pretzel memories

I did something last week that I've been wanting to do for a long time...
I made soft pretzels with the kids...

Yep...I'm Martha...
totally 100% Martha...
...
only that's a lie...
I'm not...
...we just have to remember the cake pop incident of '12 to know I'm not Martha!

the reason I have never made them before is because I was scared...
it's bread...which equals yeast...and that's always a little iffy...
it's rolling and shaping of the dough...with children involved...
you have to boil them in a brine...
yes...a brine...
....that's freaky!
and then the egg wash
and all with kids...

yep...no, thanks I'll pass...

but I really wanted to...

I kept pinning soft pretzel recipes...
I would read them and re-read them...
even though they look scary with the whole brine thingy...
they also looked very easy....
but then I would remember the cake pop incident of '12 and then remind myself that just because the other bloggers think it's easy doesn't mean it is easy!

Well I did it...
I took the leap and made pretzels with the kids...
I followed this recipe from Alton Brown/Food Network
(my slightly altered recipe posted below)
it was great...
the dough...super simple...

the creating pretzel shapes with the kids...fun..not super easy...but fun
AND the dough is very forgiving, and even though the boy child played created with his dough for a LONG time it wasn't any worse for the wear, I couldn't even tell which 2 were his over-loved creations when they came out of the oven.

the scary brine...easy peasy!

egg wash...no biggie...just a small simple step
and the kids...
they LOVED it...loved it so much we did it three days in a row!

yes...THREE days in a row...
day one...loved them but only had table salt and that was too much salt..
day 2...I got the right salt...but Beau made the dough and I didn't tell him the right amount of butter (Alton's recipes is in oz not tablespoons)...so it was a bit too rubbery of dough for the knots so we opted for bites instead-AMAZING...
day 3...cinnamon pretzels for breakfast-yes please!

Homemade Soft Pretzels
1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 1/4 teaspoon yeast (1 package active dry yeast)
4 1/2 cups flour
4 tablespoons butter, melted
Pam (the baking spray...not the lady) for spraying
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons melted butter
Pretzel salt or Cinnamon & Sugar

Directions
Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam.
Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined.
side note...I was summoned to the back yard at this point to see the snake that the boy child had found...and I left the mixer going...I have no idea how long I was gone... I came back and the dough was smooth and pulling away from the side of the bowl...so I never upped it to medium speed...
Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes.
Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then spray with Pam (the spray...not the lady). Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and spray with Pam...the spray not the lady!

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface (I just sprayed the counter and let the kids go to town) and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel...or skip the knot and make pretzel bites by cutting them into 1-2 inch squares (we did bites the 2nd time we made these...just as yummy!).  Place onto the parchment-lined pan...(or spray the bee-jeezus out of the pan...DO NOT opt for wax paper...just sayin')

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 or 2 at a time (for bites I would say between 10-15), for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to cookie sheet, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture, if topping with Pretzel Salt (Course Sea Salt...not table salt, if you don't have pretzel salt skip the salt...and take my word for it that table salt was TOO much!) sprinkle it now. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 10 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at about 5 minutes.

For Cinnamon & Sugar Pretzels:  Wait 2-5 minutes for pretzels to not be too hot, brush the tops of warm pretzels with melted butter and turn upside down/butter side down into a bowl with bowls with cinnamon & sugar

Devour Eat pretzels while still warm...and enjoy with the family!

this is the pictures you get when you ask your husband nicely
 to snap a picture of the kids enjoying their pretzels!

Sorry for the lack of pictures of all the steps...I was enjoying the pretzel moment with my kids and didn't stop and take pictures along the way!

Have you ever made homemade soft pretzels?
How about bagels...I think bagels are next on my list!...

buttermilk pie

...if you're from the south I'm sure you've heard of a Buttermilk Pie...
or at least all my internet investigation of buttermilk pie has led me to believe that it's a staple dessert for all holidays in the south...but if you're like me...
west coast girl all the way
I've never lived more than 100 miles from the Pacific Ocean...
... (I just googled that...I looked up all 3 cites...yes a whoppin' 3 cities and measured how far they were from the Pacific...as a crow flies...& it's probably more like 90 miles, but it didn't sound as good)...
...than you may have never heard about this thing called the Buttermilk Pie...


