The easiest bread you will ever make - Cinnamon Sugar Version

I love bread.
Bread is good. 
Homemade bread is the best.

Bread doesn't have to be this intense hours long endurance marathon of flour and yeast. In fact this recipe takes less than 60 minutes from start to finish...of course I often get distracted and it may take me a bit longer, but no worries I have yet to destroy this bread.

I found this while searching for who knows what, but I am so happy I stumbles on this recipe. At its most basic it is five ingredients. After that, the sky is the limit. In this post I attempted a cinnamon sugar version...but if you want basic just leave it out.

What you need:

1.5 cups warmish water. Think warm enough to start the yeast but not fry it. 

1 Tablespoon of honey - I like as local and raw as possible.

1 packet of yeast and I am finding quality matters as far as yeast goes. I am really liking this Platinum brand.

1.5 teaspoons of salt (quite honestly I totally wing this part and just use the grinder until I am annoyed by turning it).

Combine these is a large bowl and let them get to know each other for about 10 minutes. A nice foam will form on the top.

After they have sufficiently bonded add the flour.

The quantity really depends on several factor including humidity and temperature I have found...

3.5-4.5 cups of flour. I mix it in with my hands until the dough is no longer sticky. That's it.

 I mix it in with my hands until the dough is no longer sticky. That's it.















If you are going for plain bread you would form a loaf and set it on a cookie sheet or whatever your preferred bread baking implement...Let it rise for ten minutes while the oven is heating to 400 degrees.
Cook for 20ish minutes (mine usually go about 25, but it depends on your oven). Bam done.

For this loaf I went all fancy like and made it a cinnamon sugar loaf.
I flattened it like a pizza dough on my cookie sheet (I put down either corn meal or flour on the pan so it doesn't stick) and added several pats of butter and a quick mixture of cinnamon and brown sugar. I didn't measure just threw caution to the wind and it was good.

Flattened on the cookie sheet.

 I folded the bread up trying to seal my seems so all the goodness didn't drip out, covered it, and let it rise for about 10 minutes while the oven heated.

Resting bread...

Post rising.

I added three slits across the top because I am fancy like that.

This loaf cooked for just about 25 minutes.

Look at that gorgeous piece of deliciousness...

I turned out delicious. What I would change...stretch the dough a little more and roll it up a bit tighter! But it wasn't too big of a deal. I would call this a success and I will add this into the rotation.

Easy variations:

• Use garlic salt instead of plain salt. 
• Add in various herbs. 
• Make vegan by subbing sugar or brown sugar for the honey.
• Brush the top with olive oil or butter and sprinkle on herbs or cinnamon and sugar.

This is the same basic recipe with added fresh crushed garlic and onion in the dough and olive oil brushed on top with oregano and thyme sprinkled on the top.





Seriously. Try this. It is that easy.

Directions in one place:

1.5 cups warm water. Think warm enough to start the yeast but not fry it. 

1 Tablespoon of honey

1 packet of yeast 

1.5 teaspoons of salt

Combine these is a large bowl and let them get to know each other for about 10 minutes

3.5-4.5 cups of flour

Form a loaf and let it rise for about 10 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Cook for 20-25 minutes

Adapted from My Mundane and Miraculous Life. Thank you!!

A bowling balls magical transformation!

Again my love of all things spray paint is evident.
I am surprised the cashier at Menard's isn't questioning my intent with the mass quantities of spray paint I buy. I am sure I am on a registry somewhere...

So this weeks was project gazing ball.

Goodwill provided me with the bowling balls and a lamp a certainly didn't need (we haven't told Mark about these little surprises and we will see how long it takes him to find them ;) ).

This one was painted with the mirror finish.

This one was painted with the Metallic in bronze.

Menard's has by far the best selection of spray paint and it is much cheaper than some of the other home improvement stores that are nearby. The employees there were probably wondering why I was taking so long in the spray paint isle, but the choice of metallic color was important. My inspiration for this was from the glorious site The Garden Glove - thank you!

I used RUST-OLEUM Mirror Effect for one and Metallic in bronze for the other. Both came out fantastic. In the future I may seal them with a clear gloss, but for now I am happy with the results.

The color choices for this project may also have been influenced by the current Olympics...I do have gold metallic too for my next bowling ball purchase.

This was quick and easy spraying each with as many coats as it took to get the effect I desired. Three coats seemed to do the trick. (The lampshade was for the lamp I didn't need - shhhhh)

The mirror effect ball. I love the minor imperfections from the bowling ball being used. It gives it character.

And here is the bronze gazing ball. 

This has to be one of my favorite and one of the easiest projects I have done. Now to find them the perfect home...

Food on sticks and other deep fried pleasures.

This weekends adventures were plenty, but they culminated in a trip to the Wisconsin State Fair!
One of the many joys of living in the Chicago area is access to the beautiful state of Wisconsin. In fact it takes us less time to drive to the border than it does to drive into the city...go figure.

The adventure begins...

Before ya know it...Wisconsin you betcha!

I will say the parking situation was a bit frustrating, but we survived and made our way to land of deep friend everything. This is the fourth state fair I have been to and I believe the smallest, but it was busy and people were friendly.

True story.

The food adventure began with deep fried green olives on a stick. They taste exactly how you imagine they would. My sodium level jumped at least 200 points within minutes.

