Happy Halloween!

oh, and for this ghoulish Thankful Thursday...I'm thankful for chocolate and the ability to taste. 

R&J's Creamy Tomato Soup (with asiago croutons)

Since it's Thankful Thursday I'll start out by saying how thankful I am for the GORGEOUS weather that's been happening! R and I played some tennis last night because he said it was too nice out to not go do s.o.m.e.t.h.i.n.g. out there. 

On to the real post...........
I only love tomato soup from 2 places - Panera and an Irish restaurant in Downtown Disney. 

I like it creamy and I don't like chunks of tomato. 

We made this recipe and it's pretty much our new favorite soup. 

R&J’s creamy tomato soup (with asiago croutons)

ingredients:

1 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 and 1/2 tsp. onion powder
2 (14 oz) cans peeled tomatoes
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream or half and half (OR substitute 3/4 tablespoon butter + 1/4 cup milk + 2 T milk) (we've used a combination of things depending on what we had available in the fridge)
1 and 1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
A dash of red pepper flakes
1/4ish cup of parmesan cheese

directions:

In pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and onion powder. Saute until fragrant.

Add canned tomatoes (juice and all), chicken broth, sugar, oregano, basil, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a low simmer. Cook uncovered until it has thickened.

Add the heavy cream (or heavy cream substitute listed above) and the parmesan cheese. 

Using an immersion blender (or carefully transfer soup to a blender), puree soup until there are no large chunks left. (our immersion blender broke so last time we made this we had to use the blender. Worked great). 

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Top with asiago croutons. 

It's Like Peach Cobbler, Only Miniature.

My mom has this knack for throwing delicious things together at a moments notice.

& sometimes I try to replicate such delicious things.

I didn't want any of our homemade cinnamon raisin bread to go to waste last week so I put some in the bottom of some ramekins, poured a little milk on top, put about 5 or 6 canned peach slices on there, sprankled (it's like sprinkling, only it's more than a sprinkle) on some cinnamon, and stuck them in the the toaster oven for 10 minutes on 350 degrees.

While they "baked" we made some fresh whipped cream (since we didn't have any ice cream).

It was quite delightful. Not too sweet, but just sweet enough to satisfy our sweet teeth. 

Homemade Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Sometime last month homemade bread came up and I was reminded that I left all of my yeast when I moved and hadn't gotten around to buying any since then (well over a year ago).... a week or so later R came home with some grocery bags and exclaimed, "I got you some yeast!!!" 

aka he was wanting some homemade bread. I was actually pretty excited. 

I decided to make my first loaves over General Conference weekend.

You know, since I'd have hours of time at home to wait for bread dough to rise.  

They turned out pretty decent. 

They had a nice crust but were slightly over baked and a little dense to be considered our new favorite.

I've been itching to bake some more bread but if you've ever done it, you know it's quite the process! 

I couldn't decide if I wanted to try artisan bread, cinnamon raisin bread, or cinnamon rolls - so I let the husband decide between 3 recipes I found online. 

"World's Best Cinnamon Raisin Bread" (by Lydia Holton on www.food.com) was the winner. 

I made one loaf but you can change the yield on the website and it updates the ingredient measurements.

I plumped my raisins first - pour boiling water over raisins in bowl. add vanilla. soak for 5-10 minutes.

Hoping this was what frothing yeast should look like.

Checking milk temp.

I admit that at this stage, after I had mixed and it looked like that, I wasn't so sure about the bread thing anymore.  Probably should have started with the paddle attachment. 

sticky but manageable dough in a greased bowl.

I forgot a pic but it had risen almost to the top of that blue bowl before I rolled it out and sprinkled it. 
Yours should have more cinnamon sugar mixture on it than shown in this picture.

Before the second rising.

After almost an hour.

After 30 minutes in the 350 degree oven.

After cooling & slicing. AKA a few minutes after taking it out of the oven because we're impatient & like hot bread.

It took all evening folks, but it was d e l i c i o u s. 

Would it be easier to go buy a loaf of delicious Pepperidge Farm cinnamon raisin bread from the store? Definitely. 

Cheaper? Probably. 

But there is a certain satisfaction you get while eating the 

warm, moist, sweet bread you just made that you can't buy at the store.