I just discovered it last week...
while I was standing in the checkout at Wal-Mart...
...at the first of the month (stupid me)
so I picked up some recipe magazine to help wait out the next 45 minutes of my life...
and I stumbled upon an article about traditional Easter menu's
(I have NO idea what magazine I was flipping through)
and there is was this beautifully simple pie...
just looking right at me...
it had this beautiful golden crust with this golden filling
...not 100% a custard filling
...not 100% a cream filling
just a pretty golden filling...

source Aunts Ruthie's SugarPie Farmhouse

source Food Network

note...these are NOT my pie...I failed and took ZERO pictures of anything on Easter Sunday!

anyways...

veggies for lunch

yep...I did that yesterday...
...maybe I was feeling a little vegetarian...
just a little...

so I just decided to have some carrots...
and that was my lunch...carrots....

carrots wrapped up in some cake and frosting!

This was a leftover slice of one of our Easter desserts...
gotta have a carrot cake for Easter...
am I right?

easiest.main dish.EVER!

our normal Easter dinner main dish is Ham...
I love ham...
it's my favorite pig product...
my brother-in-law coined our new favorite term for ham
...dinner bacon....

so anyways...
I make ham about once a year...
which is weird because I do love it so...

anyways...
I pinned a Pomegranate Glaze Ham...
looked good and easy...
but I changed it up a bit and added pineapple....

ready for the easiest recipe ever...

this is NOT my ham
I borrowed the image from google
because I failed to take any pictures on Easter!

green thumbs...

a ChambersMade family first...

we are planting a garden....from scratch...

we stared with seeds yesterday...

the kids got to pick out the seeds a few days ago*

so proud of their boxes of dirt

the kids are excited about their garden...

we will buy some plants (already bought 2 tomatoes plants and a pepper)

but I love the fact that we're going to try to start some from seeds...

time for a shower

a sweet baby shower!

I had the pleasure of throwing a pintrest inspired baby shower for my friend Rayna....
she's pregnant with baby boy #2!

yesterday I shared about my cake pops or lack thereof for this shower....

I started pinning shower ideas to my 'party on' board
& was watching Rayna's 'Baby Rush #2' board

You've Got To Be Kidding Me

Okay, so I've heard rumor that you can make microwave popcorn with...
ready for it...
popcorn and a brown paper bag...
I have even pinned it over on my pintrest board

source: Squawkfox

yep...that's all...

so I researched this crazy idea on the intranet...
(ps Beau hates when I call it that)
Beau thought it was all just one of those things that you read online and shouldn't believe...
he laughed at me...


turns out it's totally true...
so, you can believe some things you read on the intranet...
(said that to make him cringe)


this was so easy that I'm not going to give you the tutorial in pic not words...

okay, so I will use some words...use just under 1/3 cup of popcorn

take it out when the popping gets to about 3-5 seconds apart

and bonus...you can reuse the same bag, over and over...

this was 5 popped bags...one bag, 5 times through the microwave...

okay...so, lets break this down...

1.  ingredients that you're feeding to yourself and your kids...

White Pop Corn...or Yellow ...depending on what you buy...that's IT...pop corn...

or you can feed them this 

and this is Jolly Time Healthy Pop Butter, 94% Fat Free

and you can choose to put your own butter and salt (or whatever you like)...

just butter and salt...

no partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Natural Flavors (really, you can't even tell me which ones, just natural?), Annatto for coloring (cuz I like a good color on my popcorn), Soy Lecithin, Egg and Milk (yep, in my popcorn)....

