CHEESECAKE

This week for homemakers we made Liesel Galletly's DELICIOUS chocolate cheesecake. I would give you all the recipe, but I have been sworn to secrecy. Jessica and Marti both had midterms so our numbers this week were kinda dwindling... but Corrine, Hayley, Anna and I were able to enjoy some cheesecake. Also Corrine brought some home for Marti and Colin... I hope it made it!

I put a picture of a home in honor of "homemakers" on the big cheesecake...

And out of the kindess of my heart I put some canadian chocolate, Cadbury Caramilks on the small ones for the girls to take home to thier significant others...

Homemade homemaker bread and ice cream :)

As most of you know, I love easy, simple and few ingredient recipes. I love this bread recipe for that reason... it's simple and fast. I got it from my mother-in-law who is a fantastic cook. You can use it for bread, dough for pizza, dough for calzones, rolls, even a lot of dessert.

1/4 Cup Sugar

1/2 T Salt

1/2 T Yeast

1 1/2 T Lecithin

2 Cup Hot Water

5 1/4 Cup flour ( or wheat)

Mix all ingredients for 1 minute. Knead for 5 mins. Let rise 25 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

We experimented with different shapes of bread and different toppings. We made some croissants, some cheese bread and some cinnamon bread.

We also made some ice cream. I debated putting this picture up because it doesn't even start to depict how delicious the ice cream was. We made peach cinnamon and let me tell you- it was great! All I can potray from this picture is notice how empty the container is... we gobbled it up! Jessica with ingredients to come :)

Tarantula

Caution: If you have arachnophobia, this may give you nightmares.

This last Tuesday, Jessica, Marti, Nicole, and I gathered to make peach ice cream (can you say, YUM?!). We were in need of some ingredients so we all piled in Marti's car and headed for the store. About 3 minutes into our journey Marti yells, THAT WAS A SPIDER!!!, and flips her car around. As she's flipping around I look back and see a large black spot crossing the road. Sure enough, a tarantula was crossing the road.

Did you hear me???

A TARANTULA!!!!!!!!!!!

Do those even exist in Utah???? We didn't think so.

We were all in shock for a few minutes, didn't know what to do, tried calling animal control with no luck. Soon enough, a family was walking down the street so we asked them if they had seen tarantulas in this area. They acted shockingly calm and said yes, they don't bite and aren't poisonous. We debated throwing rocks at it, running it over with the car, and finally just decided to leave it be.

Lucky tarantula.

Disgusting tarantula, more like.

I just have to say that I couldn't fall asleep last night because in the dark the fan on my bedroom ceiling was looking very similar to the tarantula and royally freaking me out.

Here are some pretty crappy pictures I took with my phone. They don't do it justice.

Are you proud of how close I got to it? Yeah, I'm pretty brave. So were the other girls.

At this point, it was getting pretty late, so we decided we would skip making ice cream that night and call our tarantula adventures our homemakers for the week.

I'm still looking forward to peach ice cream, soon, though! 

Ashley

Dear Ashley,

Homemakers misses you. We all thought of you last night and hoped you are having a fabulous adventure.

We love you!!

The girls.

Scripture Bags and Funnel Cakes

Last night we started this new season of Homemakers off at my house. I've been meaning to make something to carry my scriptures in ever since Jake gave them to me for my 21st birthday (I'm almost 22 1/2, scary). My mother-in-law gave me this great and easy idea for making the perfect scripture bag.

All you need is:
One place mat, made of fabric... cute fabric preferably.
Ribbon OR Cording OR homemade straps for the handles (We used ribbon)
A sewing machine and thread

Here are the steps:
1. Fold place mat in half, hamburger style, right sides together.
2. Pin short sides.
3. Sew straight line up short sides.
4. Measure two inches up from bottom fold and draw a line across on both sides. This line does not need to be dark.
5. Fold corners into triangles.
6. Sew along drawn line.
7. Turn right side out, and DONE!
Well... then you just sew on the handles and your really done.

And there's always a treat! FUNNEL CAKES!

Here's the recipe:

3 cups Flour
1/4 cups Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking Poweer
1/2 teaspoon Salt
3 Eggs
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
2-1/4 cups Milk
Powdered Sugar (for dusting)
Oil (for Frying)

Heat oil in large, deep pan. Mix dry ingredients. Whisk in eggs, vanilla, and milk. Add more milk if needed. (Should be like pancake batter) Pour batter into and through a funnel, making slow circular motions. Make sure to hold the funnel close to the oil. Fry for 2-3 minutes, then flip. Drain on a paper towel. Dust with powdered sugar.

Boy, these were good, weren't they!? I think I'll make them again tonight. And for breakfast tomorrow. Yum!

Sorry there are no pictures on this post, but we will get better at that as we go.

Have a lovely day!

Back in business!

After a wonderful, long, crazy summer full of weddings, vacations and soaking up some vitamin D - Homemakers is back in business!!

Stay tuned for weekly updates on the fun things we are doing this Fall.

fruit salsa and cinnamon chips!

In case you guys didn't know, I'm truly madly and deeply in love with all kinds of fruit. The first time I had this was HEAVEN.

recipe:
2 kiwis, peeled and diced
2 Golden Delicious apples - peeled, cored and diced
8 ounces raspberries
1 pound strawberries
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3 tablespoons fruit preserves, any flavor
 
10 (10 inch) flour tortillas
butter flavored cooking spray
2 cups cinnamon sugar

1. In a large bowl, thoroughly mix kiwis, Golden Delicious apples, raspberries, strawberries, white sugar, brown sugar and fruit preserves. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
3. Coat one side of each flour tortilla with butter flavored cooking spray. Cut into wedges and arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle wedges with desired amount of cinnamon sugar. Spray again with cooking spray.
4. Bake in the preheated oven 8 to 10 minutes. Repeat with any remaining tortilla wedges. Allow to cool approximately 15 minutes. Serve with chilled fruit mixture.

*notes* use any kind of fruit you want... like we added mangos in there. Also, I didn't think this was going to yield a lot, but it totally did.