Dutch Oven Crusty Bread

Dutch Oven Crusty Bread

Our visit home to Salt Lake City over the 4th of July this summer was so much fun!   I always come home with some new favorite recipes and this Dutch Oven Crusty Bread is one of them!  My cute nephew Sam Owens, just started college, and I was so impressed to find out he has become a real bread maker!  He treated us to this family recipe of fresh bread every day!  Every night he would quickly stir together this bread dough and let it sit overnight on the counter.  In the morning, he would bake his bread and we would quickly eat it all up!  Sam's bread is so fantastic and so simple, I had to have him give me a demonstration and share his recipe with me!  Sam demonstrated just how quick you can throw this bread together, no kneading required!  It's just a quick stir and then let the dough stand and rise at room temperature for 12-24 hours before baking in a hot dutch oven.  How easy is that?!  How delicious?  Make it and you'll see!     

I made this batch of bread with some whole wheat flour.  The recipe calls for white flour, which is my favorite flour to use for this bread.


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Honey White Oat Bread

Honey White Oat Bread

     My husband and I went to hear the Nora Struthers Band play the other night at this wonderful art deco era theater in Frederick Maryland, called The Weindberg Center. It's such a small theater that you really get to be up close to the performers.  It's such a fun place to attend concerts!  Since it's such a small theater and audience, the performing artists usually come out to the foyer after the performances to mingle with the crowd.  It was really fun to meet Nora, (ya, we're pretty much on a first name basis now.)  It's such fun change of ambiance from the Kennedy Center In downtown D.C!  The Nora Struthers Band was fantastic! Nora has an amazing voice and they have some talented banjo, mandolin, fiddle and drummers in the band.  If you ever get the chance to hear them in person I would highly recommend it!  Check out some of their great tunes here...https://myspace.com/norajanestruthers/music/songs.  My favorites are Jack of Diamonds, Travelin' On, Bike Ride.  You can check them out playing these awesome tunes live on youtube. 
     A special old friend and neighbor, Connie Robinson and I have a lot in common...we are both busy moms, play stringed instruments, love to cook and bake and have a knack for getting ourselves into larger than life home and garden projects.  Connie and I played in a string quartet together for many years.  We always dreamed of putting together a bluegrass band, with me on banjo and Connie on mandolin, but with family, church responsibilities and a reality check, a dream it remains!  With our growing families, one thing we did a lot of was cooking and baking. Connie comes from a long line of family bread makers, and always knew when I needed a loaf of her hot-out- of- the- oven, homemade bread, and a visit. Connie shared her family recipe for this delicious bread.  It's definitely one of our favorites.  My kids can enthusiastically eat an entire loaf, hot out of the oven, with butter and honey or jam when they get home from school.  Luckily the recipe makes two loaves so there is fresh bread for Dad when he gets home from work.  One day, Connie and I will get around to some banjo, mandolin and fiddle music together, after a good visit and a loaf of Connie's Honey White Oat Bread.   

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Spring Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

Spring Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

In our backyard at the home where I grew up lies a rhubarb plant underneath a peach tree.  
Every spring it would burst forth with pink stalks of red rhubarb and wait to be harvested.  Rhubarb Crisp...Strawberry Rhubarb Pie...Rhubarb Jam... were annual delicious rhubarb creations.  This Strawberry Rhubarb Jam is no exception.  Super easy and fast too.  I love homemade jam, don't you?

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