Bread Making Part 2

Bread making continued...

I did it!! I made bread on the first try. I know, I didn't actually knead the bread, or bake the bread, but I did put all the right ingredients in and sliced the bread. That's something, right?? 

I was so thrilled when it was down to the last 30 minutes of baking. My house was consumed with the fresh scent. Who doesn't like freshly baked bread?

Baking after 2 hours

Baking - 30 minutes to go. So pretty!!!

The final product! I couldn't figure out how to get the darn thing out. I was trying everything, even a spatula!

My first couple of slices ripped the bread a little bit, but eventually I figured out my method.

I made about 8 slices.I could have had more, but my first two slices were ginormous.

Rob loves him some homemade bread.

Rob grew up with homemade bread, so I am very ecstatic that I get to bring him back to his childhood a little bit.

Starting At The Basics

Growing up, I didn't have the typically family. My mom wasn't a great cook, and my dad wasn't the bread winner for most of the years. My mom's idea of dinner, was buying the pre-made lasagna at Wal-Mart and throwing it in the oven. Don't get me wrong, she tried to make meals from scratch. She made a killer potato salad during the summers, but cooking wasn't her favorite activity to do. Even though she lacked in the cooking department, she made up in keeping up with our finances, something I am very glad I learned from her. I remember always sitting at the edge of her bed while she went through bills and matched the automated bank call with her checking book (something you don't see these days!!). She's the reason why we could go shopping as often as we did. My dad on the other hand just wanted to have fun, and I don't think money was the first thing on his mind. What he lacked in, he made up for in his meals. It wasn't that often that he was able to cook us dinner. It was usually on weekends, or on special occasions. His grilling skills are phenomenal, and his spaghetti and chili is something I try to mimic from time to time. He's usually the one I call when I want to make a nice hearty meal. 

I'm not actually sure what my inspiration for wanting to cook all the time is. Maybe it's just the creativity that flows through my blood that makes me yearn to try new things, even though I may fail at times. It's about having fun in the process, right? Once I graduated college, and actually moved into my own place with Rob, and had to learn to survive without mommy popping something in the oven is when my try need for cooking came out. Not to mention, Rob's mother is one of the best cooks I have met! She is definitely one of my driving forces that makes me try new foods. I haven't tried much in life, and every time we go to her house, I am just astonished at how good it is. This is where this blog post is coming into play today. I've been wanting to try to make homemade bread for quite a few months now, and never got around to doing it. Rob's mother noticed one day, and as sweet as she is, gave me a bread maker. I've had it since Easter, and haven't bought the ingredients to make it yet.... until today! I am so excited to share this with everyone. I've never seen bread being made, so my face was pretty much glued to the glass showing it being kneaded and mixed. Sooo excited!!

My reasons for wanting to make homemade bread, rather than just buying it for a dollar at the store is health, money, and taste. And when all of these can come together, then why not?

Cutting out processed food is something I want to end up doing, but currently it's a problem for me. It's so expensive to buy at whole foods, and I don't have a house where I can grow my own food. These soon will not be a problem though. It's actually supposed to be cheaper to make home made bread, depending on the ingredients in them.It's about $0.40 - $0.50 to make the bread yourself. It's not much of a savings, but the taste sure is worth it.

Basic #1

Learning how to boil a egg.

This is actually something I didn't know how to do surprisingly! How do you actually know when it's done??

I had to google this, sadly. Just stick the eggs in an inch or two of water, set to boil, and in 12-15 minutes take it off. 

Taadaaa. Not bad for a first timer!

From the boiled eggs, I made a delish tuna melt! I chopped up the eggs, with a can of tuna, add a tiny bit of light mayo, and top it with tomatoes, cheese, and avocado. (I only ate one slice. It was super filling). I place these in the oven to toast the bread just a bit. I'll def be making this again.

Basics #2

The Art Of Bread Making

I would recommend to every woman, to get one of these. You don't have to worry about kneading the dough yourself. Just add all the ingredients and the machine will mix it for you.

*Sorry for the messy kitchen*

My first bread machine :)

Add 1 egg and 1 cup of water to the box. Sprinkle 3c of bread flour evenly over the mixture.

Add 1t of sugar, 1t of salt, and 1t of active dry

Here is the active dry yeast I bought at WalMart. It's $0.98 for 3 packets, which will make 6 loafs for me.

The machine is mixing it all together

How awesome!

My bread machine is still in the process of baking, so I'll post pics of the finished product later.

Memorial Day Weekend

It has been such a gloomy weekend here in Dallas! It's been raining and cloudy all weekend long!

All this gloominess has been putting me into the mood of getting healthy again. Being healthy in my eyes, isn't necessarily about being thin, it's about feeling amazing on the inside. I'm slowly getting to that point already, and it's only been two days. Now that it's summer, it's pushing that drive to be healthy even further. I've been begging Rob to get up early with me so we can hit up Arbor Hills Trails in Plano. The trail is about 2-3 miles depending on the different loops and trails you go on. Yesterday we didn't go because it was supposed to rain all day. It ended up only raining at 5 o'clock. So we hit up the Allen Outlet Mall instead, and literally went into every store. Yay!! Most of the stores had 50% all items for the big memorial day sale. I got some great casual blouses for work so I'm not always having to wear our Callaway golf shirts.

