Rosemary Olive Oil Crock Pot Bread!

    Yes, that's no mistake. Bread made in the crock pot. I'm not 100% thrilled with how this turned out but it's all on me and there are a couple of easy fixes. I found this on Host the Toast through pinterest (click the link for the recipe). I bought a little too much flour and yeast over the holidays so I've been on a mission to find some fantastic breads so I can start making it at home more often. 

     Don't worry, even without it being perfect it is VERY good. The directions are very specific and easy to follow. The bread is soft, dense, and just the right texture.

     I think I let the dough rise too much. I'm not a pro baker. I dunno. Someone out there that does, please share! It sure is a funky shape. It fell a bit on one side during baking/cooking/crock-potting. Maybe it was the parchment around it. I'm not sure. I followed the directions and it was nice and round when I put it in. It may have been fine without the second rise. Again, not sure.

     I'll be trying again to find out for sure. I also used dried rosemary instead of fresh. I'm not a fan of the saltiness on the top but I do think I'd brush some butter over it to get the crispy crust and golden color without broiling.

   This is awesome for two reasons besides being delicious (and it is! husband/kid approved!). #1. It's very simple to make. #2 It goes in the crock pot so the oven is free for other dishes . . . like, say, dessert.

Homemade Salsa and Easy Pumpkin Spice Cookies!

It just occurred to me this past week that it could be awesome to try homemade salsa and if we liked it to jar some! Hello, duh! Everyone stop buying the canned and bottled and jarred stuff at the store. It's ridiculously easy to make it at home and it tastes so good. Plus, you can tweak it however you like! Here's the recipe I came up with after reading a few different ones like this and this

3 vine tomatoes
3 tomatillos
1 very large bell pepper
1 poblano pepper
1 jalapeno pepper
1 large clove of garlic
lemon juice
2 tsp cumin
a lot of cilantro
1 tsp sugar


      I tossed everything, one or two at a time, into my blender and added it all together in a bigger bowl.  My blender is annoying so any big chunks I'd just throw back in for a minute. We won't be saving this batch so I put it right into the fridge for a while to let all the flavors meld together. This is a sweet, tangy salsa with a decent kick to it. I left the cores and seeds of the peppers out or it would've been much spicier. I also used just a little bit of lemon juice to make sure everything stayed pretty and fresh but it also adds a nice smidge of flavor. My husband (salsa connoisseur) prefers a heavy, bold restaurant-style salsa but he liked this too! It's so easy to pick up the produce, chop it up, and throw it all together. You can tweak it however you want too so it's more to your taste.

 Also, I've seen this simple recipe bouncing around pinterest the past few weeks so I finally gave it a try. There are only TWO ingredients: a boxed spice cake mix and a can of pure pumpkin. I plopped the mixture on the pan and put them in my oven at 350 for about 15 minutes. They came out very soft, almost sticky. They are comparable to cookies you'd make with pudding. Definitely a quick and easy, festive cookie.  Oh, and if you get the cake mix and pumpkin at Aldi's then it's only going to cost a couple bucks! I wish I had some butter pecan ice cream to go with them. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of these. The kids ate them up before I remembered to take one. They were sneaking them so have no doubt they were tasty!