Dress-ups

When I was younger I used to LOVE to play dress-ups.

It was my very favorite to go to Grandma R's house and look in her big black box full of costumes. The bedroom closets in her basement were full of beautiful dresses and jewelery.
It is a little girls dress-up heaven.

Last weekend Katie pulled out our old dress-up box for Brooklynn and Emma.

and in my opinion playing dress-ups is just as fun now as it was then.

 Flynn Ryder and Rapunzel

Emma loves her necklaces

Brooklynn checking London's heart beat

 I love those girls.

Talking to Sister Gregson, coloring, and... more pie

Over the weekend we got to talk to Chelsea since it was Mother's Day in England.

She get's home in 22 days!

(We're not counting down or anything)

We're all really excited to see her, she on the other hand doesn't want to come home.

 Her desire to stay out there and keep working is amazing.

The fam gathered around the phone

Not only did we get to talk to Chelsea but I got to do one of my favorite things,

color with my nieces.

It's my favorite not only because it gives me an excuse to relive my Kindergarten coloring days

(which I do even when my nieces aren't around... I may or may not have gotten a giant Disney Princess coloring book for Easter... in recent years... and I may or may not still hide it from my nieces and nephews who would destroy it) but it's my favorite because my nieces are the cutest. 

Period.

 

See what I mean?

 The highlight of the experience was when Abby and Brooklynn were trying to out-do each other with fun things they had done.

(Abby went to Disneyland, Brooklynn to the fire station etc.)

I think Brooklynn must have run out of things to say because her last comment was,

"Well once, I was born."

To which Abby replied

"I was born too."

Smart girls. They have so much in common.

I love these girlies more than just about anyone in the world. 

I would even sacrifice my Disney Princess coloring book for them.

----

So yesterday I attempted a "Phoebe".

As you might remember Phoebe is the master of taking a recipe and completely altering it to make it better.

She'll find a great recipe but she doesn't follow it, she adds what she thinks will be good, and makes it up as she goes.

Phoebe's relationship with recipes brings to mind a line from Pirates of the Caribbean

 "Their more like guidelines anyway."

Without fail every time whatever she makes always turns out delicious.

Recipes schmecipes.

The best way to begin is to see what food you have around.

We had a ton of green apples and left over pie crust dough so it was decided that something with those two ingredients should be made.

 I started by laying the crust in the pie tin, you can shape the dough however you want, I liked the look of curvy edges so I left it that way.

 I poked the dough to prevent air bubbles, and began peeling the apples.

I cut the apples into thin slices and began layering them on the dough.

 

After the first layer of apples mix together about half a cup of white sugar and one teaspoon of Cinnamon.

Sprinkle half of the cinnamon sugar on the apples.

Repeat the same process: one more layer of apples then add the last of the cinnamon sugar.

(I used about six or seven small apples and it was the perfect amount.) 

I love apples with caramel so naturally I made the caramel next.

For the caramel add...

1 Cup packed brown sugar

4 Tbsp. butter

a little more than 1/2 cup cream

Pinch of salt

1 tsp. Vanilla extract (give or take a few, mostly give... and give more)

Start bringing the brown sugar, butter, cream, and salt to a boil for about 7 min.

Then add the vanilla and let boil for another 2-3 min.

It will be slightly thin, but never fear it thickens up in the oven.

After it was done I poured the caramel over the apples.

It makes a lot and I almost didn't add it all, but Natalie said I should and I wasn't hard to persuade. 

Lastly I mixed 1 cup of quick-dry oats, about 1 Tbsp butter (melted), and about 2 Tbsp brown sugar to sprinkle on the top.

I set the oven to 400 degrees and let it bake for about 40 min.

It actually turned out, it was edible, and we all lived to see the morning.

So in my opinion it was a success.

In honor of my teacher I call it:

Pulledapheo Apple Pie

(short for - Pulled a "Phoebe" Pie, sounds like pull-eh-daph-eo)

It's got a nice ring to it don't you think?

Hope you're having a great Wednesday!

Watch this

Bridal Bouquet

As you may have heard I'm taking a floral design class, and in lab this week we made small Bridal Bouquets.

 Natalie's not getting married but she willingly posed as the bride.

Isn't she a natural?

 Happy Tuesday!

Want to read something great? go here.

Cinnimon bread

 I tried out a new bread recipe yesterday and it is oh so good,

plus it's easy to make.

Two perfect qualities for baking.

Trust me, you've got to try this!

 Cinnamon Swirl Bread with a Cream Cheese Glaze

makes 2 loaves

1 cup warm water

1 packet active dry yeast

1 cup milk

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted

2 tsp. salt

5 1/2 - 6 cups flour

for the filling:

1/2 cup white sugar

1 1/2 tbsp. cinnamon

2 tbsp. butter, melted

2 loaf pans, greased with cooking spray

 for the glaze:

4 oz. cream cheese, very soft

1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

4 tbsp. milk

1/4 tsp. vanilla

 (Due to lack on ingredients I did not make the glaze, but I'm sure it makes it even better)

In a medium bowl, combine glaze ingredients with a whisk until well-blended with no lumps, with a nice glaze consistency. set aside.

Pour the cup of warm water into the bowl of your electric mixer. Sprinkle yeast over top. Wait 2-3 minutes, then stir to fully dissolve yeast into water.

Stir in the milk, melted butter, and salt into water. Add 5 1/2 cups of the flour and stir with a wooden spoon to form a shaggy dough.

Knead with your dough hook in your mixer on low speed for 8-10 minutes to form a smooth, slightly tacky dough. If halfway through kneading dough is very sticky, add a little more flour. 

Spray a large bowl with cooking spray and put ball of dough into the bowl and cover. Let rise in a warm, draft-free place (i use the microwave) for one hour, or until doubled in bulk.

Meanwhile, combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and melt 2 tbsp. butter.

Once the bread has risen, divide the dough into 2 pieces. Working on one piece at a time, roll the dough out onto floured surface. The dough should be slightly less wide than the loaf pan you will use, and as long as you can make it. 

Brush the surface of the dough with melted butter, leaving 2 inches at the top without butter. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon-sugar. Starting at the end closest to you, roll up the dough. Once rolled, pinch the seam closed. Transfer to your greased loaf pan seam-side down. Repeat with other half of dough. 

Let the loaves rise in their respective loaf pans (covered with a dish towel) until mounded to at least the top of the pan (35-40 minutes). Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown on top.

 Remove the loaves from pan and drizzle glaze over top. Sprinkle with any remaining cinnamon-sugar.