Saturday we went to Chic-fil-a for breakfast (which doesn't help with my healthy meal plan). But they actually had something relatively healthy. Oatmeal and a fruit bowl. I am not big on oatmeal at all.. I actually hate oatmeal. I can never make it taste good, and the premade flavored packets are disgusting. I figured I would try it anyway, and man was it amazing. It was probably one of the best oatmeals I've had, and that is bad coming from a fast food place.

BTW: I got a new phone so it takes the pictures in a really tight frame.

Cinnamon and brown sugar oatmeal with nuts and dried fruit, a bowl of fruit, and a yummy vanilla coffee

And this, my friends, is why America is so unhealthy. Oh, and there was about three more behind us. Apparently the family rented them out.

 Sunday morning, we finally got to go to Arbor Hills for a walk/run! It was great. Even though my legs were sore from it, I feel a million times better and healthier. We walked about 2 miles and stopped at a look-out tower. It might have been a cloudy day, but the weather was so nice and windy. It felt great!

Rob and I stopped at Einsteins to get a Power Bagel before our walk. It has some kind of nut in it, and cranberry raisins. I had a honey almond shmear and Rob had peanut butter. Yum yum.

This is the look-out tower at Arbor Hills. It was a very peaceful morning. Rob and I just stood there to listen to the wind and the birds.

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Taste of Addison Weekend

Rob and I had a packed weekend! It seems the closer summer comes, the less time we actually get to relax at home. I don't mind though :) 

I had the veggie omelet. 3 egg whites, mushroom, spinach and peppers. Some fruit and an English muffin.

Saturday we started off our day with trying out The Egg & I. We always see this place and never have gotten around to actually trying out their food. I have to say for how packed it always in with lines just coming out the doors every Sunday, it wasn't that amazing. I think Rob and I will stick with Einstein's or Original Pancake House!

Rob had extra cheesy eggs, ranch potatoes, toast, and bacon!

The next couple of months Dallas will have a ton of festivals in all the different cities. This weekend was Taste Addison.
Rob and I went last night and spent over 4 hours there just trying out all the different foods and roaming through the local artist's tents. They actually have two big artists play last night. The first was Sister Hazel and then Blue October came on after them. We definitely enjoyed ourselves!

Ice Shavings with strawberries, kiwi and something else, which was gross.

La Madeline white chocolate drizzled strawberries

Other foods we tried were Fried shrimp rolls from Best Thai, some beer from Flying Saucer, and stuffed potato balls. The best thing we had was Fogo de Chao's steak. oh. my. gosh. Amazing. We stopped at this old fashioned Soda Pop stand. We bought this bad-a mug, and tried all the different flavored drinks where you get to pull the lever to turn the fountain on. It was pretty cool.

As we were roaming around through the tents, I cam across the ceramist that makes all these amazing mugs. I thought of my dad when I saw this and had to get it for him! The handle is bone - pretty incredible the amount of detail in this piece. She currently sells her work off of etsy. Give it a look!!

Last but not least!! The Dos Equis stage, where we got to see Sister Hazel, Blue October, The O's, and Prophet  and Outlaws.

Listening to the O's

Random Stuff

Rob and I had a great weekend on  Mother's Day. I bought my mom some gorgeous flowers and a card, which she loved :) I've never done anything for her before, so it is great I get to start doing that. Sunday we had lunch with some of Rob's family. I always love spending time with them!

Some random pictures from mother's day. It's tough getting this boy to take a good picture!!

This has been my lunch the past two days. I'm trying to figure out ways to get away from carbs. I keep getting pimples, and I'm thinking this might be a good way to get rid of them. I typically eat a sandwich and chips everyday, so this will be cutting a bit out! It actually kept me really full too!!

I just cut half a cucumber up, some lunch meat (wish it was grilled chicken) and a watermelon slice.

I actually bought chicken to cook, but it went bad in like 2 days. So annoying.

Screen Printing

I was going through some files in my computer and found some t-shirt screen prints I did for one of my photographer friend. I did a bunch of onesies with her logo on it, and she took couples pictures for me.

I would definitely like to get back into this. I think they turned out amazing. 

Tell me what you think!

ashleashipp.com

Ronald McDonald House

Growing up in the country, I wasn't given many opportunities to volunteer and do charity work. I didn't think I would like it, and hardly knew it existed. I would definitely say I grew up sheltered from all the potentials of the city life. Rob and I have only lived here less than two years, and I'm starting to learn a great deal more about the world and myself.

