Update on the yard glacier

I have shut down the comments for my $200 giveaway. The monstrosity in my front yard has melted a lot more quickly than I thought it would, but it is still big. Here's a shot of it from this morning, getting a little bit of early morning sun (although it is still frigid outside).

I will keep you posted on its progress! Keep checking back to see if you won the big bucks. 

Soft pretzels with jalapeño cheese dip

I have an update on our yard glacier! I will post about it in the morning. Hurry and get your guess in for your chance to win $200 before the polls close!

The sun is shining today, but it is still only in the 30s. I stepped outside to get my cutie off the bus and was shocked by the wave of cold air that smacked me in the face. Goodness, SPRING! Where the heck are you?!

Onto these pretzels and the totally gooey cheese dip that I made last night. They are almost gone because my boys have been munching on them non-stop since the moment they came out of the oven. "Another pretzel, Mom. A big one, please."

And the cheese dip? I am trying to shed my winter pounds, so I had to really pull myself together after I took a few bites of this stuff. I limited myself to three bites. It was tough.

First, get the pretzels started!

(adapted from the Food Network.)

In a small saucepan, warm 1 cup of milk until it reaches 110 degrees F. This took less than 5 minutes, if you do not own a candy thermometer. Do not let the milk boil!

Pour it into a medium bowl.

Sprinkle one 1/4-oz. package of acrive dry yeast over the top.

Let it sit for 2 minutes.

Add:

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons light brown sugar (mine drowned in the milk before I could snap the pic!)

Mix until incorporated.

Cube 2 tablespoons of salted butter and soften it in the microwave.

Add it to the mixture and stir.

Add:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon fine salt

Stir until a sticky dough forms. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, adding more flour if needed, until smooth (3 to 5 minutes).

Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a lightly greased bowl.

Cover the bowl and place it in a warm place until it has doubled in size, between 60 and 90 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

When the dough is ready, punch to deflate it and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough into 5 equal pieces. Roll and stretch each piece with your hands to form a 20- to 24-inch rope. Cut each rope in half, making ten 10- to 12-inch ropes.

Form each rope into a pretzel shape.

In a shallow dish, dissolve 1/3 cup of baking soda in 3 cups of hot water. Gently dip each pretzel in the soda solution, covering each one completely.

Arrange the dipped pretzels on the prepared baking sheets.

Sprinkle the pretzels generously with coarse salt. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until the pretzels are golden-brown.

In a small bowl, melt 8 tablespoons of butter in the microwave. Using a basting brush, spread the melted butter over the entire surface of each pretzel once they are out of the oven.

What should you serve with these soft, delicious pretzels, you ask? The jalapeño cheese dip I am about to share with you is a perfect match, and you can prepare it in 10 minutes or less (while the pretzels are cookin' in the oven).

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.

Add 1 diced jalapeño pepper and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until it is softened and fragrant.

Add:

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Stir until lumps form (this happens quickly, so have your milk ready).

Add:

1 cup milk

Whisk the mixture until the lumps are gone. Heat to boiling. Lower the heat and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove from the heat and add:

Salt and pepper, to your liking

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (or whatever shredded cheese is hanging out in your fridge)

Stir until the cheese is melted. 

Ding! The pretzels are done and both are ready to serve! ENJOY!

Printable recipe: Soft pretzels

Printable recipe: Jalapeño cheese dip

A simultaneously warm and icy giveaway! This one is BIG!

Hello, friends. It has been a strange week, to say the least. I have been dealing with feelings of really very much disliking a person I have never met for her total selfishness and her blatant disregard for other people and their hard work. The silver lining that has come from this is that I have taken a closer look at myself as a person and blogger. I will always be respectlful of others and provide nothing but honest content on my blog. I probably sound like a broken record, but this ordeal has made me so thankful for the readers I have who recognize hard work! 

As a huge "thank you" for reading, I am hosting THE BIGGEST giveaway I have ever hosted on my blog! One lucky winner will receive a $200 Visa gift card in the mail! (This is NOT sponsored by Visa, btw.) $200?! Yes! TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS! I know, I'm gettin' crazy! Hurry up and comment before I change my mind.

