Friday Family Faves...Honey-Oatmeal Flax Bread

Honey-Oatmeal Flax Bread

Mmmmm...there's nothing better than a house filled with the smell of fresh baked bread.  This is one of my favorite bread recipes...an assortment of ~3 other recipes I have, jammed into one :)  I usually double my recipe to make two loaves at once and then freeze one of the loaves.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:
3c-3 1/2c. Flour
1/2 c. quick oats
1 tsp salt
1/4c. Honey
1/4c. Flax seeds
2 tbsp Unsalted butter, softened
1 package dry yeast
1c warm water
1 large egg
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1 tbsp water
additional quick oats


1.  Mix 1 1/2 c. flour, 1/2c oats, salt, honey, flax, butter, and yeast in large bowl.  Add the warm water.  Beat with electric mixer (kitchen-aid mixer rocks) for ~1min on low.  Scrape bowl as needed.  Beat additional minute on med speed.  Beat in the 1 large egg.  Stir in remaining flour 1/2c at a time until dough is easy to handle.


2.  Turn dough out on lightly floured surface.  Knead ~5-10 minutes.  Place in large greased bowl (I spray with canola oil) and turn dough so all sides are greased.  Cover and let rise in warm place for 1 hour or until doubled.

3. Punch down dough.  Shape dough into a ball and place in greased pie plate.  I use canola oil spray but you may use shortening.  Flatten top of dough slightly.  Mix egg white and 1 tbsp water. Brush on loaf and sprinkle with oats.  Cover and let rise a second time for 45-60 minutes, until doubled.

4.  Heat oven 375 and bake in pie plate for ~35 minutes or until golden brown.  Keep an eye on it, every oven is different, cook time make be shorter.  Cool on wire rack.

Claire turns two...Mooooo!

Our little Claire turned 2 in December.  It's amazing how fast time flies!  We love our little Claire...she may be small, but she is full of personality!  She loves her tea parties, playing babies, and helping mommy around the house and baking in the kitchen. But don't let that fool you, this girl can hold her own.  She loves to sing, especially in her microphone (even if the words are jibberish), and loves to talk nonstop.  At two, she certainly has an opinion on things and will let you know what she thinks.   She is such a blessed addition to our family.  Love you Claire Bear! 

 We decided to take our cow-obsessed birthday girl to Fair Oaks Farm for the day (thank you Groupon for the half-priced tickets).  She was in heaven all day and still talks about seeing cows on her birthday :)  

We made it!  Heading to the interactive adventure center.

Riding the bus to the cow barn

Indoor playground fun

Now time to see their new pig exhibits

Playing Vet

Time for lunch...farm-fresh grilled cheeses, chocolate milk, and of course some ice cream

Back at home.  Time for cow cake and presents.

Muffin Monday

Ok we're snowed in, and I just can't take it anymore!  So after declaring to my hubby that I'd be baking, he requested a few loaves of bread, and then I quickly moved on to muffins.  Yep, I'm pregnant and just like my last pregnancies, I LOVE muffins.  And, much to my husband's dismay, usually whole bran or whole wheat muffins :)  Here are a few of our family faves.

Chocolate Breakfast Muffin

Ingredients:

1c whole wheat flour

1c. white flour

1/2c unsweetened cocoa

1c sugar (i think this is a lot, but my sugar-junkie hubby insists, and still says they're not sweet enough.  i prefer 1/2c or 3/4c. sugar, but make to your tastes...try the 1c first to see what you think)

1 tsp baking soda

1tsp vanilla

1 egg

1c. plain yogurt

1/2 c. skim milk

1/2c canola oil

1. Preheat oven 400 and line muffin pan with liners

2. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl

3.  In separate bowl, combine wet ingredients.

4.  Pour wet into dry and stir until smooth

5. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full and bake ~20 minutes

We love to top ours with some natural peanut butter or even some of our homemade strawberry jam...Raspberry preserves are great on top as well (i'm a nut for chocolate-raspberry).

*OPTIONAL:  Replace the vanilla with orange extract OR Almond extract to change up the flavor.  And if you just hate the taste of whole wheat flour, just use 2c. white flour.

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Cranberry Pecan Wheat muffins

I love these muffins and my kids do too...don't ask about the hubby :)  It's a sweet batter with a bite of tart cranberry...Yum.  If you're not a big cranberry lover or a "tart" lover, then chop your cranberries before adding to the batter.  

Ingredients: 

1c. unsweetened applesauce

1/3 c. canola oil

1 egg, beaten

1 1/4 c. whole wheat flour

3/4c. white flour

1tsp baking soda

1tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1c. fresh whole cranberries

3/4 c. chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees & line muffin pan with paper liners

2. In a small bowl mix applesauce, oil, and egg.  

3. In separate, large, bowl, Combine flours, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

4.  Add wet mixture to dry until all is moistened. (mixture will be thick)

5.  Stir in cranberries and pecans

6.  Fill muffin pan (cups 2/3s full) with batter

7.  Bake 20-25 minutes

Optional:

  *Before placing in oven, top each muffin with a sprinkle of granulated sugar and a sprinkle of oats.

  *If you prefer the taste of cranberry orange, add 1 tsp orange extract or orange zest to your wet mixture.

  *Hey you super health nuts, add 1/4c of flax seeds if you want.

Merry Christmas

Oh how we love Christmas at the Peterson's!  A fun time of year full of family fun and lots and lots of baking :).  We have many traditions that include visiting the Christmas Tree farm the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas caroling, the 12 days of Christmas with a family, reading the Christmas story in the scriptures before opening gifts, driving to look at Christmas lights, lots of baking, our Christmas Carol book advent calendar, and more.  

  The hubby and I decided before we even had any children we wanted this time of year to be about celebrating family and the true meaning of Chrstmas...so Santa only brings our children 3 gifts, symbolic of the 3 gifts the wise men brought.  Oh don't go feeling sorry for them just yet, between g-parents, stockings, and other family members, they do just fine.  But we really don't want this season to be about gifts for them.  We try hard to fill the time with special family moments so when they look back, they remember it as a special time with family and bringing the spirit of Christmas to others.  I guess we're trying to grow memories instead of entitled children...we hope :)  This season was a blast again and we are grateful for those who shared in this time with us.  Merry Christmas from the Petersons!   

At the Christmas Tree Farm

Taking a hayride with Daddy at the Tree Farm

And there she is...our tree

Seeing Santa at the Children's Museum

Our snow Penguin daddy and Ethan built

Baking treats to take to daddy and his coworkers at work since they work so hard during this season

Helping daddy bake spritz cookies.  Just some of the goodies we give out to the families we Christmas Carol to.

Grinch Night!  The book, then the original movie, then our "grinch" icecream...really just green sherbert :)

Rudolph night...Rudolph pancakes for dinner then the movie.  

Christmas Carolling!  A couple of my favorite carolers :)

For some reason, this year was extra special caroling to us.  Not only were our children really into it, but the families were sooo grateful!  I'm not sure if we've felt that in years past.  So while we may have brought Christmas cheer to them, and a plate of goodies, their profuse thank you's really brought the spirit to us!  So THANK YOU caroling families!!!

Christmas Eve Traditions

Baking shortbread sandwich cookies for Santa

Now, time to make our Carmel Pecan Sticky Buns so they're ready to bake Christmas morning.

Christmas Day

Oh our delicious sticky buns...we look forward to these each year...the best part of Christmas!

Mimi and Gpa Leroy Came to visit and brought more presents!

This pretty much sums it up...Ethan doing legos ALL DAY and Claire putting on her new chapstick all day.