 Homemade bread is my weakness. I love baking bread - especially in July when the humidity is at an all time high. This bread is a combination of white and wheat breads swirled together. It certainly ROSE beyond my expectations.  Swirled Bread 5-51/2 cups flour 1/3 cup shortening 5 teaspoons yeast 1 Tablespoon salt 3 cups milk 3 Tablespoons molasses 1/3 cup sugar 2 ½ cups whole wheat flour
Add to flour mixture. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Remove 2 ½ cups batter. Add enough white flour to 1 batch of batter to make a soft dough. Knead 6-8 minutes. To remaining batter, add molasses and wheat flour. Knead 6-8 minutes. Shape each dough into a ball and place in separate greased bowls, cover and let rise for 1 hour.
Divide each dough in half. Roll out ½ of the white dough into a rectangle.
Roll wheat dough into a rectangle of the same size.
Place the wheat dough on top of the white dough.
Beginning from a short side, roll up dough to form a loaf.
Place in a greased loaf pan. Repeat with the remaining dough. Cover and let rise 45 minutes to 1 hour. Bake 30-35 minutes at 375. So I set the bread outside on the screened in porch to rise while I headed to the pool for a mini swim break with my favorite daughter. When I came home an hour later, this is what my bread dough looked like...
Gotta love Atlanta humidity in July. I think this may be the biggest loaf of bread that I have ever made. As gigantic as they were, these loaves baked up beautifully.  When you slice into the loaf, you reveal the beautifully swirled white and wheat breads inside.
It's hard to tell just how big this loaf bread really was so I put it next to a slice of sandwich bread so that you could see the size difference.
This recipe makes 2 loaves of bread so you can easily freeze one for another day.
Ciao!
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 Once every summer I make a batch of these watermelon cookies. I think they're super cute and everyone else seems to like them as well. They do take a little extra time to make - which is why they only get made once a year. The recipe does make quite a few though so I freeze at least half of the batch to last us through the summer.  Watermelon Slice Cookies ¾ cup butter ¼ teaspoon baking powder ¾ cup sugar 1/8 teaspoon salt 1 egg food coloring ½ teaspoon almond mini chocolate chips 2 cups flour
Stack white dough on top of green dough. Place red log on a short side of the rectangle and roll up. Wrap dough and refrigerate overnight.
Cut into thin slices and press mini chocolate chips into red dough.
Cool completely so that chocolate chips set.  I promise you that kids AND adults will ooohh and ahhhh over these tiny little watermelon cookies. They are just as sweet to eat as they are to look at.  Just a warning that these mini chocolate chips melt REALLY quickly in the sun. I have to be careful when I take them to the pool because the chocolate tends to end up all over my hands.
These watermelon cookies are sure to be a big hit at your next party. Ciao!
If you didn't grow up around the great lakes, you may not be familiar with the fabulous fish know as the "walleye." It's so highly regarded around Lake Erie that the locals honor it with an annual "Walleye Drop" every New Year's Eve. (By the way, neither of the fish that my children are holding are actually walleye.)
Walleye can be quite elusive and hard to catch but if you manage to get one, you're in for a real treat. During our vacation at the lake this summer, Ben, my dad and my son all caught walleye and we completely forgot to take a picture of them. (Sorry) I did, however get a picture of the fish cleaning.  Once the walleye were fileted, my mom packed it up in Ziploc bags and put it in the freezer. When we got ready to leave the lake to come home, we put our frozen walleye filets in a cooler to transport them back to Georgia. They were about halfway defrosted after our 14 hour trip south so I put them in the refrigerator overnight. Ben and the kids were looking forward to fried walleye filets and I was more excited about a baked version - so I made both.
Pan Fried Walleye
Turn and finish cooking until flaky inside.  I served the walleye with roasted sweet potato wedges and a yeast roll. When I started to take pictures of the plate, I realized that the entire meal was the same color - usually something that I try and avoid. Regardless of the monochromatic color scheme - it was delicious.  For Baked Salsa Fish
This recipe works with just about any kind of fish and any kind of salsa. It's super simple and really good - especially with freshly caught walleye from Lake Erie.
Ciao!  Strawberry Lemonade has got to be one of my favorite summertime drinks. I made a really yummy batch of strawberry lemonade a few weeks ago.
Press defrosted strawberries through a strainer into the lemonade.
Stir.
Enjoy.
This was just the cool, sweet drink that we needed on a hot summer day.
Ciao! 
Chocolate Almond Biscotti ½ cup butter 2 ¼ cups flour 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder 2 eggs ¼ cup cocoa 3 Tablespoon amaretto ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon almond extract ¼ teaspoon salt 1 cup toasted almonds
Combine dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture.
Bake 6 minutes. Turn over.  Bake another 6 minutes.  I enjoyed my biscotti while I sitting on my parents porch, looking out over the Sandusky bay and watching the birds float by. I love summer.
Ciao!
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