Fantastic Rosemary Focaccia Bread

Bread. What would we do without it? I don't know about you, but I love it! Not only do I enjoy eating it, but I love to make it. There is something about getting all the ingredients together, preparing the dough, smelling it bake. That smell is like no other. I love it! I am always looking for a good recipe so when I stumbled upon this one I thought it would be good to try. I had everything I needed in my pantry so why not?



Here is what you need to make this wonderful bread!

1 c. warm (105-115 degrees Fahrenheit) water
1 Tbsp. yeast
1 Tbsp. white sugar
1 tsp. Kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling
2 Tbsp. butter, divided
2 Tbsp. crushed dry rosemary

2 1/4-2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

In a large mixing bowl, combine warm water, yeast, and sugar. Allow to stand for 10 minutes or until bubbly. While the yeast is getting bubbly, combine 2 C of the flour, salt, 1 Tbsp. rosemary.

Add flour mixture to yeast mixture along with 1 Tbsp. melted butter. Mix well. (I put it in my stand mixer with the dough hook on). Slowly add remaining flour to make a very soft dough--try and resist the urge to add too much flour. You probably won't use the entire extra 1/2 c. of flour. I usually only use about 1/4 cup. You want a soft, wet dough.

Cover and allow to rise 1 hour.

Lightly flour work surface and transfer dough onto this surface. Divide in half. Shape each half into a round loaf and place on a greased cookie sheet or pizza stone. Cover and allow to rise another 45 minutes.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Melt remaining tablespoon of butter and mix with remaining tablespoon of rosemary. Brush on loaves and sprinkle lightly with Kosher salt.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until very lightly golden-brown. Serve immediately (if you can) with olive oil and balsamic vinegar (if you want). It's absolutely *delicious*.




We have two very large Rosemary bushes in our yard so instead of using dry rosemary I used fresh and cut it up fairly small. I also used a little more inside the bread than the recipe called for. Honestly, I didn't measure it when I put it in, just eyeballed what looked good to me.

This recipe makes 2 loaves. I cooked the first one around lunch time. Maggie, Chris and I ate it down quickly. The second one I cooked right before dinner. I knew if I baked them both at the same time they wouldn't have survived until dinner!

-Bobbi

Testing, Testing, Is this thing on?

Oh my goodness! It has been so long since I have been here. I don't really have an excuse. So off my lazy butt I go and here I am!

We had been blessed this week with some wonderful Spring weather! Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and Winter seems to be coming back. It was sure nice and motivating though while we had a taste of the weather to come!

Chris build a new compost box. So excited to get that started. It's in a nice sunny spot, close to our garden and away from any windows by the house! I have missed composting. We haven't done it since we moved up here. Looking forward to seeing what we get out of it.

We planned out our garden. I think we are going to try out Square Foot and Vertical gardening. We definitely have the space for a large garden, but this looks so interesting. And, the way I see it, we can have even MORE than if we planted in our current boxes!
We got a great book at the library called All New Square Foot Gardening. We haven't been able to keep our noses out of it. Definitely a book we are going to buy for our shelves!
It looks like our garden will include:

Eggplant
Bell Peppers (red, green, orange)
Tomatoes
Yellow Squash
Zucchini
Green Beans
Cucumber
Corn
Broccoli
Lettuce
Swiss Chard
Radish
Carrot
Beets
Spinach
Jalapenos
Parsley
Chives
Mint
Cilantro
Basil
Oregano
Sage

I'm pretty convinced we are missing a few things, so I will be adding to the list I'm sure! LOL I am so excited. Our winter garden did pretty well, so I'm hoping that our next go-round will provide us with nearly all, if not all of our veggies for Spring/Summer.

The girls are getting big. They have started figuring out their "pecking order". Cocobelle is the definite leader with Dora coming in a close second. I can see where this may be a problem. LOL Ellen, the biggest chicken of the group is the very last in line. I think she prefers it that way. She isn't very brave at all and has the loudest squawk when you pick her up. Cocobelle has found her voice. She sits up on the perches and clucks and talks away. I could just sit and watch them for hours. They really are a fun bunch.
Here are a couple pictures from earlier this week:

Cocobelle enjoying a meal worm treat:

Ellen DeHENeres:


And, Mary Virginia. This must be where the expression "chicken legs" comes from:


It's amazing how quickly they are growing. Soon we will have eggs!

Since the last time I wrote we got a new family member. A new Dutch bunny (5 mo old) named Peter. He is absolutely adorable and so, so sweet. And a contributor to the compost pile as well!
Maggie really wants to do rabbits in 4-H so Peter is a good starter bunny!

Speaking of Maggie, she is doing great with school. She is really into reading, spelling, writing right now. So we have been focused on that. I'm really proud how she has been catching on. Tonight Chris was cooking dinner and I could hear her in the kitchen practicing her spelling to her dad. I love being able to sit back and hear it. Sometimes it's really hard for me to believe she is 5 years old. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. She is such a treasure and so fun to have. I am truly blessed.

I am going to leave you with a couple of pictures from earlier in the week when the weather was so beautiful!






See ya soon!

-Bobbi

Merry Christmas to All!

I hope you all have a very blessed Christmas!

Homemade Lanterns

We did a very quick, easy project this morning. We made lanterns out of mason jars and tissue paper. We even got Dad to make one. This is a simple craft that is great for even the littlest of hands. All you need is a glass jar of any type (we just happen to have an over abundance of Mason-type jars thanks to my mom), some watered down white school glue and tissue paper.

Mix your glue with water to get it pretty thin. "Paint" sections of your jar and stick on tissue paper. I was so thankful to have my tissue paper already cut. Keep going around your jar until you have the design you want. You can cover up the entire jar or leave little holes in spaces. If you want to get real creative glitter is always fun too!
After we got all the tissue on we painted over it with a real thin coat of watered down glue to make sure the tissue was secure.

I wish I had some craft wire because I would have made a lantern handle. But I still think they are cute without. I still may get some today when I run into town. I think they would look "finished".

Put a candle inside your jar and you have a beautiful new creation!

Chocolate Playdough

Cold, rainy days call for something special so we whipped up a batch of chocolate playdough. Be warned though, once you make it your hands will smell like yummy chocolate all day. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing. Seeing it in that bowl makes me think of chocolate pudding......another yummy thing!


So, you think you want to make some? It's probably one of the easiest playdoughs I have ever made.





Here's how:

1 1/4 c flour
1/2 c cocoa
1/2 c salt
2 tsp cream of tartar



Combine and mix ingredients thoroughly. Once mixed, add in 1 1/2 T cooking oil and 1 c boiling water. Mix and knead until you have a nice soft ball of dough.

Store in either a plastic baggie or airtight container. I always keep mine in the refrigerator,I don't know if it really prolongs the lifespan or not, but I do know that I have playdough that is about 1.5 years old now and it's as good now as it was the day it was made.

Who could resist a chocolate heart made by their favorite kid?