My newest love affair.

My Kindle! Ben got it for me for my birthday (a little early, but I don't mind). I spend so much time nursing my little one, so this is a great gift! I just love it. It's the perfect gift for a book worm like me! I wasn't getting in much reading time (can you say "toddler who keeps stealing my bookmark and losing my page"), but with this I find it so much easier! I can hold it with one hand while nursing, AND turn the page without any difficulty. It holds books I've downloaded from Amazon, and pdfs that I've downloaded with different programs and websites I've found. There's also lots of websites out there where you can download free e-books (totally legal, and some illegal, heh), and blogs that direct you towards free e-books posted on Amazon. So far I haven't had to buy a single book, but I've got over 80 in my library. She still doesn't have a name, any suggestions?

Best. Breadsticks. Ever.

I tried out this recipe for bread sticks on the Food Network website a few weeks ago, they are to DIE for! I never knew homemade could be so good. :)

What You'll Need:

Dough:

1 package yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp of yeast)

1 1/2 cups plus 2 tbsp of water (divided)

4 1/4 cups flour (I used bread flour)

2 tbsp butter (or olive oil)

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp salt (you can skip this if you used salted butter)

Topping:

4 tbsp butter (give or take)

Salt and garlic powder to taste

Pinch of oregano (I just did fresh chopped parsley, just for color)

Grated Parmesan cheese

Add 1/4 cup of water and 2 1/2 tsp of yeast to your mixing bowl. Let it sit for about 5 minutes to dissolve.

To that, add the remaining 1 1/4 cups plus 2 tbsp of water, flour, butter, sugar, and salt.

With your dough hook, mix until it creates a dough, about 3 minutes. Place your dough on a floured surface and knead it by hand for another 3-5 minutes.

Using a knife or plastic board scraper, divide your dough into equal parts. If you're only making bread sticks, divide it into 16 equal parts. I'm making pizza and bread sticks, so I divided it in half, and then divided the one half into 8 pieces.

Melt about 2 tbsp butter.

Roll your bread sticks out into approximately 7 inch long sticks.

Brush your bread sticks with the melted butter. I added this step because I noticed that this dough tends to get a crust on it pretty fast. The butter keeps that from happening. It also creates a nice golden crisp crust on the bottom of the bread sticks once they're baked.

Place your bread sticks in a warm spot. I like to preheat my oven to 200 degrees and then turn it off. Once the temp comes down to about 90-100 degrees, I put the dough in to rise, this seems to speed the process.

Once the dough has risen to about double, take it out of the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown on top.

While the bread sticks are baking, make your butter topping. Melt the butter, and add to it the chopped herbs, salt, and garlic powder.

Once they're done baking, brush on the butter mix, and sprinkle with parm cheese.

Camera strap cover

I meant to do a tutorial for this. I took all the pictures as I made it, but somehow lost track of the time and never ended up posting it! Now I have no idea where my measurements are, or what steps I did to get the final product. So you'll just have to settle with some pictures, sorry!

I was inspired by the gorgeous camera strap covers over at the Polkadot Bungalow.

Turtle Cheesecake

What You'll Need:

Crust:

2 pkgs of Chocolate graham crackers

1 1/2 sticks of salted butter, melted

Filling:

4- 8 oz. pkgs of cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 tsp vanilla

4 eggs

2/3 cup sour cream

6 oz. heavy whipping cream

Topping:

Caramel ice cream topping (I used Smuckers brand)

6 oz. semi sweet chocolate (I used Hershey's chocolate chips)

2 oz. heavy whipping cream

Pecans (however many you like)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Start by making your crust. Break apart your graham crackers and throw them in the food processor for about a minute. Once all the chunks are gone, add your melted butter and pulse until combined.

Grab your pan. I used a 10 inch cake pan for this. (If you have a spring form pan, make sure to wrap it really well in foil to avoid leaks.) Trace the bottom of your cake pan onto a piece of wax paper. Cut out your circle and place it in the bottom of the pan, trimming if needed.This will keep the crust from sticking to the pan when we flip it out.

Press your graham cracker mixture into your pan. Pack it lightly. Brush off any extra crumbs from the insides of your pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven to cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees.

Throw all 4 bricks of cream cheese into your cleaned food processor, running it until the cream cheese is smooth. Scrape down the sides. Add in the sugar, vanilla, sour cream, and eggs, mixing well between ingredients. Make sure to mix well between addition of each egg. While the processor is still running, add your heavy whipping cream. Scrape down the sides of the processor, and run it again until the mixture is smooth.

Place your pan with the crust in a larger pan. (This is for the water bath.) Pour your cheesecake batter into the crust.

Get a pan of hot water ready

Place the pans in the preheated oven and pour enough water in the outer pan to come half way up the sides of the cheesecake pan. Slide towards the back of the oven and bake for 1- 1 1/2 hours at 325 degrees. When the cheesecake is golden brown and no longer sunken in the middle, remove it from the oven. 

Take the cheesecake out of the water bath. Run a sharp knife around the edges of the cheesecake. 

Chill overnight. Once it's completely chilled, cover a flat plate or cutting board with saran wrap or wax paper and place the plate on top of the cheesecake to flip it over. Remove the wax paper from the bottom of the crust. Choose a serving plate and place it on top of the crust. Flip the cheesecake onto the serving plate.

Heat your cream in the microwave in 15 second increments until it is hot. Pour the cream over the chocolate chips and stir until melted. 

Pour your caramel onto the center of the cheesecake and spread it evenly. 

Drizzle your chocolate ganache around the edges of the cheesecake. Top with pecans.

A tip for cutting: Fill a pitcher with hot water. Dip your knife into it to heat the blade and dry the blade on a towel or paper towel. Do this before each new cut.

Introducing..

Charlie! 

Charlie was born on January 28th, weighing 8 lb. 6 oz. and 20 inches long. So far he's taking up tons of my time and energy, and mama and baby are just enjoying hanging out for a while. I'll be back to the blogging world in a few weeks!