erica danielle

During "soup season" aka winter there is nothing like warm bread and olive oil to accompany a steamy bowl of soup. The other night I found the best french bread recipe from Keep Home Simple, to go with our chili. This recipe is so easy, so fast and SO good you'll never be buying a baguette at the grocery store again! Ingredients (I halved this to make one loaf and it turned out perfect!): 2 1/2 Cups Warm Water 2 T. Yeast 2 T. Sugar 1 t. Salt 3 T. Oil 5 1/2 -6 Cups Flour Sprinkle the yeast and sugar over the water and let it sit for a couple minutes until it starts working. Add the salt, oil and flour and either knead the dough or use our dough hook attachment until the dough is smooth and kind of pulls away from the bowl. Let the dough rise for about 15 mins. I usually turn my oven on to 170 degrees, stick it in there and then turn off the oven, it rises quick. Turn the dough onto a silpat or a greased cookie pan and bake for 30 minu...

The season's of our Friday nights have dramatically changed over the last couple years. When we moved back to Chicago we made it our goal every Friday night to find the best BYOB in the city. We found some gems (and some duds) but it was the most fun tradition. When we found out we were pregnant the idea of getting back on the train to go anywhere sounded awful, so we opted for take-out nights in. Our neighborhood was full of diverse foods and we had fun trying new things. Our favorite by far was splitting a burrito from Lindo Michocan . We thought it was so great that we could both eat for under $4 (if we didn't get the chips and salsa). Now with little Lucy girl, and perhaps because Menomonie isn't necessarily diverse OR full of fun new restaurants to try we decided to start a new tradition: picking a fun recipe and cooking it together once Lucy goes to sleep. Our first go was a success, and we both decided this was such a fun way to spend time together and try someth...