erica danielle

This weekend it is Mother's Day! I will be celebrating my FIRST Mother's Day which I feel is such an honor. I absolutely love being Lucy's mom. In honor of Mother's Day there is a bake sale at church to raise funds for a group of awesome people going to Chile this summer for a missions trip. I am donating some Cardamom Coffee Bread loaves. I also will be bringing one to my mom as we celebrate her awesome-ness on Saturday. This bread is life-changing. It's worth the MILLION steps. You will not only feel accomplished after making this, you will feel like a bakery chef at an acclaimed Chicago Bakery. I feel especially lucky because I learned this from my Mother-in-law, and she HAND PRINTED the entire recipe for me. I treasure things that are hand-written, and I know I'll have this little sheet of paper forever. my recipe <3 INGREDIENTS: 2 C milk scalded (microwave for 2 minutes, stir and add time as necessary) 1/2 C Butter, or margarine ...

I made banana bread this morning and while it was baking: Lucy was napping, windows were open, I was cleaning, and the smell was AMAZING. I highly recommend this recipe, make it for your mom for Mother's Day. It is grand. Banana Bread: from My Baking Addiction 2 C Flour 1 t baking soda 1/4 t salt 1 t cinnamon  1/2 butter 3/4 C brown sugar 2 eggs 2 t vanilla 2 1/3 C ripe bananas mashed (abt 5) ----- Topping: 1/4 C flour 1/4 C brown sugar 1/2 t cinnamon 2 T butter Cream butter and sugar, add eggs, vanilla, and banana. Mix. Add in dry ingredients.  Pour in bread pan.  Using a pastry blender mix topping ingredients and sprinkle over bread dough.  Bake 60-65 mins at 350.  YUM! Before going in the oven.  YUMMMMM!!!! We had a great weekend! We traveled down to Rochester for the NWC annual meeting where we got to see some awesome friends, drink Starbucks and walk around Target. (We are easy to pleas...

Ever since moving to Menomonie there have been 3 things I continue to wish this little town possessed: 1. Starbucks 2. Target 3. a Bagel shop of any variety The other day Sten and I took matters into our own hands with regards to #3 and made our own bagels. It was such a fun adventure and was a complete success. I know bagels are terrible for you. In fact, the stat I once heard in college was that eating a bagel was like eating 6 pieces of bread. That must be why I love them so. They toast up so great in the morning and we just LOVE them. Next up, I want to master a little extra zest with some spices, cheeses etc. We had a little photo shoot with Angie Green last week and this picture just captures my little Lucy girl so well. LOVE this bug sooo much. She'll be 6 months old in 2 weeks! Where did 1/2 a year go? Right now she's: laughing, making lots of funny noises, rolling, grabbing for everything, still sleeping through the night and taking 2-3 naps, patch...

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...

Sunday was the perfect fall day. Pure sunshine and 60 degrees. Sten and I took Lucy out for a little jog and then we sat out on the porch and enjoyed the sound of neighbors raking leaves and jumping from trees into big piles below :) I can't wait until Lucy's big enough to play with the neighbors. I hope she's adventurous, and daring, and takes risks, and has tons of fun. In the midst of fall gazing I wanted to make a pumpkin goodie. I found this recipe and it looked easy and quick and I gave it a try. It's a winner! There aren't too many ingredients and the flavor is great. I wish it were a little more pumpkin-y, but we loved it still. Ingredients: 3 c flour 1 tbsp Baking Powder 1 tsp salt 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice 3 tbsp honey 1 c pumpkin purée 1 12oz beer Combine flour, BP, salt, spice, honey and pumpkin. Slowly add beer and mix until incorporated.  Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 9x5 bread pan, bake for 50-60 mins. Enjoy! In...