2.  One bag put into the recycle or green waste bin (not into a landfill, can you imagine how many microwave bags are in our dumps)

3. Cost $1 on 50 brown bags  $1 bag of popcorn...$2 total for who knows how many HUGE bowls of popcorn...

4.  Husband finally realizing that you are a genius!  Who's laughing now

The Other White Meat

Do you guys remember that ad campaign?
We always laughed because even in the commercials the pork looked grey not white.

Anyways, I've always enjoyed pork, didn't know why it had such a bad rap...
well, unless you're Jewish, and Kosher, and then well, sure I get that...
but other than following some laws from the OT, how could you not LOVE the pork?!

Oh, and our daughter, who's a self proclaimed vegetarian...
...not because she has some ethical problem with the way the animals are treated....
    ....and PLEASE, lets not share that information with her just yet...
...no she doesn't eat meat because...
*Beef has squishy parts
*Chicken has stringy parts
...and the most obvious...
*Pork taste like poison!

She does make exceptions to her strict vegetarian menu when it comes to some foods...
...she likes hamburgers, just not one's made at home
...she likes Chicken McNuggets...possibly because they're NOT REAL!
...she likes pork chops and applesauce, I guess the applesauce hides the poison I've laced the chops in!

...sorry, I guess I went on a major tangent there...
I made for the first time ever...drum roll please...
...a Roast Pork Tenderloin last night...
and it was delicious...and everyone ate it up (we had company and they all really enjoyed it)...
all except for the daughter who stood her ground on the "taste like poison" box that she likes...

Oh, and this is a recipe that was taken from my new favorite cook book,
a gift from my new favorite sister-in-law, The Dinner Doctor,
...another tangent please...my wonderful sister-in-law not only gave me a GREAT cookbook as a gift, she herself has the book, so she went thru and tagged the recipes that they liked...
AND...she wrote notes in the margins of what worked and didn't work and why they liked a certain recipes...isn't that the GREATEST idea...she's good like that!
from my favorite recipe book author The Cake Mix Doctor...

and how can you not love a recipe that has 4 ingredients; 5th ingredient optional...and only 3 steps?!?
Roast Pork Tenderloin with Apricot Balsamic Sauce
1/2 cup Apricot preserves or jam
2 Tbl Balsamic vinegar (I was out and used apple cider vinegar, and it was still good)
1 pound pork tenderloin
salt and pepper to taste
Lime or Lemon wedges (optional)

1.  Preheat over to 450* (THIS is a MUST...do not wait to turn your oven on at the last minute!)  Mix the apricot preserves with the vinegar (the recipe says to "pulse the mixture in a food processor or blender until smooth"...I didn't want to wash out my food processor after this, so I just put the two in a bowl and whisked it with my small whisk!...worked beautifully!)...so mix the two however you feel you want!
2.  Place the port tenderloin in a 13x9 pan (I lined mine with foil to make clean up easier...only last time I bought foil it was for some sort of project and it was at the dollar store and it was apparently just a product calling itself foil, and was HORRIBLE...so of course it ripped during the baking process and then the apricot preserves, foil, and pan became joined as one and took WAY more work to clean than had I just left the foil out of the pan...but if you have REAL foil, (as in Reynold's Wrap Foil) I would recommend this to help your clean up!).  Season the pork with salt and pepper (or you can purchased a pork tenderloin already coated in black pepper).  Spoon 1/2 the jam mixture evenly over the top.
3.  Roast the pork until browned and the juices run clear when pierced with a knife (I recommend a meat thermometer when cooking with pork), and the meat is still barely pink, about 30-35 minutes.  About half way through, (about 15-20 minutes) the roasting remove pork and spoon remaining jam mixture over the pork and return to the oven.  When the roast is done, remove from oven and cover the roast with foil and let it rest for 10 minutes.  Serve with lime or lemon wedges.

*most of us might be aware that our oven "cooks hot" or "cooks cool"...it's really good to know how much especially when baking something at this temp...my oven is 75 hotter than it should be, had I set it for 450 it would have actually been cooking at 525, can you say burned pork-ka-bobs?!?

Served this is Lime Infused Rice, Salad, and Sourdough bread.