Category: Helen

Dilly Onion Casserole Bread

1/14/2020

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A few different things inspired this bread. First of all, I was watching a BBC show called Britain's Best Bakery, and there are some amazingly beautiful loaves of bread on that show. One particular loaf was made by a British Bakery called Thankful Bakery, and they used nettles and chives in their bread. They put a nettle leaf on the top to make it pretty. It was so simple and I loved it. I have no idea what nettles are, but I started thinking about that idea for an herb filled savory bread. Then, I remembered that my mother used to make a Dilly Bread, only rather than fresh herbs, she used dried. But, I figured I could adapt that idea to fresh. Also, I remembered that her recipe used cottage cheese. I had some ricotta cheese in my fridge and I wondered if I could make that work instead. Guess what! You can!

I started with some green onions, parsley and dill.

The beauty of this recipe is that it only takes 2 cups of flour to make a nice loaf to go with a soup or a stew, or just to eat all by itself! Also, It is almost like a batter bread because there is no kneading and you bake it in a 2 quart Pyrex dish! It is a super simple loaf to whip up.

You just mix it up, put the ball of dough into a well greased bowl and let it rise.

After it had risen, I spread some butter on it, dusted it with a little flour and couldn't resist decorating it with a leaf of parsley and a sprig of dill.

I was pleased with the pretty results!

After 40 minutes of baking it came out nice and brown on the bottom and soft and tender on the inside.

Trust me, you are going to want to give this simple, savory bread a try!
Below the recipe you will see tools and utensils similar to what I have used. Not exactly, my bread board was handmade for me, but I found one similar for you to see.
Happy Baking!

Dilly Onion Casserole Bread

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This Is Us, 40 Years and Counting!

12/28/2019

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(Photo by Aww Snaps Photography)

Sorry we have been absent since Christmas. But, I couldn't be silent today. Today is my 40th wedding anniversary! Wow! It is weird to say those words because in some ways it feels like yesterday that my husband Glen and I met each other in college and began on this grand adventure of life together.

We look just the same, don't we? LOL

I've thought about how I could pay tribute to the most wonderful husband in the world. I've seen ideas like giving successful marriage tips or writing 40 reasons why I love him. I won't be so presumptuous to think that I know the secrets to a successful marriage because of course we have had our ups and downs throughout these 40 years and we certainly aren't perfect. And, making a list of 40 things would be boring for you and limiting for me. So, I'm just going to tell you a few things about us and you can glean what you may! It is going to be really nice for me to reminisce a bit.

I met my husband at Brigham Young University in 1978. I had walked into my apartment on a Sunday after having been at a church meeting and he was sitting on my couch. He says he fell in love with me at first sight. I don't know what he saw in me. I was taller than him, I was young and silly. He had served in Viet Nam as an Air Born Combat Engineer and had been a missionary for 2 years in Tahiti and was now in school. I had been raised in California and the only places I'd really been were Disneyland and Utah. But, we soon became good friends. He spent a lot of time at my apartment. I thought he had a crush on my roommate! We never went on a date until the end of that school year and I though it was just a fun date, nothing more. We went as saw Monty Python and the Holy Grail at a cinema that played old movies. He wanted to see if I would laugh at it! (I did!)
I went home for the summer. A couple of my roommates, Glen and another guy who I had dated a bit and had crush on came to CA and we all went to Disneyland and to the beach together. I knew that I only had one more semester before I finished school and I hated leaving behind the wonderful friends I had made. It was a fun yet kind of sad time.
Over that summer, a few young men were writing me letters. I would share them with my mom and she kept telling me that Glen really liked me. I told her that we were just friends and besides, he was too short for me. HA!
When I went back to school in the Fall, Glen and I started dating and it quickly became serious. By October we were engaged and 10 days after I graduated in December, we were married! Our wedding took place in the Los Angeles Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We took upon ourselves eternal promises to make our love and marriage last forever. We have stayed committed to those promises ever since that day.

So, that was the start! Here are a few other interesting things:

We were so broke when were first married that Glen decided to re-enlist in the army. He was a linguist in army intelligence . His language was Russian. We lived in Montery, CA for a year while he learned the language. We met life long friends there.
We lived in Texas and learned to sail! (But, we haven't sailed since we left Texas!)
We lived in West Germany for 2 years. Our oldest son was born there!
We lived in Kansas until Glen's time in the service was over.
We moved to Phoenix, AZ. We had 5 more children! We have 3 boys and 3 girls.
I started substitute teaching in elementary school after my first 4 children were born. We never had to have daycare because Glen worked the graveyard shift and took care of them during the days that I worked.
Thanks to my sister and brother-in-law, we were able to go with them and visit Tahiti, where Glen had served his mission. It was amazing!
We've owned 3 dogs, a cat, some fish, 6 chickens and my son had a rabbit for awhile throughout our marriage.
We now have 10 grandchildren.

