Still living the pandemic life! Not much has changed since my last update, but I wanted to post some of the things I’ve made recently! The covid numbers are trending down, and more people are getting the vaccine, but we’re still staying close to home! We’ve made it this far without getting sick, and we don’t want to risk anything when we are close to the end of this crazy mess.
I attempted an overnight no knead bread loaf for our Valentines day dinner, but I messed up the timings and it fell a little flat. Luckily it still tasted good!
Here we have the popular TikTok feta pasta, it was actually really good! And I decided to be brave and start another sourdough starter.
This is my first yeasted cake. It was basically a cinnamon roll cake. It was good but not great.
Joe made us an amazing anniversary dinner! He roasted garlic and made us a roasted garlic pasta dish with chicken and mushrooms. He also made butter poached potatoes that were partially cooked in the sous vide.
So that is some of what we have been eating recently! I went to a real salon this week and had my first hair cut in over eight months. It felt great to do something so normal! Luke and Virginia also got haircuts at Great Clips. Not very fancy, but they both needed them! The kids were out of school last week for Midwinter Break. It snowed about a foot and we had three good days of playing in the snow! We were able to sled in our backyard and down the front street, and we built a snowman. The kids drank a lot of hot chocolate and spent most of the week in their PJs!
I’m trying to keep track of my calories and bake less, but I keep coming across some great looking recipes and I can’t help myself! I kept reading about King Arthur’s 2021 recipe of the year, it was for cinnamon rolls. People were raving about them! I gave in and made them one afternoon last week. They were so simple to make! The other recipes I’ve followed to make cinnamon rolls had me guessing at whether or not the dough was right, or if they had proofed enough before baking. This recipe was so straightforward and well written, I was really confident at each step! You start with a tangzhong, which keeps the rolls soft and fluffy for a few days. The filling was made by melting butter and mixing cinnamon, brown sugar, and salt into the butter. Instead of spreading softened butter and then sprinkling the cinnamon sugar mixture over the rolled out dough, you spread the butter/cinnamon/sugar mixture over the dough and pat it down.
The recipe made 8 rolls, which were quite large! In the future, I could probably make ten normal size rolls. I made a cream cheese icing to use as a glaze. I knew the rolls would be really sweet, so I didn’t want to cover them completely in a thick frosting. These were hands down the best cinnamon rolls I’ve ever eaten! The dough was soft and perfect, the filling was thick and cinnamony. I will definitely make them again!
We had a great time celebrating Joe for his birthday. I started his birthday weekend off by picking up Canlis to go for dinner Friday night. It was a long drive out to get it, but Joe was so surprised! They did a great job packing up the meal, including a cute pack of matches and a candle, cute little mason jars that held the desserts, and a cool bottle holding our premade cocktail. The food was so good, hopefully someday soon we’ll actually be able to eat at the restaurant!
I made chocolate chip muffins for Joe’s birthday breakfast. After breakfast he opened his presents. I think he was happy with everything he got! We packed up the car and headed out around noon for our adventure. I had booked us an Airbnb twenty minutes east of Leavenworth. We stopped for lunch on the way, and then drove through the mountains! We went over Steven’s Pass, it was so beautiful! There was so much snow, luckily the roads were clear and we didn’t have any trouble getting through. There were a ton of people in Leavenworth, most wearing masks, but I was still surprised at how many people were out and about. I had told the kids before we left that we wouldn’t be stopping anywhere public. We got to our Airbnb around 3:30. It was a great place, we had the downstairs level of a cute cabin. The owners were upstairs, we could hear them moving around but it wasn’t a big deal. They had a ton of games and toys for the kids, and a huge movie selection. Joe took a nap while the kids played, and I found an old cookbook in the kitchen to look through.
There was a hot tub with a great view of the snowy valley. The kids were so excited to get in. Virginia got in and immediately loved it, but Luke put one foot in and screamed bloody murder! He said it was too hot and he couldn’t get in. He decided to hang out inside while Joe, Virginia, and I hung out in the tub. It was so relaxing! I made pesto pizza for dinner, it turned out pretty good. I had ordered a Crack pie from Milkbar in LA for Joe instead of a cake this year. He was so surprised when I brought it out for him!
I made chocolate chip waffles for breakfast, the kitchen was so well stocked! Virginia and I got back in the hot tub after breakfast, she would have stayed in all day if we let her! There was a pen with goats by the house, before we left we fed them. The kids got a kick out of it! I was worried about the road being snowy or there being a lot of traffic on the drive home, but it was an easy drive! We had a really good time, I’m so glad we went. It was nice to have a change of scenery.
We had our fence built last month so that we could eventually get a dog for the kids. Joe and I have been doing research on what breeds we were interested in, and I had been keeping an eye on a bunch of different shelters in the area. We really want a puppy, and all the shelter dogs were older, or pit bulls, or not compatible with kids. We looked at a few breeders, but learned that breeders can have really long wait lists. I came across a Bernese Mountain dog breeder that is only 45 minutes away from us, and she had a puppy born in a litter at the end of December that was still available. Bernese dogs get really big, but they are great family dogs. We put a deposit down, if all goes well we’ll pick him up at the end of the month! I’m doing a lot of research on puppy training, potty training, crate training, all of it. We’re thinking of dog names and looking at all the things we’ll need to buy for a dog. It’s very exciting!
Rachel's Red Kitchen 