I didn’t follow the recipe to a T, because I don’t have cornmeal on hand. I also may have rolled out the dough longer than instructed, because my loafs were long but smaller than I was expecting. I didn’t add sugar to this recipe. I also didn’t brush with butter at the end. My dough also took a while to rise, so I gave an extra 15 minutes to each time estimate.
This bread smelled amazing, and the texture was amazing. It is a crumby bread, with a hard crust but soft and light inside. This bread isn’t sweet or too salty without sugar. This is also a bread that is versatile, and can easily be used for sandwiches, garlic bread, or pizza.
I’ve had this tin of cookies since Christmas. I really love these cookies, but we need the counter space back and we’ve stopped eating them, so I decided it would be fun to repurpose them into a pie crust. Some of the cookies we had had coconut flakes in them, and you can still taste them in your crust, so make sure you like the cookies before you make a crust of them. I have a really small food chopper, if you have a bigger one, you can add the butter to the crumbs and mix it quicker by just pulsing a few times. The pie also turned out really well. I followed the directions on the side of the box for the pudding mix, and the mix I used came from Aldis. I also was short by about 1/2 a cup on butter cookies, so I added a little under 1/2 a cup of graham cracker crumbs.
Cookie Crust
In a food processor or blender, crush up your leftover cookies until they have a sandy texture and about 1 1/2 – 2 cups of crumbs.You can supplement with graham crackers or graham cracker crumbs to reach that range if you are short. Also pulse in 2 Tbsp of packed brown sugar.
Turn out crumbs into a 9 inch pie pan. In a side bowl, melt 6 Tbsp of butter. Pour the butter over the crumbs and mix til all of the crumbs have an wet sand consistency. Pack into the edges of the pan in an even layer using your fingers, the back of a spoon, or a rubber spatula.
Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes until fully cooled.
Pudding Filling
Using a box of pudding, combine the pudding powder and 1 3/4 cup of milk in a bowl. Beat with an electric mixer for 1 minute. Once mixed, pour the pudding mixture directly into you crumb crust.
Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving, or freeze for pieces that will come out more intact.
Peanut butter and butter toast is a meal I’ve eaten since I was young. I usually would have this as a Saturday breakfast before we’d be out of the house for sports or activities. Not only is it filling and healthy, but you can easily make it healthier. You can also have this as a snack during the day or as a late night snack before bed. It’s quick if you are on the run, and 2 pieces of toast are enough for even an adult. I used crunchy peanut butter, but you can pick any texture or brand you want. I used standard salted butter, and used it as a pen to cover the toast, then cut off the last 1/4 Tbsp butter, so the stick isn’t covered in crumbs. You can easily use margarine or coconut oil instead. I also used white sandwich bread, but you could also use wheat, whole grain, or seeded rye.
Toast bread. While hot, smear with butter, then add a thin layer of your favorite peanut butter. Eat as a snack or as a quick breakfast.
I’ve made a post once about stromboli, but last night we tried one with salami and a few other tweaks to the recipe. I didn’t grease the pan this time, and that made no difference. I rolled out the dough on the thinner side, and as long as it’s not too thin, it turns our just as well, if not better. I added more banana pepper juice to the stromboli, and that was a very good choice. It gives the stromboli extra moisture for when it’s cooking. I closed the edges by folding the bottom dough up over the top layer of dough, and that sealed very well. These are also 1/2 sheet pans, just for reference.
Into a bowl, bloom 3 1/2 tsp of yeast (1 1/2 packets) with 1/2 cup of warm water.
Add 3 Tbsp oil, 6 cups of flour, and 1 1/2 cups of water. Mix into a dough, then let rest covered until doubled in size.
Punch down dough, remove from bowl, and split in half.
Preheat oven to 400 F
Roll out dough into rounds about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. They should have a diameter of over 12 inches.
Place half of your dough on the sheet with half hanging off. On the half that is on the sheet, place 8 oz of salami, 8 oz of shredded mozzarella cheese, and 6 oz of Mild banana pepper rings with some of it’s juice (2-3 Tbsp) sprinkled over top. Fold dough in half and pinch the edges shut. Add vent holes on the top with a knife or a fork.
Bake for 20 minutes. The top should have a nice crisp sound when tapped.
Repeat step 6 and 7 for second round.
Brush each stromboli with melted butter (or rub hot stromboli with a stick of butter till coated) and sprinkle with parmasean, and oregano.
Wait 5 minutes before cutting into strips and serving.
Josh and I hadn’t been able to do too much with the bathroom since we moved in. We had big plans, and the bathroom is the smallest room in the house, so why not refinish it a bit? We decided we were going to paint, so we went out and picked paint colors and came home with 2 gallons of paint and a primer.
Before painting, we had to remove everything from the bathroom. We decided to paint behind the toilet, so that came apart. Then, we found mold. So, we mixed up several buckets of hot water and Ajax and we scrubbed all of the walls and the baseboards. Once that was done, we taped off the baseboards, the tile, and the ceiling.
We painted all of the walls, starting behind the toilet, so we could put on a second coat and assemble the toilet that night, since it’s our only bathroom. We picked the color “Courtly Purple” by Behr. The color went on pinker, but it dried to this beautiful light purple. I also primered the cabinet with 2 layers of 1-2-3 Zinsser primer. This primer is mold resistant, which is very important so close to our shower.
Finally, I painted the cabinet, inside and out, “Anonymous” by Behr. It’s a fully gray that seems dark, but it adds a boldness to the room, and ties together the tiling since where is some gray in them. Once I finished painting them with 2 layers, I attached the doors and replaced the handles. I also reorganized our bathroom. I was able to finally utilize the space under the sink well, and I was able to clean up the clutter that was accumulating on our wooden shelf.
We have a few more plans for our bathroom. We plan to install a wall mounted shower curtain rod, buy a new shower curtain, get a new mirror that can be mounted easily to the wall, adding wall outlets (since there are none), and installing a vent fan.
Our Lustron Home 