A teaspoon of vanilla, a can of sweetened condensed milk and 8 cups of snow!

We all LOVED it!  The girls have never had snowcream and I haven't had it since I was a little girl!

The front of our home.

Isn't this tree beautiful?!

The play set.  Remember Hannah and Cari's pictures back in the fall playing on this?

My two beautiful girls!

Check out this tree!  I love how the snow hangs on the evergreens.

Cari's snowman. 

(Thanks for the Snowman Making Kit, PawPaw & Vickie!)

Hannah's snowman.

Cari attempted to sled.  The snow is just too deep.

 See this hill of snow outside of our neighbor's house?  The snow plow pushed it up there.

We went to visit her and see if they wanted to come out to play.  She took a picture of us standing on that big hill of snow outside her window.

Our neighbors - they are from Jamacia - finally came out in the snow to play!

Cari rolled up this huge snowball. She loved sitting on her's.

Hannah had another idea..... 

Check out her HUGE snowman!!! 

She made this snowman all by herself!

(She wanted me to let you all know that.)

  The only thing that she had help on was picking up the body and head to put them on top.   

IT SNOWED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It finally snowed here!!!  It is beautiful!!!  All of these pictures are taken from my front porch this morning around 6:30.  It is still snowing like crazy here!  There is no telling how deep it will get!

Here are the steps.

Here the handrail and trash can.

Remember my three trees in the front yard?

Exactly one foot!

This was taken from inside of the roof.

A tree on the side of our home.  It was getting ready to dump the snow off of it's limb.

Michael was shoveling snow this morning.  He was glad to get his required 20 minutes of exercise in!

The snow plow came and scrapped up the snow.  Cari loved playing on the big pile of snow.

Believe it or not - Hannah is standing up in the snow!

'The best piece of cake I have ever eaten!'

As promised... here is the recipe:

Yellow Cake

3/4 cup butter
3 eggs
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cups milk

1.  Allow butter and eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. 
2. Grease and flour two 9" or 8" cake pans or one 9x13".
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
4. Put all ingredients into bowl and mix with electric mixer on medium for 2 1/2 minutes.
5. Bake for 25 minutes (9") or 35 minutes (8" or 9x13").
6. Cool completely.

Fudge Frosting

(This recipe will cover a two layer cake - tops and sides.  If you cook a 9x13 - half the recipe.)

2 lbs. of powdered sugar
1 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup butter (softened)
2/3 cup boiling water
2 teaspoons vanilla

1.  In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. 
2.  Beat with an electric mixer on medium for 1 minute. 
3.  Cool for 20 minutes or until mixture reaches spreading consistency.  If frosting is too thick, add boiling water 1 tablespoon at a time until it reaches spreading consistency.

Happenings at the Lilly Pad

Some pictures of things that have been happening around here.

I taught Hannah and Cari how to use the sewing machine. 

Stop holding your breath Mom, they are very careful.

Hannah's finished product.  She gave it to her Dad.  She said she made him a new tie to wear to school.  He wore it at home. 

This morning we made Blueberry Parfaits.  Everybody made their own - exactly how they wanted it.  I layered mine with frozen blueberries from Maine, french vanilla yogurt and french vanilla granola. Y.U.M.!

Cari made the same layers.  She LOVED it!!!  Here she is finishing it up.  I almost didn't get the camera in time.

Hannah doesn't care for blueberries.  So, she had a 'fruit dip'.  She used grapes and apples to dip in her yogurt.

For breakfast on Sunday, I made homemade biscuits from scratch, fried sausage and sausage gravy.  I know, this doesn't look like a picture of my beautiful biscuits.  We were too busy eating them and getting out the door for church, so I didn't get a picture.  Don't worry, another batch WILL be made.  They were WONDERFUL!

Now, to explain the picture.  I was in the process of making gravy and my whisk got stuck on the hot sausage grease and then flung hot grease all over my arm.  I got a few tiny burns and this one bigger burn.  The more I looked at it, I decided it looked like a snail.  Nobody else thought so until I drew it's shell.

Today, we had Chicken Filet Sandwiches.  I made the hamburger buns.  Aren't they pretty?  I just love making bread!  These were made out of the 'No Excuse Bread' recipe.

What kind of mom let's her kids get up out of the bed to come and taste her homemade icing?  Even after they had brushed their teeth!  I made them brush again.

On Wednesday, the Titus 2 ladies will be meeting again.  We are working on learning to decorate a cake.  We are suppose to bring a single layer of cake frozen.  I made my cakes today.  Of course, the recipe makes two cake layers.  The first one broke in half when I tried to get it out the pan.  (I thought greasing and flouring was suppose to prevent that!  I must put wax paper on my grocery list.)

The other layer came out good.  It is in the freezer.  The broken cake got homemade chocolate icing in the middle and on top.  We had it for dessert after supper tonight.  Michael said, "This is the best piece of cake I have ever eaten!"  This one is a keeper!  I will post the recipe tomorrow.

Featherlight Rolls

Do you remember me mentioning the

“OUT OF THIS WORLD GOOD” Featherlight Rolls?

Well, here they are!

The Featherlight Roll

Here is the recipe:

2 packages of yeast
½ cup of water at 110-115 degrees
1 Tablespoon + 1/3 cup of sugar (divided)
1 cup of milk at 110-115 degrees
1/3 cup of shortening
2 eggs
1 ½ teaspoon of salt
4-5 cups of all purpose flour

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water
• Stir in 1 Tablespoon of sugar
• Let stand for 5 minutes
• Add milk, shortening, eggs, salt, 3 cups of flour, and 1/3 cup of sugar
• Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes
• Stir in one cup of remaining flour to form a soft dough.
• (Do not worry – it will be sticky)
• Cover and refrigerate overnight
• Punch down
• Turn onto a floured surface
• Divide into 24 portions
• Shape (you basically tie them a knot - I couldn't take pictures because I had dough all over my hands.)
• Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled (1 ½ hours)
• Bake at 350 degrees for 13-15 minutes
• Smear butter on top… EAT!

This is what the dough looks like after it has been in the refrigerator overnight.

The recipe makes 24 rolls, so I invited some friends over. I taught these girls how to shape the dough. These are two of the other married students wives that live here in the campground. The girls had a blast. They love to cook almost as much as I do.

Now, to find a warm place around here, I have to make one. So, this is a trick that Beth told me about. (She is the lady who taught me how to make these rolls.)

Boil some water

Put the water in a pot in the bottom of your oven.

Cover the rolls and put them in there.

After an hour and a half, this is what they will look like.

Remove the water and preheat your oven.

This is what they look like after they have baked and you smear butter on top.
Daniel – turn your head.
Dad – I will make you some when I come home.

Smear some apple butter on them 

(Thank you Stephanie!)

 or whatever you like and ENJOY!