Recipe including changes I made (changes noted in bold): 

1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup warm water (must be between 110-115 degrees)
2 (1/8 ounce) packages active dry yeast (2 and 1/4 tsp)
1 egg
1/4 cup white sugar
1/3 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup raisins (I only had 1/3 but I would suggest 1/2 cup)(Also, plump your raisins! See above)
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour (I had to add more. Add little by little until dough hook mounds it up)
(ingredients below are for after you let it rise the first time)
2/3 tablespoon milk
1/3 cup white sugar (a heaping 1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon (1 and 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon)
2/3 tablespoon butter, melted (approx.) (I just took my stick of butter and rubbed it on the baked bread for this part)

Directions:

1 Warm the milk in a small sauce pan on the stove until it just starts to bubble, stirring occasionally. (careful not to scald)
2 Remove from heat.
3 Let cool until lukewarm, about 120-125 degrees.
4 Dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside until yeast is frothy, about 10 minutes or so (make sure your water is at the correct temperature or the yeast won't activate.) Then mix in eggs, sugar, butter salt and raisins (stir in the cooled milk slowly so you don't cook the eggs.) Add the flour gradually to make a stiff dough.
5 Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for a few minutes until smooth. (I put everything in my kitchen aid with dough hook. I didn't knead it by hand at all)
6 Place in a large, buttered, mixing bowl and turn to grease the surface of the dough.
7 Cover with a warm, damp cloth and let rise (I like to let my bread rise in the oven with the light on. It has just the right amount of heat and keeps the bread out of drafts.) Allow to rise until doubled, usually about 1 1/2 hours. (I didn't cover it with a damp cloth because it got cold. I covered with dry paper towels and left bowl on counter. Let it rise the whole time!!)
8 Roll out on a lightly floured surface into a large rectangle 1/2 inch thick.
9 Moisten the dough with 2 tablespoons milk and rub all over the dough with your hands. (2/3  Tbsp for 1 loaf)
10 Mix together sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle mixture evenly on top of the moistened dough. (use alllll of the sprinkle mixture)
11 Roll up tightly (tuck under the ends)
12 The roll should be about 3 inches in diameter.
13 Cut into thirds, and tuck under ends and pinch bottom together. (disregard this step. It's for making 3 loaves)
14 Place loaves into well greased (you can use Crisco or butter for this) 9 x 5 inch pans and lightly grease tops of loaves.
15 Let rise in warm place, uncovered, again for about an hour. (don't be impatient, let it rise the full hour)
16 Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until loaves are lightly browned and sound hollow when tapped. (Mine was done and hollow sounding in 30 minutes so definitely check it early.)
17 Remove from oven and let cool on rack. 
18 Take melted butter and spread over tops of loaves. (I immediately put butter on the loaf)
19 After about 20 minutes, lay loaves on their sides and remove from pans. (I definitely did not wait 20 minutes. Maybe 5)
20 Allow to cool before slicing. (We definitely could not wait for it to cool before slicing. I think we sliced at minute 6 post oven time. Plus, who wants cold fresh bread?! Not us. Just be gentle with it for the first hot slice.)

p.s. we don't have a bread box but we stored our bread in this. it kept it soft and moist for days: 

Sims' September

Football Season.

(I could probably end the post there because that was pretty much the extent of our September)

After reuniting and getting settled back home it was a rather calm month for us.

Saturdays were spent watching football.

The Carroll's paid us a surprise visit. The weather was awful but we still enjoyed having them and baby H!

We reached our "one year since he proposed" date.

We got together with local friends a few times this month, we have met some great friends here.

R has had extra baby fever ever since the Eubanks had baby A.

He's quite the baby whisperer.

Other than that, I'll let my iPhone pictures tell our September story:

Life lesson of September: J really doesn't enjoy football season now that she's post grad and isn't at the game. R enjoys watching lots of games on tv. every weekend. all day. Luckily we're both decent at compromising. 

Things we're looking forward to in October: J's birthday! General Conference! (both of which have passed now). The beautiful weather!!! 

Thankful Thursday!

I'm thankful for a husband who loves me through my occasional "hunger tantrums". He seriously deserves an award.