How do you win this loot, you ask? Well, it's simple. Or maybe not so simple. If you are well-versed in the rate at which icebergs melt, you will do GREAT! Ha!

The below photo is one that I took today, this 27th day of March, 2013, and this is the front yard of my home. 

The person who guesses the date closest to when this yard iceberg will be completely gone (without going past the date) will receive the $200. Your guess must be left as a comment on this post in order to be considered (not on Facebook or via email or anywhere else).

If more than one person guesses the correct (or closest) date, I will put those names in a hat and one of my boys will pick the winner at random with one of their cute little hands.

A few facts that may help your guess:

I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The fence in the photo is approximately 3 feet high.

There are a few small bushes underneath the highest part of the ice mountain. 

It has been an unusually frigid winter.

Our home faces north and does not get hardly any sunlight.

GOOD LUCK! And again, thanks for being here. 

POLLS ARE CLOSED! THANKS FOR YOUR ENTRY AND GOOD LUCK!

the classic grilled cheese sandwich

Today was Day #2 of our "spring" break. I added quotes around the word "spring" because if you were to look out my window right now you would think it was January 1st. The pile of ice in our yard is almost as tall as I am. I'm not kidding. Just as the rest of my fellow Minnesotans are doing, I am continuing to remain patient. Spring will come! Spring will come!

We brought our boys to the theater to see The Croods this afternoon. It is such a cute movie! It was Sammy's first time in a movie theater, and aside from doing a little bit of jabbering he did great. It was a fun family outing. I love my boys.

I thought I would share one of the grilled cheese sandwich recipes that got axed from my cookbook simply because I thought 25 was a nice round number and I had made a few too many. It is simple and classic and totally scrumptious. I hope you enjoy it! And I hope your spring is more springy than ours here in the arctic Midwest.

This recipe makes 2 sandwiches.

Place 4 slices of sourdough or white bread on a flat work surface. Spread 1 tablespoon of salted butter (at room temp) evenly over one side of each slice of bread.

Warm a skillet over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes. Layer each sandwich as follows:

Slice of bread, butter side down

1/2 cup shredded cheddar-jack cheese (or 2 slices)

2 tomato slices, patted dry

1/2 cup shredded provolone cheese (or 2 slices)

Slice of bread, butter side up

Place the sandwiches onto the hot skillet. Cook on each side for approximately 3 to 4 minutes, or until the bottom layer of cheese begins to melt around the edges. Cut in half and serve!

Thank you for reading! Have a wonderful week!

Printable recipe: The classic grilled cheese sandwich

Loaded antipasto bread

A few notes about today:

I love spending time in coffee shops and I love that I have smelled like coffee all day.

I finished editing photos from the last wedding I photographed, which is a great feeling.

I found yet another round content-stealing tonight, which made me a bit crabby. Grrrr.

The snow? And cold? And ice? And slipping on the ice? And cloudy, dreary days? It is all getting old. Really really old.

It is really funny to watch my 6-year-old do jumping jacks.

I'm very excited to drink my Nighty-Night tea and go to bed!

You have likely seen these loaded breads floating around the internet. Like grilled cheese sandwiches, they allow for much creativity. We had some friends over a few weeks ago, so I attempted my own version of the loaded, pull-apart bread. I combined antipasto salad with bread with appetizer with yummy. It was loved by all. 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Place a large sheet of aluminum foil on a flat baking sheet and coat the foil generously with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine:

1 stick butter, softened

1 tomato, chopped

1/4 pound genoa salami, chopped

4 oz. pepperoni, chopped

6-oz. can pitted black olives, drained and chopped

1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon oregano

Mix well.

Place a round loaf of Italian or sourdough bread onto a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, slice into the bread vertically and horizontally (rows should be 1 inch apart), while keeping the bottom of the loaf intact. 

Spoon the antipasto mixture into the grooves of the bread.

Carefully transfer the loaded bread to the prepared foil/baking sheet. Sprinkle 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese over the top. Wrap the foil over the loaded bread loaf and pinch together at the top. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Serve warm.

Here's hoping this keeps you feeling warm and comforted, assuming your outside temp is thirty degrees or less, too!

Printable recipe: Loaded antipasto bread