These 2 babies are 2 years old now! The one Glen is holding just turned 2 today!

Now, just look at my cute husband! I am so blessed! He loves me! I love being with him more than anyone else. He makes me laugh. He is a great Dad and Grandpa. He loves the Lord and serves diligently. He is strong and hard working. He is smart and wise and keeps me calm when I am worried. He is warm and good and I am safe with him. He tells me he loves me daily. He does things for me that he doesn't want to do but because I want them done he does them anyway. Okay, I wasn't going to make a list but I had to tell you a few things about him. And while I am at it I will tell you one marriage tip to success (or 2). Keep your eyes on the eternal goal of loving each other forever and giving 100% of yourself to your spouse and him to you. Trust each other and be trustworthy. Be unselfish! Communicate about everything. Pray together, forgive each other and keep God in your marriage. Don't forget to have fun, too! I am so excited for the next 40 years!

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DIY Plaid Trees and What Puts Me in the Christmas Spirit

12/20/2019

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This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchases made through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!

When I was a young mother, I would work so hard to do everything during the holidays to help my family feel the true meaning of Christmas. I wanted them to know why we celebrated and I also wanted them to feel the magic of the season. We watched every Christmas special, we drove around and looked at lights, we did acts of service for others, we sang carols, we read about the birth of the Savior, we went and saw Santa, we put up the tree and decorated it, we got gifts for each other and had fun secrets. I baked and made candy and decorated the house like crazy. I loved it! My kids loved it! But, now that my children are all adults, it has been quite a transition to not being the one that everyone looks to to make Christmas special. I have grandchildren and their families have their own traditions that they are creating and plus other grandparents to be involved with. This year, I had decide to take a look at what really puts me in the Christmas Spirit and to concentrate on those things. Here is what I have realized about myself:

I love the lights on the tree and sitting and looking at it. Not only that, I love when my family sits there with me and we sing carols together. I have blogged about that before. It is one of my favorite traditions. It makes me happy when I hear that my children have incorporated this tradition in their own homes.
I don't need to bake or cook as much, but today as I made our family's favorite fudge recipe to share, I realized that I was feeling the spirit of Christmas in my heart. You can't beat some of those old favorite recipes and the memories that they bring.
I love to have little children around and talk to them about the Savior. I love to look at the Nativity scenes all around and have them show me Baby Jesus and the other figures. I did that today with my granddaughter and I was amazed at this almost 2 year old and how she could point out Jesus and Mary and Joseph without any problem.
I love finding a special gift for someone and knowing that they will love it!
I really enjoy taking treats to friends and family and giving to those in need.
And finally, I realized this year that if I don't craft or hand make at least one gift or decorative item each Christmas that something is missing from my holiday. I need to put myself into something and do more than just make a purchase. (Even though I do plenty of that!)

It took me a while to come up with what I could make this year. But, as you know, I have been loving the buffalo plaid decor this year and I actually had purchased a Christmas Tree from Walmart for my table. I decided that I needed more of them and wouldn't it be great to use a cinnamon stick as the trunk and a wood slice as the base. I thought how great to give a little tree with my plates of goodies! So, I whipped some up and here is how I did it:

Supplies:

Coordinating plaid flannel fabric
Cinnamon sticks
Fiber fill
Wood slices
Sewing Machine
Thread

* I used the tree that I already had as a guide to make a pattern. But, I also made smaller ones and then cut out two pieces for each tree. Then, with right sides together, stitch around each tree, leaving the bottom open a few inches in the center.
* Trim the seams and points of the branches and then flip the tree right-side out.
* Stuff Fiber fill into the corners at the top of the tree. Wrap a cinnamon stick with fiber fill around the top portion and push it up through the opening at the bottom. Then, fill around it with more fiber fill, especially shoving it into the corners.
* When it is nicely stuffed, stitch the bottom closed with a whip stitich across and going around the trunk.
Tip: When choosing a cinnamon stick, try to get one with a nice round end so that it will fit neatly in a whole the size you have a drill bit for.
* Drill a hole through your wood slice and glue the cinnamon stick in it for your tree to stand.