it's fall!

-or in our house, the most wonderful time of the year! We love the fall season around here. We celebrate our firstborn's birthday and our anniversary, hunting season begins and I bake, bake, bake. With all the pumpkin recipes floating around I decided to share my bread recipe instead of something seasonal. It's the only bread recipe I make anymore...no more dead duck day in our house.

This recipe uses a bread machine-
Add ingredients to pan in order listed, set machine to dough cycle and start:
-1 cup milk, lukewarm
-1/4 cup water
-3 tablespoons butter, soft and cut into pieces
-2 tablespoons coconut oil (can use butter)
-2 tablespoons sugar
-1 1/2 teaspoon salt
-1 cup whole wheat flour
-2 1/2 cups bread flour
-1/2 cup wheat germ
-1 tablespoon wheat gluten (can skip but really improves texture)
-2 teaspoons or 1 pkg yeast

When cycle has finished, punch down and divide dough in two. Let dough rise in buttered loaf pans until doubled in size and bake at 350* for 18-20 minutes- tops should be golden. I brush butter over the tops when they come out of the oven to keep the crust chewy. Cool in the pans for about 30 minutes, then turn out on a cooling rack. If you have will power, do not cut until completely cooled. Otherwise slice and serve warm with that new pumpkin butter recipe you've found :) As my son says, dee-yish-ish!

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall not thirst".

brownies

My husband says said nothing beats a box as far as brownies go. I agreed; we loved the red box. Chewy and fudgey... no cakey brownies in our house and especially no frosting or nuts. We're purists : )
In an effort that began last year to eat "from scratch", I started my search for homemade brownie recipes that could compare to our favorite. After a few attempts -and failures- we were visiting my mom's bakery. She had the best brownie recipe, even the hubs couldn't say anything bad about them. A tiny tweak here and there (she added nuts) and this is our go to recipe.

BROWNIES
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil (I use unrefined, refined works as does butter if not on hand)
- 4 eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 3/4 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 cups flour

-Melt butter and coconut oil. Sift cocoa into mixing bowl, add butter mixture, eggs, vanilla, salt and sugar. Stir until smooth. Add flour, stirring until just combined. Bake at 350* in a 9x13 pan for about 30 minutes.

We tend to eat them warm with Breyer's vanilla bean ice cream... definitely a favorite dessert.

Who wants to see a picture of brownies when you could see this precious face? At 2 months, she's full of sweet smiles!

Mmmm, coffee

In my mind, summer time equals iced coffee, or even better, blended coffee. Since I lean towards frugal and think homemade is best, here you go. My recipe that's a compilation of lots of those out there. This makes one giant serving... um, yes please!

- 1/2 cup double strength coffee, chilled
-1 mounded cup ice
-1/2 cup milk
-2 tablespoons chocolate syrup
- 1 tablespoon flavored coffee creamer (use a bit less milk if you add creamer)
-optional 1 tablespoon sugar- I skip this if I have the creamer on hand

Toss everything into your Ninja (most amazing little gadget ever) or your blender. Mix until very smooth, about 2 minutes. Pour into a glass and sip from a straw. I recommend topping with a bit of whipped cream for the full effect.

-Edit... I like to blend the ice alone first then add the rest and mix until smooth. The ice chunks tend to be smaller and more uniform this way.

A few of my current favorite things

~Blooming tulips 

~Homemade granola bars

~Voddie Bauchum Ministries’ FB page

~This text from Romans 4 and 5.  “In hope against hope he believed… and hope does not disappoint"  Why?  "because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit”  Beautiful.

Yum!

The fam (by that I mean husband) was craving chocolate cake the other night. I wanted it to be quick and easy. I found this amazing recipe. I was seriously doubtful...one bowl to mix, dairy and egg free. It was quite tasty, especially with cool whip on top. I used a bowl to mix all ingredients because mixing in the pan didn't seem quite right and used instant coffee instead of espresso powder so the kids could eat it at 7 pm :) Wish I had a picture for you, but I don't. And it's gone. Try it!