The franchise I work for, Glass Doctor, has been involved in some charities and I am just so excited about it. Last year they donated over $13000 to the Ronald McDonald House. That's super amazing! I want to continue our work with them for the long run. Currently the RMH has "I Share the Love" fund raising going on. All you do is purchase a shirt, and the money goes towards providing a home away from home for families with sick children in the Dallas hospitals. I was so excited when I got everyone in our company to purchase one!

They're shirts are really nice, and have the logo on it, with all the sponsors on the back. I'm really hoping to get us signed up with Meals that Heal with RMH. We would go in one night and cook for all these families. It truly makes me grateful that I can give up some of my time to help these families out during their tough times.

Have you ever volunteered before? Where was it at and how was your experience? 

We volunteered at the homeless shelter before, and I didn't really like the experience there.

Phoenix

Hey Guys!

Sorry for not posting much lately! I've had a lot going on with work, Rob, and family.

Tonight Rob left for Phoenix, Arizona for a training session at work. He'll be gone all week. It's good that we will get a break from each other. Distance makes the heart grow fonder, right? I hope so. Maybe now my house will stay clean just a little long and I actually get to eat some really healthy foods.

I went to Kroger Sunday and bought a couple things to cook with. I've been seeing all theses recipes using Quinoa, and decided I'd give it a shot this week. It's pretty crazy that a small bag costs $8.00 though. I only bought a couple things, which I'll be using in several different ways throughout the week, so you'll have to come back and see :)

Tonight I made Stuffed Tomatoes. 

Scoop out the inside of a tomato, stuff it with tuna, and then cut up half a avocado. Viola! 

Easy peasy. And delicious.

Total cost $3

Cut the top off of the tomato, and scoop out all the seeds. Instant tomato bowl!

Stuff with tuna, and add some avocado!

Favorite Princess

I know everyone grew up watching Dinsey movies, and every one has their favorite Disney Princess. Mine was Ariel. I loved the fact that she had a made up world in the ocean, and turned into a human.

I've been seeing a ton of Disney Princess videos and photos all over Pinterest and YouTube. I haven't found one I really like until today. This guy made a video of him singing, telling the tale of 4 princesses after they got married. It's really funny, and the guy is a great singer. This is an extremely creative video!

What was your favorite Princess growing up??

Chicken and Green bean casserole

Sorry for not posting lately! I've had trouble with my phone, and that's how I take my pictures!

The other night I made a Chicken and Green Bean Casserole. 

It's really simple and cheap to make.

Just take all the ingredients except the onions, and mix them together in a casserole dish. Bake at 450 degrees until chicken is cooked.

Ingredients

1 lbs of chicken (diced) - $4

2 cans of  cream of chicken - $1.18

1 lbs fresh green beans  $0.99

Onions - $2.99

Total Cost : $9.16

Feeds 4

This was actually amazingly good! Rob and I loved this meal! Reminds me of thanksgiving :)

Doggy Problems

About a week ago, I started noticing my sweet, precious English Bulldog limping. She was walking over to her bowl of food, and she had a slight limp in her rear left leg. When she was eating, she wouldn't even stand on the leg. Her limping only started after she was sitting or lying down. I watched her for the next several days and at times it didn't even seem like she had a limp. She was fine, running around and playing with her toys. A couple days later, I noticed her trying to turn. Her right rear leg starts to quiver. Of course I do what any concerned mother would do. I google it. All I see is hip dysplasia everywhere! 

Anyway, I took her in to the Vet. I dropped her in this morning, and called twice to check up on my poor baby. The receptionist at the vet told me the doctor wanted to talk to me in person about Lucy. She explained that would be easier if I was there so the doctor can show me some visual aids. About an hour ago, I go in and have my consultation with the doctor. She informs me that my poor, poor baby's knee joint keeps popping out to the left. When she lays down or sits into a relaxing pose, the joint pops out. When she stands, the muscle pops it back in, and keeps it in place. This is way she seems fine when walking or playing around. I left the vet with at least 5 different medicines for her. One for joint pain, arthritis meds, some anti-inflammatory meds, and medicated wipes. It came close to $300! This is exactly the reason I am so cheap most of the time. Every couple of months, this dog has some issues. It's just part of the breed! 

Unfortunately (More for the dog than me), we have to put her on a diet. She's gained 6 pounds in about four months. I spoil her. What can I say? I'm just a mommy! 

These photos are from when we got her. She has definitely gained some weight, which I refer to as love lol.

Shower Curtains

So Rob and I are planning on buying a house in about 10 months. My plan is to slowly get stuff together for that house. Mostly just accessories, and not the big stuff. My decorating for today was getting a new shower curtain. We had just a plain white one with some texture to it. It was time for a change!!

I've been seeing some paneled shower curtains lately and think they are the cutest thing. Makes the bathroom look a little more classy to me. Here are some of my inspirations.

I went to Ross and found some paneled curtains that I'm using as shower curtains. They were only $10. Can't beat that! I need to sew up the bottom a tad bit and actually iron the curtains. They're still wrinkled from the packaging.  I think they turned out well though! I'm going to add a second shower rod when we move (maybe in a couple months).