Hearts Knit Together was born out of my struggle to
balance my desire to create with my busy life as a mother of four. I am
challenging myself to do something creative WITH my children each week
and to share that adventure with you on Mondays. I invite you to share
your creativity with your children so that we might inspire each other
with ideas to help "knit our hearts together."
If
you want to join me, write a blog post about something creative you did
with kids and share your link in the comments. No rules really, only
that your link is current and something about creating with children.
They don't even have to be your own kids. Please remember to link back
to The Gauge Wars so that others who may want to join can find it.
Pretty simple. Your post can be from any day of the week. It doesn't
have to be Monday. Thank you for participating!
Cooking is creating. With the cold weather comes soup time. And soup time requires bread at my house or my littles rebel. My little Maeve hates soup with a passion. She even yelled at me once, "I hate you more than soup" which was the worst insult she could think of. Finally this winter we have found a soup that "she doesn't hate as much." She was happy to help make the creamy potato soup. It got a little chaotic having three little hungry helpers in the kitchen while trying to cook dinner but they were so enjoying our time cooking together that I couldn't kick them out.
The soup is super easy and tasty. My mom gave me the recipe that originally came from a woman at her church I believe, Heather Smykalski. The french bread recipe came from a woman Joel worked with when we were first married. Sadly her name is not on the recipe anywhere so I can't give her credit. It is really easy if you are looking for a nice soft bread I recommend this recipe. It only takes 1.5-2 hours to make. I should have done my loaves more long and skinny so they looked better. But they still tasted great. If you are wanting a nice crusty bread I recommend this recipe. SO QUICK AND EASY. Seriously the bread is amazing and so so easy. It doesn't require kneading, which makes my boys sad since that was their favorite part.
Creamy Potato Soup
Ingredients
6 cups chicken broth
2 cups chopped onion
4 cups chopped potatoes
2 tsp. dry dillweed
8 TBSP butter
8 TBSP flour
4 cups milk
2 cups grated cheese
garlic clove
In a stock pot, combine broth, onion, dillweed, garlic, and potatoes. Bring to a boil then reduce heat. Cover and summer until potatoes are tender. When potatoes are tender put the mixture in a blender to make creamy.
In a saucepan melt butter. Blend in flour, salt, and pepper. Add milk, cook and stir until thick and bubbly. Add grated cheese.
Add milk mixture to potatoes. Stir until heated through.
French Bread
Ingredients
6 cups flour
2 1/2 cups hot water
3 TBSP sugar
1 TBSP salt
1/4 cup oil
2 TBSP yeast
Mix 3 cups of flour with all the other ingredients in mixer for 3 minutes. Add remaining 3 cups of flour and mix with spoon then hands. Dough should be barely sticky.
Cover with dish cloth and let rise for 20 minutes. Knead
Rise 6 minutes. Knead. Repeat this step two to four more times.
Turn dough onto floured surface, divide into two loaves. Place on a greased cookie sheet or one sprinkled with corn meal. Slice the tops diagonally three times. Let rise until double (about 15 minutes).
Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
Happy Monday!
Labels: Children, Hearts Knit Together, recipes
