Sunday, December 29, 2013

Did You Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas?

Christmas...the most wonderful time of the year!  Even though it was a blur this year (with working days 6am-2pm and doing family stuff at night, getting up at 4am was a little rough) and I was exhausted, but I wouldn't change it for anything.  I didn't get to see my nieces and nephews for long, but it was better than nothing and seeing the looks on their faces when they opened their presents made the lack of sleep totally worth it ♥

I received many MANY nice gifts this year but the best one was seeing how excited my niece and nephew got when they opened their Samsung 3 Tablets and when my other nephew opened his iPod Touch from Aunt Katie.  That made the lack of sleep and extra hours at work seem like nothing!  My sister told my mom that my nephew hasn't put his iPod down since he opened it :)

My parents went all out and got both my sister and I KitchenAid Stand Mixers this year.  I picked out the Empire Red one that matches my kitchen perfectly.  But I had picked it out in October, which meant I had to wait FOREVER to use it!  It was pure torture!  I got it out of the box yesterday, cleaned off the top of my pantry and I think it matches my kitchen decor pretty darn good!  

I got quite the workout hefting it all the way up there!

I have been pinning recipes for the last couple of months to make when I finally got my mixer and decided to try making Garlic & Herb Pull Apart Bread.  It mixed together very easily, but I did need to add about a 1/2 TBSP more warm water.  It pulled right off the dough hook and shaped into a ball without any problems at all.  You need to cover the dough and let it rise until it doubles in size.  Since this is my first try at this, I turned my oven onto it's lowest temp, which was 170, let it heat up and shut it off.  I covered my dough and placed it in the warm oven.

The finished product after mixing.

Cover and let it rise, until it doubles in size, about 45 minutes.

The next part was actually humorous.  I had never rolled out any type of dough, so this proved to be a little difficult in a kitchen that is no bigger than a box.  But, I did it and it didn't turn out too shabby, but I can see where the phrase practice makes perfect would apply here. 

I'm going to need more practice at rolling out dough.

Almost there!  Cover and rise, again!

Ta Da!!!!!  The finished product!

Now, I'm no Rachael Ray, but I must say, this turned out FABULOUS!!!!  The smell alone while it was baking was enough to make my mouth water!  This was my first attempt ever at bread from scratch (besides using a bread machine) and I think it turned out pretty good!  So, round one with the KitchenAid Mixer was a success!  So much so, I'm making another one right now for my niece's birthday party!


Until next time!
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