Wreath Making and Yummy Brown Sugar Spice Bread

You know those beautiful deco-mesh wreaths that everyone and their momma seem to be whipping up or paying big bucks for? They have one for every single holiday, including one for their favorite sports team. Well, I wanted one and I wanted to learn to make one of those bad boys, creating my own beautiful piece of art (hopefully) instead of someone having one make one for me. So when my dear friends, Heather and Maria teamed up to host a wreath making party right before Christmas, I was all on board. Heather and her hospitality and Maria with her craftiness made a mean team. What could be so hard?

Well, my friend, the shopping trip for the materials alone is a beast!  The choices of what you want your wreath to look like are overwhelming. I walked into Hobby Lobby with my husband and baby in tow with only 10 minutes alloted thinking I would just grab a few things. Maria was the best teacher and even sent us a checklist of things to buy. Oh sweetness....I stopped dead in my tracks in the "wreath pick" aisle. Seriously, the things that poke out of your wreath have their own aisle. I walked up and down the aisles with my eyes glazed over and kept sending Jason to push CC in the buggy and leave me alone. After consulting every stranger in a 10 foot radius and Pintrest ideas on my phone, I decided on a few (okay, may more than that) possibilities and checked out before I could change my mind.

So, of course I wanted to make something yummy to munch on while us girls created our wreath creations. Oh the laughs and possible tears of frustrations! Wreath decor was EVERYWHERE and Heather's house smelled like hot glue guns plugged into every possible outlet and my Brown Sugar Spice Loaf. As far as the wreath making process, it is tedious, fun and can possible send you straight to the looney bin. No wonder those things cost big bucks!

 But we had so much fun as we always do when the girls in our Sunday School class get together. We were pretty proud of our creations.

We helped each other out, gave our suggestions to each other and then laughed at how I by far had the largest wreath at our little class. It was huge. I started to wonder if it would even fit on my front door. I swear it didn't look that big in the store though! One thing is for sure, if you come over to my house around the holidays and I say look for the house with the GRAND wreath on the door, you will find it without a problem. 

And the Brown Sugar Spice Loaf? Easy,delicious and makes your house smell like fall. This recipe could also be poured into smaller loaf pans and given as gifts during the holidays.

Brown Sugar Spice Bread

1 softened stick butter

1 cup light brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tablespoons vanilla

1 cup flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ginger

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cloves

Beat together first five ingredients in a large bowl. Beat together the last ingredients in another bowl. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture, stirring well. Pour into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan and bake at 325 for 50 minutes.

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Quick Bread

I hate that it has been over a month since my last post! But what a perfect time to pledge to be more faithful to my blog but than the new year! I just watched Julia and Julia again and this time with my hubby (who had never seen the movie). Watching Paul and Julia Child and Julie and Eric Powell with my hubs made me so happy. I realize that I am married to my own Paul, my own Eric. Paul and Eric supported their wives in their other true love...cooking. They supported their dreams, ambitions and desires all having to do with food. And Jason is just the same. He can't wait to see what life might have in store for me and my passion of cooking and for that I am so so so grateful...and lucky.

Speaking of my wonderful man, I made him a special dinner as part of his Christmas present. Not just any dinner but all of his favorites. Portabella Mushroom Tortellini and Angel Food Cake...all by candlelight at that! I decided to throw in a Momou twist and make a Momou recipe somewhere in that menu. And I found JUST the right recipe. Now the name is kind of bland BUT the taste is delicious and perfect for my man. The recipe was for Quick Bread but it was truly biscuits that had ranch dressing in it! Biscuits AND Ranch dressing...more of his favorites!

The other best part is that this recipe calls for three ingredients! ONLY three! And it took just a few minutes to whip up! So break out that muffin pan and get ready to use this recipe very often. These zesty muffins go with ANY dish!

Quick Bread
1 cup self rising flour
2 Tablespoons salad dressing (I used Ranch Dressing of course!)
1/2 cup milk

Combine all ingredients and mix to a lumpy batter. Spoon in a 6-cup muffin tin. Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Muffins will be white. Oh and I did add a dash of cayenne pepper for good measure. What can I say? I just like spice in my life!

There you have it folks! Nothing to it! This is one of the few Momou newspaper recipes that have the name of who contributed it. So thank you Mrs. Jimmy Ray Everett. Your recipe is delish!

And to my husband: As someone once said, "You are the bread to my butter and the breath to my life." I love you.

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Applesauce Nut Bread

Every Sunday morning hubby and I head off to our 8am Sunday school class. I know you must be thinking that 8am is way too bright and early for a Sunday but when you absolutely adore your friends who are in class with you it makes it much easier to wake up and go:) Each Sunday a different couple takes a turn to supply the class with breakfast. Now we all love to eat so this is quite the important task! Last Sunday was our turn to supply breakfast so of course I turn to Momou's recipe selection to hunt down the perfect breakfast dish to bring. Since the season of Autumn is approaching slowly but surely I decided on a recipe for an Applesauce Nut Bread. I loved the idea of this bread because I am not the world's biggest apple eater but applesauce I can do! Check below for the recipe and details:

Applesauce Nut Bread

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups wheat cereal crushed into 3/4 cup
(bite-size crispy wheat squares)
1/3 cups raisins, coarsely chopped
1/2 cups walnuts
1 egg, slightly beaten
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups applesauce

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x9 inch (1.5 quart)loaf pan. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, spices and sugar. Stir in cereal, raisins and nuts. Combine egg, oil and applesauce. Add to dry ingredients and stir just until moistened. Spread into pan. Bake 70 minutes or until done. Let cool 15 minutes before removing pan. Makes 1 loaf.