Of course they come with ranch...

No, we didn't try it.

They choices in culinary delights seemed endless...

There was an entire cream puff factory in here and satellite selling stations throughout the grounds.

We did learn that one MUST HAVE is the Original Cream Puff. A tradition at the state fair for years. There is an entire building dedicated to the sugary creations and the website said last year over 500,000 were sold. They are so popular there is drive up service so you can just grab your dozen and go...of course we had to try them.

Being from Ohio I have had the Schmidt Cream Puff which I appreciate. These were different. Same type of puff pastry, but the filling was a healthy (probably not) dose of real whipped cream. There is no delicate way of eating these...just dive in.

They are so confident in their ability to bring on an episode or possibly a heart attack all the boxes list the number to the on site ambulance service. The Wisconsin people are so thoughtful or maybe they have learned from experience.

One unforeseen, but welcome treat was the passion and dedication Wisconsinites have for their beer. It was everywhere. Standing at a crossroad we realized each corner had a different establishment dedicated to beer. My favorite was the Rhubarb IPA from local brewer Mob Craft. I only wish it had been more rhubarby...Mark did have an unfortunate encounter with a beer called Little Sister. He says she is nasty. Different strokes for different folks...

Lastly we sought out the holy grail of true Wisconsin foods...the Fried Cheese Curd. We found them in all their golden fried gooey glory. Yes, they were well worth the drive and parking fiasco and the nasty little sister. Behold their beauty!

The Sacred Curd.

We had a really great day and met some really fun people in our time at the Wisconsin State Fair...We saw a draft horse pull and met a mule and watched a disc dog demonstration. We also saw dock diving dogs and Mark had a Wisconsin brat with sauerkraut (he says it was really good) and I had a wonderful ear of sweet corn. We also took advantage of the photo ops presented to us...

I have no idea what this was...

Velociraptors like cream puffs too!

Who has a head as big as this cutout? Seriously!

I will leave you with a mystery science has yet to explain...

On the walk back to the car we saw in the middle of a crazy busy street a pair of baby shoes. How? Does? This? Happen?

At least this is a matched set.

Thank you Wisconsin State Fair for a glorious Sunday!

I have a thing for ugly lamps. A love and makeover story.

I totally have a thing for ugly lamps. I don't know why. Don't judge me.

One of my more recent acquisitions was from - okay try to stay with me on this one - a former neighbor's (kind of) ex husband's deceased father. The family had one of those junk cleaning companies coming over so we went and pillaged anything that was remaining that we wanted. We got some good stuff: an ancient, but built to last dehumidifier; a snowblower; a lawnmower; some crazy cool salt and pepper shakers; a beautiful old camera; an East German coffee carafe set; a mini picnic table set; a lamp that looks like a lantern (which is a future project) probably stuff I am completely forgetting about...and this beauty...

Gorgeous isn't she?

A closer look at the coloring...yes it is olive green (with black speckles) and black. And don't get me started on the shade, but that has a happy ending too!

I may have mentioned before...the people at my local home improvement store might just think I am responsible for half the graffiti in the city with the amount of spray paint I buy.

Outside with this lamp for her new look...

I debated what color to paint her. I want it to be shiny and bright so I bought both a glossy white and a silver.
Silver won.

Spray paint is my fav because I am such an instant gratification woman. In a matter of minutes I had a whole new lamp with a whole new much classier look. This lamp turned out so gorgeous!!!

Now the shade had to be dealt with too. You couldn't put the hideous monstrosity back on this now shiny lamp.

Besides my addiction to spray paint, I also have developed a small collection of the sample size paints. My last trip to the store I wasn't sure if I wanted a yellow (you can see it on the cardboard in the above picture) or a dark purple. I was painting another lamp shade in out guest bedroom and those two colors matched the bedspread...the guest room has the yellow shade.

Left over was a gorgeous purple called fashionista! Bring it on...

Here is an actual before picture...I always forget to take before pictures. I get so excite about the project all documentation flies out the window.

I used a foam paintbrush and went to town...

It was amazing how much paint this bad boy soaked up, but remember it is probably a 40 year old lamp shade,

The shade turned out so much better than I could have ever imagined...the whole project actually. The lamp went from ick to awesome.

Here it is finished in the garage (waiting for the shade to dry).

And here it is back in the house...

What a difference.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!!!

After looking at it for a few days I asked myself - aka the internet - if you can paint the inside of a shade. This one was still that old yellowy dingy color.

Guess what???

Of course you can. I was going to brush on a metallic craft paint, but would need to go to the store, so I used most of the rest of the silver spray paint. 

It is really hard to take pictures of the inside of a lamp shade...

The beginning.

I did need to touch up the edges with the purple paint, but it is pretty awesome.

It looks like a frying pan...a cool silver frying pan.

Back in the house. It is really tough to get a good picture with it lit.

It is really amazing how much the silver helps to reflect the light. Before the silver the purple absorbed quite a bit of the light.

SO happy with how it turned out!

So the moral of the story is I learned quite few things with this project...

• Painting a lamp can completely transform a room
• YES, you can paint a lampshade
• YES, you can paint the inside of a lampshade
• YES I am sure I will be doing this again...I have a lampshade I covered (very poorly) in fabric and I see a pain job it the near future. I just need to check on my pain supplies first...