I actually made 2 loaves of this bread for our class and there were only 4 pieces left. I told you our class likes to eat! I tried out 2 variations and both were a hit! I will be upfront in that I totally omitted the raisins because frankly neither hubby or I care for raisins. So one loaf had the walnuts as called for and the other loaf had no walnuts BUT I did add 1 cup of dark chocolate chips instead. The chocolate chip loaf was no doubt the most favored because there were not any pieces of that bread left on the plate at the end of class. This bread was very good and smelled of Autumn spices. It will be perfect to eat for breakfast right out of the oven on a chilly Autumn day. Each loaf can make about 10 pieces depending on how large you slice the pieces. I say go ahead and get creative with the extras you could add to this bread. It is the applesauce part that you will want to keep the same! Enjoy and Happy Autumn!!!

P.S. A perfect way to see if this bread is cooked and ready to come out of the oven is to stick a wooden grilling skewer (you can buy a large bag of these for cheap) and insert into the middle of the bread. If the stick comes out clean then that means the bread is done, done and done! These grilling skewers are also perfect for testing angel food cakes and bundt cakes.

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Onion Shortcake

Every Wednesday night I meet with an amazing small group of girls for our weekly bible study. Each time we conclude a particular bible study we always celebrate with a dinner party. This past Wednesday concluded our study on evangelism so I hosted the dinner party in our home. All I have to say is that a dinner party with 8 dear friends equals LOTS of talking and LOTS of yummy food. Therefor, I made sure to choose the perfect menu complete with another Momou recipe. I made a Chicken Tettrezini accompanied by an Onion Shortcake, compliments of Momou! I know you must be thinking "what in the world???" but hear me out because it was some good stuff! The introduction to this recipe says "It's easy to prepare, it's new and exciting, and it's perfectly delicious. What is it?" Well, check it out...the recipe is below with the scoop after:

Onion Shortcake

Ingredients:
1 large onion
1/4 cup butter
1 12-oz.package corn muffin mix
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup milk
1 cup cream-style corn
2 drops Tabasco
1 cup sour cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 teaspoon dill weed
1 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Peel and slice onion and saute in butter. Set aside. Combine muffin mix, egg, milk, corn and Tabasco. Pour into buttered 8-inch square pan. Add sour cream, salt, dill weed and 1/2 cup cheese to onions. Spread over batter. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake for 25 minutes.

All I have to say is that this stuff is amazinggg! Trust me! I did not know whether this would be some sort of zesty dessert or some sort of savory bread. It was definitely in the savory bread category. But this is NOT your regular cornbread. Imagine if you will a cornbread loaded with corn then a layer of creamy, cheesy goodness on top of the cornbread layer baked until gold and bubbly. Cut into it and serve like a cornbread but this is not a bread you eat with your hands. Much more elegant and must be eaten with a utensil. There is nothing I can say differently about the cooking method. Just follow the directions and you will end up with the best bread on this side of the Mississippi River! Okay, so I just realized that now that I live in TN I will be talking about the other side of the Mississippi River from here on out. I think my little sister Claire and I are the only ones of the same side of the Mississippi River at this point. Well, other family in Louisiana, I promise this bread will be just as delicious on your side as well!

Okay, so I digress. My darling gal pals ooohed and ahhhed over this bread. And my honey has declared it a new "holiday must"! But then again that man is a fool over some cornbread! But I too think it would be the perfect bread served at any Sunday or holiday meal. It is not only aesthetically pleasing but it feeds 10-12 people and no doubt will be a ooey gooey cheesy crowd pleaser!

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Cheese Burst Biscuits

Hubby and I decided to grill out on Sunday night to enjoy the gorgeous weather that I think the entire south was blessed with this past weekend. Jason was in charge of grilling our red fish which was absolutely delicious! He marinated it in Dale's marinade and sprinkled some blackened spices on top. Whew wee! It was good. Anyway, I digress. So I was in charge of the sides. Well, of course I jumped at the chance to try out a Momou recipe. So I decided on a recipe for Cheese Burst Biscuits to accompany the Butterscotch Pepper Glazed Carrots from a Paula Deen cookbook. Well my honey LOVES him some biscuits which is why I choose this recipe. And you must know that I think this recipe is one of the oldest looking out of the entire collection. The newspaper is very very yellowed with little tears in it. I wonder how old it is... The recipe is below and then I will fill you in on the rest after:

Cheese Burst Biscuits
Ingredients:
10 oz. can flaky layers biscuits
10 (1/2 inch cubes/slices)American or Cheddar Cheese
Milk
Sesame, caraway or poppy seed

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Separate biscuit dough into 10 biscuits. Insert a cheese cube in each biscuit between layers; seal edges well. Cut a "X" on the top of each biscuit.Brush with milk. Sprinkle with sesame seed. Bake on cookie sheet 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm. Refrigerate leftovers.

Now for some reason I could not find the bags of cheese cubes for sale at my grocery story so I just bought a block of mild cheddar cheese (found right under the shredded cheeses in the grocery store) and made little slices from that. It worked out perfect. These little biscuits were quite the tasty treat! I think kids to adults will love them. I know Jason went wild over them! They are yummy served right out of the oven because the cheese will be hot and bubbly! I used sesame seeds which made a perfect topping. This recipe is WAY too easy to skip out on trying! Serve them morning, noon and night.

P.S. Tonight I am making a chicken tettrezini for my girlfriends. Does anyone know what makes a tettrezini a "tettrezini"? Just wondering! But with that tettrezini I am making another Momou recipe....Onion Shortcake. Stay tuned!

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